Carl Gardner – författare

Britain’s high street revolution has made retailing one of the most important and dynamic sectorsof the British economy in the last twenty years. It has had an irreversible impact on our towns and cities and, for many people, transformed shopping from an unattractive domestic chore to a pleasurable ‘leisure ‘experience’, offering consumers an everchanging array of ‘disposable dreams’. The resulting ‘retail culture’ is everywhere – it has colonised huge areas of our social life outside the traditional high street, from sporting venues to arts centres, from railway termini to museums. Many see it as the epitome of Thatcher’s Britain, breeding acquisitive individualism and destroying our traditional manufacturing base. Others see it as a potential saviour of an ailing economy.Yet to date there has been no thorough analysis of this all-pervasive phenomenon, from its economic roots to its profound social effects. In Consuming Passion, Carl Gardner and Julie Sheppard have written the first overall study of the ‘retail revolution’ – a controversial and hard-hitting look at where retailing has come from, what it has achieved and where it is going. Key issues such as the role of design, the growth of the supermarket and shopping centre and the poor conditions of retail employment are all minutely examined. The book also discusses the very real pleasures that consumers gain from today’s enhanced shopping experience.The authors take an iconoclastic look at some of the powerful myths that have sprung up around retail: ‘the death of the high street’ scenario; the central role of credit; retailing as a major creator of employment; and the imminent possibility of ‘retail saturation’. A fascinating book for everyone who likes shopping – and even those who hate it.First published 1989.

“Op TELIC 9 – Arnhem in Basra” is the incredible story of Arnhem Company’s lethal tour of Basra City in Southern Iraq. The narrative is told by the Company Sergeant Major Carl Gardner, who is the senior and most experienced soldier in the company. In this must-read book, we hear stories which have never been heard before by the public and the horrendous conditions the soldiers are put through by the deadly Iraqi Insurgents.It's November 2006 and Arnhem Company is part of an armoured infantry unit, deploying to Iraq as part of The 2nd Battalion the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment’s seven-month operational tour. Once they land in Iraq, they are under constant rocket attacks from the Iraqi insurgents. They have to complete their in-country training before patrolling the lethal streets of Basra City. It does not get any easier as the insurgents attack them with machine guns, handheld rockets, and the devastating roadside bombs.It’s a case of step up or go home in a body bag. Some of the attacks are so aggressive that the only way the soldiers on the ground can explain it, is to tell people at home to watch “Black Hawk Down” the movie. This sustained fighting comes with a cost as 29 officers and soldiers get killed over the next seven months, with many, many more receiving life changing injuries. This book captures the reflections and feeling Carl and his soldiers go through in this life changing tour.He knows the British Army involvement in Iraq is unpopular with the British public and he has even heard comments like “American puppet in another Muslim country.” At the start of the tour, he does see them as a forces for good and will give his explanation why. It interesting how his thoughts are challenged during the tour and how as a soldier and a human being they change. He will explain what it feels like to lose a close friend in war and how it effects not just him but his family at home. The reader will get an in depth look at the hardships our soldiers and families go through at a time of conflict. You will find it hard not to be put through different emotion of anger, surprise, and sadness.This gives this book a unique and honest outlook that no other book from this conflict has given to date. This is the reason why “Op TELIC 9 - Arnhem In Basra,” is a must-read book, for all generations and a lesson in hardship that everyone should read.