âIn Thatcher & Sons: A Revolution in Three Acts (2006, 125-6) Simon Jenkins reports that âWhen Thatcher was briefly an Opposition housing spokesman in 1974, I offered to show her examples of Londonâs good and bad council estates. She cut me short: âNo, there are only bad ones.â âWell, Clapson has found one of the many good ones â Whitley in Reading â and narrates its history as an antidote to the glum academic accounts of council houses contained in other studies, Charlesworth (2000), Marchant (1997), Hanley (2007). It is an interesting and well-told story, containing some informative episodes.â
Journal of Social Policy, October, 2013
âCouncil estates, of which very few now remain, have long suffered a bad press. Clapson seeks to rescue [the Whitley Estate, Reading] from the kind of undeserved polemic that has cast estates as âsink areasâ, responsible for âbroken Britainâ, to be revived through a newly discovered âbig societyâ. [Clapson] maintains that the spirit of local activism has kept up, and points also to the continuing support for the Labour Party in the district. He vigorously rejects a claim made in 2007 that Whitley had become âa BNP heartlandâ.
âClapson has written a book that has a great deal to commend it. Principal among its attributes is the connecting of a micro study of some 10,000 people in South Reading to a much wider canvas of economic, social and demographic history. The final chapter, which discusses the broader policy and academic implications of Whitleyâs story, is not only a model for all authors of PhD theses to follow, but equally has much for historians of sport to reflect on. To be sure, there is little on sport in the book, but Clapsonâs conceptual compass points out the directions for navigating a much-needed history of sport in the suburbs.â
Sport in History Journal, 33/1 2013
âImportantly, this account questions interpretations which point to the demise of civil society and especially associational life amongst the working classes. Clapson shows how some residents were always willing to campaign for the benefit of the estate. He successfully provides a challenging account, showing that while life on council estates was not without problems, it was not as grim and depressing as is often portrayed. He applauds the social spirit which emerged and especially the âcollective moraleâ during the war. Associational life re-emerged, developed, and influenced life on the estate. The importance of the pub, the enduring role of the church, together with the relevance of sport, leisure, and the rise of the Internet, are all woven into an account which questions simplified notions of broken communities and the need to reinvent a big society.
âClapson’s approach places the emphasis on the value of history rather than other disciplines which tend to dominate contemporary social studies. He is able to provide both depth through detail and, importantly, to assess how the historical process shaped the estate and to offer useful insights into the vital shifts and challenges affecting and shaping the estate, including the changing social mix and shifts in tenure. It highlights changes and continuities. However, its main strength is in balancing the simplified, negative account of council estates and, more particularly, of the people who have contributed so much to life on those estates for over half a century. It employs a range of secondary and local sources and national reports. Interestingly, it uses a large number of web sites which is a sign of the times. However, it might have made greater use of oral testimonies.
âThis is a book that will be of interest to academics, students, and policy makers alike. Yet it is also interesting to anyone who has or who continues to live on social housing estates. It is accessible, thoughtful, and sensitive to the residents and the complexities of social life and, mercifully, avoids the verbosity so often associated with other approaches.â
Twentieth- Century British History, 23/4 2012