No Such Thing as Society: A History of Britain in the 1980s - Andy McSmith

A very readable account of the decade dominated by Margaret Thatcher and her free market/privitisation agenda which, by the end of it, capitalism had emerged triumphant from its ideological battle with socialism and with it vast differences between rich and poor. New Labour picked up the free markeet baton and ran with it into the 21st century, the effects of which only became apparent with the crash of 2008.

The author worked on the Independant newspaper during the decade and the book is like a series of journalistic essays on aspects of 80s politics and culture from the miners' strike to Live Aid, the Falklands War to Diana and very enjoyable it is too, well written, clear and concise.

Red Plenty - Francis Spufford

A wonderfully innovative historical novel that blends fact and fiction set in the 1950's & 60's when it seemed,  at first, that Soviet communism and its planned economy was about to overtake America and its capitalist economy and fulfil the workers dream of a fair and prosperous society.

Soviet planners, economists, physicists and mathematicians flourished in the thaw initiated by Khrushchev following Stalin's death. They persuaded the Soviet leadership that, using cybernetic principles and the newly developed computers, the centralised, planned Soviet economy could at last be made efficient. By 1980, Khrushchev claimed, the Soviet Union would overtake America; communism would have defeated capitalism. For a while, in the aftermath of Sputnik and Gagarin's space flight, it looked as if he might be just be right.

Red Plenty explores why things didn't work out like that.

Catch-22 - Joseph Heller

There was only one catch, and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he were sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to.

Catch -22 is 50 years old this year. It should have been called Catch-18 but the publishers asked Heller to change the number to avoid confusion with another war novel out that year, Mila 18 by Leon Uris. Heller suggested Catch-11 but because Rat Pack film Ocean's 11 was still in cinema's that wouldn't do either. Catch-17 was Heller's next offer. But no, that could confused with Staleg 17, which was also about American airmen in the Second World War. Catch-14? The publisher thought 14 wasn't a 'funny number'. They eventually settled on Catch-22, Heller liked the repetition of '2' because it gave a sense of deja vu, rather like events in his novel.

Catch-22 might have been fifth choice, but that didn't stop it entering the English language to describe any absurd choice or no-win situation. Neither did it stop it becoming a classic.

The above is adapted from a piece in Shortlist magazine whici I enjoyed. If the information is correct I'm possibly guilty of plagiarism, if it is incorrect I'm more likely to get away with it but what's better - it's a catch-22 situation.

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.