W.G.'s Birthday Party
by David Kynaston
28 Members (4.00)
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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 show more 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 colourful 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. show lessTags
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Author Information
33+ Works 2,115 Members
David Kynaston is currently a visiting professor at Kingston University.
Classifications
- Genres
- Sports and Leisure, Nonfiction, History, General Nonfiction, Biography & Memoir
- DDC/MDS
- 796.358094209034 — Arts & recreation Recreation, sports, and performing arts Athletic and outdoor sports and games Ball sports Ball and stick sports Cricket Biography And History
- LCC
- GV913 — Geography, Anthropology and Recreation Recreation. Leisure Recreation. Leisure Sports Ball games: Baseball, football, golf, etc.
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 28
- Popularity
- 949,494
- Rating
- (4.00)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 6
- ASINs
- 4
