Barry Miles - London Calling:A Countercultural History of London since 1945

A well written and evocative account of the London counter-culture since the Second World War written by someone who was 'there'. Miles was the manager of Indica bookshop in the sixties and has written extensively on a number of related subjects especially the Beat Generation poets. He explores, among many other things, the jazz bars of the fifties and the teddy boys and the Angry Young Men, Francis Bacon and the legendary Colony Club, the 1960's and the Summer of Love, the rise of punk and the early days of the YBA's. Highly recommended if you have an interest in cultural history.