A new history of Glasgow tracing the growth of the city from prehistoric days to its rise as one of the Great Victorian cities.

Beloved, reviled – and not only by Glaswegians – Glasgow isn't just the Industrial Revolution nor the Victorian slums. Founded in the sixth century, its forebears pushed back the Romans. The roof of its cathedral, founded in the twelfth century, survived the Reformation. Its fifteenth-century university welcomed Adam Smith and the Enlightenment. It prospered from sugar, tobacco, cotton and slavery in the eighteenth century, and saw the rise of the Red Clydesiders in the twentieth. Glasgow's not just a city, it's an urban civilization in itself, unique and fruitful. Its denizens have seen the city rise and fall, they have survived bombs and demolitions, and somehow kept their humour intact. Now these people and this city play a pivotal role in Scotland's future, and in the future of the UK. It's time for a book that tells the story in all its complexity.

This book looks at aspects of Glasgow history which have hitherto been ignored or overlooked by most historians - the history of women in the city. Existing histories are the histories of the men who made Glasgow great: the inventors, industrialists, shipbuilders, philosophers and men of medicine. Although every schoolchild knows the legends of St Mungo, no one knows the legend of his mother St Thenew. The strong machismo culture of the west of Scotland has all but obliterated the contribution of women. St Thenew is actually Scotland's first recorded rape victim, battered woman and unmarried mother. From the time of her death in the seventh century until the present day, there is a discernable trail of oppression and violence against women. At the same time there is a history of strong and sustained resistance to persecution, achievement in the face of adversity and moral triumph in the teeth of injustice. This work deals with women, religon and the Reformation, social and political status, the fight for equal rights and the history of the Suffragettes. Because of the nature of the sources, more space is given to women who stood up and stood out - the 16th century "orray woemen" whom the town council could not control, the revolutionary Owenites and those brave women who threw bombs, burned down big houses, and went on hunger strike.

Some 30 years after Glasgow turned towards regeneration, indicators of its built environment, its health, its economic performance and its quality of life remain below UK averages. This interdisciplinary study examines the ongoing transformation of Glasgow as it transitioned from a de-industrial to a post-industrial city during the 20th and 21st centuries. Looking at the diverse issues of urban policy, regeneration and economic and social change, it considers the evolving lived experiences of Glaswegians. Contributors explore the actions required to secure the gains of regeneration and create an economically competitive, socially just and sustainable city, establishing a theory that moves beyond post-industrialism and serves as a model for similar cities globally.

In the wake of an unparalleled housing crisis at the end of the Second World War, Glasgow Corporation rehoused the tens of thousands of private tenants who were living in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions in unimproved Victorian slums. Adopting the designs, the materials and the technologies of modernity they built into the sky, developing high-rise estates on vacant sites within the city and on its periphery. This book uniquely focuses on the people's experience of this modern approach to housing, drawing on oral histories and archival materials to reflect on the long-term narrative and significance of high-rise homes in the cityscape. It positions them as places of identity formation, intimacy and well-being. With discussions on interior design and consumption, gender roles, children, the elderly, privacy, isolation, social networks and nuisance, Glasgow examines the connections between architectural design, planning decisions and housing experience to offer some timely and prescient observations on the success and failure of this very modern housing solution at a moment when high flats are simultaneously denigrated in the social housing sector while being built afresh in the private sector. Glasgow is aimed at an academic readership, including postgraduate students, scholars and researchers. It will be of interest to social, cultural and urban historians particularly interested in the United Kingdom.