VILLAINS' PARADISE Britain's Underworld From the Spivs to The Krays

Thomas (Donald)

ISBN 10: 0719557348 / ISBN 13: 9780719557347

Published by John Murray, 2005

About this Item

Hardback. INSC. AND SIGNED. With the war over, the 1940s and the 1950s in Britain have the aura of a golden age. But nostalgia is deceptive: to contemporaries, the battlefront seemed only to have moved closer to home, as anxiety about armed robberies and psychopaths spread. Teenage Teddy-boy razor gangs proliferated and youths casually stabbed each other at dance halls. Billy Hill and Jack Spot slashed their way to underworld supremacy, while witnesses lost their memories. Ronnie Biggs and his accomplices prototyped the gang of the future with the famous Great Train Robbery of 1963, and Brighton police corruption shook public complacency. Britain had lost the Ashes, exports had nose-dived and all of its secrets had probably been given to the Russians, but when it came to safe-blowing, it led the world. By 1970 crime had tripled. By the end of the century it would triple again. With the narrative sweep and eye for telling detail that was a hallmark of his previous 'underworld' accounts, the author chronicles a history we might rather forget, through compelling stories we can't live without. Profusely Illus. + Notes and Index. 506pp. lge. 8vo. h/back. PRESENTATION COPY INSCRIBED AND SIGNED BY DONALD THOMAS. F. in Nr. F. dw. A fairly heavy book which may require additional postage, particularly if shipped overseas. Seller Inventory # 19689

Bibliographic Details

Title: VILLAINS' PARADISE Britain's Underworld From...

Publisher: John Murray

Publication Date: 2005

Binding: Hardcover / Hardback

Condition: Fine

Dust Jacket Condition: Fine

Signed: signed and inscribed by author

Edition: First edition.

About this title

Synopsis:

With the war over, the forties and the fifties in Britain have the aura of a golden age. But nostalgia is deceptive: to contemporaries, the battlefront seemed only to have moved closer to home, as anxiety about armed robberies and psychopaths spread.

Teenage Teddy Boy razor gangs proliferated and youths casually stabbed each other at dance halls. Newspapers revelled in headlines about the slashing of Jack Spot; Ronnie Biggs and his accomplices prototyped the gang of the future with the famous Great Train Robbery of 1963. Britain had lost the Ashes, exports had nose-dived and all of its secrets had probably been given to the Russians, but when it came to safe-blowing, it led the world.

With the narrative sweep and eye for telling detail that was a hallmark of his previous 'underworld' accounts, Donald Thomas chronicles a history we might rather forget, through compelling stories we can't live without.

Review:

'A thorough, clear and entertaining analysis of post-war criminality' (Marcel Berlins, The Times)

Praise for An Underworld at War: 'Astonishing ... Thomas has excelled himself. His book is mesmerising and is an unputdownable and brilliantly researched page-turner. An important and riveting study in social history, it also has a very pertinent relevance in the overtaxed, overruled and crime-riddled society that is Britain today.' (Sunday Times)

Praise for An Underworld at War: 'This is a wonderful book, the best I have read for ages. It is beautifully written, utterly compelling: almost without fault in every respect. Thomas, who was a boy during the war, understands his métier intimately' (Literary Review)

'Fascinating . . . A serious, well-written book . . . Admirably clear-eyed' (Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday)

'Crime, like the poor, is always with us. Donald Thomas's skill in this book is to put it into its historical context' (Ray Connolly, Daily Mail)

Praise for An Underworld at War: 'Fascinating ... a richly readable and absorbing account' (Times Higher Education Supplement)

Praise for An Underworld at War: 'Donald Thomas's fascinating book ... is full of wonderful examples of dishonesty, from the most mundane ... to the shocking' (Daily Telegraph)

'An intensely detailed, exhaustively researched and highly readable social history. Or, should one say, anti-social history?' (Evening Standard)

Praise for The Victorian Underworld: 'The author has a practised eye for the best anecdotes and presents amazing characters' (The Spectator)

'A rewarding and utterly necessary read.' (Clive Aslet, Country Life)