Are we tired of hearing that fall is a season, sick of being offered fries and told about the latest movie? Yeah. Have we noticed the sly interpolation of Americanisms into our everyday speech? You betcha. And are we outraged? Hell, yes. But do we do anything? Too much hassle. Until now. In That's The Way It Crumbles Matthew Engel presents a call to arms against the linguistic impoverishment that happens when one language dominates another. With dismay and wry amusement, he traces the American invasion of our language from the early days of the New World, via the influence of Edison, the dance hall and the talkies, right up to the Apple and Microsoft-dominated present day, and explores the fate of other languages trying to fend off linguistic takeover bids. It is not the Americans' fault, more the result of their talent for innovation and our own indifference. He explains how America's cultural supremacy affects British gestures, celebrations and way of life, and how every paragraph and conversation includes words the British no longer even think of as Americanisms. Part battle cry, part love song, part elegy, this book celebrates the strange, the banal, the precious and the endangered parts of our uncommon common language.

Book of the Year in the Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph and New Statesman 'A powerful illumination of a lost world that is nevertheless part of living memory.' Simon Heffer, 'Books of the Year' , Daily Telegraph 'A joyous new book on post-war Britain.' Daily Mail When Queen Elizabeth II came to the throne in 1952, Britain had a far-flung empire, Winston Churchill was prime minister, sweets were rationed, mums stayed at home and kids played on bombsites. In the years that followed everything changed utterly. Through original research, interviews with people who were there and his own memories of the time, Matthew Engel traces this transformation of British society as never before. Beginning with the death of King George VI and ending on the eve of Margaret Thatcher's election, Engel not only covers all the major historical events but also explores everyday life - from the food we ate and where we shopped, to what we watched on television and the newspapers we read. In doing so, he brings these three decades to life with his own light touch and a wealth of fascinating, forgotten, often funny detail. Previously published as The Reign - Life in Elizabeth's Britain.

England, says Matthew Engel, is the most complicated place in the world. And, as he travels through each of the historic English counties, he discovers that's just the start of it. Every county is fascinating, the product of a millennium or more of history: still a unique slice of a nation that has not quite lost its ancient diversity. He finds the well-dressers of Derbyshire and the pyromaniacs of Sussex; the Hindus and huntsmen of Leicestershire; the goddess-worshippers of Somerset. He tracks down the real Lancashire, hedonistic Essex, and the most mysterious house in Middlesex. In Durham he goes straight from choral evensong to the dog track. As he seeks out the essence of each county - from Yorkshire's broad acres to the microdot of Rutland - Engel always finds the unexpected . Engel's England is a totally original look at a confused country: a guidebook for people who don't think they need a guidebook. It is always quirky, sometimes poignant and often extremely funny.

Britain gave railways to the world, yet its own network is the dearest (definitely) and the worst (probably) in Western Europe. Trains are deeply embedded in the national psyche and folklore - yet it is considered uncool to care about them. For Matthew Engel the railway system is the ultimate expression of Britishness. It represents all the nation's ingenuity, incompetence, nostalgia, corruption, humour, capacity for suffering and even sexual repression. To uncover its mysteries, Engel has travelled the system from Penzance to Thurso, exploring its history and talking to people from politicians to platform staff. Along the way Engel ('half-John Betjeman, half-Victor Meldrew') finds the most charmingly bizarre train in Britain, the most beautiful branch line, the rudest railwayman, and - after a quest lasting decades - an Individual Pot of Strawberry Jam. Eleven Minutes Late is both a polemic and a paean, and it is also very funny.

***A Waterstones Best Books of 2022 pick*** Book of the Year in the Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph and New Statesman 'A powerful illumination of a lost world that is nevertheless part of living memory.' Simon Heffer, 'Books of the Year' , Daily Telegraph 'A joyous new book on post-war Britain.' Daily Mail She came to the throne in 1952 when Britain had a far-flung empire, Winston Churchill was prime minister, sweets were rationed, mums stayed at home and kids played on bombsites. In the seventy years that followed everything changed utterly - except the Queen herself, ageing far more gracefully than the fractious nation with which she became synonymous. While the Queen is the motif for this book, the story Engel tells is not about her - it is primarily about the British. Through original research, interviews with people who were there and his own memories of the time, Matthew Engel traces the transformation of life in Britain as never before. Beginning with the death of King George VI and ending on the eve of Margaret Thatcher's election, Engel not only covers all the major historical events but also explores everyday life - from the food we ate and where we shopped, to what we watched on television and the newspapers we read. In doing so, he brings these three decades to life with his own light touch and a wealth of fascinating, forgotten, often funny detail.

You see them in the corner at weddings, spinning the platters that matter, making the bride and groom happy, they are they DJ. There are many good 'How to' books on being a DJ. This is not one of them. This is the true story of a mobile wedding DJ from Northern Lower Michigan who started from scratch and is still scratching. I'M GETTING A BAD RECEPTION takes you down the rollicking road on how I became a DJ, the perils and pitfalls I encountered along the way as well as some interesting and humorous people and stories thrown in for good measure. The first section is how I got my act together and took it on the road. The second section takes you step by step from my experience at playing for the ceremony, all the way to the end of the night. No party animals were harmed in the making of this publication.

Cheaper than therapy is the true story of a naive, sheltered young man from the northern suburbs of Detroit. The young man bobs and weaves his way through high school, and decides to go to college with all the forthought that goes into buying a candy bar at Walmart. Follow the author through those heady days of high school, including the first car, the first job, and a round or two with old John Barleycorn. His spur of the moment decision to go to college, finds him getting in over his head in the shark infested waters of academia, with some humorous misadventures along the way. During his college years he lands a job at a summer camp that changes his life forever. Follow him on a journey that takes him back to that very same camp, to have closure for an accident on a fateful day in July 1981. Cheaper than therapy is a labor of love. It is the author's baby, which took 25 years to deliver.