What makes the North of England tick?  Some southerner’s see it as a separate region, peopled by foreigners talking a different language , eating different food, living different lives.  Is it an architectural nightmare, of grim purposeful buildings blending perfectly with their background; land of strike and the dole, or of the good simple life; home of rugged individualists or of faceless toilers; pitmasters or ragpickers; brass bands and beer or the breadline? Is it still the home of iron-fisted masters, or unions arrogant with organised power; of dark satanic mills , of back to backs and slag heaps, of slimy , weed-choked canals threading dreary valleys, of grime and factory hooters? Or of lofty hills and rolling moors, of the Brontes and Mrs. Gaskell, of men’s triumph over his environment, of warm, friendly people united by toil and difficulties overcome.; or spreading  view and shared industrial purpose?  The author, a Northerner himself, looks at his native scenery, the figures that give it life and the past which bred them, and taking a long clear-eyed view. Land of comedy and stark tragedy, brought sharply into focus, its mystique is peeled away, revealing the essence of  ‘the other England’. 
David and Charles; 1968. First edition. With unclipped dust cover. Corners slightly rubbed.Inscription to FFEP.  Pre-owned.