'Winner of the Longman/' History Today' prize and the 'Yorkshire Post' Prize'
"Giant Want. Giant Disease. Giant Ignorance. Giant Squalor. And the insidious Giant Idleness, "which destroys wealth and corrupts men". These were evils to be vanquished by the postwar reconstruction of Britain. Nicholas Timmins' book recaptures brilliantly the high hopes of a period in which the welfare state began to be created, and conveys the cranky zeal of its inventor, William Beveridge. The onslaught of the five Giants was the work of five gargantuan programmes that made up the core of Beveridge's welfare state. These were social security, health education, housing and a policy of full employment. It is notoriously difficult to write about such projects and keep the reader reading, but Timmins performs wonders of narrative clarity, anecdote and human detail in a book that finds its chosen level somewhere between Gibbon's 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' and '1066 and All That'¿ There is something very moving about his rhetoric of transformation and 'The Five Giants' will stir up strong emotions. It is impossible not to respond in personal terms to a book that is a part of so many of our histories, woven into the day-to-day texture of our lives."
FIONA MacCARTHY, 'The Observer'
"A remarkable tale, remarkably told."
FRANK FIELD, ' Literary Review'
"Timmins' blockbuster is amazingly readable¿ brilliantly researched and in no way flashy or superficial. He writes vividly about remarkable personalities and characterises experts and civil servants as well as figureheads. Taking us into clashes and committees, ha has a fine eye for racy quotes."
ANGUS CALDER, 'Scotland on Sunday'
"Extraordinarily comprehensive without ever being comprehensible."
ROY HATTERSLEY, 'Independent'