Peter Hennessy writes like he talks, which produces a delightfully wandering narrative, peppered with quirky anecdotes, that surreptitiously delivers powerful insights. This is by far the best study of early Sixties Britain; one to please the masses and wow the scholars. ... Hennessy, unique among contemporary historians, understands politics from the inside out. The book is so much fun, yet still shrewd and important

Professor Peter Hennessy is a fine historian of late-twentieth-century Britain. He is a master of all the published sources, and his generous personality, academic distinction and unquestioned integrity have meant that he adds to them a lifetime of the confidences and insights of most of those who have actually made our history. ... So, a standing ovation for Peter Hennessy, a good man who writes very good books.

Hennessy is a national treasure. He is driven by a romantic, almost sensual, fascination with British history, culture, and the quirky intricacies of British democracy and the government machine. His curiosity is insatiable, his memory infinitely capacious.

[G]enially narrated... what makes him such a deft public historian is the way he stitches these patches of rich local colour into a narrative with the widest possible reach. ... Hennessy has such a keen associative eye and such a generous heart for the sheer oddness of everything that the narrative spins along like a comfortable chat.

splendid history of postwar Britain... Hennessy's writing is characterised by a wonderful mixture of wit and erudition.

a deeply-informed book that has, nearly 60 years later, powerful resonance. The foremost chronicler of the era, Hennessy combines the intricate detail with stylistic verve.

This is the third in Hennessy's wonderfully insightful series of books that make up a portrait of a nation coming to terms with victory in a ravaging war and the loss of empire. Like the others - Never Again and Having It So Good - it performs a singular balancing act between social history and cabinet-room politics. No current historian is as versed as Hennessy in the internal cogs and springs of the British state, but he also has a keen eye for the luminous face of passing time.

a masterful survey of Britain as the decade began ... For those who know him only from the radio, Hennessy is as good a writer as he is a talker. ... I am afraid that he is now a treasure.

flavoursome, but authoritative, account ... This history is none the worse - quite the opposite - for being such a personal one; but it is the intense erudition underpinning Hennessy's intimate reflections that makes it so utterly indispensable.

fascinating ... dominated by the author's personal enthusiasms, researches and memories

Impressive ... Taylor tells a compelling story, graced with anecdotes but driven by argument, that moves the reader to and fro between London and the Caribbean, and between aristocratic houses and anti-slavery rallies ... with fierce moral passion ... Taylor vividly evokes the slave revolts ... reveals some of the atrocities perpetrated by slave-owners ... Yet the book's primary focus is political because, as Taylor emphasises, the abolition of slavery turned to a large extent on events at Westminster ... Yet votes were not enough; bribery was also vital ... The writing of British history must encompass slave-power, not just sea-power - as Taylor's scorching book makes clear

Skilfully written with a powerful and passionate narrative, this is a seminal work that carries the burden of phenomenal relevance. It shows how the enslavers' battle to protect their trophy became the most dramatic public affair in early 19th century Britain

As Michael Taylor demonstrates in this highly original, passionate, deeply researched and beautifully written book, opposition to slavery abolition was rooted deeply in British culture and values, which permeated the thinking of many contemporary radicals as well as conservatives. A disturbing story but a very important one

Offer[s] [a] fresh perspective on the story of reform and challenge[s] many of the prevailing, at times self-congratulatory, narratives of abolition ... Taylor assesses how far earnings from slavery permeated British society. He names the banks, universities and industries that all benefited directly from the trade ... lessons for today

This fascinating history of Britain's approach to slavery makes short work of the argument that Britain's main role in the atrocities of the slave trade was to abolish it. In debunking this argument, Taylor writes with vivid clarity about one of history's greatest crimes, introducing us to people and places that have long since been consigned to the past and yet loom over the present. Meticulously researched and timely, The Interest is a critical piece of history and a devastating exposé of a misleading colonial narrative

Taylor skillfully weaves careful research, astute judgements and elegant writing into a vital new interpretation of the efforts to prevent emancipation in the British Caribbean. In doing so, he shows just how the defence of slavery was pursued as a national interest before its abolition was claimed as a national achievement

Michael Taylor's The Interest is an absorbing and unsparing account of a wilfully distorted episode in British history and a vital antidote to the Rees-Moggification of the national past. As readable as it is timely, the book will appeal to the academic and the lay reader alike in contributing significantly to current reappraisals of Britain's relationship with its colonial past

One of the pleasures of teaching modern historians about ancient Rome is that they go on to write great books like this

Reads like a murder mystery ... Taylor challenges nostalgic politicians' desire to resurrect a sanitised, 'civilizing mission' version of our imperial past, perpetuating the myth of Britain as an anti-slavery nation

[An] excellent new book... The scale of what the abolitionists were up against is only now becoming clear ... Taylor's book is one of the few studies to give it equal time