John Belchem

(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this review, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted here illegally.)

Hey, guess who just celebrated their 800th anniversary, and used the opportunity to commission a freaking doorstop of a book concerning the fact? That's right, it's the English city of Liverpool, which also happens to be this year's "European Capital of Culture" as designated by the EU. And man, what a job John Belcham and the team at Liverpool University Press have done with the resulting Liverpool 800: Culture, Character and History; it is a gorgeous book, an exhaustive book, a book that could literally take you months to get through if you decided to read every single word and scan every single image. This is one of those books to ask for as a holiday or birthday gift, one that's not only entertaining and intelligent but will look great on your coffee table; ah, I always love it when cities have an excuse to put together giant and beautiful surveys of their history like this.

Out of 10: 9.5… (mer)