"Here, read this," said my new boss, handing me a copy of Five Years.
I took it home, read it in one session and thought to myself: "I'm going to enjoy this job."
The book is the story of a group of young men that Young People Now columnist Howard Williamson lived and worked alongside from 1973 to 1978 on an estate in South Wales. Some may call it social anthropology or something equally highfalutin', but I'd rather think of it as a fascinating story told by somebody with the gift to be both participant and observer. While never straying into academic objectivity, Williamson is able to bring a perceptive analysis to the situation and motivation of his main characters: young men who today would be called "socially excluded" and targeted by YIPs, PAYP, PAs and the rest of it. Back then they had a desultory youth club and delinquent youth worker, and their mate Howard. And while they never understood why he was there, they knew he was cool.
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