Anatomy of Britain was a book written by Anthony Sampson

Anthony Sampson

Anthony Terrell Seward Sampson was a British writer and journalist. He was educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford and served with the Royal Navy from 1944-47. During the 1950s he edited the magazine Drum in Johannesburg, South Africa...

 and published by Hodder & Stoughton in 1962. The book is an examination of the ruling class

Ruling class

The term ruling class refers to the social class of a given society that decides upon and sets that society's political policy - assuming there is one such particular class in the given society....

es of the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, looking at the holders of political, bureaucratic, and financial power. He completely rewrote the book over four decades, thus enabling changes in power structures to be considered over time. Sampson died in 2004, shortly after Who Runs This Place? was published. The published versions were:

1. Anatomy of Britain (1962)
2. Anatomy of Britain today (1965)
3. The New Anatomy of Britain (1971)
4. Changing Anatomy of Britain (1982)
5. The Essential Anatomy of Britain: Democracy in Crisis (1992)
6. Who Runs This Place? The Anatomy of Britain in the 21st Century (2004)