As the sun set slowly on the British Empire, its mansions and great country houses fell and rose. Ancient families were reduced to demolishing the parts of their stately homes they could no longer afford, Dukes and Duchesses desperately clung to their ancestral seats, and a new class of homeowners bought their way into country life. For every impoverished country squire watching in horror as the taxman chipped away at the estate, there was another who managed to carry on.

Historian Adrian Tinniswood, OBE, will pull us into these crumbling halls of power, leading us through the juiciest bits of postwar aristocratic history—from Mick Jagger dancing at deb balls to the scandals of Princess Margaret or the the Marquess of Bath selling a village and buying lions. He will provide an illustrated tour of some English country homea after World War II—including National Trust properties Hinton Ampner, Mount Stewart, Hardwick Hall and Erdigg—and explain how swinging London collided with aristocratic values.

Capturing the spirit of the age, Tinniwood proves that the country house is not only an iconic symbol, but also a lens through which to understand the shifting fortunes of the British elite in an era of monumental social change.