White Rabbit hits the right note with two from Dylan Jones

White Rabbit publisher Lee Brackstone has acquired world rights to two new books by Dylan Jones, through Jonny Geller at the Curtis Brown Group. 

The first title in the deal, Shiny and New: Ten Moments of Pop Genius that Defined the ’80s, will be published on 8th July 2021.

Shiny and New will tell the history of 1980s pop through the prism of 10 classic singles. The synopsis explains: "The Eighties were about big ideas writ large: new money, new style, gender fluidity, gay pride, attritional politics, the 'special relationship', nuclear fear, AIDS, cocaine, ecstasy, tabloid royalty, the rise of urban pop, and ultimately, geopolitical chaos. Using a big narrative approach, Dylan Jones' history of the decade in pop frames the decade through some of its most important and popular hits, choosing records which either epitomised their time, or ushered in a new cultural shift."

The second book in the deal, Faster than a Cannonball: 1995, Cool Britannia, Britpop, The Beatles and all that, will be a history and celebration of music of the year 1995. It will be published in 2022. 

Brackstone commented: "I am so happy to rekindle my relationship with Dylan after a short-lived dalliance in my twilight hours at Faber. It’s very much the case that this book didn’t exist, so we had to invent it. How could there not be an absorbing, contentious, celebratory history of pop music in the 1980s, the decade that ‘popped’ more than any other? Well, there is now. Shiny and New is the tonic we all need right now; a celebration of pop at its most thrilling and the huge personalities who defined the decade."

Jones said: "I am so excited to be working with Lee again on these two projects, as he not only shares my passion for music, but has a seemingly innate ability to turn those passions—both his and mine—into books. The first book we've produced since working together again, Shiny and New, is a completely new take on the Eighties, a book which not only shines a light into the decade's dark crevices, but which also used 10 moments of pop perfection to illustrate the extraordinary musical variety that decade encouraged. The Eighties will never die, they just keep mutating!"

Jones is the author of more than 20 books. Most recently, he has published The Wichita Lineman: Searching in the Sun for the World's Greatest Unfinished Song (Faber & Faber, 2019) and David Bowie: A Life (Windmill Books, 2018).