Britain's most widely read author of the late twentieth century, Catherine Cookson published more than 100 books, including The Fifteen Streets, The Black Velvet Gown, and Katie Mulhollond. Set in England's industrial northeast, her novels depict the social, economic, and emotional hardships of that area. In the first essay collection devoted to Cookson, the contributors examine what Cookson's memoirs and historical fiction mean to readers, including how her fans contribute to her position in the cultural imaginary; constructions of gender, class, and English and Irish identity in her work; the importance of place in her novels; Cookson's place in the heritage industry; and television adaptations of Cookson's works. Cookson's work tackled topics that were still taboo in the early post-World War II era, such as domestic abuse, rape, and incest. This collection places Cookson in historical context and shows how skillful she was at pushing generic boundaries.

A collection of fourteen stories containing a broad cast of amusing characters involved in adventures which are by turns funny, ingenious and moving.

'A powerful story and Piers Dudgeon tells it with skill and feeling' Daily TelegraphBorn into the bleak industrial heartland of Tyneside in 1906, an illegitimate child with the courage to escape and discover her true self, denies her people, reaches roc

First published in 1994 Stirring It debates the challenges which confront feminism and Women's Studies in the 1990s. In the face of current worldwide political and social upheavals, Stirring It poses questions about women, their bodies, their identities, and positions which need to be addressed by contemporary feminists. The chapters therefore challenge the orthodoxies and theories which are exploded by contemporary feminist practice. They raise new issues for feminist debate. The volume is divided into four sections: ‘Feminist Politics in Action’ investigates the inter-relationship between politics and action with reference to issues such as the women's movement in Britain and women's position in and in relation to Ireland; ‘Disrupting Sexual Identities’ provides critiques of heterosexuality, monogamy, and conceptualization of the female body; ‘Imaging and Imagining’ explores the politics of women's cultural production and ‘Women's Studies and Feminist Practice’ analyzes the often fraught connections between theory and practice. This is a must read for scholars and researchers of Women's Studies, Sociology, and Gender Studies.

Modern life is often described as an iron cage from which there is no escape. But popular culture venerates leisure and travel as authentic escape routes from routine and monotony. However what kind of escape is tolerated in modern society? How is it shaped by historical expectations of leisure and travel? And what do we actually experience when we engage in leisure or travel activity? This fascinating and accomplished book tries to supply answers to these questions. A major scholarly contribution to the sociological analysis of leisure, pleasure and travel, Dr Rojek's study is a radical challenge to the existing paradigmatic orthodoxy. Bryan S. Turner, University of Essex.

SPECTATOR BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2015 Britain's empire has gone. Our manufacturing base is a shadow of its former self; the Royal Navy has been reduced to a skeleton. In military, diplomatic and economic terms, we no longer matter as we once did. And yet there is still one area in which we can legitimately claim superpower status: our popular culture. It is extraordinary to think that one British writer, J. K. Rowling, has sold more than 400 million books; that Doctor Who is watched in almost every developed country in the world; that James Bond has been the central character in the longest-running film series in history; that The Lord of the Rings is the second best-selling novel ever written (behind only A Tale of Two Cities); that the Beatles are still the best-selling musical group of all time; and that only Shakespeare and the Bible have sold more books than Agatha Christie. To put it simply, no country on earth, relative to its size, has contributed more to the modern imagination. This is a book about the success and the meaning of Britain's modern popular culture, from Bond and the Beatles to heavy metal and Coronation Street, from the Angry Young Men to Harry Potter, from Damien Hirst toThe X Factor.