This study of British amateur drama during the period when it was at its most popular as a cultural practice demonstrates the conviction in inter-war educational, theatrical and political circles that amateur drama could have a purpose beyond the recreational. Examining 5 distinct but inter-related examples from around Britain in their socio-political contexts, Don Watson builds on current scholarship as well as making use of archival sources, local newspapers, unpublished scripts and the records of organizations not usually associated with the theatre. This study includes original accounts of the use of drama in the adult education provided by educational settlements in deprived areas, and of amateur theatre in government-funded centres for unemployed people in the 1930s. It examines repertoires, participation by working class people and pioneering techniques of play-making. Amateur drama festivals and competitions were intended to raise standards and educate audiences. This book assesses their effect on play-making, and the use of innovative one-act plays to express contentious material, as well as looking at the Left Book Club Theatre Guild as an attempt to align the amateur theatre movement with anti-fascist and anti-war movements. A chapter on the Second World War rectifies the neglect of amateur theatre in war-time cultural studies, arguing that it was present and important in every aspect of war-time life. Taken as a whole, the case studies discussed achieved a social class diversity in amateur theatre-making and made an important contribution to British theatre and theatre studies.

Britain in 1946 witnessed extraordinary episodes of direct action. Tens of thousands of families walked into empty army camps and took them over as places to live. A nationwide squatters' movement was born and it was the first challenge to the 1945 Labour government to come 'from below'. The book examines how these squatters built communities and campaigned for improvements; how local and national government reacted; the spread of squatting to empty mansions and hotels, and the roles of political activists. Further, it discusses what these events reveal about the attitude of the 1945 government to popular initiatives.This book describes how those most affected by inadequate housing conditions and shortages responded to them and how their actions helped to shape policies and events. It examines and records something summed up in the recollection of one of the organisers of the London hotel squats of 1946: "...The thing I'll never forget is that if I'd ever had doubts about the problems of working people taking on and managing their own affairs, I lost them forever during this squatting thing. Because without any hassle, fuss, argument, they found what they could do, and collectively decided that it should be done, and then went off and did it."

In Enemy Within, Don Watson takes a memorable journey into the heart of the United States in the year 2016 - and the strangest election campaign that country has seen. Travelling in the Midwest, Watson reflects on the rise of Donald Trump and the othicket of unrealityo that is the American media. Behind this he finds a fearful and divided culture. Watson considers the irresistible pull - for Americans - of the Dream of exceptionalism, and asks whether this creed is reaching its limit. He explores alternate futures - from Trump-style fascism to Sanders-style civic renewal - and suggests that a Clinton presidency might see a new American blend of progressivism and militarism. Enemy Within is an eloquent, barbed look at the state of the union and the American malaise.

This is a new release of the original 1961 edition.

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This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!

In the fourth Quarterly Essay Don Watson takes an analytical look at the ways in which the Australian imagination has always been dominated by America. Why are they so much better than we are? Even when it comes to producing books like the Updike 'Rabbit' sequence that tell us what we are like? Why are they also a land of executioners who have nevertheless created the least bad empire the world has seen? Can we really expect to be deputies to America? And what about our own sacred story (the progressive one) that we have sold for the sake of the Americanisation of our own society? If we can't have a friendly independent relationship with America, why don't we go the whole hog and join them? In a dark, brooding, moody essay, Don Watson plays on the paradoxes of Australia's feeling about America and offers a scathing view of an Australian culture that is asking to be engulfed by its great and powerful friend because the mental process is already so advanced. This is a brilliant meditation round a set of paradoxes that are central to our long-term anxieties and hopes. '...this is a Quarterly Essay that plays on our most fundamental fears, including the most terrifying of all, that we shall cease to exist because we have never been. ' Peter Craven, Introduction 'The Australian story does not work anymore, or not well enough ...to hang the modern story on ...The most useful thing is to recognise that ...we took the biggest step we have ever taken towards the American social model. And this has profound implications for how we think of Australia and how we make it cohere.' Don Watson, Rabbit Syndrome