Product Description
First published
in July, 1967, The Young Meteors remains one of the first and best
primary-source accounts of the semi-mythical phenomenon known as ‘Swinging
London’. By the mid-1960s, the anger and austerity of a previous generation had
given way to prosperity — and a possibility, that of a classless meritocracy
where anyone with energy, drive and talent could ‘arrive’. Pop stars,
photographers, fashion designers, models, gallery owners, journalists, actors
and even politicians and financiers became the ‘young meteors’.
Jonathan
Aitken’s account, which coined the term and was forged in the white-hot heat of
the moment, drew in many involved, including: Mary Quant, Bridget Riley, Pete
Townsend, Twiggy, The Beatles, David Bailey, Nik Cohn, Alexander Pluncket
Greene, Robert Fraser, Don McCullin, John Stephens, Ken Russell, Michael Caine,
Terry Donovan, Peter Asher, and Jean Shrimpton. At the time of its original
publication, many of the 200-plus interviewed were speaking for the first time
about their experiences. Like all meteors, some rose and burned out. But many
continued to soar, and the legacy of all of them still resonates today.
For this
Ink Monkey edition, Jonathan Aitken has written a brief Afterword, setting out
the circumstances in which The Young Meteors came to be written and the
background against which it was published.
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