Synopsis

The book gives a view of life in a district of industrial Manchester - essentially from the period of 1900 up to the time of the 1939-45 War. Although relating to a particular area in a particular city during a particular period, the picture of life it portrays has applicability to similar areas in similar towns and cities. It should therefore appeal to anyone interested in life as it was then lived - and also as it might apply to all times and places.
Much of the hardships and (what may be surprising to the present period) the satisfying aspects of that time are described through the experiences of people who lived through those decades; and the social conditions, as they then existed, are portrayed within the circumstances of their lives and the communities in which they lived.
Another important subject the book covers is why what we believe to be the impoverished first decades of the twentieth century had exceedingly low crime-rates.
As an example: figures produced by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) indicate that for the years between 1920-1930 the average recorded violent crimes against the person was 5,368 per annum for the whole of England and Wales. For the years between 1990 to 2000, the corresponding average is 290,873. Even allowing for the increase in population, this represents one hell of a difference between the two times.
The big and insistent question the book asks is \"Why\".
In attempting to answer this enormously important but perplexing question, the type of community policing then employed and the attitudes of that particular era towards crime are extensively covered. In the context of this, the values and beliefs generally held in the pre-1939 communities are considered as a possible contributing factor in maintaining their low crime-rate. Therefore, the implicit comparison between then and now, that emerges throughout the book, may offer insights into the possible causes of socially corrosive problems which seems to be \"burning holes\" in the fabric of our present-day society.
On the lighter side, the publication offers a dramatic but sometimes amusing scene of life as lived in the streets of those old communities: much of it seen through the eyes of the children of that time; whose greatest excitements arose from \"playing in the street\".
There is also an extensive description of \"folk remedies\" used at that time to cure or ward off ailments - some of these effective, some amusing and some our present period of complex and \"sophisticated\" medicine would find unbelievable.
In addition, the book presents the excitements of early technological advances - such as the first talking pictures and the development of air-flight.
Furthermore - and striking another \"note\" - the popular music enjoyed at that time is extensively delved into; especially where it relates to the \"temperament\" of the period concerned.
The portrayal of a now vanished way of life the publication provides will offer ideal material for those who are studying - or wish to study - the social history of the periods covered.
However - and more especially - those who read the book will find that they've gained an entertaining and sometimes startling insight into Different Times.

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