‘‘This book is about why people take to the streets and throw stones. Like they did in the sixties. And the eighties. It’s about how far some people will go when they get angry. And how far other people will go to stop them.’
South Yorkshire. 1984: Lenny Baxter and over 150 thousand
coal miners take on the Conservative Govern-ment in a long
awaited showdown. What starts as a strike is soon more like a
war. Yorkshire becomes a near police state as the Government
takes off the gloves and starts to fight dirty. And Lenny Baxter
becomes the most hunted man in Britain.
Scotland. 2005: Once again Lenny goes to war. This time in a
small Scottish town. And once again he finds the dark forces of
the State deployed to meet him.
Lenny’s journey spans the eras. From the burning sun of
Orgreave to the killing fields of Iraq. From Reagan to Bush.
From Thatcher to Blair. From the Cold War to the War on Terror.
From its shocking start to the nerve-shredding finale, the
Poisonous Past takes the reader to the darkest corners of British
life. It is a story from the places far away from the glossy image of
Great Britain Plc. The sink estates, the baseball caps and hoodies.
Discarded needles and burnt out cars. And the faceless man
in anonymous offices whose job is to make sure the lid stays on .
. . “Here is a book that challenges our assumptions. The assumption that young people don’t rebel any more. The assumption that their only icon is the Nike tick. The assumption that the Multinationals and the politicians they pay for will always win”
I
would like to order:
‘When the past meets the flames’ The continent of Europe is still divided by a fence that runs from the Baltic Sea to the Swiss border.
Thousands of nuclear missiles in the West are aimed at the cities of the East
And thousands of nuclear missiles in the East are aimed at the cities of the West.
The Cold War rages.
In 1981, Solly Bernstein discovers the last great oil field in the world under the Iraqi desert town of El Kebil,
In 1994, Two British soldiers witness a massacre in a dark Bosnian valley.
Threads.
Danny McCann is a boy with the world at his feet.
He’s fifteen. He’s just been selected for the Scotland Under 16’s football team.
Coaches from big clubs are coming to Dumfries to watch him play.The road to the football dream lies open. But Danny starts to make the wrong choices.
Young people take drugs to get high. That’s the part the see on the T Shirts. Sadly, all too often young people take drugs and find themselves on the Road to Down. Sometimes it leads them all the way down to the place where life doesn’t seem to worth living any more. This book isn’t about the stuff on T shirts. This is about the dark stuff that gets swept away under the carpet. It isn’t warm and fuzzy.
This book is about why people take
to the streets and throw stones. Like they did in the eighties.
Like they might do tomorrow. Its about how far some people will
go when they get angry. And how far other people will go to
stop them.’
Lenny’s journey spans the eras. From the burning sun
of Orgreave to the killing fields of Iraq. From Reagan to
Bush. From Thatcher to Blair. From the Cold War to the War
on Terror.
‘A Mersey
‘Gone With The Wind’ that races like a high speed bullet
train all the way from Rome 1977 to Istanbul 2005.’
“Putting this book down would be like switching off the TV
during the second half in Istanbul. It’s just not an option.”
Ian Callaghan. Liverpool FC legend.
‘A head spinning
‘Day of the Jackal’ for the Twenty First century. The
pages almost turn themselves’
Roland McMillan is ninety five
years old and his doctors see little chance of him making it to
ninety six. In 1926 he fled the desperate misery of his life in
the mining town of Kirkonnel and emigrated to America. Over seventy
nine years he has built up a colossal
family fortune. Now it is time to tidy up his affairs
'Everyone who has
lost a child to heroin will want to be Jack Sinclair. Tragic, thrilling,
captivating.'
-Simon Houston, Daily Record.
February 2001. The wind turns to the east, and the Foot and Mouth
epidemic starts to rage across South West Scotland. A region already
in decline is thrown into catastrophe. Funeral pyres light up the
night sky.
"A
gripping journey through the past. An alarming view of the present.
A terrifying vision of the future."
'Frankland turns
crisis into drama.' Sunday Telegraph
November 1997 and British Farming is being ripped apart by the
BSE Crisis. Vast areas of the countryside are facing devastation.
Finally one man decides that enough is enough.
6000
Asylum Seekers are housed in the giant tower blocks of Sighthill in
Glasgow.
A vast unexploded human bomb. The clock is ticking.
"An unrelenting pile driver
of a read."
'A fantastic
adventure book for all young football lovers - even one as young as
me !'
Sir Tom Finney
Once in every generation a great new star emerges into the world of
football.
Out of the slums of Sao Paulo came Pele.
Out of the bullet scarred streets of Belfast came Georgie Best
Out of the shanty towns of Buenos Aires came Maradona.
