Due for
release on 28th March, and on Amazon at £12.80 (discounted from a
RRP of £25), comes the latest book on our scene. This hardback book comes in at
400 pages and is published by Bodley Head, with the description of the work
(and author) from Amazon being as follows: -
“Welcome
to the world of the sharp-suited 'faces'. The Italianistas. The scooter-riding,
all-night-dancing instigators of what became, from its myriad sources, a very
British phenomenon.
Mod
began life as the quintessential working-class movement of a newly affluent
nation - a uniquely British amalgam of American music and European fashions
that mixed modern jazz with modernist design in an attempt to escape the drab
conformity, snobbery and prudery of life in 1950s Britain. But what started as
a popular cult became a mainstream culture, and a style became a revolution.
In Mod,
Richard Weight tells the story of Britain's biggest and most influential youth
cult. He charts the origins of Mod in the Soho jazz scene of the 1950s, set to
the cool sounds of Charlie Parker and Miles Davis. He explores Mod's heyday in
Swinging London in the mid-60s - to a new soundtrack courtesy of the Small
Faces, the Who and the Kinks. He takes us to the Mod-Rocker riots at Margate
and Brighton, and into the world of fashion and design dominated by Twiggy,
Mary Quant and Terence Conran.
But Mod
did not end in the 1960s. Richard Weight not only brings us up to the cult's
revival in the late 70s - played out against its own soundtrack of Quadrophenia
and the Jam - but reveals Mod to be the DNA of British youth culture, leaving
its mark on glam and Northern Soul, punk and Two Tone, Britpop and rave.
This is
the story of Britain's biggest and brassiest youth movement - and of its
legacy. Music, film, fashion, art, architecture and design - nothing was
untouched by the eclectic, frenetic, irresistible energy of Mod.”
About the Author
“Richard
Weight is the author of Patriots: National Identity in Britain 1940-2000 and
co-authored Modern British History: The Essential A-Z Guide. He studied history
at Trinity College, Cambridge, and went on to do a PhD at University College,
London. He is currently a Professor at the University of Boston and is a Fellow
of the Royal Historical Society. Richard also makes documentaries for radio and
television on many aspects of British life.”
No comments:
Post a Comment