Northerners: The bestselling history of the North of England

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Rather than interrogating northern identity, Groom's aim here seems to be to present the identity in the first place. It will tell the story of the relationship between the peoples of England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and other parts of the British and Irish isles.

In that Introduction, the author promises to tell the north's story through the experiences of the region's people. It starts well enough taking us from the early days up to the Industral Revolution, but then it rather loses its way, turning into a set of lists of people and events without enough linkages and commentary and gallops through the last twenty years. As histories go, this is very complete, from the first Northerners we known about right up to the present day. Throughout the book there is always a north/south divide which won't be overcome by southerners as the author suggests, there is no real will there.Both books will draw on the Stretford-born author’s more than four decades as a journalist specialising largely in the archipelago’s regions and nations. In conclusion, Groom debates the north-south divide; a division that, he says, “casts the north as the back end of the English economy pantomime horse”. War of the roses only included 13 weeks of fighting over 32 years and was between the family's of tudor and Lancaster. Parliament, he says, drew the strongest support from London and the south east whereas Royalist support was strongest in rural areas of northern and western England, Wales and the Welsh marches and west midlands, just like in the EU referendum. A book of the North which as he acknowledges a little amorphous as there is little agreement over where it is and who are included and certainly no implied cohesion.

He is also a former editor of Scotland on Sunday, which he launched as deputy editor and which won many awards. Groom sets out to create a proper history of the north of England and the people that identify as northerners.When not enjoying the great outdoors with family and friends, she enjoys sitting down to watch a movie or curling up in a quiet corner with a good book. Northerners is rigorous, digressive, discursive, always entertaining and enlightening, as full of good things as the North itself.

Decent overview of the region but at times it just feels like lists of names of individuals (kings, entertainers, inventors etc) and stories with a lack of overarching theme/connections. Northerners fills a gap in the market for a book on the history that has shaped the north of England.He is a journalist so knows how to tell a story, and the stories he tells here are never less than gripping. The connections between the north and the south are too deep for this awkward and simplistic division.