What did the 2012 Olympics tell us about who we are, who we were, and who we want to be? This book takes 2012 as a starting point for a debate on national identity, community cohesion, urban regeneration and the persistence of inequalities in British society - from the vantage point of East London not only as the main Olympic venue as but the main reason that Britain won its Olympic bid. The first half of the book looks at East London from the inside - including voices from East London communities and the Olympic Park workers - and from the outside - in the imagination of artists, social commentators and reformers. The second half examines the cultural strategies that were used to present an 'Olympian' vision of London to the world, and explores the rhetoric and reality of regeneration and legacy. On the Wrong Side of the Track is a counter-narrative centred on an area once described by a LOCOG official as a 'pretty terrible part of town', but whose residents now carry the burden of representing the nation's hopes of economic recovery; it challenges the arguments of Olympophiles for whom the Games can do no wrong as well as Olympophobes for whom they can do no right. The book includes a photo essay on the Olympic site, and original photographs by Jason Orton and John Claridge.

About the Author
Phil Cohen grew up with Steve Ovett and Jean-Paul Sartre as his teenage heroes and has been trying to get them into the same book ever since. He is author of Knuckle Sandwich: Growing up in the working class city (with Dave Robins); Rethinking the Youth Question; London's Turning: The making of Thames Gateway (with Mike Rustin); and Borderscapes: memory, narrative and Un/Common Culture (to be published in 2013). His poetry has been published by Critical Quarterly, Agenda, Soundings and Kites. He is Emeritus Professor in Cultural Studies at the University of East London.


Book Information
ISBN 9781907103629
Author Phil Cohen
Format Paperback
Page Count 424
Imprint Lawrence & Wishart Ltd
Publisher Lawrence & Wishart Ltd