{"product_id":"9780008457556_clubland-how-the-working-mens-club-shaped-britain","title":"Clubland: How the working men’s club shaped Britain","description":"\u003ch2\u003eThe untold story of a British institution\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e‘Brilliant.’ Alan Johnson\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e‘Compelling.’ David Kynaston\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e‘The beer drinkers’ Bill Bryson.’ \u003cem\u003eTimes Literary Supplement\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFerment Magazine’s Best Beer Book of the Year\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePete Brown is a convivial guide on this journey through the intoxicating history of the working men’s clubs. From the movement’s founding by teetotaller social reformer the Reverend Henry Solly to the booze-soaked mid-century heyday, when more than 7 million Brits were members, this warm-hearted and entertaining book reveals how and why the clubs became the cornerstone of Britain’s social life – offering much more than cheap Federation Bitter and chicken in a basket.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOften dismissed as relics of a bygone age – bastions of bigotry and racism – Brown reminds us that long before the days of Phoenix Nights, 3,000-seat venues routinely played host to stars like Shirley Bassey, Louis Armstrong, and the Bee Gees, offering entertainment for all the family, and close to home at that. Britain’s best-known comedians made reputations through a thick miasma of smoke, from Sunniside to Skegness. For a young man growing up in the pit town of Barnsley this was a radiant wonderland that transformed those who entered.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBrown explores the clubs’ role in defining masculinity, community and class identity for generations of men in Britain’s industrial towns. They were, at their best, a vehicle for social mobility and self-improvement, run as cooperatives for working people by working people: an informal, community-owned pre-cursor to the Welfare State.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs the movement approaches its 160th anniversary, this exuberant book brings to life the thrills and the spills of a cultural phenomenon that might still be rescued from irrelevance.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Pete Brown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47275067080853,"sku":"9780008457556","price":8.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0484\/3175\/9509\/files\/9780008457556.png?v=1776889987","url":"https:\/\/harpercollins.com.au\/products\/9780008457556_clubland-how-the-working-mens-club-shaped-britain","provider":"HarperCollins AU","version":"1.0","type":"link"}