A work of unrivalled scale & ambition, Northerners is the defining biography of northern England.

This
authoritative new history of place & people lays out the dramatic
events that created the north – waves of migration, invasions & 
battles, & transformative changes wrought on European culture & the
global economy. In a sweeping narrative that takes us from the earliest
times to the present day, the book shows that the people of the north
have shaped Britain & the world in unexpected ways.

At least 6
Roman emperors ruled from York. The Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria
was Europe’s leading cultural & intellectual centre. Cartimandua,
Queen of the Brigantes, deserves to be as famous as Boudica.
Neanderthals & Vikings, Central European Jews, African-Caribbeans & 
South Asians, have all played their part in the making & remaking of
the north. Northern writers, activists, artists & comedians are
celebrated the world over, from Wordsworth, the Brontes & Gaskell to
LS Lowry, Emmeline Pankhurst & Peter Kay. St Oswald & Bede shaped
the spiritual & cultural landscapes of Britain & Europe, & the
world was revolutionised by the inventions of Richard Arkwright & the
Stephensons. The north has exported some of sport’s biggest names &
defined the sound of generations, from the Beatles to Britpop.

Northerners
also shows convincingly how the past echoes down the centuries. The
devastation of factory & pit closures in the 1980s, for example,
recalled the trauma of William the Conqueror’s Harrying of the North.
The book charts how the north-south divide has ebbed & flowed &
explores the very real divisions between northerners, such as the
rivalry between Lancashire & Yorkshire.

Finally, Brian Groom
explores what northernness means today & the crucial role the north
can play in Britain’s future, as new forces threaten the fabric of the
UK again.