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This account of English working-class communities in England from 1940 to 1970 is told through the words and memories of those who lived then. This was a period of change, usually seen as progress. People everywhere became better off: healthcare was provided free and the education of children was universal. This was the first age of the domestic machine, releasing women for employment in paid work. The church, the police, teachers and the state became less sources of authority than of care. Television provided entertainment in the home. Improved methods of contraception emancipated sexuality. But, as Elizabeth Roberts shows, the caring state and the privatized family were also accompanied by a diminished sense of community and neighbourliness, and by a loss of confidence in previously accepted standards and values in family relationships and the rearing of children. This book provides an insight into the realities of social change during three crucial decades of English history. Elizabeth Roberts is the author of "A Women's Place".