Product Description

Paolo Hewitt, celebrated former NME scribe and biographer of The Small Faces, The Jam and Oasis, collects the best ever writing on the original, and peculiarly British, cult of Mod. Hewitt’s hugely readable collection documents the clothes, the music, the clubs, the drugs and the faces behind one of the most misunderstood and enduring cultural movements. Includes: hard to find pieces by Tom Wolfe, bestselling novelist Tony Parsons, poet laureate Andrew Motion, disgraced Tory grandee Jonathan Aitken, Nik Cohn, Colin MacInnes, Mary Quant, and Irish Jack.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8873 in Books
• Published on: 2009-07-23
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

The Guardian, December 1999
"An unparalleled view of the first world-conquering British youth cult."

Mojo, December 1999
"This is a great read."

Review
Welcome reissue of a modernist survey.
--Record Collector, December, 2009

Customer Reviews

Fleshing out the story of Britain's original youth cult
About 20 years ago Eel Pie published Richard Barnes' "Mods!", an authoritative account of the lifestyle that flourished in the sixties. Rich with fine detail, it is difficult to underestimate the influence of his book (and the collection of photographs it contained) on many later twists and turns in the world of youth culture and fashion.

Despite Barnes' precision, however, the distant black and white photos that fill the pages of "Mods!" seemed to somehow confine the story to the past. Hard though you try, it is difficult not to view the mods' London in glorious monochrome.

With "The Sharper Word", a collection of some 30 essays from various sources, Paolo Hewitt now paints us a brighter, more vivid picture.

Whilst the collection contains a great deal of Richard Barnes' "insider accounts" of the original modernists, texts from many admiring and not-so-admiring observers compliment and help to frame the story in it's true social and economic context.

Nik Cohn perfectly describes the new sense of economic freedom and individuality that the teenagers of the early sixties experienced and the expression of this through clothing.

"The Noonday Underground" is Tom Wolfe's eye-witness account of the "lunchtime scene" at Tiles nightclub in Shaftesbury Avenue. It is a vivid snapshot of the clandestine world of the mod, barely inches below the surface of sixties London.

Elsewhwere, colourful accounts of the London Gay scene in the early sixties, an extract from a rare novel by Samuel Selvon describing London from the perspective of an early West Indian immigrant and a selection from Colin MacInnes' "Absolute Beginners" detailing the Soho jazz scene of the late fifties help to demonstrate the influence of these elements on the mod lifestyle.

In the midst of this careful unravelling of the mode code, an extract from "Heaven's Promise", Hewitt's own novel, shows how perfectly the lifestyle transposes to a more contemporary London.

"The Sharper Word" is flesh on the bone of the story of Britain's original youth cult. More than that, diving off Soho's streets and down into the clubs and dance halls of sixties London, it manages to convey the 'sense of now' of the first wave of mods.

buy. read. change your wardrobe.
A great read. I'm not generally one for non-stop reading but I finished this in a couple of days.and was gutted. TSW is an inspiring look into the true heart of Mod culture drawing parallels in part with both the Jamaican rude boy and gay scenes of the early 60's.

The great thing about the book is that, although the writings come from very diverse sources, there is a common 'vibe' that runs right through which transcends everything that might stereotypically be labelled mod. There is, it soon becomes clear, much more to the life than wearing a parka and digging the Who.

This is the kind of book that makes you wanna re-evaluate your lifestyle and really is very cool indeed. highly recommended.

Finally someone has compiled the definitive Mod article!
Modernism is possibly one of the most maligned (and ultimately most misunderstood) of all British subcultures. The media would have us all believe that Mod is about aggressive 14 year-old's in dirty U.S Army Parka's looking for a ruck in Brighton. Paolo Hewitt sets the record straight for the unenlightened. His latest release is a savvy complilation of the best essays on the subject. The goal of his anthology is quite clear: Mod is still alive and kicking after almost forty years. For many(including myself)it's much more than a rare Small Faces '45, Modernism is a way of life. Purchase this book, then a gatefold vinyl copy of The Style Council's Our Favourite Shop, and you're set for life!