Correlli Barnett described his "Audit or War" as an 'operational study' to 'uncover the causes of Britain's protracted decline as an industrial country since the Second World War.' On publication, this book swiftly became one of the most controversial and influential historical works of its time. The author argues that British industry during the Second World War was scandalously inefficient, a situation Barnett blamed on an establishment more concerned with welfare than with industry, technology or the capacity of the nation to fight a war.
