Description
"The writing is breathtaking. Every word carefully selected to draw you further and further in. Occasionally it becomes reminiscent of A Clockwork Orange with the teenagers having their own language and their own world, only half understood by the adults they hold in so much contempt... Buy this book. And then buy a copy for all your friends as well." ( The Bookbag ) A talented off-beat journalist and social observer, Colin MacInnes is best known for his trilogy of London novels which includes Absolute Beginners as well as City of Spades and Mr Love and Justice . He also wrote about the allied occupation of Germany in the aftermath of the Second World War, in June in Her Spring and England, Half English . He died of cancer in 1976. Since his death his best essays, fiction and journalism have been published in various collections.
Features & Highlights
- London, 1958. In the smoky jazz clubs of Soho and the coffee bars of Notting Hill the young and the restless - the absolute beginners - are forging a new carefree lifestyle of sex, drugs and rock'n'roll. Moving in the midst of this world of mods and rockers, Teddy gangs and trads., and snapping every scene with his trusty Rolleiflex, is MacInnes' young photographer, whose unique wit and honest views remain the definitive account of London life in the 1950s and what it means to be a teenager. In this twentieth century cult classic, MacInnes captures the spirit of a generation and creates the style bible for anyone interested in Mod culture, and the changing face of London in the era of the first race riots and the lead up to the swinging Sixties...
