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Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: A Cultural Analysis of Manchester United
A unique thematic history of Manchester United from the club's creation as humble Newton Heath in 1878 to its status as the world's greatest football brand, this book gets to the essence of the heart and soul of the club. It explores the club's ability to rise from the ashes, its commitment to youth and propensity for an adventurous style of football, along with its glamour, and the growth of commercialization and aggressive marketing.
An intelligent and thought-provoking narrative of Manchester United exploring its cultural history within the broader cultural framework of globalization, working class traditions, mythology and the Munich Air Disaster, and pop culture. Søren Frank introduces a football aesthetics that examines and discusses what sets Manchester United apart in regard to football philosophy. It contains analyses of some of the most fascinating matches or moments, as well as original portraits of some of the club's greatest players, all of this peppered with fascinating facts in the club's history.
An intelligent and thought-provoking narrative of Manchester United exploring its cultural history within the broader cultural framework of globalization, working class traditions, mythology and the Munich Air Disaster, and pop culture. Søren Frank introduces a football aesthetics that examines and discusses what sets Manchester United apart in regard to football philosophy. It contains analyses of some of the most fascinating matches or moments, as well as original portraits of some of the club's greatest players, all of this peppered with fascinating facts in the club's history.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published June 21, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 13, 2014
On the Shoulders of Giants – If you say so.
Standing On the Shoulders of Giants written by Soren Frank is an interesting and short book looking at the history and cultural analysis of Manchester United. Not a book you would think a Mancunian and a City fan would be drawn too, but also as a social historian I always like to see others interpretations of “local” cultural history especially by “outsiders”. It would be easy to sit and point out some of the minor factual errors but that takes nothing away from the rest of the text. While this is yet another book in the Manchester United Canon of history books this one approaches the history from a different standpoint and is not a verbatim history it looks at various points in the Club’s history rather than go year by year.
As most people will be able to tell you even though Manchester United had won the league and FA Cup before the Second World War they really were not the biggest club in Manchester until a diminutive former Manchester City Player turned up to manage United after the war. Matt Busby rebuilt United from the bottom up and built the foundations for what we now see as one of the world’s biggest and commercially most successful football clubs. Like rats you are never more than a couple of metres away from a United fan around the world.
The book covers all the giant moments in United’s history from 1958 and the death at Munich to modern day Alex Ferguson 20 years of success. This book looks at managers and players alike and their influence upon United so you have Best shoulder to shoulder with Cantona, the great captains of the club such as Robson and Keane.
Frank also covers the fans that he meets on his travels as a United fan and those who just want to be pictured outside Old Trafford. He also acknowledges that with Manchester United we have seen the blurring its cultural and geographical roots in Manchester a world commercial behemoth. While like others we can go overboard how that is bad for the game you cannot have world class football without an increase in revenues.
Soren Frank has written an interesting analysis of Manchester United’s history that deals with some of the questions others tend to avoid – its cultural history. Before they were famous Manchester United were a working class team built from the Catholic railway workers of North Manchester who moved to an industrial estate in Stretford in 1910 where eventually they took on the world and won. Love United or hate them this really is an interesting look at United’s history, well researched and written from the heart.
Standing On the Shoulders of Giants written by Soren Frank is an interesting and short book looking at the history and cultural analysis of Manchester United. Not a book you would think a Mancunian and a City fan would be drawn too, but also as a social historian I always like to see others interpretations of “local” cultural history especially by “outsiders”. It would be easy to sit and point out some of the minor factual errors but that takes nothing away from the rest of the text. While this is yet another book in the Manchester United Canon of history books this one approaches the history from a different standpoint and is not a verbatim history it looks at various points in the Club’s history rather than go year by year.
As most people will be able to tell you even though Manchester United had won the league and FA Cup before the Second World War they really were not the biggest club in Manchester until a diminutive former Manchester City Player turned up to manage United after the war. Matt Busby rebuilt United from the bottom up and built the foundations for what we now see as one of the world’s biggest and commercially most successful football clubs. Like rats you are never more than a couple of metres away from a United fan around the world.
The book covers all the giant moments in United’s history from 1958 and the death at Munich to modern day Alex Ferguson 20 years of success. This book looks at managers and players alike and their influence upon United so you have Best shoulder to shoulder with Cantona, the great captains of the club such as Robson and Keane.
Frank also covers the fans that he meets on his travels as a United fan and those who just want to be pictured outside Old Trafford. He also acknowledges that with Manchester United we have seen the blurring its cultural and geographical roots in Manchester a world commercial behemoth. While like others we can go overboard how that is bad for the game you cannot have world class football without an increase in revenues.
Soren Frank has written an interesting analysis of Manchester United’s history that deals with some of the questions others tend to avoid – its cultural history. Before they were famous Manchester United were a working class team built from the Catholic railway workers of North Manchester who moved to an industrial estate in Stretford in 1910 where eventually they took on the world and won. Love United or hate them this really is an interesting look at United’s history, well researched and written from the heart.
May 1, 2019
It reads more like a standard history of United, for most part; there are some points that hint at the 'cultural analysis' of the title, and some interesting anecdotes, but I did hope (perhaps unfairly - this isn't meant to be a sociology book) for more.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews