Mike Tyldesley

Matthew Jefferies

A controversial figure of the interwar period, with an enthusiasm for hiking, nudism, folk dancing and voluntary labour camps, Rolf Gardiner, organic farming pioneer and co-founder of the Soil Association, believed in ever closer union with Britain's 'kin folk, kin tongued' neighbours in Germany, The Netherlands and Scandinavia. Whilst Gardiner's activities of the 1920s appeared harmless to many, by the late-1930s his continued engagement with Germany was to have altogether darker connotations.

Folk, Nature and Culture in Interwar Britain

Rolf Gardiner

Michael Tyldesley

No Heavenly Delusion? analyzes three movements of communal living, the Kibbutz, the Bruderhof and the Integrierte Gemeinde, all of which can trace their origins to the German Youth Movement of the first part of the twentieth century. The book looks at the alternative societies and economies the movements have created, their interactions with the wider world, and their redrawing of the boundaries of the public and private spheres of their members. The comparative approach taken allows a picture of dissimilarities and similarities to emerge that goes beyond merely obvious points of difference. Tyldesley places these movements in the context of intellectual trends in late nineteenth- and twentieth-century Europe and especially Germany, and enables the reader to evaluate their wider significance.

A Comparative Study of Three Communal Movements

No Heavenly Delusion?

Peter Barberis

John McHugh

Helen Pendry

This authoritative reference work embodies the spectrum of organized political activity in the British Isles, with over 2,500 organizations in 1,700 entries. Each section is introduced by a historical sketch and overview. The encyclopedia includes comprehensive cross-referencing, a select chronology of events, an extensive bibliography, and indexes of organizations and names.

Parties, Groups, and Movements of the Twentieth Century

Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organizations

Folk dancer, forester, poet and visionary, Rolf Gardiner (1902-71) is both a compelling and troubling figure in the history of twentieth-century Britain. While he is celebrated as a pioneer of organic farming and co-founder of the Soil Association, Gardiner's organicist outlook was not confined to agriculture alone. Convinced that a healthy culture and society could only flourish when it was rooted in the soil, Gardiner sought national regeneration too. One of the most colourful and controversial figures of the interwar period, Gardiner believed Britain's future lay not with its doomed empire, but in ever closer union with its 'kin folk, kin tongued' neighbours in Germany, the Netherlands and Scandinavia. Fascinated by the Weimar Republic's myriad youth leagues and life reform movements, Gardiner became an important conduit between North Sea and Baltic. Yet while an enthusiasm for hiking, nudism, folk dancing and voluntary labour camps must have appeared harmlessly eccentric to many in 1920s Britain, by the late-1930s Gardiner's continued engagement with Germany was to have altogether darker connotations. This volume, which brings together seven scholars currently working on different aspects of Gardiner's life and work, eschews a straightforwardly biographical approach and instead focuses on the decades when he was at his most dynamic and radical. Situating Gardiner within the wider political and cultural contexts of the interwar years and exploring youth culture, the origins of the organic movement, Anglo-German relations and British cultural history, it is an essential addition to modern history libraries.

Rolf Gardiner: Folk, Nature and Culture in Interwar Britain

This major, authoritative reference work embraces the spectrum of organized political activity in the British Isles. It includes over 2,500 organizations in 1,700 separate entries. Arrangement is in 20 main subject sections, covering the three main p

Mike Tyldesley

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