Liverpool and the Unmaking of Britain cover art

Liverpool and the Unmaking of Britain

Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Liverpool and the Unmaking of Britain

By: Sam Wetherell
Narrated by: Adam Stevens
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

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.©2025 Sam Wetherell (P)2025 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.
Europe Great Britain City Imperialism War

Listeners also enjoyed...

Scouse Republic cover art
Transformer cover art
Chasing Salah cover art
Get In cover art
Made in Manchester cover art
States of Play cover art
The Dictator's Handbook cover art
The Nazis cover art
A Certain Idea of France cover art
A History of Britain: Volume 1 cover art
A Killing in November cover art
How to Win the Premier League cover art
The Reign: Life in Elizabeth's Britain, Part I cover art
Killer in the Kremlin cover art
Ragged Trousered Philanthropists cover art
Out cover art

What listeners say about Liverpool and the Unmaking of Britain

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    7
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    4
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    7
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Very well researched

Very well researched, lot’s of great information, but at time sounded more like a novel, overall a very interesting read, shame the reader didn’t get it

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!