Heatwave by John L. Williams - ISBN: 9781800961739
Paperback
1976: Britain’s scorching summer of cultural and political revolution.
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Heatwave

The Summer of 1976 – Britain at Boiling Point. A BBC Radio 4 Book Of The Week.

$24.54

  • Paperback

    384 pages

  • Release Date

    31 August 2026

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Summary

BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK

“A teeming chronicle of those scorching months. Superbly researched.” THE TIMES

“Scorching, animated and essential reading. Superb.” THE MAIL ON SUNDAY

“Grippingly captures the three months that shook Britain’s cultural landscape” PAULINE BLACK

“Scorching, seething and scintillating, Heatwave conjures a slow-burning collage of a country on the brink. I lived through those cruel months, and Williams recreates them wi…

Book Details

ISBN-13:9781800961739
ISBN-10:1800961731
Author:John L. Williams
Publisher:Octopus Publishing Group
Imprint:Monoray
Format:Paperback
Number of Pages:384
Release Date:31 August 2026
Weight:260g
Dimensions:196mm x 128mm x 30mm
What They're Saying

Critics Review

‘John L. Williams grippingly captures the three months that shook Britain’s cultural landscape in ‘Heatwave’. His use of highly entertaining and often devastating stories about the febrile atmosphere of 1976’s extraordinarily hot summer, show how simmering community unrest, in a newly multicultural Britain, reached boiling point with the heavy-handed policing of the youth at the Notting Hill Carnival.’ – Pauline Black * Singer, Actress and Author of Black by Design *

About The Author

John L. Williams

John L Williams is a biographer, novelist, and crime writer from Cardiff. His non-fiction includes his much-acclaimed biography of the Trinidadian polymath CLR James, and his account of the Cardiff Three miscarriage of justice case, Bloody Valentine (‘A bloody good book’ - Benjamin Zephaniah), as well as his enduringly popular portrait of urban America as seen through the prism of crime fiction, Into The Badlands. His biography of his fellow Cardiffian Shirley Bassey was proclaimed the music book of the year by The Times. He is the crime fiction reviewer for The Mail on Sunday. He is the co-founder and literary director of the Laugharne Weekend Festival in west Wales. The one single recorded by his punk band, The Puritan Guitars, is surprisingly collectible.

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