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Andy Beckett writes for the Guardian. He has also written for the Economist, The New York Times magazine, the London Review of Books and the Independent on Sunday. His previous books are When the Lights Went Out and Pinochet in Piccadilly.
An anthology of an age ... A book that offers so much pleasure and insight -- Ian Jack Guardian Austin Metros and Chariots of Fire, cricket balls and petrol bombs, Sloane Rangers and Boys from the Blackstuff ... Andy Beckett's lively and even-handed account of two years in the life of modern Britons is bracingly anti-nostalgic. Focusing sharply on key players and events, he teases out the paradoxes of those sharp-elbowed and irony-free times, and leaves the reader with provoking questions about how we got here from there -- Hilary Mantel Promised You a Miracle is intelligent, entertaining, readable, convincing and timely. It is history well told and properly done -- Daniel Finkelstein The Times Beckett is a lucid, focussed writer ... There is a wry, shrewd humanity to his historical interests -- Richard Davenport-Hines Observer A breezy and very intelligent anatomy of the years 1980-82 ... This is not conventional political history - and is all the better for it. Beckett is as interested in the flowering of independent television production companies and the regeneration of London's Docklands as he is in monetarism, the Falklands War and the assault on the trade unions -- Jonathan Derbyshire Prospect [A] gripping mixture of contemporary history and vivid reportage -- John Campbell Independent Those who lived through the early eighties - who spent all that time wondering what the hell was going to happen next - will enjoy Beckett's work because it validates what at times seemed like a waking dream, or sometimes a waking nightmare. For those too young, the book is valuable as a reminder that there were other times in recent history when it seemed everything was beginning to slide -- Jamie Kenny Big Issue Beckett has a fine eye for detail -- Andrew Neather Evening Standard [Beckett] mixes history, journalism and autobiography. He has a strong sense of place -- Richard Vinen Literary Review The appeal of Beckett's book is that he succeeds in showing rather than merely telling us why his chosen period was pivotal in the life of the nation. For those who lived through all the turbulence, as I did, it reawakens memories and helps reconnect you with the person you once were. For those who did not, or who cannot remember, it recounts well how an old nation roused itself from slumber and dared to change the course on which it seemed set -- Jason Cowley New Statesman
