Stockport in the Great War - Glynis Cooper

[John_Hartley]

OK, so the interest in a town's home front experiences is going to be fairly limited. I mean, if you live in Dorset and have no family connection with my town, you're not likely to be ordering this book. It's one of collection of books published by Pen & Sword. But, if your home turf is the Greater Manchester or North Cheshire area, then you might be tempted to buy this one.

 

May I suggest you not bother. I'm loathe to diss a fellow author but, frankly, this isnt very well researched. It could have been packed with interesting snippets culled from the local papers. But it isnt. It seems as though there's a been a very short period skimming through the microfilm down at the Local Heritage Library and then the book's been padded out with very general information. You actually arent going to learn much about Stockport in the Great War.

 

Now, if you are interested in the area, you would be much better off finding a copy of David Kelsall's "Dark Cloud, Stockport Life in the Great War", published in 1999. Now, that's a book which is packed with a good set of facts and it's presented in an interesting and readable style.

 

If I may declare an interest, I was approached by Amberley Publishing to write the Stockport book for their Great War series. I declined citing Kelsall's work as "the business" and that I could only write the story so close to his that accusations of plagiarism would not be long coming. I suggested they contact David to see if he would do an updated version for them but don't know if they did.

 

 

[Bernard_Lewis]

I declare an interest as I've completed three books with Pen and Sword and chipped in to the towns and cities in the Great War series.

 

But I do agree with John that, sadly, the quality is variable. I've read one (not my own) which is lacking in 'real' research and padded out with Great War facts that have no direct link to the place in question.

 

Bernard

[KathrynWhite]

Such a shame. I've done some research at Stockport Heritage Library and they have such a wealth of information. Shame it hasn't been used effectively.