Overview

A rich and vivid history of Britain's second city through the people who have made it Made in Manchester is the tale of England’s second city; a metropolis that exported industry and commerce to all others and whose culture is celebrated globally. Like Brian Groom’s bestselling Northerners, this definitive history expertly combines pacey narrative with vividly drawn portraits. Manchester was the ‘shock city’ of the Industrial Revolution. Visitors arrived from foreign lands, who saw in it a foretaste of the world’s future. But no one knew whether the upheaval would lead to prosperity or starvation. ‘From this filthy sewer pure gold flows,’ wrote French social commentator Alexis de Tocqueville. It was a hotbed of politics too. The Peterloo Massacre of 1819 is immortalised in British folklore. The city was a centre for radical movements such as Chartism, yet also spawned the employer-led Anti-Corn Law League, which made free trade Britain’s economic orthodoxy. It became the centre of the global cotton industry and a pioneer in engineering. But Made in Manchester will also tell the untold story of the pre-industrial age: Manchester’s Roman fort was manned by soldiers from across the empire, prefiguring the cosmopolitanism of the present day. We meet the scientists who produced the world’s first stored-program computer; industrialists who laid the foundation of modern mass production; campaigners like Emmeline Pankhurst; writers Elizabeth Gaskell and Anthony Burgess; composers like Peter Maxwell Davies; and artists such as L.S. Lowry. Manchester’s music scene produced iconic bands including Joy Division and Oasis. Made in Manchester will tackle the city’s sometimes spiky relations with its neighbours and its reputation for arrogance, asking whether the city’s inhabitants have a definable character. And it will ask whether Manchester, through economic decline and recent recovery, has lived up to its early promise, and whether it can still do so today.

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9780008608521

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Reviews

Praise for Brian Groom’s Northerners… ‘Entertaining and informative. … Avoids sentimentality and stereotypes. … Groom keeps his history admirably down to earth.’ The Times, Book of the Week ‘A definitive new chronicle of the region, the first to appear this century.’ The Mirror ‘Groom’s chronicling of northern setbacks is urbane rather than indignant. … Comprehensive and highly readable.’ Financial Times ‘This is a huge book, in which the author slips seamlessly and triumphantly from one subject to another.’ Literary Review ‘Hugely impressive.’ Big Issue ‘A rich and kaleidoscopic history of a region, its landscape, industries, culture and people. Northerners is rigorous, digressive, discursive, always entertaining and enlightening, as full of good things as the North itself.’ Stuart Maconie, author of Pies and Prejudice ‘A wonderful compendium of the North’s proud, deep, ancient otherness.’ James Hawes, author of The Shortest History of England ‘An essential writer on politics and business and a tireless champion of the north.’ George Parker, political editor, Financial Times ‘A measured and essential voice in these compromised times.’ Adam Boulton, editor-at-large at Sky News and presenter of All Out Politics ‘Few people are better placed to write the story of northerners. One of journalism’s most astute observers of the state of Britain.’ Helen Pidd, North of England editor, The Guardian ‘Brian Groom is one of the leading experts on Britain’s regions and nations and a perceptive analyst.’ Duncan Weldon, The Economist, author of Two Hundred Years of Muddling Through ‘Panoramic, authoritative and a beautiful read. Brian has written the book everyone who wishes to understand the north of England must read.’ Sebastian Payne, author of Broken Heartlands

Author Information

Brian Groom is a journalist and a leading expert on British regional and national affairs. His career was spent mainly at the Financial Times, where he was assistant editor. He lives in Saddleworth, Greater Manchester. His first book, Northerners, was a Waterstones History Book of the Year.

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