Two decades after the devastation of the Blitz, the youthquake of the 1960s transformed staid London into Swinging London—the epicenter of a new world of fashion and entertainment. Carnaby Street set the styles; Mod designers such as Mary Quant became stars; Twiggy, a model from a working-class family, was the face of the moment; Soho’s nightclubs were the place to dance the night away; and Yardley’s Oh! De London was the fragrance of choice.

While London lured tourists, England also exported its pop culture. The British Invasion in music sent the Beatles, Rolling Stones, and other groups to the top of the charts and the country’s films outdid Hollywood as they tackled taboo topics of abortion, homosexuality, and interracial sex.

Historian Julie Taddeo explores how London­—and the nation­—rebranded as a with-it world powerhouse amid the Cold War, a new Elizabethan age, and Britain’s decline as an imperial power. She examines how a new generation, many of whose lives benefitted from the welfare state, rejected the values, fashions, and especially the class system of the past. Conservative critics condemned the ’60s as a permissive decade but much of the so-called sexual revolution was more hype and media construction than reality, says Taddeo.

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