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Northerners: A History, from the Ice Age to the Present Day Hardcover – 14 April 2022
Brian Groom (Author) See search results for this author |
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A Times Bestseller
A Waterstones ‘Book You Need to Read in 2022’
The definitive history of the North of England as told through the lives of its inhabitants.
A work of unrivalled scale and ambition, Northerners is the defining biography of northern England.
This authoritative new history of place and people lays out the dramatic events that created the north – waves of migration, invasions and battles, and transformative changes wrought on European culture and the global economy. In a sweeping narrative that takes us from the earliest times to the present day, the book shows that the people of the north have shaped Britain and the world in unexpected ways.
At least six Roman emperors ruled from York. The Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria was Europe’s leading cultural and intellectual centre. Cartimandua, Queen of the Brigantes, deserves to be as famous as Boudica. Neanderthals and Vikings, Central European Jews, African-Caribbeans and South Asians, have all played their part in the making and remaking of the north. Northern writers, activists, artists and comedians are celebrated the world over, from Wordsworth, the Brontes and Gaskell to LS Lowry, Emmeline Pankhurst and Peter Kay. St Oswald and Bede shaped the spiritual and cultural landscapes of Britain and Europe, and the world was revolutionised by the inventions of Richard Arkwright and the Stephensons. The north has exported some of sport’s biggest names and defined the sound of generations, from the Beatles to Britpop.
Northerners also shows convincingly how the past echoes down the centuries. The devastation of factory and pit closures in the 1980s, for example, recalled the trauma of William the Conqueror’s Harrying of the North. The book charts how the north-south divide has ebbed and flowed and explores the very real divisions between northerners, such as the rivalry between Lancashire and Yorkshire.
Finally, Brian Groom explores what northernness means today and the crucial role the north can play in Britain’s future. As new forces threaten the fabric of the UK again, this landmark book could scarcely be more timely.
- Print length432 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherHarperNorth
- Publication date14 April 2022
- Dimensions15.9 x 4 x 24 cm
- ISBN-100008471207
- ISBN-13978-0008471200
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Review
‘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
About the Author
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 and worked in various capacities. He lives in Saddleworth, South Pennines. This is his first book.
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Product details
- Publisher : HarperNorth (14 April 2022)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 432 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0008471207
- ISBN-13 : 978-0008471200
- Dimensions : 15.9 x 4 x 24 cm
- Best Sellers Rank: 12,474 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- Customer reviews:
About the author

Author, journalist and expert on British regional and national affairs. Worked for almost three decades at the Financial Times, where he did many of the top writing and editing jobs, including comment and analysis editor and political editor. Also former editor of Scotland on Sunday, which he launched as deputy editor and which won many awards. Educated at Manchester Grammar School and Balliol College, Oxford, where he got a first-class BA in English Language and Literature. Originally from Stretford, Lancashire (now part of Greater Manchester), he returned to live in the north – in Saddleworth, south Pennines – in 2015. He has a lifelong interest in history.
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That said, it's all done with the wonderfully light touch of a seasoned, gifted uthor who knows how to organise his material and draw the best from it. We may never know quite what makes Northerns tick, but we have no doubt about where they come from and what they've achived. An outstanding achievement.
This is an excellent and well-researched book and it's a good read too. It's clear from the start that the author is a journalist and not a dull historian (though the book is immaculately referenced) as we canter through from the first known northerner - Cartimandua, Queen of the Brigantes - right up to modern northerners who are still very much alive, such as Lemn Sissay, Jason Manford and Marcus Rashford. It's a useful reminder in these days of the North-South Divide (which, naturally, features heavily in the book) that the north has been so important - culturally, politically and industrially - for such a long time.
Of course, the north is not one homogeneous place, so no doubt there will be northerners complaining that their particular area of the north is under-represented here, but Lancastrian Brian Groom has done a remarkable job of giving everyone a fair crack of the whip. Even in Yorkshire, they won't be complaining. Well, not TOO much.
Well printed too - a proper book to take pleasure in. Even southerners will enjoy it!

By The South Seas cruiser on 24 April 2022
Well printed too - a proper book to take pleasure in. Even southerners will enjoy it!
