Between the Waves

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What to expect

**Longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction**

This is the definitive history of Britain’s tumultuous relationship with Europe – as it’s never been told before.

'Powerful, precise, morally engaged, wonderfully alert to character, context and the greater purpose of political life' – Rory Stewart, author of Politics on the Edge

'A lucid, thoughtful and richly provocative book' – Dominic Sandbrook, The Sunday Times

In a story of ambition and underhand politics, of nation, identity and belief, acclaimed political writer Tom McTague chronicles the battle of ideas, events and personalities that first took the country into the Common Market in 1973. Only to take it out of the European Union in an explosive referendum a little over forty years later.

Drawing on unpublished sources and exclusive interviews, McTague unearths the roots of ideological conflict that raged between the leading politicians of the twentieth century as they fought for the future of Europe – Charles de Gaulle, Harold Macmillan, Jean Monnet, Enoch Powell and Margaret Thatcher.

Alongside these famous figures are the lesser-known actors in Britain’s great post-war drama: a coterie of Eurosceptic student radicals, Cold Warriors, eccentric billionaires and political strategists who turned the tide of history.

A riveting story of the clashing ideals that have pulled at Britain’s public imagination for more than seven decades, Between the Waves raises that most elemental of questions: who are we?

'A sweeping, impressive and ambitious history of modern Europe' – Helen Lewis, author of Difficult Women

'Compelling, hugely well-informed . . . will stand for many years as the authoritative political history’ – David Kynaston, author of Austerity Britain, 1945-1951

Critics Review

Between the Waves is powerful, precise, morally engaged, wonderfully alert to character, context and the greater purpose of political life
Rory Stewart, author of Politics on the Edge
You'll find much to enjoy in this thought-provoking account of Britain's uneasy relationship with Europe . . . even the most passionate Remainer — or Leaver — should enjoy it enormously
The Sunday Times
An ambitious history of Britain’s volatile relationship with Europe . . . a great big entertaining sweep of a book
The Guardian
Sprightly . . . Between the Waves is well worth reading, summarising a massive amount of information in easily comprehensible form . . . an excellent entrée into a complex and highly emotive subject
The Telegraph
McTague is interested in the ideas behind the politics and he cares about the rhythm of a good sentence . . . This is a serious and weighty book from a man with a future in the writing of the past
The Observer
A rich and incisive new history of British Euroscepticism
The Economist
McTague [has a] mastery of narrative sweep and fresh perspective . . . a significant achievement . . . an absorbing, authoritative, original and wise chronicle of our times
The Spectator
A mesmerising account of the backstory to Britain’s eventual exit from the EU . . . McTague brilliantly pieces together the twists and turns in this tragicomedy of mad passions and misplaced expectations
London Review of Books
Tom McTague is one of the best contemporary writers on the intersection of domestic politics with wider events . . . a bold sweep of Britain’s up-and-down postwar relations with the European Union
Evening Standard
A pacy and spirited study of where the Brexiters and their ideas came from . . . a worthwhile read for those who want to understand the rise of British Euroscepticism
Literary Review
Highly recommend this book for general readers and Brexit obsessives alike
The Critic
A marvellous new history of Britain’s post-war relationship with Europe . . . a timely close on one era, and a spur to action into the next
CapX
Lively enough to reignite our interest in the tainted subject of Britain’s relationship with the Union and serious enough to explode the illusions of both sides . . . I read it in a couple of days, my interest in the subject miraculously revived and my understanding of post-war British history significantly improved. McTague achieves this magic through a combination of narrative flair and intellectual power
Bloomberg
This compelling, hugely well-informed narrative of how we came to leave Europe – a narrative involving the eternal interplay between character and fate as well as an exploration of the underestimated swirl of intellectual currents – will stand for many years as the authoritative political history
David Kynaston, author of Austerity Britain, 1945-1951
Lucid and witty, Tom McTague’s magisterial rethinking of postwar British history exposes the fatal ambiguity of our attitudes to Europe. Conspirators and fantasists abound in his sweeping account. Like a physician or psychiatrist, he diagnoses the maladies of anti-Europeanism, but knows there was to be no remedy, as Brexit only worsened British economic and social diseases. Here is a compelling and illuminating tour through recent history, from a wise and authoritative pen.
Polly Toynbee
A sweeping, impressive and ambitious history of modern Europe -- and Britain's turbulent relationship with it. With a deft touch and deep research, Tom McTague has captured a tale of big personalities -- from Enoch Powell to Dominic Cummings -- and even bigger events
Helen Lewis, author of The Genius Myth
Tom McTague has produced a brilliant and unique piece of historical writing which will change how we think about Britain’s schizophrenic relationship with Europe since the Second World War . . . Unfolding like a play with many acts and players, this extraordinary debut work of history is a reminder that everything is connected but nothing is inevitable
John Bew, author of Citizen Clem
Profound and intellectually scintillating, this book, on the eve of the 10th anniversary of Britain’s EU referendum, is one of the first true works of history analysing Britain’s fraught relationship with Europe post-1945
Sir Anthony Seldon, author, historian, educator
A vivid and detailed account of British politicians and their small-island contortions on Europe, culminating in the abject self-harm of Brexit
John Kampfner, author of In Search of Berlin
A tour de force by an exceptional journalist, Tom McTague's account of Britain's relationship with Europe between the Second World War and Brexit is beautifully written, full of erudition and as broad as one could hope in its horizons. A remarkable achievement
Matthew d'Ancona, Editor at Large, The New World
Tom McTague clinically exposes the hesitations, contradictions and wilful self-delusion which have characterised Britain's relationship with the European project since its inception
John Campbell, author of Roy Jenkins: A Well-Rounded Life
A riveting and revelatory new narrative of modern Britain that shows where we've come from, how we got here, and who we are
Ian Leslie, author of Conflicted
A sparkling re-telling of Britain’s love-hate relationship with the post-War European project . . . McTague reveals with the precision of a political archaeologist how the arguments that tore the country apart after Brexit are as old as the federalist project itself. This is political history at its finest
Peter Foster, author of What Went Wrong With Brexit
A big, ambitious history of Britain’s vexed relationship with Europe from the Second World War to Brexit, full of vivid personalities and surprising insights into seven decades of chronic ambivalence
Dorian Lynskey, author of Everything Must Go

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