Author:Samuel Hynes
This is a study of a literary generation writing in a period of expanding fears and ever more urgent political and social crises. The pace of the time itself, the sense of time passing and an end approaching gave a special quality to the Thirties. The public world pressed insistently on the private world. For those who came of literary age - Auden, Day Lewis, MacNeice, Spender, Graham Greene, Isherwood and Orwell among them - writing became a form of action. In the process a generation discovered itself and found its own expression.
About feelings, fog and forebodings, about the sense of a birth of good against gathering odds, The Auden Generation is wonderfully accurate, never smart or superficial and always sympathetic. A good and necessary book.
—— Geoffrey Grigson , Country LifeHis extremely lucid, readable and intelligent study of the literary history of England in the Thirties greatly enlarges the reader's view of the generation.
—— Stephen Spender , New StatesmanStimulating and authentic... Hynes's judicious choice of example and avoidance of muddying inclusivity, his ability to make critical connections and his clarity of argument, all these qualities give his book unity, give it indeed its definitive scope.
—— John Fuller , The Times Literary SupplementSuperb.
—— Michael Ratcliffe , The TimesGood, pacy stuff and impressively researched
—— Professor Keith Jeffery, official historian of MI6An extradordinary story, told for the first time
—— Today, Radio 4Their gung-ho story is told with much buckle and swash
—— The TimesA barnstorming history
—— i IndependentThis true story has all the ingredients of a John Buchan 1920s thriller
—— Country LifeWhatever your views on Grant's own creative output which I find both dazzling and, on occasions, daunting, no one can deny the man's blistering intelligence and throughout his career he has never ceased from innovation. Each new project makes readers sit up and think and I imagine many of his peers have felt the same way. Similarly this 400-page history of and tribute to this medium's meta - humans will give you much to ponder, and I don't think any true fan of the genre, as I have been since five, can afford to be without its illuminating torch
—— Page 45If this were just Morrison's story, the reminiscences of an original Scots thinker who works in a medium that silly people scorn, it would be worth your time. The sections detailing the writer's relationship with his father are especially touching. What makes this book exceptional is the history of comics that comes with the history of Morrison... As a superhero fan, I found this a diverting read. As a people fan, I found it unputdownable
—— ScotsmanAuthoritative overview of the genre...detailed and thoughtful
—— SpectatorMorrison's analysis of how comic books have reflected and influenced mainstream culture is never less than intriguing, and his turn of phrase is often a joy
—— Robert Colville , Daily TelegraphThis is entertaining stuff
—— Sunday Times, Christmas Round UpButterworth's fascination with his subject drips from the page...this is entertaining stuff
—— Dominic Sandbrook , Sunday TimesAn astounding story of bitter civil warfare that raged across many countries for decades. Butterworth's passionate account of the anarchist movements born in the late 19th century describes a conflict that spawned its own "war on terror"
—— Steve Burniston , Guardian