Albion's Secret History: Snapshots of England’s Pop Rebels and Outsiders by Dr Guy Mankowski

Albion's Secret History compiles snapshots of English pop culture’s rebels and outsiders, from Evelyn Waugh to PJ Harvey via The Long Blondes and The Libertines. By focusing on cultural figures who served to define England, Guy Mankowski looks at those who have really shaped Albion’s secret history, not just its oft-quoted official cultural history. He departs from the narrative that dutifully follows the Beatles, The Sex Pistols and Oasis, and, by instead penetrating the surface of England’s pop history (including the venues it was shaped in), throws new light on ideas of Englishness. As well as music, Mankowski draws from art, film, architecture and politics, showing the moments at which artists like Tricky and Goldfrapp altered our sense of a sometimes green but sometimes unpleasant land.

Dr. Guy Mankowski is a writer and Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at the Lincoln School of Creative Arts. His research interests include music writing, particularly depictions of post-punk and subculture. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Authority.

He holds a Ph.D. from Northumbria University, an MPhil from Newcastle University, and a BSc Hons from Durham University. Mankowski trained as an Assistant Psychologist at The Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability in London. He was also the singer of the band Alba Nova.

Guy has published four novels, The Intimates (2011), Letters from Yelena (2012), How I Left The National Grid (2015) and An Honest Deceit (2016), with his fifth You Complete the Masterpiece (2024) to be released this November. He is currently writing a biography on the life of Kristen Pfaff, the late bassist of the band Hole. It was the subject of his 2022 TEDx talk.

Additionally, in 2021 Dr. Mankowski wrote Albion's Secret History: Snapshots of England's Pop Rebels and Outsiders which is the subject of today’s podcast. The book compiles snapshots of English pop culture’s rebels and outsiders, from Evelyn Waugh to PJ Harvey via The Long Blondes and The Libertines.

Buy the book: Albion's Secret History: Snapshots of England’s Pop Rebels and Outsiders

Extract from upcoming biography 'I Know How to Live': The Life of Kristen Pfaff by Guy Mankowski

Guy Mankowski: University of Lincoln

Guy Mankowski: TEDx Talk on Kristen Pfaff

Guy Mankowski: online

Guy Mankowski: Wikipedia

Guy Mankowski: Instagram

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