A book by a figure who has been at the centre of Welsh cultural life - in both languages - for over thirty years. In this volume he looks closely at the organisations with which he has been involved over the years. He also reflects on his family background and explores some of his professional passions such as Welsh civic society and devolution, broadcasting, and the arts.

Llyfr gan ffigwr sydd wedi bod yng nghanol y bywyd diwylliannol Cymreig - drwy gyfrwng y ddwy iaith - am dros ddeng mlynedd ar hugain. Mae'n edrych yn fanwl ar y sefydliadau y bu'n aelod ohonynt yn ystod y cyfnod. Mae hefyd yn bwrw golwg ar ei gefndir teuluol, a'i ddiddordebau proffesiynol, megis datganoli, darlledu, a'r celfyddydau.

Geraint Talfan Davies has been amongst the movers and shakers of the arts and media world in Wales for several decades. Although it offers some glimpses into his early life, this book is neither autobiography nor memoir but focuses almost entirely on Davies’s 'recollections and reflections on the arts, media and a young democracy'.

Having started his working life as a graduate reporter on the Western Mail, Davies has the journalist’s gift for keen observation and readable prose. The early chapters, in which he discusses the corruption and lack of vision of urban redevelopment plans in the 1960s and 70s, the rise of the Welsh language movement, the early push for devolution, and the whole political scene in Wales at the time, combine an attention to detail and a view of the bigger picture that make for interesting reading – a formula to which Davies returns in the final chapters to provide an informed overview and analysis of the current state of the arts and media in Wales.

In the long central section of the book, Davies describes his own involvement, delving deeply into the minutiae of the structure and workings of a series of public and private institutions and giving a blow-by-blow account of the early troubled relationship between the Arts Council of Wales and the Assembly’s culture department ('a spat between one of the smallest public bodies in the land and one of the smallest departments of government'). Davies is aware that 'there is always a danger, in writing a detailed account of events in which you have been involved, that you can lose perspective and exaggerate their importance'. I imagine some readers will appreciate his in-depth analysis, while others might feel overwhelmed by detail. As a general reader, I felt this section might have benefited from some of the journalistic concision that is evident in other parts of the book.

This notwithstanding, At Arm’s Length contains a wealth of insight and information regarding an area of policy that concerns us all and has a daily impact on the quality of our lives.

Suzy Ceulan Hughes

It is possible to use this review for promotional purposes, but the following acknowledgment should be included: A review from www.gwales.com, with the permission of the Welsh Books Council.

Gellir defnyddio'r adolygiad hwn at bwrpas hybu, ond gofynnir i chi gynnwys y gydnabyddiaeth ganlynol: Adolygiad oddi ar www.gwales.com, trwy ganiatâd Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru.