Struggletown: Public and Private Life in Richmond 1900–1965

by Janet McCalman

A new edition of the award-winning classic. 'The old Struggletowners, if they could see it now, would not believe their eyes.’ In Struggletown, Janet McCalman takes us into the inner-city industrial working-class suburb of Richmond, in Melbourne, before the gentrification of the 1970s. This is a narrative richly informed by the voices and memories of those who lived there during this time—the Struggletowners themselves—as well as by McCalman’s familiarity with the objects, buildings and topography of their physical environment and her impressive awareness of larger social forces, structures and patterns. As urban life continues to develop in new directions and complex human and political relations suggest new futures, the difficulty and necessity of remembering, now, also lends this classic work a palpable new relevance.

435 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 1, 2021

Reviews

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an almost-surprisingly good book, keeping my interest until the end.

Although I skipped over a few pages about political stories,the rest of the stories held my interest because of the way they were illustrated by real people’s recollections (albeit with false names given, and the frailties of age affecting them).

The fact that my husband’s family is from Richmond and I could imagine them talking, added to my interest. And, I have friends who live there, and I’ve been there heaps of times.

[Geoffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is not very well organised and there are far too many typographic mistakes. The author makes some sweeping generalisations from a small number of personal interviews, nevertheless it is an interesting interpretation of the social and political history of one of Melbourne's oldest suburbs.