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In the 1960s Britain wound up its overseas empire. What had once covered a quarter of the world's surface was no more. This marked a new beginning for people in those former colonies, but its impact on those in Britain was less clear. This book addresses the effects of the end of empire on the British public in a way never before done, arguing that the end of empire had a profound impact on Britons, shaping the way they saw their place in the world, their society and the ethnic and racial boundaries of their nation. This study contends that the radical, extra-parliamentary, left wing is central to understanding how British public opinion was shaped on these issues. Focussing on some of the most influential and controversial organisations of the 1960s – the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, the Anti-Apartheid Movement, the National Union of Students and the Northern Irish Civil Rights Movement – this book illuminates their central importance in constructing post-imperial Britain.
