Biography: historical, political and military Books

Book SynopsisWhite aster flowers, on sale on the streets of Budapest on the eve of All Souls' Day, are made the symbol of a revolution which brings Mihaly Karolyi (1875-1955) to power at the head of a National Council. Karoly concludes an armistice which leaves large areas of Hungarian territory under occupation by French, Romanian and Serbian forces. Following the King-Emperor's abdication in November 1918, Hungary is declared an independent republic with Karolyi as its President. He sets about meeting Hungary's most pressing social need, for land reform. But Karolyi's liberal regime is soon beset by strong opposition from the right and from the left. The Allies seal Karolyi's fate by refusing to end the economic blockade of Hungary and by imposing, even in advance of a peace settlement (Hungary is denied an invitation until the Conference is virtually over), even harsher armistice terms. Karolyi flinches from opposing these measures by force. The small socialist element in his government of well-meaning aristocrats defects and forms an alliance with Hungary's fledgling Communist Party. Karolyi resigns and chooses exile. The Communists, led by Bela Kun, take power. Kun raises a Red Army, which defeats a Czech invasion but fails to stem the Romanian advance, which enters Budapest in defiance of orders from Paris and engages in an orgy of pillage and destruction. The Peace Conference despatches a British diplomat, Sir George Clerk, to Budapest to broker a Romanian withdrawal. Clerk succeeds in forming a coalition government of right-wing parties, with token representation for the centre-left, which he recognises in the name of the Peace Conference and invites to send a delegation to Paris. It includes Counts Istvan Bethlen (1874-1946) and Pal Teleki, both future prime ministers. The delegation is presented on arrival, on 6 January 1920, with the draft peace treaty for Hungary which the expert committees of the Conference have produced and which the Council has approved without amendment. The Hungarians are appalled to find that the treaty will deprive their country of two-thirds of her territory and over half of her population. The injustice of the Treaty will drive Hungary into the arms of Nazi Germany, a fatal alliance which will doom Hungary's Jews to annihilation and Hungary to defeat and destruction in the Second World War.

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Book SynopsisPortugal's poor military performance in the First World War, notably in Africa, restricted Afonso Costa's (1871-1937) ability to secure his diplomatic aims which, in any case, were highly unrealistic. Nevertheless, his loyal press in Portugal described him as the leader of the small nations', and reported his every statement as a major triumph. Afonso Costa's most important intervention took place in May 1919, when he denounced the Allies' unwillingness to make Germany pay for all the damage she had caused during the conflict; this speech led to a number of newspaper interviews in which Costa restated his position. It is clear that the interventionists needed a favourable Treaty in order to demonstrate to the country that its sacrifices had been worthwhile. The final draft of the Treaty was thus a complete shock to Portuguese public opinion, and came as a major defeat to the interventionists, who saw all their hopes for tangible gain evaporate. It effectively spelt the end of Costa's political career, although this was not yet clear. This biography of Afonso Costa considers the political implications of Portugal's participation in the First World War and of the defeat' in Paris. Reconciliation between the rival parties and between factions within parties became impossible, as did, as a result, the formation of a stable cabinet. With governments following each other in quick succession, it became increasingly difficult to carry out any of the reforms Portugal needed, and the Republic lost much of the support that remained. Nationalist opinion abandoned the regime and turned to the authoritarian models that had been pioneered by Sidonio Pais, and were now spreading throughout Europe. Politically neutral for decades, the army now intervened in politics, overthrowing the government after a failed coup in April 1925 in May 1926. The need for order in politics and on the street was paramount in the minds of the officers who plotted the downfall of the regime. This military dictatorship gave way, in the early 1930s, to Salazar's New State, and the volume concludes with a quick overview of this regime's domestic and foreign policy. Salazar, like Afonso Costa a Coimbra academic, announced Portugal's neutrality when Germany invaded Poland, in 1939, and his wartime diplomacy would be the reverse of Afonso Costa's, some twenty years earlier.

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Book SynopsisThe arrival of an unpublished memoir offering up a scandalous version of the hitherto blameless public life of the revered oriental scholar, Sir Edmund Backhouse, sets Hugh Trevor-Roper on the trail of an outrageous confidence trickster. One of the great detective stories of our age, told with a pace and an infectious delight in the process of historical research, "The Hermit of Peking" would have made an outrageously imaginative work of fiction but for the fact that it is all true. Trevor-Roper unearths scholars with bizarre sexual fantasies, eunuchs, rare manuscripts and a malicious dowager Queen, and sets them all against the backdrop of a decadent and intrigue-ridden Imperial Court.

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Book SynopsisThe moving story of renowned medical scientist Dr Goffe, who was tragically killed in his prime.

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Book SynopsisThe first full-length biography of the great Antiguan and Barbudan political leader, V.C. Bird.

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Book SynopsisBarack Obama: The Movement for Change tells the story of a visionary leader who refuses to be limited by America's history and determines instead to change it. His plan for change is the latest expression of a movement for justice: a movement that has swept forward with the collective energy of great leaders like Martin Luther King, Robert F Kennedy, Lyndon B Johnson, Harold Washington, Chicago's first black Mayor, and countless others who have bent the 'arc of morality' towards justice. By looking at the biography of the man, this mixed race Hawaiian with Kenyan and Kansan parents, a window on America in twenty-first century is revealed. His life touches and is touched by a sinking community of Chicago's South Side. He challenges the lazy assumptions of American racial discourse. He creates an argument for political change and a different America. He wins a presidential election few thought possible when his formidable campaign was launched.Barack Obama: The Movement for Change tells a story for our times. It is not the story of a single man. It is the story of a movement and of the people who drove the movement forward. It is a new American story that will cascade down the generations. America has changed and Barack Obama's story tells us how and why and what we can expect.

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Book SynopsisSir Edgar Speyer was a conspicuous figure in the financial, cultural, social and political life of Edwardian London. Head of the syndicate which financed the construction of the deep 'tube lines' and 'King of the Underground', he was also a connoisseur and active patron of the arts who rescued the 'Proms' from collapse, enhanced the nation's musical and artistic life at his own expense and directed the funding of Captain Scott's Antarctic expeditions. Speyer and his wife, the concert violinist, Leonora Speyer lived in fabulously magnificent style. Early in the early summer of 1914 they stood at the peak of their success and celebrity in London society. Within weeks, on the outbreak of war, they became pariahs, objects of suspicion and aversion. Despite having been a naturalised British citizen for over 20 years and an ubiquitous public benefactor, Speyer found himself ostracised by society and mercilessly harried by the Northcliffe press. Under the Aliens Act of 1918, Speyer was summoned in 1921 before a judicial enquiry which found him guilty of disloyalty and disaffection and of communicating and trading with the enemy. He was stripped of his citizenship and membership of the Privy Council. Pilloried by The Times as a traitor, Speyer vehemently denied the charges, but he never returned to England thereafter and never forgot his ordeal.Trade Review'Using newly-released source documents, [the author] gives a well-written, astute and persuasive analysis which utterly refutes (although without completely destroying) the almost century-old orthodoxy on the case of Edgar Speyer.' 'It's a thoughtfully written account that makes the reader ponder how far governments today would go, if challenged with a crisis of similar magnitude.' '[I]nstructive and poignant study...' 'This short, clear, thoughtful biography is... an account of... Edwardian England with its toxic mixture of jingoism and extremes of wealth and poverty.' 'Antony Lentin has written a well-researched, compelling and balanced account of a remarkable life and explains clearly how a widely admired public figure was turned into an object of hatred and derision.' 'Lentin tells the story in a way that is sympathetic, but grounded in the sources.' '...well-researched book.'

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Book SynopsisHeart of the Hero' gives a compelling insight into the lives of some of the world’s most famous explorers, through the eyes of the women who inspired them to achieve great things. Author Kari Herbert explores the unpredictable, often heartbreaking stories of seven remarkable women who were indispensable companions, intrepid travellers and sometimes even the driving force behind our best-loved polar heroes, such as Scott and Shackleton. Drawing on her own unique experience as the daughter of a pioneering polar explorer, and using extracts from previously unpublished historic journals and letters, Herbert blends deeply personal accounts of longing, betrayal and hope with tales of peril and adventure.Trade Review“A fascinating and hugely enjoyable book which makes a valuable contribution to polar literature” -- Sir Ranulph Fiennes."Refreshing and absorbing... remarkable stories"“A must-read for anyone who wants to understand the true heart of these polar heroes”“This highly enjoyable book is an important addition to polar and exploration history”“Writes with the insight of someone who has the land in her blood”

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Book SynopsisThis intriguing odyssey, set on the edges of time, encompasses biography, memoir, detective story, travelogue and history to tell a remarkable tale of East-West connections and a mysterious love. The author's quest begins when the word 'indigo' draws her to the illustrated journals, now in the British Library, of Victorian traveller Thomas Machell. She finds her life to have striking echoes of his, not least travels to and within India, a career in indigo, and a passion for journal writing. She is also intrigued by his aspiration to write 'a novel in the form of an autobiography' and by his quirky watercolour sketches. Retracing his footsteps - overland and by sea - from his ancestral home in the hills and dales of northern England to remote parts of the Middle East and Asia, she is often in her own footsteps too. Machell of Crackenthorpe, born in 1824, first demonstrated his yearning for adventure when only twelve, and at sixteen left the family rectory to fulfil his childhood dream of travelling to the East.By chance, he witnessed many important historical events, including the infamous First Opium War and the Indian Mutiny that profoundly affected British-Indian relationships. Machell spent most of his adult life in India, 'the land of my destiny' as he calls it; the author tracks him to the indigo and coffee plantations of rural Bengal and Kerala's Malabar Hills, to little known regions of central India; to the China Seas and remote islands of Polynesia and through the deserts of Arabia. This spellbinding book brings to life Machell's untold story, that of a spirited outsider at the time of the British Raj reaching into the future. Serendipity, intuition and an enchanting relationship, as well as the author's quest to uncover the missing years of Machell's life, give this book its magical extra dimension.

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Book SynopsisA Labour Whip once revealed that in their office they sang songs about certain backbenchers. In the case of the Member for Maryhill, their choice was ‘How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?’A frank account of fourteen years in Westminister from the rebellious Maria Fyfe – the only female Labour MP in Scotland when she was first elected. Fyfe recounts some of the most significant moments of her political career, from the frustrating and infuriating, to the rewarding and worthwhile.A significant aim of writing this book was to set the record straight on that period in our UK Parliament. Another aim was to encourage interest in a political life when widespread cynicism discourages good people from thinking about it. MARIA FYFECovering some of the most turbulent years of British and Scottish political history, A Problem Like Maria takes the female’s perspective of life as an MP in the male-dominated Westminister. This book reaches the parts of politics some people hope you never reach. The intimidating Maria Fyfe sounds like strong Scottish domestic drama. Edward Pearce, LONDON EVENING STANDARDThe terrifying Maria Fyfe stamped in … her of the sharpened claws. Matthew Parris, THE TIMESAn incorrigible Bevanite. THE OBSERVERTrade ReviewThe intimidating Maria Fyfe sounds like strong Scottish domestic drama. Edward Pearce, LONDON EVENING STANDARDThe terrifying Maria Fyfe stamped in … her of the sharpened claws. Matthew Parris, THE TIMESAn incorrigible Bevanite. THE OBSERVER

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Book SynopsisIn his time his revolutionary ideas appealed to women and he was surrounded by more than a generation of clever and forceful women. One who could say that ‘life is not really a gladiators’ show; it is rather a vast mothers’ meeting!’ could not fail to attract followers. WALTER STEPHENPatrick Geddes – Sociologist, Town Planner, Biologist, Peace Warrior. It is well known that this extraordinary Scot shaped the cityscape of Edinburgh, but for the first time Walter Stephen turns the lens onto the strong, wilful women who influenced the revolutionary man – and who were in turn influenced by him.From his wife and mother in Scotland, to a nun in India and a Marchioness in Ireland, this insightful volume shows the wide range of women across the globe whose lives intertwined with Geddes’s, whether professionally or personally.Delving deeper into Geddes’s personal life than ever before, Walter Stephen and his fellow Modern Geddesians go beyond the surface of the Scotsman’s acclaimed works to reveal the female characters that shaped him throughout his life. Contributors include: Veronica Burbridge, Siân Reynolds, Anne-Michelle Slater, Kenny Munro, Swami Narasimhananda, Sofia Leonard, Kenneth MacLean, Robert Morris and Kate Henderson.A well-researched and thoughtfully written book. SCOTTISH REVIEW OF BOOKS on The Evolution of Evolution[The book] makes the reader realise in what esteem Geddes should be held, not just in Scotland, but across the globe. LALLANS MAGAZINE on A Vigorous Institution

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Book SynopsisImprobable Pioneers follows the lives of John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford (1766-1839), and Georgina Gordon (1781-1853), from their very different childhoods. In the course of their unlikely marriage they became closely involved with the scientific discoveries of the Enlightenment, the wonders of Romantic art and poetry and the key figures of both worlds. The two of them set out to explore the expanding worlds of both science and art, becoming improbable pioneers in politics, art and architecture, agriculture, botany and horticulture. Beyond this, Georgina shared her love for the places and people of the Highlands not only with her husband but with a young artist, Edwin Landseer, whose images of the Highland landscape are some of the most popular paintings of British art. Landseer became a central figure in the lives of the Bedfords. He is also at the centre of an enduring mystery: was he the Duchess’s lover – and the father of one of her children? This book not only follows the public and private lives of the Duke and Duchess, it also sheds light on the historic events of the time and captures the sheer excitement of the new discoveries of the Romantic age. Trade Review"Paints a moving portrait of a long and successful marriage enriched by a shared passion of the Arts, gardening and wild landscapes that reflected - and indeed, influenced - the spirit of the Romantic age. Enlivened with many images and extracts from contemporary sources, the book is also a fascinating study of Georgian Britain." * Country Life *"A lavish new volume offers a fascinating and comprehensive insight into the part the strath played in pioneering the Romantic Age...it is quality all through, its 560 pages weighing a ton and so many of them crammed with exquisite illustrations." * Strathspey & Badenoch Herald *"Davidson’s biography of the duke and duchess is a richly researched and detailed study of two important personalities and patrons of arts and sciences in Regency Britain. In their multifarious activities and interests, they embody the questing, Romantic spirit of the age, here vividly brought to life." * Burliington Magazine *

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Book SynopsisAs a student revolutionary, Xi Zhongxun saw that China’s communists had only one source of strength: not money, not modern arms, not foreign aid, but the support of China’s ‘plain folk’. For him, the maxim ‘Serve the People’ was an imperative. After coming to power, some officials forgot service, and instead began to act as masters. However, Xi Zhongxun was never one of those who forgot.Xi spent years in wrongful imprisonment for this devotion to principle. But at no time did he waver from his faith in a bright future for China, which he was certain would be led by an enlightened Communist Party. Even before he was exonerated, he continued his fight against wrong.Xi Zhongxun: Father of a Great Nation’s Leader tells the story of this incredible man, who went on to become the father of Xi Jinping, the current leader of the People’s Republic of China.

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Book SynopsisRen Zhongyi was criticised and struggled against no less than 2,300 times from the start of the Cultural Revolution. So many years of violent attacks against him that were enough to break lesser men merely caused Ren to strengthen his resolve and bide his time to work on what he regarded as his mission in life: to modernise the country and make it strong. Ren was so often able to balance steely determination to adopt innovative methods to get the job done with a pragmatic willingness not to be so stubborn and unbending as to alienate those who opposed him.Ren Zhongyi: Frontline Fighter and Economic Reformer is a fascinating and moving account of this pioneer of economic reform in China, who played such an important role in transforming the southern province of Guangdong and opening up the country to the outside world.

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Book SynopsisHanna Sheehy Skeffington was the most significant feminist in twentieth-century Ireland - an activist, writer and polemicist of the highest rank. An advocate of feminism, socialism, and republicanism, her writings - published in Britain and America as well as Ireland - transcended national boundaries. In these pages we experience the excitement of the suffrage years, anti-war campaigns, prison experiences, the impact of the brutal killing of her husband, meetings with Prime Minister Asquith and President Wilson, the bitter years of civil war, impressions of Bolshevik Russia, inter-war Europe, her friendship with Constance Markievicz, debates with Sean O'Casey, and her involvement in feminist campaigns against the exclusion of women from public life during the 1930s and 1940s. Her organisational abilities were recognised by the leaders of the Easter Rising, who agreed she would be the sole female member of a civil provisional government, to be formed if the Rising was a success.She remained an activist throughout her life, an advocate for a Workers' Republic, serving a prison sentence in Armagh jail in 1933, campaigning against the Constitution in 1937 and standing for election to the Dail as an independent feminist in 1943. Her political writings, including book and theatre reviews, newspaper articles, reminiscences, interviews, obituaries, and analysis of key events in the first half of the twentieth century- authoritative, passionate and witty - provide the reader with an indispensable source for understanding the personalities and the issues behind the long march for women's equality and national independence in Ireland.Trade Review`This is a thematically organised work that scholars of Irish and women's history will surely turn to time and again ...'Jennifer Martin, Books Ireland, March 2018; `What is striking is how fresh Sheehy Skeffington's voice still seems, particularly on the long campaign for women's rights. ... The book is particularly vivid in charting the struggle for suffrage -- a timely subject ahead of next year's centenary of (some) women gaining the vote. ... Hers was a journey that deserves commemoration, and this new collection does so with gusto and authority.' Catherine Healy, Sunday Business Post, Nov 2017; `...an extensive and valuable collection that makes for a thoroughly engaging read. ...a tremendous primary resource to support the still neglected, but growing, area of Irish women's history and gender history more broadly.' Sonja Tiernan, The Irish Catholic, Nov 2017; `The value of this kind of volume is demonstrated by the immediacy, passion and humour of the prose, happening in real time when no one knew the outcome. ... Margaret Ward has done us a service in assembling these writings carefully, so that a clear and distinctive voice can be heard in her own words.' Catriona Crowe, Irish Times, Oct 2017; `What's most striking about Sheehy Skeffington's prose is its sheer resilience, nobility, and belief in the concept of justice at all costs: even in the face of despair, grief, and anguish. ... I would place [Hanna's] prison diaries alongside writing from other political figures who penned some of their best work behind bars, such as Italian Marxist, Antonio Gramsci, and Indian pacifist Mahatma Gandhi.' J. P. O'Malley, Sunday Independent, Oct 2017; `She was a truly remarkable woman and deserves nothing less than to have her writings presented to us by an historian of the calibre of Margaret Ward and more importantly to have them read, the better to inspire our thoughts and actions today.' Liberty newspaper, Oct 2017; 'The collection of Hanna's writing, which also comprises Hanna's unpublished memoir fragments, is an important addition to our understanding of a woman ahead of her time.' Martina Devlin, Irish Independent, Oct 2017; `The production is handsome and a significant contribution to the recovery of Irish women's history in the gestation, birth, and withering away of the national revolution.' Emmet O'Connor, Irish History Review, Oct 2017;“Her great heart stopped too soon”, the Irish Press observed in its obituary. “It was worn out in the pursuit of many causes..”. That great heart still beats through her writings and Ward has done a great service in collecting them.';Mary Carolan, Women's History Association of Ireland, August 2018; `Hanna’s life and work now made available in this definitive collection was certainly a model for women, but the question remains why did the model fail to engage Irish women until the later generation of Irish feminists?’; Irish Literary Supplement. Fall 2018Table of ContentsForeword by Micheline Sheehy Skeffington; Chronology of Hanna Sheehy Skeffington's Life and Times; chapter 1: Unpublished Memoirs; chapter 2: Women and Education; chapter 3: Women, the National Movement and Sinn Fein; chapter 4: Votes for Women; chapter 5: War and Pacifism; chapter 6: Death of a Pacifist; chapter 7: After the Rising In America; chapter 8: The War of Independence and the Treaty; chapter 9: Opposing the `Free State'; chapter 10: Hanna and Sean O'Casey; chapter 11: Travels in Europe; chapter 12: Memories of Countess Markievicz; chapter 13: The 1930s. Feminist Reflections and Feminist Fightback; chapter 14: Prison Experiences; chapter 15: Looking Backwards. War, Election and Final Years; chapter 16: Book and Theatre Reviews; chapter 17: Obituaries of Hanna Sheehy Skeffington; Notes; Selected Reading; Index

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Book SynopsisMaud Gonne has long been viewed merely as a contemporary of more prominent literary, political and legal figures who played a role in Irish politics of the early twentieth century. While Eva Gore-Booth has been the subject of recent critical attention, much less notice has been paid to Gonne. This succinct biography highlights the significance of Gonne as a political and literary figure in her own right and utilises archival resources in a detailed study of her role as a political activist, journalist, reviewer and also as a founder and editor of nationalist publications. Drawing on previously unpublished correspondence and interviews, this book offers an important re-evaluation of Gonne's contribution to the political and social landscape of early twentieth-century Ireland. It contributes to the growing emphasis in scholarship on the roles played by women in the formation of the Irish state.Trade Review'The book has a useful chronology of Gonne’s life, and selected biographies of many of the people in it, plus full notes and index.' Irish Examiner, Oct 2019

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Book SynopsisThis full-length biographical study - substantially rewritten and updated - of one of the most important women in Irish political life in the 20th century is now reissued by UCD Press. Hanna Sheehy Skeffington, part of a pioneering generation, played a significant role in the early Irish Republic. Hanna Sheehy Skeffington was a leading figure in the suffrage movement, she was an activist in the anti-war movement of 1914-18 and was an executive member of Sinn Fein. She opposed the Free State and provided consistent support for women's resistance to anti-women measures enacted by both Cumann na nGaedheal and Fianna Fail. Her later career saw her as an electoral candidate to the Dail in 1943 and she proved herself fearless in her fight for justice, confronting both the British Prime Minister and the President of the United States of America. Incorporating new archival research and featuring an array of newly discovered images, Ward brings to light previously unpublished material about Hanna's personal life: her relationship with her husband and her role as a single parent. This timely revised edition serves to highlight the fascinating life of a pivotal figure in feminist, labour and nationalist movements in Ireland.Trade ReviewWard's book offers a vision of Irish feminism in its complexity, revealing the subtler and more nuanced relationships that crossed ideological differences, as well as the friendships and alliances among feminists in Ireland, England, America and Europe. Through close and devoted study of Hanna Sheehy Skeffington, scholars may see how all the theatrics of resistance - choreographies, stage business, the orchestration of shots, interruptions, heckling - is developed and transmuted. She remains a powerful feminist ancestor to study and admire. Lucy McDiarmid, Irish Literary Supplement It takes a book like this to remind us how women have been written out of mainstream Irish history. In this biography of Hanna Sheehy Skeffington she draws out of oblivion the history of Irish feminism in the first decades of this century. When one reads Margaret Ward's account of that period it is astounding that such consistent political action was omitted from Irish history. Ethna Viney, Irish Times ;Margaret Ward's biography of Hanna Sheehy Skeffington reveals her to have been a remarkable woman in her own right who established a militant suffrage movement in Ireland, supported the organization of women workers and went on to become a significant figure in Sinn Fein. Throughout her life Hanna faced the difficult task of balancing the claims of her feminism and her commitment to Irish independence. Margaret Ward gives a balanced account, sifting through stories and myths. Sheila Rowbotham, The Times; Margaret Ward is one of a number of women historians who have been engaged in excavating the history of women in Ireland and the history of Irish feminism. This biography is an important contribution to that process. ;Catriona Crowe, Sunday TribuneTable of ContentsAcknowledgementsList of IllustrationsFamily TreeChronology of Hanna Sheehy Skeffington’s Life and TimesSuffrage Friends and Colleagues of Hanna Sheehy Skeffington1Early Years 1877–19002The Making of a Feminist 1900–19033Partnership 1903–19084A Feminist Mother 1908-19105The Stone and The Shillelagh 1910–19126Outlaws 1912–19147'Rolling Up the Map of Suffrage' 1914–19168Death of a Pacifist 19169Challenging the Empire 1917–191810A Feminist Sinn Féiner 1918–192111Republican Envoy 1921–192512The Struggle Continues 1925–193213Feminism, Republicanism, Communism 1932–193714‘The Seeds Beneath the Snow’ 1937–1946Notes BibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisMargaret Skinnider enters and exits the history books as the female rebel who was wounded commanding a military action in the 1916 Rising. In a re-evaluation of Skinnider's long and politically active life, this biography considers the life of a woman who deserves her place in Irish social, political and trade union histories. Coming of age among the Irish diaspora in a Glasgow where militancy in socialism, feminism and Irish nationalism were inspirational ideologies, Skinnider was a suffragette, trade union activist, socialist, and militant Irish nationalist. Arriving in Dublin in 1916 and brimming with commitment to the causes that had suffused her childhood and adolescence, Skinnider would go on to give much service to her adopted country, Ireland. During the next five decades of her life, she remained an active feminist, trade union activist and Irish republican. The study also looks at Skinnider's, until now, more hidden history, her committed relationship with her lifelong partner, fellow Cumann na mBan member and feminist activist, Nora O'Keeffe. Among the newest additions to the Life and Times New Series, this monograph considers the importance of researching and writing political women's biography, of fully considering the roots of their ideologies, and of understanding their lifelong commitments to activism.Trade Review'Mary McAuliffe’s meticulously researched biography seeks to shed light on a complex woman living an extraordinary life ... Woven through her fascinating and accessible narrative of Skinnider is a call to recognise the fundamental importance of women’s stories within history and a striving effort to speak back into a cultural and historical silence.' Becky Long, Irish Times May 202 |||

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Book SynopsisElizabethan Secret Agent: The Untold Story of William Ashby (1536-1593) is the biography of William Ashby, Elizabethan intelligence agent and diplomat who served as ambassador to Scotland during the Spanish Armada crisis. It provides a fresh social, political and foreign policy insight from the perspective of a gentleman spy who took part in some of the most important events of his time. Much of the book is focused on the Anglo-Scottish geo-political relationship during the decade of 1580-1590, with its machinations and bizarre background stories. Prior to Ashby’s ambassadorial appointment, he served as a senior ‘intelligencer’ for Sir Francis Walsingham, Elizabeth’s spymaster.Trade Review"[A] fascinating, exciting, and at times all too familiar tale of political conspiracies, double agents, personal rivalries and the perennial quest, by states and by individuals, for power and control...Tim Ashby is to be commended on this excellent tribute to his distant relative, which is also an illuminating account of life in Tudor and Stuart times."—The Edinburgh ReporterTable of ContentsCONTENTS List of Illustrations Introduction Prologue – ‘the benefits conferred on us by our ancestors’ Part One – Early Life Chapter I - Education Chapter II - Exile Chapter III – Return to an unhappy land Part Two – On Her Majesty’s Service Chapter IV – Walsingham’s Intelligencer Chapter V – The Queen’s vacillation Chapter VI – Low Countries reconnaissance operation Chapter VII - Purgatory in the Low Countries Chapter VIII – Brigands on the Rhine Part Three – Scotland Chapter IX - Anglo-Scottish animosity Chapter X – Walsingham’s failed diplomatic mission Chapter XI - Universal miscontent in the country Chapter XII – The Armada cometh Chapter XIII – Ashby’s ambassadorship to Scotland Chapter XIV – The approach of the Spaniards causes Ashby to make offers to the King Chapter XV – A necessary play of penitence Chapter XVI – ‘... the great ship was blown in the air’ Chapter XVII – Ashby reveals to James a plot against him by his own lairds Chapter XVIII - The lairds’ open insurrection Chapter XIX – Fowler’s defamation of Ashby Chapter XX - Ashby tarries in Edinburgh while the King seeks his bride Chapter XXI – Vindication Chapter XXII – A last plot foiled before death’s gloomy shade Appendix I - Sir Robert Naunton Appendix II - Dramatis Personae Bibliography Notes

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Book SynopsisDavid I was never expected to become king, but on succeeding to the Scottish throne in 1124 he quickly demonstrated that he had the skills, ruthlessness and ambition to become one of the kingdom’s greatest rulers. Drawing on the experiences and connections of his youth spent at the court of his brother-in-law, Henry I of England, and moulded by the dominant personality and intense piety of his mother, St Margaret, he set out to transform his inheritance and create a powerful and dynamic kingship. After neutralising all challengers to his position and building a new powerbase that drew on support from both Scotland’s native nobles and the English and French knights whom he settled in his realm, David emerged as a power-broker in mid twelfth-century Britain as England descended into civil war. He pursued his wife Matilda’s lost inheritance in Northumbria, gaining control over much of northern England and giving him access to economic resources that allowed him to invest in patronage of the reformed monastic orders, and in the reconfiguration of the secular Church in Scotland. The peace and stability of his kingdom, coupled with the economic boom brought by burgeoning population during an era of benign climate conditions, secured him a reputation as a saintly visionary who achieved the cultural and political transformation of Scotland.Trade Review'an absorbing work, packed with details and analysis, and is perhaps the most comprehensive volume available about this king and his times. Extensive footnotes, maps, and genealogy charts complement the text ... Highly recommended' -- D. M. Hall, Lake Erie College * CHOICE Connect *

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Book SynopsisScottish actor Bill Paterson narrates the funny, sad and enlightening Hurricane Hutch's Top 10 Ships of the Clyde. It's as much a social history as it is a book about ships and shipping. Bill Paterson's uniquely recognisable scottish voice brings a gentleness and authority to the storytelling. Captain Robin Hutchison's unique personal perspective on a fast fading era. Robin became one of the youngest captains to serve on the Firth of Clyde. This book is a wry look at life on the Clyde - an insiders perspective on the river, its people and its ships.

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Book SynopsisThe perfect stocking filler, Secret Santa gift or conversation starter for Corbyn haters and lovers this Christmas! This is the man In His Own Words. This is Corbyn on Party Politics, Vision & Principles, Defiance, Leadership and World Affairs, plus a special chapter to capture all his Observations. And if The Little Book of Corbyn isn't enough, you can collect, compare and contrast the wisdom of Trump, Boris and Corbyn with the full set of in His Own Word titles. Use them to start a lively debate*, to induce a case of riotous laughter, to inspire or to keep you entertained on the loo. *Orange Hippo! publishing takes no responsibility for debates that get out of hand at the pub quiz, office Christmas party or anywhere else. Please read, think and debate responsibly. Table of ContentsIntroduction. Party Politics. Vision & Principles. Defiance. Leadership. World Affairs. Observations.

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Book SynopsisA sailing classic, of real life adventure, beautifully illustratedTV Presenter JULIETTE FOSTER: "Captain George P Boughton's maritime career began in 1881 at the age of 12, and thanks to his grandson, the founder of GB Publishing Org, this intriguing memoir of a life at sea is now available to a new generation of readers." THE TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT: "His book is genuine sea salt...warm colours of Mr Shoesmith's pictures accord well with the romantic story [of days before steamships]" THE SPECTATOR: "recalls emotions [on sea-life] that have fleeted from the minds of most" First published in 1926, Seafaring - The Full Story reveals that a life on the ocean waves was anything but jolly: conditions were tough, the food was just about edible while the work was back-breaking - although the salt-of-the-earth camaraderie helped. As much a one-man reminiscence as it is an elegy for a forgotten way of life, it's not hard to imagine a gravely-voiced Boughton recalling the era of the 'large sailing ships'. and why the world stopped being a better place when they were forced off the sea. Boughton died in 1940 at the age of 71, having worked his way up to the position of Superintendent to the Shipping Federation of Britain. With the publication of these memoirs, his contribution to our understanding of this area of history will surely live on." In this edition of Seafaring, which deals with ships and life aboard ships in the days before steam had conquered sail, a Prologue is added that tells of the tragic circumstances that led up to the author going to sea when aged twelve. An Epilogue also reveals his fortunes since writing the book. The men who spent the best part of their lives on sailing vessels are now gone but fortunately Captain Boughton, as one of them, committed to writing his first hand account of what their lives aboard were really like. The salt of the sea is in these breezy pages; they reflect the virile enjoyment with which the men of whom Captain Boughton writes faced the hardships of their existence. ~*~ The inclusion of several of the traditional sea "chanties", with the musical scores, and the end-papers that illustrate sailors' knots, add the final flavour to an inspiring and enduring book.Trade ReviewTV Presenter JULIETTE FOSTER: "Captain George P Boughton's maritime career began in 1881 at the age of 12, and thanks to his grandson, the founder of GB Publishing Org, this intriguing memoir of a life at sea is now available to a new generation of readers. "THE TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT: "His book is genuine sea salt...warm colours of Mr Shoesmith's pictures accord well with the romantic story [of days before steamships]". THE SPECTATOR: "recalls emotions [on sea-life] that have fleeted from the minds of most"

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Book SynopsisErwin Rommel is the best-known German field commander of WWII. Repeatedly decorated for valour during the First World War, he would go on to lead the German Panzer divisions in France and North Africa. To his British opponents – admirers of his apparent courage, chivalry and leadership – he became know by the sobriquet `Desert Fox’. His death, in October 1944, would give rise to speculation for generations to come on how history should judge him. To many he remains the ideal soldier, but as Reuth shows Rommel remained loyal to his Führer until forced to commit suicide, and his fame was largely a creation of the master propagandist Joseph Goebbels. Stripping away the many lays of Nazi and Allied propaganda, Reuth argues that Rommel’s life symbolises the German tragedy: to have followed Hitler into the abyss, and to have considered that to be his duty.Trade Review`The legend of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel – the Desert Fox – is threefold: he was a simple soldier who did his duty and knew nothing of Nazism; he was a commander of superlative talent who ran rings around the British in North Africa in 1941-2; he was a leader in resistance to Hitler and gave his life to the cause after the failure of the July 1944 plot. In this lucid, exemplary volume, Reuth shows that all three of these assumptions are false . . . and reveals the truth in a brilliant book that, incidentally, exposes the self-serving role of the Cold War West in promoting the Rommel legend’ Frank McLynn, Independent.

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Book SynopsisFeaturing interviews with the MPs, journalists and officials close to the centre of Britain's biggest political crisis since the Profumo Affair, this is the story of what really happened during the expenses scandal of 2009. Andrew Walker, the tax expert who oversaw the parliamentary expenses system, and Emma Crewe, a social scientist specialising in the institutions of parliament, bring a fascinating insider/outsider perspective to this account. Far from an apologia, An Extraordinary Scandal explains how parliament fell out of step with the electorate and became a victim of its own remote institutional logic, at odds with an increasingly open, meritocratic society. Charting the crisis from its 1990s origins - when Westminster began, too slowly, to respond to wider societal changes - to its aftermath in 2010, the authors examine how the scandal aggravated the developing crisis of trust between the British electorate and Westminster politicians that continues to this day. Their in-depth research reveals new insight into how the expenses scandal gave us a taste of what was to come, and where its legacy can be traced in the new age of mistrust and outrage, in which politicians are often unfairly vulnerable to being charged in the `court' of public opinion by those they represent.

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Book SynopsisThis authentic account is a tribute to the courage and resolve with which soldiers and their loved ones confront uncertainty, fear, hardship and the loss of their comrades. Subjected to continual changes of affiliation as the Falklands campaign unfolds, 2 Troop has to create its own identity and sense of belonging drawing on its professional belief, strength of leadership, and intrinsic camaraderie. This is the story of how they did it, and the contribution they made, in one of the toughest campaigns since World War 2. A ‘must read’ for aspiring junior commanders and students of the realities of war.

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Book SynopsisLonglisted for the 2022 Highland Book Prize Mary, Queen of Scots’ marriage to the Earl of Bothwell is notorious. Less known is Bothwell’s first wife, Jean Gordon, who extricated herself from their marriage and survived the intrigue of the Queen’s court. Daughters of the North reframes this turbulent period in history by focusing on Jean, who became Countess of Sutherland, following her from her birth as the daughter of the ‘King of the North’ to her disastrous union with the notorious Earl of Bothwell – and her lasting legacy to the Earldom of Sutherland.Trade Review‘Involving and satisfying.’‘A sweeping yet intricately researched tale of 16th century Scotland.’

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Book SynopsisThe Civil War, the Protectorate, and the Restoration – the extraordinary upheavals at the fulcrum of English history – are embodied here in the story of a remarkable man, politician, and prisoner: the regicide Henry Marten. As an organiser of the trial of Charles I and a signatory of the King’s death warrant, he was targeted for prosecution once the monarchy was restored in 1660. Marten was convicted of High Treason and spent years on the equivalent of death row, writing letters that now give a rare and extraordinary insight into the life of a prisoner in the Tower of London. John Worthen’s revelatory biography uncovers the brilliant mind, modern mindset, political vigour, tender bravery, and extraordinarily emblematic life of a neglected seventeenth-century figure.

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Book SynopsisThe extraordinary life of Berhane Woldegabriel, Eritrean teacher, journalist and bridge-builder. Berhane Woldegabriel was an Eritrean refugee who settled in the UK for the last thirty years of his life. He became a dedicated peacemaker, using his great political understanding and interpersonal skills to build bridges both amongst his own Eritrean people, and within wider communities. Berhane was a universalist who loved people regardless of nationality and creed. Himself a man of strong presence and opinions, he believed, and demonstrated, that individuals and groups could resolve conflict by accepting their differences, finding a common purpose, and abandoning hate. Berhane was warm, erudite and entertaining and his death in 2020 has left a huge gap in the lives of his friends and loved ones. In the hope that his work and ideas will continue, the editors of this book trace his development as a peacemaker from his early years, combining tributes, photographs and a narrative of his life's journey.

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