A collection of essays which emphasises the centrality of Britain's decline over two centuries.

Frontispiece Barry Supple; Notes on contributors; Note on references; Preface Peter Clarke and Clive Trebilcock; Introduction: national performance in a personal perspective Barry Supple; 1. Fear of failing: economic history and the decline of Britain Barry Supple; 2. 'A great deal of ruin in a nation' Donald Winch; 3. The security of the realm and the growth of the economy, 1688-1914 Patrick K. O'Brien; 4. British economic decline and human resources Simon Szreter; 5. The myth of decline: an urban perspective Jay Winter; 6. Phoenix: financial services, insurance and economic revival between the wars Clive Trebilcock; 7. Keynes, New Jerusalem, and British decline Peter Clarke; 8. Social policy, saving, and sound money: budgeting for the New Jerusalem in the Second World War Jose Harris; 9. 1945-1951: years of recovery or a stage in economic decline? Bernard Alford; 10. The end of empire and the golden age Charles H. Feinstein; 11. Macmillan's audit of empire, 1957 Tony Hopkins; 12. Apocalypse when? British politicians and British 'decline' in the twentieth century David Cannadine; 13. Measuring economic decline Peter Temin; Publications by Barry Supple; Index.