Paul Addison
Are We Declining?
From Anger to Apathy: The British Experience since 1975
By Mark Garnett
Jonathan Cape 420pp £20 order from our bookshop
Until I came across it in Mark Garnett’s book I had completely forgotten the story of Joyce McKinney. Infatuated with a young Mormon missionary called Kirk Anderson, she pursued him to England and, with the aid of an accomplice, kidnapped him and held him captive in a cottage in Devon. There she wooed him with passion after taking the initial precaution of manacling him to the bed. In order to win his affections, McKinney told the court, she would have ‘skied down Mount Everest in the nude with a carnation up my nose’.
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
'Feminists have been caricatured so often that it’s worth recalling the many obstacles placed in the path of women campaigning for equal rights.'
@polblonde on @helenlewis's new book about difficult women throughout history.
http://ow.ly/Is9c50ywe7G
'Too many historians sneer at our forbears; scolding them if they follow the customs of their own day ... tut-tutting if the poor things are detected having a little fun.'
From the archive, Mary Clive on medieval travellers.
http://ow.ly/yk8a50yrjSG
'Reading Taylor’s book has also made me join a book club. I did not like the January book; I did enjoy drinking gin while saying why.'
@clamorousvoice explores the history of women readers.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/she-readers