VILLAINS' PARADISE Britain's Underworld From the Spivs to The Krays

Thomas (Donald)

ISBN 10: 0719557348 / ISBN 13: 9780719557347

Edité par John Murray, 2005

A propos de cet article

Hardback. INSC. AND SIGNED. With the war over, the 1940s and the 1950s in Britain have the aura of a golden age. But nostalgia is deceptive: to contemporaries, the battlefront seemed only to have moved closer to home, as anxiety about armed robberies and psychopaths spread. Teenage Teddy-boy razor gangs proliferated and youths casually stabbed each other at dance halls. Billy Hill and Jack Spot slashed their way to underworld supremacy, while witnesses lost their memories. Ronnie Biggs and his accomplices prototyped the gang of the future with the famous Great Train Robbery of 1963, and Brighton police corruption shook public complacency. Britain had lost the Ashes, exports had nose-dived and all of its secrets had probably been given to the Russians, but when it came to safe-blowing, it led the world. By 1970 crime had tripled. By the end of the century it would triple again. With the narrative sweep and eye for telling detail that was a hallmark of his previous 'underworld' accounts, the author chronicles a history we might rather forget, through compelling stories we can't live without. Profusely Illus. + Notes and Index. 506pp. lge. 8vo. h/back. PRESENTATION COPY INSCRIBED AND SIGNED BY DONALD THOMAS. F. in Nr. F. dw. A fairly heavy book which may require additional postage, particularly if shipped overseas. N° de réf. du vendeur 19689

Détails bibliographiques

Titre : VILLAINS' PARADISE Britain's Underworld From...

Éditeur : John Murray

Date d'édition : 2005

Reliure : Hardcover / Hardback

Etat : Fine

Etat de la jaquette : Fine

Signé : signed and inscribed by author

Edition : First edition.

A propos de ce titre

Synopsis :

With the war over, the forties and the fifties in Britain have the aura of a golden age. But nostalgia is deceptive: to contemporaries, the battlefront seemed only to have moved closer to home, as anxiety about armed robberies and psychopaths spread. Teenage Teddy Boy razor gangs proliferated and youths casually stabbed each other at dance halls. Newspapers revelled in headlines about the slashing of Jack Spot; Ronnie Biggs and his accomplices prototyped the gang of the future with the famous Great Train Robbery of 1963. Britain had lost the Ashes, exports had nose-dived and all of its secrets had probably been given to the Russians, but when it came to safe-blowing, it led the world.With the narrative sweep and eye for telling detail that was a hallmark of his previous 'underworld' accounts, Donald Thomas chronicles a history we might rather forget, through compelling stories we can't live without.

À propos de l?auteur:

Donald Thomas is the author of seven biographies and is also a respected novelist. He has won the Gregory Award for his poems Points of Contact. He was born in Somerset and educated at Queen's College, Taunton and Balliol College, Oxford. He holds a personal chair at Cardiff University.