Liverpool 800: Character, Culture, History

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 * This is an altogether rich work of history... The range of sources used and the multiplicity of people and incidents discussed by Belchem and his colleagues are remarkable... Liverpool 800 sets a standard for other city centenary histories to emulate. * Urban History * Here is a welcome salute on the 800th anniversary of Liverpool's chartered existence. This is an altogether rich work on history. The range of sources used and the multiplicity of people and incidents discussed by Belchem and his colleagues are remarkable. Liverpool 800 sets a standard for other city centenary histories to emulate. * Urban History Volume 34/2 * This is a fascinating book. It is certainly not a conventional city history. This is not the past for past's sake, nor nostalgia for lost civic glory, it is a very much a composition to explain the present. Liverpool 800 will appeal mainly to readers who have already some interest in the city. * Northern History, XLV: 1 *

Liverpool celebrates its 800th anniversary in 2007, and will be European Capital of Culture in 2008. As the city reinvents itself and looks forward, it is also learning from its past. Liverpool 800: Culture, Character & History is written by a team of experts, using the latest historical research to explore the city's distinctive culture and character. This is a path-breaking biography of the city, tracing its society, politics, economy and culture over eight centuries. Fully illustrated and powerfully written, it offers new perspectives on a true World City, as it works to make its future as extraordinary as its past. The book's publication will become a centrepiece of the 800 the anniversary Liverpool Year of Heritage celebrations in 2007. 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 and all portrait of a city which 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.