The 1960s in Swinging London brought about a sudden a wave of bob cuts, mod struts, pink-shirted blokes and Scotch-and-cokes. Had it not happened, "nothing—nothing—of the modern world we share could have been the way it is," writes Levy (Rat Pack Confidential). Sure, the American journalist/film critic admits, there were youthquakes at other points and in other cities, but this was "a cultural paradigm" that erased the classes and embraced freedom of expression, exploration and entertainment. The book, which lifts its title from the era's what's-hot-now! TV hit, spotlights the places and the faces who made dowdy London fabulous: The Snapper, photographer David Bailey, credited as first on the scene; The Crimper, hair liberator Vidal Sassoon; The Draper, Mary Quant, a fearless clothes designer; The Loner, Brian Epstein, who found his calling and when he found the Beatles. "For a few years, the most amazing thing in the world was to be British, creative and young." In three main sections structured loosely around the decade's rise, saturation and dark demise, Levy deftly correlates its many moods with such markers as the latest Beatles album, nightclub or drug—first it was booze, then amphetamines, pot, LSD, heroin. An invigorating book, it's packed with can't-miss material on the skirt-chasing escapades of actor flatmates Terence Stamp and Michael Caine; the acid party that jailed two Stones and one famous art dealer; the reaction of London musicians to the coming of the "prophet of their downfall," Jimi Hendrix from the States. Levy has gleaned his insights from interviews and from books, but the book reads as if he'd lived the era himself. (July)
Forecast:Eye-popping cover art will grab browsers' attention, but with a third Austin Powers movie set to come out in July, it's hard to tell whether the mod-girl image will instantly attract or repulse them.
