John Sutherland

Intergenerational conflict is a perennial feature of society and capitalism. One side has the youth, the other side has the lions share of the wealth, and the good things wealth can bring.In the last few years that friction has reached to dangerous heights. Call it war. And, like all war, it has the risk of doing severe damage.In this fiery polemic the author of the best-selling The War on the Old has switched sides, and now examines the conflict as it must appear to the young.For the first time since the Second World War, younger generations can expect less fulfilled lives than their elders. They may not be their betters, but in the second decade of the twenty-first century they surely are better heeled.Traditionally societys way of controlling the young has been to send them off to war, or conscript them. They would either die, or learn duty. Now we send as many as 50% to university, from which they emerge encumbered with debt. As Orwell observed, there is nothing like debt for extinguishing the political fire in your belly.The War on the Young is lively, provocative and ranges wittily, and at times angrily, over many casus belli from the standpoint of the nations young people. Things are not getting better. This is a timely and highly readable look at a ticking generational time-bomb.

Amid the flames of the culture wars, politicians have taken up arms over controls on literary culture, spurred on in part by universities triggering canonical texts. Jonathan Swifts Battle of the Books has flared up again. But is triggering utter wokery or responsible pedagogic practice?Through dozens of case studies of triggered works, from Romeo and Juliet to Gender Queer, John Sutherland explores the recent phenomenon of triggering and its consequences for university English departments and literature itself. He maintains that what is routinely overlooked in the heat of polemic is that triggering is categorically different from traditional institutional (religious, educational, dictatorial) controls on literature. Triggering is in essence an alert. Done responsibly it does not erase or meddle; it stimulates curiosity and thought. It honours the fact that great literature is great because it is, as Franz Kafka says, powerful.In this characteristically nuanced and calmly objective study, the witty literary critic guides us through the increasingly rocky terrain of triggering. His advice rings clear: literature matters, to us and what we make of our world, and it must be handled with critical care.

The war on the old has been declared.In the post-Brexit world, intergenerational conflict has become a visible phenomenon. There is an overwhelming sense of blame from younger generations: it was the wrinklies, the grey-haired plutocracy, who voted Leave; who are overburdening hospitals, shutting the youth out of the housing market and hoarding accumulated wealth.By 2020, we are told, one in five Britons will be pensioners, and living a longer retirement than ever before. A good thing, politicians add, through gritted teeth. The truth is that for them, the old are a social, economic and political inconvenience.John Sutherland (age 78, and feeling keenly what he writes about) examines this intergenerational combat as a new kind of war in which institutional neglect and universal indifference to the old has reached aggressive, and routinely lethal, levels. This is a book which sets out to provoke but in the process tells some deep and inconvenient truths, revealing something British society would rather not think about.

In a series of 50 accessible essays, John Sutherland introduces and explains the important forms, concepts, themes and movements in literature, drawing on insights and examples from both classic and popular works.From postmodernism to postcolonialism, William Shakespeare to Jane Austen , 50 Literature Ideas You Really Need to Know is a complete introduction to the most important literary concepts in history.

When did cigarettes start making an appearance in English literature? Which authors heart was purportedly eaten by a cat? One of our best-known and best-loved literary critics turns his attention to the more bizarre areas of literature in this miscellany of fact and trivia. Which author had the heaviest brain? What was the original title of 1984? Who made the first bouillon soup? What do 12 percent of all winners of the Booker Prize have in common? What didnt happen on Thomas Carlyles famous wedding night? And, while were at it, who wrote the first Western, and is there any link between asthma and literary genius? Sutherlands irreverent literary masterpiece illuminates every topic imaginable from author advances to Civil War literature to Victorian sex to odd things eaten by literary characters (think Patrick Batemans girlfriend in American Psycho). Other fascinating insights include the fact that the number one title among American Civil War soldiers was Les Miserables. This is the ideal anthology of fascinating information and trivia for all book lovers.

Thirty-one years ago John Sutherland nearly lost everything to drink. It was time to sober up. Or die. Last Drink To LA is part reportage, part confession - not a temperance tale (told to terrify, inform and instruct), not what AA calls a "drunkalog", but a moving and thought-provoking meditation - some thinking about drinking.

ARE YOU READY TO SAVE A LIFE?WHY HER? Becca Palmer has just lost her job as assistant to Simon Jones MP - the highly-regarded Policing Minister, tipped as a future Prime Minister. But Becca claims that Simon was more than her boss, that she is in love with him. WHY HERE? When a heartbroken Becca leaves the Home Office, she heads to Westminster Bridge, intending to take her own life. Which is where hostage negotiator Alex Lewis meets her for the first time. It is his job to try to talk her back from the edge.WHY NOW? In the negotiation that follows, Becca suggests that she may know something about the Policing Minister that she shouldnt. Something that could prompt a serious fall from grace were it to come out.But can Alex save Becca - and get to the bottom of an alleged conspiracy that goes deep inside the highest levels of government - before its too late?

A brilliant biography - John Sutherland has brought Monica Jones to life as she deserves. Claire TomalinEye-opening... in this account [Monica Jones] comes alive. The Sunday TimesMonica Jones was Philip Larkins partner for more than four decades, and was arguably the most important woman in his life. She was cruelly immortalised as Margaret Peel in Kingsley Amiss Lucky Jim and widely vilified for destroying Larkins diaries and works in progress after his death. She was opinionated and outspoken, widely disliked by his friends and Philip himself was routinely unfaithful to her. But Monica Jones was also a brilliant academic and an inspiring teacher in her own right. She wrote more than 2,000 letters to Larkin, and he in turn poured out his heart to her. In this revealing biography John Sutherland explores the question: who was the real Monica? The calm and collected friend and teacher? The witty conversationalist and inspirational lecturer? Or the private Monica, writing desperate, sometimes furious, occasionally libellous, drunken letters to the only man, to the absent man, whom she could love? Was Monicas life - one of total sacrifice to a great poet - worthwhile? Through his careful reading of Monicas never-before-seen letters, and his own recollections, John Sutherland shows us a new side to Larkins story, and allows Monica to finally step out from behind the poets shadow.

A masterclass in thrillers Reader Review, One hell of a treat Reader Review, Blown away, almost literally Reader Review, Wow, wow, wow!! Reader Review, Proper edge-of-your-seat stuff Reader Review, Alex and Pip are in desperate need of an escape. Their stressful roles as hostage negotiators are eased only by the fact that they get to come home to each other every night.When an old friend invites the couple up to the Scottish Highlands for an extended break, Alex and Pip jump at the chance. Its the rest they both need.But soon after they arrive at the castle, they hear the sound of gunshots, and their perfect escape turns into a perfect nightmare. The remote mountainous landscape is now the setting for a terrifying kidnap plot targeting one of the other guests.In the desperate hours that follow, Alex and Pip must call on all their years of negotiating experience to keep everyone alive. But with Pip gravely injured and the net closing in, it might be her life that needs saving most of all...Read what everyone is saying about The Castle:Wow wow wow!!... This was a fantastic read! This book had great suspense, murder, mystery, fantastic characters, revenge... wild twists and turns! The storyline was very interesting! I highly recommend reading this book. Reader Review, This is proper edge-of-your-seat stuff and moves at a blistering pace... A very tense read... Mr Sutherland is going to be someone that stays on my radar. Loved this! Reader Review, I will admit to crying at one point, youll know when you get there, and my emotions played yoyo for a while which was fabulous! Highly recommended... a tense and rewarding thriller that weve chosen as both a LoveReading Star Book, and Liz Pick of the Month.LoveReading, A masterclass in thrillers... So tense I found myself reading aggressively! I had to know what happened and I wanted more the second I had finished. Incredible. Reader Review,

Generous, enjoyable and well informed.Observer500 expertly potted plots and personal comments on a wide range of pop and proper prose fiction.The Times___________________________________________________________Ranging all the way from Aarons Rod to Zuleika Dobson, via The Devil Rides Out and Middlemarch, literary connoisseur and sleuth John Sutherland offers his very personal guide to the most rewarding, most remarkable and, on occasion, most shamelessly enjoyable works of fiction ever written.He brilliantly captures the flavour of each work and assesses its relative merits and demerits. He shows how it fits into a broader context and he offers endless snippets of intriguing information: did you know, for example, that the Nazis banned Bambi or that William Faulkner wrote As I Lay Dying on an upturned wheelbarrow; that Voltaire completed Candide in three days, or that Anna Sewell was paid 20 for Black Beauty? It is also effectively a history of the novel in 500 or so wittily informative, bite-sized pieces.Encyclopaedic and entertaining by turns, this is a wonderful dip-in book, whose opinions will inform and on occasion, no doubt, infuriate.__________________________________________________Anyone hooked on fiction should be warned: this book will feed your addiction.Mail on SundayA dazzling array of genres, periods, styles and tastes... chatty, insightful, unprejudiced (but not uncritical) and wise.Times Literary Supplement

Mr Polly is an ordinary middle-aged man who is tired of his wifes nagging and his dreary job as the owner of a regional gentlemans outfitters. Faced with the threat of bankruptcy, he concludes that the only way to escape his frustrating existence is by burning his shop to the ground, and killing himself. Unexpected events, however, conspire at the last moment to lead the bewildered Mr Polly to a bright new future - after he saves a life, fakes his death, and escapes to a life of heroism, hope and ultimate happiness.