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Liverpool and the Unmaking of Britain
Bloomsbury presents Liverpool and the Unmaking of Britain by Sam Wetherell, read by Adam Stevens.
Few cities in the world are as famous as Liverpool, the home of the modern world’s most celebrated rock group and of a legendary football team.
The city is equally notorious for its poverty, its ethnic and racial divides and, above all, its decline. For Liverpool was once a major port, growing rich on slavery, on trade with the Americas and the British Empire’s outposts in Africa and Asia. In the 1980s, it was described as ‘obsolete’. Yet the city fights on.
This is the epic history of Liverpool since the Second World War. It is a story of vast docklands shrinking and eventually vanishing when corporations discovered they could shift goods in containers and dispense with human workers, of industries like car manufacturing mushrooming and disappearing, of huge new suburbs being built and neglected. It is a moving and horrifying narrative of casual racism – Chinese sailors deported en masse in the aftermath of the war, systematic discrimination against the city’s Black population – and of resistance, culminating in the Toxteth riots in 1981. It is the story of a city fighting against a descent into obsolescence.
Liverpool also becomes a prism through which recent British history is brought into a new focus. It is the fascinating history of a single, iconic city. But it is also a warning of what the future may hold for many more communities.
The following recording contains instances of racist language, as well as themes or characterisations which listeners may find offensive. In some instances we have chosen to bleep the most offensive language in this text. We have done so carefully and in a limited way to ensure the coherence of the text.
Few cities in the world are as famous as Liverpool, the home of the modern world’s most celebrated rock group and of a legendary football team.
The city is equally notorious for its poverty, its ethnic and racial divides and, above all, its decline. For Liverpool was once a major port, growing rich on slavery, on trade with the Americas and the British Empire’s outposts in Africa and Asia. In the 1980s, it was described as ‘obsolete’. Yet the city fights on.
This is the epic history of Liverpool since the Second World War. It is a story of vast docklands shrinking and eventually vanishing when corporations discovered they could shift goods in containers and dispense with human workers, of industries like car manufacturing mushrooming and disappearing, of huge new suburbs being built and neglected. It is a moving and horrifying narrative of casual racism – Chinese sailors deported en masse in the aftermath of the war, systematic discrimination against the city’s Black population – and of resistance, culminating in the Toxteth riots in 1981. It is the story of a city fighting against a descent into obsolescence.
Liverpool also becomes a prism through which recent British history is brought into a new focus. It is the fascinating history of a single, iconic city. But it is also a warning of what the future may hold for many more communities.
The following recording contains instances of racist language, as well as themes or characterisations which listeners may find offensive. In some instances we have chosen to bleep the most offensive language in this text. We have done so carefully and in a limited way to ensure the coherence of the text.
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Published February 27, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
February 21, 2025
Regular readers will know I am a Liverpudlian. And I will regularly consume any book on it and enjoy the bizarre process of reading about your own history. This is a grand book with an overarching concept of how a city rose and fell, rose again and still might fall into the sea.
The book runs from 1945 to 2008 and amongst the disasters such as Hillborough, there is Toxteth, the rise of Militant - a group who literally ran the city into the ground, whilst profiting others - and it’s time as Capital Of Culture, overlapping with The Credit Crunch.
And yes, the more unpalatable aspects of the city’s past such as the slave trade, the mass deportations of Chinese sailors after the Second World War, the racism that leads to Toxteth… but also on civic kindness such as the long-standing LGBTQ community during the early years of AIDS (gay dismissed as a ‘bourgeois concept’ by Militant and the pioneering treatment of drug users.
It ends on a mirroring note, with roughly the same amount of people employed in tourism as the docks at its height. Speke could have been Disneyland, literally. And Liverpool Waters will be a city within a city at the end of this century, but may only last a generation before climate change erases both from history.
This is not to say it is a depressing read, it is a comprehensive, energising book. The best books on Liverpool (A Game Of Birds And Wolves, Wondrous Place, There She Goes) have a narrow focus and do it well. This, is probably the first to take a panoramic view as broad as The Mersey and succeed. It is published on February 27th by Head Of Zeus and I thank them for a preview copy. #liverpoolandtheunmakingofbritain.
The book runs from 1945 to 2008 and amongst the disasters such as Hillborough, there is Toxteth, the rise of Militant - a group who literally ran the city into the ground, whilst profiting others - and it’s time as Capital Of Culture, overlapping with The Credit Crunch.
And yes, the more unpalatable aspects of the city’s past such as the slave trade, the mass deportations of Chinese sailors after the Second World War, the racism that leads to Toxteth… but also on civic kindness such as the long-standing LGBTQ community during the early years of AIDS (gay dismissed as a ‘bourgeois concept’ by Militant and the pioneering treatment of drug users.
It ends on a mirroring note, with roughly the same amount of people employed in tourism as the docks at its height. Speke could have been Disneyland, literally. And Liverpool Waters will be a city within a city at the end of this century, but may only last a generation before climate change erases both from history.
This is not to say it is a depressing read, it is a comprehensive, energising book. The best books on Liverpool (A Game Of Birds And Wolves, Wondrous Place, There She Goes) have a narrow focus and do it well. This, is probably the first to take a panoramic view as broad as The Mersey and succeed. It is published on February 27th by Head Of Zeus and I thank them for a preview copy. #liverpoolandtheunmakingofbritain.
April 19, 2025
A valiant effort to use modern British history as a way of imagining what we do in the present, and what might be in store for us in the future. Wetherell is an elegant writer. Those looking for a straightforward history of Liverpool will be disappointed. Liverpool is a starting point—a case study revealing the forces of neoliberalism and, more captivatingly, the process Wetherell describes as ‘obsolescence’, which he posits is a defining process in the present (not just in Britain).
March 17, 2025
'This book is about Liverpool's past and what it might tell us about Britain's future'. Wetherell argues that Liverpool's history is a prophecy. I know the history of Liverpool very well and was hoping to read it from a different perspective. This sounds Interesting.
The theme of this book is immediately evident: how Liverpool became obsolete. The word 'obsolescence' runs throughout and by the time I had finished reading the Prelude I was totally depressed. It explains how the docks became obsolete when the war was over and later, when containers became the method of transporting goods and the amount of dockworkers who lost their jobs became obsolete too. Lengthy and detailed accounts of the Toxteth Riots in 1981, the city's involvement in the slave trade and the poor treatment of those who came from the colonies to work. 'The history that this book describes might be coming for us all.' All grim stuff.
Modern Liverpool now, the author claims, employs the same number of people in the tourist industry as it did in the port and docks. But here there is some cynicism, for example, the Tate Art Gallery, which is homed in the regenerated dockland storage buildings, has its modern art exhibitions ridiculed somewhat. The art and exhibitions should be celebrated, surely?
The book is well sourced and the footnotes make up nearly half of the text. The aspects of the city's history chosen are a tad unbalanced and a comparison to what was happening in other British cities may have helped give the events more context. There is an overload of negative events while the impact of the wonderful music and football from the sixties through to the present day is only mentioned in passing.
Fascinating premise and a warning not to make people or places obsolete.
The theme of this book is immediately evident: how Liverpool became obsolete. The word 'obsolescence' runs throughout and by the time I had finished reading the Prelude I was totally depressed. It explains how the docks became obsolete when the war was over and later, when containers became the method of transporting goods and the amount of dockworkers who lost their jobs became obsolete too. Lengthy and detailed accounts of the Toxteth Riots in 1981, the city's involvement in the slave trade and the poor treatment of those who came from the colonies to work. 'The history that this book describes might be coming for us all.' All grim stuff.
Modern Liverpool now, the author claims, employs the same number of people in the tourist industry as it did in the port and docks. But here there is some cynicism, for example, the Tate Art Gallery, which is homed in the regenerated dockland storage buildings, has its modern art exhibitions ridiculed somewhat. The art and exhibitions should be celebrated, surely?
The book is well sourced and the footnotes make up nearly half of the text. The aspects of the city's history chosen are a tad unbalanced and a comparison to what was happening in other British cities may have helped give the events more context. There is an overload of negative events while the impact of the wonderful music and football from the sixties through to the present day is only mentioned in passing.
Fascinating premise and a warning not to make people or places obsolete.
February 17, 2025
A history of modern Liverpool from the end of the second world war to the present. Sam Wetherell concentrates on the downfall of Liverpool during this time period. Whilst Liverpool has many similarities to other towns and cities, particularly in the north of England, it also has several unique features that set it apart from the others. This book looks specifically at the negative aspects of Liverpool's history.
There were a few points in the book that I found interesting but overall, I found this book to be very disappointing. The narrative was unsympathetic and at times aggressive and there were a few inaccuracies in the text. The emphasis on only small parts of the community gave a skewed picture of Liverpool and ignored so much. The doom and gloom of the book totally overlooked the positive aspects of the city. Liverpool is alive and kicking!
I received a free review copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for my honest and unedited review.
There were a few points in the book that I found interesting but overall, I found this book to be very disappointing. The narrative was unsympathetic and at times aggressive and there were a few inaccuracies in the text. The emphasis on only small parts of the community gave a skewed picture of Liverpool and ignored so much. The doom and gloom of the book totally overlooked the positive aspects of the city. Liverpool is alive and kicking!
I received a free review copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for my honest and unedited review.
May 23, 2025
I am not sure what to make of this book! Being a lover of the city,despite being a "woolyback",I found the post war social history fascinating but at times its negative outlook on changes within the city depressed me. Anyone interested in the revival of the city will find it worth a read
May 14, 2025
British people consider the UK to be distinctive in three main ways. 1. It is a seafaring nation that made its wealth primarily through trading 2. it punches far above its weight culturally compared to its size, and 3. it is in a state of fatal decline from its glory days. By those characteristics, Liverpool is then the most extremely British city there is. It was the most maritime, its businesses almost enitrely based on its docks. It is the most culturally pugnacious, producing the the most succesful rock and roll group of all time. And it is a byword amongst the right wing press for urban decline.
The author's contention is that a local history of Liverpool can therefore be a powerful way of viewing the history and possibly even the future of the UK. In this I think he succeeds. For such a small book he manages to fit an enormous amount of the story of 20th century Britain in. It is a story to manages to feel intimate and familiar even to someone like myself that has never set foot in Liverpool. I would have prefered a more in depth look at the changes in local finances, production and population and how they interacted with the social and cultural changes described in the book. The decline and rearrangements of industries in the city is just presented as a sort of natural phenomenon. And politics is something that can only redistribute the remainder, benefit some groups at the expense of others. Likewise the failure of Militant's lukewarm Keynesian plans to reinvigorate the city in the 80s are described, but the reasons why are not really investigated. The author writes that Militant's plans were not ambitious enough, which I would agree with, but his criticisms are that 1. They didnt set up a race relations unit, and 2. Perhaps they could have been more keynesian.
The author is highly sympathetic to the work of the Big Flame group and talks about their roots in Autonomist Marxism when discussing the position of female workers in the dying days of the fordist period. This is a highly important lens to view the changes to the productive process and sites of struggles of the period that were missed by some more conservative marxist tendencies but is one that can also restict the horizon of political possibility in periods of working class retreat. The author ends the book with the call that "the future is less certain and more open to possibilities than we can presently imagine" which one hopes is true, but is somewhat belied by the story he has told. He tells us stories of heroism of small groups of underdogs collaborating to lessen their misery in a system that is absolutely against them. The system also always eventually finds ways to disempower, deport or disneyfy them. If Liverpool's history of struggle is prophetic, our future is bleak.
The author's contention is that a local history of Liverpool can therefore be a powerful way of viewing the history and possibly even the future of the UK. In this I think he succeeds. For such a small book he manages to fit an enormous amount of the story of 20th century Britain in. It is a story to manages to feel intimate and familiar even to someone like myself that has never set foot in Liverpool. I would have prefered a more in depth look at the changes in local finances, production and population and how they interacted with the social and cultural changes described in the book. The decline and rearrangements of industries in the city is just presented as a sort of natural phenomenon. And politics is something that can only redistribute the remainder, benefit some groups at the expense of others. Likewise the failure of Militant's lukewarm Keynesian plans to reinvigorate the city in the 80s are described, but the reasons why are not really investigated. The author writes that Militant's plans were not ambitious enough, which I would agree with, but his criticisms are that 1. They didnt set up a race relations unit, and 2. Perhaps they could have been more keynesian.
The author is highly sympathetic to the work of the Big Flame group and talks about their roots in Autonomist Marxism when discussing the position of female workers in the dying days of the fordist period. This is a highly important lens to view the changes to the productive process and sites of struggles of the period that were missed by some more conservative marxist tendencies but is one that can also restict the horizon of political possibility in periods of working class retreat. The author ends the book with the call that "the future is less certain and more open to possibilities than we can presently imagine" which one hopes is true, but is somewhat belied by the story he has told. He tells us stories of heroism of small groups of underdogs collaborating to lessen their misery in a system that is absolutely against them. The system also always eventually finds ways to disempower, deport or disneyfy them. If Liverpool's history of struggle is prophetic, our future is bleak.
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May 13, 2025Liverpool, we often hear, is a city apart; ‘Scouse not English’, as the local saying goes. Throughout much of the 19th and 20th centuries, the Irish heritage of many Liverpudlians helped forge a civic culture and politics distinct from the rest of the country – so much so that for 44 years one of the city’s constituencies returned the only Irish Nationalist MP on mainland Britain. Its position as a great trading hub at the mouth of the River Mersey, looking out onto the Irish Sea and the Empire beyond, gave its economy a character unlike the industrial lands to its south and east. Yet, paradoxically, as Sam Wetherell notes in this fascinating and quietly iconoclastic book, such apartness both created the conditions for, and heightened, Liverpool’s status as a bellwether for the rest of the country, perhaps even the world.
Modern Liverpool began in 1648, Wetherell writes, when 30 tonnes of American tobacco landed on the banks of the Mersey. From there, its rise was precipitous; 200 years later some 40 per cent of the world’s trade would pass through its ports and docks. But it was slavery, above all, that dominated the city’s economy. By 1807, when the trade was abolished, more than 1.1 million enslaved people had been transported by the city’s ships. Even abolition couldn’t stop the city’s commercial dominance – by the early 20th century it was larger and richer than any English city other than London.
Read the rest of the review at https://www.historytoday.com/archive/...
John Merrick is the editor of Raphael Samuel’s Workshop of the World (Verso, 2024).
Modern Liverpool began in 1648, Wetherell writes, when 30 tonnes of American tobacco landed on the banks of the Mersey. From there, its rise was precipitous; 200 years later some 40 per cent of the world’s trade would pass through its ports and docks. But it was slavery, above all, that dominated the city’s economy. By 1807, when the trade was abolished, more than 1.1 million enslaved people had been transported by the city’s ships. Even abolition couldn’t stop the city’s commercial dominance – by the early 20th century it was larger and richer than any English city other than London.
Read the rest of the review at https://www.historytoday.com/archive/...
John Merrick is the editor of Raphael Samuel’s Workshop of the World (Verso, 2024).
April 16, 2025
Tales of an ‘obsolescent’ city
—
Wetherell’s thesis is that Liverpool is a barometer for Britain as a whole, that the city that grew phenomenally thanks to the Industrial Revolution has been on a long downward spiral until 2008, which is when the book ends. Along the way, Wetherell explores some of the smaller communities that make up the greater conglomeration: the migrants, the workers, the criminals. But this is not a comprehensive city history—for what book could possibly cover the whole history of any place?—and perhaps to expect that isn’t the point.
The point that Wetherell wants to make is that academic history could just as easily be a history of the things that go wrong, an account of decline and rot and disorder, and that Liverpool has seen its fair share of all these things. Wetherell is interested in the concept of obsolescence, in using it as a lens to explore modern history, not as a reflection of some unrealistic golden Empire, but as a function of a place and its times, its people and their actions. Whether it’s an approach with legs or not, I couldn’t say from this. It’s certainly a unique take and might be better illuminated with contrasts and comparisons with other cities, in Britain and elsewhere, to understand the unique outcomes of Liverpool.
—
Wetherell’s thesis is that Liverpool is a barometer for Britain as a whole, that the city that grew phenomenally thanks to the Industrial Revolution has been on a long downward spiral until 2008, which is when the book ends. Along the way, Wetherell explores some of the smaller communities that make up the greater conglomeration: the migrants, the workers, the criminals. But this is not a comprehensive city history—for what book could possibly cover the whole history of any place?—and perhaps to expect that isn’t the point.
The point that Wetherell wants to make is that academic history could just as easily be a history of the things that go wrong, an account of decline and rot and disorder, and that Liverpool has seen its fair share of all these things. Wetherell is interested in the concept of obsolescence, in using it as a lens to explore modern history, not as a reflection of some unrealistic golden Empire, but as a function of a place and its times, its people and their actions. Whether it’s an approach with legs or not, I couldn’t say from this. It’s certainly a unique take and might be better illuminated with contrasts and comparisons with other cities, in Britain and elsewhere, to understand the unique outcomes of Liverpool.
July 31, 2025
obsolescence (noun)
the process of becoming obsolete or outdated and no longer used.
I have never heard this word before but it is the running theme throughout this book as the author looks at Liverpool and the marginalised communities who once helped make it one of the most prosporous ports but were somehow both left behind after city's change in status in the aftermath of the Second World War. As the author writes: "What does it mean to be rendered obsolete by historical change, to inhabit somewhere that has outlasted its purpose and yet continues to exist?""
This is not a light read, nor is it designed to be an in depth look at the history of Liverpool or the social history of Britain as a whole, but is very informative and the author does a good job of exploring "how some of the different pieces of the post-war era ... tessellated, working together to transform the lives of everday people"
Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an advanced reader copy of this title for free; all opinions are my own
October 19, 2025
A tedious recitation of old-left gripes about the past: why everything Thatcher did was terrible; why Militant were not that bad; why Heseltine was a fraud.
The grinding tone of embittered miserablism is interrupted only by hysterical over-interpretation of government policies. Such as the 1984 Garden Festival being equated to a “year zero” for the city. Or the City of Culture doing nothing but enabling a “massive wave of aggressive property speculation”.
There are occasional hints of a much more interesting book. The Foucauldian theme of discipline features in the earlier chapters but that gets lost and we’re back to sneering at optimists and repeating stories of noble failures in the endless campaign for a better yesterday.
You will learn nothing about Liverpool or urban development from this book. Instead it offers an accidental guide to why the British left is so unpopular and unsuccessful.
The grinding tone of embittered miserablism is interrupted only by hysterical over-interpretation of government policies. Such as the 1984 Garden Festival being equated to a “year zero” for the city. Or the City of Culture doing nothing but enabling a “massive wave of aggressive property speculation”.
There are occasional hints of a much more interesting book. The Foucauldian theme of discipline features in the earlier chapters but that gets lost and we’re back to sneering at optimists and repeating stories of noble failures in the endless campaign for a better yesterday.
You will learn nothing about Liverpool or urban development from this book. Instead it offers an accidental guide to why the British left is so unpopular and unsuccessful.
June 13, 2025
I had high hopes for this book but I finished it feeling morose. I think I understood what the author was going for but couldn't get onboard with his dour outlook. It seemed to me like he cherry picked the most dull and depressing parts of the cities history without doing justice to the rest.
I wasn't looking for a rose tinted view of liverpool but I do feel that this failed to convey any of the spark of wit Scousers are famous for. The lows would've been more interesting if the highs had been properly conveyed.
I wasn't looking for a rose tinted view of liverpool but I do feel that this failed to convey any of the spark of wit Scousers are famous for. The lows would've been more interesting if the highs had been properly conveyed.
September 18, 2025
Wetherell dissects and analyses the recent history of Liverpool, using Marxist tools, informed by the best of 21st century intersectionality. The result - for me, a Merseyside native - was an enthralling thesis on how Liverpool has been at the vanguard of late capitalist experimentation in social engineering - from the right and the left - due to the obsolescence of its formal essential purpose as a port at the centre of an empire.
June 13, 2025
A brilliant history of the changes in Merseyside specifically postlaw and more intensively around the 70s and 80s
Being from the area there was a lot I did not know and the detail is for forensic
Absolutely fascinating for anyone for me or interested in the area
Being from the area there was a lot I did not know and the detail is for forensic
Absolutely fascinating for anyone for me or interested in the area
April 16, 2025
Superb book about the politics, economics and history of Liverpool.
June 7, 2025
Great book.
June 19, 2025
A masterclass in writing local history
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews