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Akenside Syndrome: Scratching the Surface of Geordie Identity
Featuring extracts from exclusive interviews with former Newcastle United owner Sir John Hall, Tim Healy of Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, Viz creator Chris Donald and many more, Akenside Syndrome is provocative and outspoken yet an overwhelmingly empathetic book that seeks to free the word Geordie from restrictive stereotypes. Rejecting romanticised renderings from within Tyneside and moronic misrepresentations from without, this unflinching analysis aims to discover what it is about Geordie culture and identity that causes Akenside a condition of feeling ambivalent towards Newcastle or Tyneside despite often retaining a strong emotional bond with and/or sincere affection for the area. A vague sense of unease and feeling of not quite belonging or fitting in is also a common characteristic of the condition.'Why does Sir John Hall, who coined the phrase 'Geordie Nation', believe that the word Geordie can actually be a hindrance Why did Chris Donald feel he couldn't call himself a Geordie whilst growing up in Newcastle Why has AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson insisted that trying to stay in the city after he became famous was the dumbest thing he ever did What makes Tim Healy think that some Geordies who leave Tyneside are frightened about their accents And why have Sting and Robson Green talked of a sense of 'escaping' the area Find out in Akenside Syndrome...Provocative but also fair StingTruly fascinating an intelligent examination of what forms Geordie identity NARC. MagazineIts refreshing to read a book about Geordie culture that seeks to get beneath the tired stereotypes The Crack
368 pages, Hardcover
First published November 3, 2014
2 people are currently reading
23 people want to read
About the author
Joe Sharkey
15 books49 followersJoe Sharkey’s work appears in major national and international publications. For 19 years, until 2015, he was a columnist for the New York Times — for 16 years doing the weekly “On the Road” column on business travel, and before that the weekly “Jersey” column for three years. He is currently a columnist with Business Jet Traveler magazine, and an adjunct professor of journalism at the University of Arizona.
A Vietnam veteran, he has written five books, four non-fiction and a novel. One of his nonfiction books, “Above Suspicion,” has been adapted as a major motion picture starring Emilia Clarke, Jack Huston, Thora Birch and Johnny Knoxville (and directed by Phillip Noyce), to be released soon.
In January 2017, a new, revised edition of his book “Above Suspicion” was published in print and as an e-book by Open Road Media. Penguin Random House also released an audio book version in January. Open Road also published revised editions in e-book format of his true-crime books “Death Sentence” and “Deadly Greed.” In January 2018, the revised edition of “Death Sentence” was published in print by Open Road Media.
He has written a screenplay adaptation of “Death Sentence,” which will also be published in a new print edition in January 2018 by Open Road Media.
In his newspaper career before the New York Times, he was an assistant national editor at the Wall Street Journal; the executive city editor of the Albany (N.Y.) Times-Union; and a reporter and columnist with the Philadelphia Inquirer.
On Sept. 29, 2006, while on assignment, he was one of seven people on a business jet who survived a mid-air collision with a 737 at 37,000 feet over the Amazon in Brazil. All 154 on the commercial airliner died. His reports on the crash appeared on the front page of the New York Times and later in the Sunday Times of London Magazine.
He and his wife Nancy (who is a professor of journalism at the University of Arizona) live with two parrots and a horse in Tucson — where he is also working on a new novel about the exploits of an international travel writer who hates to travel. .
A Vietnam veteran, he has written five books, four non-fiction and a novel. One of his nonfiction books, “Above Suspicion,” has been adapted as a major motion picture starring Emilia Clarke, Jack Huston, Thora Birch and Johnny Knoxville (and directed by Phillip Noyce), to be released soon.
In January 2017, a new, revised edition of his book “Above Suspicion” was published in print and as an e-book by Open Road Media. Penguin Random House also released an audio book version in January. Open Road also published revised editions in e-book format of his true-crime books “Death Sentence” and “Deadly Greed.” In January 2018, the revised edition of “Death Sentence” was published in print by Open Road Media.
He has written a screenplay adaptation of “Death Sentence,” which will also be published in a new print edition in January 2018 by Open Road Media.
In his newspaper career before the New York Times, he was an assistant national editor at the Wall Street Journal; the executive city editor of the Albany (N.Y.) Times-Union; and a reporter and columnist with the Philadelphia Inquirer.
On Sept. 29, 2006, while on assignment, he was one of seven people on a business jet who survived a mid-air collision with a 737 at 37,000 feet over the Amazon in Brazil. All 154 on the commercial airliner died. His reports on the crash appeared on the front page of the New York Times and later in the Sunday Times of London Magazine.
He and his wife Nancy (who is a professor of journalism at the University of Arizona) live with two parrots and a horse in Tucson — where he is also working on a new novel about the exploits of an international travel writer who hates to travel. .
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 16, 2021
No doubt this is a really well researched and well written book, and it is a subject close to my heart. However it reads like a thesis, and I found it really difficult to read with so much going on. Probably something I’d revisit when I retire and really enjoy, but for now its just too heavy.
I wouldn’t put anyone off reading it though. A fascinating theory.
I wouldn’t put anyone off reading it though. A fascinating theory.
August 15, 2025
This book is outstanding. Uncomfortable read for this that it applies to. It’s an academic read, it’s not a novel, so agreed, you have to embrace a certain mindset to read this book. I first read this when it was published in 2014. And not only read it 3 times more, but use it as a reference book. There are other books on similar matter. But this is by far superior.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews