Overview

A one volume history of the great city of Glasgow from the Celts to Celtic by the controversial Scottish historian and biographer of Edinburgh. Beloved, reviled - and not only by Glaswegians - Glasgow isn't just the Industrial Revolution nor the Victorian slums. Founded in the sixth century, its forebears pushed back the Romans. The roof of its cathedral, founded in the twelfth century, survived the Reformation. Its fifteenth-century university welcomed Adam Smith and the Enlightenment. It prospered from sugar, tobacco, cotton and slavery in the eighteenth century, and saw the rise of the Red Clydesiders in the twentieth. Glasgow's not just a city, it's an urban civilization in itself, unique and fruitful . Its denizens have seen the city rise and fall, they have survived bombs and demolitions, and somehow kept their humour intact . Now these people and this city play a pivotal role in Scotland's future, and in the future of the UK. It's time for a book that tells the story in all its complexity.

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9781784975838

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Reviews

'Fry is at home debunking myths and opening wounds ... Thought-provoking' History Scotland. 'A really interesting book and well worth reading' Westender. 'For those who like their history argumentative and strongly flavoured then [Fry's] book will provide an appetising meal, even a banquet ... Over 10 chapters he explores the likes of trade, industry, religion, class and poverty with a compelling mix of wit and erudition' The Sunday Times. 'Fry is excellent on, for example, the failure of the Scottish car industry, and the impacts that would have on subsidiary but essential manufacturing - from steel to textiles ... It is, in some ways, more a work of polemic, with Glasgow the Patient Zero he is trying to understand: that left, right, vulgar, cultured, blootered, teetotal city' Scotland on Sunday. 'His writing is always engaging, occasionally brilliant ... there is an energy, a sense of excitement of what the next paragraph might bring, in every chapter ... his essay on literature is simply brilliant' The Herald.

Author Information

Michael Fry is a highly regarded author and journalist, and regular contributor to the Scotsman, the Herald and the Sunday Times. He is the author of a dozen books of Scottish history, including Wild Scots, Edinburgh and The Union.

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