Home
/
Non-Fiction
/
Great Glasgow Stories
Great Glasgow Stories
Apr 19, 2025 5:37 AM

Author:John Burrowes

Great Glasgow Stories

Few cities in the world abound with so many extraordinary stories as Glasgow. The city has been the silent witness to some of the most significant events of the past century, from major triumphs to cataclysmic calamities, and the best of these anecdotes are compiled here to form this unique collection.

Amongst the notable events revisited are the launching of the Queen Mary, which captivated the city's inhabitants in 1934, the victorious 16-month work-in campaign by the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders in the early 1970s, the Ibrox disaster of 1971 and the plague that gripped the Gorbals in 1900.

Some of Glasgow's most successful people are also covered, including Clydeside revolutionary John Maclean, founder of the Barras Maggie McIver and the inimitable Billy Connolly, whose humour and colourful personality are synonymous with the city.

From the Battle of George Square to the bravery of the Glasgow people during the Blitz, Great Glasgow Stories provides an all-encompassing view of the city throughout the eras.

Reviews

A collection so thick with West of Scotland pride and charm, it is a disservice to describe it in any other way than Pure Dead Brilliant

—— Daily Record

McLynn writes with considerable verve: his pithy characterisations of Napoleon's subordinates, the alternating chapters of narrative and analysis, the dramatic set-pieces...all these combine to make his biography pleasurable and highly instructive to read

—— Brendan Simms , Evening Standard

McLynn offers an admirably clear narrative, neither adulatory nor debunking. He acknowledges and displays the extraordinary tale and does not hide the pettiness

—— Alan Massie , Daily Telegraph

A robust, well-paced biography which pans confidently from the seventeen-year-old child educated by Jesuits to the ruins of the imperial grandeur and death by slow arsenic poisoning on a bleak St Helena

—— Colin Cardwell , Scotland on Sunday

Borman has expertly forged an absorbing biography from fragments of her personal history

—— Independent

This being the year of the Queen’s Jubilee, we should expect an avalanche of books celebrating every aspect of her life and reign, but I shall be very surprised if any turns out to be more revealing and engaging than this thoughtful study by the veteran Royal watcher Robert Hardman

—— Mail on Sunday

Delectable biography

—— Telegraph

Hardman’s Our Queen is the closest thing to an official jubilee portrait. It is thoroughly researched.

—— Times Literary Supplement

[A] superb book.

—— Sunday Telegraph

As this book immodestly reveals, Tony Blair was, and remains, a remarkable influence on politics, both domestically and internationally

—— Menzies Campbell , Scotland on Sunday

What makes his memoir so absorbing as it swings from clever phrase-making and thoughtful contemporary history to wince-inducing self-analysis, is that he is the first of a generation of politicians to conduct their craft as if observing themselves from an amused an admiring distance - and then to write about it. No recent politician has examines his own motives and psychology quite so candidly

—— John Rentoul , The Independent

It is the small revelations about the character of Blair that make this book worthwhile

—— Ross Clark , The Express

It's a gripping insight into the ex-PM's ten years of power . . . It will take a lot for many people to read his own take on the rise and fall of New Labour, but those that do might be reminded of the charm and vision that swept him to power

—— News of the World

I have read many a prime ministerial memoir and none of the other authors has been as self-deprecating, as willing to admit mistakes and to tell jokes against themselves

—— Mary Ann Sieghart , The Independent

Paints a candid picture of his friend and rival, Gordon Brown, and of their relationship

—— Patrick Hennessy , The Sunday Telegraph
Comments
Welcome to zzdbook comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.zzdbook.com All Rights Reserved