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.