Andrew Crozier

This book brings together three interconnected works from the 1970s, showcasing how three of the most significant figures in radical British poetry of the late 20th century responded to one another's work.

This volume contains the remarkable PhD thesis submitted by Crozier in 1972, and for which his external examiner was J. H. Prynne-whose comments on the thesis are also included here, as an afterword. "My intention in writing this thesis has been to cast some light on the prima facie case that free verse, in abandoning the exercise of metre, has abandoned that principle of restraint upon which the creation of artistic form depends. This point of view contrasts with a general contention on the part of the exponents of free verse that their works possess form which is not only unique but which also bears an immediate relation to the significance of the work, a relationship felt to be 'musical', although not in any directly analogical sense."

Almost without exception the prose of Andrew Crozier, reviews and articles centred upon the close reading of poetry including fearless debate about the importance of some figures who have either been overlooked by the establishment or given little more than a cursory nod of acknowledgement, has been out of print for far too long. The work, often published in journals or as contributory chapters to other books, has never before been collected together and this seems astonishing. -from Ian Brinton's introduction to this volume.

Andrew Crozier (1943-2008) was a poet, and an energiser of poetry. A champion of work excluded from the familiar canon, he brought to the English literary landscape of the 1960s and 70s an engagement with the energies of American poetry. As a publisher and critic he helped to create a space for new voices within English poetry: for George Oppen, Carl Rakosi, Roy Fisher, J. H. Prynne. His own poetry is meticulous in its attention to language, exhilarating in its inventiveness and force. Crozier wrote that, for him, 'becoming a poet had to do with finding a mode for making sense of ...being alive', and his writing is alive with the possibilities of language. Ian Brinton, editor of The Use of English until 2011 and author of Contemporary Poetry since 1990, has brought together a comprehensive selection of Crozier's poetry and prose, much of it previously out of print or scattered in small press publications. Biographical and critical notes and a detailed bibliography complete this landmark edition of one of the essential figures in modern poetry.

After 1940, and particularly after 1945, Neville Chamberlain became one of the most reviled figures in British political history. Condemned as craven, cowardly and negligent of Britain's defences, he was stigmatized as the man of Munich who betrayed both Czechoslovakia and his country's honour. More than that, he was perceived as the representative of the ruthless and reactionary ruling classes who governed in their own interests and were determined to halt the march of progress and democracy. This book, however, argues that to the last Neville Chamberlain remained true to the radical tradition in which he was reared, and that he was one of the most progressive and enlightened statesmen ever to hold the office of prime minister in Britain. The social reforms instituted by Chamberlain in the various ministerial offices he held were in many respects the precursors of the post-1945 Attlee revolution. Furthermore, this book contends that Chamberlain did not foist upon an unwilling country the policy of appeasing or pacifying Germany through a general and European settlement, but rather that this policy was evolved consensually among the British policy-making elite. Finally, it argues that under Chamberlain's prudent governance, and with a little luck, Britain was as well placed as she could have been to fight the war she was called upon to fight in 1939.

Chamberlain is one of the infamous 'Guilty Men' responsible for appeasing Hitler almost to perdition. Indeed, his guilt is the deepest and most ineradicable of all those arraigned alongside him. At best, he was Hitler's dupe; at worst, almost criminally negligent. Or...was he in fact the country's saviour? Drawing on fresh evidence and recent scholarship, this new biography argues that without Chamberlain, war would just as certainly have come and that Britain would probably have lost. This in not an apologia for Chamberlain, but it does force us to look afresh at some of our 'certainties', many of them formed by Churchill's immensely influential writings penned in the glow of Nazi defeat.

This book provides a much needed accessible introduction to this key topic for students of the twentieth century. An ideal introduction to the events and historiography surrounding this key subject Sets the origins of WWII in both its European and Pacific contexts, and within 150 years of world history First volume in a new series covering major themes and events of the contemporary world