Long since the Pilgrim Fathers set sail without looking back, mythic history has played out here. This book is about a particular loss of time and place, and an English way of addressing this. Plymouth is a post-war city of evolving new economies, the contradictions are all here: 'Francis Drake' is a shopping mall and what was the 'Royal Sovereign' pub on Union St. is now the 'Firkin Doghouse'. This book is Maddock's personal reflection of two years living in the town, and a wider commentary on a society economically and culturally isolated since the decline of the navy. His account aims to address the dismantling of the author's own preconceptions. From motivations set in motion through the strength of childhood memories.Owen Hatherley contributes with an essay on Plymouth as a Blitzed city, drawing on the city's architectural fabric and what it means for its future.