The introduction sets out in part to locate The Clash in their own very specific historical context. It is argued that the band offer one of the most compelling cultural documents of that moment when the crisis of social democracy paved the way for what would in time be termed the ‘neoliberal revolution’. While The Clash may well have chronicled the political defeats of the past, the body of work that they bequeathed to us represents perhaps one of the resources that might facilitate a rather more progressive political future. There has been no time since the band parted company when their songbook has seemed more relevant. It is acknowledged that there are certain dangers in seeking to take radical artists like The Clash out of their own place and time. Not the least of these is the possibility that we might mimic the culture industries in canonising the band in ways that airbrush out their critical political perspective. The chapter concludes, however, that there are theoretical resources that allow us to avoid this pitfall and to embrace The Clash as though they were a contemporary band, documenting our own current period of global economic and political crisis.

Focusing on the period 1840–1863, this chapter highlights how organised sports such as pedestrianism became examples of how to establish a working-class sporting spectacle in the years prior to football’s widespread development across the conurbation. The attractions of football were not apparent to the wider population prior to the 1870s; however, there was footballing activity in Manchester during the 1840s to 1860s. In terms of organised football, individual games were staged in the region, while multiple versions of football were developing throughout this period. Some resembled soccer, some rugby, but the end of the 1850s and beginning of the 1860s saw more distinction between the versions. By the 1860s rules were being documented across the country. The Football Association, established in London in 1863, aimed to produce one set of national rules to follow, while Manchester turned towards a version based on rugby. This chapter contains analysis of the games, incidents and related activities and provides an understanding of the developing sporting culture of the city.

Justice systems are partially being reconstructed again, as they demonstrate an increased sensitivity to the needs and concerns of victims of crime. It has been suggested that a number of factors has facilitated the increased awareness of victims in Western criminal justice systems, which are discussed in this chapter. To begin with, the introduction of state compensation programmes can be viewed as an early attempt to move victims away from the periphery of the criminal process. The growth in the women's movement also 'raised the consciousness of women to the oppression of criminal violence'. The European Convention of Human Rights acts as another influential normative framework that seeks to extend the reach of rights in the criminal process to include victims of crime. The chapter provides information on specific challenges for the Irish criminal process. It also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.

The ethnography presented here searches for the parameters of São Paulo’s contemporary urban order. The Introduction presents the main argument of the book, its methods and chronology of urban transformations in São Paulo which led to the emergence of the ‘world of crime’. The author argues in favour of understanding São Paulo’s urban conflict through the formal notion of normative regimes, in contrast to the view, dominant in the academic literature, which still presents ‘urban violence’ as the opposite of the ‘modern order’ or ‘democracy’. Historically, and the metropolis of São Paulo is exemplary in this regard, these notions have always been intrinsically related.

Powell’s ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech provided a language for a new form of politics in Wolverhampton to coalesce. Within days of the speech, thousands of those very ‘ordinary decent’ people who Powell had invoked responded publicly to his speech. At a time of political and economic uncertainty, their actions illuminated the ways in which a specific section of the population comes to think of itself as white. This chapter takes a closer examination at how this reinvention of race played out in the immediate response to Powell’s words.

Over time a growing body of cultural artefacts – documentaries, biographies, compilations – have emerged seeking to tell the ‘truth’ about The Clash. In these competing renditions of the band, one of the voices that has often been drowned out is that of the fans. Drawing on the author’s own experience of running away from home to follow The Clash on tour, this chapter seeks to capture what the band meant to those who witnessed their legendary live performances, typically without the privilege of backstage access. This autobiographical ‘true fiction’ offers a perspective that underlines one of the most important affirmations of the group’s much-disputed ‘authenticity’. While the members of The Clash were often unforgiving to one another, they were unremittingly generous to their travelling fans. The chapter also suggests that the focus on metropolitan London in many accounts overlooks the importance of suburban centres in nurturing the early punk scene. A case in point is that of High Wycome, a setting neglected in the standard accounts of the period, but which in fact deserves its own place in the story of the subculture.

This chapter seeks to examine the turbulent political context in which The Clash recorded their enduring body of work. The songs that the band crafted together provide a compelling account of the rise and ultimate triumph of the neoliberal project as the 1970s turned into the 1980s. While The Clash were one of the critical voices raised against this dramatic turn to the right, their political power was always compromised by their proximity to a corporate world they claimed to despise. As many bands before and since have learned, the culture industries have a facility for incorporation that diminishes the political valence and authenticity of even the most critical artists. In spite of the constraints of the corporate environment in which they were operating, however, The Clash wrote scores of songs that have retained a political resonance even today. The political power of the band derives ironically from previous cultural movements that they often claimed to loathe. In large measure, the enduring influence of The Clash comes from their rechanneling of the 1960s counterculture and the band should be seen then as heirs to that prior movement of radical cultural dissent.

In this epilogue, Obama’s legacy is re-examined in light of the Trump presidency. Like many people, Gillespie expected Hillary Clinton would win the 2016 election when her opposition was running a campaign aimed at maligning Mexicans, insulting Muslims and who was accused of sexual harassment by more than a dozen women. She finds the win to be partially a ‘whitelash’ against a changing country as much as it was against a black president.

This chapter highlights the growth of the professional game and supporting industries. The establishment of the Football League in 1888 had provided the conurbation’s clubs with examples of what could be achieved, and during the period considered in this chapter Manchester’s football clubs became more business-like, focusing on national competition and increased income. The first steps towards establishing soccer as a key component of Mancunian life were taken, while the relaunch of Ardwick as Manchester City demonstrated how the sporting landscape of the conurbation was moving towards one that would be recognisable to a modern audience. Considering Manchester City’s history in longue durée terms, the club became established in its present form in 1894 as a club to represent Manchester. Over several transformational periods it grew, found success, suffered hardships, moved twice and changed ownership, but it remains in essence the same football club performing its same role in Manchester society as it has always done.

In 1968, as the world shook, Powell retreated to the provincial backdrop of Wolverhampton. The focus on this Black Country industrial town was entirely new to Powell’s politics. While Powell now spoke of a new ‘immigrant problem’ within his own constituency, this chapter explores a longer history of Wolverhampton as a town that was woven into global movements of people and industry. In the post-war period, the presence of new migrants was shaped by contradictory living and working arrangements that did not always correspond so neatly with the new racial categories Powell had highlighted. This chapter examines the everyday experiences of residents within the town, offering a closer reading of immigration, race and class.