Northerners is a highly-reviewed history of the north of England, from the ice age to the present day. This history of place and people lays out dramatic events that created the north (waves of migration, invasions and battles) and shows how the people of the north have shaped our world in unexpected ways.
At least six Roman emperors ruled from York. Northumbria was Europe’s leading cultural and intellectual centre. And northern writers, activists, artists and comedians are celebrated the world over, from Wordsworth to Peter Kay.
Yet the book also looks at how the North was affected by the factory and pit closures in the 1980s and looks at the political north-sout divide and the rivalry between Lancashire and Yorkshire. But overall, this book explores what it means to be be northern, a landmark and timely book.
A rich and kaleidoscopic history of a region, its landscape, industries, people and culture. Always entertaining and enlightening, as full of good things as the North itself. Stuart Maconie
about the author
Brian Groom is a journalist who mostly worked for the Financial Times, and is an expert on regional affairs. He lives in the South Pennines.
