Long Road from Jarrow, Stuart Maconie
Long Road from Jarrow, Stuart Maconie
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Long Road from Jarrow
A journey through Britain then and now

Author: Stuart Maconie

Narrator: Stuart Maconie

Unabridged: 12 hr 21 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Ebury Digital

Published: 07/20/2017


Synopsis

Random House presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Long Road from Jarrow, written and read by Stuart Maconie.

In the autumn of 1936, some 200 men from the Tyneside town of Jarrow marched 300 miles to London in protest against the destruction of their towns and industries. Precisely 80 years on, Stuart Maconie, walks from north to south retracing the route of the emblematic Jarrow Crusade. Following history’s footsteps, Maconie is in search of what Modern Britain is really like today.

Travelling down the country’s spine, Maconie moves through a land that is, in some ways, very much the same as the England of the thirties with its political turbulence, austerity, north/south divide, food banks and of course, football mania. Yet in other ways, it is completely unrecognisable; highstreets peppered with pound shops and e-cigarette vendors, smoothie bars and Costas on every corner.

Maconie visits the great, established and yet evolving cities of Leeds, Sheffield and London, as well as the sleepy hamlets, quiet lanes and roaring motorways. He meets those with stories to tell and whose voices build a funny, complex and entertaining tale of Britain, then and now. Written in Maconie’s signature style, this is a fascinating exploration of a modern nation that, though looks and sounds strangely familiar, has been completely transformed.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Stephen on October 05, 2017

I have enjoyed all of Stuart Maconie's travel books and, although this one covers familiar ground (the north- south divide, popular culture etc), his decision to retrace the route of the 1930s Jarrow hunger march on its anniversary gives the book an added dimension, coming immediately after the vote......more

Goodreads review by Stephen on August 21, 2017

enjoyed this social history travelogue as the author does the march 80 years after the original one in 1936 and looks at both englands 1936 and present day as he travels from Jarrow to London......more

Goodreads review by Susan on September 08, 2018

This felt quite an emotional journey for me in many respects, as my father was a Durham man born in 1913 and a Miner from the age of 13. Even back in 1936 the walk of 200 men from Jarrow to Downing Street, caused so many different reactions every step of the way. From welcoming brass bands, cinema t......more

Goodreads review by Ophelia Sings on July 08, 2017

In the opening pages of Long Road From Jarrow, Stuart Maconie, writing in late 2016, observes that 'A Conservative government recently returned to power with an increased majority. A Labour Party led into disarray by a leader widely seen as divisive and incompetent.' Well. If so much can change in s......more

Goodreads review by Brian on January 02, 2019

For me, Maconie has taken over from Bill Bryson as the doyen of humorous British travel writing. This title is a touch more serious than his previous ones, but still allows for his warmth and friendliness to come through. Maconie follows the path of the 1936 Jarrow march, when 200ish steelworkers ma......more


Quotes

A tribute and a rallying call The Guardian

Maconie’s book is not only a heartfelt tribute to Wilkinson and the marchers, but a reaffirmation of the role of the personal within the political, and a rallying call for anyone stirred by the story of Jarrow The Observer

With yet another conservative government refusing to budge it is hard to avoid Maconie’s conclusion that persuading the uncommitted is as vital as ever New Statesman

The result is this rich, evocative book. Part travelogue, part history, part examination of a nation in flux. It is all a delight **** Mail on Sunday, EVENT Magazine

Footsore in spacetime, hiking simultaneously through memory and landscape, in Long Road from Jarrow Stuart Maconie shadows the defiant, desperate and dignified crusade of 1936 through a modern world where everything has changed except for the austerity, the poverty, the national and global instability, the worrying ascendancy of fascism, and the resilient decency of ordinary people. This is a necessary book; a necessary journey through English identity, and one which you’ll be glad that you embarked on. Now, yes, now is the hour.

An insightful impassioned and witty voyage through Brexit Britain that serves as both travelogue and social commentary Waitrose Weekend