Well, I found the earlier parts of this book fascinating. And then even later parts dealing with World War I and immigration were eye-opening.
Roger Hutchinson has written a book "The butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker" which is about Britain since 1801, and uses the development and the content of the census to illustrate family, local and national history. I think it is worth a look, though I didn't manage to read it all through.
ISBN9781408707012
Available via Vivacity Peterborough's libraries