Scouse Republic: An Alternative History of Liverpool

by David Swift

'Liverpool beguiles, Liverpool bewilders. Swift's superb analysis gets to the scarred heart of this troubled, beautiful and spirited city' Paul Du Noyer

'[Swift] has a terrific eye for the telling detail . . . You should read this book' Guardian

'Fascinating, funny and full of great stories - just like the city itself' Alywn Turner

'Deftly blends a sweeping, multi-century history of the city's rising and fading fortunes with the cultural vignettes of Beatlemania and Merseybeat, the figure of the "scally" and Liverpool's "birds", and the emergence of football casual culture which began on Anfield and Goodison Park's terraces' New Statesman

'Skilfully evokes the bright, raucous, lively, noisy city' Who Do You Think You Are?

'Spiky' Unheard

'Written with the secure touch of a native Scouser looking out over the River Mersey. His extensive scholarship is lightened with quotes from people he has interviewed, personal anecdotes and wry asides' Literary Review

Liverpool is a unique city within the United Kingdom; its dialect, hedonism, friendliness, rejection of 'Englishness' and, most pertinently, its politics, all make for a rich cultural landscape. Yet, many of the things that make Liverpool the city it is today were not always at the fore. Furthermore, the complexity of the city, and an investigation into all aspects of its past, has not been readily available - until now.

In Scouse Republic, David Swift expertly tracks the city's transformation from a humble village to a central component of the transatlantic slave trade and one of the most important ports in the world; from a stronghold of working-class Toryism to a bastion of left-wing politics, and analyses how the two manifest today. Swift interrogates the myths surrounding the city, offering a fully rounded perspective that considers both Liverpool's triumphs and tragedies, cleverly demonstrating how its remarkable evolution has added to the city's distinctive status. After all, in order to understand Liverpool, we need to understand its idiosyncrasies - all of which are key to comprehending modern Britain today, particularly in relation to racism, empire, deindustrialisation, immigration, popular culture and more.

Interspersed with personal anecdotes from Swift, who was born and bred in Liverpool, Scouse Republic is the untold history of one of the UK's most iconic cities. Brilliantly researched and deeply compelling, it illustrates that there is far more to Liverpool than meets the eye.

Genres: Nonfiction

360 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 27, 2025

Reviews

[Manic Booksy Dreamgirl · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm absolutely disgusted by Swifts attempt to suggest some sort of similarity between Liverpool and Israel based on being "roundly despised by outsiders, but where the inhabitants genuinely couldn't care less and even derived some kind of pleasure from being so hated."

I hoped this would be a really frank and tightly written History of the city but instead felt that it glazed over the same talking points covered everywhere else.

[Tobi ﾄﾋﾞ · Rating 2 out of 5]

This has a few good reviews, and I guess it’s not bad especially if you’re looking for something quite light. Despite the random very obnoxious shocking random comparisons of Liverpool and Isreal (like,, what???) I pursued , because it was too late for a refund.

It was not awful. I don’t know if this is a me problem, or if this is an actual problem, but what irritated me wasn’t the “Liverpool content”, it was the local exceptionalism. The book keeps presenting broadly British working-class experiences as Scouse, and that creates this slightly museum-like tone: look at this strange and colourful tribe. Even as someone from west Wales (like myself, which is far from Liverpool) (and frankly anyone from a non-metropolitan, non-middle-class background), you can see straight through because you recognise half of it as just… normal life.

The key issue is: the book confuses particularity with specificity.

It gives lots of particular details (slang, habits, anecdotes) (90% of which I am familiar with in my everyday life), but it doesn’t do enough analytical work to always show what actually makes Liverpool structurally or historically different from, say, Swansea, Glasgow, Hull, or any other port/industrial city. It has some interesting facts, of course. But I felt that, for a book on Liverpool specifically, it wasn’t that many. So instead of “this is how Liverpool developed under X conditions”, it often feels like “here is a vibe, please admire it and laugh if you must”.

It feels like it’s written for a reader who needs to be introduced to working class culture as a kind of exhibit. It’s not lying, exactly. It’s just aestheticising.

The city becomes a personality, rather than a social formation. Lots of books about cities do this, and they usually do it unconsciously.

[Farah Mendlesohn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very good book of synethsis around Liverpool's history.

So why am I giving it a 3?

The author is married to an Israeli. Usually I'd not regard an author's partner any business of a review but he does keep mentioning it. He particularly keeps mentioning it when discussing the Liverpool Left's support of Israel in the 1950s. All quite reasonable, sections of my Jewish Socialist Manchester family were pretty keen on Israel in the 1950s. I'm not going to argue with his enthusiasm.

But he then segues to talk about anti semitism: he totally skips over Catholic anti semitism (which was rife) and instead moves to talk about anti-Zionists who he consistently mis-characterises as anti-Semites, including those of us who are Jewish.

I did continue with the book but I had to skip this. I'd actually argue that his omission of Catholic anti semitism in the city is anti semitic all on its own.

It's 2025. My Israeli friends and cousins think that Netanyahu is a murderous bastard. Today the Israeli Goverment annnounced what we all knew: they intend to seize and ethnically cleanse Gaza. It's not anti semitic to think that the plan to build a Socialist Zionist state on stolen land was always doomed to disaster.

It's really distasteful.

[Peter Hurst · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent overview of the history and culture of Liverpool in just under 200 pages. Written in a similar vein to Dan Jackson’s Northumbrians. Scholarly research embedded throughout but written for a mass audience and the general reader. Makes the case for the distinctiveness of Liverpool and Liverpudlians being rooted in economic factors—its history as a maritime/port city with a casual labour force and relative lack of manufacturing jobs impeding the growth of a strong Labour movement as in other British industrialised cities. Compendious—covers everything including the history of the city, its politics, football, music, economics, crime, etc—but yet succinct. A perfect book for a father’s day present or even as a holiday read.

[Keith Wishart · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who was also born and raised in Liverpool, and proudly so, it was great to read something which attempted to be objective and balanced about a place which seems to around more emotions than others. Swift has done a great job here of explaining why both the positive and negative opinions attributed to the city have some credence and that’s to be applauded. He also does a great job of examining the less recent history of the city, which is not only interesting in itself but also helps explain the current culture. A great read.

[Harry · Rating 3 out of 5]

echo what others have said about the Israeli parallels feeling like a tenuous personal connection, particularly jars in what is otherwise an interesting and well researched book