STEPHEN CATTERALL and KEITH GILDART, Keeping the Faith: A History of Northern Soul

Abstract

because Miall – like Mosley and Ormerod – was active in the field of economic entomology and communicated with such prestigious naturalists as Charles Darwin and D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson. If these connections had been more closely investigated, we might productively question how connected Mosley remained to his working-class roots and what role natural history played in social mobility. Nature’s Missionary paints a vivid picture of the physical, institutional, and social landscape in which Mosley lived, while delving into the complexities of his thought, including his mysticism, vegetarianism, and anti-vaccination activism (p. 42). Brooke makes the decision not to indulge in the ‘dangerous venture’ of amateur psychology in his examination of Mosley (p. 215), a simultaneously sensible and frustrating choice. Nature’s Missionary is generally well written and contains some beautiful illustrations. The index, however, is not overly helpful. Overall, the book will be useful for historians of the Northern counties who wish to trace scientific societies, museums, or even reconstruct past landscapes and biodiversity. More broadly, it provides historians of natural history and biology with a valuable case study of a working-class naturalist.