Author: THOMAS, DONALD SERRELL
Title: Villains' paradise : Britain's underworld from the spivs to the Krays
Description: London : John Murray 2005. First Edition. An exceptional copy; fine in an equally fine dw. now mylar-sleeved. Particularly and surprisingly well-preserved; tight. bright. clean and especially sharp-cornered. Literally as new.; 8vo 8' - 9' tall; 506 pages; Physical desc. : xix. 506 p. 16 p. of plates : ill. ports. ; 24 cm. Subject: Crime --Great Britain --History --20th century --Criminals --Social conditions - 1945- --True crime ; Social and cultural history. Summary: With the war over. the forties and the fifties in Britain have the aura of a golden age. But nostalgia is deceptive: to contemporaries. the battlefront seemed only to have moved closer to home. as anxiety about armed robberies and psychopaths spread. Teenage Teddy Boy razor gangs proliferated and youths casually stabbed each other at dance halls. Newspapers revelled in headlines about the slashing of Jack Spot; Ronnie Biggs and his accomplices prototyped the gang of the future with the famous Great Train Robbery of 1963. Britain had lost the Ashes. exports had nose-dived and all of its secrets had probably been given to the Russians. but when it came to safe-blowing. it led the world. With the narrative sweep and eye for telling detail that was a hallmark of his previous 'underworld' accounts. Donald Thomas chronicles a history we might rather forget. through compelling stories we can't live without. by Donald Thomas.Weight in Kg appr.:

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