Rebuilding Britain: A Survey of Problems of Reconstruction After the World War

Hopkinson, Alfred, Sir, 1851-1939Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.0

Word count: 329K words
Chapters: 33

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Rebuilding Britain: A Survey of Problems of Reconstruction After the World WarAuthor: Hopkinson, Alfred, Sir, 1851-1939,Language: English, Class: D501: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: World War I (1914-1918), Release Date: Feb 2, 2005

Editor's review

This book is Sir Alfred Hopkinson's (1851–1939) survey of Britain's reconstruction problems after the First World War, written by a British engineer and administrator and classified under history D501 (WWI-related), released by Project Gutenberg as a public-domain ebook. Its value lies in offering a contemporary view of postwar reconstruction: how issues of transport, industry, housing, education, and social organization were then diagnosed and envisioned, allowing comparison with later economic and social history and showing which judgments were borne out and which overlooked. The prose is that of an investigative report, dense with data and topics and lacking modern editorial notes, so readers must map its framework themselves. It suits as supplementary material for courses on WWI social history or modern British history, or as selected topical reading for those interested in postwar reconstruction; it is not intended to be read cover to cover as narrative history.

Who it's for

A good fit for

History students studying British social and economic reconstruction in the later First World War
Teachers of modern British history needing primary survey materials
Readers interested in the history of postwar reconstruction policy and public governance
Thesis writers doing comparative topical research who need public-domain historical sources

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer narrative history and a smooth reading experience
Beginners without basic knowledge of British history and the WWI context
Practitioners seeking contemporary policy recommendations rather than historical texts

Reading tips

Read the table of contents and conclusion first to build a topical framework, then select chapters of interest.
Read alongside a chronology of British history around the end of WWI to avoid taking passages out of context.
Keep a notebook of the author's problem diagnoses and proposed solutions for comparison with later research.
Read together with contemporary press commentary or later economic history works for multi-angle comparison

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

What period of British reconstruction does this book cover?

It discusses reconstruction problems Britain faced after the end of the First World War and belongs to the D501 (WWI-related) historical literature. The author surveys topics such as transport, industry, housing, and social organization in report form, reflecting the problem awareness of the time rather than contemporary policy analysis.

Can I read it without a history background?

Yes, but first build up basic facts and the political-economic landscape of Britain in the final years of WWI. The book is a dense investigative report without modern notes; without background knowledge, readers may mistake the author's period judgments for settled conclusions. Selective reading with questions in mind works better than reading straight through.

Do the book's views still have reference value today?

Their value is mainly as historical source material: it records how people then diagnosed postwar problems and what solutions they proposed, allowing comparison with later research to see which judgments were confirmed or revised. It is not a contemporary policy guide; readers should understand its views in the historical context of the 1910s–1920s.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Hopkinson, Alfred, Sir, 1851-1939 Author · British · 1851–1939

Sir Alfred Hopkinson (1851–1939) was a British lawyer and university administrator. He served as Vice-Chancellor of Victoria University and was also a Member of Parliament. Public information about him is limited, and only one of his works is held in this collection, namely Rebuilding Britain: A Survey of Problems of Reconstruction After the World War. As the title indicates, the book addresses the social and institutional reconstruction of Britain after the First World War. It is a problem-oriented survey rather than a work of abstract theory, and it speaks to postwar public policy debate. It examines a range of concrete issues and may be of interest to readers seeking to understand British reconstruction thinking in that period.