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KYNASTON, DAVID: : Modernity Britain - Book Two: A Shake of the Dice,1959-62

LONDON.BLOOMSBURY,2014.

ISBN 9781408844397.

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.[Complete number line 10 - 1 descending.]FINE/FINE.No owner inscrptn and no price-clip to dw/dj.Bright,crisp,clean,matt, contemporary monochrome photographic illustrated dw/dj panels with b/w lettering to front,spine and white lettering to rear panel; with negligible shelf-wear,creasing or bumping to edges and corners - no nicks or tears present. Top+fore-edges bright and clean; contents bright,tight,clean,solid and sound - pristine - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corners,appears unread - apart from my own collation. Bright,crisp,clean,sharp-cornered, publisher's original plain black cloth boards with bright,crisp,stamped gilt letters to spine/backstrip,a blocked orange striped headband and immaculate plain white endpapers. UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn,4-454pp [paginated] includes Pts 1-3 comprising 5,3and 5 chapters respectively,16pp contemporary b/w photographs in 1 block, between pp150/1,an afterword,notes, acknowledgements,picture credits and an index. Plus [unpaginated] half-title+title pages, contents list/table,author's note,title separator page with dedication to reverse,and individual Pts separator pages. Summer 1961: The past is disappearing, modernity now unstoppable.London's Euston Arch and Coal Exchange poised to go, Birmingham's Inner Ring Road laying waste to all before it,farewell the Victorian barracks of Aldershot, T. Dan Smith ready to turn Newcastle into the Venice of the North (but ring roads,not canals), streets in the sky in Sheffield,plans afoot for Glasgow's brutalist Red Road blocks (six- point blocks,two slab-blocks) to be the highest dwellings in Europe,the heart being ripped out of Bradford,high-rise everywhere,old people trapped,mothers and small children trapped,an urban world of compulsory purchase and developers' boom time,of good intentions compromised by hubris,by greed,by the lure of size for size's sake,John Betjeman almost the lone voice of protest,most people shrugging their shoulders and mutely accepting destruction as the inevitable price of progress . . . . A shake of the dice - and landing,who knew where? David Kynaston's history of post-war Britain has so far taken us from the radically reforming Labour governments of the late 1940s in 'Austerity Britan', through the growing prosperity of 'Family Britain,'s more placid 1950s,to the very cusp of the 1960s and the coming of a new zeitgeist in 'Modernity Britain'. The first part 'Opening the Box,1957-59', plotted the main themes of the new spirit of the age.Now,in part two - 'A Shake of the Dice, 1959-62' - through a rich haul of diaries, letters,newspapers and many other sources, Kynaston gets up close to a turbulent era as the speed of social change accelerates. By the early 1960s consumerism was inexorably taking hold (stripes for Signal toothpaste, flavours for potato crisps),relative economic decline was becoming the staple of political discourse (entry into Europe increasingly seen as our salvation),immigration was turning into an ever-hotter issue (the controversial coming of controls),traditional norms of morality were perceived as under serious threat ('Lady Chatterley's Lover' freely on sale after the famous court case),and traditional working-class culture was changing (wakes week in decline,the end of the maximum wage for footballers) even as Coronation Street established itself as a national institution.The greatest shake of the dice,though,concerned urban redevelopment: city centres were being yanked into the age of the motor car,slum clearance was being intensified, and the skyline studded with brutalist high-rise boxes.Some of this transformation was necessary, but too much would destroy communities and leave a harsh,fateful legacy. This profoundly important story of the period of transformation from the old to the brink of a new world is now told brilliantly and in full for the first time. Please contact seller,because of the weight/ value of this item for correct shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page! ** UK,buyers note,stocks' actual shipping/P+p costs are adjusted and any difference is refunded after order receipt and before order's despatch,especially if offered P/p included or free. ** N.B. US/Canada customers please be aware: Standard AIR postage from UK to these destinations can now cost more than the price of the book! If speed is not of the essence,then Economy rate is recommended - at approx. 2/3rds of standard AIR quote/rate - sometimes arriving long before the quoted 42 days - but not always.

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.
Not SIGNED.

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