{"product_id":"9780007584963","title":"An Encyclopaedia of Myself","description":"\u003cp\u003eLONGLISTED FOR THE SAMUEL JOHNSON PRIZE 2014\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘A symphonic poem about postwar England and Englishness … A masterpiece’ Financial Times\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe 1950s were not grey. In Jonathan Meades’s detailed, petit-point memoir they are luridly polychromatic. They were peopled by embittered grotesques, bogus majors, vicious spinsters, reckless bohos, pompous boors, drunks, suicides. Death went dogging everywhere. Salisbury had two industries: God and the Cold War. For the child, delight is to be found everywhere – in the intense observation of adult frailties, in landscapes and prepubescent sex, in calligraphy and in rivers.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis memoir is an engrossing portrait of a disappeared provincial England, a time and place unpeeled with gruesome relish.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn this autobiography, Meades offers a personal and detailed account of his life in the 1950s. It's one of the top memoirs of the era, showcasing the best and worst of postwar England.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor fans of Rory Stewart (Politics On the Edge), Nick Duerden (Exit Stage Left), and A. N. Wilson (Confessions).\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Jonathan Meades, Read by Jonathan Meades","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46889088221333,"sku":"9780007584963","price":39.49,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0484\/3175\/9509\/files\/9780007584963.jpg?v=1776888370","url":"https:\/\/harpercollins.com.au\/products\/9780007584963","provider":"HarperCollins AU","version":"1.0","type":"link"}