Promised Land

LEEDS GUIDE REVIEW: http://www.leedsguide.co.uk/review/book-review/promised-land/17669

http://www.sportsjournalists.co.uk/blog/?p=2700

There used to be a sign hanging outside Leeds Station which bore the legend: ‘Leeds, the Promised Land delivered.’ Clavane’s book explains why that sign was put up – and how it came to be taken down. During the noughties, ‘Doing a Leeds’ became shorthand for chasing the dream and suffering the consequences. But it used to mean coming from nowhere to shock and terrorise the respectable. Clavane sees the club’s fifty-year journey, from 1960 to 2010, as a powerful lens through which to examine the rise and fall of an ambitious, upwardly mobile society. To their critics, Leeds are a modern parable for greed; a cautionary tale of how the enterprising and over-ambitious overreach themselves and bring themselves low. Clavane tells a different story. The story of a marginalised northern tribe’s brave attempt to enter the promised land, to barge into the ranks of the elite.

“‘Promised Land’ is one of the best football books I’ve read for a long time. Clavane is a very talented writer. This is an original book, in that it blends two things which are both very interesting to me: Jewish life in Leeds and the way the Jewish community emerged from extreme poverty – and the emergence of Leeds United as a force in football.”

Brian Glanville

  • Daily Telegraph sports books of the year (2010)

    "For the year’s most successful marriage of social history and sporting drama, turn to Promised Land. Anthony Clavane’s enchanting evocation of his four decades as a Leeds United supporter. Clavane writes translucent, simple prose, full of vivid details. Leeds United becomes a prism for the city: the “New Jerusalem” that could never quite escape the stain of its industrial past. Both insightful and humane, this is sportswriting at its very best."

  • James Lawton, The Independent

    "Brilliantly sculpted. Absorbing and superbly wide-ranging. Most impressive is that, when you put down the book, you feel you know not just the story of a football team but the city it represents."

  • Henry Winter, Daily Telegraph

    "A well-written, emotional and thoughtful chronicle."

  • Praise for Promised Land

    "Clavane, erudite, educated, an adopted southerner, hardly ascribes to the Elland Road stereotype, yet there is an emotional intravenous drip connecting him to Yorkshire’s West Riding. A wordsmith’s ability, coupled with a history teacher’s instinct, and framed by a deep passion for all things from the city of Leeds, has resulted in an extraordinary book."

    Janine Self, SJA website

  • "Even if you're not a Leeds fan, read Promised Land by Anthony Clavane - wonderfully written."

    Patrick Barclay, The Times

  • "One of the best football books I've read for a long time."

    Brian Glanville

  • "A compelling read."

    Henry Winter, Daily Telegraph

  • "A riveting, and ultimately very moving book."

    Caryl Phillips

  • "Fascinating beyond mere football."

    Ben East, Metro

  • "Superbly written and a great read."

    Robert Endeacott, Leeds Leeds Leeds magazine

  • Events

    « Jan iCalendar Mar »
    February 2012
    M T W T F S S
     12345
    6789101112
    13141516171819
    20212223242526
    272829EC