Steel City Readers: Reading for Pleasure in Sheffield, 1925-1955

Steel City Readers* is an Open Access book that provides new evidence about past cultures and communities of reading, focusing on reading for pleasure and its relationship to gender and class. It is grounded in Sheffield and features men and women who came of age in the 1930s and 1940s, who rarely regarded reading as a means of self-improvement but rather as a compulsive and intensely pleasurable private activity.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 288 pages
Publication date: 01 June 2023
Publisher: Liverpool University Press

Steel City Readers: An Open Access Edition

This book offers an open access edition, accessible on the Liverpool University Press website and the OAPEN library. Steel City Readers* is a unique resource that provides a wealth of new evidence about past cultures and communities of reading. Instead of theorizing about readers as an undifferentiated group, it prioritizes listening to the individual voices of readers. The book's compelling and engaging structure traces reading journeys from childhood to education and adulthood, encompassing various settings such as home, school, and library. It has a distinctive focus on reading for pleasure and establishes a framework of argument that situates this type of reading within the context of gender and class dimensions. Grounded in place, particularly in the context of a specific industrial city: Sheffield, the book features men and women who grew up in the 1930s and 1940s. Interestingly, these individuals rarely regarded reading as a means of self-improvement but rather as a compulsive and intensely pleasurable private activity.

Weight: 462g
Dimension: 157 x 235 x 19 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781802078589