POPLAR Publishing Co., Ltd., a leading independent publisher of children's books in Japan, has been in business for more than 70 years. As it started as a children's books publisher, it has always tried to provide children with enjoyable and exciting books. Today, the company's goals remain unchanged: everything it publishes should be enjoyable and enrich people's lives.
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The amazing story of the home studio that helped launch some of Britain's most beloved bands. The Sheffield space age began in 1961, when local mechanic Ken Patten won a tape-recording competition by recreating the sound of a rocket launch using a pencil and a bicycle pump. In the decades that followed, the makeshift home studio he constructed became the launch pad for a group of young musicians who would shape the futuristic sound of 1980s pop. The Human League, Heaven 17, Pulp, ABC and others made their early recordings with Ken, whose DIY ethic was the perfect fit for a city facing industrial decline but teeming with ideas. Studio Electrophonique tells the story of a generation seeking new frontiers in music, using everything they could lay their hands on - from science fiction novels to glam rock, Dada art and cheap electronics - to get there. Drawing on original interviews with Jarvis Cocker, Martyn Ware, Mark White and others, it brings to light a world of humour, charm, creativity and unfounded yet undaunted self-belief.
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This book about the Thatcher government and the City of London tells the compelling human story of the people and processes that made Britain's 1980s financial revolution. Fusing insider testimony with new archival discoveries, it examines high stakes and networked solutions, and uncovers new objectives that drove reforms. In so doing it demystifies a major shift in capitalism. This has implications for our understandings of government and capitalism, from the way we think about the origins of subsequent financial crises to today's growing inequalities. Survival Capitalism offers new insights into the last major restructuring of the City, disrupts myths surrounding the logics of the market, and pays attention to people and processes at a time when the City of London again faces major change as Britain seeks to find its place outside the European Union in the wake of Brexit.
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Sam Hanna (1903-96), a pioneering filmmaker from Burnley, Lancashire, was dubbed the 'Lowry of filmmaking' by BBC broadcaster Brian Redhead in the 1980s. The well-meant label stuck, even though it misses the variety of Hanna's remarkable output. Hanna's intimate glimpses into the lives of strangers enable us to imagine the possible stories that lie behind the images. Away from mid-century exponents of documentary filmmaking and photography, Hanna shows us humanity and a microcosm of a world in change, where his subjects are caught up in issues far beyond their grasp that we, as onlookers years later, encounter and see afresh. Written and curated by historian Heather Norris Nicholson, Round our way combines stills, essays and archive photography to document Hanna's unique visual record on film, particularly in northern England, but also further afield, during decades of profound change.
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A rich and revealing examination of the legendary pop duo Soft Cell. Soft Cell are not your average pop band. Marc Almond and Dave Ball may be best known for the string of hits they released in 1981, but the powerful first phase of their collaboration embraced a staggering array of sounds, influences and innovations that would change the face of music to come. In Bedsit land, Patrick Clarke plunges into the archives and interviews more than sixty contributors, including the band members themselves, to follow Soft Cell through the many strange and sprawling worlds that shaped their extraordinary career. They lead him from the faded camp glamour of the British seaside to the dizzying thrills of the New York club scene. From transgressive student performance art to the sleaze and squalor of pre-gentrified Soho. From the glitz of British showbiz to the drug-addled chaos of post-Franco Spain. He emerges on the other side with the most in-depth, innovative and entertaining account of the duo ever written.
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Sally Forth is an intriguing saga of the tribulations which bedevil the first 30 years of Sally Bridge’s life from her childhood growing up with her twin sister in a highly idiosyncratic household in 1980s Oldham, to her chaotic adult life in London.Sally meets with a succession of unusual events, bizarre twists and life-changing ordeals including one particularly devastating event which overwhelms her and changes her life in a way that she could never have predicted.Although she is highly intelligent, resourceful and engaging, Sally finds it difficult to forge relationships (even with her twin sister) and to develop a sense of who she is. This is essentially a story of Sally’s search for identity and of how she copes with the many misunderstandings, misjudgments and deceptions which assail her on her journey through life – a journey which, with the assistance of her penchant for wordplay and her pre-occupation with names, Sally is, nonetheless, able to take with good humour and fortitude.
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A fast-paced story of an ordinary man who becomes accidentally involved with villains in business and government in Hong Kong, Manila and Singapore, this is Neil Thomas’ third gripping novel. With a background of intrigue, corruption and tax avoidance, this intricate novel is set against events in the early 1980s in Britain’s Hong Kong, the Manila of Marcos and Lee Kuan Yew’s Singapore. A young publisher travelling through the East on business is confronted with personal greed, kleptocracy, espionage and murder as matters move, Eric Ambler style, out of his control. In Hong Kong, still British at that time, he first meets Jimmy Chan – a ruthless operator he is supposed to do business with – whose tentacles reach far and wide and prove tricky to escape. A side trip to the Philippines affords him no respite and his contact with the corruption of the Marcos regime only serves to make life more unpleasant as developments take a sinister turn. In this fast-paced story, an ordinary man, confronted with shady and unsavoury characters, becomes accidentally involved with villains in business and government in three different locations who operate according to a different moral code from his own.
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This book looks at London's provision of financial and military support for parliament's war against King Charles I. It explores for the first time a series of episodic, circumstantial and unique mobilisations that spanned from late 1641 to early 1645 and which ultimately led to the establishment of the New Model Army. Based on research from two-dozen archives, Civil war London charts the successes and failures of efforts to move London's vast resources and in the process poses a number of challenges to longstanding notions about the capital's 'parliamentarian' makeup. It reveals interactions between London's Corporation, parochial communities and livery companies, between preachers and parishioners and between agitators, propagandists and common people. Within these tangled webs of political engagement reside the untold stories of the movement of money and men, but also of parliament's eventual success in the English Civil War.
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This novel is one of Anthony Burgess's most accessible and entertaining works. By turns bawdy, raucous, tender and bittersweet, and full of music and songs, this is a warm and affectionate portrait of the working-class Lancashire of the 1920s and 1930s that he knew from his own early life. The Pianoplayers is a funny, moving, autobiographical novel that brings to life the world of silent cinemas and music-halls of 1920s Manchester and Blackpool. Fully annotated and with a new introduction, this is an authoritative text for a new generation of readers. Part of the forthcoming Irwell Edition of the Works of Anthony Burgess, this book offers an opportunity to reappraise an unjustly neglected novel important to our understanding of Burgess's wider oeuvre. The 2017 Burgess centenary makes this a key moment for reflection on the life and work of a major figure in twentieth century letters.
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Socialist republic is a timely account of 1980s left-wing politics in South Yorkshire. It explores how Sheffield City Council set out to renew the British Left. Through careful analysis of the Council's agenda and how it interacted with trade unions, women's groups, lesbian and gay rights groups and acted on issues such as peace, environmentalism, anti-apartheid and anti-racism, the book draws out the complexities involved in building a broad-based politics which aimed unite class and identity politics. Running counter to 1980s narratives dominated by Thatcherism, the book examines the persistence of social democracy locally, demonstrating how grassroots local histories can enrich our understanding of political developments on a national and international level. The book is essential reading for students, scholars, and activists with an interest in left-wing politics and history.
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This book offers the first comprehensive history of white workers from the end of the First World War to Zimbabwean independence in 1980. It reveals how white worker identity was constituted, examines the white labouring class as an ethnically and nationally heterogeneous formation comprised of both men and women, and emphasises the active participation of white workers in the ongoing and contested production of race. White wage labourers' experiences, both as exploited workers and as part of the privileged white minority, offer insight into how race and class co-produced one another and how boundaries fundamental to settler colonialism were regulated and policed. Based on original research conducted in Zimbabwe, South Africa and the UK, this book offers a unique theoretical synthesis of work on gender, whiteness studies, labour histories, settler colonialism, Marxism, emotions and the New African Economic History.
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Readers and Mistresses: Kept Women in Victorian Literature identifies kept mistresses in British Victorian narrative and offers ways to understand their experiences. The author discusses kept women characters in Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist, Elizabeth Gaskell's Mary Barton and Ruth, Anne Brontë's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, and George Eliot's Daniel Deronda, and examines the methods their authors use to encourage reader empathy. This book also usefully demonstrates how to identify kept women when they are less visible in texts. I look at primary women characters in Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, Dickens' Hard Times and Dombey and Son, and George Gissing's The Odd Women.
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Der Band versammelt die großen Erzählungen Christa Wolfs aus der Zeit zwischen 1960 und 1980 : von ihrer ersten Prosaveröffentlichung Moskauer Novelle, einer Liebesgeschichte zwischen einer Deutschen und einem Russen, über Juninachmittag bis zu Selbstversuch. Auch die Protagonistin dieser vieldiskutierten Erzählung handelt im Namen der Liebe - ebenso wie im Dienste der Forschung -, als sie in den wissenschaftlichen Versuch einwilligt, sich in einen Mann verwandeln zu lassen.
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Zu Beginn des Summers 1980 wurde Marguerite Duras von der Pariser Tageszeitung Liberation gefragt, ob sie, während eines Jahres, eine Tageschronik für diese Zeitung schreiben wolle. Was schließlich zustande kam, war eine wöchentliche Chronik während dreier Monate: der Sommermonate des Jahres 1980. Die so entstandenen zehn »Berichte« Hilden den Inhalt des vorliegenden Buches: Marguerite Duras verbringt diesen Sommer in einem kleinen Haus am Atlantik. Die »große Welt« erreicht sie nur durchs Fernsehen, aber das Gesehene und Gehörte treibt sie um, zwingt sie zum Nachdenken, vermischt sich mit ihrem Alltag. Olympische Spiele in Moskau, Afghanistan, Begräbnis des Schahs von Persien in Ägypten, nach dem großen Streik in der Danziger Lenin-Werft.
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Jiu-Jitsu, literally meaning "the gentle art," is a popular form of self-defense that does not necessarily rely on physical strength and power. Seven-time World Champion Fabio Gurgel presents us with a comprehensive two-volume series that brings simplicity to the complex movements of this Martial Art, as he reveals the secrets of Jiu-Jitsu step by step. The book, titled BJJ BASICS, is fully illustrated and simplify the technical expressions of the art form to allow any student to learn and improve. Originally, Jiu-Jitsu was developed for the Samurai, ancient warriors who had little or no armor to defend themselves against a more powerful and well-armed enemy. As such, Jiu-Jitsu is the father of Japanese Martial Arts, including Judo and Aikido, and it has influenced Karate and other styles of Martial Arts. It utilizes techniques of strikes, holds, locks, throws, and evasions. Mentally, Jiu-Jitsu teaches self-confidence, improves self-esteem, relieves stress, and increases the ability to focus. Jiu-Jitsu utilizes physics and science through leverage and knowledge of human anatomy to overcome any attacker, with as little effort and physical strength as possible. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu differs from traditional Jiu-Jitsu in that it was developed in a different environment and area as a response to different needs. This caused the development of additional techniques that are more relevant to ground fighting and some relevant needs for dealing with violence in modern day life. Today, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is famous for its excellent ground fighting, high-level competitions, and competitors, as well as for its tactical thinking and maneuvers. Seven-time World Champion Fabio Duca Gurgel do Amaral began practicing Jiu-Jitsu at the age of 13 and received his black belt at the age of 19. Along with his master, Romero Jacaré, he is the co-founder of the two-time World Champion Alliance Team with 40 academies around the world – from Venezuela to New York, from Finland to Germany. Gurgel continues to teach at his own academy in São Paulo and gives seminars throughout the world. He is president of the Professional League of Jiu-Jitsu. A North American English-language edition was published in February 2007. A Czech edition was published in Fall 2009. 152 pages; 16.5 x 24 cm.
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Jiu-Jitsu, literally meaning "the gentle art," is a popular form of self-defense that does not necessarily rely on physical strength and power. Seven-time World Champion Fabio Gurgel presents us with a comprehensive two-volume series that brings simplicity to the complex movements of this Martial Art, as he reveals the secrets of Jiu-Jitsu step by step. The book, titled ADVANCED BJJ, is fully illustrated and simplify the technical expressions of the art form to allow any student to learn and improve. Originally, Jiu-Jitsu was developed for the Samurai, ancient warriors who had little or no armor to defend themselves against a more powerful and well-armed enemy. As such, Jiu-Jitsu is the father of Japanese Martial Arts, including Judo and Aikido, and it has influenced Karate and other styles of Martial Arts. It utilizes techniques of strikes, holds, locks, throws, and evasions. Mentally, Jiu-Jitsu teaches self-confidence, improves self-esteem, relieves stress, and increases the ability to focus. Jiu-Jitsu utilizes physics and science through leverage and knowledge of human anatomy to overcome any attacker, with as little effort and physical strength as possible. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu differs from traditional Jiu-Jitsu in that it was developed in a different environment and area as a response to different needs. This caused the development of additional techniques that are more relevant to ground fighting and some relevant needs for dealing with violence in modern day life. Today, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is famous for its excellent ground fighting, high-level competitions, and competitors, as well as for its tactical thinking and maneuvers. Seven-time World Champion Fabio Duca Gurgel do Amaral began practicing Jiu-Jitsu at the age of 13 and received his black belt at the age of 19. Along with his master, Romero Jacaré, he is the co-founder of the two-time World Champion Alliance Team with 40 academies around the world – from Venezuela to New York, from Finland to Germany. Gurgel continues to teach at his own academy in São Paulo and gives seminars throughout the world. He is president of the Professional League of Jiu-Jitsu. A North American English-language edition was published in July 2007. A Czech edition was published in 2010. 142 pages; 16.5 x 24 cm.
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Lisa Downing's comprehensive study of the films of Patrice Leconte traces lines of continuity and revision through a body of apparently disparate films whose "messages" often appear both contradictory and controversial. Pursuing a close reading of the recurrent themes, styles, intertexts and techniques which structure Leconte's filmmaking, Downing re-evaluates Leconte's status as an enigmatic artist offering complex and paradoxical commentary on contemporary questions of sexuality, ethics and identity. This book is the first full-length critical work in English on Leconte's cinema. It provides essential reading for both enthusiasts of French cinema and for those fascinated by the relationship between popular culture and theory.
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