Book description
Scousers believe they live in a special place, one that has more in
common with Salvador da Bahia, New Orleans or Gdansk than anywhere in
England, and the city has always punched above its weight. In less
than a hundred years, however, Liverpool's image has declined from a
major mercantile player known as the Second City of the Empire to what
some social commentators have described as a cultural backwater
remembered largely as the place where the Beatles were born.
In The Hurricane Port, Andrew Lees reveals how Liverpool's
pre-eminence in the slave trade left an indelible scar on the
psychogeography of the city. He also explores the roots of Liverpool's
contrary nature, its rebelliousness and its hedonism, as well as some
of the recent hurricanes that have battered the city, including the
anger of Toxteth, Militant's stand against Margaret Thatcher and the
murder of James Bulger. In this distinctly personal account, Lees
defines the characteristics of this Celtic enclave, with her
loudmouthed, big-hearted people who have created a city quite
different from anywhere else in the world.
Andrew Lees was born on Merseyside and is a Professor of Neurology at
the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery Queen Square. He is
the author of
Ray of Hope
, the authorised biography of Ray Kennedy, the Arsenal and Liverpool
football player who developed Parkinson's disease at the age of 35.
