European history: medieval period, middle ages Books

Book SynopsisA thrilling history of MI9—the WWII organization that engineered the escape of Allied forces from behind enemy linesTrade Review“Fry has undertaken prodigious research…The book is a fitting tribute to the hundreds of men and women who risked their lives in assisting Allied escapees, and a welcome salute to those who broke out of their PoW camps that they might be returned to the battlefront.”—Giles Milton, The Sunday Times“A finely researched appraisal of MI9, one of the least known agencies of the Second World War, whose principal role was to help British prisoners of war escape from enemy-occupied territory.”—The Sunday Times ‘Best Paperbacks of 2021’ “Helen Fry’s engrossing tale M19…details the exploits of the secret organisation that rescued allied troops from behind Nazi lines.”—Martin Chilton, The Independent“Several recent books have shone light on the heroic part women played in the story of intelligence, and Fry illuminates their role even more...[A] noble, moving and inspiring book”—Allan Mallinson, Spectator“Once started, this is an impossible book to put down.”—David Webb-Carter, Aspects of History“In a brilliantly researched, absorbing and at times gripping text, Helen Fry takes the reader on an awe-inspiring and riveting journey as she details the work of M19, the secret service for escape and evasion in World War Two.”—John T. Morris, Love Wrexham Magazine“Fry is fortunate to have enjoyed access to previously classified files and documents, which allows for a more in-depth study of the department than ever before. The combination of this material, eyewitness testimony and some truly breathtaking tales of heroism and survival make this a must-read for anyone with an interest in the history of the intelligence services of World War II.”—All About History“Supplemented by vivid and captivating personal accounts of espionage, along with daring and heroic escape and evasion reports of POWs, Fry further underscores the critical role of “ordinary” individuals of occupied Europe who risked their lives and the well-being of their families.”—Kevin T. Hall, Global Military Studies Review“A well-written book…[Fry] never loses sight of her research interest.”—Winfried Heinemann, International Journal of Military History and Historiography“There is so much content in this book, so many stories of remarkable bravery and endeavour, that the main feeling is simply to be thankful that Fry has moved them closer to a wider audience, and her enthusiasm for her subjects shines through.”—Karl Hornsey, On: YorkshireMagazine“Fry, through the diligent use of declassified material from the MI9 files at the Kew National Archives, published and unpublished memoirs from personnel within the organisation, and papers in family possessions shows how MI9ʹs escapers made an important contribution to intelligence during the war.”—Bailey Schwab, Intelligence and National SecurityShortlisted for the 2020 Duke of Wellington Medal for Military History“A thoroughly comprehensive study of a much-neglected secret wartime organisation.”-Nigel West, author of MI6"A masterful page turner you won't be able to put down. The story of MI9 is one of the most inspiring and exciting of all WWII narratives.”—Alex Kershaw, author of Avenue of Spies 'Behind every Allied great escape in WWII there stood the brave and resourceful men and women of MI9, an intelligence organisation today almost completely forgotten … A masterful retelling with a fascinating cast of characters straight out of a John le Carré thriller.' Mark Felton, author of Castle of the Eagles“Important, informative and engaging. Fry draws an engrossing picture of the commitment and courage of tens of thousands of agents who helped "escapers" and "evaders" in the European Theatre of Operations.’—Michael Jago, author of The Man Who Was George Smiley

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Book Synopsis''A great subject for a cultural anthropologist and Bewes is a perfect guide'' Financial Times, Book of the YearA brand new edition of the international bestseller, with new sections on the Swiss elections, the Swiss citizenship test and how Brexit has affected Switzerland. One country, four languages, 26 cantons, and 7.5 million people (but only 80% of them Swiss): there''s nowhere else in Europe like it. Switzerland may be almost 400 km from the nearest drop of seawater, but it is an island at the centre of Europe. Welcome to the landlocked island. Swiss Watching is a fascinating journey around Europe''s most individual and misunderstood country. From seeking Heidi and finding the best chocolate to reliving a bloody past and exploring an uncertain future, Diccon Bewes proves that there''s more to Switzerland than banks and skis, francs and cheese. This book dispels the myths and unravels the true meaning of Swissness.Trade ReviewEurope's landlocked island is a great subject for a cultural anthropologist and Bewes is a perfect guide. - Financial Times, Book of the YearBewes has an engagingly light and comic touch. The narrative moves with ease between subjects as diverse as graffiti and recycling, and it's easy to dip in and out of. - The Sunday TelegraphInformative and entertaining. - The Mail on SundayDiccon Bewes has the Bryson touch, informing and entertaining readers with his observations, considerable knowledge and love for this little-known country. - LoveReading, Travel Book of the MonthEverything you wanted to know about Switzerland, and then some. Not just a travel book, Swiss Watching is a no-stone-unturned exploration of what makes (and has made) this enigmatic country tick. - Peter Kerr, author of the Snowball Orange seriesIt's a real page turner, a treasure trove. Absolutely jam-packed with fascinating facts that really got me thinking. - Margaret Oertig-Davidson, author of Beyond ChocolateA fascinating book, teeming with facts, figures, and anecdotes which even the Swiss don't know. A journalist, anthropologist and satirist, Diccon Bewes gives us a book that is serious without being academic and funny without ever falling into caricature. - L'Hebdo

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"One of New Statesman's Books of the Year 2020""A Times Literary Supplement Book of the Year 2021""[A] compelling biography."---Oliver Moody, The Times"[L]ively and accessible. . . . [Edmond’s] research has also uncovered important new biographical information, including about [the Vienna Circle’s] lesser-known female members."---Adam Kirsch, New Yorker"As pacy as a thriller."---Joe Humphreys, Irish Times"[An] exemplary [piece] of intellectual history, doing meticulous justice to the ideas and engrossing about the personalities involved."---Alan Ryan, New Statesman"A clear accessible introduction to the complexities of logical positivism . . . [Edmonds] brilliantly illuminates why and how the philosophy burned so brightly."---Clare Clark, Standpoint"A readable popular history of the Circle that deftly integrates the ideas and lives of its members with the story of the Viennese milieu in which it emerged and its destruction. . . . [Edmonds’] historical narrative is clear, reliable and thoroughly readable – gripping, even, in places."---Tom Stern, Literary Review"A stimulating, scintillating new book on the Vienna Circle."---Daniel Johnson, The Critic"[An] engrossing and eminently readable history of the circle."---David Conway, Jewish Chronicle"[Edmonds manages to] combine the biographical and historical with the philosophical, without getting too technical. . . . It’s quite a poignant book."---Nigel Warburton, FiveBooks"A cracking read."---Diane Coyle, Enlightened Economist"I very much enjoyed this book, and found its direct style refreshing, and I hope it will serve as a model for others. [Edmonds] actually tells you what you want to know!"---Tyler Cowen, Marginal Revolution"Absorbing. . . . so fascinating and relevant now."---Thomas Filbin, The Arts Fuse"An accessible introduction to the group of philosophers and scientists who formed the influential Vienna Circle in the 20th century. . . . Edmonds tells its story thoughtfully in this fascinating mix of philosophy, biography and cultural history."---David Herman, Jewish Renaissance"Edmonds has written a compelling, captivating, and easily approachable book on the history of the Vienna Circle. He is witty, engaging, knows where to put emphasis, and how to draw lively pictures of those philosophers that are still too often conceived as technically minded abstract logicians. . . .Edmonds’ book will make you understand why the Vienna Circle was so important back in the 1920s, and still important in the 2020s."---Adam Tamas Tuboly, Review of History of Philosophy of Science Books"[A] lively new book. . . .Edmonds draws unexpected connections within the sprawling web of thinkers and artists in interwar Vienna. . . bringing to life the artistic and political flavour of those coffee-house debates"---Jonathan Egid, Times Literary Supplement"An always-readable obituary for the philosophers who sought a common basis for western thought while communism and Nazism were on the bloody rise."---Frederic Raphael, Times Literary Supplement ​​​​​​​"An informative and pleasurable read. . . .The Murder of Professor Schlick is a must read for anyone interested in the Vienna Circle."---Ambika Natarajan, Austrian History Yearbook

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Book SynopsisThe definitive biography and assessment of the wily and formidable prince who unexpectedly became monarch—the most infamous king in British historyTrade Review“[An] excellent new biography.”—Keith Thomas, New York Review of Books“The great merit of Hicks’s academic study is that he anchors every known move in Richard’s career to the (often conflicting) sources, making it easier for readers to form their own judgments.”—John Guy, London Review of Books“[A]n intricately detailed account of Richard’s every recorded move on his journey from younger son of the powerful Duke of York to the last of England’s mediaeval monarchs.”—Mark Jones, Albion Magazine“Whilst there have been multiple works published regarding the life of Richard III by Hicks and many others, few could command the authority of this title, or could be as well-argued. Hicks’ narrative rightly places Richard at the centre of events whilst retaining a balanced assessment of his life.”—Rebecca Wheddon, Northern History“A thoroughly researched biography of one of England’s most infamous kings. . . . Michael Hicks provides the reader with a detailed study of the world that Richard III was born into and lived in, and the political backdrop of a late medieval England dominated by the dynastic struggles of the Wars of the Roses.”—Marina Gerzic, Royal Studies Journal“Hicks has thrown down the gauntlet. Never has Richard the man been more convincingly portrayed. Who is ready to challenge the ruthless and driven Plantagenet drawn from the shadows? This Richard is not the creation of what followed his death, but the thirty two years of life that preceded it. A meticulous and thrilling biography, in which character is destiny.”—Leanda de Lisle, author of Tudor: The Family Story“The best researched, most comprehensive study of Richard III, especially strong on Richard’s formative experiences. Hicks presents the findings of a lifetime’s archival research with impressive clarity. A must-have for scholars and interested general readers.”—John Guy, author of Elizabeth: The Forgotten Years“Hicks has written a tour de force, based upon a deep understanding of the vast and divergent secondary literature and a career spent among the archives of fifteenth-century England. The book is at once scholarly and accessible and the definitive biography of this most controversial of kings.”—David Grummitt, author of A Short History of the Wars of the Roses“The product of almost 50 years of research into Richard and those surrounding him, this is an impressive feat of scholarship from an authority on the tumultuous Fifteenth Century. An important addition to the bookshelves of any student of the Wars of the Roses and of this enduringly compelling monarch.”—Lauren Johnson, author of Shadow King: The Life and Death

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Book SynopsisThe story of the Winter War between Finland and Soviet Russia is a dramatic David versus Goliath encounter. When close to half a million Soviet troops poured into Finland in 1939 it was expected that Finnish defenses would collapse in a matter of weeks. But they held firm. The Finns not only survived the initial attacks but succeeded in inflicting devastating casualties before superior Russian numbers eventually forced a peace settlement. This is a rigorously detailed and utterly compelling guide to Finland''s vital, but almost forgotten role in the cataclysmic World War II. It reveals the untold story of iron determination, unparalleled skill and utter mastery of winter warfare that characterized Finland''s fight for survival on the hellish Eastern Front. Now publishing in paperback, Finland at War: the Winter War 193940 is the premiere English-language history of the fighting performance of the Finns, drawing on first-hand accounts and rare photographs to explain juTable of ContentsPreface and Acknowledgements /Chronology /1. The Rise of Finland /2. The Road to War /3. The Karelian Isthmus, December 1939 /4. Ladoga Karelia, December 1939 /5. Group Tavela /6. North Finland Group /7. Lapland Group, 1939–40 /8. A Watching World /9. The Battle for Ladoga Karelia, 1940 /10. The Karelian Isthmus, 1940 /11. An Interim Peace /Bibliography /Appendix /Index

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Book SynopsisThis history will endure; not only because Sir Winston has written it, but also because of its own inherent virtues its narrative power, its fine judgment of war and politics, of soldiers and statesmen, and even more because it reflects a tradition of what Englishmen in the hey-day of their empire thought and felt about their country''s past. The Daily Telegraph Spanning four volumes and many centuries of history, from Caesar's invasion of Britain to the start of World War I, A History of the English-Speaking Peoples stands as one of Winston Churchill's most magnificent literary works. Begun during Churchill's wilderness years' when he was out of government, first published in 1956 after his leadership through the darkest days of World War II had cemented his place in history and completed when Churchill was in his 80s, it remains to this day a compelling and vivid history. The second volume The New World explores the emergenceTable of ContentsPreface Maps and Genealogical Tables Book IV: Renaissance and Reformation 1. The Round World 2. The Tudor Dynasty 3. King Henry VIII 4. Cardinal Wolsey 5. The Break with Rome 6. The End of the Monasteries 7. The Protestant Struggle 8. Good Queen Bess 9. The Spanish Armada 10. Gloriana Book V: The Civil War 1. The United Crowns 2. The 'Mayflower' 3. Charles I and Buckingham 4. The Personal Rule 5. The Revolt of Parliament 6. The Great Rebellion 7. Marston Moor and Naseby 8. The Axe Falls Book VI: The Restoration 1. The English Republic 2. The Lord Protector 3. The Restoration 4. The Merry Monarch 5. The Popish Plot 6. Whig and Tory 7. The Catholic King 8. The Revolution of 1688 Index

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Book SynopsisMithridates the Great was one of the dominant figures of the first century BC and the Romans' most persistent enemy, going to war with them three times.

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Book SynopsisFrom critically acclaimed Eastern Front expert Prit Buttar comes this paperback edition of his detailed and engrossing account of the World War II''s Eastern Front as German forces were driven back following the Battle of Kursk.Making use of the extensive memoirs of German and Russian soldiers to bring this story to life, Retribution follows on from On A Knife''s Edge, which described the encirclement and destruction of the German Sixth Army at Stalingrad and the offensives and counteroffensives that followed throughout the winter of 194243. Beginning towards the end of the Battle of Kursk, Retribution tells the story of the massive Soviet offensive that followed the end of Operation Zitadelle, which saw depleted and desperate German troops forced out of Western Ukraine. In this title, critically acclaimed Eastern Front expert Prit Buttar describes in detail the little-known series of near-constant battles that saw a weakened German army coTrade ReviewAn excellent strategic and operational analysis of this mostly ignored campaign... * New York Journal of Books *Table of ContentsList of Maps Author's Note Dramatis Personae Introduction 1 – Summer 1943: The Decisive Shift 2 – The Mius 3 – Operation Polkovodets Rumyantsev 4 – Akhtyrka and Bogodukhov 5 – Kharkov 6 – Attrition: From the Mius and Donets to the Dnepr 7 – The Dnepr Bridgeheads 8 – Krivoy Rog 9 – Kiev and Zhitomir 10 – Year's End 11 - A Year of Decision Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisA long-overdue and dramatic reinterpretation of the life of Mary, Queen of Scots by one of the leading historians at work today. She was crowned Queen of Scotland at nine months of age, and Queen of France at sixteen years; at eighteen she ascended the throne that was her birthright and began ruling one of the most fractious courts in Europe, riven by religious conflict and personal lust for power. She rode out at the head of an army in both victory and defeat; saw her second husband assassinated, and married his murderer. At twenty-five she entered captivity at the hands of her rival queen, from which only death would release her. The life of Mary Stuart is one of unparalleled drama and conflict. From the labyrinthine plots laid by the Scottish lords to wrest power for themselves, to the efforts made by Elizabeth's ministers to invalidate Mary's legitimate claim to the English throne, John Guy returns to the archives to explode the myths and correct the inaccuracies that surround this most fascinating monarch. He also explains a central mystery: why Mary would have consented to marry – only three months after the death of her second husband, Lord Darnley – the man who was said to be his killer, the Earl of Bothwell. And, more astonishingly, he solves, through careful re-examination of the Casket Letters, the secret behind Darnley's spectacular assassination at Kirk o'Field. With great pathos, Guy illuminates how the imprisoned Mary's despair led to a reckless plot against Elizabeth – and thus to her own execution. The portrait that emerges is not of a political pawn or a manipulative siren, but of a shrewd and charismatic young ruler who relished power and, for a time, managed to hold together a fatally unstable country. MY HEART IS MY OWN is a compelling work of historical scholarship that offers radical new interpretations of an ancient story.Trade Review'Fascinating… A book based on gold-standard research, the kind of thing that puts most popular history writing to shame.' Kathryn Hughes, Mail on Sunday 'Certain to be a bestseller, and deservedly so. Rarely have first-class scholarship and first-class storytelling been so effectively combined.' John Adamson, Daily Telegraph 'An absorbing biography … meticulously researched… scholarly and intriguing.'Peter Ackroyd, The Times 'A biography that reads as thrillingly as a detective story, and is rich in details and authoritative in its analysis.' Miranda Seymour, Sunday Times

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Book SynopsisWhy did killing a fox mean liberty? What did parish revels have to do with the Peterloo Massacre? What did animal cruelty have to do with the English constitution? What did the Factory Acts mean for modern football?In This Sporting Life, Robert Colls explains sport as one of England''s great civil cultures. The lived experiences of people from all walks of life are reclaimed to tell England''s history through its great sporting cultures, from the horseback pursuits of the wealthy and politically connected, to the street games in working-class neighbourhoods which needed nothing but a ball. It observes people at play, describes how they felt and thought, carries the reader along to a match or a hunt or a fight, draws out the sounds and smells of humans and animals, showing that sport has been as important in defining British culture as gender, politics, education, class, and religion.Trade Reviewa highly original, personal yet deeply accomplished, history of sporting pastimes * Mike Huggins, Cultural and Social History *This is an idiosyncratic work that is full of erudition and wit, being highly informative and often very entertaining ... a valuable addition to libraries specializing in modern British history or the history of sport. * M. Klobas, CHOICE *A compelling, evocative and unique explication of what sport has meant to the English. * Aberdare Literary Prize *Simultaneously insightful, beguiling and accomplished...it's not about the slow development of sporting rules and governing bodies. None of that matters. It is a tour de force account of how the love affair with liberty had a profound influence on the English and their sports. * Mike Huggins, Cultural and Social History *Eccentric, erudite and often very funny... [a] dazzling history of sport in England... Every page is a delight. * Dominic Sandbrook, The Sunday Times, Best History Books of the Year 2020 *Robert Colls has taken on 200 years of English history through the prism of its culturally neglected sports - common, exclusive, innovative, brutal. He's written a definitive work not only of our sporting life, but also of our social texture. * Melvyn Bragg, New Statesman, Books of the Year 2020 *Robert Colls's exploration of sport in England between 1760 and 1960 is like no sporting history I have ever read... Eccentric, dazzlingly learned and often very funny... Colls is a historian of matchless insight and admirably democratic range. * Dominic Sandbrook, The Sunday Times *This Sporting Life displays exhausting quantities of erudition... The prose is lively even in the footnotes... there are jewels on every page... There is more life in these pages than can be explained, or needs to be. * Simon Kuper, Financial Times *Superb... This is much more than a history of sport; it is really an alternative history of England itself... This book is full of moments that pull you up short and make you think. * Alex Massie, The Spectator *Colls has combined painstaking research with elegant prose to produce a thoroughly readable history of British sports and pastimes over two hundred years. In doing so he has breathed new life into an often-neglected corner of British history. * Emma Griffin, Literary Review *[A] quirky and strikingly original social history of England through its sports, games and pastimes... beautifully and inventively expressed, witty and bawdy in places... perhaps the most impressive element of This Sporting Life is its light touch, the way it never quite loses sight of the fact that at its heart, sport is fun. * Jonathan Liew, New Statesman *A remarkably and admirably human history, full of empathy for people of all classes and condescension towards none... Crackling on the page, Colls's prose elucidates and amuses in equal measure and with equal sharpness. * Stephanie Barczewski, Times Literary Supplement *strongly recommended contribution to the history of the emotions * Daniele Serapiglia, Passato e Presente *thought-provoking...readable...valuable...novel..intuitive.. excellent example of how a topic can be revitalised by thinking creatively... * Dave Day, idrottsforum *A monograph of monumental importance...placing sport at the forefront of civil culture in Britain. A work of national and international importance that should provide a platform for similar studies in other countries. * Keith Laybourn, Labour History Review *I'd like to say something about style. Colls is a master. He can be--in turn--witty, slapstick comic, ironic, satirical, sarcastic, lyrical, sombre, or elegiac. Sometimes he's Robert Surtees and sometimes he's John Milton. Mostly, I think, he's Pierce Egan. Whatever the tone, he's a marvel at the epigram. * Allen Guttmann, author of From Ritual to Record. The Nature of Modern Sports *At heart this book is the best kind of social history: vivid, revelatory and penned by an author who seems to know the byways of every county in England... a joyous book of dazzling scholarship. * Dan Jackson, History Today *This is both a vivid and thought-provoking read... I would recommend the book to anyone skeptical of the historical significance of sport. * Lincoln Allison, The Critic *[This Sporting Life] is absorbing, original, and entertaining... Colls is a formidable historian of England and English identity * Simon Heffer, New Criterion *An exemplary work and one that illuminates with stories rather than numbing with statistics... Colls' previous work, in particular 'Identity of England' (2002) and 'George Orwell: English Rebel' (2013), established his credentials as a historian on a mission to restore the experiences of the working-classes to the national record - the Jack Tars, pitmen and pugilists - but to do so through hard evidence not special pleading... Nowhere is this better realised than in his final chapter on football. * John Mitchinson, Byline Times *It is when Colls rises to the challenge of his subtitle - 'Sport and Liberty' - that the book really soars. * John Mitchinson, Byline Times *A great read for anyone who loves sport... free of jargon and and full of what people actually did... The writing is full of memorable phrases, wry comments and thoughtful insights into human behaviour... a message that could have been penned by George Orwell himself. * Philip Cottam, The Arbuturian *This fascinating and engagingly written book is about much more than sport: customs, tradition, place, identity, national myths as well as national stories all have their place. Colls has written the best book I have read on George Orwell, and this book too is definitive. * Jason Cowley, Editor of The New Statesman *The two most successful and positive exports from this country are the English language and organized sport. The profound influence of sport has been grievously unacknowledged. In his new book, Robert Colls puts this right by bringing its history to life and linking it quite brilliantly with common notions of liberty, patriotism, and belonging. He also shows the part modern sport played in replacing the many textures of our traditional patterns of social life. It's vivid, passionate, and goes to the heart of a subject which in so many ways is now the dominating conversation in peoples' lives. * Melvyn Bragg, Broadcaster *A brilliant book by one of my favourite British historians...giving the real thrill of first hand research and covering every corner of our national life. Even if you don't like sport you will like this book. * John Mitchinson, Backlisted Podcast *This is a wonderful book. It is engrossing,beautifully written, overflowing with insight into England and English ideas of liberty as manifest through sport.It is a history of sport unlike any other and is nothing short of exhilarating. * Paul Rouse, School of History, University College Dublin *Sparkling and scholarly, Robert Colls' new history of sport is expertly set within the wider context of English society and culture. Abounding with fresh insights, sport is celebrated and explained from Regency prize-fights to Wembley Cup Finals; vibrantly written, full of dramatic incidents and exceptional individuals. * Richard Holt, author of Sport and the British: A Modern History *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1: Land of Liberty 2: 'Bottom' 3: Custom 4: Belonging 5: New Moral Worlds 6: Moderns Conclusion: Sport and the English Hero

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Book SynopsisA sequel to the same author's Highland Battles which covered warfare in Scotland's northern and western Highlands in the early Middle Ages. A revealing portrait of Highland conflict and society 600 years ago.

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Book SynopsisThe legacy of the French Revolution critiqued by the most important thinkers of the day.Gateway to the French Revolution features voices critical of the French Revolution and its aftershocks. Edmund Burke’s critique of the Revolution is widely known and set into motion the development of political Conservatism. Also decrying the excesses of the Terror is Friedrich Gentz, a lesser-known Austrian diplomat who would become an architect of European peace after Napoleon’s failed ambitions, and Joseph de Maistre, a Savoiard nobleman whose own reflections would form a current of counter-revolutionary reactionary that has continues to have implications in our contemporary world.

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Book SynopsisChronicles Plato's thought through the lens of his turbulent life.

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Book SynopsisLike Crécy itself, this book is a triumph and the tale it tells gives an old story new life.' BERNARD CORNWELL, bestselling author of The Last Kingdom series The battle of Crécy in 1346 is one of the most famous and widely studied military engagements in history. The repercussions of this battle were felt for hundreds of years, and the exploits of those fighting reached the status of legend. Yet cutting-edge research has shown that nearly everything that has been written about this dramatic event may be wrong.In this new study, Michael Livingston reveals how modern scholars have used archived manuscripts, satellite technologies and traditional fieldwork to help unlock what was arguably the battle's greatest secret: the location of the now quiet fields where so many thousands died. Crécy: Battle of Five Kings is a story of past and present. It is a new history of one of the most important battles of the Middle Ages: a compelling na

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Book SynopsisHere is the exhaustive and exhilarating story of HMS _Venomous_, one of sixty-seven V&W destroyers built at the end of the Great War that were to play a key role in the struggle to keep the sea lanes open in the Atlantic, Home Waters and the Mediterranean during the following war. Her story was perhaps the most memorable of all her class. When war broke out she was to find herself in the front line as the German blitzkrieg swept across Europe in 1940 and the V&Ws made high speed dashes across the Channel to bring troops and civilians back from Calais, Boulogne and Dunkirk, and prepared for the expected invasion. Later that year she and her sister-ships escorted the Atlantic convoys which supplied our Russian allies with the weapons to halt the German advance. She returned to the Mediterranean and took part in Operation Pedestal to save Malta, and as the allies prepared for the landings in North Africa she was ordered to escort the destroyer depot ship, HMS _Hecla_ to the invasion b

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Book SynopsisJames Hankins challenges the view that the Renaissance was the seedbed of modern republicanism, with Machiavelli as exemplary thinker. What most concerned Renaissance political theorists, Hankins contends, was not reforming laws but shaping citizens. To secure the social good, they fostered virtue through a new program of education: the humanities.Trade ReviewMagisterial…Humanist scholars in the Italian Renaissance were concerned with many of the same puzzles that obsess us today…Hankins shows that the humanists’ obsession with character explains their surprising indifference to particular forms of government. If rulers lacked authentic virtue, they believed, it did not matter what institutions framed their power. * Wall Street Journal *Puts the politics back into humanism in an extraordinarily deep and far-reaching way…This is certainly a landmark publication…For generations to come, all who write about the political thought of Italian humanism will have to refer to it; its influence will be—like that of virtue itself in the theories of the authors it studies—nothing less than transformative. -- Noel Malcolm * American Affairs *Perhaps the greatest study ever written of Renaissance political thought. The breadth of James Hankins’s book surpasses that of the reigning incumbents, Hans Baron’s Crisis of the Early Italian Renaissance and the first volume of Quentin Skinner’s classic Foundations of Modern Political Thought. It is also a book of bold argument and relevance. Hankins concentrates on the classic Italian Renaissance—Petrarch to Machiavelli…However, he escapes the conventional fixation on Florence and its chancellors. Leonardo Bruni and Machiavelli are here, but so too are the Roman jurist Mario Salamonio, the Greek translator George of Trebizond, the travelling ‘merchant scholar’ Cyriac of Ancona. Nor does Hankins limit himself to the familiar canon, but mines a deep vein of histories, biographies, letters, orations and treatises, both printed and scribally published. His mastery of the archive is astonishing. -- Jeffrey Collins * Times Literary Supplement *Extraordinary…The central theme…is that Renaissance humanism was neither a superficial aesthetic movement nor a purely political one. At its core, it was a movement of moral reform…Hankins’s grasp of the Italian Renaissance is deeply learned and insightful…Virtue Politics demonstrates why Hankins has earned his place as one of the world’s best intellectual historians of that period. -- Khalil M. Habib * New Criterion *A magisterial work by one of the world’s leading experts on the intellectual history of the Renaissance…One of the many strengths of Hankins’ volume is the great erudition with which he persuasively presents a different paradigm for understanding the Italian Renaissance. -- Carl O’Brien * Bryn Mawr Classical Review *A work to celebrate…A major book which not only synthesizes much of his previous work, but develops it further in ways both pathbreaking and panoramic…As Hankins shows, the central project of humanism was political, to instill virtue in rulers; there was broad agreement on this one point, but fascinating disagreement on many others. Deeply scholarly but marvelously lucid and reader-friendly, this book will be the indispensable study of this whole topic. -- Noel Malcolm * Times Literary Supplement *So timely…A book that is not only the fruit of a long and accomplished career but that also offers a rich and deep perspective on two time periods simultaneously: the Italian Renaissance and our own. Which is another way of saying that Virtue Politics gives readers a clear-eyed account of how the most creative minds of the Italian Renaissance addressed the permanent problems of human nature, virtue, tyranny, and political decay. * Washington Examiner *Magisterial… Hankins has piled up evidence more than sufficient to make his case. He has, moreover, opened up a new field of study…Whatever the course of future scholarship, it will have been Virtue Politics that opened up the field and set the agenda for those who came after. -- Paul A. Rahe * Claremont Review of Books *[A] magnum opus…A history of the political thought of the Italian Renaissance: from Petrarch in the middle of the 14th century to Machiavelli in the early 16th…Hankins is a stylish and sensitive guide to these men and their works, acutely aware that the political questions with which they grappled—what made a tyrant? Could a good man serve him?—were, for them, far from purely theoretical…Readers of Virtue Politics will close the book not only with a richer understanding of the Renaissance, but with a sense of how very differently we might think about politics today. * Standpoint *A bold new argument about the nature and significance of Renaissance political thought and a sweeping new vision of humanism itself…An exceptional scholarly accomplishment—a tour-de-force defense of the aspiration to improve character, a survey of Italian humanism with a uniquely wide recognition of the range of issues it encompassed, and a provocative reinterpretation of Machiavelli’s thought that makes modernity’s dark prophet appear positively naive in comparison with Petrarch, all accompanied by lucid forays into contemporary political theory and philosophy. For students of early modern political thought and philosophy, Hankins’s book will be an essential point of departure for some time. -- Mark Jurdjevic * Journal of Modern History *[A] masterpiece…It shows—with erudition, diligent scholarship, and great intelligence—how the Renaissance humanists, beginning with Petrarch, became convinced that the viciousness and lawless violence of fourteenth-century Italy was not, as previous thinkers had suggested, a problem that could be solved through drafting better laws. Instead, they argued that the eight centuries of peace, stability, and unity under the Romans were a reflection not of that state’s laws but of the moral qualities of its rulers. -- Rory Stewart * Times Literary Supplement *Wide-ranging and magisterial…If a greater focus on character education based on classical virtue does come about in our own time, it’s reasonable to think that this shift will take its bearings and example from the past. Hankins’s history of the Renaissance humanists offers a useful starting place for discovering what that kind of cultural rejuvenation might look like. -- Ian Lindquist * Education Next *An accomplished study of the Renaissance humanists’ political thought…We are unlikely to see soon another book that combines such extensive and precise learning with such a mature and subtle grasp of important matters. We are fortunate to have it. -- Mark Blitz * Law & Liberty *Investigates how [Renaissance humanists] explored a whole range of political issues. These included questions of wealth and economic injustice, the legitimacy of imperial rule, whether states should freely accept migrants and how to deal with debilitating partisanship… This work should prompt us to ask profound questions about the current culture of politics…A landmark piece of scholarship that will influence the study of political thought in the Renaissance for years to come. -- Bijan Omrani * Literary Review *Virtue Politics gives an impressive and thorough tour of Renaissance humanism from Petrarch to Leonardo Bruni to Machiavelli…[It] puts on display the detailed investigation of sources that can only come with decades of thought and research. -- Amanda Madden * Renaissance and Reformation *James Hankins is one of the most important scholars at work today in Renaissance intellectual history, so a new monograph from him demands attention…Virtue Politics will reset the discussion of Renaissance political thought for the next generation. -- Craig Kallendorf * Neo-Latin News *An enormous, sprawling work, providing rich and detailed but nonetheless succinct encapsulation of much of classical and medieval as well as, of course, Renaissance political theory…[A] rich and deeply erudite discussion of the Italian Renaissance. -- Jesse Russell * VoegelinView *Virtue Politics…is both intellectual history and an intervention into contemporary education and political culture…[Hankins’s] sensitive and erudite readings of an impressively broad array of humanist texts make important contributions to our knowledge and understanding of humanism during Italy’s long fifteenth century. -- Charles F. Briggs * Intellectual History Review *Gives Renaissance political thought the place it deserves within the history of Western political thought. -- Tommaso De Robertis * Bibliotheca Dantesca *A magnificent and major reinterpretation of Italian Renaissance political thought, and of the Italian Renaissance itself…It is a pleasure to spend time with this text…Anyone teaching the Renaissance or the history of political thought should have this volume readily at hand. -- Stephen Varvis * Fides et Historia *Virtue Politics is suffused with eloquence, and truly innovative. James Hankins argues that Renaissance humanists worked for political regimes of vastly different types. What was important to them was that leaders put the interests of the state—its stability, peace, and flourishing—before their own more immediate enrichment, or desire for power, or other selfish imperatives. In short, they believed that you could and should judge the moral character of a state and of the people who ran it. The concept of ‘virtue politics’ offers a helpful corrective to prior attempts to situate Renaissance thinkers into teleologically conceived narratives of the history of political theory. Not only is this one of the most important books written on humanist political thought, it is in many ways the first, given the unique way Hankins frames his project. It will change the way scholars conceive of the history of political thought. -- Christopher Celenza, author of MachiavelliJames Hankins’s masterwork takes us from Petrarch’s struggles against a decadent academic clerisy to Machiavelli and Confucius. But the central narrative thread never loosens: that character and virtue are the anchors of all healthy political systems, whether democratic or not. The lessons for today are clear and profound. -- Robert D. Kaplan, author of The Revenge of GeographyA tour-de-force revisionist account of Italian humanism, and a courageous effort to revive the humanist practice of moral education for political leaders in our own day. Machiavelli thought that he lived in an age of historically unprecedented corruption among political leaders. If he were to survey the behavior of so-called leaders in our contemporary world…he might very well concede that at least a measure of Hankins’s moral virtue must accompany his own realist virtue if good government were to have any chance of being achieved today. -- John P. McCormick, University of ChicagoJames Hankins is one of the world’s most distinguished authorities on the political thought of the Italian Renaissance, and Virtue Politics is a truly monumental work of scholarship, destined to leave its imprint for decades to come. It is—to a quite remarkable degree—a history of newly discovered things: new writers, new texts, new ideas, new connections. -- Peter Stacey, University of California, Los Angeles[The] magnum opus of a consummate intellectual historian. James Hankins is the living authority on Italian fifteenth-century neo-Latin literature…Hankins understands that by breathing new life into a beleaguered Renaissance movement, one can also come to the rescue of the Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian heritages, now under fire, on which the Renaissance drew, in order to understand the currently debated legacy of Western modernity. Inviting readers into the midst of an ongoing fray, Virtue Politics reminds us that we all have high stakes in this game. -- Rocco Rubini * European Legacy *Magisterial…Humanist scholars in the Italian Renaissance were concerned with many of the same puzzles that obsess us today…Hankins shows that the humanists’ obsession with character explains their surprising indifference to particular forms of government. If rulers lacked authentic virtue, they believed, it did not matter what institutions framed their power. * Wall Street Journal *Puts the politics back into humanism in an extraordinarily deep and far-reaching way…This is certainly a landmark publication…For generations to come, all who write about the political thought of Italian humanism will have to refer to it; its influence will be—like that of virtue itself in the theories of the authors it studies—nothing less than transformative. -- Noel Malcolm * American Affairs *Perhaps the greatest study ever written of Renaissance political thought. The breadth of James Hankins’s book surpasses that of the reigning incumbents, Hans Baron’s Crisis of the Early Italian Renaissance and the first volume of Quentin Skinner’s classic Foundations of Modern Political Thought. It is also a book of bold argument and relevance. Hankins concentrates on the classic Italian Renaissance—Petrarch to Machiavelli…However, he escapes the conventional fixation on Florence and its chancellors. Leonardo Bruni and Machiavelli are here, but so too are the Roman jurist Mario Salamonio, the Greek translator George of Trebizond, the travelling ‘merchant scholar’ Cyriac of Ancona. Nor does Hankins limit himself to the familiar canon, but mines a deep vein of histories, biographies, letters, orations and treatises, both printed and scribally published. His mastery of the archive is astonishing. -- Jeffrey Collins * Times Literary Supplement *Extraordinary…The central theme…is that Renaissance humanism was neither a superficial aesthetic movement nor a purely political one. At its core, it was a movement of moral reform…Hankins’s grasp of the Italian Renaissance is deeply learned and insightful…Virtue Politics demonstrates why Hankins has earned his place as one of the world’s best intellectual historians of that period. -- Khalil M. Habib * New Criterion *A magisterial work by one of the world’s leading experts on the intellectual history of the Renaissance…One of the many strengths of Hankins’ volume is the great erudition with which he persuasively presents a different paradigm for understanding the Italian Renaissance. -- Carl O’Brien * Bryn Mawr Classical Review *A work to celebrate…A major book which not only synthesizes much of his previous work, but develops it further in ways both pathbreaking and panoramic…As Hankins shows, the central project of humanism was political, to instill virtue in rulers; there was broad agreement on this one point, but fascinating disagreement on many others. Deeply scholarly but marvelously lucid and reader-friendly, this book will be the indispensable study of this whole topic. -- Noel Malcolm * Times Literary Supplement *So timely…A book that is not only the fruit of a long and accomplished career but that also offers a rich and deep perspective on two time periods simultaneously: the Italian Renaissance and our own. Which is another way of saying that Virtue Politics gives readers a clear-eyed account of how the most creative minds of the Italian Renaissance addressed the permanent problems of human nature, virtue, tyranny, and political decay. * Washington Examiner *Magisterial… Hankins has piled up evidence more than sufficient to make his case. He has, moreover, opened up a new field of study…Whatever the course of future scholarship, it will have been Virtue Politics that opened up the field and set the agenda for those who came after. -- Paul A. Rahe * Claremont Review of Books *[A] magnum opus…A history of the political thought of the Italian Renaissance: from Petrarch in the middle of the 14th century to Machiavelli in the early 16th…Hankins is a stylish and sensitive guide to these men and their works, acutely aware that the political questions with which they grappled—what made a tyrant? Could a good man serve him?—were, for them, far from purely theoretical…Readers of Virtue Politics will close the book not only with a richer understanding of the Renaissance, but with a sense of how very differently we might think about politics today. * Standpoint *A bold new argument about the nature and significance of Renaissance political thought and a sweeping new vision of humanism itself…An exceptional scholarly accomplishment—a tour-de-force defense of the aspiration to improve character, a survey of Italian humanism with a uniquely wide recognition of the range of issues it encompassed, and a provocative reinterpretation of Machiavelli’s thought that makes modernity’s dark prophet appear positively naive in comparison with Petrarch, all accompanied by lucid forays into contemporary political theory and philosophy. For students of early modern political thought and philosophy, Hankins’s book will be an essential point of departure for some time. -- Mark Jurdjevic * Journal of Modern History *[A] masterpiece…It shows—with erudition, diligent scholarship, and great intelligence—how the Renaissance humanists, beginning with Petrarch, became convinced that the viciousness and lawless violence of fourteenth-century Italy was not, as previous thinkers had suggested, a problem that could be solved through drafting better laws. Instead, they argued that the eight centuries of peace, stability, and unity under the Romans were a reflection not of that state’s laws but of the moral qualities of its rulers. -- Rory Stewart * Times Literary Supplement *Wide-ranging and magisterial…If a greater focus on character education based on classical virtue does come about in our own time, it’s reasonable to think that this shift will take its bearings and example from the past. Hankins’s history of the Renaissance humanists offers a useful starting place for discovering what that kind of cultural rejuvenation might look like. -- Ian Lindquist * Education Next *An accomplished study of the Renaissance humanists’ political thought…We are unlikely to see soon another book that combines such extensive and precise learning with such a mature and subtle grasp of important matters. We are fortunate to have it. -- Mark Blitz * Law & Liberty *Investigates how [Renaissance humanists] explored a whole range of political issues. These included questions of wealth and economic injustice, the legitimacy of imperial rule, whether states should freely accept migrants and how to deal with debilitating partisanship… This work should prompt us to ask profound questions about the current culture of politics…A landmark piece of scholarship that will influence the study of political thought in the Renaissance for years to come. -- Bijan Omrani * Literary Review *Virtue Politics gives an impressive and thorough tour of Renaissance humanism from Petrarch to Leonardo Bruni to Machiavelli…[It] puts on display the detailed investigation of sources that can only come with decades of thought and research. -- Amanda Madden * Renaissance and Reformation *James Hankins is one of the most important scholars at work today in Renaissance intellectual history, so a new monograph from him demands attention…Virtue Politics will reset the discussion of Renaissance political thought for the next generation. -- Craig Kallendorf * Neo-Latin News *An enormous, sprawling work, providing rich and detailed but nonetheless succinct encapsulation of much of classical and medieval as well as, of course, Renaissance political theory…[A] rich and deeply erudite discussion of the Italian Renaissance. -- Jesse Russell * VoegelinView *Virtue Politics…is both intellectual history and an intervention into contemporary education and political culture…[Hankins’s] sensitive and erudite readings of an impressively broad array of humanist texts make important contributions to our knowledge and understanding of humanism during Italy’s long fifteenth century. -- Charles F. Briggs * Intellectual History Review *Gives Renaissance political thought the place it deserves within the history of Western political thought. -- Tommaso De Robertis * Bibliotheca Dantesca *A magnificent and major reinterpretation of Italian Renaissance political thought, and of the Italian Renaissance itself…It is a pleasure to spend time with this text…Anyone teaching the Renaissance or the history of political thought should have this volume readily at hand. -- Stephen Varvis * Fides et Historia *Virtue Politics is suffused with eloquence, and truly innovative. James Hankins argues that Renaissance humanists worked for political regimes of vastly different types. What was important to them was that leaders put the interests of the state—its stability, peace, and flourishing—before their own more immediate enrichment, or desire for power, or other selfish imperatives. In short, they believed that you could and should judge the moral character of a state and of the people who ran it. The concept of ‘virtue politics’ offers a helpful corrective to prior attempts to situate Renaissance thinkers into teleologically conceived narratives of the history of political theory. Not only is this one of the most important books written on humanist political thought, it is in many ways the first, given the unique way Hankins frames his project. It will change the way scholars conceive of the history of political thought. -- Christopher Celenza, author of MachiavelliJames Hankins’s masterwork takes us from Petrarch’s struggles against a decadent academic clerisy to Machiavelli and Confucius. But the central narrative thread never loosens: that character and virtue are the anchors of all healthy political systems, whether democratic or not. The lessons for today are clear and profound. -- Robert D. Kaplan, author of The Revenge of GeographyA tour-de-force revisionist account of Italian humanism, and a courageous effort to revive the humanist practice of moral education for political leaders in our own day. Machiavelli thought that he lived in an age of historically unprecedented corruption among political leaders. If he were to survey the behavior of so-called leaders in our contemporary world…he might very well concede that at least a measure of Hankins’s moral virtue must accompany his own realist virtue if good government were to have any chance of being achieved today. -- John P. McCormick, University of ChicagoJames Hankins is one of the world’s most distinguished authorities on the political thought of the Italian Renaissance, and Virtue Politics is a truly monumental work of scholarship, destined to leave its imprint for decades to come. It is—to a quite remarkable degree—a history of newly discovered things: new writers, new texts, new ideas, new connections. -- Peter Stacey, University of California, Los Angeles[The] magnum opus of a consummate intellectual historian. James Hankins is the living authority on Italian fifteenth-century neo-Latin literature…Hankins understands that by breathing new life into a beleaguered Renaissance movement, one can also come to the rescue of the Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian heritages, now under fire, on which the Renaissance drew, in order to understand the currently debated legacy of Western modernity. Inviting readers into the midst of an ongoing fray, Virtue Politics reminds us that we all have high stakes in this game. -- Rocco Rubini * European Legacy *

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Book SynopsisBelief in magic was, until relatively recent times, widespread in Britain; yet the impact of such belief on determinative political events has frequently been overlooked. In his wide-ranging new book, Francis Young explores the role of occult traditions in the history of the island of Great Britain: Merlin''s realm. He argues that while the great magus and artificer invented by Geoffrey of Monmouth was a powerful model for a succession of actual royal magical advisers (including Roger Bacon and John Dee), monarchs nevertheless often lived in fear of hostile sorcery while at other times they even attempted magic themselves. Successive governments were simultaneously fascinated by astrology and alchemy, yet also deeply wary of the possibility of treasonous spellcraft. Whether deployed in warfare, rebellion or propaganda, occult traditions were of central importance to British history and, as the author reveals, these dark arts of magic and politics remain entangled to this day.Trade Review'The history of magic – in comparison to the history of witchcraft in Britain – has been under-researched in the Anglophone academy. The relationship of occult traditions to the politics of the realm has thus far been virtually ignored. A ground-breaking study of the history of occult traditions – of 'high' magic (elite, literate, clerical and courtly) as compared to 'low magic' (popular, non-literate, non-clerical) – is therefore to be warmly welcomed. This book is full of fascinating and previously little-known vignettes on the significant influence of the role of magic and the occult in the history of British politics, most of which will be unknown to the non-specialist. It would be an excellent text for undergraduate and postgraduate programs in the history of the occult.' Philip. C. Almond, University of Queensland'A terrific book. Francis Young is quite correct to say that no such survey has been done before, and the evidence presented by him unequivocally demonstrates that politics in pre-modern Britain cannot be fully understood without some attention to the notion and practice of magic and the occult sciences in general such as alchemy and astrology. The author has also brought together a tremendous amount of scholarship in this volume which is commendable in its own right.' Frank Klaassen, University of Saskatchewan'This is an important and accomplished project which demonstrates that – contrary to received opinion, and in modernity as well as the past – magical beliefs are central to political, religious and social lives, as conventionally categorised. I think the book will provoke much interest and comment with its claim that magic is as important as religion, and think too that there are likely to be over the next few years a series of books and theses that render that claim stronger. Magic's time has indeed come: and in that development the book will lead from the front. It will be accessible to a wide range of readers, written as it is with a light and engaging touch. The scope and detail never overwhelm, while the author's definition of magic and his inclusions and exclusions are convincing.' Marion Gibson, University of Exeter'Thought-provoking' William Tipper, The Wall Street Journal'… an immensely readable book with an engaging style, and likely to capture the attention and curiosity of anyone who explores its pages … it is well researched and referenced, striking an excellent balance between scholarship and entertainment.' Helen Hall, Law and Justice, the Christian Law ReviewTable of ContentsIntroduction; 1. 'Britain indulges in magic': the origins of occult traditions in Britain; 2. The secrets of the king: occult and royal power in medieval Britain; 3. Arthurian dynasty: the Tudors and occult power; 4. House of the unicorn: Stuart monarchy and the contest for occult authority; 5. Politics and the decline of magic, 1649-1714; 6. Emanations of Albion: politics and the occult in modern Britain; Conclusion.

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Book SynopsisThis book covers the military history of the Vikings from their early raiding to the final failure of their expansionist ambitions directed against England.

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Book SynopsisWhat comes to mind when we think of swans? Likely their beauty in domestic settings, their preserved status, their association with royalty, and possibly even the phrase ‘swan song’. This book explores the emergence of each of these ideas, starting with an examination of the medieval swan in natural history, exploring classical writings and their medieval interpretations and demonstrating how the idea of a swan’s song developed. The book then proceeds to consider literary motifs of swan-to-human transformation, particularly the legend of the Knight of the Swan. Although this legend is known today largely through Wagner’s opera, it was a best-seller in the Middle Ages, and courts throughout Europe strove to be associated as descendants of this Swan Knight. Consequently, the swan was projected as an icon of courtly and eventual royal status. The book’s third chapter looks at the swan as icon of the Lancasters, particularly important during the reign of Richard II and the War of the Roses, and the final chapter examines the swan as an important item of feasting, focusing on cookery and husbandry to argue that over time the right to keep swans became an increasingly restricted right controlled by the English crown. Each of the swan’s medieval associations are explored as they developed over time to the modern day. 　Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. The Medieval Swan: History and Culture 2. The Swan in Literature 3. The Swan at Court 4. The Swan in Art 5. The Legacy of the Medieval Swan Bibliography

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Book SynopsisBrilliant horsemen and great fighters, the Scythians were nomadic horsemen who ranged wide across the grasslands of the Asian steppe from the Altai mountains in the east to the Great Hungarian Plain in the first millennium BC. Their steppe homeland bordered on a number of sedentary states to the south - the Chinese, the Persians and the Greeks - and there were, inevitably, numerous interactions between the nomads and their neighbours. The Scythians fought the Persians on a number of occasions, in one battle killing their king and on another occasion driving the invading army of Darius the Great from the steppe. Relations with the Greeks around the shores of the Black Sea were rather different - both communities benefiting from trading with each other. This led to the development of a brilliant art style, often depicting scenes from Scythian mythology and everyday life. It is from the writings of Greeks like the historian Herodotus that we learn of Scythian life: their beliefs, their burial practices, their love of fighting, and their ambivalent attitudes to gender. It is a world that is also brilliantly illuminated by the rich material culture recovered from Scythian burials, from the graves of kings on the Pontic steppe, with their elaborate gold work and vividly coloured fabrics, to the frozen tombs of the Altai mountains, where all the organic material - wooden carvings, carpets, saddles and even tattooed human bodies - is amazingly well preserved. Barry Cunliffe here marshals this vast array of evidence - both archaeological and textual - in a masterful reconstruction of the lost world of the Scythians, allowing them to emerge in all their considerable vigour and splendour for the first time in over two millennia.Trade ReviewThe volume is an excellent appetizer for people unfamiliar with the Scythians and the significance of the immense steppe world for ancient history * KOSTAS VLASSOPOULOS, Greece and Rome *A scintillating tour de force from probably the greatest scholar of European archaeology. * Simon Sebag Montefiore, BBC History Magazine, Books of the Year 2019 *Cunliffe writes in an uncluttered style and with a seemingly effortless authority about a complex people ... The book is beautifully produced with plenty of colour illustrations, including excellent maps of unfamiliar places. It will surely become the standard introduction to a remarkable lost world. * Tony Spawforth, Literary Review *Not to be missed. * Timeless Travels *The Scythians, superbly written and lavishly illustrated, is the best account of these hard-riding nomads we are likely to have for a long time to come. Especially worthy of note are the excellent maps and diagrams, expertly placed to help the reader chart the wanderings of the Scythians in some of the world's most remote locations. * Ed Voves, Art Eyewitness *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1: Discovering the Scythians 2: Observing the other 3: Landscape and people 4: Enter the predatory nomad 5: The rise of the European Scythians 6: Scythians in Central Asia 7: Bodies clothed in skins: economy and society 8: Bending the bow 9: Death and the gods 10: The flood continues 11: Reflections on the longue durée Further reading Index Introduction 1: Discovering the Scythians 2: Observing the other 3: Landscape and people 4: Enter the predatory nomad 5: The rise of the European Scythians 6: Scythians in Central Asia 7: Bodies clothed in skins: economy and society 8: Bending the bow 9: Death and the gods 10: The flood continues 11: Reflections on the longue durée Further reading Index

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Book SynopsisThis entertaining and fact-packed guide provides all the information you'll need to travel back in time to Elizabethan London a booming city of courtiers, cutthroats, merchants, beggars, lawyers, dramatists, apprentices and adventurers. Find out the best way to the capital and where to stay. Saunter over London Bridge, with its hundreds of shops and houses. Glimpse Her Majesty at Whitehall, Europe's largest palace. Watch the finest plays and players at the Rose Theatre, and marvel at the bustle of business in the Royal Exchange. Go down to Greenwich to stand on the deck of the Golden Hind, the ship that Sir Francis Drake sailed around the world. This intriguingly addictive guide provides all you need to know to sightsee, shop and meet the famous in the capital of a nation stirring to greatness.Trade Review'A light-hearted and novel way to revisit the London of Shakespeare’s day … a lively guide' - Times Literary Supplement'A skilful combination of light-hearted fun and impressive research, you’ll find yourself entertained and educated at the same time' - Family Tree'Entertaining, easy and quick … There were quite a few shocking facts that I didn’t know!' - Of Beauty and Nothingness'Ingenious … good fun!' - This EnglandTable of ContentsPreparing for your Visit • Getting There, Settling In • Londoners • The Inner Man – and Woman • Law and Order • Meet Famous Elizabethans • Shopping • Celebrations • Entertainment • Must-See Sights • Away Days

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Book SynopsisThroughout the 16th Century, the Spanish had an aura of invincibility. They controlled a vast colonial empire that stretched across the Americas and the Pacific, and held considerable territories in Europe, centering on the so-called Spanish Road. The Dutch War of Independence (also known as the 80 Years'' War) was a major challenge to their dominance. The Dutch army created by Maurice of Nassau used innovative new tactics and training to take the fight to Spain and in so doing created a model that would be followed by European armies for generations to come.The second in a two-part series on the Dutch armies of the 80 Years'' War, focuses on the cavalry, artillery, and engineers of the evolving armies created by Maurice of Nassau. Using specially commissioned artwork and photographs of historical artifacts, it shows how the Dutch cavalry arm, artillery, and conduct of siege warfare contributed to the long struggle against the might of the Spanish Empire.

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Book SynopsisA bestselling national security expert delivers a chilling analysis of how Western indecision and apathy made possible the return of brutal Russian expansionism - with catastrophic consequences.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“A fair-minded, deeply researched account of how a school of thought developed and wielded influence . . . quite well done, and full of fascinating stories.”—Justin Fox, New York Times Book Review“A masterly history.”—George Melloan, Wall Street Journal“The book is a fair- minded, deeply researched account of how a school of thought developed and wielded influence”— Justin Fox, International New York Times“[A] book that no one interested in the interrelationships between Austrian economics and the renaissance of liberal thought can afford to disregard”—Hansjörg Klausinger, Contemporary Austrian Studies“Wasserman’s masterful book paints a much needed critical yet scholarly picture of the Austrian School...Unlike many of the accounts written by people personally connected to the School, he brings attention to these thinkers’ privileged backgrounds and lifestyles, their fundamentally elitist politics, and the important connections to wealthy benefactors with clear political agendas.”—Ola Innset, Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics“Wasserman tells an original story of a real school of economic thought from its very beginnings to the present…tracing the constant interaction between individual thinkers and an intellectual community that has survived over time…The story as a whole is fascinating.”—Antonio Magliulo, The Journal of European Economic History“Likely to become a standard reference...The author is admirably even-handed in his assessments of both the adherents and critics of Austrianism.”—David Throsby, Times Literary Supplement“Shines in its treatment of the School as a sociological entity, and it demonstrates that social ties can overcome many intellectual differences...Makes a compelling case on sociological grounds for the inclusion of Friedrich Wieser, Hans Mayer, Joseph Schumpeter and Oskar Morgenstern in the School”—Erwin Dekker, European Journal of the History of Economic ThoughtWinner of the Joseph Spengler Best Book Prize, sponsored by the History of Economics Society “This is a vital book for our times. Janek Wasserman’s study is learned and accessible, demystifying and elegant; above all, it corrects popular misconceptions about the origins and legacies of Austrian economics.”—Jeremy Adelman, Princeton University“Over more than a hundred years, the Austrian School of Economics was born, emigrated, split, revived and transformed. Janek Wasserman has done the impossible, producing a readable guide to the whole story while shirking none of the school’s complexity. A serious achievement.”—Quinn Slobodian, author of Globalists: The End of Empire and the Birth of Neoliberalism“Janek Wasserman deftly traces the filiation of Austrian economic ideas from the café culture of pre-war Vienna to the online universe of the contemporary alt-right. The result is a stimulating history of economists such as Mises and Hayek, and their influence on our era. Well-written, compelling, and entirely accessible, this book deserves a broad readership.”—Robert Leonard, Université du Québec à Montréal“[ . . . ] Wasserman has succeeded in providing a rich and worthwhile overview of Austrian economics.”—D. Mitch, University of Maryland Baltimore County

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Book SynopsisThe Middle Ages inherited from Antiquity a tradition of prophesy and gave it fresh and exuberant life. This tradition foretold a Millennium in which humanity would enjoy a new Paradise on earth, free of suffering and sin - a Kingdom of the Saints. Generation after generation was intermittently seized by a tense expectation of some sudden, miraculous event in which the world would be utterly transformed. Often these expectations became enmeshed with social unrest and movements arose which sent tremors through the massive structure of medieval society. Drawing on a huge variety of contemporary sources, this unique and compelling book tells the story of those Millenarian fanaticisms of the Middle Ages and points to their persistence in the modern world.Trade ReviewCompelling and original -- Bettany Hughes * The Times *Important, original... Haunting and significant * Times Literary Supplement *It is a piece of great originality and power... It deserves study and emulation -- Isaiah BerlinFull of rich, fascinating scholarship... What a field he covers -- Hugh Trevor-Roper

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Book SynopsisThis book explores an England in the aftermath of Magna CartaTrade ReviewDarren Baker paints an unforgettable portrait that allows every reader of this book to come away with a deeper understanding of medieval kingship and the determination of one king in particular to survive and save his dynasty in very difficult political circumstances. -- Michael Clanchy

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Book SynopsisFollowing on from his epic 1812: Napoleon''s Fatal March on Moscow', bestselling author Adam Zamoyski has written the dramatic story of the Congress of Vienna.In the wake of his disastrous Russian campaign of 1812, Napoleon''s imperious grip on Europe began to weaken, raising the question of how the Continent was to be reconstructed after his defeat. There were many who dreamed of a peace to end all wars, in which the interests of peoples as well as those of rulers would be taken into account. But what followed was an unseemly and at times brutal scramble for territory by the most powerful states, in which countries were traded as if they had been private and their inhabitants counted like cattle.The results, fixed at the Congress of Vienna in 1815, not only laid the foundations of the European world we know; it put in place a social order and a security system that lie at the root of many of the problems which dog the world today. Although the defining moments took place in Vienna, anTrade Review‘Deeply researched, elegantly written, gleaming with the political and sexual depravity of the Congress that decided the fate of Europe, Zamoyski's “Rites of Peace” is outstanding – a delicious, triumphant feast of a book.’ Daily Mail ‘Impressively detailed diplomatic history; it deals with the fate of nations and dynasties and the doings of emperors, kings and princes. The author keeps up a strong narrative drive, guiding the reader through the tortuously involved negotiations of the Congress.’ The Economist ‘Zamoyski's…account of the labyrinthine twists of diplomacy is both masterly and exhaustive…I closed the book full of admiration for its author.’ Sunday Times

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Book SynopsisA brilliant, intricate and magical novel from the Godmother of British fantasy.When Andrew Hope''s magician grandfather dies, he leaves his house and field-of-care to his grandson who spent much of his childhood at the house. Andrew has forgotten much of this, but he remembers the very strong-minded staff and the fact that his grandfather used to put the inedibly large vegetables on the roof of the shed, where they''d have vanished in the morning. He also remembers the very colourful stained glass window in the kitchen door, which he knows it is important to protect.Into this mix comes young Aidan Cain, who turns up from the orphanage asking for safety. Exactly who he is and why he''s there is unclear, but a strong connection between the two becomes apparent.There is a mystery to be solved, and nothing is as it appears to be. But nobody can solve the mystery, until they find out exactly what it is!Trade ReviewPraise for Enchanted Glass "Enchanted Glass is no exception to Diana Wynne Jones's general rule of using, and possibly abusing, folklore and fantasy for her own splendid ends… Wynne Jones belongs to an elect clan of the most treasured of British children's authors, creating her own unique brand of fantasy, in the same manner as Alan Garner and Susan Cooper, and it's surely this experience that breeds the confidence to write with such subtle depth. Blissful."Marcus Sedgwick, The Guardian "At her best, as in… Enchanted Glass, Wynne Jones is superb, mixing the comical with the magical… Highly recommended, especially for boys."Amanda Craig, The Times "No one has ever written quite like Diana Wynne Jones. The author of over 40 novels, she combines the delicate humour and nostalgic village settings of Barbara Pym with the wild imagination of JRR Tolkien… This latest book remains as predictably unpredictable as all her other works."Nick Tucker, The Independent "Time to waive the 'no reading at table' edicts; Diana Wynne Jones is back with another fantasy novel, so if you have an eight- to 12-year-old, enjoy the silence for 332 pages. Enchanted Glass demands nothing less than full-body immersion."Daily Telegraph

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Book SynopsisThe Black Door explores the evolving relationship between successive British prime ministers and the intelligence agencies, from Asquith's Secret Service Bureau to Cameron's National Security Council.Intelligence can do a prime minister's dirty work. For more than a century, secret wars have been waged directly from Number 10. They have staved off conflict, defeats and British decline through fancy footwork, often deceiving friend and foe alike. Yet as the birth of the modern British secret service in 1909, prime ministers were strangers to the secret world sometimes with disastrous consequences. During the Second World War, Winston Churchill oversaw a remarkable revolution in the exploitation of intelligence, bringing it into the centre of government. Chruchill's wartime regime also formed a school of intelligence for future prime ministers, and its secret legacy has endured. Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair and David Cameron all became great enthusiasts for spies and special forces. AlTrade Review‘Must read stuff. Aldrich and Cormac are inexhaustible researchers, who use a wide range of archives and include striking material from off-the-record informants. ‘The Black Door’ is a vital, authoritative book’ Richard Davenport-Hines, The Times ‘Pioneering book … a major contribution to our understanding of British prime ministers over the last century. This is one of those rare books that deserve to change the way that modern British political history is researched and written’ Christopher Andrew, Literary Review ‘A timely read’ **** Daily Express ‘This book deserves to be taken very seriously. The authors are intimately familiar with the history of the modern intelligence community’ Sunday Times ‘The first close study of relations between nineteen prime ministers and their secret service. Plenty of lively stories and characters’ The Times

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Book SynopsisA TIMES BOOK OF THE YEARAn absolute joy to read and an early contender for every list of History Books of the Year' Sunday TelegraphOn nearly every page a random passage takes one's breath away' The TimesHave you ever heard the march of legions on a lonely country road? For two thousand years, the roads the Romans built have determined the flow of ideas and folktales, where battles were fought and where pilgrims trod. Almost everyone in Britain lives close to a Roman road, if only we knew where to look.In the beginning was Watling Street, the first road scored on the land when the invading Romans arrived on a cold and alien Kentish shore in 43 CE. Campaign roads rolled out to all points of the compass, forcing their way inland and as the Britons fell back, the roads pursued them relentlessly, carrying troops, supplies and military despatches. In the years of fighting that followed, as the legions pushed onwards across what is now England, into Wales and north into Scotland in search ofTrade Review A TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR ‘There’s something beguilingly mysterious about these ancient roads . . . When searching for his road, Hadley makes full use of his senses. . . the breadth of his knowledge . . . the beauty of his prose. This book deserves to be read at least twice, first to appreciate what it reveals and then to luxuriate in its effervescent voice. On nearly every page a random passage takes one’s breath away’ The Times, Gerard DeGroot ‘Magnificent . . . exciting . . . This is no dry and prosaic history, but a work of imagination and a deeply literary book… wonderful prose . . . striking images and lapidary sentences… enthralling. It’s an absolute joy to read and an early contender for every list of History Books of the Year’ Sunday Telegraph, Harry Sidebottom ‘In this magnificent book. . . Hadley takes us down a different way, looking through a gentler window on that road's long lost days. He reveals The Road's own intimate knowledge of the land it knew and the folk it's known, turning the tables on what we think we're reading; because The Road is not really about it, it's about us’ Mythical Britain, Michael Smith author of King Arthur's Death ‘Loving The Road, [it’s] about a Roman road but also a rumination on the past and our relationship with it. [An] excellent companion piece to his previous book about a dragon slayer’s tomb. The pair offer a whole new and very exciting model for how to do local history. Highly recommend’ Dr Kelcey Wilson-Lee author of Daughters of Chivalry ‘Ingeniously constructed…scholarly…wears its learning lightly… is engagingly written…and always a pleasure to read’ Country Life ‘The book offers a wealth of historical knowledge in a fashion which is entertaining and readable… combines scholarly depth with wonderfully lyrical depictions of the English landscape’Literary Review

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Book SynopsisA TIMES HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEARFrom the preeminent historian of 20th century Spain Paul Preston, Architects of Terror is a new history of how paranoia, conspiracy and anti-Semitism was used to justify the military coup of 1936 and enabled the construction of a dictatorship built on violence and persecution.It is the previously untold story of how antisemitic beliefs were weaponised to justify and propagate the Franco overthrow of liberal Spain.The Spanish military coup of 1936 was launched to overturn the social and economic reforms of the democratic Second Republic, and its educational and cultural challenges to the established order. The consequent civil war was fought in the interests of the landowners, industrialists, bankers, clerics and army officers whose privileges were threatened. However, a central justification for a war that took the lives of around 500,000 Spaniards was that it was being fought to combat an alleged scheme for world domination by a non-existent Jewish- Masonic-Bolshevik Conspiracy'. Despite the fact that Spain had only a tiny minority of Jews and Freemasons, Franco and his inner circle were ardent believers in this fabricated conspiracy and spread the notion that the survival of Catholic Spain, as well, of course, of the establishment ' s economic interests, required the total annihilation of Jews and Freemasons.Architects of Terror is the story of how fake news, mendacity, corruption and nostalgia for lost empire generated violence and hatred. The book presents vivid portraits of the key ideologues who propagated the myth of the Jewish-Masonic-Bolshevik Conspiracy and of the military figures who implemented the atrocities that it justified. Among the convictions shared by these individuals was their belief in the idea that Freemasonry was responsible for Spain ' s loss of empire and in the factual veracity of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the notorious fiction about the global domination of the Jews.This is a history that reverberates in our own political momentTrade Review A TIMES HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEAR ‘Deeply researched and revealing . . . Preston’s study is based on both profound knowledge and shrewd human understanding’ Daily Telegraph, five-star review ‘Preston’s great skill lies in carefully dissecting these vile characters…This book reveals Preston at the peak of his powers; he’s an enormous intellect and a great storyteller’ The Times, Gerald DeGroot Praise for A People Betrayed (2020) A Financial Times Best History Book of 2020 ‘For decades, Paul Preston has been one of the English-speaking world’s premier historians of modern Spain. His latest book, dealing with the controversial topic of corruption in Spanish politic, public administration and business, is particularly good on the Franco dictatorship and post-Franco democratic era’ Financial Times ‘Fascinating … The depth of the book’s research cannot be faulted and the examples of grand malfeasance and political corruption are extraordinary … Buried in the narrative lies ample treasure … I applauded Preston’s heroic feat.’ Times ‘Tremendously rich and learned … Preston is one of Britain’s finest historians … This book, massively researched … Powerful, persuasive and utterly fascinating – makes for harrowing reading’ Sunday Times ‘A magisterial study of [Spain’s] turbulent past, seen through the optic of those apparently ineradicable twins: corruption and political incompetence … Races along in a riveting fashion, replete with eye-catching and often blackly humorous anecdotes …Preston’s narrative combines his gift for cogent, summarising clarity and for telling details …Preston has written an admirable book – a lively, comprehensive history of modern Spain.’ Guardian

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Book SynopsisWhen this book begins, in the reign of Edward VII, Great Britain commands the mightiest empire the world has ever seen. By the time it ends, with the Coronation of Elizabeth II, Britain has emerged victorious from a world war, but ruined as a world power. How did Britain''s power and influence decline? This is one of the questions which A. N. Wilson seeks to answer in his masterly follow-up to The Victorians.Trade ReviewNo review can do justice to the richness, liveliness and sheer fun of this book. Wilson has written one of the books of the year -- John Charmley * Guardian *Argumentative, thought-provoking and very well-written -- Andrew Roberts * Daily Telegraph *He shows that the issues which dominate our headlines - immigration, Iraq, religious tolerance - have their roots in decisions made, or not made, as long ago as the Twenties ... A compelling read -- Kathryn Hughes * Mail on Sunday *The practised columnist's ability to provoke new thoughts with an original and opinionated argument is evident on nearly every page... Coherent and absorbing -- Michael Grove * The Times *A page-turner, lambent with fascination... One of the best things about the book is the use Wilson makes of the period's reflection in its fecund literature. And, indeed, his masterly piece of history is a work of literature too -- A.C. Grayling * Financial Times *

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Book Synopsis''A triumphant family memoir'' Hallie Rubenhold''Powerfully told...an impressive work'' The Times''Gives a voice to the voiceless'' Australian Book ReviewIn this remarkable book, Carmen Callil discovers the story of her British ancestors, beginning with her great-great grandmother Sary Lacey, born in 1808, an impoverished stocking frame worker. Through detailed research, we follow Sary from slum to tenement and from pregnancy to pregnancy. We also meet George Conquest, a canal worker and the father of one of Sary''s children. George was sentenced - for a minor theft - to seven years'' transportation to Australia, where he faced the extraordinary brutality of convict life.But for George, as for so many disenfranchised British people like him, Australia turned out to be his Happy Day. He survived, prospered and eventually returned to England, where he met Sary again, after nearly thirty years. He brought her out to Australia, and they were never parted again.A miracle of research and fuelled by righteous anger, Oh Happy Day is a story of Empire, migration and the inequality and injustice of nineteenth-century England.''A remarkable tale...drawing chilling parallels to the inequalities of our times'' ObserverTrade Review[A] remarkable tale...drawing chilling parallels to the inequalities of our time... A book that is both a heartfelt outpouring of pity and sorrow and an irate demand for restitution... Oh Happy Day deserves to be called Dickensian. -- Peter Conrad * Observer *Fascinating... [Oh Happy Day] evokes echoes of the present in speaking about the past, as all great works of history do. It's a gripping narrative. -- Erica Wagner * Harper's Bazaar *Oh Happy Day gives a voice to the voiceless and adds another major work to Carmen Callil's formidable achievements. -- Brenda Niall * Australian Book Review *Oh Happy Day is a phenomenal achievement... The book covers great swathes of history... These are intriguing stories. -- Dani Garavelli * Herald Scotland *An absorbing account of empire, migration, the poverty of injustice and enduring love... The book bristles with Callil's righteous anger at the injustices meted out to her forbears, and at the parallels for our own times. -- Caroline Sanderson * The Bookseller *

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Book Synopsis'You are hereby ordered to fall upon the rebels, the MacDonalds of Glencoe, and to put all to the sword under seventy.' This was the treacherous and cold-blooded order ruthlessly carried out on 13 February 1692, when the Campbells slaughtered their hosts the MacDonalds at the Massacre of Glencoe. This book describes the terrible events at Glencoe.

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Book SynopsisThe concept of an ordered human society, both religious and secular, as an expression of a divinely ordered universe was central to medieval thought. In the West the political and religious community were inextricably bound together, and because the Church was so intimately involved with the world, any history of it must take into account the development of medieval society.Professor Southern's book covers the period from the eighth to the sixteenth century. After sketching the main features of each medieval age, he deals in greater detail with the Papacy, the relations between Rome and her rival Constantinople, the bishops and archbishops, and the various religious orders, providing in all a superb history of the period.Table of ContentsPrefaceList of Abbreviations1. Church and Society2. The Divisions of TimeI. The Primitive Age, c. 700-c. 1050II. The Age of Growth, c. 1050-c. 1300The main developmentThe rise and limits of clerical supremacyThe positive achievementIII. The Age of Unrest, c. 1300-c. 1550The changing environmentPolitical change and reaction3. The Divisions of ChristendomI. The Seeds of DisunityDivergent habitsPolitical separationDoctrinal differencesII. The Two ChurchesIII. The Search for ReunionThe military wayThe political package dealThe way of understandingRegression4. The PapacyI. The Primitive Age, c. 700-c. 1050The Vicar of St. PeterThe supreme temporal lordII. The Age of Growth, c. 1050-c. 1300The Vicar of ChristThe growth of businessThe primacy and temporal powerThe lawyer-popesIII. The Inflationary Spiral, c. 1300-c. 1520IndulgencesInternational politicsThe struggle for benefices5. Bishops and ArchbishopsI. The Carolingian Church Order and Its Break-UpThe formation of a bishopThe break-up of the Carolingian idealII. Bishops in the Service of the PopeAn archbishop in northern FranceAn archbishop in EnglandA bishop in GermanyAn episcopal family in northern Italy6. The Religious OrdersI. The BenedictinesThe RuleThe centuries of greatnessChange and decayII. The New OrdersThe Augustinian canonsThe CisterciansIII. The FriarsThe environmentAims and originsGrowth and achievement7. Fringe Orders and Anti-OrdersI. The General EnvironmentThe behaviour of crowdsThe influence of women in religious lifeII. A Confusion of TonguesThe beguines of CologneThe religious brethren of Deventer and its neighbourhoodEpilogueList of Popes, 590-153Index

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Book SynopsisA portrait of 18th century England, from its princes to its paupers, from its metropolis to its smallest hamlet. The topics covered include - diet, housing, prisons, rural festivals, bordellos, plays, paintings, and work and wages.Table of ContentsContrasts; the social order; power, politics and the law; keeping life going; getting and spending; having and enjoying; changing experiences; towards industrial society; conclusion.

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Book SynopsisIn this major survey, three distinguished historians produce an exciting introduction to the field. Although the Lost Centuries between AD400 and 600 suffer from a scarcity of written sources, and only two writers, King Alfred and the Venerable Bede, dominate our understanding of later times, the authors have created a rich and thought-provoking account of the stormy era when Britain became Christian and sustained several waves of Viking invaders. A single nation, they suggest, slowly emerged from the rivalries and fluctuating fortunes of separate kingdoms like Mercia, Wessex and East Anglia. Major figures such as Offa, Alfred, Edgar and Cnut are discussed in detail, while the stunning illustrations convey the immense achievements of Anglo-Saxon centuries were 'simply a barbarous prelude to better things'.

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Book SynopsisThere is no more haunting, compelling period in Britain's history than the later middle ages. The extraordinary kings - Edward III and Henry V, the great warriors, Richard II and Henry VI, tragic inadequates killed by their failure to use their power, and Richard III, the demon king. The extraordinary events - the Black Death that destroyed a third of the population, the Peasants' Revolt, the Wars of the Roses, the Battle of Agincourt. The extraordinary artistic achievements - the great churches, castles and tombs that still dominate the landscape, the birth of the English language in The Canterbury Tales. For the first time in a generation, a historian has had the vision and confidence to write a spell-binding account of the era immortalised by Shakespeare's history plays. The Hollow Crown brilliantly brings to life for the reader a world we have long lost - a strange, Catholic, rural country of monks, peasants, knights and merchants, almost perpetually at war - but continues to defin

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Book Synopsis''The Penguin History of Europe series ... is one of contemporary publishing''s great projects'' New StatesmanThe Pursuit of Glory brings to life one of the most extraordinary periods in European history - from the battered, introvert continent after the Thirty Years War to the dynamic one that experienced the French Revolution and the wars of Napoleon. Tim Blanning depicts the lives of ordinary people and the dominant personalities of the age (Louis XIV, Frederick the Great, Napoleon), and explores an era of almost unprecedented change, growth and cultural, political and technological ferment that shaped the societies and economies of entire countries.Trade ReviewThe Penguin History of Europe series ... is one of contemporary publishing's great projects * New Statesman *With five volumes now out, the Penguin History of Europe series ... is shaping up to be the best general account available, superseding all previous ones * Economist *

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Book SynopsisFrom 1981 to 2008 Simon Price was a Lecturer at the University of Oxford, where he taught Greek and Roman history for Lady Margaret Hall and St Hugh's College. He has written, co-written, or co-edited books on ancient religions and rituals and also co-edited The Greek City from Homer to Alexander. Peter Thonemann has taught Greek and Roman history at Wadham College, Oxford, since 2007. He has published widely on the history of Asia Minor, and is director of the Monumenta Asiae Minoris Antiqua XI project. His first book, The Maeander, will be published shortly.Trade ReviewThe Birth of Classical Europe combines a strong narrative with sophisticated thematic analysis and reflection ... Despite the immense ground covered, there is no impression of the breathlessness and superficiality which one might have thought unavoidable. -- Simon Hornblower * TLS *The Penguin History of Europe series ... is one of contemporary publishing's great projects * New Statesman *With five volumes now out, the Penguin History of Europe series ... is shaping up to be the best general account available, superseding all previous ones * Economist *

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