Downstairs Upstairs

Money and privilege no longer describe college students who, books in hand, stroll across fair campuses. Changes in American college life since the 1960s make the previous 300 years-from the founding of Harvard in 1636-benign by comparison. Today, universities in gritty downtowns admit welfare mothers who struggle to escape grinding poverty. Sometimes they have to take their babies to class with them. Felons from prison enroll through special programs hoping for training that will enable them to surmount previous misdeeds. Men and women in low-paying jobs enroll part-time. They head families, struggle with car and rent payments, and are always tired. But they attend college classes, struggling to stay awake, preparing themselves for better jobs. John A. Flower takes us on an extraordinary professional and personal odyssey in this new book. As dean at Kent State University he was engulfed in the Vietnam War protests and witnessed the shattering events of May 4, 1970. During 20 years as vice president, then president, of Cleveland State University he was the target of racial protests that took place on campus. At the same time a lurid scandal involving the high-profile basketball coach required Flower to dismiss him. For more than 50 years he participated from the inside as profound changes across the nation caused ivory towers to crumble. Flower writes eloquently and powerfully, helping readers to understand how forces for change reshape colleges and universities. He illustrates how external special-interest groups influence campus affairs, and analyzes their influence on curriculum, affirmative action, contract issuance, land acquisition, unionism, and a multitude of other issues. He uses his experience to present ways in which concerned citizens and community leaders can address change in positive ways. Downstairs, Upstairs is a must-read for all Americans who recognize the imperative for higher learning.

The international success of Downton Abbey has led to a revived interest in period dramas, with older programs like The Forsyte Saga being rediscovered by a new generation of fans whose tastes also include grittier fare like Ripper Street. Though often criticized as a form of escapist, conservative nostalgia, these shows can also provide a lens to examine the class and gender politics of both the past and present. In Upstairs and Downstairs: British Costume Drama Television from The Forsyte Saga to Downton Abbey, James Leggott and Julie Anne Taddeo provide a collection of essays that analyze key developments in the history of period dramas from the late 1960s to the present day. Contributors explore such issues as how the genre fulfills and disrupts notions of “quality television,” the process of adaptation, the relationship between UK and U.S. television, and the connection between the period drama and wider developments in TV and popular culture. Additional essays examine how fans shape the content and reception of these dramas and how the genre has articulated or generated debates about gender, sexuality, and class. In addition to Downton Abbey and Upstairs, Downstairs, other programs discussed in this collection include Call the Midwife, Danger UXB, Mr. Selfridge, Parade’s End, Piece of Cake, and Poldark. Tracing the lineage of costume drama from landmark productions of the late 1960s and 1970s to some of the most talked-about productions of recent years, Upstairs and Downstairs will be of value to students, teachers, and researchers in the areas of film, television, Victorian studies, literature, gender studies, and British history and culture.

This title takes the reader on a journey through the day in the life of the workings of homes during the Edwardian era. Starting with the work done by the servants before the family had even started to stir and culminating with the preparation and sophistication of a dinner party.

Elizabeth may be sent back to America unless someone from the Pennington mansion stands up for her.

“Delightful. . . . A real winner.”—School Library Journal “The friendly, cooperative tone of the text is reminiscent of the Frog and Toad series.”—Kirkus Reviews “Yee’s comfy beginning reader (dedicated to ‘Friends of Frog and Toad’) . . . packs in plenty of sweetness and civility.”—Publishers Weekly Mouse and Mole are neighbors. Mouse lives inside an oak tree, and Mole lives in a hole underneath. They are neighbors, but they are also friends. Sometimes friends make mistakes—but they always try to help each other out. That is what Mouse and Mole do.

Her presence in his life was unexpectedshe a landlord, he a tenant; she a vibrant Russian-born scientist, he a journalism professor near retirement. He had come to Durham on a mission to save himself at the world-famous Duke Diet and Fitness Center. She was a brilliant neuroscientist breaking new ground in the labs at Duke on the link between short-term memory and schizophrenia. She was inaccessiblea demanding lab schedule, a deep commitment to her Orthodox faith, emotionally isolated by the untimely death of her fianc ten years previous. Her only escape was to lose herself in Russian literature, especially poetry. He sensed she cared when she emerged from her private reading nook upstairs, to spend more time reading on the adjacent couch, as he watched his nightly TV shows. He had much to say to her, and he intuitively knew that the best way to command her attention was to be as engaging as Pushkin. And so began the flow of poems until one day he jokingly asked her, If I write you one hundred poems, will you marry me? Her affirmative answer caught him off guard. Now all can share the language of courtship inspired by his muse.

Arriving at the great houses of 1920s London, fifteen-year-old Margaret’s life in service was about to begin... As a kitchen maid – the lowest of the low – she entered an entirely new world; one of stoves to be blacked, vegetables to be scrubbed, mistresses to be appeased, and even bootlaces to be ironed. Work started at 5.30am and went on until after dark. It was a far cry from her childhood on the beaches of Hove, where money and food were scarce, but warmth and laughter never were. Yet from the gentleman with a penchant for stroking the housemaids’ curlers, to raucous tea-dances with errand boys, to the heartbreaking story of Agnes the pregnant under-parlourmaid, fired for being seduced by her mistress’s nephew, Margaret’s tales of her time in service are told with wit, warmth, and a sharp eye for the prejudices of her situation. Brilliantly evoking the long-vanished world of masters and servants, Below Stairs is the remarkable true story of an indomitable woman, who, though her position was lowly, never stopped aiming high. 'Enormous gusto, salty humour, wisdom' Evening Standard 'Shrewd, unabashed, wickedly funny, a unique front-line report of her life's experiences' Jack De Manio, BBC