POET Philip Larkin once described Hull as "a city that is in the world yet sufficiently on the edge of it to have a different resonance".
Following the launch of a new book that champions human rights in Hull and the East Riding, co-editor Professor Ekkehard Kopp believes it is the location that has played its part in some of the life-changing characters in the past four centuries from this region.
The publication, Not Just Wilberforce, tells the stories of lives as diverse as radical anti-slavery campaigner Thomas Perronet Thompson, to 1960s battling Hull fishwife and trawler safety fighter Lillian Bilocca.
Mr Kopp, the treasurer of the Hull Amnesty Group, said: "I'm pretty happy with the finished product and I hope it will interest people and make them more proud of our history.
"These are people, many of whom have been forgotten about, who stood up for what they believed in and really fought for it.
"The area was relatively isolated in the past and people learned to stand up for the area and themselves."
The book, which has been edited by Professor Kopp and Cecile Oxaal, was officially launched on Friday.
It details the achievements of individuals and families with strong links to the city of Hull and the county of East Yorkshire over four centuries, from the time of Henry VIII to the late 1960s.
Graham Chesters, chair of Hull Freedom Festival Board, wrote the foreword in the book.
"As 2017 approaches, we need to revel in the city's difference and its hidden riches," he wrote.
"This book is a step out of the shadows – and the praise that it deserves to receive will not obliterate but confirm the area's uniqueness and will acknowledge its proud contribution over the centuries to the cause of freedom and all those universal ideals promoted so tirelessly by Amnesty International UK."
The book is Hull Amnesty Group's second publishing venture.
In November 2012, Small Candles, a poetry collection on the theme of human rights, was commissioned from local and regional poets as a volume about prisoners of conscience, the ravages of war and conflict and the defence of freedom.
The book has been endorsed by Hull West and Hessle MP Alan Johnson, who said: "Hull Amnesty Group has produced another wonderful volume demonstrating the breadth and depth of the city's contribution to establishing human rights in Britain and the world."
Visit www.amnestyshop.org.uk for more details about the book, which will also be available from local bookstores in the near future.
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