Favourite Newcastle Books No.5: Newcastle upon Tyne - a Modern History

 

More than twenty years ago I was sent a copy of Newcastle upon Tyne: A Modern History by its publishers, Phillimore, for review in my North-Easterner Magazine. At the time (2001), virtually nothing had been published on the subject of Newcastle's history for ages - and I loved it ... and still do! I have recently started dipping into the tome again and thought I'd let you all know about it. To save me the hassle of putting together a 'new' review, I thought I'd reproduce my original effort of late 2001....

This is undoubtedly the most important book on the history of Newcastle to hit the market for upwards of half a century - and is arguably the best of all time. But note the title: this is not a complete history, but rather an analytical look at the past 300 years alone. And it is not really a true history, either - well, not in the chronological sense - for it is little more than a collection of independent essay on various aspects of the city's past since 1700. But for all that it is still a brilliant and ground-breaking work.

The book is the work of the Newcastle-based 'Centre for Northern Studies', and what they have given us is 16 compositions by 16 different historians - all specialists in their own field - which gives, in each case, an in-depth study of a particular aspect of Newcastle's recent past over a specific period. Generally, it leans towards the academic, but not in an overbearing way. The opening chapters are heavy going, it is true, but necessarily so, I feel, to help 'set the scene' for what follows. The three opening efforts focus on economic history; then we take a look at, in turn, the governance of the Victorian city, its religious history 1851-1882, entrepreneurial Newcastle, a demographic history, drink, sport, architecture, art, 'Remembering George Stephenson', literature, culture/social history, planning since 1945, and dialect. Some chapters are easier going than others and individual readers will have their own favourites; but all of them - even the most academic - provide fascinating reading for those of us who have a serious interest in the history of Newcastle. It will be argued that there is still room on the market for a straight-forward chronological history of the city - and there is; but such a work will never achieve the depth of analysis which this collection of specialist essays skilfully attains.

(click on images for further detail)

I was surprised by two things when I recently looked this book up on Amazon. Firstly, that my original 2001 review appears as, essentially, the book's description (!), and, secondly, that it has not been rated especially highly by other reviewers/raters. This, I think, is down to its slightly misleading title: for it is not a chronological history, but a collection of essays. Anyway, I certainly think it is worth owning if this is your area of interest, that's for sure.

Newcastle upon Tyne: A Modern History, edited by R.Colls & B Lancaster, published by Phillimore, 2001 (hardback, 374 pages). Can be found widely online.