Priestley's England J. B. Priestley and English Culture

by Baxendale, John

• ISBN13: 9780719072864
• ISBN10: 0719072867
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-01-15
• Publisher: OXFORD UNIV PR

Summary

This is the first full-length academic study of J. B. Priestley -- novelist, playwright, screen-writer, journalist and broadcaster, political activist, public intellectual and popular entertainer. From his scathing analysis of a slump-stricken nation in the best-selling English Journey, to his popular wartime broadcasts which paved the way to 1945 and the welfare state, his post-war critique of "Admass" and the Cold War (he was a co-founder ofCND), and his continual engagement with the question of "Englishness", Priestley addressed the key issues of the century from a radical standpoint in fiction, journalism and plays which appealed to a wide audience and made him one of the most successful writers of his day.

Author Biography

John Baxendale is Principal Lecturer in Social and Cultural History at Sheffield Hallam University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	p. vi
Introduction	p. 1
'A serious writer with a message'	p. 5
Bruddersford and beyond	p. 35
Englands and Englishness	p. 76
This new England	p. 105
Priestley's war	p. 140
'Now we must live up to ourselves': New Jerusalem and beyond	p. 166
Bibliography	p. 194
Index	p. 209
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