His fascinating book will appeal to anyone with an interest in the story of Liverpool. The narrative is illustrated with more than 200 photographs, drawings and maps from Liverpool Record Office - most of which have never been published before. David Lewis shows how the countryside, farms and villages developed into the urban streets, residential areas, shopping districts and industrial estates that are so familiar today. In the course of the last 150 years, the outskirts of the city have been transformed, and they have expanded in a way that would astonish Liverpool residents of just a few generations ago. David Lewis’s fascinating survey will be essential reading and reference for Liverpool residents, past and present, who take an interest in their neighbourhood and in the complex, surprising history of the city itself.