Product Description

"Skinheads" is the story of a way of life, told through three generations of a family: Terry English, original ska-loving skinhead and boss of a mini-cab firm; Nutty Ray, street-punk skin and active football hooligan; and Lol, son of Terry, nephew of Ray, a fifteen-year-old kid just starting out.Terry is sick and not sure he's going to make his fiftieth birthday, but is kept going by his music, his lovely mod-girl assistant Angie, and his discovery of the abandoned Union Jack Club, which he decides to clean up and re-open. Ray, meanwhile, is out driving mini-cabs and struggling to control his anger - his only release, days out with Chelsea's finest. But when he takes the law into his own hands in an explosion of righteous violence, his future starts to darken. John King's seventh novel draws on nearly forty years of evolving British culture. The skinheads didn't die off: the look went mainstream, their music was accepted and reinvented, while the boys themselves keep misbehaving in the traditional ways. Challenging all society's fears and prejudices, "Skinheads" shows us a group of truly humane characters driven by passion and honour and the culture they love. This is their story.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #224163 in Books
• Published on: 2008-03-06
• Released on: 2006-12-28
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Arena
'King ... offers a nuanced argument for skinhead culture'

Sunday Telegraph
`an energetic and technically adroit writer'

The Independent
'King's achievement since his debut has been enormous: creating a modern, proletarian English literature at once genuinely modern, genuinely proletarian, genuinely English and genuinely literature'

Customer Reviews

A Real Return To Form For One Of Britain's Top Authors
This book is a real return to form by one of my favourite authors. John King is at his best for me writing about the generation he knows and this look at the Skinhead way of life takes me back to his early works of Headhunters, Football Factory and England Away. This is not the tabloid stereotypical view of the racist thug but a truthful view of a cult that has lasted many years and is still going strong. The story revolves around three generations of one family. Terry, the elder statesman, an old school skinhead with a love for classic Ska music who likes to do things right and is still trying to come to terms with the loss of his wife in a tragic accident; Ray, Terry's nephew, a lover of Oi music and a bit of a loose cannon with a violent temper, and Lol, Terry's son, a lover of American punk and living his life to the full. All three live for their football, their music and their mates. The charcters are strong and believable, you really care about what happens to them. The plot has many twists and turns in it that have you smiling one minute and in dispair the next. The musical references throughout the book are well researched and had me seeking out some old albums to listen again to tunes I had loved but had forgotten all about. John King kept us waiting for the release of this book but the wait has been well worth it as this is a cracker.

Unexpectedly good stuff
I've not read any of John King's other books -- the implicitly violent titles put me off (I'm a football supporter and it annoys me to read the tripe that's often written about football violence in the media). Perhaps I'm wrong and I should read John's other books... but this book is good, however. Although the plot is far-fetched in places, and the names of the chief protagonists are daft ('Terry English', 'Hawkins' etc -- and Terry's Dad is, predictably, a war hero named 'George English') it sets out a reasonably accurate and well-researched account of the initial skinhead period of the 1960s -- at least it is an initial guide to skinhead reggae releases that you may wish to buy :-) You end up caring about the characters. Unexpectedly good stuff, important history and an essential antidote to the way in which skinheads have been portrayed in the media. Makes you proud to be a skin once more.

Every home should have one?
John King has the knack of publishing books of a high standard, apart from "White Trash", which is a four star book, the rest are all five star, if you haven't read any of his books yet your missing a social fictional treat, any of his books are well worth a place on your book shelf, every home should have at least one John King book. I hope that the wait for his next book is not so long.