Dancing in the Streets

by Clifford Hanley

Dancing in the Streets is the book - not only the book about Glasgow, but the book about every city where people are alive. Hilarious, sad and tender, gentle anfd gutsy at the same time, this is the classic of its own day. Here is what ccity life is about, and what city life ought to be about, recalled by the most vivid writer of our time.

Genres: Scotland

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1958

About the author

Clifford Leonard Clark "Cliff" Hanley was a Scottish journalist, novelist, playwright and broadcaster. He was educated at Eastbank Academy in Glasgow.

During the late 1930s, he was active in the Independent Labour Party. During the Second World War he was a conscientious objector.

He wrote a number of books, including Dancing in the Street, an account of his early life in Glasgow (in its contemporaneous serialisation in The Evening Times, retitled My Gay Glasgow), The Taste of Too Much (1960), a coming-of-age novel about a secondary schoolboy, and The Scots.

During the 1960s and 1970s, Cliff Hanley published several thrillers under the pen-name Henry Calvin.

Reviews

[Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to Internet Archive for lending me this trip down memory lane. I remember reading it when it first came out and really enjoying it. This time around, I enjoyed the early sections just as much (his childhood memories, and some of the wartime stories) but felt free to skim his political elucubrations and the anti-religion rant at the end, which read like one of his columns--probably lifted from the column he published at the time of Glasgow's Billy Graham crusade. I'm not enamoured of Graham or any other televangelist myself, but I certainly wasn't interested in reading his tirade, which went on for far too long and was less than riveting. By the end his attitude of innate superiority to everyone around him (based on what?) grated a bit, therefore three and half stars instead of four.

[Jo Burley · Rating 5 out of 5]

From start to finish a great trip into Glasgow of the 20th century. Stories of the famous and of the people of the city, told with obvious love, great humor and in a style that keeps you turning the pages.

[Darla Ebert · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a treasure trove of true stories from the life of a celebrated author from Scotland.

[Adriana Glackin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it! A wonderful conversational tone, I felt as though I were In "Glesga" myself! Hanley's story-telling technique made this such an easy and thoroughly enjoyable read.