Clubland: A Radio 4 Book of the Week

The untold story of a British institution.\n‘Brilliant.’ Alan Johnson 
‘Compelling.’ David Kynaston 
‘The beer drinkers’ Bill Bryson.’ Times Literary Supplement 
Pete Brown is a convivial guide on this journey through the intoxicating history of the working men’s clubs. From the movement’s founding by teetotaller social reformer the Reverend Henry Solly to the booze-soaked mid-century heyday, when more than 7 million Brits were members, this warm-hearted and entertaining book reveals how and why the clubs became the cornerstone of Britain’s social life – offering much more than cheap Federation Bitter and chicken in a basket. 
Often dismissed as relics of a bygone age – bastions of bigotry and racism – Brown reminds us that long before the days of Phoenix Nights, 3,000-seat venues routinely played host to stars like Shirley Bassey, Louis Armstrong, and the Bee Gees, offering entertainment for all the family, and close to home at that. Britain’s best-known comedians made reputations through a thick miasma of smoke, from Sunniside to Skegness. For a young man growing up in the pit town of Barnsley this was a radiant wonderland that transformed those who entered. 
Brown explores the clubs’ role in defining masculinity, community and class identity for generations of men in Britain’s industrial towns. They were, at their best, a vehicle for social mobility and self-improvement, run as cooperatives for working people by working people: an informal, community-owned pre-cursor to the Welfare State. 
As the movement approaches its 160th anniversary, this exuberant book brings to life the thrills and the spills of a cultural phenomenon that might still be rescued from irrelevance.

Cookbooks, Food & Wine

Brown, Pete

Beverages & Wine

HarperNorth

The Apple Orchard: The Story of Our Most English Fruit

'An absorbing love letter to the English apple tree...lyrical and joyful' - TLS 'A delightful book' - Sunday Times Shortlisted for the André Simon Food and Drink Book Award 2016 A Radio 4 Book of the Week 'Wonderful, revelatory ... very moving' - Sheila Dillon, BBC Radio 4 'His ability to laugh at himself, openness to wonder and willingness to go wherever the search takes him make Brown an engaging writer and The Apple Orchard an entertaining journey' - Mail on Sunday Taking us through the seasons in England's apple-growing heartlands, this magical book uncovers the stories and folklore of our most familiar fruit. 'An orchard is not a field. It's not a forest or a copse. It couldn't occur naturally; it's definitely cultivated. But an orchard doesn't override the natural order: it enhances it, dresses it up. It demonstrates that man and nature together can - just occasionally - create something more beautiful and (literally) more fruitful than either could alone. The vivid brightness of the laden trees, studded with jewels, stirs some deep race memory and makes the heart leap. Here is bounty, and excitement.'

Crafts, Hobbies & Home

Gardening & Landscape Design

Particular Books

Just south of London Bridge, over a narrow courtyard opposite Borough Market, leans the George Inn, a magnificent galleried coaching house, its ramshackle warren of panelled rooms substantially unaltered for centuries. Chaucer's pilgrims probably stopped here; Shakespeare may have popped in for a pint; Dickens certainly did. This marvellously entertaining book chronicles the pub's fortunes over six centuries, and vividly evokes its colourful clientele of sailors, highwaymen, pedlars and ladies of the night.

Shakespeare's Local: Six Centuries of History Seen Through One Extraordinary Pub

Macmillan Co.

In Man Walks into a Pub, Pete Brown takes us on a journey through the amazing history of beer, from the first sacred sip of ancient Egyptian bouza to the last pint of lager on a Friday night. It’s an extraordinary tale of yeast-obsessed monks and teetotaling prime ministers; of exploding breweries, a bear in a yellow nylon jacket, and a Canadian who changed the drinking habits of a nation. It’s also the story of the rise of the British pub, from humble origins through an epic, thousand-year struggle to survive bad government and misguided commerce.

Man Walks into a Pub: A Sociable History of Beer

Macmillan, UK

Meet Pete Brown—beer journalist, beer drinker, and author of an irreverent book about British beer, Man Walks Into A Pub. One day, Pete's world is rocked when he discovers several countries produce, consume, and celebrate beer far more than the British do. The Germans claim they make the best beer in the world, the Australians consider its consumption a patriotic duty, the Spanish regard lager as a trendy youth drink and the Japanese have built a skyscraper in the shape of a foaming glass of their favorite brew. At home, meanwhile, people seem to be turning their backs on the great British pint. What's going on? Drinking in more than 300 bars in 27 towns, through 13 different countries and four continents, Pete puts on 10 pounds and does irrecoverable damage to his health in the pursuit of saloon-bar enlightenment.

Three Sheets to the Wind: One Man's Quest for the Meaning of Beer

Sports & Outdoors

Pan Books

Hops & Glory

Travel

Pan.

(Book). This book is a virtual encyclopedia of great electric guitar players, with 35 chapters examining the major players in each important era of rock. The book begins with rock's birth from the blues, covering masters like Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters. It proceeds to cover rockabilly greats like Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Buddy Holly; through the mop tops and matching suits of the British Invasion; to the psychedelia of the Dead and Hendrix; glam rock's dresses and distortion; fusion virtuosos like Metheny, Gambale, and Henderson; metal masters; shred stars; grunge gods; grindcore; and much more. Legends of Rock Guitar is not only a great resource for guitar fans, but an interesting and well-researched chronology of the rock idiom. 264 pages, 8-1/2 x 11

Legends Of Rock Guitar

Arts & Photography

Newquist, HP

Prown, Pete

Music

Hal Leonard

Van Halen: Riff by Riff: Guitar with Tablature (Play It Like It Is)

Cherry Lane Music Company

The Guide to Welsh Perry and Cider

Welsh Perry and Cider Society

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Books by Brown, Pete