Brown is a brilliant master of ceremonies as he brings the history of these fine institutions to life and demonstrates their importance in working-class communities across the country. Blending vivid reportage and candid autobiography, he illuminates these arts centres, debating halls and palaces of carefree delight with love and care. The intoxicating history begins with the movement's founding by a teetotal social reformer to its booze-soaked mid-century heyday when more than 4 million Brits were members. Often dismissed as relics of a bygone age, Pete Brown reminds us that long before the days of Phoenix Nights 3000 seat venues routinely played host to stars like Shirley Bassey, Louis Armstrong, and the Bee Gees. Britain's best-known comedians made reputations through thick miasma of smoke from Sunniside to Skegness. For a young man growing up in the pit town of Barnsley, this was a radiant wonderland that transformed those who entered. They were a vehicle for social mobility and self improvement, run for working people by working people. Brown looks at the club and himself, the clubs as an institute, the pub, music hall, the radicals, the ups and downs, women, change and the future. A RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK, 290 pages.

The TLS said, 'Elegantly written, entertaining and bursting with information... [Menand] has undertaken what few writers of intellectual history would dare to do.' Full of surprises, here is a book that will change the way you think about everything from containment to consumerism, the Beats to the Beatles. The Cold War was not just a conquest of power but also was about ideas in the broadest sense - economic and political, artistic and personal. Scholar and critic Menand tells the story of American culture in the pivotal years from the end of World War Two to Vietnam and stresses the rich flow of ideas across the Atlantic. How did elitism and an anti-totalitarian scepticism of passion and ideology give way to a new sensibility defined by experimentation? How was the ideal of 'freedom' applied to causes that range from anti-communism and civil rights to radical acts of self-creation via art and even crime? Menand takes us inside Hannah Arendt's Manhattan, the Paris of Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir and the post-war Vogue for French existentialism, structuralism and post-structuralism. He also shows how Europeans played a vital role in promoting and influencing American art and thought so that America's once neglected culture became respected and adored. It is a masterly account of the main characters and minor figures who played their part and touches on Hollywood. It recalls a time when America's government, its philanthropic foundations, universities and cultural institutions established exchange programmes for writers and scholars, distributed literature around the globe, and sent art from American collections and music by American composers and performers abroad. Books were available in affordable translations and foreign movies imported and distributed so sales of books, records and museum attendance soared and laws were rewritten to permit works of art and literature to use virtually any language and to represent virtually any subject, and to protect almost any kind of speech. American industry doubled its output and consumer choice expanded dramatically. The income gap was the smallest in history and the ideological differences between the two major political parties were minor leading to investment in social programmes. People cared; ideas mattered; people believed in liberty and democracy and authenticity and having lived through a worldwide depression that lasted almost ten years, people were eager for a fresh start. A monumental work of 857pp we are delighted to offer at a discount.

In 1893, even as Gandhi, Ranji and Vivekananda were seeking to take their ideas and expertise out of India, a Western woman was making the reverse journey, bringing her ideas to India. Mrs Annie Besant and The Theosophical Society became major players in both Indian and International arenas. Benjamin Guy Horniman was a great journalist who believed that Indians should be given the same rights of liberty and freedom that Englishmen enjoyed. Freedom-loving American Samuel Evans Stokes and Madeline Slade who left England for India and became the adopted daughter of Mahatma Gandhi, Philip Spratt and his contributions in the Indian struggle for freedom are some of the seven people chosen to tell their little-known stories. Foreigners to India date from the late 19th century onwards arrived to join the freedom movement fighting for independence. Their lives thus span a century of tumultuous history incorporating two world wars, Independence and Partition, and the emergence of a state and society. Of the seven four were British, two American and one Irish, four men and three women. Before and after being jailed or deported they did remarkable and pioneering work from journalism and social reform to education, organic agriculture and environmentalism. The writer William Dalrymple called them the 'White Mughals' who slowly shed their Britishness and adopted Indian dress, studied Indian philosophy at a time when racial boundaries were more fluid. These renegades came to the sub-continent from diverse social and intellectual backgrounds. They all combined writing with activism, two of them working up north in the high and cold Himalaya, two in the deepest south, close to the hot and humid coast, and two were inspired to settle in villages, marrying Indians and raising children with them. One man stayed unmarried and was almost certainly gay, taking Indian lovers. 476pp, eight pages of photos.

The Cold War dominated international relations for the latter half of the 20th century from its beginnings in the rubble of a defeated Germany to its end with the collapse of the Soviet Union. It was a battle of ideology and power politics supported by military might and pitted the democratic capitalist West against the communist states of Eastern Europe and Asia, and resulted in a series of flashpoints that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. The first chapter in this extraordinary photographic history examines international diplomacy, the creation of the United Nations, the consequences of the Marshall Plan on European Recovery, and the outbreak of the Korean War. Subsequent analysis focuses on the death of Stalin and the beginnings of peaceful co-existence. The dangers of the Cuban Missile Crisis and Britain's decision to purchase the Polaris missile systems are also discussed and the chapter concludes with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the uprisings in Eastern Europe, and the collapse of the Soviet Union. Subsequent chapters cover Cold War military alliances, NATO and the Warsaw Pact, the unmasking of atomic spies Alan Nunn May and Klaus Fuchs, the significance of the Cambridge and Portland spy rings, and the role played by Soviet double agents. The second half of the book concentrates on civil defence, the protest movement, proxy wars in Africa and the popular culture, governments? plans for fighting and surviving a nuclear war, CND, Greenham Common, and conflicts that took place in the Congo, Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and South Africa. Finally we look at films, books and pop songs and the fears and anxieties of growing up in the shadow of the bomb and now the new challenges facing the international community in the 21st century. The primary narrative of each chapter is told from a British viewpoint and is based on records held by The National Archives at Kew. It is based on previously secret government reports and papers and tells the compelling story of global conflict and superpower politics set against a backdrop of dramatic social and cultural change and written by a renowned historian in the field. 159pp in large softback, plentiful illustrations, maps and diagrams and letters reproduced, plus posters and propaganda.

Satirist and cartoonist Peter Brookes had a field day with the characters of Donald Trump and Boris Johnson dominant in this book, captured so well with his sweeping and colourful pen. Has anyone ever captured the facets of Boris so well? This unmissable new collection of sketches of contemporary political life showcases the stand-out pieces from his daily cartoons in The Times, breath-taking in their bite and wit. He begins with a series of four panels showing Myanmar's ruler, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, her halo inverting and a military cap descending until she is in full military regalia, with blood on her hands, President Trump takes selfies and wears a badge Hail Me! And when Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner dies, Boris Johnson's huge rear end is pictured, him in Playboy bunny costume with huge red lips. Theresa May's persistent cough is here caused by the leapfrog Boris, there are blasts from the past in China, Zimbabwe, with military takeovers and the brilliant Nature Notes, one on page 15 of the Complete Tits and the absolutely brilliant reclining Boris after Velazquez's Rokeby Venus, blowing himself a kiss. And of course Brexit, Meghan Markle, Strictly Come Widdecombe, 5G network, the royal family and more. Foreword by Daniel Finkelstein, 2019. You have to admire this incredible artwork, churned out daily and with such topical references of the day. 112pp, 27 x 21cm.

'For its 10,000 issues, The Spectator has educated and entertained, thundered and titillated, raised eyebrows and smiles, and always been stimulating.' 'The combination of eloquence and irreverence, of influence and independence, of not taking itself seriously, of wearing its learning lightly.' As well as being the world's oldest current affairs magazine, none has been closer to spheres of power and influence in Britain than The Spectator. Since its first appearance in 1828 during the dying days of the Georgian era, it has been ready to spar - with the Tories and their Prime Minister, the Duke of Wellington, with a corrupt political system, and with the lacklustre literary world of the day. Over the subsequent 54 Prime Ministers, it has not just watched the world go by, but has waded into the fray, campaigned on consistently liberal lines, fighting for voters' rights, free trade, the free press and the decriminalisation of homosexuality, while offering open-minded criticism of every modern taboo and orthodoxy. From radical weekly newspaper to moralising Victorian Guardian to wartime watchdog to satirical magazine, it remains an irreverent and influential 21st century publication, 'A refuge for logic, fun and good writing'. - Boris Johnson. The book weaves together copious quotations from the archive, the contemporary press, private letters and staff anecdote with astonishing headlines such as a Times advertisement from February 1934 Whither Hitler? - the first report of our Special Investigator, now in Germany, appears exclusively in this week's issue Spectator. There were mistakes of course - the magazine went gaga over Mussolini and even showed some warmth for Stalin during its least impressive period. Its editors were nearly always men (no women yet) of eccentricity, courage and eloquence - two Johnsons, two Lawsons, a chancellor and two future chancellors, some industrial drinkers and womanisers, some churchy monks. Its prize columnists included two who went to prison, Edward Gibbon Wakefield and the incomparable Taki. Kingsley Amis said 'The chief problem with the Spec side is not getting arseholed whenever I go there.' 256 very large pages in softback, many colour and archive illustrations throughout including a fabulously satirical cartoon by Henry Heath on the suppression of the free press (1830) and many front covers.

French Riviera resorts such as Cannes, The Blue Train which whisked passengers from Paris to the Côte d'Azur overnight, smart Swiss ski resorts like St Moritz, the Venice Lido, Egypt, signified a glamorous and cosmopolitan world populated by a social elite. The railway revolution of the 19th century had triggered a tourism revolution as day-trippers flooded rapidly to developing British seaside resorts such as Blackpool, Scarborough and Margate. The upper classes set their sights on something more exclusive and refined, more picturesque and usually much further away. They expected hotels offering every conceivable home comfort where the entertainment was cherry picked from the best of Paris cabaret and London's West End and where the sporting facilities were unrivalled. The illustrated weekly magazine The Bystander published glamorous Art Deco style advertisements 'Bathing in transparent, warm, blue sea, slicing your drive round an olive plantation, eating ripe figs off the branches, playing lawn tennis in the shade of eucalyptus trees, drinking Bronxes made with tangerine juice instead of the synthetic product of bottled oranges.' The luxurious spas of Mittel-Europe and the golf courses of France became the playground of the idle wealthy. Until foreign travel became more accessible, the picturesque towns and smart hotels catered only to an elite mix of royalty, celebrities and high society. This is where the great and the glamorous could relax, mingle, see and be seen - where rules could be broken and routines forgotten. Drawing from the Mary Evans Picture Library's archives and contributions from Galleria L'Image, Lucinda Gosling takes us on a tour of the exclusive holiday destinations from Monte Carlo and Maidenhead to Biarritz and San Moritz, Baden-Baden to Deauville and the Northern French Coast 'a jewel of a little place' where racing, gambling, polo, tennis, cocktails, yachting and bathing delights are incapsulated in one picture on page 66. Another shows a couple taking a civilised cup of tea under a striped awning of their beach capanna in a Venice Lido in 1935 and there are tourists featured in Gladys Peto's trademark colourful frocks among ancient ruins showing fashions in the winter sun of Heliopolis. Like a very high-end travel brochure, the book is also a mix of gossip and glamour, faces and places and evocative vintage travel posters, brochures, fashion spreads and more. Escapism at its best. All stock shelf worn.160pp in large softback, colour.
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Sub-titled 'The Origins of the British Civil Service', today we ask Is our Civil Service fit for purpose? Coolican takes John Reid's damning statement about the Home Office as his point of departure for a comprehensive overview and evaluation of the machinery behind the government and the people who make public services work on a daily basis. Beginning with Henry VIII's Chief Minister Thomas Cromwell, Coolican takes us on an odyssey through the history of the British Civil Service starting with a time when public positions were sold and traded through Royal Warrant. He examines the radical reforms of the Victorian era which entrenched a culture of elitism, misogyny and distrust of high-quality data as a basis for decision-making that, in some areas, persist to this day. The bizarre goings-on at the Immigration and Nationality Department were only an extreme example of the consequences of poor management and leadership which can be found in any government department. Even after the division of the Home Office, the solution had no bearing on the problem itself, as Amber Rudd was to discover 12 years later when she found herself mired in the controversy surrounding the Windrush generation and the way they had been treated by her Home Office officials. And it matters to us all, since most of us are in contact with governments in paying taxes, claiming benefits, safeguarding our employment rights and complying with regulations, and if the relatively junior civil servants who carry out these tasks cannot cope with grotesque systems, it will hugely affect their ability to deliver a decent service to the public. Yet each day a vast government machine delivers a reasonably good service at airports, tribunals, courts, laboratories, schools and local offices all over the country, as well as in Whitehall itself. It is largely incorrupt, mostly effective, and more often than not reasonably efficient, yet all well managed organisations need to identify and deal with their incompetents, over-promoted under-performers, and freeloaders and tackle misallocation of resources. In the UK we have two distinct images of the Civil Service - one a bowler-hatted collection of buffoons, and the other an urbane and brilliant set of intellectuals like the characters in a C. P. Snow novel. A former high-ranking civil servant with 40 years? experience, Coolican has produced a pithy and ruthless analysis. Private Eye renamed him Cool Hand Coolican. 357pp.

If you were to choose the time and place in which to be born, what would be your choice? Leading economist Jean Tirole believes the answer to this question is at the centre of how Economics can create a better world. Winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2014, Tirole is on a mission to show how economists can make a difference to every aspect of our society. He starts with the concept of the market economy, which has been assumed to be a marker of democratic freedom since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the economic transformation of China. Privatisation, globalisation, and an emphasis on competition have taken over from the decisions of elected politicians, and what remains of public decision-making has increasingly relied on regulatory bodies. For many, this process has meant the abandonment of the concept of the Common Good and disintegration of the "social contract" whereby people have a tacit agreement to try to live together in harmony. The author argues that people react to the incentives facing them and therefore that to re-establish a commitment to the Common Good, institutions need to reconcile the private interest of individuals with the interests of society. Tirole starts by explaining the work economists do, with its key complementarity of theory and empirical investigation, looking in depth at game theory and information theory which have revolutionised our understanding of economic institutions, and placing economics within the social sciences. The two institutions of the State and the Firm need to be kept in balance. The market and the state are not alternatives but are mutually dependent, and their dependency is mediated through some highly visible institutions, such as public transport, and others that are invisible, such as long-term debts that are kept off the balance sheets. The example of France is examined in depth as a paradigm of state reform. Key economic challenges facing all states include climate change, the labour market, the future of Europe, digitisation, intellectual property and sector regulation. 563pp, diagrams.

Designer, poet and artist as well as the author of the utopian novel 'News from Nowhere', William Morris (1834-1896) was one of the most original and inspiring socialist intellectuals of his generation. This collection, the first of his political writings to be published for nearly 50 years, reproduces essays and lectures. Morris examines the relationship between art and politics, the possibilities for a socialist society, and the crimes of empire among other subjects, and his writings demonstrate his profound commitment to 19th-century socialism. Other chapters include The Housing of the Poor, Philanthropists, Ireland and Italy: A Warning, Whigs, Democrats and Socialists, Why We Celebrate a Commune of Paris, and Correspondence on Communism and Anarchism among them. Morris was a reader of Marx and a friend of Engels and given how much the Arts and Crafts movement from which Morris emerged developed a reputation for the 'simple life', it is bracing to read Morris on what he regards as 'simplicity'. 'Well, but this demand of the extinction of asceticism bears with it another demand: for the extinction of luxury. Does that seem a paradox to you? It ought not to do so. What brings about luxury but a sickly discontent with the simple joys of the lovely earth?' 215pp, paperback.