In 2016, Britain stunned itself and the world by voting to pull out of the European Union, leaving financial markets reeling and global politicians and citizens in shock. But was Brexit really a surprise, or are there clues in Britain's history that pointed to this moment? In A History of Britain: 1945 to the Brexit, award-winning historian Jeremy Black reexamines modern British history, considering the social changes, economic strains, and cultural and political upheavals that brought Britain to Brexit. This sweeping and engaging book traces Britain's path through the destruction left behind by World War II, Thatcherism, the threats of the IRA, the Scottish referendum, and on to the impact of waves of immigration from the European Union. Black overturns many conventional interpretations of significant historical events, provides context for current developments, and encourages the reader to question why we think the way we do about Britain's past.

Jeremy Black, a Senior Fellow, is professor of history at Exeter University. He studied at Queens’ College Cambridge, St John’s College Oxford, and Merton College Oxford before joining the University of Durham as a lecturer in 1980. There he gained his PhD and ultimately his professorship in 1994.

Black is a prolific lecturer and writer, the author of over 100 books. Many concern aspects of eighteenth century British, European and American political, diplomatic and military history. But he has also broadened his perspective, both temporally and geographically, and published on the history of the press, cartography, warfare, culture and on the nature and uses of history itself. Jeremy’s work adds up to the most sustained presentation of British history in recent decades. He is a major exponent of military, diplomatic and cartographic history and has been important in helping the British to look at their past, as well as in representing British history to foreign audiences.

• His books include Modern British History (Palgrave, 2000),
• The Politics of James Bond (Praeger, 2001),
• America as a Military Power 1775-1882 (Praeger, 2002),
• The World in the Twentieth Century (Longman, 2002),
• Parliament and Foreign Policy in the Eighteenth Century (Cambridge, 2004),
• The English Seaborne Empire, Yale, 2004,
• World War Two: A Military History (Routledge, 2003),
• Great Military Leaders and their Campaigns (Oct. 2008),
• Maps of War: Mapping conflict through the centuries (Conway, October 11, 2016),
• The Holocaust: History and Memory (Indiana University Press, August 14, 2016),
• Air Power: A Global History (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, March 10, 2016),
• War in Europe: 1450 to the Present (Bloomsbury Academic, February 11, 2016),
• Insurgency and Counterinsurgency: A Global History (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, August 3, 2016).
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• The Society of Military History recognized Jeremy Black’s work in April 2008, presenting him with the Samuel Eliot Morison Prize for lifetime achievement.

Source: Foreign Policy Research Institute and JeremyBlack.com