Paul Swann – författare

When this book was originally published in 1987, the American feature film had been colonising the world’s imagination for over 75 years and the book studies that experience in Britain, where American films have always dominated cinema screens, both commercially and intellectually.The timeframe is the decade after the Second World War: this was a time when the British accommodated themselves to a declining role in world affairs and became in many respects a client nation of the United States. Part of this changing status was tied to the manner in which American popular culture was rapidly assimilated into Britain’s own indigenous traditional folk and popular cultures. The American feature film, arguably the most influential, and certainly the most pervasive, of these mass forms, was part of this process of cultural exchange.

The most important and internationally influential development in British cinema was the documentary film movement led by John Grierson in the 1930s and 1940s. Paul Swann's study is a political and social history of this movement, which was characterized by actuality-based films made outside the commercial industry. Based upon examinations of official government records, this book provides a fascinating picture of how Grierson manipulated the civil service bureaucracy both for his own ends and, in his view, for the good of his country. The documentary movement was both a socially conscious group intent upon raising the consciousness - and consciences - of viewers, and something like a film school, providing opportunities to fledgling film-makers. Working in reaction to the escapist Hollywood films that then dominated British screens, the documentary film-makers drew upon traditions such as Soviet realism and the European avant-garde and used ordinary men and women instead of actors.

The most important and internationally influential development in British cinema was the documentary film movement led by John Grierson in the 1930s and 1940s. Paul Swann's study is a political and social history of this movement, which was characterized by actuality-based films made outside the commercial industry. Based upon examinations of official government records, this book provides a fascinating picture of how Grierson manipulated the civil service bureaucracy both for his own ends and, in his view, for the good of his country. The documentary movement was both a socially conscious group intent upon raising the consciousness - and consciences - of viewers, and something like a film school, providing opportunities to fledgling film-makers. Working in reaction to the escapist Hollywood films that then dominated British screens, the documentary film-makers drew upon traditions such as Soviet realism and the European avant-garde and used ordinary men and women instead of actors.

Many books on leadership and ministry are written from the point of view of success and strength. In Sustaining Leadership Paul Swann writes out of the raw experience of failure, getting to the heart of who we are as leaders rather than what we do. From this he offers both hope and practical resources for sustaining effective long-term ministry, looking at self-care, balance and healthy ministry, feasting on divine love, and more. As he says, this is the best gift we can offer those we serve.

When this book was originally published in 1987, the American feature film had been colonising the world’s imagination for over 75 years and the book studies that experience in Britain, where American films have always dominated cinema screens, both commercially and intellectually.The timeframe is the decade after the Second World War: this was a time when the British accommodated themselves to a declining role in world affairs and became in many respects a client nation of the United States. Part of this changing status was tied to the manner in which American popular culture was rapidly assimilated into Britain’s own indigenous traditional folk and popular cultures. The American feature film, arguably the most influential, and certainly the most pervasive, of these mass forms, was part of this process of cultural exchange.

On a quiet August night along the Alabama Gulf Coast, Miss Betty Brown returns to the Polka Dot Mermaid for a simple supper in the old bomb-shelter dining room known as the Florida Room. The televisions say the hurricane will hit somewhere else. They always do—until they don't. When Marylou turns north and the bridge off the island disappears, memory, loss, and the long indifference of the Gulf rise with the wind. August Wind is a haunting story of complacency, love, and the thin line between safety and reckoning.

Beauregard loves his family, his apartment complex, and the illusion that everything is under control. But when his son is caught eating rocks at the dog park, rumors spread and loyalties shift. What begins as simple parental concern becomes something much stranger — and much closer to home. A witty satire of panic, pride, and private indulgence.

Steven never needed an alarm clock—his husky handled that. What he did need was his father's sacred pocketknife, the only thing standing between humanity and alien invasion. Or so he believed. But when a malfunctioning dog park gate, a sarcastic sparrow, and an actual laser-wielding spacecraft enter the picture, Steven discovers that preparedness, paranoia, and pocketknives don't always work the way we imagine.

When Suzanne's dogs are away, the apartment feels too quiet. Too still. So when something furry slides beneath the bathroom door during her morning shower, she assumes it's just one of her huskies waiting for attention. It isn't. Alone in her third-floor apartment, phone dying and wrapped in nothing but a towel, Suzanne watches as something long and hairy reaches for the door handle. The dogs are miles away. Her husband is at work. And whatever is under the door is not imaginary. By the time it disappears, it leaves behind more than fear. It leaves proof. And when the neighbor's blinds stay closed the rest of the week, Suzanne begins to wonder if the silence in the apartment isn't as empty as it seems. A chilling short story of domestic dread, quiet terror, and the thin line between imagination and intrusion.

During the 1970s CB radio boom, seventeen-year-old Summer East discovers that someone is talking to her on Channel 19—someone who knows secrets about her mother's murder and the scar on her neck. When the voice begins speaking through radios inside her own house, Summer must confront a terrifying possibility: the killer may be dead… but he's still trying to finish the job.

Atmore drops you into a dim and dusty parking lot off the interstate, where a broken truck and a midnight knock on the window sets the stage for sharp dialogue, uneasy truths, and two strangers with nowhere else to go. It's Southern, raw, and restless—one night, one stop, everything on the edge.

Zeke is rare, magnificent, and supposedly extinct, and he'd like to keep it that way. When a disgraced ornithology professor traps him for glory, headlines, and tenure-level redemption, Zeke launches a counteroffensive involving military-grade Canadian geese, legal loopholes, and one very dangerous feather. In the Delta, visibility is extinction.

A brutal fight to protect the voiceless. A small town shelter overflowing with unwanted animals. One man stands between them and the hands of those who would turn life into suffering. Fierce, raw, and unflinching, The Shelter Animal exposes the harsh truth of discarded lives and the power of human resolve to guard them.

For twenty years Beatrice Rockwell has hosted the church dinners that keep her husband's congregation smiling.But when one small gesture reminds her exactly what her life has become, Beatrice decides that tonight's sweet tea will be remembered.

Billy follows a new friend into a hand-dug cave. Dirt collapses. Trapped, he fights for air. A voice in the darkness demands answers. Billy wants escape. Above ground, help claws through the red earth. Time runs out. Survival depends on grit, not luck.

Ray writes down every quirk, every habit, every flaw. The clock ticks. He refuses to leave anything unsaid, daring the unknown to catch him unprepared.

On a winter drive home from college, eighteen-year-old Brandon Lockwood watches the southern sky ignite with streaking lights. Convinced the Soviets have launched missiles—or worse, that the Second Coming has arrived—he spirals into panic along Alabama's dark highways. But the truth behind the lights will change his life far more than the end of the world ever could.

On a quiet Thursday in a downtown bookstore, Jennifer chooses a novel over a conversation with a stranger wearing Airborne patches. Minutes later, guilt drives her to search for him—only to discover the young soldier died years ago in Iraq. Coffee With A Soldier is a haunting reminder that the smallest moments of compassion may matter more than we ever know.

In 1945, Corporal Red Stankowski is tasked with delivering a brand-new jeep to a colonel in occupied Germany. Instead, vodka, pride, and a suspiciously articulate horse lead him into a ditch, a damaged milk cow, and an encounter with military police who may or may not believe livestock testimony. A Southern satire about poverty, pride, and the kind of mercy that saves a man from himself.

On a chilly October afternoon, a desperate man finds an abandoned bicycle beside a crumbling barn. Overnight the bicycle repairs itself, and begins to talk. As Jamie Washington rides toward town, the mysterious Schwinn reveals it knows his past, his pain, and perhaps the road that could lead him back to hope.

A routine father-and-son trip to the barbershop turns extraordinary when six-year-old Isaac discovers the mirrors reveal more than reflections—they reveal his future. As he meets older versions of himself, Isaac glimpses rebellion, regret, and the quiet love of a father that lasts a lifetime. A touching story about time, memory, and the moments that shape us.

When Corporal Jacob Rugger returns from war, his Alabama hometown throws a celebration in his honor. But while the music plays and the crowd cheers, Jacob sits alone in the old barn where he once fell in love. To everyone watching, he survived the war. To Jacob, the war has only just begun.

Julio Greenwald hides behind nervous smiles and half-truths, convinced his one glaring flaw will keep him forever alone. But when a new girl with a melodic accent sits beside him, Julio must find the courage to face what he's avoided for months—and maybe find more than just a fix for his teeth.

A yellow bus appears on a lonely dirt road in South Mississippi. Forty girls stare out with wide, pleading eyes. David, sixteen, faces snakes, wasps, and a voice that calls itself Seymour. Secrets hide behind locked doors. Tension coils tighter with each step. Nothing will be the same again.

Twelve-year-old Reggie Moffett believes it's better to start a criminal career early than late. When he slips into his neighbor's unlocked house for what he calls "e;research,"e; he expects biscuits, not consequences. But the newest resident of the Robinson household has other plans. In this sharp Southern tale of temptation and talking dogs, ambition meets accountability.

When the blazing Southern sun turns sidewalks into frying pans, fifteen-year-old Alonzo Rainwater stumbles onto something stranger than the heat itself: a talking beetle with a thick Scottish accent and a dangerous secret. In this quirky magical realist tale, Alonzo must decide if helping the beetle escape means risking everything he knows.

Miss Katie delivers a powerful glimpse into the quiet storms that rage behind closed doors. With sharp insight and haunting Southern detail, this short story explores fear, restraint, and the unspoken tension that lingers in small-town silence. This is not a tale of comfort—it's a confrontation with what we overlook and what we dare not say aloud.