{"product_id":"behind-closed-doors-9781472146465","title":"Behind Closed Doors","description":"\u003cp\u003eWith a keen eye for the juicy anecdote, Thévoz tells the fascinating and entertaining story of the rise, decline and resurgence of London's private members' clubs, from the late-eighteenth century to the present day. In doing so he looks at cultural and political developments beyond the clubs, revealing how while the clubs may have been products of their city and country, they also exerted significant influence on London, Britain and places far beyond. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThis is a chronicle, as informative as it is entertaining, of the ups and downs of London clubland, and how it had an impact on parts of the world far from London. It is packed with amusing anecdotes and illustrative examples of the growth of this quirky, unique institution, which grew to spread around the world. London, though, with its four hundred clubs, was always at its heart. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThévoz reveals how everything we might have thought we knew about these clubs is wrong. They may have started out as white, male, aristocratic watering holes - but that's only part of the story. All sections of society built their own clubs and lived their lives there: highbrow and lowbrow; women and men; working-class, middle-class and upper-class; international and British. The club has been central to a distinctively British form of leisure over more than three centuries. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eBehind Closed Doors\u003c\/i\u003e is a distillation of a decade of research and writing on London clubs, based on exclusive behind-the-scenes access to archives and proceedings, as well as a love of gossip and scandal.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eDr Seth Alexander Thévoz is a freelance historian and journalist. He holds degrees from the Universities of Cambridge, London and Warwick, and is a former research associate of the History of Parliament Trust and Nuffield College, Oxford. He has variously been shortlisted for the Whitfield Prize for his first book, \u003ci\u003eClub Government\u003c\/i\u003e, and a British Journalism Award for his investigative work with\u003ci\u003e openDemocracy\u003c\/i\u003e. Since 2013, he has been Librarian of the National Liberal Club in London. He has been known to contribute to\u003ci\u003e Private Eye\u003c\/i\u003e in some capacity or another, allegedly.\u003cbr\u003ehttp: \/\/www.sethalexanderthevoz.com\/\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Robinson Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50452954677522,"sku":"9781472146465","price":26.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_aa5c1d55-7efe-4ab4-8f03-31ef6a068a01.jpg?v=1729829352","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/behind-closed-doors-9781472146465","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}