1. 1979 and All That: Writing Contemporary History
Making History: Block 4
1979 and All That: Writing Contemporary History

2. and all that

3. Britain and 1979: the end of the post-war consensus?

4. Britain 1979: the ‘winter of discontent’

5. Britain 1979: Anarchy in the UK?

6. Seasons in the Sun?

7. A global phenomenon?

8. 1979: The Iranian Revolution

9. 1979: Soviet troops enter Afghanistan

10. 2. Aims of Block 4 Types of history
From reading history to Making History

11. 3. Structure of Block 4 Lectures Seminars
Trip to Modern Records Centre

12. Modern Records Centre
Digitised collection of MRC sources relating to problem of 1979, making access to this material easy

13. The Assignment
Title: ‘How does one of the digitised MRC documents help you to address the question of whether Britain changed in 1979’
Length: 1500 words; deadline
Detailed discussion of one of the MRC documents
May involve discussion of surrounding or comparable material in digitised MRC collection
Will involve link to secondary reading and themes explored in seminars

14. 4. Contemporary History

15. What is contemporary history?
Geoffrey Baraclough: ‘Contemporary history begins when the problems which are actual in the world today first take visible shape’

16. Challenge 1: Perspective

17. Challenge 2: Sources

18. In defence of a contemporary history focusing on 1979