Manchester is far more than a grey provincial city preoccupied with the business of making money.The bales of cotton goods awaiting export have gone from the grand warehouses styled like palaces, and the cotton mills no longer hum with the sound of machinery.Yet the buildings remain in all their glory of tiles, terracotta and stained glass - converted to hotels, offices, chic apartments, hipster bars, fine eateries or gritty drinking dens.The textile trade may have disappeared, but you can find sustainable fashion in the old rag-trade district, and top quality coats and jackets are still being hand-sewn in the last remaining family-owned clothing factory.This book will also take you to alternative Manchester - Radical Manchester from Peterloo to the Pankhursts, Literary Manchester from Elizabeth Gaskell to Anthony Burgess, and of course to Madchester, the crazy music scene of Morrissey, Tony Wilson, the Hacienda and Factory Records.