lucy robinson

Not just nostalgia and legwarmers, but how popular culture has come to shape, define and make sense of the complicated world we live in.

This new book tells the story of eighties Britain through its popular culture. Charting era-defining moments from Lady Diana's legs and the miners' strike to Glastonbury's Pyramid Stage and Adam and the Ants, Lucy Robinson weaves together an alternative history to the one we think we know.

This is not a history of big geopolitical disasters, or a nostalgic romp through discos, shoulder pads and yuppie culture. Instead, the book explores a mashing together of different genres and fan bases to make sense of our recent past and give new insights into the decade that defined both globalisation and excess.

Packed with archival and cultural research but written with verve and spark, the book presents a distinctive and definitive contemporary history of 1980s Britain, from pop to politics, to cold war cultures, censorship, and sexuality.