Cricket, in its modern formulation, was in the ascendant as a national sport from early Victorian times to the immediate post-World War II years. That corresponded, roughly, to a hundred or so years span in which the working and middle classes were most distinctively identified – and yet were most solidly united in values and attitudes. This curious amalgam of cross-class ‘cultural integration’ characterised cricket then, most notably in the ‘Gentlemen and Players’ convention but also in recreational cricket and among what was in those days the huge spectatorship for cricket. County cricket, especially, with its unusual combine of the plebeian professional and the bourgeois amateur, is a classic example of how an aspiring working class and an earnest middle class contrived to find common ground, and even some mutual respect, without ever disturbing the overt social barriers. In cricket, as in society at large, there was ‘class peace’ rather than class war.

Between 1922 and 1925 Yorkshire County Cricket Club won the County Championship four years in a row, making it one of the most successful sides ever in the history of the English county game. A line-up which included Wilfred Rhodes, Percy Holmes, Herbert Sutcliffe, Roy Kilner, George Macaulay and Maurice Leyland dominated English cricket for much of the decade, taking a highly professional approach to the game. Unsurprisingly, they were heroes to many, but despite this success, the side was at times unpopular and the subject of trenchant criticism. A Game Divided takes as its starting point the events during the match between Yorkshire and Middlesex at Sheffield in July 1924, which provoked a falling out between the counties. These events and how they were portrayed shine a light on many of the divisions in English cricket of the time – between north and south, amateur and professional, employer and employee, and between different perspectives on sportsmanship and the style in which the game should be played. The book looks at the triumphs and troubles that shaped Yorkshire cricket in the decade and asks just how great was this side of match-winners.

For a hundred years, from about the 1850s to the 1950s, schoolboy stories were voraciously read by the vast majority of boys and a high proportion of girls. A huge proportion of these ‘ripping yarns’ were school-based stories – and cricket was an invariable element, From Tom Brown’s Schooldays to the ‘Red Circle’ tales of the Hotspur comic, older children of all classes were inducted into a culture in which cricket was admired as the ideal sport. Inevitably, this led to generations of parents and, importantly, teachers inculcating this concept into their offspring and pupils respectively. The chief relevant authors were self-proclaimed protagonists of the faith of Muscular Christianity; there was no accident about the creed they preached in their stories, inclusive of the righteous role of cricket in pursuit of their ideals. This text describes the sheer weight and longevity of cricket in this type of literature and the background and beliefs of its major progenitors. That also analyses the cultural and social impact of this intense volume of schoolboy cricket tales. The author’s controversial conclusion is that, in brief, it was good for cricket but bad for the nation’s education system. Here is a book, then, that will appeal not only to cricket fans but to those interested in children’s literature, social history and the development of today’s schools.

The definitive history of a cricket team the world loves to watch, but is at a loss to explain The story of Pakistan cricket is dramatic, tortured, heroic and tumultuous. Beginning with nothing after the Partition of 1947 to the jubilation of its victory against England at the Oval in 1954; from earning its Test status and competing with the best to sealing a golden age by winning the World Cup in 1992; from their magic in Sharjah to an era-defining low in the new millennium, Pakistan's cricketing fortunes have never ceased to thrill. This book is the story of those fortunes and how, in the process, the game transformed from an urban, exclusive sport into a glue uniting millions in a vast, disparate country. In its narration, Osman Samiuddin captures the jazba of the men who played for Pakistan, celebrates their headiest moments and many upheavals, and brings to life some of their most famous - and infamous - contests, tours and moments. Ambitious, spirited and often heart breaking, The Unquiet Ones is a comprehensive portrait of not just a Pakistani sport, but a national majboori, a compulsion whose outcome can often surprise and shock, and become the barometer of everyday life in Pakistan, tailing its ups and downs, its moods and character.

The Condition of the Working Class in England is one of the best-known works of Friedrich Engels. Originally written in German as Die Lage der arbeitenden Klasse in England, it is a study of the working class in Victorian England. It was also Engels' first book, written during his stay in Manchester from 1842 to 1844. Manchester was then at the very heart of the Industrial Revolution, and Engels compiled his study from his own observations and detailed contemporary reports. Engels argues that the Industrial Revolution made workers worse off. He shows, for example, that in large industrial cities mortality from disease, as well as death-rates for workers were higher than in the countryside. In cities like Manchester and Liverpool mortality from smallpox, measles, scarlet fever and whooping cough was four times as high as in the surrounding countryside, and mortality from convulsions was ten times as high as in the countryside. The overall death-rate in Manchester and Liverpool was significantly higher than the national average (one in 32.72 and one in 31.90 and even one in 29.90, compared with one in 45 or one in 46). An interesting example shows the increase in the overall death-rates in the industrial town of Carlisle where before the introduction of mills (1779–1787), 4,408 out of 10,000 children died before reaching the age of five, and after their introduction the figure rose to 4,738. Before the introduction of mills, 1,006 out of 10,000 adults died before reaching 39 years old, and after their introduction the death rate rose to 1,261 out of 10,000.

A history of the common people and the Industrial Revolution: “A true masterpiece” and one of the Modern Library’s 100 Best Nonfiction Books of the twentieth century (Tribune). During the formative years of the Industrial Revolution, English workers and artisans claimed a place in society that would shape the following centuries. But the capitalist elite did not form the working class—the workers shaped their own creations, developing a shared identity in the process. Despite their lack of power and the indignity forced upon them by the upper classes, the working class emerged as England’s greatest cultural and political force. Crucial to contemporary trends in all aspects of society, at the turn of the nineteenth century, these workers united into the class that we recognize all across the Western world today. E. P. Thompson’s magnum opus, The Making of the English Working Class defined early twentieth-century English social and economic history, leading many to consider him Britain’s greatest postwar historian. Its publication in 1963 was highly controversial in academia, but the work has become a seminal text on the history of the working class. It remains incredibly relevant to the social and economic issues of current times, with the Guardian saying upon the book’s fiftieth anniversary that it “continues to delight and inspire new readers.”

Written in a detailed and fascinating manner, this book is ideal for general readers interested in the English language.

In C. L. R. James's classic Beyond a Boundary, the sport is cricket and the scene is the colonial West Indies. Always eloquent and provocative, James--the "black Plato," (as coined by the London Times)--shows us how, in the rituals of performance and conflict on the field, we are watching not just prowess but politics and psychology at play. Part memoir of a boyhood in a black colony (by one of the founding fathers of African nationalism), part passionate celebration of an unusual and unexpected game, Beyond a Boundary raises, in a warm and witty voice, serious questions about race, class, politics, and the facts of colonial oppression. Originally published in England in 1963 and in the United States twenty years later (Pantheon, 1983), this second American edition brings back into print this prophetic statement on race and sport in society.

From its foundation in 1826, UCL embraced a progressive and pioneering spirit. It was the first university in England to admit students regardless of religion and made higher education affordable and accessible to a much broader section of society. It was also effectively the first university to welcome women on equal terms with men. From the outset UCL showed a commitment to innovative ideas and new methods of teaching and research. This book charts the history of UCL from 1826 through to the present day, highlighting its many contributions to society in Britain and around the world. It covers the expansion of the university through the growth in student numbers and institutional mergers. It documents shifts in governance throughout the years and the changing social and economic context in which UCL operated, including challenging periods of reconstruction after two World Wars. Today UCL is one of the powerhouses of research and teaching, and a truly global university. It is currently seventh in the QS World University Rankings. This completely revised and updated edition features a new chapter based on interviews with key individuals at UCL. It comes at a time of ambitious development for UCL with the establishment of an entirely new campus in East London, UCL East, and Provost Michael Arthur’s ‘UCL 2034’ strategy which aims to secure the university’s long-term future and commits UCL to delivering global impact.