Christopher Booker investigates the psychological and social roots of the rapid cultural shifts in Britain during the 1950s and 1960s, arguing that a collective obsession with novelty—or 'neophilia'—drove the era's instability. Drawing on his background as a journalist and cultural commentator, Booker analyzes the transition from post-war austerity to the consumer-driven, media-saturated landscape of the late sixties. He posits that this period was defined by a cyclical pattern of fantasy, frustration, and disillusionment, which he traces through the evolution of popular media, politics, and social mores.

This work is regarded as a seminal, if highly polemical, critique of the cultural transformations that defined mid-century Britain. The text provides a dense, analytical perspective that remains a point of reference for scholars interested in the psychological underpinnings of social change and the history of the counterculture.