The amusement parks which first appeared in England at the turn of the twentieth century represent a startlingly novel and complex phenomenon, combining fantasy architecture, new technology, ersatz danger, spectacle and consumption in a new mass experience. Though drawing on a diverse range of existing leisure practices, the particular entertainment formula they offered marked a radical departure in terms of visual, experiential and cultural meanings. The huge, socially mixed crowds that flocked to the new parks did so purely in the pursuit of pleasure, which the amusement parks commodified in exhilarating new guises. Between 1906 and 1939, nearly 40 major amusement parks operated across Britain. By the outbreak of the Second World War, millions of people visited these sites each year. The amusement park had become a defining element in the architectural psychological pleasurescape of Britain. This book considers the relationship between popular modernity, pleasure and the amusement park landscape in Britain from 1900-1939. It argues that the amusement parks were understood as a new and distinct expression of modern times which redefined the concept of public pleasure for mass audiences. Focusing on three sites - Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Dreamland in Margate and Southend's Kursaal - the book contextualises their development with references to the wider amusement park world. The meanings of these sites are explored through a detailed examination of the spatial and architectural form taken by rides and other buildings. The rollercoaster - a defining symbol of the amusement park - is given particular focus, as is the extent to which discourses of class, gender and national identity were expressed through the design of these parks.
The new crime and espionage series from Penguin Classics makes for a mouth-watering prospect' Daily Telegraph Abducted, beaten, hidden in an attic, a young woman stages an audacious escape. But is her story everything she claims it to be? Fifteen-year-old Betty Kane can recall every detail of the room where she says she was held at the country house known as The Franchise - even the crack in its round window. But her alleged kidnappers, a quiet-living mother and daughter, claim they have never seen her before. Somebody has to be lying. But who? As the case sparks a media frenzy, it is up to unassuming village solicitor Robert Blair to find out.
Josephine Tey’s Inspector Grant novels are pillars of detective fiction—her name is on the short list of greats next to Raymond Chandler and Arthur Conan Doyle. This collection features all five stories starring the inspector, including The Daughter of Time, which was ranked at number one on the UK Crime Writers’ Association’s list of The Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time. It also features The Franchise Affair, which features the inspect as a supporting character. Penguin Random House Canada is proud to bring you classic works of literature in e-book form, with the highest quality production values. Find more today and rediscover books you never knew you loved.
Between 1899 and 1937, the Society of Mayflower Descendants inaugurated a series of transcriptions of the birth, marriage, and death records in its quarterly, The Mayflower Descendant. In 1976, Col. and Mrs. Leonard H. Smith Jr., with the consent of the Society of Mayflower Descendants, published one-volume limited edition reprints of these series, including this one pertaining to Barnstable and Sandwich. Researchers will discover that this work refers to the birth, marriage or death of thousands of early residents of these two towns. The full-name index added by the Smiths makes it easy to locate every person mentioned in the text.
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