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Scouse Republic

An Alternative History of Liverpool

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Scouse Republic

By: David Swift
Narrated by: Christian Greenway
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About this listen

 Liverpool is a unique city within the United Kingdom - in terms of its dialect, hedonism, friendliness, rejection of 'Englishness', and most pertinently, its politics. It is bastion of working-class left-wing politics like no other - as evidenced by the suspension of a Liverpool FC match after the death of the Queen, for fear the Liverpool fans would boo the minute's silence. Yet it was not always so, and Liverpool's transformation from a stronghold of working-class Toryism to its current identity is a remarkable remaking. It shows how a unique history, of triumph and tragedy, in particular the legacy of Hillsborough and subsequent boycott of the Sun - has led to its distinctive status today.

Liverpool's idiosyncrasies mean we need to explore its history to understand how it has become what it is now - for the story of Liverpool is key to understanding modern Britain: trade, racism, Empire, deindustrialisation, immigration, and popular culture have all left an important imprint. It is of the UK but its modern identity is defined in part in opposition to 'Britishness'.

This book will discuss the origins of Scouse separateness, the importance of football within the city, the unusual history of the Scouse accent, Liverpool's politics, culture, and rivalry with Manchester, the Liverpudlian diaspora, and the UK's love-hate relationship with the city. It will intersperse the story of the city with Swift's own story: relating what he learned about the city during the first 18 years of his life; what he subsequently learned about outsiders' views of Liverpool and its citizens in the 18 years since he left; and his impressions of how the city has changed whenever he returns.©2025 David Swift Europe Great Britain United Kingdom

Critic reviews

Liverpool beguiles, Liverpool bewilders. Swift's superb analysis gets to the scarred heart of this troubled, beautiful and spirited city
[Swift] has a terrific eye for the telling detail . . . You should read this book (Frank Cottrell-Boyce)
Fascinating, funny and full of great stories - just like the city itself (Alywn Turner)
Deftly blends a sweeping, multi-century history of the city's rising and fading fortunes with the cultural vignettes of Beatlemania and Merseybeat, the figure of the "scally" and Liverpool's "birds", and the emergence of football casual culture which began on Anfield and Goodison Park's terraces (Jonny Ball)
David Swift skilfully evokes the bright, raucous, lively, noisy city. I have no Liverpool ancestors myself, but reading this book made me hope that I might find some
Spiky
Written with the secure touch of a native Scouser looking out over the River Mersey. His extensive scholarship is lightened with quotes from people he has interviewed, personal anecdotes and wry asides (A. J. Lees)
From its soccer teams to the Beatles, David Swift explores how the city's proud history has set it apart from the rest of England
All stars
Most relevant
Quite entertaining and insightful. Some great historical perspectives on many factors that influence modern life. Some basic factual inaccuracies that make you question other knowledge- it states Leigh is in Merseyside and forgets Earl Barret as an Everton black player, amongst others. A heavy LFC bias too. Not too significant but then makes you question the accuracy elsewhere.

Interesting yet lots of inaccuracies

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It’s an age old story, the malignment of scousers. Invariably in life, mocking others behaviours so outwardly and aggressively normally points to issues they are dealing with themselves. The collective way that scousers stand up and shout when they have concerns is a sight to behold. And given the way they were treated mostly by that woman, it’s hardly surprising that they all stand in solidarity. Walk a mile in their shoes during the 80s. Then judge.

Superb, rich in detail and brutally honest.

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A really informative book and great narration.
Just one point though. I strongly disagree with e.g, ‘thanks’ pronounced as ‘fanks’ as a generality of speech across Liverpool.
In Walton/Bootle even the young scallies say ‘thanks’ and ‘threw’ with a hard ‘t’ similar to older generations.
To be brutally honest the very rare times I’ve heard the ‘f’ pronunciation in Liverpool is from kids with a seemingly low IQ who try and sound more ‘scally’ than what they are.

Really enjoyed this.

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