WG's Birthday Party
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.25
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in W.G.'s Birthday Party for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
'Few historians have the power to make you feel you actually inhabit the times they are writing about. Kynaston does' Sunday Times, Book of the Decade 'Kynaston's books ... feel like a breath of fresh air' Observer 'An absolute gem of a book' Guardian 'Kynaston writes brilliantly and readably' Independent on Sunday
Product Description
On a hot morning in July 1898, the sporting world gathered at Lord's to celebrate the fiftieth birthday of WG Grace, the greatest cricketer the game has ever seen. Grace was cheered onto the field by a packed crowd as he captained the Gentlemen, the privileged old guard of the Establishment. Their opponents in this annual match were the Players, cricketers for whom the sport was a precarious livelihood rather than a summer pastime. This three-day encounter represented the climax of cricket's Golden Age, and the unstoppable arrival of the professional game that would dominate the twentieth century. In "WG's Birthday Party", David Kynaston tells the story of one of the most thrilling matches in cricketing history, as well as the colorful and sometimes tragically moving lives of the members of both teams. Using the Gentlemen vs Players contest as a lens through which to examine the hierarchy and tensions endemic in cricket at the beginning of the modern era, he presents a lively, moving, richly detailed and massively entertaining portrait of late-Victorian society. It is social history at its most compelling, from 'the most entertaining historian alive' ("Spectator").
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I bought and read the first edition of this book approximately 15 years ago and I can't praise it enough. All cricket followers know of W G but his significance extends far beyond being a leading figure in his sport during the time he played. The fact is that he was the leading sportsman in the world during he late victorian era, a period in which sports and leisure for all expanded significantly. In effect Grace was the first sports superstar. This book puts Grace's importance in place by basing his story around the 1898 Gentlemen v. Players match, held on W G''s 50th birthday in honour of him. Hence this book is not only the story of a great cricketer but also of a match, the great players in that match and a picture of the period, considered the Golden Era of cricket. It is a fairly short read (approx. 150 pages)and definitely not the fullest biography of W G but is likely to lead the reader to seek out further books on the great man.
Format:Hardcover
This is a short book, so in no way does it get to grips with the detail of WG Grace or cricket's golden age. Instead, it is a snapshot of one particular match - the Gentlemen v Players in 1898. It begins by setting the scene and introducing the characters, then moves on to a comprehensive match report. Kynaston puts his historian hat on at the end and tries to draw a few comparisons between the gentlemen and players, pointing out that the gentlemen lived longer and earned more. No real surprises there then. A pleasant read.
Format:Kindle Edition
This short book takes as its starting point the Gentlemen vs Players match at Lord's in 1898 that celebrated WG Grace's 50th birthday. As well as providing detailed reports of the match itself, Kynaston has researched the background of each of the players, and traces their careers both before and after this game. There is, naturally, much about WG himself, but the glimpses of other great cricketers is fascinating. There is also much of general historical interest, particularly as he explores attitudes around professional and amateur status in cricket and its legacy well into the twentieth century. Clearly the result of detailed research, this is highly readable and its focus on a single game gives it real context and grounding.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Golden Age Cricket magic
Whilst I'm not the biggest Cricket aficionado, I've heard stories about WG from my grandfather who is a massive fan of the sport. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Gareth Wilson - Falcata Times Blog
Superb Book
This book is superb. The mixture of social history and sport is compelling and it is as if the author actually attended this match and interviewed the participants. Read more
Published 22 months ago by D. Crapnell
Gratefully received!
I bought this book as a present for my brother who is mad on cricket and thought he'd read everything there was out there worthy of reading on the sport... until he got this! Read more
Published on 1 Jun 2010 by Cole
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
