Dominic Head demonstrates how the novel yields a special insight into important areas of social and cultural history in the second half of the twentieth-century. His study is the most exhaustive survey of post-war British fiction available. Placing novels in their social and historical context, it includes chapters on the state and the novel, class and social change, gender and sexual identity, national identity, and multiculturalism. Accessible and wide-ranging, this is the most current introduction to the subject available. "Anyone with an interest in the contemporary novel, not just British fiction, will appreciate this outstanding survey and analysis ... ranging from Angus Wilson to Zadie Smith, Head provides abundant evidence for his conclusion that 'the novel ... becomes an important focus for the society's alternative, redemptive, and connective thought.' This book should become a standard reference work for its subject." Choice The most current, wide-ranging, and accessible introduction on the post-war novel in Britain available. Dominic Head is Reader in Contemporary Literature and Head of the School of English at the University of Central England. He is the author of The Modernist Short Story (Cambridge, 1992), Nadine Gordimer (Cambridge, 1994), J. M. Coetzee (Cambridge, 1997). Used Book in Good Condition