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Liverpool 800
Culture, Character & History
Ed. John Belchem
University of Liverpool
Published to mark the 800th anniversary in 2007 of the founding of modern Liverpool by King John, Liverpool 800 is the definitive biography of this magnificent world city. Contributors explore the life of Liverpool over eight centuries, looking at the town’s early development, the eighteenth-century foundations of its mercantile economy, the golden period of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the difficult inter-war years, the fifties boom and the subsequent disastrous and seemingly irreversible decline – seemingly, because the winning of European Capital of Culture status for 2008 reflects Liverpool’s contemporary renaissance, an aspect of current history which is also reflected upon by the contributors. Ranging widely over politics and government, famous and infamous personalities, domestic lives and global connections, and culture both high and low, Liverpool 800 offers a warts-andall portrait of a city that has inspired contempt (‘a black spot on the Mersey’) and adulation (‘the centre of consciousness of the human universe’) but rarely indifference. Elegantly designed and including over 300 illustrations, many of which have never been published before, Liverpool 800 is a superb anniversary celebration of a great city and its people.
528 pages, 246 x 189mm, September 2006
300 colour and b/w illustrations
p/b 1846310350 (9781846310355) £14.95
h/b 1846310342 (9781846310348) £35.00
special edition, superbly bound with slip case 1846310369 (9781846310362) £100.00
This excellent book reminds us that there is more to Liverpool than the Beatles or such stereotypes as Koppites with dodgy perms... it is grounded in solid academic research, accessibly written and richly illustrated. Even Mancunians might like it.'
BBC History Magazine
'Liverpool 800: Culture, Character & History provides a long overdue reappraisal of Liverpool's chequered history...Lavishly illustrated, this is a vibrant, stylish and witty book.'
Times Literary Supplement
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