The Culture Wars

Culture used to be so easy to define - it was ballet, opera, Shakespeare, Beethoven... But in the 20th century, these easy assumptions were torn apart by intellectuals who turned culture into a political weapon.

In a series which mines the BBC archive for footage of the great minds of the modern age - presenting these thinkers in their own words - this film looks at key thinkers, from FR Leavis to Stuart Hall, who have redefined the meaning of culture in the modern age.

It's a story that takes in the unashamed elitism of Kenneth Clark in his triumphant series Civilisation; the battle to give culture to the people waged by Raymond Williams and Richard Hoggart; and the advent of popular culture, spearheaded by hip young American academic Susan Sontag. From the battle over Lady Chatterley's Lover to the war against imperialism from Edward Said and CLR James, this is a thrilling intellectual journey that still resonates in all our lives today.