Download or read book The Autobiography of a Nation written by Becky Conekin and published by Manchester University Press. This book was released on 2003-06-28 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This exceptional book is the first full-length study on the 1951 Festival of Britain. As a consciously constructed cultural and educational event, or rather series of events, the Festival provides an opportunity to see a society and a government struggling to recast national identity after the experience of World War II. Primarily an examination of how Britain and Britishness were portrayed in the 1951 Festival’s exhibitions and events, Becky E. Conekin considers the Festival’s history and historiography, its purpose, its representations of the future and the past, the role of London and the "local", the British Empire and finally its legacy.