Northumbrians

A Sunday Times History Book of the YearA New Statesman Book of the Year ‘An education and an entertainment.’ — The Telegraph ‘Superbly researched and written with immense affection, Jackson’s history of northeastern England has a fascinating nugget of information on every page’ — The Sunday Times ‘This is a part of the world that has got a big global history, it’s not a “province” or a “provincial” city. Newcastle is a city with a global reach. I think [in The Northumbrians] you get a real sense of that, going back many centuries.’ – David Olusoga, The Chronicle The Northumbrians have been overlooked by British and global history, but they’ve made astonishing contributions to both. Dan Jackson sets out to recover this lost history, exploring the deep roots of Northumbrian culture—hard work and heavy drinking, sociability and sentimentality, militarism and masculinity—through centuries of border warfare and dangerous industry. He explains what we can learn about Northumbria’s people from its landscape and architecture, and revisits the Northumbrian Enlightenment that gave the world the locomotive and the lightbulb. This story reaches right to the present day, as this extraordinary region finds itself caught between an indifferent south and an increasingly confident Scotland.From the Venerable Bede and the prince-bishops of Durham to Viz and Geordie Shore, this vital new history reveals a part of England with an uncertain future, but whose people remain as remarkable as ever.A stirring account of the Northumbrians and their astonishing contribution to British and global history. A highly readable account written with enormous affection for the subject A classic work of local history