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'The Hard Way is a powerful manifesto for women who long to walk alone – and safely – in the countryside' Dr. Sharon Blackie, author of If Women Rose Rooted Why is it radical for women to walk alone in the countryside, when men have been doing so for centuries? The Hard Way is a powerful and illuminating book about addressing this imbalance, reclaiming fearlessness and diving into the history of the landscape from a woman’s point of view. Setting off to follow the oldest paths in England, the Ridgeway and the Harrow Way, Susannah Walker comes across artillery fire, concern from passing policemen and her own innate fear of lone figures in the distance: a landscape shaped by men, from prehistoric earthworks to today’s army bases. But along the way, Susannah finds Edwardian feminists, rebellious widows, forgotten writers and artists, as well as all their anonymous sisters who stayed at home throughout history. They become her companions over 135 miles of walking, revealing how much, or how little, has changed for women now.
Between the 1920s and the 1970s, American economic culture began to emphasize the value of consumption over production. At the same time, the rise of new mass media such as radio and television facilitated the advertising and sales of consumer goods on an unprecedented scale. In Style and Status: Selling Beauty to African American Women, 1920--1975, Susannah Walker analyzes an often-overlooked facet of twentieth-century consumer society as she explores the political, social, and racial implications of the business devoted to producing and marketing beauty products for African American women. Walker examines African American beauty culture as a significant component of twentieth-century consu...
Shortlisted for the James Tait Black biography prize 2019 'A moving memoir.' Sunday Times 'Gripped me from the first page.' Clover Stroud, author of My Wild and Sleepless Nights 'A gripping read... a riveting piece of writing.' Radio 4 __________ What do our possessions say about us? Why do we project such meaning onto them? What becomes of the things we leave behind? Only after her mother's death does Susannah Walker discover how much of a hoarder she had become. Over the following months, Susannah has to sort through a dilapidated house filled to the brim with rubbish and treasures - filling bag after bag with possessions. But what she's really in search of is a woman she'd never really kn...
'Absolutely fascinating. She writes with admirable honesty... It is a book I know I shall read again.' Ruth Hogan, author of The Keeper of Lost Things 'An excellent memoir'. Cathy Rentzenbrink, The Times Only after her mother's death does Susannah Walker discover how much of a hoarder she had become. Over the following months, she has to sort through a dilapidated house filled to the brim with rubbish and treasures, in search of a woman she'd never really known or understood in life. This is her last chance to piece together her mother's story and make sense of their troubled relationship. What emerges from the mess of scattered papers, discarded photographs and an extraordinary amount of st...
From Coughs and Sneezes Spread Diseases to Keep Calm and Carry On, the Home Front posters from the Second World War have become part of British culture. Some were design classics, others more prosaic, but together they give a fascinating insight into the trials and tribulations of living through World War Two. This was the first total war, with civilians as essential to the war effort as soldiers. So posters instructed people on everything from cooking and salvage to how to speak, and even think, about the war. This book tells the story behind these posters: how they were designed and produced, what they wanted to achieve, and what the British public really thought of them. Looking at famous images and forgotten gems, it is essential reading for anyone interested in both life on the Home Front and the design of the times.
After the constraints of the World War Two, the British embraced modern design like never before. From spindly-legged furniture to fabrics based on atomic design, quirkily patterned pottery to abstract graphics, they wanted everything around them to reflect the bright new post-war world. This book traces the development of modern design in the 1950s, from its first genteel beginnings at the Festival of Britain to the shops brimming with slick products at the end of the decade. Looking at both well-known classics and popular favourites, the work of famous designers and anonymous innovators it's a great introduction to the flamboyant and sometimes kitsch style of the decade when we learnt to love the modern for the first time.
'Raw, elemental and beautiful.' Telegraph 'This is quite simply the best book about motherhood I have ever read.' - Eleanor Mills in the Sunday Times Mother to five children, Clover Stroud has navigated family life across two decades, both losing and finding herself. In her touching, provocative and profoundly insightful book, she captures a sense of what motherhood really feels like - how intense, sensuous, joyful, boring, profound and dark it can be. My Wild and Sleepless Nights examines what it means to be a mother, and reveals with unflinching honesty the many conflicting emotions that this entails- the joy and the wonder, the loneliness and despair. MORE PRAISE FOR CLOVER STROUD- 'Clove...
Between the 1920s and the 1970s, American economic culture began to emphasize the value of consumption over production. At the same time, the rise of new mass media such as radio and television facilitated the advertising and sales of consumer goods on an unprecedented scale. In Style and Status: Selling Beauty to African American Women, 1920–1975, Susannah Walker analyzes an often-overlooked facet of twentieth-century consumer society as she explores the political, social, and racial implications of the business devoted to producing and marketing beauty products for African American women. Walker examines African American beauty culture as a significant component of twentieth-century cons...
For fans of I MAY DESTROY YOU and FLEABAG and for readers who want to laugh and cry: the brave, beautiful, sometimes brutal story of a young misfit and her rocky road to womanhood, stopping at each year along the way. 'I loved Tennis Lessons so much. Susannah is a phenomenally talented writer' ELIZABETH DAY 'A raw, fierce, shockingly honest coming-of-age story' LOUISE O'NEILL 'Incredibly funny . . . by turns charming and disgusting and I loved it' NELL FRIZZELL You're strange and wrong. You've known it from the beginning. This is the voice that rings in your ears. Because you never say the right thing. You're a disappointment to everyone. You're a far cry from beautiful - and your thoughts a...