Tag: book

Categories / Art and Photography, Books

Beauty Is In The Street book – A Visual Record of the May ’68 Paris Uprising

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There was a hugely-expensive, extremely limited edition book about the subject a couple of years back. Thankfully, the Beauty Is In The Street book, also known as A Visual Record of the May '68 Paris Uprising, is more affordable and plentiful.

The subject matter is the May 1968 student protests in Paris, which also spread to factories and other workplaces to create a general strike that brought the country to a standstill. Among the students were a group called the Atelier Populaire, which produced hundreds of posters to encourage the protestors and to report on police brutality.

This book reproduces over 200 of these iconic posters, as well as featuring  a number of photographs, many published for the first time and translations of first-hand accounts of the clashes between the students, strikers and the police. 272 pages and published by Four Corners Books, this hardback book is available for £25.

Find out more at the Amazon website

Categories / Books

Chic on a Shoestring: Simple to Sew vintage-style accessories book by Mary Jane Baxter

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Chic

If you have an urge to get crafty, you might want to check out Chic on a Shoestring: Simple to Sew vintage-style accessories book by Mary Jane Baxter.

Mary Jane Baxter is a hat maker, crafter and journalist, with all those of those skills no doubt coming into play here as the author shows how to convert vintage and throwaway items into something 'stylishly vintage'. A tie into a purse, knitting needle holder, cute corsage and a belt, silk scarves as a top or skirt or t-shirts as 40s-style turbans for example. There's also advice on how to find 'treasures' at markets, charity shops and vintage stores.

The 160-page book is published by Kyle Cathie, available online for £9.49.

Find out more about the book at the Amazon website

Categories / Books

The Sixties Unplugged by Gerard DeGroot

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The Sixties Unplugged by Gerard DeGroot was published a couple of years back, but has only just made it to the top of my reading list.

DeGroot's central premise is that the 1960s weren't the idealistic revolutionary decade that is usually remembered with fondness and its legacy isn't necessary the things most people immediately think of. The book covers all the usual things you’d find in a book about the 1960s (The Beatles, Vietnam, JFK, mini-skirts and student riots), but DeGroot stresses that only a minority of people involved in radical movements. He further proposes that it is the conservative politics of the time that has had the greatest impact on our world – this was the decade that Reagan first went into politics. Whether or not you agree with his arguments, the book offers a different perspective on a well-worn path.

The book is available for £6.99 from Amazon or as cheap as £1.25 from other sellers.

Categories / Books

The Perfect Picnic by Hilda Leyel

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 The Perfect Picnic, published tomorrow, is just the book to ensure a certain sophistication to your al fresco dining activities this summer.

Hilda Leyel, who originally wrote The Perfect Picnic in 1936 was an expert cook and founder of the Society of Herbalists. She had a number of forward thinking ideas about food, such as eating seasonally and perfecting traditional British dishes, which chime perfectly with our current culinary fashions.

Recipes include egg mayonnaise on crusty bread, watercress, beetroot and nasturtium salad and spiced plum cake with salted almonds all of which promise delicious possibilities for summer dining.

You can buy The Perfect Picnic from Amazon for £4.99 here.

 

Categories / Books, Kids

2011: Living in the Future book by Geoffrey Hoyle reissued – 2011 as seen from the 1970s

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Not sure how we missed this reissue at the back end of 2010, the reissue of the 2011: Living in the Future book by Geoffrey Hoyle that is, courtesy of Green Tiger Press.

Originally published back in 1972 and primarily aimed at children, it was as mix of text and illustrations (courtesy of Alasdair Anderson) that attempted to predicted what life would be like in 2011, a modern-day utopia of three-day working weeks, breakfast factories, 'vision phones' and traffic-free commutes. Some have obviously not happened, but one or two of the predictions have. Those phones for example.

If you want to re-live your childhood or you want a child's eye view of the future promised to us all those years ago, you can grab the 64-page hardback reissue now online, priced at £7.50. An inside shot over the page.

Find out more about the book at the Amazon website

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Categories / Books, Design and Interiors

Furniture & Interiors of the 1960s by Anne Bony

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Furniture & Interiors of the 1960s by Anne Bony is another great book to have on your Formica coffee table.

The book looks at that most radical of decades, where designers experimented with plastics, and inflatable furniture was mixed with Victorian influences. Featuring 300 key designs, by the likes of Eames and Harry Bertoia, the book offers a great insight into the bold designs of the period, as well as some great photographs to feast your eyes upon.

Buy it online from Amazon for £28.