Rolf Gardiner : folk, nature and culture in interwar Britain

Folk dancer, forester, poet and visionary, Rolf Gardiner (1902-71) is both a compelling and troubling figure in the history of twentieth-century Britain. While he is celebrated as a pioneer of organic farming and co-founder of the Soil Association, Gardiner's organicist outlook was not confined to agriculture alone. Convinced that a healthy culture and society could only flourish when it was rooted in the soil, Gardiner sought national regeneration too. One of the most colourful and controversial figures of the interwar period, Gardiner believed Britain's future lay not with its doomed empire, but in ever closer union with its 'kin folk, kin tongued' neighbours in Germany, the Netherlands and Scandinavia. Fascinated by the Weimar Republic's myriad youth leagues and life reform movements, Gardiner became an important conduit between North Sea and Baltic. Yet while an enthusiasm for hiking, nudism, folk dancing and voluntary labour camps must have appeared harmlessly eccentric to many in 1920s Britain, by the late-1930s Gardiner's continued engagement with Germany was to have altogether darker connotations. This volume, which brings together seven scholars currently working on different aspects of Gardiner's life and work, eschews a straightforwardly biographical approach and instead focuses on the decades when he was at his most dynamic and radical. Situating Gardiner within the wider political and cultural contexts of the interwar years and exploring youth culture, the origins of the organic movement, Anglo-German relations and British cultural history, it is an essential addition to modern history libraries.

Folk dancer, forester, poet and visionary, Rolf Gardiner (1902-71) is both a compelling and troubling figure in the history of twentieth-century Britain. While he is celebrated as a pioneer of organic farming and co-founder of the Soil Association, Gardiner's organicist outlook was not confined to agriculture alone. Convinced that a healthy culture and society could only flourish when it was rooted in the soil, Gardiner sought national regeneration too.

One of the most colourful and controversial figures of the interwar period, Gardiner believed Britain's future lay not with its doomed empire, but in ever closer union with its 'kin folk, kin tongued' neighbours in Germany, the Netherlands and Scandinavia. Fascinated by the Weimar Republic's myriad youth leagues and life reform movements, Gardiner became an important conduit between North Sea and Baltic. Yet while an enthusiasm for hiking, nudism, folk dancing and voluntary labour camps must have appeared harmlessly eccentric to many in 1920s Britain, by the late-1930s Gardiner's continued engagement with Germany was to have altogether darker connotations.

This volume, which brings together seven scholars currently working on different aspects of Gardiner's life and work, eschews a straightforwardly biographical approach and instead focuses on the decades when he was at his most dynamic and radical. Situating Gardiner within the wider political and cultural contexts of the interwar years and exploring youth culture, the origins of the organic movement, Anglo-German relations and British cultural history, it is an essential addition to modern history libraries.

Introduction / Matthew Jefferies And Mike Tyldesley -- Rolf Gardiner: Pioneer Of British Youth Culture, 1920-39 / David Fowler -- Rolf Gardiner And German Naturism / Matthew Jefferies -- Potencies Of The Earth: Rolf Gardiner And The English Folk Dance Revival / Georgina Boyes -- Rolf Gardiner, Farming And The English Landscape / Richard Moore-colyer -- Rolf Gardiner And Pacifism: The Case Of Max Plowman / Mike Tyldesley -- The Dangers Of Definition: Post-facto Opinions On Rolf Gardiner's Attitudes Towards Nazi Germany / Richard Griffiths -- Rolf Gardiner: An Honorary Nazi? / Dan Stone -- Epilogue - Rolf Gardiner: Eminence Vert? / Matthew Jefferies And Mike Tyldesley. Matthew Jefferies And Mike Tyldesley. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. A controversial figure of the interwar period, with an enthusiasm for hiking, nudism, folk dancing and voluntary labour camps, Rolf Gardiner, organic farming pioneer and co-founder of the Soil Association, believed in ever closer union with Britain's 'kin folk, kin tongued' neighbours in Germany, The Netherlands and Scandinavia. Whilst Gardiner's activities of the 1920s appeared harmless to many, by the late-1930s his continued engagement with Germany was to have altogether darker connotations A comprehensive, up-to-the-moment review of the New Public Management movement, the driving forces behind its reform and its various trajectories and special features. The Companion offers a refreshing analysis of key issues, and is essential reading for students, and anyone with an interest in modern administrative reform