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Book Cover for: The Northumbrians: North-East England and Its People -- A New History, Dan Jackson

The Northumbrians: North-East England and Its People -- A New History

Dan Jackson

Why is the North East the most distinctive region of England? Where do the stereotypes about North Easterners come from, and why are they so often misunderstood? In this wideranging new history of the people of North East England, Dan Jackson explores the deep roots of Northumbrian culture--hard work and heavy drinking, sociability and sentimentality, militarism and masculinity--in centuries of border warfare and dangerous and demanding work in industry, at sea and underground. He explains how the landscape and architecture of the North East explains so much about the people who have lived there, and how a 'Northumbrian Enlightenment' emerged from this most literate part of England, leading to a catalogue of inventions that changed the world, from the locomotive to the lightbulb. Jackson's Northumbrian journey reaches right to the present day, as this remarkable region finds itself caught between an indifferent south and a newly assertive Scotland. Covering everything from the Venerable Bede and the prince-bishops of Durham to Viz and Geordie Shore, this vital new history makes sense of a part of England facing an uncertain future, but whose people remain as distinctive as ever.

Book Details

  • Publisher: Hurst & Co.
  • Publish Date: Nov 15th, 2021
  • Pages: NA
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 8.53in - 5.58in - 1.13in - 1.13lb
  • EAN: 9781787386006
  • Categories: Europe - Great Britain - General

About the Author

Dan Jackson is a founding member of the Tynemouth WW1 Commemoration Project, which received the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service. Author of Popular Opposition to Irish Home Rule in Edwardian Britain, he has written for the New Statesman and appeared on the BBC's Making History and Who Do You Think You Are?.

Praise for this book


"The best works of local history exert a fascination that transcends the merely local, and The Northumbrians is definitely one of the best."--The Sunday Times

"[The Northumbrians] is the most enjoyable book on a region of Britain that I have ever read. Often very moving, often very funny, it is written with a deep and learned love for Newcastle and its environs." -- New Statesman
"This is a book for both historians and the general public ... There is a sense of a lost world in these pages, of a once great time now forgotten, even though so much of the past still arguably hangs over the current scene ... The Northumbrians [is] a work of deep research and lifelong fascination.'"-- LSE Review of Books

"Dan Jackson was born and bred here, and his roots go deep, back generations. This book is a celebration of his land and ancestors ... I heartily recommend he Northumbrians." -- Mail on Sunday
"Long overdue . . . a wonderfully unstuffy account of Northumbria's history and the Northumbrian character.'"-- Kathryn Tickell, Renowned Northumbrian Piper
"The kingdom of Northumbria existed before England. It gave us the first historian of the English people, one of the great Christian legacies of Europe, and was the engine of the Industrial Revolution. This is a great history in any language but I really took to Dan Jackson's. If you are interested in the rich and alternative history of our northern regions, this is the book for you."-- Robert Colls, Professor of Cultural History, De Montfort University

"A wonderful book: full of amazing detail, wise, humane & balanced. Often hilarious, often upsetting; in love with its subject, but never blind to its problems. I can't recommend it enough."-- Tom Holland, author of Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World"With deep research and an engaging style Dan Jackson brings the history and culture of the region to life, in ways that will delight his fellow Northumbrians."-- Sir Lawrence Freedman, Emeritus Professor of War Studies, King's College London, and author, inter alia, of The Future of War
"[Dan Jackson] remains a full-blown, big-hearted Northumbrian Romantic, bursting with love for and knowledge of his native ground. ... You won't put this book down without having become something of a Northumbrian Romantic yourself." -- ^lCatholic Herald
"Dan Jackson's history of the people of Northumbria is peppered with striking insights and fresh perspectives on England's most distinctive region. His engaging style combined with considerable, up to the minute research will ensure that The Northumbrians will be essential reading for anyone interested in the history of north east England."-- Bill Lancaster, co-author, The Geordies: Roots of Regionalism
"A dense eclectic dissection of a remote, foreign, strange land shaped, as no other part of England is, by belligerence and fear."--Jonathan Meades, Writer and Film-Maker"[^lThe Northumbrians is a] learned but accessible trawl through all things Geordie, from the Venerable Bede and the Vikings to Viz and Geordie Shaw." -- ^lThe Lady
"[^lThe Northumbrians] is both an education and an entertainment." -- ^lThe Telegraph
"Thought-provoking, challenging and very revealing . . . a superb book."--Who Do You Think You Are Magazine