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OverviewIn this highly readable but completely unconventional book Asa Briggs, writer, lecturer and professor, wellknown on both sides of the Atlantic, goes back in time to his own hometown, Keighley in the old West Riding of Yorkshire, now incorporated in Bradford. He describes how he got his unusual name, a question often put to him, and considers whether having been born in an industrial town surrounded by moors has shaped his writing and his ideas of history. He has been a pioneer in many fields of history, particularly the history of the Victorians and the history of broadcasting, and in this book he traces what he calls special relationships which have inspired his writing in those and other fields, including the history of wine and of sport. A great traveller with a strong sense of the visual, he lists Leeds, Birmingham, Chicago and Melbourne among places that figure in his own map of learning, a term that he was the first to use. He also speculates on time travel. His career has been as unconventional as this book. While working in universities at home and abroad from 1945 to 1994, he has had an exceptionally wide range of friends, including many outside academic life, and he focusses on them rather than himself, although the book has an important autobiographical dimension. They include John Reith, Dennis Foreman, Harold Macmillan, Jim Callaghan, Denis and Edna Healey, Richard Crossman, John Fulton, Jennie Lee, Denys Lasdun, Penelope Lively, P. D. James, Geoffrey Heyworth, John Sainsbury and his neighbour in Scotland who, alas, died young, Alistair Grant. The last chapter deals in detail with his birthday year and with the 50th anniversary of the University of Sussex and the 40th anniversary of the enrolment of the first students in the Open University, but the book as a whole offers a portrait of an age. The tree on the front of this dust jacket is more than symbolic. This book ends not with people or with places but with trees. SELLING POINTS: . Exceptional memoir of one of the most highly respected British historians and Bletchley Park code-breaker. . Candid and detailed insights into his fascinating and distinguished career. ILLUSTRATIONS: 16 pp plates Full Product DetailsAuthor: Asa BriggsPublisher: Pen & Sword Books Ltd Imprint: Frontline Books Weight: 0.658kg ISBN: 9781848326675ISBN 10: 184832667 Pages: 256 Publication Date: 01 December 2012 Audience: General/trade , General Format: Hardback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: In Print This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us. Table of ContentsReviewsAuthor InformationASA BRIGGS is one of the most highly respected British historians. He is the author of Victorian People, Victorian Cities and Victorian Things. He has also written a five-volume history of broadcasting in the United Kingdom. He was made a life peer in 1976. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |