Cheek by Jowl: A History of Neighbours - Hardcover

Cockayne, Emily

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1847921345 ISBN 13: 9781847921345

Publisher: The Bodley Head Ltd, 2012

Synopsis

Almost everyone has a neighbour.

Neighbours can enrich or ruin our lives. They fascinate and worry us in equal measure. Soap operas watched by millions play with every lurid permutation of relationships in fictional neighbourhoods. One is even called Neighbours. Disputes over gigantic Leylandii and noise nuisance turn nasty and fill newspaper columns. These stories have a rich history - as long as men have lived in shelters, they have had neighbours.

In this fascinating social history, Emily Cockayne traces the story of the British neighbour through nine centuries -spanning Medieval, Tudor and Victorian periods, ,two world wars and up to today's modern, virtual world. Cheek by Jowl brilliantly reveals how neighbour relations have changed over time and maps the complex emotional, sexual and economic threads of association between neighbours. As people lived more densely together, and lifestyles diversified, the potential for neighbour nuisance and jealousy grew. In contrast, where communities of people emerged who shared an employer or an economic predicament, solidarity and mutual supportiveness would ease the hardships of life.

Cheek by Jowl will also examine the way we think about architecture and our living spaces. It treats houses as vessels for living that enable or frustrate us from fulfilling our human potential rather than as aesthetic objects. With humour, wit and fascinating historical anecdotes this is social history at its most colourful and interesting. Cheek by Jowl will put the people back in the houses and the houses back on the streets.

About this title

About the Author

Emily Cockayne graduated with a first class degree in History from Girton College, Cambridge in 1994 and moved to Jesus College, Cambridge for postgraduate studies. Emily was awarded a doctorate for her thesis 'A cultural history of sound in England 1560-1760' in 2000, a year after being elected to a Prize Fellowship in Modern History at Magdalen College, Oxford. In January 2003 she became an Associate Lecturer for the Open University. She lives in Norwich with her husband and two children.

Edition details

• Publisher: The Bodley Head Ltd
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1847921345
• ISBN 13: 9781847921345
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 288