It is 1938 and the prospect of war hangs over every London inhabitant. But the city doesn't stop. Everywhere people continue to work, drink, fall in love, fight and struggle to get on in life. At the lodging-house at No.10 Dulcimer Street, Kennington, the buttoned-up clerk Mr Josser returns home with the clock he has received as a retirement gift. The other residents include faded actress Connie; tinned food-loving Mr Puddy; widowed landlady Mrs Vizzard (whose head is turned by her new lodger, a self-styled 'Professor of Spiritualism'); and flashy young mechanic Percy Boon, whose foray into stolen cars descends into something much, much worse ... Includes an introduction by Ed Glinert, as well as explanatory footnotes.
With its unparalleled coverage of English slang of all types (from 18th-century cant to contemporary gay slang), and its uncluttered editorial apparatus, Cassell's Dictionary of Slang was warmly received when its first edition appeared in 1998. 'Brilliant.' said Mark Lawson on BBC2's The Late Review; 'This is a terrific piece of work - learned, entertaining, funny, stimulating' said Jonathan Meades in The Evening Standard.But now the world's best single-volume dictionary of English slang is about to get even better. Jonathon Green has spent the last seven years on a vast project: to research in depth the English slang vocabulary and to hunt down and record written instances of the use of as many slang words as possible. This has entailed trawling through more than 4000 books - plus song lyrics, TV and movie scripts, and many newspapers and magazines - for relevant material. The research has thrown up some fascinating results
An incidental pleasure of watching a film is what it tells us about the society in which it is made. Using a sociological model, The British working class in postwar film looks at how working-class people were portrayed in British feature films in the decade after the Second World War. Though some of the films examined are well known, others have been forgotten and deserve reassessment. Original statistical data is used to assess the popularity of the films with audiences. With its interdisciplinary approach and the avoidance of jargon, this book seeks to broaden the approach to film studies. Students of media and cultural studies are introduced to the skills of other disciplines, while sociologists and historians are encouraged to consider the value of film evidence in their own fields. This work should appeal to all readers interested in social history and in how cinema and society works.
When Kate Mayfield receives a letter from dying Mrs. Ivanisovic, she realizes that the secret she's kept for more than thirty years is no longer safe. But is the old woman really after Kate's story of love, lies, and murder? Or something more? From the Hardcover edition.
We all fall prey to sin at some point in our life. It happens to some people sooner than later—especially a young sixteen-year-old hovercycle wreck victim, Brody Bienemy. Unfortunately, or fortunately, it happens to him before anyone else gets sucked into his self-created sinnado. This is a time frame during which the souls of the unsaved have been cast to Earth's parallel planet, Trendago—a second chance world that has been harboring the souls of the deceased for millions of years. What happens to everyone who is not saved after the Second Coming? The answer comes from the most unsuspecting place: the damaged mind of this sixteen-year-old. Brody, once a brash and cocksure icon at Rumor Mill High School, is now faced with a life-altering situation that gets him exiled to a juvenile detention center masquerading as a treatment facility in the scorching and desolate Xerophyte Desert. Like every other psyche patient at Dry Sea Octofuture Health (DSOH), he is powerless and hopeless. Or is he? During his treatment, Brody discovers—much to his astonishment—his capacity for prophetic ingenuity. By way of his inexplicable transformation and his invention of a dream machine, he seeks identity and purpose, after being spared death. Will Brody's persistence, contrition for past sins, and newfound genius help him save himself, as well as his friends, from certain spiritual annihilation? Or will his growing awareness of their transgressions—many of them performed at his expense—inspire him to selfishly stand aside as they are cast into the searing pits of Nostradama, damnation for all eternity?
