{"product_id":"different-class-isbn-9781913462802","title":"Different Class","description":"\u003cb\u003eShortlisted for the Cricket Writers Club \u003ci\u003e'Book of the Year' 2022 \u003c\/i\u003eand the Sunday Times Sports Book Awards \u003ci\u003e'Cricket Book of the Year' 2023\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn telling the story of cricket from the bottom up, \u003ci\u003eDifferent Class\u003c\/i\u003e demonstrates how the \"quintessentially English\" game has done more to divide, rather than unite, the English.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eIn 1963, the West Indian Marxist C.L.R. James posed the deceptively benign question: \"What do they know of cricket, who only cricket know?\"\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA challenge to the public to re-consider cricket and its meaning by placing the game in its true social, political and economic context, James was, all too subtly, attempting to counter the game’s orthodox history that, he argued, had played a key role in the formation of national culture. As a consequence, he failed, and the history of cricket in England has retained the same stresses and lineaments as it did a century ago — until now.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn examining recreational rather than professional (first-class) cricket, \u003ci\u003eDifferent Class\u003c\/i\u003e does not simply challenge the widely accepted orthodoxy of English cricket, it demonstrates how the values and belief systems at its heart were, under the guise of amateurism, intentionally developed in order to divide the English along class lines at every level of the game. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIf the creation of opposing class-based cricket cultures in the North and South of England grew out of this process, the institutional structures developed by those in charge of English cricket continue to discriminate. But, as much as the exclusion of Black and South Asian cricketers from the recreational mainstream is the most obvious example, it is social class that remains the greatest barrier to participation in what used to be the national game.“A modern-day John Arlott: uncomfortable but indispensable reading for those who love cricket but may so far have avoided Duncan Stone’s vital home truths about the game.” - \u003cb\u003ePeter Hain, former chairman of the Stop the Seventy Tour campaign and Labour Peer\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"In this fascinating journey through history, Duncan Stone goes back to the working-class roots of the game, lifts the lid on the myths that cricket lives by, and explains why it’s impossible not to love it.\" - \u003cb\u003eTony Collins\u003c\/b\u003e, author of \u003ci\u003eRugby League: A People's History\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A warm, accessible but thorough-going account of how cricket and class are intertwined in England. Full of personal wit and charm but also rigour and drive.\" - \u003cb\u003eStuart Maconie\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"At a time when the ECB seems intent on killing Test cricket, by commodifying it in search of quick profits, this book is a gentle reminder of the true ethos and variable pace of the game, etched in the memories of all who have played it at village or club level.\" - \u003cb\u003eGuy Standing\u003c\/b\u003e, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Precariat: The True Dangerous Class\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eDifferent Class\u003c\/i\u003e is in that special category of books — not just lucid and cogent but necessary and invaluable.\" - \u003cb\u003eGideon Haigh\u003c\/b\u003e, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Cricket War: The Inside Story of Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A wonderfully researched book in the great traditions of British iconoclastic writing the author punctures many cherished myths about the game and is a book all cricket lovers should read to learn where the game has come from and what is still wrong with it.\" - \u003cb\u003eMihir Bose\u003c\/b\u003e, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Nine Waves: The Extraordinary Story of Indian Cricket\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eDuncan Stone\u003c\/b\u003e is a historian long interested in the social and cultural machinations of sport, the concept and application of amateurism and who, exactly, gets to define the form, function and meaning of sport. He has worked as a forensic photographer, DJ and club promoter, builder, local government officer and lecturer lecturer at the University of Huddersfield, and was previously a visiting researcher at Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia.","brand":"Repeater","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46305067729125,"sku":"NP9781913462802","price":16.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/different-class-isbn-9781913462802","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}