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This is Desmond Graham's sixth book of poetry since 1993, which has
already won a Poetry Book Society recommendation.A single poem
sequence, it begins in the Second World War and advances in diverse
and unforeseen directions as the poet attempts to understand the
nature of the heart. Historical and public events blend with the
private life of the poet as he learns about the world around him.
The poem is driven by a strong narrative that involves the reader
in the poet's quest to discover what is it full of/the heart? It
builds, as an oratorio builds, through motif and counterpoint,
through dramatic changes of pace and tone, to its surprising
finale.
Keith Douglas was almost certainly the greatest poet of the Second
World War. He was killed in Normandy three days after D-Day. He was
only twenty-four. His short life was one of contradictions: the
gifted artist and romantic, always in love with the wrong girl also
enjoyed soldiering and was quick to volunteer at the beginning of
the war. The brave and resourceful tank commander with the Sherwood
Rangers in the Western Desert, in the campaign of which his Alemein
to Zem Zem is the classic account, was also an outspoken critic of
the military establishment and often in trouble with his superiors.
There was always another side to Keith Douglas: difficult, even
arrogant, he was at the same time, as Desmond Graham, observes in
his original preface, 'generous, sensitive to the difficulties of
others, remorselessly honest, energetic, and passionately,
innocently open.' Douglas made in his brief life some friends who
never forgot him, and whose memories of him have contributed much
to this book. For this biography, Desmond Graham had access to much
private and unpublished material. From that, interviews, Keith
Douglas' own poems, letters and drawings emerges a definitive
biography. 'an almost unqualified success . . . Mr Graham has used
his material with great skill and tact.' Roy Fuller 'It is
difficult to imagine a better biography than this being written
about Keith Douglas . . . Desmond Graham provides us with an
astonishing amount of information.' Stephen Spender 'extremely
well-done . . It is written with authority and it will be
standard.' Peter Levi 'sumptuously evocative' John Carey
This book presents a comprehensive and perceptive study of the
Bharatiya Jana Sangh through the first two decades of its history
from 1951. The Bharatiya Jana Sangh was the most robust of the
first generation of Hindu nationalist parties in modern Indian
politics and Bruce Graham examines why the party failed to
establish itself as the party of the numerically dominant Hindu
community. The author explains the relatively limited appeal of the
Bharatiya Jana Sangh in terms of the restrictive scope of its
founding doctrines; the limitations of its leadership and
organization; its failure to build up a secure base of social and
economic interests; and its difficulty in finding issues which
would create support for its particular brand of Hindu nationalism.
Bruce Graham ends with a major survey of the party's electoral
fortunes at national, state and local levels.
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