{"title":"Andrew Reekes","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"rise-of-labour-1899-1951-book-andrew-reekes-9780333537817","title":"The Rise of Labour, 1899-1951","description":"A source book for A-level students which examines the foundation of the party, its rivalry with the Liberals before 1914, the splits encouraged by the First World War and the party's electoral recovery in 1918. It looks at continuing internal division with the challenges to Macdonald's responsible socialism, at the muted success of the first two Labour governments and at the great crash of 1931. It records the rebuilding of the 1930s, the role of Labour in the wartime Cabinet, and concludes with the legacy of the Atlas years. As with the rest of the \"Documents and Debates\" series the book features selected documents and questions. It aims to make the topic interesting, to stimulate independent thought from the student.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49610107289873,"sku":"GOR005104022","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0333537815.jpg?v=1751445119"},{"product_id":"george-dawson-and-his-circle-book-andrew-reekes-9780850367713","title":"George Dawson and His Circle","description":"‘By the gains of Industry, we promote Art’ ‘In Birmingham you may generally recognise a board school by it being the best building  in the neighbourhood, with its lofty towers, gabled windows, warm red bricks and stained glass.’  So observed the Pall Mall Gazette in 1894. The famous civic gospel shaped Birmingham as ‘the best governed city in the world.’   The inspiration for the transformation of Birmingham in the second half of the 19th century came from the sermons of ‘the greatest talker in England’ George Dawson. The men who oversaw the improvement of the town mostly sat on Sunday mornings in the pews of the Church of the Saviour.   These were the men who were responsible for: a unique memorial library dedicated to the works of Warwickshire’s very own William Shakespeare; the foremost provincial institute (the Birmingham and Midland Institute); the first municipal technical school; the most famous art school in the country; and an enviable new art gallery.   More improvements were developed by the town council: schools, baths and wash houses; the municipalisation of the gas and water supplies; and an impressive new thoroughfare, suitably christened Corporation Street.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49740385779985,"sku":"NGR9780850367713","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50789564186897,"sku":"GOR013097802","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0850367719.jpg?v=1751427813"},{"product_id":"speeches-that-changed-britain-book-andrew-reekes-9781905036233","title":"Speeches that changed Britain","description":"It is striking how many nationally significant speeches have been made in Birmingham over the past two hundred years. This book looks at ten episodes when a speech in Birmingham challenged the rest of the country to embrace change and reform. More than any other city it represents Britain’s provincial voice across the period. The book reflects the importance of oratory in making a political argument. It may in a sound-bite era be a dying art but these speeches fulfil the first requirement of successful rhetoric, that it be a reasoned argument to persuade its audience.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50290824970513,"sku":"GOR007385167","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/190503623X.jpg?v=1751187093"},{"product_id":"two-titans-one-city-book-andrew-reekes-9781905036349","title":"Two Titans, One City","description":"Two famous and powerful men of the late Victorian and early Edwardian era, Joseph Chamberlain (1836-1914) and George Cadbury (1839-1922), towered over one of the great cities of the British Empire – Birmingham. Together, they offer a fascinating window into the rapidly changing world in which they lived and the preoccupations of their generation.  Throughout their lives both men pursued a common mission – to improve the lives of their fellow citizens – and zealously pursued a philosophy of social and civic responsibility rooted in nonconformist religion. However, these were very different characters sharing a single stage. Having aggressively built a fortune in engineering as a young man, Chamberlain entered civic politics and, during three terms as mayor, he made Birmingham the global model of good civic governance. But his ambitions stretched beyond Birmingham to Westminster where he became the first great middle-class statesman of modern Britain and the leading Radical of the age, although his career ended in failure and he never achieved the highest office he craved. Throughout this turbulent career, Birmingham, sometimes referred to as his “Duchy”, remained Chamberlain’s political base and his family home. It was here, after an incapacitating stroke, that Chamberlain was buried following a funeral where the size of the crowds brought the whole city to a halt.  It was also here in Birmingham that Cadbury created his fortune and where his programmes for social improvement caught the attention of the world. Taking control of the confectionery business established by his Quaker family, Cadbury built it into one of the first great global brands. The wealth he created allowed Cadbury to introduce far-sighted benefits for his workers, including the visionary model village of Bournville which was his response to the jerry-built slum housing of his workforce. Then around the houses, schools and green open spaces of Bournville Cadbury created a distinct community founded on strict adherence to his Quaker values of temperance and industrial discipline. Meanwhile, on the national stage, Cadbury successfully campaigned to improve the lives of men and women labouring in sweatshops and worked for the introduction of pioneering social reforms, including non-contributory old age pensions. Throughout this time, unlike Chamberlain, he abhorred party politics and his pacifist views brought the two men into conflict during the Anglo-Boer War which Chamberlain championed. By his death, Cadbury was lauded as one of the leading philanthropists of his age.  So, both Chamberlain and Cadbury championed political and social reform based on their experiences in Birmingham and subsequently became important figures in British life.  Yet for all that they had in common, they were radically different from each other. Their ambitions and their methods for effecting change took divergent routes: as a result from time to time they came into conflict in the arena of national affairs and in Birmingham, where they were reluctant neighbours.  Two Titans: One City is the first study to explore, compare and contrast the lives of these two very famous but very different figures. Historian and author Andrew Reekes uses archives, correspondence and contemporary accounts to reveal the fascinating lives and rivalries of these two important figures of their age.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50468448796945,"sku":"GOR009607711","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1905036345.jpg?v=1750835211"},{"product_id":"birmingham-political-machine-winning-elections-for-joseph-chamberlain-book-andrew-reekes-9781905036424","title":"The Birmingham Political Machine: Winning elections for Joseph Chamberlain","description":"The British electorate swelled dramatically with the passing of the Second Reform Act in 1867. This presented the political class with a significant challenge. Here was a large, new electorate which needed to be understood, managed, enthused, and persuaded to vote for the right candidate in local and parliamentary elections. From this time onwards education and democratic involvement of these new voters became vital for political success.  In Birmingham, the town of a thousand trades, Joseph Chamberlain and his allies were faced with an electorate which had tripled in size overnight and many of whom had never previously voted or participated in politics. In response, Joseph Chamberlain and his close-knit Birmingham team developed national campaigns on issues such as universal education, democracy and tariff reform which required new methods for propagating and winning arguments that resonated across all classes and interests. At the same time they colonised Birmingham's town council, school board and other municipal bodies where they gained the practical political experience which they could transfer to the national stage. For the first time The Birmingham Political Machine lays bare how Joseph Chamberlain with his colleagues and friends was so successful that never before or since has one politician monopolised regional power as Joseph Chamberlain did for more than thirty years in the West Midlands. He made it his invincible fortress.  From now on British politics would never be the same and the techniques developed by the Birmingham Machine can still be seen today.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51254618226961,"sku":"GOR009608050","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1905036426.jpg?v=1750867626"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/author-books-by-andrew-reekes.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}