Britain is celebrated for having avoided the extremism, political violence & instability that blighted many European countries between the two world wars. But her success was a closer thing than has been realized. Disillusionment with parliamentary democracy, outbreaks of fascist violence & fears of communist subversion in industry & the Empire ran through the entire period.

Fascist organizations may have failed to attract the support they achieved elsewhere but fascist ideas were adopted from top to bottom of society & by men & women in all parts of the country. This book will demonstrate for the first time the true spread & depth of fascist beliefs
- & the extent to which they were distinctly British. Like the Continental movements, fascism in the UK encompassed the corporate state, charismatic leadership & youthful rejection of the decadent rule of the older generation. But was it less anti-Semitic? Was it readier to adopt a feminist agenda? & was the fact that Britain finally repudiated fascism more a matter of timing & chance than of fundamental obstacles in British society & politics?

Hurrah for the Blackshirts!, rich in anecdotes & extraordinary characters, shows us an inter-war Britain on the high-road to fascism but never quite arriving at its destination.




...

Eira is alone. Thirty-six years old & living on her own. She loved Jack, but their relationship had to end
- she could never have
...

Nineteen-year old Jack Mc Greary is adrift of the faded boomtown of Paradise Flats. Raised by his eccentric & increasingly erratic father, Jack has learned to live by his wits. When a pair of fast-talking swindlers named Virgil & Miss Rose blow through town, Jack falls in with them & together they go on a crime spree across the American Southwest, staging a series of elaborate & hilarious cons & heists. Young Jack is swept along into the world of hot jazz & cold, calculating crimes of the heart as the sexual tension between him & Miss Rose comes to the boil. Someone is being set up. But who is playing who? ...

There are traditional nursery rhymes & fairy tales as well as modern classics by author's like Shirley Hughes & Jane Hissey alongside Beatrix Potter's THE TALE OF MRS TIGGY-WINKLE & THE BORROWERS by Mary Norton. There are extracts too from old favourites like Wind in the Willows, The Secret Garden, Ballet Shoes & The Jungle Book. What a fantastic line-up! The contents list reads like a who's who of children's literature. ...

This unforgettable, beautifully produced anthology brings together over three hundred of the best loved poems to open the door of the imagination & take children on an exploration of the fun & wonder of rhyme & verse. The treasury is divided into four sections, corresponding to age &

Includes:: the work of celebrated modern writers such as Michael Rosen, Roald Dahl & Sylvia Plath, as well as selections from Shakespeare, Lewis Carroll, T. S. Eliot & many more.

...

Fairy Tales are part of the fabric of childhood
- a heritage of stories to weave magic as they are handed down from generation
...

Classics, contemporary bestsellers, medal winners & family favourites chosen from over the last hundred years are brought together in a collection designed for sharing & reading aloud. Read about Pooh's adventures, follow Max as he explores in Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are & marvel at the exploits of John Burningham's invincible Avocado Baby in this magical collection. ...