Welcome to Redshank

The Redshank Books imprint will carry titles in ‘Popular culture and current affairs’ which are intended for a generalist lay readership. The imprint will also be used for the output of specific publishing projects in which Libri Publishing Limited is engaged.

Londonland

Simon Bennett

Release Date:

Pages: 224
Published: 2009
ISBN: 9781904750642

Code

9781904750642

Price £19.99

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Londonland

For those who wonder what it’s like to work in Britain’s only world city, Londonland provides the answer. The book delivers an intimate portrait of London life in the first decade of the twenty-first century. Based on interviews with working people, Londonland reveals the ‘lived reality’ of metropolitan labour – its satisfactions and frustrations, positives and negatives. It is a story of unsung heroes and heroines, of bus drivers, shop-keepers, tube workers, computer programmers, artisans, teachers and small-time entrepreneurs – the ordinary folk whose labours underwrite Britain’s economic powerhouse.

An enthusiastic ethnographer and debunker of media stereotypes, author Simon Bennett gives ordinary Londoners a voice. He concludes Londonland with this observation: "London isn’t just Leicester Square film premieres or Buckingham Palace ceremony or Saturday football derbies or marathons. London is an economic force that stands on the shoulders of its workers... London’s heroes are the uncelebrated, quiet millions who struggle to the office or factory or shop each day to make it work. Their story is the only one that matters".

About the Author: Simon Bennett has degrees in politics and communications, and a PhD in the Sociology of Scientific Knowledge (Brunel University, Middlesex). He directs the Civil Safety and Security Unit (CSSU) at the University of Leicester. CSSU has over 300 MSc students. As a human factors consultant to the airlines and the military, Dr Bennett uses action research and participant observation (ethnography) to improve communication and teamwork. He has spent circa 1,350 hours on the flight deck, and is familiar with the Boeing 737 and 757 and Airbus A300, A319, A320 and A321. His books include Human Error - by design? (Palgrave-Macmillan), A Sociology of Commercial Flight Crew (Ashgate), Innovative Thinking in Risk, Crisis and Disaster Management (Gower) and How Pilots Live (Peter Lang).