John Law's engaging and richly textured 1938 challenges us to consider what the future used to look like - and, in doing so, opens up new ways of thinking about 1930s Britain. Drawing this remarkable year out of the lengthening shadows of war, Law reveals a world absorbed by the wonders of entertainment technologies and cutting edge architecture, the glamour of international travel and everyday novelties of Picture Post magazine. Insightful and surprising, 1938 is a compelling account of a modern world that has often disappeared from view.

Matt Houlbrook, Professor of Cultural History, University of Birmingham, UK

From television sets to office blocks to forgotten municipal airports, 1938 reveals a Britain enthralled by the wonders of modern life. With great lucidity and an eye for curious detail, Law charts a growing social optimism about technology that would reach fruition in the consumer culture of the 1950s.

Richard Hornsey, Lecturer in Modern British History, University of Nottingham, UK

This brief, rather breezy book argues convincingly that Britain in 1938 was much more “modern” than one might have thought; the developments associated with postwar Britain were well on their way in that year, only to be delayed by war the following year and the recovery period after the war. Summing Up: Recommended. All public and academic levels/libraries.

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