In This is Tomorrow Michael Bird takes a fresh look at the 'long twentieth century', from the closing years of Queen Victoria's reign to the turn of the millennium, through the lens of the artists who lived and worked in this ever-changing Britain.

Getting up close and personal with the actors and actresses that have brought the iconic films to life, this book’s behind-the-scenes stories span the entire career of a man whose catalog has grown into a timeless cornerstone of American pop culture.It's a brilliant book, by far the best survey of a period that I've read in years' - Andrew Lambirth, The Spectator 'A timely update of the story of British art, packed with contextual material and photographs .

Volume Two covers the early years of his editorship of The Criterion (the periodical that Eliot launched with Lady Rothermere’s backing in 1922), publication of The Hollow Menand the course of Eliot’s thinking about poetry and poetics after The Waste Land. Valuable, too, are letters from the earlier and less documented part of Eliot’s life, which have been supplemented by additional correspondence from family members in America.Since 1988, Valerie Eliot has continued to gather materials from collections, libraries and private sources in Britain and America, towards the preparation of subsequent volumes of the Letters edition. In his introduction to Churchill: The Statesman as Artist, David Cannadine provides the most important account yet of Churchill’s life in art, which was not just a private hobby, but also, from 1945 onwards, an essential element of his public fame. His subjects included his family homes at Blenheim and Chartwell, evocative coastal scenes on the French Riviera, and many sun-drenched depictions of Marrakesh in Morocco, as well as still life pictures and an extraordinarily revealing self-portrait, painted during a particularly troubled time in his life. This is Tomorrow is the work of an undercover agent – one who has bravely realigned the familiar legacies of British twentieth-century art.

His powers of persuasion clearly exceeded those of Colonel Baker, who seemed the personification of Victorian solidity until that embarrassing incident in the sealed railway compartment, where he failed to entice Miss Dickinson to join in his bit of fun, and afterwards had to try and explain his conduct to the High Court, with the whole nation hanging on his every word. The new letters fill crucial gaps in the record, notably enlarging our understanding of the genesis and publication of The Waste Land.From the American James McNeill Whistler's defence of his new kind of modern art against the British art establishment in the latter half of the 19th century to the Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson's melting icebergs in London, he traverses the lives of the artists that have recorded, questioned and defined our times.

Mr Bird's evocative prose keeps us turning the pages, from his immersive introductions that take us back to key moments in history to his pithy descriptions' - Charlotte Mullins, Country Life 'An enjoyable book, one which will entertain and inform even those who consider themselves well versed in this country's art history. In a brilliant narrative that vividly evokes the personalities who populate and drive this story―including Aubrey Beardsley, Damien Hirst, and Barbara Hepworth―author Michael Bird reevaluates how we look at the history of modern Britain. His films – he has over 45 writing and directing credits to his name – range from slapstick to tragedy, farce to fantasy. In war and peace, Churchill came to enjoy painting as his primary means of relaxation from the strain of public affairs.An enjoyable book, one which will entertain and inform even those who consider themselves well versed in this country’s art history. This work chronicles her extraordinary life from the tragic accident that left her lame at the age of 14 to the writing of her novel from her death bed. Generously illustrated, This is Tomorrow is an absorbing narrative of how history has changed―and continues to change―how artists see and are seen.