European history: medieval period, middle ages Books
Vintage The Napoleonic Wars 18031815
Book SynopsisKnown collectively as the ''Great War'', for over a decade the Napoleonic Wars engulfed not only a whole continent but also the overseas possessions of the leading European states. A war of unprecedented scale and intensity, it was in many ways a product of change that acted as a catalyst for upheaval and reform across much of Europe, with aspects of its legacy lingering to this very day. There is a mass of literature on Napoleon and his times, yet there are only a handful of scholarly works that seek to cover the Napoleonic Wars in their entirety, and fewer still that place the conflict in any broader framework. This study redresses the balance. Drawing on recent findings and applying a ''total'' history approach, it explores the causes and effects of the conflict, and places it in the context of the evolution of modern warfare. It reappraises the most significant and controversial military ventures, including the war at sea and Napoleon''s campaigns of 1805-9. The studTrade ReviewThis is a compact, stimulating, and at times surprisingly polemical account * The International History Review *Napoleon helped shape modern French politics, as much as he determined the nature of modern warfare... Dr Gates's book is a sure guide to the wars whose effects were felt well into the twentieth century -- Hew Strachan, Chichele Professor of the History of War, Oxford University
£17.09
Vintage 1066 The Year of The Three Battles
Book SynopsisEveryone knows what William the Conqueror won the Battle of Hastings in 1066, but in recent years is has become customary to assume that the victory was virtually inevitable, given the alleged superiority of Norman military technology. In this new study, underpinned by biographical sketches of the great warriors who fought for the crown of England in 1066, Frank McLynn shows that this view is mistaken. The battle on Senlac Hill on 14 October was a desperately close-run thing, which Harold lost only because of an incredible run of bad fortune and some treachery from the Saxon elite in England. Both William and Harold were fine generals, but Harold was the more inspirational of the two. Making use of all the latest scholarship, McLynn shows that most of our ''knowledge'' of 1066 rests on myths or illusions: Harold did not fight at Hastings with the same army with which he had been victorious at Stamford Bridge three weeks earlier; the Battle of Senlac was not won by Norman arcTrade ReviewA splendid book... fascinatingly rich and thorough. -- Julian Rathbone * Independent on Sunday *An exciting story well told... A most lively and rewarding book. -- Jeremy Black * Literary Review *One of our most readable historians * Daily Express *McLynn is an astonishingly prolific historian. His books are always elegantly written, highly opinionated and enormously enjoyable * Sunday Times *Has anybody done more – done as much – as Frank McLynn in writing intelligent, combative, thoroughly researched and thoroughly readable history? * Independent *
£15.29
Vintage Three Whys Of The Russian Revolution
Book SynopsisIt is my considered judgement that, had it not been for the Russian Revolution, there would very likely have been no National Socialism; probably no Second World War and no decolonization; and certainly no Cold War, which one dominated our lives. I will attempt here to distill the essence of my books The Russian Revolution and Russia Under the Bolshevik Regime by raising the three central questions addressed in those volumes: Why did tsarism fall? Why did the Bolsheviks gain power? Why did Stalin succeed Lenin?'' Richard Popes, from Three Whys of the Russian Revolution.Arguably the most important event of the twentieth century, the Russian Revolution changed for ever the course of modern history. Due to the Soviet clampdown on archives regarding the Revolution, many aspects of the event have been shrouded in mystery for over seventy years. However, since the collapse of Communism the archival depositories havebeen thrown open to interested parties.Trade ReviewOne of America's great historians. * Washington Post Book World *Pipes is not a mere communicator of facts but a philosopher examining the deeper, broader trends beneath the surface of history. * San Francisco Chronicle *
£11.69
Vintage Lynch M Scotland
Book SynopsisFrom Bannockburn and Robert the Bruce to the union of the crowns and Mary, Queen of Scots; from the Reformation and John Knox, to the Enlightenment and the Highland Clearances, and right up to devolution, Scotland is the definitive history of a country that has experienced centuries of dramatic change.Michael Lynch, named as ''one of the most influential historians in Scotland of the last thirty years'', has penned an extraordinary one-volume history of the country that spans twenty centuries, from the Picts to the present day. Thrilling, comprehensive, provocative and timely, Scotland is a monumental work of scholarship.Trade ReviewIt's a book that seems more like a multi-volume history, so sweeping is it; yet lucid and captivating even in detailed areas... Fundamental to Lynch's approach is a sense of connection between now and then, however far back; he continuously shows how Scottish identity refashions its heroes and myths, yet clings to survival -- Douglas GiffordA monumental achievement * Times Literary Supplement *Breathtaking and absorbing * Scottish Field *Fascinating...it ought to be compulsory reading for all MPs, journalists and commentators before they were permitted to talk about European economic and political union -- Tom Wilkie * Independent *
£21.25
British Museum Press Hoards Hidden History
Book SynopsisInvestigates a broad selection of hoards that have come to light in recent times across the British Isles. The author looks at the variety of objects found and at the practice of hoarding itself. She also considers who the hoarders were and what might have compelled them - economic upheaval, war, or more complex social and ritual customs.
£11.69
British Museum Press The Vikings in Britain and Ireland
Book SynopsisJayne Carroll is Director of the Institute for Name-Studies and Associate Professor in the History of English at the University of Nottingham. Her main academic interests include place-names and language and literature in Old English and Old Norse. Stephen H. Harrison is an Honorary Research Associate in medieval history at Trinity College Dublin, having previously worked in museums, universities and commercial archaeology. He specializes in the social context of Scandinavian burials in the early Viking Age and has wider interests in Viking Age Britain and Ireland, particularly early settlement activity. Gareth Williams is Curator of early medieval coins at the British Museum. He has worked extensively on warfare, coinage, wealth and exchange, and towns in the Viking Age. Gareth was also lead curator of the British Museum exhibition Vikings: life and legend.
£10.44
British Museum Press Roman Britain
Book SynopsisAn accessible, highly illustrated introduction to the history, society, culture and art of Britain when it was a province of the Roman Empire
£11.69
Gill A Short History of Ireland
Book SynopsisSince its first publication in 1994 Richard Killeen's Short History of Ireland has been widely accepted as the most accessible introduction to Irish history. It presents the history of Ireland in attractive double paged spreads, which can be quickly read to give an easy overview of the key events of Irish history. It is superbly illustrated with over 150 full colour photographs, paintings and drawings.Over the past 10 years almost 150,000 copies have been sold in English, French and German language editions. This new edition brings the story up to date including the days of the Celtic Tiger and the Good Friday agreement.
£6.50
Gill A Short History of the Irish Revolution
Book SynopsisThe Irish revolution began with the Ulster crisis of 1912 followed by the Irish Nationalist Party securing the passage of the Home Rule Act in 1914. By then, however, the Great War had broken out: the Act was suspended for the duration of the war, with the violent Ulster opposition to it still unresolved.But the war changed everything. Over thirty thousand Irish troops died. A radical nationalist minority rebelled against British rule at Easter 1916, an event that established itself as the foundation date of a new, more assertive nationalism. In 1918 Sinn Féin supplanted the old Nationalist party and formed its own assembly in Dublin. At the same time the IRA began an armed campaign against British Rule.By 1922, Britain had withdrawn from twenty-six of the thirty-two counties of Ireland which now constituted the Irish Free State. The Ulster problem had, however, never been resolved. The result was partition and the establishment of two states on the island something u
£11.39
Gill The Irish Times Book of the 1916 Rising
Book SynopsisThis bestselling book recreates the actual course of events during that tumultuous week, based on contemporary witnesses, memoirs and later recollections. It adds up to the most comprehensive and accessible account of Easter Week in print and has received praise in all quarters.
£17.09
Gill A Pocket History of Ireland
Book SynopsisEncompassing stories of some of Ireland's best known characters as well as key moments in Ireland's past, this pocket history recalls the country's struggles through dark times, its successes, its people and places. The wealth of Irish culture and tradition is described as well as the key events and people that have shaped the country today.
£6.99
Gill The Great Irish Famine A History in Four Lives
Book SynopsisThe Great Irish Famine of 184552 was the defining event in the history of modern Ireland. At least one million people died, and double that number fled the country within a decade.The Great Irish Famine surveys the history of this great tragedy through the testimonies of four key contemporaries, conveying the immediacy of the unfolding disaster as never before.They are: John MacHalethe Catholic Archbishop of Tuam John Mitchelthe radical nationalist Elizabeth Smiththe Scottish-born wife of a Wicklow landlord Charles E. Trevelyanthe assistant secretary to the Treasury Each brings a unique perspective, influenced by who they were, what they witnessed, and what they stood for. It is an intimate and compelling portrayal of these hungry years. The book shows how misguided policies inspired by slavish adherence to ideology worsened the effects of a natural disaster of catastrophic proportions.Reviews:Trade Review“There are many books on this terrible event, but this is one of the most fluent and original. Although it is based on large amounts of primary research its style is accessible and engaging, and the result is a valuable study of a truly harrowing crisis”. * The Times Higher Education Supplement. *
£15.29
Gill Brian Boru and the Battle of Clontarf
Book SynopsisBrian Boru is the most famous Irish person before the modern era, whose death at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014 is one of the few events in the whole of Ireland's medieval history to retain a place in the popular imagination. Once, we were told that Brian, the great Christian king, gave his life in a battle on Good Friday against pagan Viking enemies whose defeat banished them from Ireland forever. More recent interpretations of the Battle of Clontarf have played down the role of the Vikings and portrayed it as merely the final act in a rebellion against Brian, the king of Munster, by his enemies in Leinster and Dublin.This book proposes a far-reaching reassessment of Brian Boru and Clontarf. By examining Brian's family history and tracing his career from its earliest days, it uncovers the origins of Brian's greatness and explains precisely how he changed Irish political life forever.Brian Boru and the Battle of Clontarf offers a new interpretation of the role of the Vikings in Irish affairs and explains how Brian emerged from obscurity to attain the high-kingship of Ireland because of his exploitation of the Viking presence. And it concludes that Clontarf was deemed a triumph, despite Brian's death, because of what he averteda major new Viking offensive in Irelandon that fateful day.Reviews:I cannot recommend enough Seán Duffy's book for its readability and the enormity of backbreaking historical scholarship lightly borne and compellingly presented.'Dr Pat Wallace, Director Emeritus of the National Museum of IrelandThis scholarly, sympathetic book expertly unpicks legend and propaganda to uncover the real figure, offering an important reassessment of his place in Irish history.' Donnchadh Ó Corraín, Irish Times Weekend ReviewTrade Review‘I cannot recommend enough Seán Duffy’s book for its readability and the enormity of backbreaking historical scholarship lightly borne and compellingly presented.’ -- Dr Pat Wallace, Director Emeritus of the National Museum of Ireland
£16.19
Gill A Narrow Sea
Book SynopsisThe first history of the special relationship between Ireland and Scotland from acclaimed historian Jonathan Bardon, based on his BBC Radio seriesBased on the popular BBC Ulster radio series of the same name, A Narrow Sea traces the epic sweep of Ireland's relationship with Scotland, exploring the myriad connections, correlations, personalities and antagonisms that have, over the centuries, defined the relationship between these two spirited neighbours.In 120 brief, episodic chapters, A Narrow Sea offers a stirring and panoramic view of a connection that has shaped the course of history. Roving freely across the centuries, from the first migrations of the regions' paleolithic tribes and their encounters with Greek and Roman explorers, to the grand colonial projects of the Vikings, Normans and Stuarts, this is the story of how a shared culture laid the basis for two very different nations.Jonathan Bardon's lively and engaging history of the interactions between Ireland and Scotland over two millennia is a vastly pleasurable read and history at its most accessible.' Dublin Review of Books
£22.94
Gill CodeBreaker
Book SynopsisThe incredible true story of the librarian, the Nazi spy and Ireland's secret role in turning the tide of World War IIWhen unassuming librarian Richard Hayes, a gifted polymath and cryptographer, was drafted by Irish intelligence services to track the movements of a prolific Nazi spy, Hermann Görtz, Dublin became the unlikely venue for one of the most thrilling episodes in Irish history.In a complex game of cat-and-mouse that would wind its way through the city and its suburbs, Code Breaker reveals how Richard Hayes cracked a code that helped turn the tide of World War II, and uncovers a secret history of the capital that has remained hidden in plain view for the past 70 years.
£16.19
Gill Constance Markievicz
Book SynopsisThe third book in the Little Library series. When your collection is complete, you'll have a little library and big knowledge!Discover the REVOLUTIONARY that was CONSTANCE MARKIEVICZ!Constance Markievicz grew up in Co. Sligo in the late 1800s with a dream: she wanted Ireland to become free and the people to be treated fairly. She spent her life working to make these things happen. With rebellion in the air, she was asked for advice on how a lady should dress. Her answer? Dress suitably in short skirts and strong boots, leave your jewels in the bank and buy a revolver.'And the Easter Rising began
£9.49
Gill A Pocket History of Northern Ireland
Book SynopsisThe book tells the history of Northern Ireland from the Third Home Rule Bill right through to Derry Girls. Covering all aspects of the beginnings of Northern Ireland as a separate state, to gerrymandering and World War II, and on to the emergence of the Troubles and finally peace, this book is a guide to all the dramatic events of the past 100 years. Leaders such as Terrence O'Neill, Gerry Fitt, Ian Paisley, Gerry Adams, David Trimble and John Hume are profiled, along with terrorist organisations and political parties. The cultural history of Northern Ireland is also celebrated, from Seamus Heaney to Derry Girls and Game of Thrones.
£6.99
Gill A Pocket History of Kilmainham Gaol
Book SynopsisA wonderful introduction to an Irish landmark.
£6.99
Gill In Fact
Book SynopsisIf you follow the headlines, you could be forgiven for thinking that things in Ireland are worse than ever. In fact, we live longer than ever before, we have never been healthier or better educated, we earn five times more than our grandparents did, our personal freedoms exceed those of any previous generation, and the lives of women and children have been transformed for the better.At a time when some good news is welcome, this uplifting book tells our national story through facts and stats, placing Ireland under the microscope to chart 100 undeniable achievements of the past 100 years.When the State was formed, Ireland was one of the most poverty-stricken nations in Europe. Now it has the second-highest quality of life in the world. While there is still more to be done, In Fact illustrates that Ireland, for all its imperfections, is in a much better state than you might think.
£20.69
Gill Creedon J That Place We Call Home
Book SynopsisJohn Creedon has always been fascinated by place names, from growing up in Cork City as a young boy to travelling around Ireland making his popular television show. In this brilliant new book, he peels back the layers of meaning of familiar place names to reveal stories about the land of Éireann and the people who walked it before us.Travel the highways, byways and boreens of Ireland with John and become absorbed in the place names, such as The Cave of the Cats', Artichoke Road', The Eagle's Nest' and Crazy Corner'. All hold clues that help to uncover our past and make sense of that place we call home, feeding both mind and soul along the way.That Place We Call Home will foster or feed a love of local lore and cultivate an appreciation for the historical remnants scattered in plain sight all over Ireland's 63,000 townlands' Irish IndependentMarvellous' Paddy Kehoe, RTÉA beautiful book' Daithí Ó Sé, The Today Show
£14.39
Gill Irelands Secret War
Book SynopsisIreland's Secret War is a thrilling account of the true extent of IrishAllied co-operation during World War II. It reveals strategic Nazi intentions for Ireland and the real role of leading government figures of the time, placing Dan Bryan and G2 firmly at the centre of Ireland's battle against Nazi Germany.With the help of over thirty-five hours of previously unpublished audio recordings that were held in storage in northern California for over fifty years, Marc McMenamin reveals the extraordinary unheard history of WWII in Ireland, told from the point of view of the main protagonists.Written with the verve and energy of a thriller, Ireland's Secret War reassesses the legacy of the Irish contribution to the Allied war effort through the voices of those involved at the time.
£16.19
Gill In Our Day
Book SynopsisFor over fifty years, Kevin C. Kearns trekked the rough-and-tumble streets of the heart of Dublin, hoping to record and preserve the city's vanishing oral history. Armed only with a Sony tape recorder, the ordinary people he encountered street traders, dockers, factory workers, tram drivers, housewives and midwives, children and grandparents shared private stories of hardship, joy, sorrow, suffering, survival and triumph.In Our Day is the culmination of a life's work a treasure trove bursting with whispers from the past 450 vignettes, memories and recollections gathered to present an evocative, poignant portrait of a forgotten Dublin.Without Kevin, the lives of ordinary decent Dubliners would be forgotten. This book is a celebration of them.' Joe Duffy
£20.39
Gill Is Ireland Neutral
Book SynopsisNeutrality has, supposedly, long been a pillar of the Irish national identity. But examining the concept reveals it to be a vague, flimsy and elastic notion that, throughout history, various governments have been happy to stretch or, in some cases, abandon entirely. Today, warfare has expanded to include cyberattacks, environmental concerns, election interference and disinformation. If our traditional idea of warfare is changing, should our idea of neutrality change, too?In this timely and thought-provoking examination of a core tenet of Irish society, Conor Gallagher explores the practical and ethical implications of choosing a side. He asks, in the face of aggression, is it right to sit back and do nothing?And is it even possible to be neutral in such an interconnected world?
£16.19
Gill Last Voices of the Irish Revolution
Book SynopsisThe Irish Civil War ended in 1923. Eighty years on, documentary-maker Tom Hurley wondered if there were many people left from across Ireland who experienced the years 1919 to 1923, their prelude and aftermath.In early 2003, he recorded the experiences of 18 people, conducting two further interviews abroad in 2004. Tom spoke to a cross-section (Catholic, Protestant, Unionist and Nationalist) who were in their teens or early twenties during the civil war. The chronological approach he has taken spans fifty years, beginning with the oldest interviewee's birth in 1899 and ending when the Free State became a republic in 1949.100 years after the Civil War ended, this book weaves aunique chronology of the revolutionary years through the experiences of 20 people.Together, theirs are the last voices of the Irish Revolution.
£22.94
Penguin Books Ltd The War in Italy A Ladybird Expert Book
Book Synopsis* PRE-ORDER YOUR COPY NOW *- Why did the Allies decide to invade Southern Italy?- How did the weather and Italian terrain complicate the fighting?- How did General Mark Clark''s Allied Armies win the final battle?Discover the mounting conflict and complex campaigns of the war in Italy. From Operation HUSKY to Clark''s final offensive, the Allied campaign tightened the noose around Nazi Germany and saw the end of Italian Fascism, though it was at a cost of high civilian casualty and destruction.AN EPIC OF GRIT, DETERMINATION AND SACRIFICEWritten by historian, author and broadcaster James Holland and with immersive illustrations by Keith Burns, THE WAR IN ITALY 1943-1945 is an accessible and enthralling introduction to these critical battles and their impact on the outcome of World War II
£8.54
Penguin Books Ltd The Spanish Armada A Ladybird Expert Book Volume
Book SynopsisPart of the ALL-NEW LADYBIRD EXPERT SERIES.____________Why did the Spanish launch their Armada on England?How did Francis Drake counter the Spanish threat?And why were so many ships lost at sea?In 1585 Spain was the most POWERFUL Empire in the known world.As tensions between PROTESTANT England and CATHOLIC Spain rose . . . SPAIN decided to INVADE ENGLAND. And launched the SPANISH ARMADA This raises the question: how did England manage to overthrow the Spanish invasion? Was it luck or judgement? Discover the answers and more inside Sam Willis''s Ladybird Expert - The Spanish Armada, the thrilling and accessible account that explains what happened, who the key figures were and the tactics, triumphs and failures on both sides . . .Trade ReviewThe artwork is gloriously retro, echoing the original Ladybird house style but containing completely up to date information. * Shiny New Books *
£999.99
James Clarke & Co Ltd Not Mentioned in Despatches
Book SynopsisA controversial, detailed examination of the decisive events of the Falklands war, focusing on the Battle of Goose Green and questioning the media's presentation of the heroic victory for the British.Trade Review"As a service to history, this is commendable" Major Ali Ahmed, USI Journal "His argument that Col. Jones leaned too heavily towards restrictive control is convincing ... a remarkably outspoken book." Soldier "Controversial and readable, explains clearly the two contradictory systems of tactical command under consideration at Goose Green. This is a fascinating book which looks at a very recent piece of our history from a new and disturbing angle." Forces News "Exhaustive research ... A masterly study of this confused action." Eastern Daily PressTable of ContentsList of Maps and Sketches Acknowledgements Introduction Part One: Preliminaries to Battle Part Two: The Battle Part Three: Conclusions Appendices Bibliography Index
£30.91
Manchester University Press The rise and fall of the Scottish cotton industry
Book SynopsisThis is the first full-length history of the Scottish cotton industry, from its beginnings in the late eighteenth century to its premature decline in the years leading up to the First World War. -- .Trade Reviewthis is very good social and economic history(The rise and fall of the Scottish cotton industry) has clearly elaborated the multi-dimensional character of the Scottish textile industryTony Cooke has made a notable contribution to our understanding of early industrialisation and its impact...This is a significant studyvery well written...an excellent study of the cotton industry in Scotlanda book of quality that acts as a welcome addition to historical analyses of this important area of Scottish manufacturing...helps to deliver new and interesting information on the historiography of the cotton industryA very well-written account of a Scottish industry...(photographs and colour plates, for example of the sari shawl peacock design) add yet more to this very accessible studyThis is a well-written and informative general history of Scottish cotton manufacturing from its emergence out of the linen industry down to its shrinking almost to insignificance by the First World War....the book is rich in technological and social detail. It is rightly concerned with the social and political context within which the industry operates, without succumbing too much to a 'culturalist' reading of the industry's demise"... Cooke has explored a range of personal manuscript papers, correspondence, Chamber of Commerce records, wills, fire insurance and Court of Session records, to piece together a convincing history.""... much ground is covered.""Cooke is adept at demonstrating the operation of myriad forms of production - the old combined with the new - which comprised the industry.""... the main strength of Cooke's study is its clarification of the strands of diversity of the industry.""This is a careful piece of research in which the author reveals his mastery of a huge subject. Cooke is to be congratulated on his successful assimilation of evidence from a range of issues and rendering it accessible.""In a study which is so thoroughly researched and which so skilfully incorporates a diversity of themes..." -- .Table of ContentsAcknowledgementsList of tablesList of illustrationsAbbreviationsIntroduction1. Beginnings: The pre-history of the industry2. Expansion: 1778–18303. Foreign competition, diversification and decline: 1830–19144. Technology5. Workers 6. Employers 7. ConclusionAppendix I. Wills and probate inventories BibliographyIndex
£63.75
Hodder & Stoughton The Last Dance
Book SynopsisAn absorbing account of a turning-point in British historyTrade Review'An absorbing presentation...colourful and cinematic' * Piers Brendon, Sunday Times *'Vivid... illuminating... four stars' * Mail on Sunday *'Stimulating and highly readable... absorbing' * Geoffrey Wheatcroft, New Statesman *'Witty... there are many good stories... a keen eye for telling detail... a lively book' * Michael Burleigh, Spectator *"Absorbing... the divided society of time is lucidly portrayed... colourful and cinematic. It vividly recapulates key themes played out during the 1930s" * Sunday Times *'Denys Blakeway has triumphed with this book, writing with humour and sophistication about all forms of British life' * Lady *'A surprisingly vivid and enjoyable study of what turns out to be a semina year - 1936 . . . Blakeway brings a TV producer's eye to the sweep of history and enlives it with a plethora of fresh insights and anecdotes' * Anthony Horowitz, Sun Tel Christmas books *'Politicians, poets and pacifist clerics share a brilliant, crowded canvas, with the sinister figure of Hitler looming in the background. Blakeway hardly misses a trick' * Sunday Telegraph *
£9.49
John Murray Press The Great Silence
Book SynopsisThe story of life after the Great War: a turning point in historyTrade ReviewJuliet Nicolson examines a much overlooked period of history. She painstakingly recounts how those who had stayed at home came to terms with a brutally changed world in the aftermath of the first world war and how the returning soldiers struggled to cope with the horrors they faced * Elizabeth Day, Observer *Praise for The Perfect Summer:'As page-turning as a novel ' * Joanna Trollope, Guardian *'There is an unpretentious directness about Nicolson's approach to her subjects that gives the book a freshness and vitality. Happily, she also has an eye for the amusing or the ironic' * Scotsman *A fascinating read * Mail on Sunday *Thoroughly entertaining . . . full of memorable detail * Spectator *'The strength of the book lies in the sensitivity and skill with which the private lives and relationships of the protagonists are recounted. Nicolson writes fluently and paces her narrative expertly' * BBC History Magazine *'Nicolson writes well and thoughtfully' * Sunday Telegraph *'Nicolson has opened the door onto a time of misery, introspection and change' * Lancashire Evening Post *Praise for The Perfect Summer:'As page-turning as a novel ' * Joanna Trollope, Guardian *'There is an unpretentious directness about Nicolson's approach to her subjects that gives the book a freshness and vitality. Happily, she also has an eye for the amusing or the ironic' * Scotsman *A fascinating read * Mail on Sunday *Thoroughly entertaining . . . full of memorable detail * Spectator *'The strength of the book lies in the sensitivity and skill with which the private lives and relationships of the protagonists are recounted. Nicolson writes fluently and paces her narrative expertly' * BBC History Magazine *'Nicolson writes well and thoughtfully' * Sunday Telegraph *'Nicolson has opened the door onto a time of misery, introspection and change' * Lancashire Evening Post *'This detailed account of that period is both fascinating and lucidly written' * The Daily Telegraph *'Juliet Nicolson examines a much overlooked period of history. She painstakingly recounts how those who had stayed at home came to terms with a brutally changed world in the aftermath of the First World War and how the returning soldiers struggled to cope with the horrors they faced' * Observer, Great Poolside page-turners *'A fascinating read' * Observer *'I devoured it . . . It's a wonderfuly written book about the aftermath of the First World War with something I didn't know on every page' * Barry Humphries, Sun Tel Christmas books *
£10.99
John Murray Press Villa AirBel
Book SynopsisThe remarkable true story of some of Europe's greatest artists, the house that sheltered them during the Second World War, and the Emergency Rescue Committee who helped them escape from the NazisTrade Review'Rosemary Sullivan knows that you can understand nothing about a place without listening to individual people and their stories' * Margaret Atwood *'Rosemary Sullivan's Villa Air-Bel is a marvellous addition to the surging literature on occupied France. Sullivan writes . . . as a dramatist. Her scene-by-scene evocation of life at the house reads like an updated Chekhov comedy laced with horror' * Jackie Wullschlager, Financial Times *'Sullivan brilliantly interweaves personal histories with terrifying tales about flight over mountains to Spain or Switzerland and by sea to Casablanca and Martinique, and with stories of forging papers, bribery, love and betrayal' * Sarah Curtis, The Sunday Times *'Part history, part adventure story... the product of much devoted research and wide reading. Interesting, important, and her telling... gripping. Sullivan's book is full of interest, of good stories, of nice character sketches. She handles the huge cast she has assembled deftly, and her enthusiasm is obvious' * Allan Massie, Literary Review *'This is a magnificent, complex narrative of courage, folly and complacency.' -- Jane Stevenson, Daily Telegraph, who, as the subtitle read, was 'captivated by the story of a Harvard classical scholar who rescued Europe's intellectuals from the Nazis' * Jane Stevenson, Daily Telegraph *'With tremendous suspense and emotional pull, Sullivan recounts the little-known story of Varian Fry' * Vogue *'[A] fascinating history' * Publishing News *'Beautifully written in a style that is novelistic, Villa Air-Bel brings to life the story of this rescue through experiences of a community of artists who spent time in the Villa Air-Bel chateau ...The book is interesting and evocative and provides nuances and texture to one of the untold stories of rescue during the Holocaust' * Jewish Book World *'A complex tale showing how hope and courage flourish, even in the toxic soil of totalitarianism' * Kirkus *'...a true tale full of intrigue, danger, crazed love, death and survival ...The debt of modern culture to the motley crowd at the Villa Air-Bel is truly incalculable' * Bookpage *
£12.34
John Murray Press After the Reich From the Liberation of Vienna to
Book SynopsisIn the chaos after the Reich an astonishing 2.5 million ordinary citizens were killed. This harrowing history uncovers the extraordinary stories of real German people from all walks of life in the aftermath of the Second World WarTrade ReviewPraise for Giles MacDonogh's previous books: * . *Prussia: 'Well-researched, well-written and important' * Independent *Berlin: 'A rich book, packed with information, understanding and enthusiasm, stuffed with wonderful tales well told and suffused by prodigious reading' * Daily Telegraph *Frederick the Great: 'Stylishly written and rich in detail, this biography offers the most rounded portrait of Frederick the Great yet to appear in English' * Sunday Telegraph *The Last Kaiser: 'Compelling' * The Sunday Times *
£12.34
The Crowood Press Ltd Twenty Battles That Shaped Medieval Europe
Book Synopsis
£22.50
Pluto Press Labour Revolt in Britain 191014
Book SynopsisNew insights into one of the most important episodes in British labour historyTrade Review'Fascinating ... reminds us, with passion and vigor, of the years of political and trade union organisation of the English workers' movement on the eve of the Great War. Unmissable’ -- Raquel Varela, labour historian, professor at FCSH-Universidade Nova de Lisboa and author of ‘A People's History of Europe: From World War 1 to Today’'A timely warning from history. Rising poverty and strike action. Collective bargaining, a tool for managing workers discontent. Westminster failing workers. An active rank & file holding unions accountable. All vital lessons we must apply during this current period of unrest' -- Henry Fowler and Robert Poole, Co-Founders, Strike Map'Based on meticulous historical research, this important study refutes once again the myth of working-class 'quiescence'. Addressing the remarkable eruption and trajectory of the great Labour Revolt in the years before World War I, Ralph Darlington reconstructs the many forms of autonomous worker resistance and its entanglement with trade union officialdom, as well as close links to radical socialist politics ... Provides a highly significant new contribution to the analysis of the limits and potential of industrial militancy and its relationship to political action and organisation' -- Marcel van der Linden, International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam'In the first book-length study of the 1910–14 labour revolt, Ralph Darlington convincingly conveys the breadth, depth, and limitations of its many strike movements. Within ten years, British politics, trade unionism, and industrial relations would be transformed' -- Dave Lyddon, Keele University, founding editor of 'Historical Studies in Industrial Relations''Drawing on modern historical research, Darlington depicts a broad working-class revolt in which radical activists played an important catalysing role. In discussing both the successes and the failures of the movement, he demonstrates its continued contemporary relevance' -- Richard Hyman, Emeritus Professor of Industrial Relations, Founding Editor, 'European Journal of Industrial Relations', Fellow of the British Academy‘Details a great moment in British and Irish working-class history, one where fundamental change seemed possible.’ -- ‘Counterfire’‘Incisive, erudite’ -- ‘Times Literary Supplement’Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Abbreviations Introduction Part I BACKCLOTH 1. Contexts and Causes 2. Influence of the Left Part II REVOLT 3. Scope, Harbingers and Springboard 4. Spirit of Revolt 5. Gathering Momentum 6. Diversity of Struggles 7. Challenges and Expectations Part III ASSESSMENT 8. Rank-and-File/Union Official Dynamic 9. Striking Organisation 10. Countermobilisation and Violence 11. Political Radicalisation 12. Industrial Militancy and the Radical Left Part IV AFTERMATH 13. Dénouement, Sequel and Political Legacy Tables Bibliography Index
£17.99
Pluto Press A Party with Socialists in It
Book SynopsisA smart and succinct history of the Labour leftTrade Review'A welcome corrective, This book astutely appraises British politics’ most frustrating but important dissident tradition' -- 'Guardian''Admirably clear-sighted' -- 'New Statesman''At a very crucial time in British politics, this book helps us to fill in important gaps in our knowledge' -- David Coates, author of 'Prolonged Labour: The Slow Birth of New Labour in Britain''A well-timed explanation of the class contradictions at the root of the Labour Party from its creation to the present day' -- 'Labour Briefing'Table of ContentsForeword to the Second Edition by Nadia Whittome MP Foreword to the First Edition by John McDonnell MP Preface to the Second Edition Introduction 1. Divided Beginnings 2. Second Time as Disaster 3. The Age of Consent 4. The Civil War 5. 'Though Cowards Flinch...' 6. The Broad Church Collapses 7. The Single Idea 8. The Corbyn Supremacy 9. From Ancient Grudge Break to New Mutiny… Conclusion: …Where Civil Blood Makes Civil Hands Unclean Notes Index
£14.24
John Wiley and Sons Ltd Civilising Subjects
Book SynopsisWinner of the Morris D. Forkasch prize for the best book in British history 2002 Civilising Subjects argues that the empire was at the heart of nineteenth-century Englishness. English men and women in the mid-nineteenth century imagined themselves at the centre of a great empire: their mental and emotional maps encompassed ''Aborigines'' in Australia, ''negroes'' in Jamaica, ''coolies'' in the Indies. This sense of the other provided boundaries and markers of difference: ways of knowing who was ''civilised'' and who was ''savage''. This fascinating book tells intertwined stories of a particular group of Englishmen and women who constructed themselves as colonisers. Hall then uses these studies as a means of exploring wider colonial and cultural issues. One story focuses on the Baptist missionaries in Jamaica and their efforts to build a new society in the wake of emancipation. Their hope was to make Afro-Jamaican men and women into people like themsTrade Review"Civilising Subjects provides a compelling account of the ways in which the various imperial projects of the nineteenth century shaped domestic political, evangelical, and cultural agendas. This detailed study of Victorian empire and English national culture is sure to become the definitive study of the decade and beyond." Kathleen Wilson, author of The Sense of the People: Politics, Culture and Imperialism in England, 1715-1785 "Civilising Subjects does for colonial history what E.P. Thompson's The Making of the English Working Class did for social history. It triumphantly achieves what many have hoped to do: show how empire impacted on metropolis while the home culture shaped colonial development. This is a work of great scholarship, but also of passion and imagination." Roy Porter, author of The Creation of the Modern World: The Untold Story of the British Enlightenment 'This is a brilliant piece of detective work, uncovering half-forgotten debates and hidden connections linking England and Jamaica in the first half of the Victorian era...The argument that all collective identities are formed through drawing up boundaries between "us" and inferior "others" has become a cliche...Hall is the first historian to give a really convincing account of how that happened. Her story also illuminates how West Indians, and their descendents in Britian, came to occupy such an ambivalent "inside-outsider" place in that picture. Civilising Subjects is not just important for historians of Britain and empire. Anyone concerned with issues of race, citizenship and identity in Britiain today can learn a great deal from it.' The Independent "This book has the fine detail and rich colours of a Vermeer painting." Denis Judd, Historian, BBC History Magazine "...a landmark text, bringing national and imperial history into conjunction and providing a significant contribution to the new cultural history. Civilising Subjects desrves to be widely read." Michael Pickering, Journal of Contemporary European Studies "Civilising Subjects is a tour de force and promises to deepen our understanding of how Empire rebounded back on Britain." Social History "What a book! What a breeze of fresh air in British colonial history! Let there be no doubt about it: this book is cultural history at its best and most advanced." Journal for the Study of British CulturesTable of ContentsAcknowledgements. List of Maps and Illustrations. Introduction. Prologue: The Making of an Imperial Man. Australia. New Zealand. St.Vincent and Antigua. Jamaica. Part I: Colony and Metropole:. Mapping Jamaica:the Pre-Emancipation World in the Metropolitan Mind. 1. The Missionary Dream 1820-1842:. The Baptist Missionary Society and the Missionary Project. Missionaries and Planters. The War of Representation. The Constitution of the New Black Subject. The Free Villages. 2. Faultlines in the Family of Man 1842-1845:. Native Agency and the Africa Mission. The Baptist Family. Brother Knibb. 3. A Jamaica of the Mind 1820-1854:. Phillippo's Jamaica. 'A Place of Gloomy Darkness'. 4. Missionary Men and Morant Bay 1859-1866:. Anthony Trollope and Mr.Secretary Underhill. The Trials of Life. Morant Bay and After. Part II: Metropolis, Colony and Empire:. Mapping the Midland Metropolis. 5. The 'Friends of the Negro': Baptists and Abolitionists 1825-42:. The Baptists in Birmingham. 'Friends of the Negro'. The Utopian Years. 6. The Limits of Friendship: Abolitionism in Decline 1842-59:. 'A Population Intellectually at Zero'. Carlyle's Occasion. George Dawson and the Politics of Race and Nationalism. Troubles for the Missionary Public. 7. Town, Nation and Empire 1859-1867:. New Times. Morant Bay. Birmingham Men. Epilogue. Notes. Bibliography.
£23.74
John Wiley and Sons Ltd Moscow 1937
Book Synopsis* An award-winning account of Stalin s reign of terror when 1. 5 million people lost their lives in a single year. * Karl Schlogel reconstructs the process through which, month by month, the terrorism of a state-of-emergency regime spiraled into the Great Terror .Trade ReviewWinner of the Leipzig Book Prize for European Understanding "An almost impossibly rich masterpiece. The density and seriousness, the deliberation and literary art of this exhilarating tour de force testifies to the enduring value and purpose of that perhaps now-vanishing triumph of the human intellect, the book." The Atlantic, best five books of 2012 "A dizzyingly brilliant panorama of the enormous variety of events and processes unfolding in Moscow between 1936 and 1938. Schlogel succeeds admirably - indeed, better than any historian to date - in reproducing the atmosphere and grotesque contradictions." Times Higher Education "Exceptionally readable. An extraordinary, thought-provoking masterpiece." Literary Review “An excellent and original book. Not only is it a highly detailed account of a city in turmoil (containing many more fascinating stories than a review can ever do full justice), but it reveals clearly how 1937 was a year of extreme contradictions” Europe/Asia Studies "Schlögel's total history of Moscow during the fateful year ranks among the best of Sovietology." International Affairs "No book could be more equal to the task of restoring Stalin’s victims to Western memory than Schlögel’s Moscow, 1937 - it is an extraordinary work of scholarship, prose and remembrance." Times Literary Supplement "“A brilliant achievement of historical writing, one that can be read profitably by specialist and the general reader alike.” American Historical Review "Schlogel's comprehensive overview gives a profound overall view of what it was like to live in such a crucial place in such a crucial year." Dublin Review of Books "It is great. Moscow, 1937 teaches us that life goes on as usual, even in the midst of great catastrophe, but it also teaches that great catastrophe can look a lot like life going on as usual." Vol. 1 Brooklyn "Compelling in every way, the book startles the mind and stirs the imagination in the way that only poetry and music can sometimes do. An instant classic." Wichita Eagle "Karl Schlögel’s Moscow 1937 draws a living, multi-dimensional portrait of the megacity in a crucial year of upheaval that evokes all the hope, despair, creativity, horror, escapism, terror, fear, and striving that enveloped the Muscovite cityscape and its inhabitants. Schlögel is an unusually inventive historian and a brilliant stylist; it’s a great boon to have his latest work available in English." Norman M. Naimark, Stanford University and author of Stalin’s Genocides "This book’s focus is one year, 1937, and one place, Moscow, but it is no narrow history. The narrative has sweep and depth, encompassing the mundane, the spectacular, and the nightmare dream world of Stalin’s purges; an incomparable book about people during one of the most grandiose and terrifying epochs of the twentieth century." David Shearer, University of Delaware "Starting from a birds-eye view of the city from above, a homage to the flight of Bulgakov’s Margarita, Schloegel captures the complex specificity of a time and place of immense significance in Soviet and twentieth-century history. In this multivalent historical moment, interrogations at the Lubyanka coexist with happy summer vacations and the triumphant conquest of the North Pole by Soviet aviators. Schloegel brings into play an ingenious variety of sources, ranging from architectural blueprints and city directories to execution records, not forgetting diaries and literary evocations. This is a masterful, panoramic work by a gifted story-teller who is also a highly innovative, sophisticated and erudite historian." Sheila Fitzpatrick, University of Chicago "In brilliant fashion Karl Schlögel presents Moscow as a rotating stage of Soviet desire and Stalinist nightmares. Like no other author before him, he charges his prose and the sequence of scenes with the hallucinatory power of the Communist project. The vertiginous and terrifying effect is his very point and singular achievement." Jochen Hellbeck, Rutgers University "Karl Schlogel's Moscow 1937 is a brilliant essay of "Total history" on a crucial episode of Soviet history, on one of the greatest historical catastrophes of the Twentieth Century.This is the first book which goes beyond totalitarianism and revisionism and brings us a totally new interpretation of this tragic event by presenting together opposing experiences and manifestations such as the preparation for universal, free, direct and secret elections and carefully planned, organized mass killings. Or, in other words, Dream and Terror." Nicolas Werth, Institut d’histoire du temps présent "This is a montage of a great city in tumult, in equal parts depicting the optimism of progress and the horror of the show trials, all in the shadow of a looming war." Andrew Cornish, Readings "While most historians see both terror and civilisation as important to understanding the Soviet experience of the 1930s, they tend to spend their time investigating either one or the other. Schlögel is the first to attempt to knit them together so intricately. Moscow 1937 is an act of remembrance as well as a work of history.” London Review of Books "There is no book that so perfectly and completely captures the stark contradictions of Soviet life. Each scene is a marvel, and together they recreate for us a multisided and vanished world." Wendy Goldman, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USATable of ContentsPreface x Acknowledgements xiii Reproduction Acknowledgements xvii Translator's Note xx Introduction 1 1 Navigation: Margarita's Flight 10 Margarita's fl ight – Manuscripts don't burn: a writer in 1937 – Relief map of the city, locations, staging posts – Dramatis personae and their portrayal: dual characters – NKVD, the organization – 'People vanished from their apartments without trace' – Sudden deaths, execution as spectacle – 'It can't be!' 2 Moscow as a Construction Site: Stalin's General Plan in Action 33 Aleksandr Medvedkin's film New Moscow – A new cityscape: Stalin's General Plan for the Reconstruction of Moscow – Moscow as a construction site: between demolition and new construction – Moscow beyond the ring roads – Human landscape, struggle for survival 3 A Topography of the Disappeared: The Moscow Directory of 1936 54 Snapshot of the status quo: directories as documents of their age – Topography of power and other locations – Traces of the disappeared – Lists of people to be shot and the posthumous reconstruction of their addresses 4 The Creation of Enemies: The Criminal Prosecution of the Trotskyite-Zinovievite Terrorist Centre, 19 - 24 August 1936 68 World-historical criminal cases: the rhetoric of the fi rst Moscow show trial – The echo of violence: how a latent civil war comes to be articulated in language – 'Double-dealers' – The birth of the show trial from the spirit of lynch-law – The ideal enemy 5 'Tired of the Effort of Observing and Understanding': Lion Feuchtwanger's Moscow 1937 81 A key scene in European intellectual history: Feuchtwanger's meeting with Stalin – The impotence of the anti-fascist movement: how to generate a point of view – The end of the fl âneur: journey in the shadow of the NKVD – The phenomenology of confusion and the creation of unambiguous meaning: credo quia absurdum – Leave-taking at Belorusskii Station 6 In the Glare of Battle: Spain and Other Fronts 95 Moscow maps: the scene is Spain – A world in meltdown, war scare – The Soviet nation as a patriotic fi ghting unit – Metastases: show trial in Barcelona, the NKVD abroad – Barcelona transfer: Moscow experiences 7 Blindness and Terror: The Suppressed Census of 1937 109 A journey into the interior of society – 6 January 1937: snapshot of an empire – Ten years after the census of 1926: balance sheet after the Great Leap Forward – Self-analysis, self-education, data acquisition – The shock of the missing millions – Statistics as crime 8 A Stage for the Horrors of Industrialization: The Second Moscow Show Trial in January 1937 125 'The Business-like atmosphere' – The language of expert witnesses – The topography of the Five-Year Plan – Human sacrifi ce, nemesis, chorus – Postscript 9 'A Feast in the Time of Plague': The Pushkin Jubilee of 10 February 1937 144 The New York Times: 'All Russia was Pushkin-mad today' – 'Comrade Pushkin': consecration of a classic – A feast in the time of plague: coded discourses – Platitudes of a new culture – Russian genius and imperial rule 10 Public Death: Ordzhonikidze's Suicide and Death Rites 160 The shock: Sergo is dead – Escape into ritual – Suicide as a weapon – A hopeless situation and protest – Death as a group experience: speaking of death in times of mass murder 11 The Engine Room of the Year 1937: The February-March Plenum of the Central Committee 177 A leadership at its wits' end: the voice of panic – Testing the limits and exceeding them: the Party indicts Bukharin and Rykov – The shock: 'universal, free, secret elections' – Audit report: ungovernability and fear of chaos – Wreckers at work in the NKVD – The dissolution of the Party and the creation of a new one – Setting the machinery in motion 12 Moscow in Paris: The USSR Pavilion at the International Exhibition of 1937 198 The exhibition trail: a journey through the map of the Soviet Union – The theme park of twentieth-century civilization – Marginal encounters 13 Red Square: Parade Ground and Place of Execution 209 14 Chopin Concert and Killing Ritual: Radio and the Creation of the Great Community 215 Radiofi katsia: the two faces of progress – Radio as the background noise of the new age – The sphere of feelings – Radio listeners as 'citizens of the world' – Stalin: the original soundtrack: the direction of the historical moment – Wreckers at work in the ether 15 Soviet Art Deco: Time Preserved in Stone 229 The First All-Union Congress of Architects, 16–26 June 1937 – Moscow as a building site – Chaos and stress – The Soviet universe as exhibition – The creation of a new style during a state of emergency – Closing speech: Frank Lloyd Wright 16 'Brown Bodies, Gaily Coloured Shorts': Sports Parade 248 'The glorious beauty of young people' – Fizkul'turnik, fi zkul'turnitsa: icons of the new age – 'Stalin's tribe': tableaux vivants in Red Square 17 Wealth and Destruction: The Seventeenth International Geology Congress in Moscow 256 The emergence of Soviet geologists: science and the dream of an affluent nation – Pioneers the nation does not need: geologists as enemies of the people – Vladimir Vernadskii: a patriot without fear – Excursion to the Moscow–Volga Canal: science and slave labour 18 A City by the Sea: The Opening of the Moscow–Volga Canal 274 After the White Sea Canal: Stalin's second arterial highway – A canal as a Gesamtkunstwerk: the aesthetics of a man-made riverscape – Dmitlag, the Gulag Archipelago at the gates of the capital: the parallel society of the camp zone – Perekovka/ reforging: the laboratory of the new man – 'I have seen a country that has been transformed into one great camp' 19 Year of Adventures, 1937: A Soviet Icarus 294 Triumphs, records: a city in a fever – Non-stop to America – The conquest of the Arctic – Twentieth-century adventures – Heroes of the age: Stalin's aviators – 'There are thousands of dreamers like me' – 'Bolshevik romanticism' and terror 20 Moscow as Shop-Window: The Abundance of the World, Hungry for Goods and Dizzy with Hunger 314 André Gide: on luxury and shortages – Advertisements, window displays: objects of desire and how to present them – Dizzy with hunger – A hopeless struggle: a nation of speculators – The queue as grapevine 21 Open Spaces, Dream Landscapes: Cruising on the Volga, Holidaying on the Red Riviera, Conspiracies in the Dachas 326 22 The National Bolshevik Nikolai Ustrialov: His Return Home and Death 332 Returning home from exile: establishing contact with the new Russia – National Bolshevism and Stalin's 'Socialism in One Country' – The world of 'former people' and 1937 – A double reading: a diary with comments by the NKVD 23 Celebrating the October Revolution on 7 November 1937 344 In the diplomats' box – Conversations in the inner circle of power 24 A Miniature of High Society before the Massacre 355 The bombs come closer – Beau monde, illustrious society – Masked ball at the American Embassy – Interior with piano and nursemaid – Yezhov's salon: art and the secret police – Postscript: inventory of luxury and fashion 25 Soviet Hollywood: Miracles and Monsters 372 Lenin in October: the Revolution corrected – The USSR as a land of film, picture palaces and stars – Mosfi lm 1937: chaos in the film factory – Volga-Volga: directors as conspirators, actors as spies – Terror and good entertainment 26 Death in Exile 387 Dimitrov's diary: a record of self-destruction – Vanishing point Moscow: biotope – Foreign comrades – Vulnerability: world communism as world conspiracy – Lists, dossiers and card indexes 27 Arcadia in Moscow: Stalin's Luna Park 404 'A centre of culture and rest' – 'What a summer!' – The locus of public opinion 28 'Avtozavodtsy': The Workforce of the Stalin Car Factories 413 'Shanghai': city of immigrants, city on the periphery – Ivan Likhachev, captain of industry – Factory patriotism: the factory as melting pot – 'Mass criticism', or the orchestration of hatred and despair 29 Dzhaz: The Sound of the Thirties 433 Dzhaz (Utesov) – Songs for the masses (Dunaevskii) – Classical music (Shostakovich) 30 Changing Faces, Changing Times 444 31 America, America: The Other New World 450 Ili' a Il' f and Evgenii Petrov's journey to America – Special relations: Soviet Americanism and the New Deal – The American way of life in 1937 – Utopia as present-day reality 32 'I Know of No Other Country . . .': 1937 and the Production of Soviet Space 463 The birth of the Soviet Union from the spirit of songs for the masses – Moscow as an image-making machine – Homogenizing labour: purges and the unity of the Soviet nation 33 The Butovo Shooting Range: Topography of the Great Terror 472 Looking for traces: the archaeology of the graveyard – Mass murder on the outskirts of the city – Sociology of the mass grave – Killing by quota: Order No. 00447 – World war, civil war 34 Lonely White Sail . . .: Dreamtime, Children's Worlds 505 35 Yezhov at the Bolshoi Theatre: Celebrating Twenty Years of the Cheka 510 At the heart of Moscow: power made visible – Celebratory speeches and music between the mass murders – Ovations for the executioners: morituri salutant 36 Bukharin Takes his Leave 519 Bukharin's final plea – The show trial: exercises in dialectics – The Lubianka: prison as a production site – Letter to Koba – A Moscow childhood in 1900 37 'For Official Use Only': Moscow as a City on the Enemy Map 538 38 The Foundation Pit 544 The imaginary centre: a support for the empire – The dome that disappeared: Russian Byzantium – Labouring away at a vacuum: fantasies of the building of the century – Rome, New York, Moscow: the genius of Boris Iofan – War, post-war, and the end of the state of emergency 39 Instead of an Epilogue 558 Notes 559 Select Bibliography 619 Index 638
£18.04
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Garden Cities 782 Shire Library
Book SynopsisGarden Cities: the phrase is redolent of Arts and Crafts values and nineteenth-century utopianism. But despite being the culmination of a range of influential movements, and their own influence, in fact there were only ever two true garden cities in England far more numerous were garden suburbs and villages. Crystallised in England by social visionary Ebenezer Howard and designed in many cases by Barry Parker and Raymond Unwin, the concept arose from industrial settlements like Port Sunlight, and also from the American City Beautiful movement. Designed to promote healthy and comfortable individual and community life, as well as commerce and industry, they remain instantly recognisable. This book is a beautifully illustrated guide to the movement and to the communities which are its legacy. Sarah Rutherford has an MA in the conservation of historic parks and gardens and a PhD. She was Head of the English Heritage Historic Parks and Gardens Register and is now a freelance consultant, crTable of ContentsIntroduction / The Development of Planned Settlements / Influential Ideas and Examples / Howard, Parker and Unwin: Garden City Theory and Planning / Garden Cities in Practice / Garden Suburbs and Villages / Living in Utopia / Further Reading / Places to Visit / Index
£8.99
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC The Tudor Reformation 818 Shire Library
Book SynopsisThe Reformation transformed England forever. From peasants in the lanes and fields to the court of Henry VIII, no life was left untouched as the Roman Catholic Church was replaced as the centre of the nation's religious life. Emerging from a dense mesh of European ecclesiastical and political controversy and Tudor dynastic ambition, the English Reformation ended with the Pope supplanted as the head of the national church, the great monasteries owners of much of the country's land disbanded and destroyed, the Latin Mass replaced by vernacular services and the colourful wall paintings of parish churches whitewashed. This is a fully illustrated introduction that looks at the main players Thomas Cranmer, Henry VIII, Thomas Cromwell and others as well as the broad sweep of this era of bitter controversy, brutal persecution and seismic upheaval.Table of ContentsTradition or Scripture? / The Old Church / Origins of the Tudor Reformation / The Break with Rome / Reform in the Parishes / Mary and Elizabeth / Further Reading / Places to Visit / Index
£999.99
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Aston Martin 819 Shire Library
Book SynopsisAston Martin is now a century old and what a century it has been. Since its birth in London on the eve of the First World War, the company has experienced the highs of racing triumph most famously in the 1959 Le Mans 24-hour race and the lows of bankruptcy, yet throughout it all has been in the first rank of British marques. Published in association with the Aston Martin Heritage Trust and written by enthusiast Richard Loveys, Aston Martin is a fully illustrated history of the company that has created some of the the world's best loved and most widely respected cars, including James Bond's iconic DB5. It covers the cars themselves, the personalities and talents who have shaped Aston Martin, from owners to engineers, and the drivers who have shared with the company in racing glory, and the centenary celebrations of 2013.Table of ContentsIn the Beginning: 1913–47 / David Brown: 1947–72 / The Difficult Years: 1972–87 / Ford Motor Company: 1987–2007 / The Modern Era: 2007–13 / James Bond and Aston Martin / Further Reading / Places to Visit / Index
£999.99
Edinburgh University Press Vikings in Scotland
Book SynopsisThis book provides a full overview of the archaeology of the Vikings in Scotland, incorporating many results from the recent period of intense fieldwork and excavation.Trade ReviewThis book provides the reader with a much-needed comprehensive overview of the Viking period in Scotland. Incorporating the latest results from the recent period of intense excavation and fieldwork, it presents a thorough re-appraisal of our knowledge of the process, nature and extent of Scandinavian settlement in Scotland. A varied, up-to-date archaeological survey ... a comprehensive overview. This book provides the reader with a much-needed comprehensive overview of the Viking period in Scotland. Incorporating the latest results from the recent period of intense excavation and fieldwork, it presents a thorough re-appraisal of our knowledge of the process, nature and extent of Scandinavian settlement in Scotland. A varied, up-to-date archaeological survey ... a comprehensive overview.
£29.45
Edinburgh University Press From Pictland to Alba 7891070
Book SynopsisThis book charts the transformation of the political landscape of northern Britain between the eighth and the eleventh centuries. Central to this narrative is the mysterious disappearance of the Picts and their language and the sudden rise to prominence of the Gaelic-speaking Scots who would replace them as the rulers of the North.Trade Review...a sometimes demanding, but often fascinating and always rewarding book, rich in ideas. -- Rab Houston BBC History Magazine Teasing out the tangle of sources and suggesting ways of filling in the blanks, Woolf comes closer than we've ever been to a coherent account of a fascinating time. 4 stars -- Michael Kerrigan The Scotsman An impressive piece of scholarship by one who has been in the vanguard of rewriting medieval Scottish history... Alex Woolf is to be commended for producing a work that greatly advances our understanding of what continues to be an obscure and challenging period in Scottish History. -- R. Andrew Macdonald Saga-Book The author of this masterly work presents and discusses the evidence of the available, often fragmentary, sources to provide an intelligible account of the eventual evolution of a very limited 'kingdom' of Alba. Northern History The author was charged with writing a political history of the kingdoms in North Britain between 789 and 1070. He has done this with aplomb and displayed a breadth of knowledge and understanding that would be hard to match... It is to Woolf's credit that he has managed to produce such a well-written account that effectively tackles a far wider frame of reference than any of his predecessors ever accomplished (or were willing to engage with), and it is the totality of his discussion that is so impressive. This book deserves to become a recommended text. -- Alasdair Ross, University of Stirling History Scotland Of all the periods of Scottish history, 789--1070 is the most obscure as it is one of the most formative; for that very reason Alex Woolf's success in distilling an intelligible and credible narrative makes this book a triumph... The balance of his approach is matched by the quality of his prose: it has an easy pace, a clarity of structure and the tone of civilised conversation. It is hard to think of how such a survey could be better done, given the difficulties of the evidence and the complexity of the changes in North Britain from the eighth to the eleventh century. -- T. M. Charles-Edwards, University of Oxford Innes Review I find an overriding sense of adventure in this volume, with ideas rolling thick and fast... Woolf repeatedly demonstrates a perceptive sense of place in his historical arguments, giving a valuable insight into the interplay of geography and history in Scotland's past. Woolf 's skills of close textual analysis are also brilliantly demonstrated throughout the volume... A striking and laudable feature of Woolf 's book is the concern to show Scotland in a bigger historical picture. Woolf often draws on parallels and insights from across medieval Europe. This is important in showing the value of comparative evidence to provide insights into Scottish history. This feature of Woolf 's work also highlights Scotland's potential significance for mainstream European medievalists. There is no doubt that this volume marks a major advance in interpreting the Viking Age istory of Scotland. Woolf demonstrates the breadth of vision and originality of mind which deservedly characterises him as one of the leading early medieval Insular historians. -- Claire Downham, University of Aberdeen Journal of Scottish Historical Studies From Pictland to Alba is an extremely valuable synthesis of recent scholarship, and a showcase for Woolf's original insights. The book is essential reading for scholars and its accessible style should ensure an extensive student readership. From Pictland to Alba will no doubt be considered a formative text by the next generation of scholars of early medieval Scottish History. -- Fiona Edmonds, Clare College, Cambridge Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies ...a sometimes demanding, but often fascinating and always rewarding book, rich in ideas. Teasing out the tangle of sources and suggesting ways of filling in the blanks, Woolf comes closer than we've ever been to a coherent account of a fascinating time. 4 stars An impressive piece of scholarship by one who has been in the vanguard of rewriting medieval Scottish history... Alex Woolf is to be commended for producing a work that greatly advances our understanding of what continues to be an obscure and challenging period in Scottish History. The author of this masterly work presents and discusses the evidence of the available, often fragmentary, sources to provide an intelligible account of the eventual evolution of a very limited 'kingdom' of Alba. The author was charged with writing a political history of the kingdoms in North Britain between 789 and 1070. He has done this with aplomb and displayed a breadth of knowledge and understanding that would be hard to match... It is to Woolf's credit that he has managed to produce such a well-written account that effectively tackles a far wider frame of reference than any of his predecessors ever accomplished (or were willing to engage with), and it is the totality of his discussion that is so impressive. This book deserves to become a recommended text. Of all the periods of Scottish history, 789--1070 is the most obscure as it is one of the most formative; for that very reason Alex Woolf's success in distilling an intelligible and credible narrative makes this book a triumph... The balance of his approach is matched by the quality of his prose: it has an easy pace, a clarity of structure and the tone of civilised conversation. It is hard to think of how such a survey could be better done, given the difficulties of the evidence and the complexity of the changes in North Britain from the eighth to the eleventh century. I find an overriding sense of adventure in this volume, with ideas rolling thick and fast... Woolf repeatedly demonstrates a perceptive sense of place in his historical arguments, giving a valuable insight into the interplay of geography and history in Scotland's past. Woolf 's skills of close textual analysis are also brilliantly demonstrated throughout the volume... A striking and laudable feature of Woolf 's book is the concern to show Scotland in a bigger historical picture. Woolf often draws on parallels and insights from across medieval Europe. This is important in showing the value of comparative evidence to provide insights into Scottish history. This feature of Woolf 's work also highlights Scotland's potential significance for mainstream European medievalists. There is no doubt that this volume marks a major advance in interpreting the Viking Age istory of Scotland. Woolf demonstrates the breadth of vision and originality of mind which deservedly characterises him as one of the leading early medieval Insular historians. From Pictland to Alba is an extremely valuable synthesis of recent scholarship, and a showcase for Woolf's original insights. The book is essential reading for scholars and its accessible style should ensure an extensive student readership. From Pictland to Alba will no doubt be considered a formative text by the next generation of scholars of early medieval Scottish History.Table of Contents; Maps, genealogical Tables and Illustrations; Acknowledgements; General Editor's Preface; Note on Pronunciation and Spelling; Introduction: Land and People in the Eighth Century; Part One: Events (789-1070); Chapter 1. The Coming of the Vikings; Chapter 2. The Scaldingi and the transformation of Northumbria; Chapter 3. Last Days of the Pictish Kingdom, 839 to 889; Chapter 4. The Grandsons of Cinaed and the Grandsons of Imar; Chapter 5. The Later Tenth Century: A Turmoil of Warring Princes; Chapter 6. The Fall of the House of Alpin and the Moray Question; Part Two: Process; Chapter 7. Scandinavian Scotland; Chapter 8. Pictavia to Albania; Table of Events; Guide to Further Reading; Bibliography; Index.
£24.69
Edinburgh University Press Impaled Upon a Thistle
Book SynopsisThis closing volume of the ten-volume New Edinburgh History of Scotland analyses in detail the transformation of Scotland from the Victorian period-dominated by the Liberal party, the Presbyterian chruches, the British empire and hearvy industry - to contemporary times in which the industrial economy, the empire and the dominance of presbyterianism are things of the past.Like the period it describes, this book has politics at its heart. It deals with the rise of the Labour party since the 1880s; the success of the Conservative party in the 1950s and its subsequent decline; the development of nationalism; the long and complex process leading to the creation of the Scottish parliament in 1998/9; and the 2007 Scottish parliamentary election. Ewen Cameron sets Scottish Experience alongside the irish, Welsh and European, and considers British dimensions of historical changes - involvement in two world wars, imperial growth and decline - from a Scottish perspective.Cameron devotes particular attention to the period of enormous change since 1945. Considerable change has taken place within the Anglo-Scottish Union and the volume seeks to explain why this political settlement survived the twentieth century. Underlying the history is the evolution and growth of national self-confidence and identity which fundamentally affected Scotland''s destiny in the last century. the book ends with a consideration of how such forces may continue to transform it in this one.Trade ReviewHe [Cameron] is a marvellous and masterly guide. This book is one of the most factually rich accounts of Scotland's most recent history one could hope for, and is a valuable addition to existing work in this area... Dr. Cameron's mastery of the literature is impressive and the book's bibliography is itself a most useful source for scholars of this period... The rich factual content of this work will, however, ensure its longevity on our bookshelves. Good scholarship never goes out of fashion. -- Catriona MacDonald Scottish Review of Books Cameron's book will be an essential reading for anyone wishing to seriously engage with late modern Scottish history. It will feature on all reading lists and I can already see the pencil defacement of the book by undergraduates, which is in itself a tribute to the author, though a nuisance to other readers. -- Bill Knox, University of St Andrews Contemporary British History This is a dense political study, but the best of its kind, with enough social history to explicate the changes underway. The research is superb, and the full, up-to-date bibliography alone makes this book worth the price. Essential. -- J. J. Butt, James Madison University Choice Cameron is a skilled story-teller, able to weave simultaneous strands of history together! An absorbing and insightful history of modern Scottish politics. -- Patricia Bowley, University of Guelph International Review of Scottish Studies He [Cameron] is a marvellous and masterly guide. This book is one of the most factually rich accounts of Scotland's most recent history one could hope for, and is a valuable addition to existing work in this area... Dr. Cameron's mastery of the literature is impressive and the book's bibliography is itself a most useful source for scholars of this period... The rich factual content of this work will, however, ensure its longevity on our bookshelves. Good scholarship never goes out of fashion. Cameron's book will be an essential reading for anyone wishing to seriously engage with late modern Scottish history. It will feature on all reading lists and I can already see the pencil defacement of the book by undergraduates, which is in itself a tribute to the author, though a nuisance to other readers. This is a dense political study, but the best of its kind, with enough social history to explicate the changes underway. The research is superb, and the full, up-to-date bibliography alone makes this book worth the price. Essential. Cameron is a skilled story-teller, able to weave simultaneous strands of history together! An absorbing and insightful history of modern Scottish politics.Table of ContentsPart One; Chapter 1, Progress and Poverty: Scottish Society, 1880 to 1914; Chapter 2, Enterprise and Initiative: The Scottish Economy, 1880 to 1939; Chapter 3, 'An Exuberant Verbosity': Scottish Politics in the 1880s; Chapter 4, 'Volcanic Upheavals': Scottish Politics Before the Great War; Chapter 5, 'Ower the Hill': Scotland and the Great War; Chapter 6, Poverty without progress? Scottish Society in the Inter-war Period; Chapter 7, 'Miracles and Politics Don't Mix': Political Change in the Inter-war Period; Chapter 8, Total War, 1939 to 1945; Part Two; Chapter 9, The Social Revolution: Scottish Society since 1945; Chapter 10, The End of Industrial Scotland: The Economy since 1945; Chapter 11, Unionist Scotland: Politics, 1945 to 1970; Chapter 12, The 1970s: A Decade of Scottish Politics; Chapter 13, Mothering Devolution: Scottish Politics, 1979 to 1997;Chapter 14, New Labour, New Scotland, New Parliament
£24.69
Edinburgh University Press The Kingdom of the Scots
Book SynopsisThis book explores the formative period when Scotland acquired the characteristics that enabled it to enter fully into the comity of medieval Christendom. These included a monarchy of a recognisably continental type, a feudal organisation of aristocratic landholding and military service, national boundaries, and a body of settled law and custom. By the end of the thirteenth century Scotland had a church based on territorial dioceses and parishes, centres of learning including monastic houses representing the main orders of western Europe, and thriving urban communities whose economic power counterbalanced the aristocracy''s. How and to what effect these characteristics were acquired are the main subjects of the book.After the introduction eighteen chapters are divided into three parts devoted to government, church and society. The volume comprises some of the most important as well as the most consistently readable work ever published on medieval Scotland. First published in 1973, it is now reissuedTrade ReviewA feast of learning, clearly expounded by an author with an impressive mastery of documentary and onomastic evidence, a wide-ranging topographical knowledge, and an enviable ability to marry the local, the regional and the general. An admirable guide to the growth of the Regnum Scotiae. A feast of learning, clearly expounded by an author with an impressive mastery of documentary and onomastic evidence, a wide-ranging topographical knowledge, and an enviable ability to marry the local, the regional and the general. An admirable guide to the growth of the Regnum Scotiae.
£29.45
Edinburgh University Press Court Kirk and Community
Book SynopsisCharts the evolution of Scotland from a medieval and feudal to a modern, professional polity, and the transformation of its church and religious life from catholic to protestant.
£22.79
Edinburgh University Press The End of the Roman Republic 146 to 44 BC
Book SynopsisIn 146 BC the armies of Rome destroyed Carthage and emerged as the decisive victors of the Third Punic War. The Carthaginian population was sold and its territory became the Roman province of Africa. In the same year and on the other side of the Mediterranean Roman troops sacked Corinth, the final blow in the defeat of the Achaean conspiracy: thereafter Greece was effectively administered by Rome. Rome was now supreme in Italy, the Balkans, Greece, Macedonia, Sicily, and North Africa, and its power and influence were advancing in all directions. However, not all was well. The unchecked seizure of huge tracts of land in Italy and its farming by vast numbers of newly imported slaves allowed an elite of usually absentee landlords to amass enormous and conspicuous fortunes. Insecurity and resentment fed the gulf between rich and poor in Rome and erupted in a series of violent upheavals in the politics and institutions of the Republic. These were exacerbated by slave revolts and invasions from the east.Table of ContentsSection I:146-91 BC; 1. The crises of the later second century BC; 1.1 The Wars in Spain; 1.2 The tribunate of Tiberius Gracchus; 1.3 Rome and the Eastern Mediterranean, 146-122; 1.4 The tribunates of Gaius Gracchus; 1.5 Foreign and domestic politics at the end of the second century BC; 1.6 The outbreak of the Social War; 2. Domestic politics: violence and its accommodation; 2.1 Elite competition; 2.2 Issues and ideology; 3. Imperial power: failure and control; 3.1 The parameters of Roman foreign policy; 3.2 War and imperial expansion; 3.3 The administration of peace; 3.4 Rome and the rest of Italy; Section II: 91-70 BC; 4. Social War, Civil War and the imposition of a new order; 4.1 The Social War; 4.2 Losing the peace: the transition to civil war; 4.3 Domestic politics and foreign affairs in the 80s BC; 4.4 The Sullan res publica; 4.5 The consulship of Pompeius and Crassus: a fresh start?; 5. The limits of autocracy; 5.1 Power and armed force; 5.2 Experiments in autocracy; 5.3 The Sullan res publica; 5.4 Rome, Italy and the Mediterranean; 5.5 Causes of change; Section III: 70-44 BC; 6. The end of the Republic, 70-44 BC; 6.1 The continuing problem of Mithridates; 6.2 Pompeius' campaigns 67-62 BC; 6.3 Italian crises; 6.4 Factionalism, the people, and the collapse of order; 6.5 Foreign Policy in the 50s; 6.6 The last years of the Republic; 6.7 The Civil War; 7. Imperial expansion: novelty and success; 7.1 Patterns of expansion; 7.2 Structures and methods of imperial conquest and government; 8. Elite competition, popular discontent and the failure of collective government; 8.1 Political culture at the end of the Republic; 8.2 The career of Pompeius; 8.3 Popular arbitration; 8.4 The implications of Caesar's dictatorship.
£30.40
Edinburgh University Press Imperial Rome AD 193 to 284
Book SynopsisThe Roman empire during the period framed by the accession of Septimus Severus in 193 and the rise of Diocletian in 284 has conventionally been regarded as one of crisis. This book describes and integrates the contrasting histories of different parts of the empire and assesses the impacts of administrative, political and religious change.
£30.40
Edinburgh University Press A History of Everyday Life in Medieval Scotland
Book SynopsisA History Of Everyday Life In ScotlandSeries Editors: Christopher A. Whatley & Elizabeth FoysterThis series demonstrates how everyday routines and behaviours can open a window into the social, economic and cultural lives of ordinary Scots. Each volume examines common topics such as landscape, homes, objects, rituals, beliefs, work and leisure patterns, conflict and communication. Across the series there are some striking continuities and remarkable changes in aspects of Scottish everyday life, while the everyday is shown to be shaped by national and regional surroundings, and varied between urban and rural, highland and lowland settings. Based on the collective research of a large team of established and younger scholars, this series presents an entirely new way of looking at Scotland''s past.A History Of Everyday Life In Medieval Scotland, 1000 To 1600---Edited By Edward J. Cowan & Lizanne HendersonWhat was it like to live in the medieval period? In what ways did extraordinary events affect the everyday?The first volume in the Everyday Life series answers these questions as it opens a window on medieval Scotland from 1000 to 1600. The everyday involves all that is common to humanity from the passage of birth through to the rites of death. To date the historiography of medieval Scotland has not been greatly concerned with the familiar and the day-to-day. In fact some might claim that the topic has been entirely ignored, until now.A strong international team of contributors draws upon a range of primary sources and published material, as well as artefactual and archaeological evidence, to present as complete a picture as possible of how people experienced life and complex issues of identity, geography, language, family and subsistence over five hundred years ago.Table of ContentsContents List of Figures Series Editors' Forward Christopher A. Whatley and Elizabeth Foyster Introduction: Everyday Life in Medieval Scotland Edward J. Cowan and Lizanne Henderson Chapter 1. Landscape and People Fiona Watson Chapter 2. The Worldview of Scottish Vikings in the Age of the Sagas Edward J. Cowan Chapter 3. Sacred and Banal: The Discovery of Everyday Medieval Material Culture Jenny Shiels and Stuart Campbell Chapter 4. The Family David Sellar Chapter 5. 'Hamperit in ane hony came': Sights, Sounds and Smells in the Medieval Town Elizabeth Ewan Chapter 6. Playtime Everday: The Material Culture of Medieval Gaming Mark Hall Chapter 7. Women of Independence in Barbour's Bruce and Blind Harry's Wallace Rebecca Boorsma Chapter 8. Everyday Life in the Histories of Scotland from Walter Bower to George Buchanan Nicola Royan Chapter 9. Disease, Death and the Hereafter in Medieval Scotland Richard D. Oram Chapter 10. 'Detestable Slaves of the Devil': Changing Ideas about Witchcraft in Sixteenth-Century Scotland Lizanne Henderson Chapter 11. Glasgwegians: The First One Thousand Years Edward J. Cowan Chapter 12. Marian Devotion in Scotland and the Shrine of Loreto Audrey-Beth Fitch Annotated Bibliography Notes on the Contributors Index
£29.45
