Government Official History Series
About the Book Series
The Government Official History series began in 1919 with wartime histories, and the peacetime series was inaugurated in 1966 by Harold Wilson. The aim of the series is to produce major histories in their own right, compiled by historians eminent in the field, who are afforded free access to all relevant material in the official archives. The Histories also provide a trusted secondary source for other historians and researchers while the official records are not in the public domain. The main criteria for selection of topics are that the histories should record important episodes or themes of British history while the official records can still be supplemented by the recollections of key players; and that they should be of general interest, and, preferably, involve the records of more than one government department.
The Official History of the Cabinet Secretaries
1st Edition
By Ian Beesley
January 29, 2018
This book is the official history of British Cabinet Secretaries, the most senior civil servants in UK government, from the post-war period up to 2002. In December 1916 Maurice Hankey sat at the Cabinet table to take the first official record of Cabinet decisions. Prior to this there had been no ...
The Official History of Privatisation Vol. I: The formative years 1970-1987
1st Edition
By David Parker
January 20, 2016
This first volume of the Official History studies the background to privatisation, and the privatisations of the first two Conservative Governments led by Margaret Thatcher from May 1979 to June 1987. First commissioned by the then Prime Minister Tony Blair as an authoritative history, this volume ...
The Official History of Britain and the Channel Tunnel
1st Edition
By Terry Gourvish
September 18, 2015
Commissioned by the Cabinet Office and using hitherto untapped British Government records, this book presents an in-depth analysis of the successful project of 1986-94. This is a vivid portrayal of the complexities of quadripartite decision-making (two countries, plus the public and ...
The Official History of the Joint Intelligence Committee: Volume I: From the Approach of the Second World War to the Suez Crisis
1st Edition
By Michael K. Goodman
July 08, 2015
Volume One of the Official History of the Joint Intelligence Committee draws upon a range of released and classified papers to produce the first, authoritative account of the way in which intelligence was used to inform policy. For almost 80 years the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) has been a ...
The Official History of Britain and the European Community, Vol. II: From Rejection to Referendum, 1963-1975
1st Edition
By Stephen Wall
May 30, 2014
This is the second volume in The Official History of Britain and the European Community, and describes the events from 1963 up until the British referendum on the Common Market in 1975. In 1963, General de Gaulle dashed Prime Minister Macmillan’s hopes of taking Britain into the European ...
The Official History of North Sea Oil and Gas: Vol. I: The Growing Dominance of the State
1st Edition
By Alex Kemp
March 27, 2014
Written by the leading expert in UK petroleum economics, this study provides a new, unique, in-depth analysis of the development of British policies towards the North Sea oil and gas industry from the early 1960s to the early 1980s. Drawing on full access to the UK Government’s relevant ...
The Official History of North Sea Oil and Gas: Vol. II: Moderating the State’s Role
1st Edition
By Alex Kemp
March 27, 2014
Written by the leading expert in the history of UK energy, this study provides new, in-depth analysis of the development of UK petroleum policies towards the North Sea oil and gas industry from the early 1960s to the early 1980s. Following on from volume I (The Growing Dominance of the State) to ...
The Rise and Fall of a National Strategy: The UK and The European Community: Volume 1
1st Edition
Edited
By Alan S. Milward
December 05, 2012
This text analyzes British official thinking behind the UK's standing aloof from the moves after 1945 towards European economic collaboration, leading to the establishment of ECSC and the EEC in the 1950s. It deals with the later change of tack (1961), covers the organization in Whitehall for the ...
Churchill's Man of Mystery: Desmond Morton and the World of Intelligence
1st Edition
By Gill Bennett
June 09, 2009
The mysterious life and career of Desmond Morton, Intelligence officer and personal adviser to Winston Churchill during the Second World War, is exposed for the first time in this study based on full access to official records. After distinguished service as artillery officer and aide-de-camp to ...
The Official History of the Falklands Campaign, Volume 1: The Origins of the Falklands War
1st Edition
By Lawrence Freedman
August 15, 2007
Drawing on a vast range of previously classified government archives as well as interviews with key participants, this first volume of the official history of the Falklands Campaign is the most authoritative account of the origins of the 1982 war. In the first chapters the author analyses the...
The Official History of the Falklands Campaign, Volume 2: War and Diplomacy
1st Edition
By Lawrence Freedman
August 14, 2007
In the second volume of his official history of the Falklands Campaign, Lawrence Freedman provides a detailed and authoritative account of one of the most extraordinary periods in recent British political history and a vivid portrayal of a government at war. After the shock of the Argentine ...
SOE in France: An Account of the Work of the British Special Operations Executive in France 1940-1944
1st Edition
By M.R.D. Foot
June 18, 2004
SOE in France was first published in 1966, followed by a second impression with amendments in 1968. Since these editions were published, other material on SOE has become available. It was, therefore, agreed in 2000 that Professor Foot should produce a revised version. In so doing, in addition to ...