"This is the colorful and dramatic biography of two of America's most controversial entrepreneurs: Moses Louis Annenberg, 'the racing wire king, ' who built his fortune in racketeering, invested it in publishing, and lost much of it in the biggest tax evasion case in United States history; and his son, Walter, launcher of TV Guide and Seventeen magazines and former ambassador to Great Britain."--Jacket.

Local history in Britain can trace its origins back to the sixteenth century and before, but it was given inspiration and a new sense of direction in the 1950s and 60s by the work of W.G. Hoskins. This book marks the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of his Local history in England which was designed to help people researching the history of their own villages and towns. It is the result of a collaboration between academic historians in the Centre for English Local History at the University of Leicester, which Hoskins founded, and the British Association for Local History, an organisation that brings together the thousands of people who are not professional academics but who practise local history. Taking the work of Hoskins as a starting point, the contributors show how local history is being researched and written today. Fifteen historians write about a variety of local history subjects which are significant in their own right but which also point to current trends in the subject. They show how local historians use their sources systematically, from the non-verbal evidence of buildings to various types of electronic resources. All periods between the middle ages and the early twenty-first century are explored, as are many different parts of the country from Skye to the Kent coast. There are examples of local historians working on ethnic minorities, gender and the working class. Those who study localities use a variety of approaches, including those of social, economic, religious, legal, intellectual and cultural history, all of which are employed here. They are aware of the roots of their subject and examine the history of local history itself. Together, the editors and authors raise the various dilemmas which stimulate debates among local historians about the nature of the subject, its present health and the directions it will take in the next half century.

"Everyman's Dictionary of Economics provides over nineteen hundred concise desk encyclopedia-style articles on economic terms and concepts, as well as on significant people working in the field, in plain, nontechnical English. The articles challenge readers' acceptance of the conventional wisdom on such subjects as government intervention in economic matters."--BOOK JACKET.

Named one of the Top 10 books about council housing - the Guardian online Born of idealism, and once an icon of the Labour movement and pillar of the Welfare State, council housing is now nearing its end. But do its many failings outweigh its positive contributions to public health and wellbeing? Alison Ravetz here provides the first comprehensive and apolitical history from which to arrive at a balanced judgement. Drawing on the widest possible evidence, from tenant and government records to the built environment itself, she tells the story of British council housing, from its seeds in Victorian reactions to 'the Poor', in philanthropy and model villages, Christian and other varieties of socialism. Her depiction of council housing in its mature years shows the often bizarre persistence of 'utopian' attitudes (whether in architectural design or management styles); its rise to a monopoly position in working-class family housing; the many compromises consequent on its state finance and local authority control; and the impact on working-class lives as an intellectuals' 'utopian dream' was converted into a social policy for the masses.

There is a tension in English law between the idea that the courts might provide a remedy by creating new property rights and the understanding that the judiciary's role is limited to the protection of existing proprietary interests with the power to redistribute property residing in the legislature alone. While there are numerous instances in which the courts intervene to readjust property rights,these are disguised in metaphor and fiction. However, this has meant that the law in this area has developed without open consideration of justifications for redistributing property. The result of this is that there is little coherence in the law of proprietary remedies as a whole and a good deal of it is indefensible. The book examines redistributive processes such as tracing, subrogation and proprietary estoppel and the use of the constructive trust in the context of contracts to assign property, vitiated transactions, the profits of wrongdoing and the breakdown of intimate relationships. It contrasts the English treatment of this area of law with developments in other common law jurisdictions where a more dynamic understanding of property has permitted more open acknowledgement of the judicial role in redistributing proprietary rights.

This report covers developments in 20 less popular and more problematic English council estates, based on four waves of research since 1980. It presents unique evidence of the impact of 25 years of social change and policy from Thatcher to Blair, a period in which the number of British council homes has halved, and social inequality and the standard of public services have become key political issues. The last wave of research found in 1995 that despite progress on management and physical conditions, the estates were swimming against a tide of social polarisation. A decade later - in sharp contrast - there are signs that national and local policy as well as wider social and economic changes are helping many of the estates to turn the tide - although there are questions about how sustainable this progress can be. Using data brought together from the four waves of research, and with extensive quotations, figures and tables, the report covers changes of estate ownership and management, dramatic redevelopments, the quality of services and neighbourhoods; who lives in the estates, and their views and attitudes; the impact of policy and prospects for the future. It is key reading for people working in housing and regeneration - in policy and strategy, at the frontline, and as students - and for those seeking a summary of past progress and current challenges in these areas.