Polly Toynbee: My family and other radicals

Toynbee comes from a long line of radicals, reformers and scholars – all of whom have wrestled with the contradictions of being comfortably middle class while trying to further the cause of socialism.

In a new book, An Uneasy Inheritance, she examines her own family tree – which in addition to her writer father, Philip, and her historian grandfather, Arnold, contains everyone from the Glenconners to Jessica Mitford to Bertrand Russell. Through this frank family history, Polly shows us how entrenched class privilege remains in Britain, and that the country is a lot less socially mobile than we like to think.

Toynbee has been a columnist for the Guardian since 1998. She is the author of several books and has won a National press award and the Orwell prize for journalism. Join her in conversation with Guardian chief culture writer Charlotte Higgins as she discusses this personal family history and her 50 years in British political journalism.

If you live in the United Kingdom, you can purchase a ticket with a copy of An Uneasy Inheritance at checkout for a special combined price of £26. Books will be shipped on publication date, 1 June.

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Host or Publisher The Guardian Live