Professor William Fishman, son of an immigrant tailor, describes London's East End at a time of mass immigration from Eastern Europe to the shabby tenements of Stepney and Whitechapel. He describes the spread of libertarian and socialist ideals among the Jewish community culminating in the great strikes of 1889 and 1912. It was in London's East End that Rudolf Rocker taught himself Yiddish and helped politicize a generation. An extraordinary period of Jewish, immigrant and radical history, described by an inspired storyteller. "An immensely readable work, it should attract a large and enthusiastic audience." - Paul Avrich

East End Jewish Radicals 1875-1914

History

William J. Fishman

Europe

Five Leaves

<p>An anthology of British socialist poetry. It starts with William Blake, John Clare, Charles Dickens and Shelley, and ends with Carol Ann Duffy, Benjamin Zephaniah, Jackie Kay and Mr Social Control. Here we have the poetry of the first world war (Isaac Rosenberg, Ivor Gurney); the celebration of revolution (Hugh McDiarmid, D H Lawrence); the hungry thirties (Auden, C Day Lewis and Louis MacNiece); the second world war years (Alun Lewis, Hamish Henderson); new post-war voices (Alex Comfort, Roger McGough); the years of colonial liberation (Adrian Mitchell, James Berry); new voices of black writing (Grace Nichols, Jean Binta Breeze) and the women's movement (Liz Lochhead, Alison Fell); the Thatcher years (Sean O'Brien, Anne Stevenson) and modern times (Kathleen Jamie, Linda France). In all - 153 poems from 117 poets. Many of the poets will be well-known to poetry readers....a few will be forgotten voices. Red Sky At Night tells the story of the movement of an idea from the margins of British life to the center, and then out again to its disreputable edges. It tells the story of the engagement by British poets with contemporary political events. And it provides a sustained political footnote to the literary history of the last century.</p>

Red Sky at Night: Socialist Poetry

Literature & Fiction

Mitchell, Adrian

Croft, Andy

Poetry

From Canvey Island to Jaywick Sands, from Peacehaven to Pitsea; in the first 40 years of last century, thousands of English families made their own place in the sun, without benefit of councils, planners, architects, building societies, or even builders. Were they, as many planners and environmentalists suggested, making rural slums and seaside eyesores, or were they providing a unique example of unaided self-build housing, with lessons for us all today? Here Dennis Hardy and Colin Ward uncover the history of the 'plotlands' of South-East England, telling the fascinating detail of the places people built for themselves on the coast and in the country, and of what happened to them since, drawing parallels with similar developments in other parts of the world.

Arcadia for All: The Legacy of a Makeshift Landscape

Politics & Social Sciences

Hardy, Dennis

WARD, Colin

Sociology

East End 1888 is essential reading for anyone interested in social history and the history of London. Professor William Fishman shows what life was like for the labouring poor in the year of Jack the Ripper and the Matchgirls’ strike, when poverty, crime, disease and social unrest were at their height. The communal life of the street, pubs and clubs softened the brutality of the daily grind, where the sweatshop, the ghetto, the poor tenement — and the threat of the workhouse - were ever present in an age of genuine “Victorian values”."In the hands of virtually any other historian this would have been a depressing book. But Bill Fishman has a gift, shared with Richard Cobb, of writing about horrible subjects in such a way as to leave you thinking that there is a God in heaven after all."Norman Stone, Sunday Times"Fishman ís admirable book not merely enlightens us about a dead past, and excites our indignation on behalf of wrongs long since righted. It shows us a past in which we can all too clearly see the present."Leon Garfield, Times Higher Educational Supplement "A brilliantly perceptive study... a marvellous, vivid account of the poverty stricken world of the East End, not only scholarly and well documented but also very easy to read"Spectator

East End 1888: A Year in a London Borough Among the Labouring Poor

Fishman, William J.

Allotment gardens (or community gardens as they are called here) are taken for granted as party of the everyday scene on the fringe of very city, town and village. This unique and fascinating book explores the culture and landscape of the allotment and the part it has played in Britain for 150 years. The old mental image of the cloth-clapped plot-holder, sitting in his shed on a Sunday morning and pedaling home with a bunch of carrots over his handlebars is no longer valid. Recent research is showing that more and more plot-holders are young, or women. However, the allotment is under threat and long-held sites have been taken over. A new introduction describes these changes. Rich in local history and anecdote, The Allotment explores regional variations like pigeon-fancying and leek competitions, as well as alternative uses and international comparisons. Are allotments simply a recreation like tennis or golf, or the last precious vestige of everyone's natural right to a patch of land to produce food?

The Allotment: Its Landscape And Culture

Crafts, Hobbies & Home

Crouch, David

Gardening & Landscape Design

Of all political views anarchism is the most ill-represented. For more than 30 years, in over 30 books, Colin Ward has been patiently explaining anarchist solutions to everything from vandalism to what we do after the motor age - as well as celebrating unofficial uses of the landscape, from holiday camps to squatter communities. In this book-length interview, Colin Ward discusses the ups and downs of the anarchist movement during the last century, including the many famous characters who were anarchists, or associated with the movement, including Herbert Read, Alex Comfort, Marie Louise Berneri, Paul Goodman, Noam Chomsky & George Orwell. With his typical patience, and humor, he ruminates on where we've been, and where we might ought to be going, as well as his influences, life and thoughts...A wonderfully, truly enjoyable, and enlightening read.

Talking Anarchy

Goodway, David

Politics & Government

Barcelona

Michael Eaude

"The bones were tiny. They lay in his hand like a set of pearls, translucent and fragile. When he turned them to the light, he could see their fractured ends and hollow cores. They were light as a feather, as brittle as chalk. And as easy to break as a straw..." CLAWS is a short novella from award-winning British crime writer Stephen Booth, featuring one of his main series characters, Detective Constable Ben Cooper, on assignment to the Derbyshire Rural Crime Squad and tackling the problems of wildlife crime.In the wild crags of the Dark Peak moorland, a ruthless conflict has been raging for years. The discovery of an illegal haul from the bedroom of a terraced house is a clue to what might be at stake - perhaps the entire future of one of the most prized landscapes in the Peak District National Park.For Ben Cooper, his assignment to the Rural Crime Squad means stepping into the middle of the conflict, without being quite sure whose side he's on.The predators come in all shapes and sizes. And in this battle, not all the victims will be human...The Cooper & Fry series has won awards on both sides of the Atlantic, including two Barry Awards for Best British Crime Novel and the Dagger in the Library for "the author whose books have given readers most pleasure". Stephen Booth has also been a Gold Dagger finalist, an Anthony nominee, and twice shortlisted for the Theakston's Crime Novel of the Year. DC Cooper reached the finals of the Sherlock Award for best detective created by a British author. There are 11 full-length novels in the series, the latest being THE DEVIL'S EDGE."Booth is a modern master of rural noir" - The Guardian"One of the elite British mystery writers" - Washington Times"There are few, if any, contemporary writers who do this as well as Stephen Booth" - Arena Magazine"Booth delivers some of the best crime fiction in the UK" - Manchester Evening News

Claws (Crime Express)

STEPHEN BOOTH

<p>Enthusiasts call Harry Gysel a psychic. To others he is a fraud, a meddler in the occult. When he appears to predict the death of a woman in the audience of one of his shows and that woman is subsequently found murdered, Harry becomes an instant celebrity. The police aren't so easily convinced of his innocence. 'You've come here to find the truth,' says Harry Gysel to the audience. But the truth is not so easy to find.</p>

The Mentalist (Crime Express)

Rod Duncan

Literary

Secret Judaism and the Spanish Inquisition

Michael Alpert

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