A New History of the Isle of Man will provide a new benchmark for the study of the island’s history. In five volumes, it will survey all aspects of the history of the Isle of Man, from the evolution of the natural landscape through prehistory to modern times. The Modern Period is the first volume to be published. Wide in coverage, embracing political, constitutional, economic, labour, social and cultural developments in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the volume is particularly concerned with issues of image, identity and representation. From a variety of angles and perspectives, contributors explore the ways in which a sense of Manxness was constructed, contested, continued and amended as the little Manx nation underwent unprecedented change from debtors’ retreat through holiday playground to offshore international financial centre.

A New History of the Isle of Man will provide a new benchmark for the study of the island’s history. In five volumes, it will survey all aspects of the history of the Isle of Man, from the evolution of the natural landscape through prehistory to modern times. The Modern Period is the first volume to be published. Wide in coverage, embracing political, constitutional, economic, labor, social and cultural developments in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the volume is particularly concerned with issues of image, identity and representation. From a variety of angles and perspectives, contributors explore the ways in which a sense of Manxness was constructed, contested, continued and amended as the little Manx nation underwent unprecedented change from debtors’ retreat through holiday playground to offshore international financial center.

Recent years have witnessed an explosion of academic and popular interest in the issue of social identity. Yet the subject areas of regional and sub-regional identities, and historical engagements between ’the regional’, ’the local’ and ’the national’, remain very neglected. Seeking to make a contribution towards redressing these areas of neglect and to further advancing our knowledge and understanding of the general issue of social identity, this volume of essays offers the reader an exploration of some of the rich and varied, historical interpretations of ’the North’ and ’Northernness’. The focus rests mainly, but not exclusively, upon the North of England. Taken as a whole, the essays highlight the contingent, fluid, and ambiguous nature of ’Northenness’, its complex and shifting interplay with feelings of localism and nationalism, and the profound, if varying, influences of class, race, gender, sport, tourism, music and political and economic structures and concerns upon ’northern’ identities. This book will hold a general appeal to readers interested in the issue of social identity, especially in its regional and local manifestations and engagements. It will find a wide readership across the humanities and social sciences. It should be compulsory reading for those in New Labour addressing the issue of the ’North-South divide’.