Published By Macmillan UK

THE NEW SAVAGES.

                The publication of this book was opposed by people who are deeply concerned and involved in the whole Liverpool scene, and possess a much more comprehensive knowledge of the ghetto situation there than Timeri Murari could have accumulated in his admirable two months of round-the-clock investigation. Nevertheless this prophetic state- ment on conditions there ought to reach a wide public. Liverpool is but a microcosm of our national situation.
                Through the pages of this book one lives the homely experiences of white and black teenagers in two whole days of their Jives. And one comes from it appalled by the black despair that has settled like a cloud in this problem area.
                The choice of material for the book has obviously been selective, creating fictitious types like Marko, the half- caste, experiencing the conflict of uncertain parentage, tender towards the ageing aunt who cares for him, tough with his black peers and in their company moving slowly towards self-destruction, and Bicklo, the cocky leader of the, white gang of Boot Boys, who move from their territory in constant street-fighting with the black people. Trenchy is caught continuously in this ferment of strife and crime. He typifies the struggle of many of his generation, who wrestle alone with a current which exerts a steady downward pull into the vortex of violence and crime around them. The white negro sensitivity is daily brutalised in the dirt and squalor of a senseless existence where he searches faces for meaning. As night comes down in the end of a forty-eight hour vigil in their ghettoes, the reader jolts to an ending. He is left with a host of unanswered questions and a desire for further knowledge and discussion. FRONTIER

The New Savages would hardly amount to much as fiction, if it were not for its threatening status as fact. Timeri Murari's documentary novel of teenage violence, in Liverpool could be described as a workmanlike job: its generalisations are of the kind one might find in an intelligent newspaper, and its psychological and physical particularities offer little imaginative stimulus. But this would be to ignore the strengths of the book. It presents convincingly the language, the values and the rhythm of a world of ghetto life which the contemporary novel has rarely managed to penetrate. The act of attention that preceded its writing called for a sustained sympathy for which we should be grateful. Perhaps I've just read too much fiction which is a celebration of the author's intelligence and sensitivity, or a release of his resentments, but I was thankful for a novelist who tried to present characters who were not projections of himself. THE TABLET

-'a classic piece of reporting on the young of Liverpool 8'. THE GUARDIAN.
-The author spent two months in the area in an attempt to understand the subtle but dangerous change from traditional adolescent gang fighting over territory to the new battles over race. He has one immense advantage over most social scientists in that he writes easily and well. The book is recommended for its sensitive handling of the feelings of young blacks growing up in the slums of our cities. TIMES EDUCATIONAL SUPPLEMENT.
-The New Savages bears the marks of one who has spent months on location researching and he manages to characterize the anxiety and enjoyment of routine violence without patronising or glamorising adolescent energy. TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT.

Published: MacMillan, UK.

INTERVIEW
LIVERPOOL POST interview by Harold Brough
TIMERI MURARI whose forth. coming book is the subject of a court injunction today, is a freelance writer who came to Liverpool in search of the human story behind urban decay and deprivation. He left with a lingering hangover of depression
                It was not just the reality behind statistics about sub-standard housing or ,jobs in South Liverpool, but living with the people, the tension in their lives, the limited hope of escape.
                "Yes, I was surprised by what I found." he says. "I did not expect the tension of the boys there. I came out of it very depressed, I took some time to recover from it. I liked the boys and I felt terribly sorry for them. Their horizons are so limited by the situation."
                He spent more than two months in the area, on the street corners, around the sad, derelict buildings, the tenements, the cafes, researching for "The New Savages," which is due to be published next month by Macmillan, unless a judge in chambers decides otherwise.
                The book is about two days in the life of four fictitious but allegedly typical Liverpool boys in this part of the city. They are Marko, a 17.year-old half-caste, Ato, the white Negro unsure of his identity moving towards a breakdown, Trenchy, the white boy paying lip service to the Boot Boys while attempting to stay out of trouble, and Bicklo, leader of the Boot boys, at least temporarily while the king is in prison. Together, with their friends and their enemies, they live their hopeless lives in a world which includes the booze, the battling and the beef (girls).
                The main theme says Murari is the despair of the situation. 'No one is going to do very much about it. The economic situation is not right to help alleviate the situation." He says the conclusion is the despair of the four, their inability to escape their destinies.
                But the book is also about deep racial tension and it also contains reported comments on life and the scene in this part of the city by several local people who for different reasons are involved with the people and the problems.
                Murari served his time day and night, rain and shine researching the book with the young ones, and others to the extent of   following in the wake of the flying bricks in the fight between white and coloured. He says the characters are not overdrawn. and while despair may be the main conclusion he talks of the colour tension: "There is conflict between black and white. There is a great deal of bitterness in the community."
                He is 33, single, and was born and educated at Madras. He went to university there and in Montreal, the idea for a book about people in this type of urban environment stemmed from reading a dull, boring report-"2 1/2 people sharing 1.3 bathrooms" a report in which the people involved were hidden by statistics.
                So he went in search of the people, visiting cities including Birmingham and Sheffield before deciding to base his book on Liverpool. A fight between white and coloured young people happened while he was staying in the community. He has no reason to think it was an isolated or particularly rare event.
But he would expect to find a similar situation of tension in other big cities. While he expects fighting to continue spasmodically in Liverpool but not at a high pitch he expects that of other cities also.
But for several reasons it was a depressing stay. One is that, if he is right it is the young who harbour these feelings. The other is his claim that fighting, once territorial, has become racial.
'Yes it does not sound very good for the future."