Description
Book SynopsisArguing that there was a remarkable continuity in male working-class culture between 1850 and 1945, this book contends that despite changing socio-economic contexts, male working-class culture continued to draw from a tradition of active participation and cultural contestation that was both class and gender exclusive.
Trade ReviewBeaven's examination of the Coventry case is a welcome addition to a literature that has been overly dominated by London and Lancashire. This is a bold study that reviews working-class male leisure, and the concerns it gave rise to, across an extensive period. Its thematic scope and its local basis usefully complement existing work. Beaven has produced a significant and timely contribution to our understanding of popular leisure in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. James Thompson, University of Bristol
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Introduction 1. Rational recreation and the creation of the model citizen, c. 1850-1914 2. The era of mass leisure: the pleasure seeking citizen, 1870-1914 3. Fearing for the Empire: male youth, work and leisure, 1870-1914 4. Male leisure in the industrial suburb: the rise of 'suburban neurosis'? 1918-1939 5. Male youth, work and leisure 1918-1939: a continuity in life style 6. The era of mass communication: working-class male leisure and 'good' citizenship between the wars 7. Male leisure and citizenship in the Second World War Conclusion Bibliography
