Susannah Walker - Böcker

From 'Coughs and Sneezes Spread Diseases' to 'Keep Calm and Carry On', the Home Front posters of the Second World War have become part of British culture. Some were striking design classics and others more prosaic, but all give a fascinating insight into the trials and tribulations of life in Britain during the Second World War. This was the first 'total war', with civilians as essential to the war effort as soldiers, so posters instructed people on everything from cooking and salvage to how to speak, and even think, about the war. This book tells the story behind these posters: how they were designed and produced, what it was hoped they would achieve, and what the British public really thought of them, as well as the role of 'Britain's secret weapon'– humour. Looking at famous images and forgotten gems, it is essential reading for anyone interested both in life on the Home Front and the design of the times.

After the privations of the Second World War the British embraced modern design like never before.From spindly-legged furniture to fabrics based on atomic design, and quirkily patterned pottery to abstract graphics, they wanted everything around them to reflect the bright new post-war world. This book traces the development of modern design in the 1950s, from its genteel beginnings at the Festival of Britain to the shops brimming with slick products at the end of the decade.Looking at well-known classics, popular favourites, the work of famous designers and that of anonymous innovators, it is a perfect introduction to the flamboyant and sometimes kitsch style of the decade when we learnt to love the modern.

In Style and Status, Susannah Walker examines twentieth-century commercial beauty culture in terms of race and gender. She demonstrates that while black women's beauty culture often mirrored that of white women in important ways, it remained distinctive because it explicitly articulated racial politics in the United States. African American women confronted daily the tension between the idea that beautifying themselves according to modern standards enhanced their success and the idea that doing so meant capitulating to a white beauty ideal that excluded and denigrated them. That confrontation not only reflected race and gender politics, but it helped fuel the struggle for black equality during the 1960s and 1970s. Walker examines the role of African American consumer culture and draws connections between black women's racial identity, African American notions of femininity, and social and political consciousness.

Shortlisted for the James Tait Black biography prize 2019'A moving memoir.' Sunday Times'Gripped me from the first page.' Clover Stroud, author of My Wild and Sleepless Nights'A gripping read... a riveting piece of writing.' Radio 4__________What do our possessions say about us? Why do we project such meaning onto them? What becomes of the things we leave behind?Only after her mother's death does Susannah Walker discover how much of a hoarder she had become. Over the following months, Susannah has to sort through a dilapidated house filled to the brim with rubbish and treasures - filling bag after bag with possessions. But what she's really in search of is a woman she'd never really known or understood in life. This is her last chance to piece together her mother's story and make sense of their troubled relationship. What emerges from the mess of scattered papers, discarded photographs and an extraordinary amount of stuff is the history of a sad and fractured family, haunted by dead children, divorce and alcohol. The Life of Stuff is a deeply personal exploration of mourning and the shoring up of possessions against the losses and griefs of life, which also raises universal questions about what makes us the people we are.__________'Compelling and moving.' Ruth Hogan'An excellent memoir.' Cathy Rentzenbrink

'A powerful manifesto for women who long to walk alone and safely in the countryside' Dr. Sharon Blackie, author of If Women Rose RootedWhy is it radical for women to walk alone in the countryside, when men have been doing so for centuries? The Hard Way is a powerful and illuminating book about addressing this imbalance, reclaiming fearlessness and diving into the history of the landscape from a woman's point of view.Setting off to follow the oldest paths in England, the Ridgeway and the Harrow Way, Susannah Walker comes across artillery fire, concern from passing policemen and her own innate fear of lone figures in the distance: a landscape shaped by men, from prehistoric earthworks to today's army bases.But along the way, Susannah finds Edwardian feminists, rebellious widows, forgotten writers and artists, as well as all their anonymous sisters who stayed at home throughout history. They become her companions over 135 miles of walking, revealing how much, or how little, has changed for women now.'An urgent call' Guy Shrubsole, author of Who Owns England?'A fascinating personal journey' Sophie Pierce, author of The Green Hill'Thought provoking, rich and interesting' Andrew Ziminski, author of The Stonemason

'An evocative and inspiring exploration of the lives of women who refuse to be tied indoors by domesticity. The Hard Way is a powerful manifesto for women who long to walk alone - and safely - in the countryside'  Dr Sharon Blackie, author of If Women Rose RootedWhy is it radical for women to walk alone in the countryside, when men have been doing so for centuries? The Hard Way is a powerful and illuminating book about addressing this imbalance, reclaiming fearlessness and diving into the history of the landscape from a woman’s point of view.Setting off to follow the oldest paths in England, the Ridgeway and the Harrow Way, Susannah Walker comes across artillery fire, concern from passing policemen and her own innate fear of lone figures in the distance: a landscape shaped by men, from prehistoric earthworks to today’s army bases.But along the way, Susannah finds Edwardian feminists, rebellious widows, forgotten writers and artists, as well as all their anonymous sisters who stayed at home throughout history. They become her companions over 135 miles of walking, revealing how much, or how little, has changed for women now.