The author describes his book as being 'part investigative journalism, part travel and part authbiography', as a unique and thought-provoking record of life in the county in the first decade of the 21st century.

The image of Coventry in flames was one of the most haunting of the Second World War. Yet the excitement and optimism of the 1950s and 1960s were succeeded by a quarter century of urban blight and economic slump. The collapse of manufacturing industry - machine tools, aeroplanes, cars - left a proud community adrift and demoralised. Today a revitalised twenty-first century city, Coventry has embraced the new millennium and evolved from bleak post-industrial desert to vibrant cultural oasis, in the process rediscovering a sense of purpose and a vision for the future. "The City of Coventry" tells the story of an experiment in social democracy carried out by a Labour-controlled council which envisaged the bomb shattered city as a model of urban regeneration and imaginative planning. Post-war reconstruction could be a striking success, as in the pedestrian-friendly Precinct and the bold new cathedral, or a notable failure as in the ever more intrusive ring roads and grim high-rise flats. In offering a fresh perspective on the city, this innovative volume of essays rediscovers Coventry as an inspiration for poets and painters such as Philip Larkin and Terry Frost, musicians as varied as Benjamin Britten and The Specials, and film-makers such as Humphrey Jennings, whose "Heart of Britain" was shot in the immediate aftermath of the Blitz. Adrian Smith skilfully mixes memoir, family history and meticulous scholarship to paint a complete and incisive portrait of Coventry. Drawing on new research into topics as diverse as the place of Surrealism in West Midlands culture and the shadowy presence of rugby league in a union bastion, Smith brings a unique insight into the recent history of his native city. Attractively presented, highly readable and with broad appeal, "The City of Coventry" is a lively re-examination of an iconic city of the twentieth century illuminating the profound changes that engulfed industrial England during and after the Second World War.

The people of Southampton have had a lot to put up with over the centuries. If the Danes of French weren't attacking it, pirates from further along were. Treasonous plots were hatched behind its ancient walls and mutiny hit its shipping. This book looks at such bloody events as the Black Death in the city, what happens when you cross a king, the ill-fated Titanic and the Blitz. Yes, the best bits of Southampton's history are surely the bloodiest!

The Story of Southampton is a long overdue and engaging general history of the city, from the earliest times to the present day, taking into account its unique architectural development and heritage. It not only looks at the local history, but also how those events had a wider significance – especially in relation to the sea and communications. Peter Neal has an eye for a telling anecdote, and this, together with his lively tone and authoritative research, will make the book appealing to anyone who is seeking to find out more about this fascinating city.

In the Great War of 1914–1918, Southampton played a vital role in the war effort. Designated as Port Number One it saw hundreds of thousands of men and many tons of equipment sail for the fields of Belgium and France.The Second World War was a completely different type of war. Hitlers blitzkrieg tactics led to a more mobile war and, arguably for the first time, airpower played a crucial role. Whoever had superiority in the air had a massive advantage in any particular theater, or battle. This does not, however, mean that Southamptons role was relegated to a minor one.Southamptons men still enlisted in their hundreds. Her women took over roles in factories, on buses and trams, and many of them also served in the armed forces. Her citizens formed defense groups and helped to watch for the enemy invasion and those same citizens suffered greatly when the bombs fell. The Southampton Blitz claimed many lives and this, perhaps, was the greatest difference the town saw in this second global conflagration. It is true that her citizens had also served in the Great War but now, through the efforts of the Luftwaffe, these men, women and children were now also in the front line.Hitler once described Germanys plans as total war. The phrase is certainly apt when one considered how the towns and cities of Britain suffered during the Nazi supremacy. One of those towns was Southampton, a town that once again, just 20 short years after she had given so much, had to brace herself for long years of war in which every single person had their role to play.And once again, Southampton and her citizens were not found wanting.

They say if you can remember the Sixties you could not have been there. Well post war baby boomer Trevor Cherrett was there and he can remember them. But his memories are more about what it was really like to grow up in one of the most rapidly changing periods in Britain`s history, as the country emerged from the destruction of the Second World War to a new world of peace, prosperity and the Welfare State. Born almost in sight of the red funnelled Cunarders in the port of Southampton – and on the edge of the Luftwaffe`s bombing run just a few years before – the author evokes his early years of national health orange juice, cod-liver oil, and school milk; discovering the joys of exploring the (then) sleepy country town of Ringwood where you could get away with tri-cycling halfway to Bournemouth; and growing up by the harbours and beaches of Mudeford and the South Coast . In frank detail he explores how he experienced the trials and tribulations of family life and girlfriends in a period which invented `the teenager` and witnessed the passing of much of the `old order`; how school shaped his life in the days of the 11 Plus and the great divide between Grammar schools and Secondary Moderns, and the new opportunities to go to University; and how growing up on the South Coast and the New Forest opened the door to his passions for fishing, boating and football. Like many baby boomers, Trevor acknowledges that they were, and are, a fortunate generation. But, he argues, it wasn`t just good luck or - worse – some kind of inter- generational conspiracy. Much of their good fortune was the result of far-sighted post-war policies aimed at creating a fairer as well as a more prosperous society. And he believes those policies have lessons for us today. This is not the autobiography of a Celebrity. Rather it is the story of an Everyman living through an extraordinary period of history, and making the links between his personal endeavours and the social, economic and cultural changes that affected his life, and the different places in which they were played out.

When Hitler ordered his bombers to attack Southampton, the objective was clear - complete destruction of the southern port. It was a savage, relentless bombardment which left a devastated town mourning its dead. This book tells the powerful story of the young people who suffered and endured the aerial siege which followed.