Welsh Journals

and Barthianism was growing among Welsh theologians from about 1926. Welsh post-nonconformity in the thirties displayed both a decline in chapel membership and arguments between the liberal and Barthian theological approaches. The Labour party had its own disputes in the early thirties; but, unlike nonconformist membership, it revived by the later part of the decade. In the depression years the Welsh regional rate of unemployment was usually the highest in the United Kingdom. In this decade non- conformists continued to be concerned with the social question, and the spread of Barthianism may have been restricted by the growth of un- employment. But the depression of the 1930s, and nonconformist interest in alleviating it and finding remedies for it, are largely omitted from this book. The social question until 1939 forms part of the title, but little of the substance as regards the 1930s. Thus Dr Pope's study arouses some questioning as well as admiration. But his crowded and colourful tapestry of nonconformity and Labour in Wales is generally a fascinating depiction of a unique, if tense and ambiguous, relationship. IANMACHIN Dundee WALES AND BRITAIN, 1906-1951. By Roger Turvey. Hodder and Stoughton, 1997. Pp 161. £ 7.99. This book is designed to meet the needs of pupils studying for the WJEC's GCSE History examination and is available in both English and Welsh. It is a most welcome and overdue text, crucial to the continuing appeal of the subject at this level in Wales. The original intention of the History Committee for Wales was to provide an integrated approach to the teaching of the history of Wales, Britain and the wider world in a coherent series of study units throughout the years of compulsory schooling. This was made impossible by a later government decision to decapitate the compulsory history course at age 14, with the result that the place of history in Key Stage 4, leading up to GCSE examinations, has been undermined. At least in England teachers have had a very wide choice of original, colourful and well-informed texts to aid the counter attack. That range of material will never be available for Welsh history, for obvious commercial reasons. However, it was essential in the wake of the National Curriculum, that sufficient material of the highest standard be made available and slowly this is coming about. The Curriculum and Assessment Authority for Wales is