European history Books

Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE FRANCO-BRITISH SOCIETY BOOK PRIZE 2016June, 1940. German troops enter Paris and hoist the swastika over the Arc de Triomphe. The dark days of Occupation begin. How would you have survived? By collaborating with the Nazis, or risking the lives of you and your loved ones to resist? The women of Paris faced this dilemma every day - whether choosing between rations and the black market, or travelling on the Metro, where a German soldier had priority for a seat. Between the extremes of defiance and collusion was a vast moral grey area which all Parisiennes had to navigate in order to survive.Anne Sebba has sought out and interviewed scores of women, and brings us their unforgettable testimonies. Her fascinating cast includes both native Parisiennes and temporary residents: American women and Nazi wives; spies, mothers, mistresses, artists, fashion designers and aristocrats. The result is an enthralling account of life during the Second World War and in the years of recovery and recrimination that followed the Liberation of Paris in 1944. It is a story of fear, deprivation and secrets - and, as ever in the French capital, glamour and determination.Trade ReviewWonderfully researched, this is an important retelling of Les Années Noires in Paris which puts women's stories, and the complications of their lives under Occupation, centre stage. Sebba reminds us that we should listen and put ourselves in their shoes, before leaping immediately to judgement, and backs this up with testimonies from many women whose voices have remained unheard -- Kate Mosse, author of LABYRINTH and CITADEL'Anne Sebba's fascinating and beautifully written study gives voice to a myriad of narratives belonging to the Parisian women who resisted, collaborated, flourished, suffered, died or survived through a mixture of defiance and compromise . . . Sebba skilfully weaves the history of 1940s Paris through the remarkable stories of women from all walks of life' -- Clare Mulley * SPECTATOR *This is a fascinating book I couldn't stop reading. Anne Sebba knows everything about Paris during the war and she relates the end of all the whispered stories I've been hearing all my life. She understands everything about the chic, loathsome collaborators and the Holocaust victims, and their stories are told in an irresistible narrative flood -- Edmund White, author of THE FL NEUR'As Anne Sebba shows, life for a Parisian woman was a deeply ambiguous affair. Their experiences, like a kaleidoscope can be 'turned any number of ways to produce a different image'. Sebba's book, with its phenomenal amount of detailed research and its vast cast of characters, is rich in stories about the tricks of life under Occupation, the heroism of those who carried out acts of defiance, the slipperiness of collusion and the vast profits made by fixers, contacts, middlemen and entrepreneurs. She is particularly good on the fashion world and the scheming, equivocating social luminaries' -- Caroline Moorehead * LITERARY REVIEW *Anne Sebba has the nearly miraculous gift of combining the vivid intimacy of the lives of women during the Occupation with the history of the time. This is a remarkable book -- Edmund de Waal, author of THE HARE WITH AMBER EYESAs Anne Sebba makes clear in her fascinating book Les Parisiennes, there was no Hollywood clarity about life in the City of Light . . . there were very many reasons not to resist ... Sebba has interviewed women who, remarkably, are talking about their experiences for the first time. This is a valuable book . . . Although Sebba salutes the bravery of Les Parisiennes, she is careful not to condemn the ones who chose simply to survive . . . To read this book is to admire female bravery and resilience, but also to understand why the scars left by the Second World War still run so deep -- Daisy Goodwin * THE TIMES *The debate over the extent of collaboration versus the extent of resistance during the occupation is not new, but Sebba has found an enthralling way of looking at the story by focusing on how the choice was made by French women, and, in particular, by the women of Paris . . . Sebba doesn't offer an explanation as to why some women chose one course, others another, rightly letting their actions, compelling life stories - and the physiognomy of the wonderful selection of photographs - speak for themselves -- Sarah Helm * OBSERVER *'One of the distinctive features of Anne Sebba's richly intelligent history is her evocation of sound. Sebba has deliberately eschewed a focus on well-known primary documentation for her history of Parisian women during the Second World War, choosing instead to alert her readers to a 'quieter and frequently less well-known' set of voices. Those voices, belonging to women of all classes, ages and educational backgrounds, weep and sing through this extraordinary book . . . Sebba is adept at explaining the changing political climate of Paris as the war progressed, but she never allows politics to overshadow her subjects' voices. This book does not judge - instead, in the breadth of its humanity, it achieves some of the recognition that the Parisiennes' own heroic modesty often denied them' -- Lisa Hilton * TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT *'The book takes an unflinching and sympathetic look at the roles women were asked to play in the war, and those they wrote for themselves . . . Sebba interviewed many of the surviving women, and tells their stories here, many for the first time . . . Les Parisiennes insists on the moral incertitude of wartime, 'especially through the eyes of women'. Perhaps because their lives were so complicated and roles so divided, they were more able to perceive, and be at home with, ambiguity . . . I am filled with admiration not only for the women themselves, but for Sebba's heroic research, for her meticulous tracking of these people and their exploits, of their fragility and their strength. This book is an important reminder of the fact that fully half of the story of the second world war is buried in memory and the archive, and has only recently been unearthed' -- Lauren Elkin * GUARDIAN *'This is an elegant, enthralling and richly illustrated account of how the female residents of the French capital survived the Second World War and its aftermath with Parisian panache' -- Caroline Sanderson * SUNDAY EXPRESS *'In the inter-war years women, who were yet to win the vote, had been encouraged to remain at home with motherhood vaunted as the ideal of womanhood. The reality of war propelled women into very different and often dangerous roles and it is these roles that Sebba explores in this powerful and moving book . . . Sebba's researches have been exhaustive: she has interviewed survivors and read countless documents' -- Vanessa Berridge * DAILY EXPRESS *'Anne Sebba's tour de force of research and reflection, Les Parisiennes, is a testament of silk and sacrifice; of choices to resist or collaborate with the Nazis; of dalliance, defiance, and survival that turned on a concierge's random kindness or a stick of gelignite strapped to the chest . . . Sebba sources first-time stories of wartime women and records tales of collaboration horizontale with real sensitivity for the 'moral ambiguity' of those who exchanged sexual favours for privileges - or survival . . . extraordinary and evocative' -- Madeleine Kingsley * JEWISH CHRONICLE *

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Book SynopsisThe geology of the Cairngorms was created on a timeline that stretches back hundreds of millions of years. Much of the land is underlain by granite that formed deep within the Earth's crust and 'surfaced' as the overlying layers of rock were stripped away by ice, wind and water. The bedrock is hard, and although the area has been heavily glaciated, still boasts 18 Munros, the highest of Scotland's peaks. The area attracts climbers, walkers and assorted adventurers who want to pit themselves against some of the most challenging conditions to be found anywhere in the UK. The plants and animals of the Cairngorms need to be hardy to survive the severe winter conditions. The higher reaches of the mountains are rich in montane vegetation such as lichen-rich heath and other habitats support many rare species.Trade Review'Alan McKirdy’s insights are valuable because he is the author of a string of accessible and informative short illustrated books on the geological history of Scotland' * West Highland Free Press *'Not only are they a wealth of information on Scotland's past, they offer valuable insight as Scotland’s future becomes increasingly uncertain due to climate change' * Dundee Courier *

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Book SynopsisA dance was devised in eighteenth-century Skye. An exhilarating dance. A dance, a visitor reports, ‘the emigration from Skye has occasioned’. The visitor asks for the dance’s name. ‘They call it America,’ he’s told. In his introduction to this new edition of his classic and pioneering account of what happened to the thousands of people who left Skye and the wider north of Scotland to make new lives across the sea, historian James Hunter reflects on what led him to embark on travels and researches that took him across a continent. To Georgia, North Carolina and Montana; to Nova Scotia, Quebec, Ontario and the Mohawk Valley; to prairie farms and great cities; to the Rocky Mountains, British Columbia and Washington State. This is the story of the Highland impact on the New World. The story of how soldiers, explorers, guerrilla fighters, fur traders, lumberjacks, railway builders and settlers from Scotland’s glens and islands contributed so much to the USA and Canada. It is the story of how a hard-pressed people found in North America a land of opportunity.

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Book SynopsisThis is the extraordinary story of how salt fish from Shetland became one of the staple foods of Europe, powered an economic boom and inspired artists, writers and musicians. It ranges from the wild waters of the North Atlantic, the ice-filled fjords of Greenland and the remote islands of Faroe to the dining tables of London’s middle classes, the bacalao restaurants of Spain and the Jewish shtetls of Eastern Europe. As well as following the historical thread and exploring how very different cultures were drawn together by the salt fish trade, John Goodlad meets those whose lives revolve around the industry in the twenty-first century and addresses today’s pressing themes of sustainability, climate change and food choices.Trade Review'As bright and illuminating as the fish that are the subject of his writing, John Goodlad casts a sweeping eye over the North Atlantic fishing industry in the pages of this richly informative book' -- Donald S. Murray, author of The Guga Hunters'In his fascinating account of the part played by [The Shetland Islands and the Faroes] in the harvesting of cod and herring from the North Atlantic, John Goodlad raises vital questions about the world's food supplies' -- David Abulafia * The Spectator *'Tells the extraordinary story of how salt fish from the isles became one of the staple foods on the Continent' -- Hans J Marter * Shetland News *'John Goodlad's approach to the story of salt fish and Shetland feels rather like a masterclass in how to make history approachable, accessible, readable and entertaining' -- Ken Lussey * Undiscovered Scotland *'The Salt Roads is a valuable reminder of a forgotten time... it should be required reading for anyone who still thinks of Shetland as a remote, marginal outpost' * The Herald *'The book takes the reader to the wild waters of the North Atlantic and tells the story of how over the centuries the Shetland fishing industry not only inspired and affected the islands’ culture, but also shaped people far beyond its shores' * Dundee Courier *'This intriguing non-fiction title examines the economic boom of Shetland's salt fish trade' * Scots Magazine *'The Salt Roads is history, action on the high seas, personal memoir, folk tales and philology. It is an articulate expression of Shetland, which helps to explain how much the western islands can still learn from our can-do friends in the north' -- Roger Hutchinson * West Highland Free Press *'a gripping insight into life on the edge' * The Tablet, Summer Reading Roundup *'an extremely readable account of the Shetland cod fishery. Here you feel the wind, taste the salt: a quiet triumph' -- Alexander McCall Smith * New Statesman *

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Book SynopsisWarrior tells the story of forgotten man, a man whose bones were found in an Anglo-Saxon graveyard at Bamburgh castle in Northumberland. It is the story of a violent time when Britain was defining itself in waves of religious fervour, scattered tribal expansion and terrible bloodshed; it is the story of the fighting class, men apart, defined in life and death by their experiences on the killing field; it is an intricate and riveting narrative of survival and adaptation set in the stunning political and physical landscapes of medieval England. Warrior is a classic of British history, a landmark of popular archaeology, and a must-read for anyone interested in the story of where we've come from.

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Book SynopsisWinner of the Jan Michalski Prize 2021 An Ostarbeiter was an 'Eastern Worker', rounded up by Nazi Germany from the captured territories in Central and Eastern Europe. By the end of the war, it is estimated that approximately 3 million to 5.5. million Ostarbeiter were forced to work in guarded work camps, many of them younger than 16 years old - at which age they would be conscripted for military service. Ostarbeiter worked 12 hours a day on starvation on rations; as ethnic Slavs, they were treated with extraordinary brutality by Nazi guards who considered them 'sub-human' by the standards of the Aryan master race. They were distinguished by the label 'OST' sewn onto their uniforms. OST is based on over two hundred personal accounts, hundreds of hours of interviews, and over 350,000 letters. This important publication will ensure that the voices of the brutalised and displaced Ostarbeiter will not be forgotten.Trade ReviewThanks to the unrelenting efforts of Memorial, the Ostarbeiter are no longer forgotten victims. OST is a valuable and important history; it is, moreover, a testament to revealing and recording uncomfortable truths, at a time when the myth of Russia is once again being remade, and attacks on those who would deny that myth increase * TLS *

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Book SynopsisThe Special Operations Executive (SOE) was one of the most innovative British creations of the Second World War. Its mission was to export resistance, subversion and sabotage to occupied Europe and beyond, disrupting the German war effort and building a Secret Army which would work in the shadows to help defeat the Nazis. Potential agents were put through intensive paramilitary and parachute training, then taught how to live clandestinely behind enemy lines, to operate radios and write in secret codes. They lived in constant fear of arrest, and of betrayal by treacherous collaborators. This book uses rare images from the collections of The National Archives and the Imperial War Museum to illustrate the lives of the men and women who made up the SOE, their rigorous training, the clever gadgets they used and their lives behind enemy lines.Table of ContentsSet Europe Ablaze / Organisation / Lessons in Ungentlemanly Warfare / Operations / Soe in the Balkans / The England Game / SOE in France / Women in SOE / Post War / Further Reading / Places to Visit / Index

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Book SynopsisAn illustrated history of Britain’s coal mines and the lives of the miners who worked in them. Coal heated the homes, fuelled the furnaces and powered the engines of the Industrial Revolution. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries the coalfields – distinct landscapes of colliery winding frames, slag heaps and mining villages – made up Britain’s industrial heartlands. Coal was known as ‘black gold’ but it was only brought to the surface with skill and at considerable risk, with flooding, rock falls and gas explosions a constant danger. Coal miners became a recognised force in British political life, forming a vociferous and often militant lobby for better working conditions and a decent standard of living. This beautifully illustrated guide to Britain’s industrial heritage covers not just the mines, but the lives of the workers away from the pits, with a focus on the cultural and religious life of mining communities.Trade ReviewA glossy publication with plenty of full-colour photos and other illustrations. At £7.99, this is great value for illuminating the lives of your coal-mining kin. * Who Do You Think You Are Magazine *Table of ContentsBlack Gold Bell Pits and Horse Whims Deep Mining Going Underground The Pit Village Places to Visit Further Reading Index

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Book Synopsis'Glorious... Scurr is one of the most gifted non-fiction writers alive' Simon Schama, Financial TimesA revelatory portrait of Napoleon written for our own time, exploring his love of nature and the gardens that gave his revolutionary life its light and shade.Napoleon's gardens range from his childhood olive groves in Corsica, to Josephine's menageries in Paris, to the walled garden of Hougoumont at the battle of Waterloo, and ultimately to St Helena, where he could sit and scan the sea in his final months.In this innovative biography, Ruth Scurr follows the dramatic trajectory of Napoleon's life through the land he cultivated and that offered him retreat from the manifold frustrations of war and politics. Seen through the eyes of those who knew him in the shade of his gardens, Napoleon emerges a giant figure made human - both as the Emperor hunting for glory and the man in an old straw hat, leaning on his spade.'Immensely satisfying and captivating... Charming and intelligent' Andrew Roberts, TLS'Grippingly original' The Times'A delight to read' Daily Telegraph * A Book of the Year in The Times, Sunday Times, Daily Telegraph, Financial Times, Sunday Telegraph and History Today *Winner of a Society for Military History Distinguished Book Award 2022Trade ReviewGlorious . . . Scurr has achieved something remarkable: a completely original book on a completely unoriginal subject. But then she is herself a truly remarkable writer, one of the most gifted non-fiction authors alive -- Simon Schama * Financial Times *Ruth Scurr, a politics don at Cambridge University, has ingeniously somehow found an entirely new prism through which to view Napoleon: as a horticulturist . . . an immensely satisfying and captivating book . . . charming and intelligent -- Andrew Roberts * Times Literary Supplement *Ruth Scurr's imaginative take on Napoleon's life serves up fascinating insights into the man's behaviour and motivations, as well as an illuminating account of those around him. The gardening angle is fresh and perfectly developed; to garden is to control and manipulate, an empire builder does the same -- Penelope LivelyAn elegant prose stylist, Scurr is above all a fabulous historian, and a vivid storyteller with a novelist's eye for engaging detail . . . Napoleon emerges not in his warrior guise but in his full humanity . . . History's palimpsest emerges in these pages too, through Scurr's accounts of modern-day places shaped by Napoleon's vision: while his empire is the stuff of history books, his legacy as a landscape genius endures -- Claire Messud * Harper’s Magazine *Napoleon: A Life in Gardens and Shadows is history at its most enjoyable, a discursive ramble along its edges, away from matters of power and into its byways . . . Napoleon is a delight to read and must have been an immense pleasure to research -- Caroline Moorehead * Literary Review *

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Book SynopsisBestselling historian Peter Moore traces how Enlightenment ideas were exported from Britain and put into practice in America - where they became the most successful export of all time, the American Dream'Absorbing... fascinating... eloquent' THE TIMES'Engaging and thoroughly reader-friendly' TELEGRAPH'Wonderfully absorbing and stimulating' SARAH BAKEWELLEnlightenment Britain was ablaze with ambition and energy. Great writers like Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, Samuel Johnson, John Wilkes and Catharine Macaulay were part of a pioneering generation that shaped and inspired the American Dream. For the first time, bestselling historian Peter Moore vividly traces the transatlantic friendships and revolutionary ideas that inspired the Declaration of Independence.'Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness' is the best-known phrase from that document, which was drafted by Thomas Jefferson in the summer of 1776. Today this line is evoked as a shorthand for that ideal we call the American Dream. But the vision it encapsulates – of a free and happy world – has its roots in Great Britain.This book tells the story of the years that preceded the Declaration. From the accession of King George III to the astonishing tale of John Wilkes, from the notorious Stamp Act to the Boston Tea Party, it shows how Britain and her American Colonies broke apart. Following a star cast of Enlightenment characters, through their letters, arguments and rivalries, it reveals the rise of a rebellious and daring ideology – one that gave rise to the democratic birth of the United States and the principles we live by to this day.'Deft insights and in clear prose' ALAN TAYLOR'A gripping account' STELLA TILLYARD'Rollicking...compulsive readability' WASHINGTON POST'A great read' LADY HALETrade Review[An] absorbing book... Moore has a keen eye for the sort of eloquent detail that enlivens biography, and he expertly evokes Franklin's transformation from proud artisan to member of a new American elite. He's particularly good on the quirkiness of Franklin's early adulthood . . . Moore [is] a crisp writer and adept at narrative sweep -- Henry Hitchings * The Times *[An] engaging and thoroughly reader-friendly book... [Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness] is about how a crazed, paranoid kind of political rhetoric was spread from the England of Wilkes to the America of Franklin and Paine, making rebellion possible. This part of the story is not just convincing but, to a modern reader, positively chilling -- Noel Malcolm * Telegraph *In his engaging narrative history Peter Moore argues that Jefferson's celebrated words provide the key to understanding... a vibrant, enlightened Anglo-American culture of the eighteenth century -- T.H. Breen * TLS *A timely reminder that the origins of the three big ideas in the American Dream lay mainly in Great Britain, with a lively account of the principal actors and episodes in the developing drama, and Benjamin Franklin in the starring role: a great read * LADY HALE *With deft insights and in clear prose, Moore restores the cosmopolitan origins of an American Revolution meant to liberate human potential. In this eloquent book, that revolution becomes more global and enduring and less parochial and limited * ALAN TAYLOR, Pulitzer Prize winning author of American Revolutions *Building on the pioneering work of Bernard Bailyn and John Brewer, Peter Moore offers a gripping account of the way in which British pamphlet wars of the 1760s fuelled American debates about independence. Mixing famous Founders with lesser known figures, especially Franklin's long-time friend the Tory printer and publisher William Strahan, Moore's book brings out the hidden roots of the Declaration of Independence * STELLA TILLYARD, author of The Great Level *Rollicking... The book's compulsive readability is a tribute to Moore's skill at cracking open the pre-revolutionary period and reanimating the contingencies that eventually drove the settlers to embrace independence. Can be read as a refutation of originalism, or the contention that we should still live in a world governed by the putative beliefs of the Founding Fathers * Washington Post *History is best written by the losers. In Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness, Peter Moore... shows how Britain exported its highest ideals to the Americans who rejected it -- Dominic Green * Wall Street Journal *Moore offers a rich and immersive intellectual history of the American Revolution... This is a pleasure * Publisher's Weekly (starred review) *Like Jenny Uglow's The Lunar Men and Leo Damrosch's The Club, Moore's vibrant group biography brings to life the intellectual and political currents, in Britain and Colonial America, that gave rise to the phrase "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,"... An energetic and meticulously researched history * Kirkus (starred review) *

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Book Synopsis'Neither a travel book, nor a vast prose poem, nor a history, nor philosophy, nor voyage of discovery, but often all at once' Independent on SundayWITH AN INTRODUCTION BY RICHARD FLANAGAN In this fascinating journey Claudio Magris, whose knowledge is encyclopaedic and whose curiosity limitless, guides his reader from the source of the Danube in the Bavarian hills through Austro-Hungary and the Balkans to the Black Sea. Along the way he raises the ghosts that inhabit the houses and monuments - from Ovid to Kafka and Canetti - and in so doing sets his finger on the pulse of Central Europe, the vital crucible of a culture that draws on influences of East and West, of Christendom and Islam.Trade ReviewImpeccable... Magris, a guide of enormous modesty, has not only read everything: he has been everywhere, met everybody -- Nicholas Shakespeare * Arts and Books Review *There is so much to praise about this extraordinary book... Irresistably enjoyable -- Mark Thompson * Literary Review *Not simply a masterpiece of travel; it is an odyssey... A splendid book, beautifully translated * Independent *A uniquely stimulating and individual portrait of the heart of Europe -- Colin Thubron * Sunday Telegraph *This book is full of wonder and delights...Magris writes beautifully; he seems to have read everything. His reading has not made just clever but wise. On almost every page there are passages that make the heart life... Danube is a masterpiece -- John Banville

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Book Synopsis'Astonishing... In the American journalist Andrew Nagorski this tale has found its ideal narrator'SEBASTIAN FAULKS, Sunday Times'[A] thrilling book, as edge-of-your-seat gripping as any heist movie'Kathryn Hughes, Guardian Book of the Day'A gripping masterpiece'BRETT KAHR, Freud Museum LondonMarch 1938: German soldiers are massing on the Austrian border, on the cusp of fulfilling Hitler's dream of absorbing the country into the Third Reich. Many Jews make frantic plans to flee to safety. But one of the most famous men in the world, unable to contemplate leaving his beloved Vienna, is not among them. His name is Sigmund Freud.Saving Freud is the story of a great man's life, and of the extraordinary people who managed to prolong it, by convincing him to escape to London: the Welsh physician who brought psychoanalysis to Britain; Napoleon's great-grandniece; an American ambassador; Freud's devoted daughter, Anna; and the doctor who risked his own life by staying at Freud's side.In examining the histories of both Freud and his closest circle, Andrew Nagorski brilliantly evokes the story of Europe in the first half of the Twentieth Century. This is a tale of a great city, a collapsing empire, a rising terror -and of a man who would change the way we think.Trade ReviewThe astonishing story of Sigmund Freud's last-minute escape from Vienna... In the American journalist Andrew Nagorski this tale has found its ideal narrator: clear, objective and keen to keep things moving. -- Sebastian Faulks * Sunday Times *Andrew Nagorski has written a gripping masterpiece about one of the greatest figures in history, whose insights about human beings as "savage beasts" could not be more timely -- Professor Brett Kahr, Honorary Director of Research, Freud Museum London, and author of FREUD'S PANDEMICS[A] thrilling book, as edge-of-your-seat gripping as any heist movie, tells the story of how a "rescue squad" was marshalled to get Freud out of danger before it was too late -- Kathryn Hughes * Guardian Book of the Day *Unabashedly gripping and enjoyable, taking on the characteristics of a thriller as it builds to its denouement... Nagorski vividly evokes the atmosphere of [Vienna] in the 1930s, and especially the sudden and violent transition, after decades of resentful tolerance towards its Jewish citizens, to a mood of genocidal hostility. He also offers a tightly controlled, tension-filled account of the inexorable fall of Austria into the abyss of Nazi control -- Josh Cohen * Times Literary Supplement *Nagorski tells a riveting new story, one that shows just how narrow Freud's escape from the Nazi genocide was... The narrative pace and Nagorski's fluid writing give this book the character of an adventure story. It is an engrossing but sobering read that reminds us how many others without the resources of the Freud family had no similar options to make an exodus -- Rachel Newcomb * Washington Post *Fascinating... As Nagorski illustrates with cultural insight and a careful pacing of events, his flight to safety in order to 'die in freedom' amounts to a tale of unlikely resistance at a time of appalling tragedy. -- Simeon House * Mail on Sunday **** *In his fascinating new book Saving Freud, American author Andrew Nagorski pieces together the story of an eccentric bunch of friends and admirers of Freud -- Ysenda Maxtone Graham * Daily Mail, Book of the Day *An insight-filled group portrait of the founder of psychoanalysis and his followers. It is also a psychobiographical thriller about the limits of genius -- Diane Cole * Wall Street Journal *Nagorski mixes the pacing of a historical thriller (think Alan Furst, but nonfiction, and starring therapists instead of spies) with a meditation on the limits of insight and what it means to be attached to a specific place and to live in a given moment in time...The result is hard to put down, poignant, and distressingly timely -- Patrick Blanchfield * New Republic *In a time in which the standing and integrity of psychoanalysis continues to be questioned, [Saving Freud] manages to show the extent to which people were entranced by Freud, how much this led some of them to love him, and how in doing so they revealed the deep ethical core of his person and his ideas -- Stephen Frosh * Jewish Chronicle *An intimate, touching portrait of a genius as an old man. Ill, myopic, in denial and terribly vulnerable, this Freud is more human than any I've encountered before. Andrew Nagorski has an artist's eye for revealing detail and a novelist's ability to bring to life a long lost world and its myriad denizens. -- Sylvia Nasar, author of A BEAUTIFUL MINDThis non-fiction work crackles like a novel... Saving Freud seems to have been written for the silver screen, and one can only hope that someone like Steven Spielberg finds his way to this book -- Kitty Kelley * Washington Independent Review of Books *Fascinating, eminently readable... A fresh look at Freud... Freud was magnetic, mythic, and Nagorski's lively and suspenseful biographical history will, it is hoped, recreate interest in this unique figure -- Joan Baum * NPR *Nagorski tells this little-known story in comprehensive and compassionate fashion. -- Sheldon Kirshner * Times of Israel *A richly contextual look at Freud's escape to London... Nagorski delivers a riveting page-turner... a fine biography * Kirkus starred review *Sigmund Freud's vibrant life in Vienna and narrow escape from the Gestapo are recounted in this entertaining history... The result is an invigorating look at a lesser-known chapter of Freud's well-documented life. * Publisher Weekly *As exciting and suspenseful as a spy novel, Andrew Nagorski's masterful narrative reveals how an eclectic group of Sigmund Freud's friends, ranging from an American ambassador to a French-born princess, came together to do the seemingly impossible: engineer his rescue from Nazi-controlled Austria as the Gestapo were closing in. Their successful efforts underscore how powerful love, loyalty, and friendship can be, even in the midst of overwhelming evil -- Lynne Olson, author of MADAME FOURCADE'S SECRET WARA riveting analysis of exile, old-age and friendship, Nagorski uses his characteristic clarity to tell an untold story about a well-known man. Highly exciting and no less historically ambitious for it; John Le Carré meets Ian Kershaw -- Emma Szewczak, author of THE OFFSETWith his characteristic clarity and meticulous research, Nagorski has once again produced a masterful work. Saving Freud is a page-turner, mixing biography and escape narrative, with a powerful reminder that historians need to pay attention not just to words, but to relationships -- Rebecca Erbelding, author of RESCUE BOARDPart engrossing biography of the father of psychoanalysis, part vivid group portrait of the circle of notables who rescued Sigmund Freud from the Nazis, Saving Freud ... captures the power of self-delusion and denial among even the most brilliant minds -- Kati Marton, author of THE CHANCELLOR

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Book Synopsis'The Firm', as the royal family styles itself, judged by real corporate standards, is a mess. Any consultants called in from outside to scrutinise its inner workings would find all the familiar flaws of a family business that has outgrown its original scale and design. There is no overall strategy, just a collection of warring divisions pursuing their own ends. And this will be a profound problem when the Queen dies, because make no bones about it, the Queen's mortality determines the mortality of the monarchy. Under Charles III, the monarchy can never be the same; indeed, its very survival is in doubt. In The Last Queen, pioneering investigative reporter Clive Irving paints a revelatory portrait of Elizabeth II's extraordinary reign, setting it within the dramatic transformation of Britain itself over the same period. Now expanded to include the death of Prince Philip, the fallout from Megxit and the banishment of Prince Andrew, this compelling account asks: how long will the institution survive beyond the second Elizabethan era?Trade Review"They are privileged people who represent our past. But how do they - how can they? - represent our present, let alone our future? Turn these pages to revel in a brilliant and gripping analysis of the monarchy and the House of Windsor by Clive Irving, the master of investigative journalism. What a story!" - Robert Lacey, author of Battle of Brothers

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Book SynopsisFor as long as the British monarchy has existed, royal children have been brought up in ways that seem bizarre and eccentric to the rest of us. From medieval wet nurses to today's Norland nannies and elite boarding schools, princes and princesses have endured parental abandonment for centuries as their parents farmed out childrearing duties to paid staff. And as this marvellous romp of a book demonstrates, dysfunctional childhood experiences produce emotionally damaged adults, as evidenced by Edward VIII - who was horribly mistreated by his nanny - and his marriage to his substitute mother figure, Mrs Simpson; by alcoholic party girl Princess Margaret; and by rebellious Harry and his desperate desire to adopt Meghan Markle's world view, to the detriment of his relationship with his brother. Interweaving exclusive testimonies from palace staff with historical sources, Tom Quinn also uncovers outrageous tales of royal children misbehaving, often hilariously - from Edward VII smashing up his schoolroom to the Queen mischievously pranking unsuspecting visitors with dog biscuits to Prince William pinching a teacher's bottom. Amusing and shocking in equal measure, Gilded Youth examines how the royal family has clung to outmoded traditions that centre on emotional coldness and detachment, and how, when it comes to children, the British royal family is still living in the Dark Ages.

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Book SynopsisA BBC History magazine Book of the Year and an amazon.com Best Book of the Month As religion divided sixteenth-century Europe, an extraordinary group of women rose to power. They governed nations while kings fought in foreign lands. They ruled on behalf of nephews, brothers and sons. They negotiated peace between their warring nations. For decades, they ran Europe. Small wonder that it was in this century that the queen became the most powerful piece on the chessboard. From mother to daughter and mentor to protégée, Sarah Gristwood follows the passage of power from Isabella of Castile and Anne de Beaujeu through Anne Boleyn – the woman who tipped England into religious reform – and on to Elizabeth I and Jeanne d’Albret, heroine of the Protestant Reformation. Unravelling a gripping historical narrative, Gristwood reveals the stories of the queens who had, until now, been overshadowed by kings.Trade Review‘Gristwood handles multiple narrative strands with tremendous finesse... Densely packed with fascinating material, this immensely ambitious undertaking succeeds triumphantly.’ * Literary Review *‘A masterpiece that effortlessly and enthrallingly interweaves the amazing stories of women who ruled in Europe during the Renaissance period...and a pacy and illuminating good read.’ * Alison Weir *‘Engaging and highly readable.’ * BBC History Magazine, Books of the Year *‘Gristwood brings them all to life with her usual mix of character study and pacy narrative’. * History Revealed *‘Gristwood interweaves the drama of monarchy with its more domestic moments.’ * Telegraph *‘A fast-paced chronological narrative bursting with intrigue.’ * Publishers Weekly *‘Sarah Gristwood’s study of the brilliant, beleaguered and often bloody difficult women who kept Europe going in the sixteenth century is compelling, clear-eyed, beautifully rendered and never-more-timely.’ -- Jessie Childs‘A magnificent exploration of a most remarkable group…Gristwood gives us impeccable research, incisive attention to detail and exquisite writing as she investigates these truly fascinating women and their lives of courage, tribulation and determination. Absolutely unputdownable.’ -- Kate Williams, author of The Storms of War

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Book SynopsisShortlisted for the HWA Sharpe Books Non-Fiction Crown AwardA work of investigative history that will completely change the way in which we see the Romanov story. Finally, here is the truth about the secret plans to rescue Russia’s last imperial family.On 17 July 1918, the whole of the Russian Imperial Family was murdered. There were no miraculous escapes. The former Tsar Nicholas, his wife Alexandra, and their children – Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia and Alexey – were all tragically gunned down in a blaze of bullets. Historian Helen Rappaport sets out to uncover why the Romanovs’ European royal relatives and the Allied governments failed to save them. It was not, ever, a simple case of one British King’s loss of nerve. In this race against time, many other nations and individuals were facing political and personal challenges of the highest order.In this incredible detective story, Rappaport draws on an unprecedented range of unseen sources, tracking down missing documents, destroyed papers and covert plots to liberate the family by land, sea and even sky. Through countless twists and turns, this revelatory work unpicks many false claims and conspiracies, revealing the fiercest loyalty, bitter rivalries and devastating betrayals as the Romanovs, imprisoned, awaited their fate.A remarkable new work of history from Helen Rappaport, author of Ekaterinburg: The Last Days of the Romanovs.Trade ReviewI read The Race to Save the Romanovs in more or less in a single sitting. It’s absolutely marvellous – packed with details, beautifully paced and told me lots of things I didn’t know. -- PETER FRANKOPANWhat I always love about Helen Rappaport’s books is that they appeal to the heart as well as the head. She’s a writer of great compassion. -- LUCY WORSLEYA groundbreaking book... [which] prove[s] that, even as the centenary of their deaths by firing squad at Ekaterinburg approaches... there remain fresh angles and, crucially, unused evidence pertaining to the Romanovs. * The Daily Telegraph *Highly entertaining... Rappaport introduces us to a colourful array of con men, charlatans and fantasists involved in ideas to free the Romanovs... She is a vivid storyteller -- Victor Sebestyen * Sunday Times *Gripping... Rappaport has uncovered many missing pieces in the story, from the diplomatic wrangling over the tsar’s fate to a number of "hare-brained" rescue schemes hatched by monarchist sympathisers. * The Times *

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Book SynopsisBook of the Year in the Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph and New Statesman'A powerful illumination of a lost world that is nevertheless part of living memory.' Simon Heffer, 'Books of the Year' , Daily Telegraph'A joyous new book on post-war Britain.' Daily MailWhen Queen Elizabeth II came to the throne in 1952, Britain had a far-flung empire, Winston Churchill was prime minister, sweets were rationed, mums stayed at home and kids played on bombsites. In the years that followed everything changed utterly. Through original research, interviews with people who were there and his own memories of the time, Matthew Engel traces this transformation of British society as never before. Beginning with the death of King George VI and ending on the eve of Margaret Thatcher's election, Engel not only covers all the major historical events but also explores everyday life - from the food we ate and where we shopped, to what we watched on television and the newspapers we read. In doing so, he brings these three decades to life with his own light touch and a wealth of fascinating, forgotten, often funny detail. Previously published as The Reign - Life in Elizabeth's Britain.Trade ReviewDelivers equally sharp observations of Teddy Boys, hanged murderers, the British Empire, swinging London, National Service and Mrs Thatcher's ascent to power... A powerful illumination of a lost world that is nevertheless part of living memory. -- Simon Heffer * 'Books of the year', Daily Telegraph *Masterly... Consistently entertaining, frequently surprising and sometimes provocative. -- Peter Wilby * 'Books of the Year', New Statesman *A joyous new book on post-war Britain. * Daily Mail *Entertainingly written... An immediately credible, and at times highly personal, picture... Engel brings his own views to bear, usually with wit, and at times with pleasing eccentricity. * Spectator *A pleasingly anecdote filled new social history of the second Elizabethan era... Like the best assortment boxes, it encourages regular dipping, each chapter short and tasty enough to make you say "oh, just one more". -- Patrick Kidd * The Times *Has at least one priceless detail per page. -- Philip Norman * Observer *Full of richly revealing stories and quotidian detail, laced with incisive but humane judgements, and never missing the big picture of a country where the pace of social change was rapidly quickening - Matthew Engel has given us a tour de force about post-war Britain which delights and illuminates on every page. -- David KynastonA pure delight. There is a gem on every page. -- Peter HennessyI really enjoyed this romp through the headlines, partly because Matthew Engel is such an amusing writer and partly because all sixty-one of his chapters come up like three-minute songs on the jukebox - soon over and always time for just one more... Engel thinks like a journalist but writes like a raconteur. * Literary Review *The best feature writer of his generation, Engel really scores in his attention to the minutiae of lived experience... And he has a journalist's eye for the killer detail. * The Tablet *Rich in anecdote and telling detail it's a masterly evocation of a time of great social change. * Choice Magazine *

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Book SynopsisA short, brilliant and controversial new interpretation of arguably the most important revolution of all time: the event that made the rights of man and the demand for liberty, equality and fraternity central to modern politics. In this miraculously compressed, incisive book David Andress argues that it was the peasantry of France who made and defended the Revolution of 1789. That the peasant revolution benefitted far more people, in more far reaching ways, than the revolution of lawyerly elites and urban radicals that has dominated our view of the revolutionary period. History has paid more attention to Robespierre, Danton and Bonaparte than it has to the millions of French peasants who were the first to rise up in 1789, and the most ardent in defending changes in land ownership and political rights. 'Those furthest from the centre rarely get their fair share of the light', Andress writes, and the peasants were patronised, reviled and often persecuted by urban elites for not following their lead. Andress's book reveals a rural world of conscious, hard-working people and their struggles to defend their ways of life and improve the lives of their children and communities.Trade ReviewPRAISE FOR DAVID ANDRESS: 'David Andress's important new book is a major contribution in our efforts to rethink the French Revolution' Timothy Tackett, on The Terror. 'Andress writes with verve, never allowing the pace to slacken, moving swiftly from one character or episode to another. The result is exhilarating' Tim Blanning, Sunday Telegraph, on 1789. 'To understand our current political situation, this excellent book is recommended as a handy primer' * Spectator, on Cultural Dementia *

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Book SynopsisThe essential history of an iconic European city, by Cambridge academic Elizabeth Drayson. 'An admirable achievement... [Drayson has] expertise as a scholar and command as a storyteller' BBC History Magazine 'A glittering homage to one of the world's most beautiful and storied cities' Dan Jones 'Beauty built on blood and brutality... A fascinating new tome' Daily Mail From the early Middle Ages to the present, foreign travellers have been bewitched by Granada's peerless beauty. The Andalusian city is also the stuff of story and legend, with an unforgettable history to match. Romans, then Visigoths, settled here, as did a community of Jews; in the eleventh century a Berber chief made Granada his capital, and from 1230 until 1492 the Nasrids – Spain's last Islamic dynasty – ruled the emirate of Granada from their fortress-palace of the Alhambra. After capturing the city to complete the Christian Reconquista, the Catholic monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella made the Alhambra the site of their royal court. In Lost Paradise, Elizabeth Drayson takes the reader on a voyage of discovery that uncovers the many-layered past of Spain's most complex and fascinating city, celebrating and exploring its evolving identity. Her account brings to the fore the image of Granada as a lost paradise, revealing it as a place of perpetual contradiction and linking it to the great dilemma over Spain's true identity as a nation. This is the story of a vanished Eden, of a place that questions and probes Spain's deep obsession with forgetting, and with erasing historical and cultural memory.Trade ReviewAn admirable achievement... With her expertise as a scholar and her command as a storyteller, Drayson delivers a fascinating study that is part love letter to a city, part commentary on how memory is a force that impacts each successive age' * BBC History Magazine *Beauty built on blood and brutality! Elizabeth Drayson delves into the history of Granada in a fascinating new tome * Daily Mail *A glittering homage to one of the world's most beautiful and storied cities... Brilliantly and compellingly places Granada at the heart of more than two millennia of Mediterranean history' -- Dan JonesDrayson's book is a labour of love and it tells: there is a passion in her writing, in every detail that she has to offer about the history of the region... A gloriously illustrated book as compelling to look at as it is to read * International Times *For those who have visited Granada and the Alhambra, Drayson's writing will certainly revive pleasant memories, while those who have not yet made the journey will surely be inspired to do so by this evocative, richly illustrated and beautifully produced book * TLS *

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Book Synopsis''Turing writes on codebreaking with understandable authority and compelling panache.'' - Michael Smith, bestselling author of Station X. At Bletchley Park, some of Britain''s most talented mathematicians, linguists, and intellectuals were assembled to break Nazi codes. Kept secret for nearly thirty years, we have now come to realise the crucial role that these codebreakers played in the Allied victory in World War II. Written by Dermot Turing - the nephew of famous codebreaker Alan Turing - this illustrated account provides unique insight into the behind-the-scenes action at Bletchley Park. Discover how brilliant and eccentric individuals such as Dilly Knox, Alan Turing and Joan Clarke were recruited, the social life that grew up around the park, and how they dealt with the ever-present burden of secrecy. Including a foreword by Professor Christopher Andrew of Cambridge University, author of MI5''s official history The Defence of the Realm, this book brings to life the stories of the men and women who toiled day and night to crack the seemingly unbreakable enigma code.

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Book SynopsisFounded in 1884 to promote Irish identity and revive the traditional sports of hurling, football and handball, the GAA enjoyed an intimate relationship with the nationalist movement from the turn of the twentieth century onwards. In 1914, the Irish Volunteers drilled with hurley sticks in the absence of rifles; after the 1916 Rising many of those interned by the British were GAA members; and on 21 November 1920, a Gaelic football match between Dublin and Tipperary at Croke Park was interrupted by a raid by British crown forces that left fourteen dead in Ireland's first 'Bloody Sunday'. With affection and authority, Tim Pat Coogan traces the stirring story of an institution which, from modest beginnings as a grass-roots sporting organisation, has grown into a cornerstone of Irish society both North and South. The Gaelic Athletic Association is, Coogan argues, the most socially valuable organisation in Ireland, whose ideal of voluntarism has contributed to a distinctive sense of national identity that flourishes wherever green is worn.Trade ReviewA new book has charted the 'intimate' connection between the GAA and Irish freedom. Historian Tim Pat Coogan has investigated the influential role played by the association in the revolution * Irish Independent *Tim Pat Coogan's new book underlines the association's huge role in galvanising people against British rule, and how it acted as an important unifying force * Irish Examiner *With his usual erudition and readability, he considers the border campaign of the 50s, The Troubles, and the Hunger Strikes * Irish News *In The GAA and the War of Independence there is little room for doubt. The book knows what it is for, and knows who it is against. It asks few questions, and even fewer to which it doesn't already have an answer * Irish Times *

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Book SynopsisThe Soci t Europ enne de Production de l'avion cole de Combat et d'Appui Tactique (SEPECAT) Jaguar and Hawker Siddeley Harrier played critical ground-attack and tactical reconnaissance roles, including in the latter stages of the Cold War. The Jaguar came into service with the RAF in 1974 and flew with eight operational squadrons and an Operational Conversion Unit before finally being retired in 2007. The unique Harrier entered service with the RAF in 1969.It flew operationally with four squadrons, as well as being deployed in Belize and the Falkland Islands and with an Operational Conversion Unit. The second-generation Harrier was prematurely retired in 2011. With over 180 photographs, both black and white and colour, this book, the third in a series on British combat aircraft of the 1970s and '80s, is an essential addition to the libraries of those who flew or worked on these aircraft, aviation historians and enthusiasts, and modellers alike.

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Book SynopsisMaristow House in West Devon has a rich, remarkable yet little-known history. In the seventeenth century two sons from a family of Exeter merchants helped establish the sugar plantations of Jamaica and the resulting trade in African slaves. One became the island's governor while the other married the daughter of a Civil War hero and one of the first owners of the house. His Jamaican grandson took over the estate in the 1730s and produced an heir who rebuilt the mansion to reflect the style and architecture of Georgian England. These changes were paid for largely by the proceeds of slave plantations, even though this family never visited the source of their wealth. Instead, they frequented he fashionable salons of Bath and London arranging the marriages of their four daughters. The eldest, Sophia, married off against her will to an immensely rich but boring husband, spent all her adult life in the fashion-conscious court of the Prince of Wales. Another sister helped to save the life of a distant member of the family indicted as a mutineer on the infamous HMS Bounty. Finally, the house and its thousands of acres were bought by another West Indian, this time from a family of successful financiers and traders. Their Jewish heritage placed obstacles in their path but despite widespread antisemitism the buyer created an astonishing political career in the House of Commons and played an important role in the career of Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel. Equally remarkably, Manasseh Lopes, despite having no children of his own, founded a dynasty of successful men and women who to this day are close to Britain's royal family. Slave-generated wealth impacted both urban and rural areas of Britain. Many of the country's finest country houses owe their origins to this wellspring of money. What this book reveals is that even in one house, this wealth fuelled an extraordinary range of political and cultural activity. Maristow House, as Malcolm Cross explains, remains a portal through which to appreciate economic and social change on a much larger canvas.

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Book SynopsisOn the first morning of Rome's Covid-19 lockdown Matthew Kneale felt an urge to connect with friends and acquaintances and began writing an email, describing where he was, what was happening and what it felt like, and sent it to everyone he could think of. He was soon composing daily reports as he tried to comprehend a period of time, when everyone's lives suddenly changed and Italy struggled against an epidemic, that was so strange, so troubling and so fascinating that he found it impossible to think about anything else. Having lived in Rome for eighteen years, Matthew has grown to know the capital and its citizens well and this collection of brilliant diary pieces connects what he has learned about the city with this extraordinary, anxious moment, revealing the Romans through the intense prism of the coronavirus crisis.Trade ReviewThe novelist Matthew Kneale has lived in Rome for 18 years and his response to the news of Italy's first Covid lockdown was to unburden himself by writing a long email to family, friends and even people he'd lost touch with years ago... Collected here, his wry and questioning meanderings lace an ordeal with charm. * New Statesman *Fascinating... It's a book to delight anyone with an interest in European culture. * NB Magazine *Joie de vivre radiates from every page. * Strong Words Magazine *An unflinching look at the Italian capital during its shutdown last year. * Monocle *

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Book Synopsis'Delicious... Wonderful' Guardian'Fascinating... Full of incident and food for thought' Mail on Sunday'Delightful... Vogler offers up a feast of tales about popular British foods' Financial TimesA SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEARA WATERSTONES BEST FOOD & DRINK BOOK OF 2023The fascinating history of the people, the ideas and the dishes that have fed - and starved - the nation, by the author of the Sunday Times bestselling Scoff.In times of plenty, we stuff ourselves. When the food runs out, we're stuffed too. How have people in the British Isles shared the riches from our fields, dairies, kitchens and seas, as well as those from around the world? And when the cupboard is bare, who steps up to the plate to feed the nation's hungry children, soldiers at war or families in crisis?Stuffed tells the stories of the food and drink at the centre of social upheavals from prehistory to the present: the medieval inns boosted by the plague; the Enclosures that finished off the celebratory roast goose; the Victorian chemist searching for unadulterated mustard; the post-war supermarkets luring customers with strawberries. Drawing on cookbooks, literature and social records, Pen Vogler reveals how these turning points have led to today's extremes of plenty and want: roast beef and food banks; allotment-fresh vegetables and ultra-processed fillers.It is a tale of feast and famine, and of the traditions, the ideas and the laws which have fed - or starved - the nation, but also of the yeasty magic of bread and ale, the thrill of sugary treats, the pies and puddings that punctuate the year, and why the British would give anything - even North America - for a nice cup of tea.Trade ReviewA fact-stuffed romp through our edible history... Impressively wide-ranging... [Vogler] relishes the moments where the past crashes up against the present. * The Times *A banquet of fascinating titbits, deep research and intellectual nourishment... Stuffed is dusted, metaphorically speaking, all over with icing sugar: a delicious and tempting thing. -- Rachel Cooke * Observer *Fascinating... A scholarly and imaginative book full of incident and food for thought * Mail on Sunday *Delightful... Vogler offers up a feast of tales about popular British foods, ranging from potatoes to kippers and ale. -- Gillian Tett * Financial Times *Delicious... [Vogler] is excellent, as in her 2020 book Scoff, at foraging among the sources to bring us wonderful stories of older food cultures. * Guardian *In this provocative history of British food, Pen Vogler goes back 400 years to lay the blame for our absurd modern eating habits. * Sunday Times *Engaging... Vogler shows how ongoing - and vital - the battle is to eat well... Deeply researched and great fun. It might make you think twice about what you eat, too. * Evening Standard *There is so much to enjoy in Stuffed... Vogler is a hands-on historian for whom the past is right there in the kitchen, the supermarket and the everyday ingredient. In Stuffed, her delight in the taste and craft of food-making, its stories and its skills is irresistibly palpable. * Literary Review *Vogler's book is divided into the histories of different foods - each telling of supply and demand falling into the right or wrong hands. The stories span pre-Enclosure times to the recent pandemic. They are deeply unsettling and anger-provoking, and it's a book that those who have influence over what we eat should read. -- Rose Prince * Spectator *Persuasive... This clever and informative account confirms that we are indeed what we eat, and that our history is a product of it too. * New Statesman *Eating and feeding are the central projects of all human societies and Stuffed reveals that they are the very best lenses through which to understand our shared history. This is an extraordinary book about food, health and power; meticulously scholarly and extremely funny; as important as it is entertaining. Crucially it slices through the contemporary and historical politics of state versus individual responsibility: eating well is our responsibility, but it is the responsibility of the state to ensure we have that ability. And the book furnishes some ability itself with a series of recipes so that you can dine like a 17th central nobleman or a medieval peasant and feel a little more connected to the story of why we eat what we eat. Shot through with wit and humanity Stuffed is an all-consuming read. -- Chris van Tulleken, author of Ultra-Processed PeopleThoughtful, thought-provoking and full of fascinating detail (and intriguing recipes), this is a timely reminder we should never take our food for granted. -- Felicity CloakePen Vogler's Stuffed may tackle the question of hunger, but it is a generous and irresistible feast of a book. Spanning more than one thousand years of history, and focussing on 26 staple foods, Stuffed details the complex forces that determine diet, making clearer than ever that what we feed ourselves, our families and our communities is socially and politically shaped, and it always has been. -- Polly RussellAn ambitious book, leaping merrily from the Neolithic to the modern day... A wry sense of humour keeps it light, widening the appeal beyond food-history devotees, and modernised recipes are cleverly used to illustrate Vogler's points... A fun read and an illuminating look at food inequality - and responsibility - in the past. -- Annie Gray * BBC History Magazine *This culinary history of Britain looks at the foods that sustained, nourished or delighted its inhabitants in times of plenty and hardship... Pen Vogler is warm, wise company throughout * History Revealed, 'Book of the Month' *Serves up a veritable smorgasbord of delicious tidbits as it charts the history of our island through the contents of its dinner plates * Buzz Magazine *This mouthwatering, kaleidoscopic history is infused with a light, informative tone and is convincingly argued... Meticulously researched, spiced with penetrating analysis and rich in colourful detail, Stuffed is a sparkling banquet. * Business Post *Informative, enraging and entertaining in equal measure * Choice Magazine *Packed with facts - fascinating, illuminating, sometimes funny and at times shocking - about the history of food and society... You'll be engrossed from the first page. * Delicious Magazine *Table of ContentsPart One: Before the Enclosures 1: Introduction 2: Beans Recipe:: Fried Beans 3: Worts 4: Bacon 5: Bread and Ale 6: Carp Part Two: The Enclosures and After 1: Introduction 2: Turnips Recipe: Beef Stew with Turnips 3: Goose 4: Herring 5: Potatoes and Jam 6: Cheese Part Three: Organization 1: Introduction 2: Salt Beef 3: Oatmeal Recipe: Havercakes 4: Christmas Pudding 5: Strawberries Part Four: Children and Families 1: Introduction 2: Sugar 3: Gruel 4: Yorkshire Pudding 5: Scotch Barley Broth and Rhubarb Tart Recipe: Barley Broth or Scotch Broth Part Five: Sharing 1: Introduction 2: Beef and Beer (No Fish) 3: Wine and Ale 4: Pumpkin Pie Recipe: Pumpkin Pie 5: Meat Pie and Woolton Pie Part Six: Crises 1: Introduction 2: Tea 3: Bread and Butter 4: Potatoes and Cornmeal Recipe: Cornbread 5: Mustard and Pickles

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Book SynopsisIn this groundbreaking work, Ellen Meiksins Wood rewrites the history of political theory, from Plato to Rousseau. Treating canonical thinkers as passionately engaged human beings, Wood examines their ideas not simply in the context of political languages but as creative responses to the social relations and conflicts of their time and place. She identifies a distinctive relation between property and state in Western history and shows how the canon, while largely the work of members or clients of dominant classes, was shaped by complex interactions among proprietors, labourers and states. Western political theory, Wood argues, owes much of its vigour, and also many ambiguities, to these complex and often contradictory relations.In the first volume, she traces the development of the Western tradition from classical antiquity through to the Middle Ages in the perspective of social history - a significant departure not only from the standard abstract history of ideas but also from other contextual methods. From the Ancient Greek polis of Plato, Aristotle, Aeschylus and Sophocles, through the Roman Republic of Cicero and the Empire of St Paul and St Augustine, to the medieval world of Averroes, Thomas Aquinas and William of Ockham, Wood offers a rich, dynamic exploration of thinkers and ideas that have indelibly stamped our modern world.In the second volume, Wood addresses the formation of the modern state, the rise of capitalism, the Renaissance and Reformation, the scientific revolution and the Age of Enlightenment, which have all been attributed to the "early modern" period. Nearly everything about its history remains controversial, but one thing is certain: it left a rich and provocative legacy of political ideas unmatched in Western history. The concepts of liberty, equality, property, human rights and revolution born in those turbulent centuries continue to shape, and to limit, political discourse today. Assessing the work and background of figures such as Machiavelli, Luther, Calvin, Spinoza, the Levellers, Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau, Ellen Wood vividly explores the ideas of the canonical thinkers, not as philosophical abstractions but as passionately engaged responses to the social conflicts of their day.Trade ReviewMeiksins Wood is a rare breed - an academic with the soul of a storyteller. * Morning Star *Few historians of comparative political thought are in the same league as Ellen Wood, who surveys the whole sweep of ancient and medieval thinkers with equal magisterial brilliance of insight. -- Professor Paul Cartledge, University of CambridgeA challenging analysis, which successfully integrates theory with historical changes. The clarity of the writing makes her account readily accessible to any reader ready to engage a fresh approach to the history of political theory. -- Sheldon WolinImmensely impressive, bold and erudite. Meiksins Wood's conclusions are undeniably nuanced, challenging and important. This book ought to be compulsory reading for us all. * Times Higher Education Supplement *This book is clearly written, incisively argued, and immensely informative. * CHOICE *A notable book, wide-ranging and perceptive. Wood addresses the heartland of the historiography of political thought from Machiavelli to Rousseau, the territory of its most successful recent practitioners. -- Jonathan Clark * Times Literary Supplement *The writing is so supple and accessible, and the argument so persuasive, it's like watching a cloudy mixture of ideas being turned into a clear solution. -- Adrienne RichWood was an extraordinarily rigorous and imaginative thinker, someone who breathed life into Marxist political theory and made it speak-not to just to me but to many others-at multiple levels: historical, theoretical, political. -- Corey Robin * Jacobin *

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Book SynopsisThe six wives of Henry VIII- Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anna of Cleves, Katherine Howard and catherine Parr- have become defined in popular sense not so much by their lives but by the the way their lives ended. But, as Antonia Fraser conclusively proves, they were rich and feisty characters. They may have been victims of Henry's obsession with a male heir, but they were not willing victims. On the contrary, they displayed considerable strength and intelligence at a time when their sex supposedly possessed little of either. Inevitably there was great rivalry between them, and there was jealousy too- the desperate jealousy of the King who discovered himself betrayed. The story Antonia Fraser tells is romantic and cruel, funny and sad, dramatic and enthralling.Trade ReviewFraser's book is lively, enjoyable and ... judicious -- Susan Brigden * Observer *Henry VIII's matrimonial history is full of high farce, and Antonia Fraser is adept at exploiting her subject's comic possibilities. Yet for all the black humour, we are never allowed to forget that the story takes place against a backdrop of judicial murder, torture and religious persecution ... Henry's wives ... emerge from this supremely readable and ably researched biographical survey not simply as appendages to their husband, but as intriguing individuals in their own right -- Anne Somerset * Literary Review *This is one of the best popular histories I have read in years, full of spice and anecdotes of the Tudor Court -- Hilary Pratt * Irish Independent *Fulfils the promise of the title: it is solid biography ... Fraser must be commended for lengthy and arduous research and the production of another substantial history to please her many fans -- Philippa Gregory * Sunday Times *[Fraser's] lovingly thorough approach to such rich material has resulted in a book of high drama. Six complex, vital characters step out from behind the familiar portraits with such startling, almost contemporary vividness that the Tudor court seems doubly barbaric by contrast * The Oldie *An intoxicating mixture of sex, sentiment and court intrigue * Sunday Times *Our leading historical entertainer, a writer whose command of sources, eye for detail, perception of character and shrewd judgement enable her to bring the past truthfully to life ... she lays bare the battle of the sexes among the early Tudor ruling classes in a way that has never been done before -- Paul Johnson * Sunday Telegraph *Thank goodness this is not one more book about the old monster, but about the women in his life and from their point of view. It is a miracle of impartiality -- A. L. Rowse * Evening Standard *Learned and serious -- John Bossy * The Times *

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Book SynopsisHow did you clean your teeth in the 1660s? What make-up did you wear? What pets did you keep?Making use of every possible contemporary source, Liza Picard presents an engrossing picture of how life in London was really lived in an age of Samuel Pepys, the libertine court of Charles II and the Great Fire of London. The topics covered include houses and streets, gardens and parks, cooking, clothes and jewellery, cosmetics, hairdressing, housework, laundry and shopping, medicine and dentistry, sex education, hobbies, etiquette, law and crime, religion and popular belief. The London of 350 years ago is brought (and sometimes horrifyingly) to life.'A joy of a book ... It radiates throughout that quality so essential in a good historian: infinite curiosity' ObserverTrade ReviewImagine Samuel Pepys re-incarnated as a 20th-century woman lawyer, and looking back at 17th-century London not as a diarist but as a social analyst. Imagine P. D. James deciding to set a thriller in the time of Charles II and assembling her background materials ... There is almost no aspect of life in Restoration London that is not meticulously described in these 300-odd pages -- Jan Morris * INDEPENDENT *A potpourri of the ordinary and the extraordinary, the predictable and the astonishing * Literary Review *This is a joy of a book. Its style is both simple and evocative ... and it radiates throughout that quality so essential in a good historian: infinite curiosity -- Roy Porter * Observer *An encyclopedic overview of the London of Pepys and Wren ... Answers all those questions about the Great Fire of London you wanted to ask but never knew where to look for the answer -- Andrew Roberts * MAIL ON SUNDAY *Anyone who enjoys the minutiae of life in the past will have great fun exploring -- Juliet Townsend * SPECTATOR *A beautifully produced reference work ... [an] entertaining historical bran tub -- Rose Tremain * FINANCIAL TIMES *A densely textured accumulation of physical detail for the period, a history of the prosaic written with clarity and modesty ... An engagingly eccentric book which adds texture to existing accounts of the time -- Helen Simpson * TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT *Picard has a delicious sense of humour, an insatiable curiosity and an acute eye for detail. And she tells you all the things you really want to know about everyday life in London between 1660 and 1670 ... A truly wonderful book * Sydney Morning Herald *How our seventeenth-century ancestors ate, slept, travelled, worshipped, loved, clothed themselves, tried to keep healthy ... A marvellous source-book for historical novelists and film-makers out for authenticity, and a near-perfect bedside book for anyone else * Sunday Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisScapa Flow was one of the world's great naval bases and the scene of many of the major events of twentieth-century naval history. During both World Wars, the Royal Navy made Scapa the home for its capital ships, and thousands of servicemen and women were posted to Orkney. From here the Grand Fleet sailed for Jutland in 1916, from here the escorts for the Russian convoys set off, and it was in this beautiful, bleak anchorage that the German High Seas fleet committed the greatest act of suicide ever seen at sea – 'The Grand Scuttle' – before being later raised and scrapped in the most astonishing feat of maritime salvage in history. It was also in Scapa that the last photographs of Kitchener were taken as he boarded HMS Hampshire, shortly before she was sunk by mine off Marwick Head. Scapa is also the grave of many who fought for their country in both World Wars. In its silent waters lie the wrecks of the battleship Vanguard, blown apart by an explosion in 1917, and the Royal Oak, sunk by U-47 in a spectacular raid at the beginning of World War II . Here the first Luftwaffe raids on Britain occured, here too Italian prisoners-of-war built both the spectacular Churchill causeways and the exquisite chapel on the island of Lamb Holm. In this book, illustrated with over 130 archive photographs, James Miller traces the story of this remarkable place, weaving together history, eyewitness accounts and personal experience to capture the life and spirit of Scapa Flow when it was home to thousands of service personnel and the most powerful fleet in the world.Trade Review'a fascinating book, in which every reader will find something she/he never knew' * Scots Magazine * 'an interesting insight into life in a naval base during two world wars' * Broadly Boats *

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Book SynopsisBracketed by the catastrophes of the Great War and the Wall Street Crash, 1920s America was a place of drama, tension and hedonism. It glittered and seduced: jazz, flappers, wild all-night parties, the birth of Hollywood, and a glamorous gangster-led crime scene flourishing under prohibition. But the period was also punctuated by momentous events - the political show trials of Sacco and Vanzetti; the huge Ku Klux Klan march down Washington DC's Pennsylvania Avenue - and it produced a splendid array of writers, musicians and film stars, from F. Scott Fitzgerald to Bessie Smith and Charlie Chaplin.Trade Review"'It was a decade that absolutely fizzed - and Lucy Moore has produced an absolutely fizzing book to match her subject. I could not put it down... The most entertaining work of history you are likely to read in a long while.' A. N. Wilson 'A varied and dazzling portrait gallery of crooks and film stars, boxers and presidents, each brilliantly delineated and coloured in by a historian with a novelist's relish for human foibles.' Christopher Hart, Sunday Times 'Eminently readable... A sparkling collection of the anecdotes and personalities that defined the roaring Twenties... Fascinating.' Jennifer O'Connell, Sunday Business Post 'Zestful... A delightful canter through the history of America in the 1920s' Sunday Times Books of the Year 'Like the champagne-immersed age she portrays, Moore's book effervesces with the detail of this fascinating story.' Juliet Nicolson, Evening Standard"

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Book SynopsisCatalogue of knives and scabbards found in London excavations, with discussion of date, technology, decoration and function. Knives were vital to medieval man for a whole range of uses, from the domestic to the wider social context: Anglo-Saxon pre-Christian burials bear silent witness to this dependence in the many cases where knives are found among the grave-goods. Forged and hafted with great skill, sometimes with elaborately decorated scabbards, knives are of intrinsic fascination, besides being indicators of the popular artistic tastes of the time. This book catalogues, discusses and illustrates over five hundred knives, scabbards, shears and scissors dating from the mid-12th to the mid-15th centuries and found in the City of London, particularly along the waterfront sites, where recovered items can be accurately dated by dendrochronology and coin finds. It is a fundamental work of reference for medieval artefacts and material culture, an essential handbook for excavators all over Britain and much of Europe. JANE COWGILL, MARGRETHE DE NEERGAARDE and NICK GRIFFITHS are former members of the staff of the Museum of London.Trade ReviewA valuable reference for medieval blade studies... An excellent reference work. * TOOL AND TRADES HISTORY SOCIETY NEWSLETTER *

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Book SynopsisBritain is celebrated for having avoided the extremism, political violence and instability that blighted many European countries between the two world wars. But her success was a closer thing than has been realized. Disillusionment with parliamentary democracy, outbreaks of fascist violence and fears of communist subversion in industry and the Empire ran through the entire period. Fascist organizations may have failed to attract the support they achieved elsewhere but fascist ideas were adopted from top to bottom of society and by men and women in all parts of the country. This book will demonstrate for the first time the true spread and depth of fascist beliefs - and the extent to which they were distinctly British.Rich in anecdotes and extraordinary characters, Hurrah for the Blackshirts! shows us an inter-war Britain on the high-road to fascism but never quite arriving at its destination.Trade ReviewThis scholarly book shows how widespread fascism was before and in tandem with Mosley's New Party, the British Union of Fascists, half the Conservative Party and many royals -- Philip Howard * The Times *Pugh is one of the most well-respected, diligent and honest scholars working in British history today. This book deserves to be read -- Gerard DeGroot * Scotland on Sunday *The link between a distinct wing of Conservatism and the Italian form of fascism is substantiated in this outstandingly revelatory book * Herald *Fascism did not just come from the East-End toughs. It also came from women, the countryside and from parts of the industrial North. Pugh explores these various strands with a keen eye for detail and a lively sense of the absurd * Independent *Superb * Daily Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisFrom the beginning in 1935 this attractive book describes the different elements that went into the Panzer-Divisions. It describes how the Germans carefully built up their assault forces utilizing all available reserves and resources into making an effective fighting machine. It depicts how these awesome formations grew to be used four years later in war, and provides much historical information and facts about the vehicles and its components that fought in all the campaigns of the war from the early victorious Blitzkrieg in Poland and France to the last ditch defence in Germany in 1945. Each chapter features unseen photographs of light tanks, main battle tanks, assault guns, anti-tank destroyers, artillery, reconnaissance units, support vehicles, pioneers with their bridge building platforms and the motorized infantry or Panzergrenadiers. This book is a visual treat for the military enthusiast and collector and a worthy addition to the Images of War series.

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Book Synopsis‘ Well written and persuasive … objective and well-rounded… .this scholarly rehabilitation should be the standard biography’ **** Andrew Roberts, Mail on Sunday ‘ A true judgment of him must lie somewhere between hero and zero, and in this detailed biography Gary Sheffield shows himself well qualified to make it … a balanced portrait’ Sunday Times ‘ Solid scholarship and admirable advocacy’ Sunday Telegraph Douglas Haig is the single most controversial general in British history. In 1918, after his armies had won the First World War, he was feted as a saviour. But within twenty years his reputation was in ruins, and it has never recovered. In this fascinating biography, Professor Gary Sheffield reassesses Haig’ s reputation, assessing his critical role in preparing the army for war.

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Book SynopsisMiller provides a clear and comprehensible narrative, a coherent and accurate synthesis, intended as a guide for students and the general reader to an extremely complex period in British history. His aim is to help readers avoid getting lost in a maze of detail and rather to maintain a grasp of the big picture. Although the English Civil War is usually seen, in England at least, as a conflict between two sides, it involved the Scots, the Irish and the army and the people of England, especially London. At some points, events occurred and perspectives changed with such disorienting rapidity that even those who lived through these events were confused as to where they stood in relation to one another.As the 1640s wore on, events unfolded in ways which the participants had not expected and in many cases did not want. Hindsight might suggest that everything led logically to the trial and execution of the king, but these were in fact highly improbable outcomes.Since the 1980s, a 'three kingdoms' approach has become almost compulsory, but Miller's focus is unashamedly on England. Events in Scotland and Ireland are covered only insofar as they had an impact on events in England.

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Book SynopsisThe war in Spain and those who wrote at first hand of its horrors.From 1936 to 1939 the eyes of the world were fixed on the devastating Spanish conflict that drew both professional war correspondents and great writers. Ernest Hemingway, John Dos Passos, Josephine Herbst, Martha Gellhorn, W. H. Auden, Stephen Spender, Kim Philby, George Orwell, Arthur Koestler, Cyril Connolly, André Malraux, Antoine de Saint Exupéry and others wrote eloquently about the horrors they saw at first hand.Together with many great and now largely forgotten journalists, they put their lives on the line, discarding professionally dispassionate approaches and keenly espousing the cause of the partisans. Facing censorship, they fought to expose the complacency with which the decision-makers of the West were appeasing Hitler and Mussolini. Many campaigned for the lifting of non-intervention, revealing the extent to which the Spanish Republic had been betrayed. Peter Preston's exhilarating account illuminates the moment when war correspondence came of age.Trade ReviewExcellent...a splendid monument to scholarship. Always absorbing, frequently moving...it fills a crucial gap in the historiography of the Spanish civil war. * The Sunday Times *I cannot commend it enough. The story of those who fought to tell the story, at risk to their own lives and against the natural grain of their readers, is a cracker of a subject. [Preston] unpicks the tangles of lies, allegations and half-truths; revives reputations that have unjustly faded; and presents us with an overview that is lucid, unhurried and fresh to read -- Nicholas Shakespeare * Daily Telegraph *A pioneering investigation of those foreign correspondents who did so much to influence world opinion at the time ... Preston sweeps the reader along with the lucidity of his prose, his passionate commitment to the subject, and, above all, his concern to rescue the reputations of those unjustly neglected and courageous figures who worked alongside far more famous names such as Hemingway, Dos Passos, Kim Philby and Martha Gellhorn. * Literary Review *Paul Preston has become a hugely influential historian of the Spanish Civil War, not only for his scholarship, but for his eye for detail and skill as a storyteller. In We Saw Spain Die these talents come to the fore, aided not only by the richness of the material, but also Preston's deep enthusiasm for his subject. -- Jason Webster * New Statesman *This testament to their testimony could not have been supplied by a more erudite expert. Preston is a peerless historian of Spain, and the only one who writes as readably as a professional journalist * Independent *A work of impressive scholarship. * BBC History Magazine *What marks out his work is not just an understanding of the period ... but also an ability to choose an angle from which to make old history seem new. * The Herald *There is much to inspire in the courage and commitment of these journalists and Preston has done us proud in telling their stories * Morning Star *A copper-bottomed tour de force * Catholic Herald *Compelling .... required reading for anyone in Spain or war reporting. * The Tablet *Anyone interested in the personal experiences of foreign journalists in the Spanish Civil War should start with this book * Times Higher Education *This meticulous history book adds an invaluable insight into these events as documented in the heat of the struggle and as such is highly recommended. * Socialist Review *Essential reading * Good Book Guide *Passionate and absorbing * The Guardian *A splendid monument to scholarship. Absorbing, funny, frequently moving ... it fills a crucial gap in the historiography of the Spanish conflict * Sunday Times *A fascinating book on two levels. It's a great political adventure story laced with sex, politics and death but it is also a profound book about journalism ... meticulously researched. * Tribune *Excellent * Daily Telegraph *

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Book Synopsis The Holy Roman Empire has often been anachronistically assumed to have been defunct long before it was actually dissolved at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The authors of this volume reconsider the significance of the Empire in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries. Their research reveals the continual importance of the Empire as a stage (and audience) for symbolic performance and communication; as a well utilized problem-solving and conflict-resolving supra-governmental institution; and as an imagined political, religious, and cultural "world" for contemporaries. This volume by leading scholars offers a dramatic reappraisal of politics, religion, and culture and also represents a major revision of the history of the Holy Roman Empire in the early modern period.Trade Review “…a meticulous reappraisal of the Holy Roman Empire in its early modern period. Informed and informative, "The Holy Roman Empire, Reconsidered" is a seminal work and strongly recommended for academic library European History reference collections in general, and Holy Roman Empire Studies supplemental reading lists in particular.” · Library Bookwatch “There is a strong sense of Aufbruchstimmung about this book, that is a readiness to explore pastures new, both in terms of launching an interdisciplinary publication series and in presenting an Anglophone audience with a survey of new departures in the historiography of German-speaking Europe. The result is a very welcome collection which will be useful for a range of purposes, be it general orientation about an innovative field of scholarship, framing new research questions in late medieval and early modern studies or adding fresh materials to courses for advanced students.” · English Historical Review "This is a lively and stimulating collection which many will wish to read.” · German Studies Review “If the editors of Spektrum: Publications of the German Studies Association were looking for an impressive collection with which to lead off their new series, they certainly succeeded admirably in choosing The Holy Roman Empire, Reconsidered…In sum, each individual paper in this collection repays careful reading. Taken as a whole, they reveal the vitality and variety of contemporary scholarship on the Holy Roman Empire.” · Austrian History Yearbook "Over the last two decades historians have promoted the Holy Roman Empire from a creaking fossil ready for history’s ax to a relatively effective government of a decentralized, highly diverse polity. This well-edited volume by a distinguished international corps of specialists offers the most current views on political Germany from around 1500 to around 1800. The perspectives range between two views: the Empire as the forerunner of modern German states; the Empire as an example of a typically premodern political culture. Readers who know only what textbooks say about Germany before 1800, are in for a surprise." · Thomas A. Brady Jr., University of California, Berkeley "Whereas a revised view of the Empire is now part of the historiography in Germany it is not yet widely known among Anglo-American scholars. [O]ne of the important contributions of [this volume] is that it makes some of these revisionist approaches to the Old Empire accessible...I know of no other work that offers such a rich spectrum of approaches to the Old Empire." · Thomas Robisheaux, Duke UniversityTable of Contents List of Illustrations Series Preface Volume Preface List of Contributors Introduction: The Holy Roman Empire in History and Historiography Jason Coy SECTION I: PRESENCE, PERFORMANCE, AND TEXT Chapter 1. Discontinuities: Political Transformation, Media Change, and the City in the Holy Roman Empire from the Fifteenth to Seventeenth Centuries Philip Hoffmann-Rehnitz Chapter 2. Overloaded Interaction: Effects of the Growing Use of Writing in German Imperial Cities, 1500–1800 Alexander Schlaak Chapter 3. Princes’ Power, Aristocratic Norms, and Personal Eccentricities: Le Caractère Bizarre of Frederick William I of Prussia (1713–1740) Benjamin Marschke SECTION II: SYMBOLIC MEANING, IDENTITY, AND MEMORY Chapter 4. The Illuminated Reich: Memory, Crisis, and the Visibility of Monarchy in Late Medieval Germany Len Scales Chapter 5. The Production of Knowledge about Confessions: Witnesses and their Testimonies about Normative Years in and after the Thirty Years’ War Ralf-Peter Fuchs Chapter 6. Staging Individual Rank and Corporate Identity: Pre-Modern Nobilities in Provincial Politics Elizabeth Harding 7. The Importance of Being Seated: Ceremonial Conflict in Territorial Diets Tim Neu SECTION III: CEREMONY, PROCEDURE, AND LEGITIMATION Chapter 8. Ceremony and Dissent: Religion, Procedural Conflicts, and the “Fiction of Consensus” in Seventeenth-Century Germany David M. Luebke Chapter 9. Contested Bodies: Schwäbisch Hall and its Neighbors in Conflicts Regarding High Jurisdiction (1550–1800) Patrick Oelze Chapter 10. Conflict and Consensus around German Princes’ Unequal Marriages: Prince’s Autonomy, Emperor’s Intervention, and the Juridification of Dynastic Politics Michael Sikora Chapter 11. Power and Good Governance: The Removal of Ruling Princes in the Holy Roman Empire, 1680–1794 Werner Trossbach SECTION IV: IMPERIAL INSTITUTIONS, CONFESSION, AND POWER RELATIONS Chapter 12. Marital Affairs as a Public Matter within the Holy Roman Empire: The Case of Duke Ulrich and Duchess Sabine of Württemberg at the Beginning of the Sixteenth Century Michaela Hohkamp Chapter 13. The Corpus Evangelicorum: A Culturalist Perspective on its Procedure in the Eighteenth-Century Holy Roman Empire Andreas Kalipke Chapter 14. Gallican Longings: Church and Nation in Eighteenth-Century Germany Michael Printy Conclusion: New Directions in the Study of the Holy Roman Empire - A Cultural Approach André Krischer Glossary Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisIn late eighteenth-century Britain a handful of men brought about the greatest transformation in human history. Inventors, industrialists and entrepreneurs ushered in the age of powered machinery and the factory, and thereby changed the whole of human society, bringing into being new methods of social and economic organisation, new social classes, and new political forces. The Industrial Revolution also dramatically altered humanity's relation to the natural world and embedded the belief that change, not stasis, is the necessary backdrop for human existence.Iron, Steam and Money tells the thrilling story of those few decades, the moments of inspiration, the rivalries, skulduggery and death threats, and the tireless perseverance of the visionaries who made it all happen. Richard Arkwright, James Watt, Richard Trevithick and Josiah Wedgwood are among the giants whose achievements and tragedies fill these pages. In this authoritative study Roger Osborne also shows how and why the revolution happened, revealing pre-industrial Britain as a surprisingly affluent society, with wealth spread widely through the population, and with craft industries in every town, village and front parlour. The combination of disposable income, widespread demand for industrial goods, and a generation of time-served artisans created the unique conditions that propelled humanity into the modern world.The industrial revolution was arguably the most important episode in modern human history; Iron, Steam and Money reminds us of its central role, while showing the extraordinary excitement of those tumultuous decades.Trade ReviewAbly handling a mass of material, Osborne explores both the technological side of his subject and its human aspect -- Christopher Smith * UK Regional Press Syndication *Osborne fires [the Industrial Revolution] up with great gusto -- Iain Finlayson * The Times *Detailed and scholarly -- Steve Craggs * UK Regional Press Syndication *A truly rattling good yarn -- Jonathan Glancey * Country Life *Detailed and scholarly * UK Regional Press Syndication *

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Book Synopsis'Thaim wi a guid Scots tongue in their heid are fit tae gang ower the warld' In The Scottish World, renowned broadcaster Billy Kay takes us on a global journey of discovery, highlighting the extraordinary influence the Scots have had on communities and cultures on almost every continent. While others have questioned the self-confidence of the Scots, Kay has travelled the world from Bangkok to Brazil, Warsaw to Waikiki and found ringing endorsements for the integrity and intellect, the poetry and passion of the Scottish people in every country he has visited. He expands people's view of Scotland by relating remarkable stories of the wealthy Scottish merchant community in Gdansk; of national geniuses of Scots descent, such as Lermontov in Russia and Grieg in Norway; of an American Civil War blamed on Sir Walter Scott and initiated in the St Andrew's Society of Charleston; of inspirational missionaries in Calabar and Budapest; of Scotch professors establishing football in soccer strongholds such as Barcelona and São Paulo; of pioneers like Sandeman and Cockburn, and the Scottish roots of many of the great wines of Europe; and of their amazing involvement in liberation movements in Malawi, Chile, Peru, Greece, Corsica and India. The Scottish World is a celebration of the enormous contribution the Scots have made to the modern world.Trade ReviewFull of revelations about the Scottish diaspora overlooked by most historians * Sunday Herald *Makes clear Scotland's contribution to world history * Sunday Post *A well-researched study of the real influence Scots have had on the modern world * Scots Independent *Intelligent and engaging * The Big Issue *Kay brings a fresh eye to the impressive legacy of the Scottish diaspora. Every page brings another hero * National Trust Magazine *

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Book SynopsisIreland in the aftermath of Cromwell during this period Catholicism and nationalism became linked and priests were outlawed.The Priest Huntersshines a light on four of the men who hunted them:Sean na Sagart, Edward Tyrrell, Barry Lowe and John Garzia, the most hated men in Ireland.

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Book SynopsisBorn in Cloughjordan in Co. Tipperary, MacDonagh was a poet and playwright, an educator and political activist. Appointed to the IRB Military Council he became a member of the Provisional Government of the Irish Republic and was a signatory of the 1916 Easter proclamation. During the Rising MacDonagh was commandant of the 2nd Battalion of the Dublin Brigade of the Irish Volunteers and occupied the Jacobs Biscuit factory garrison. Following an inspiring speech at his Court Marshal he was executed on 3 May 1916 at Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin. In this meticulously researched biography Shane Kenna places this remarkable man within the great pantheon of Irish Republican heroes. He provides a riveting reconstruction of the life of a man whose death played such a key part in the shaping of modern Ireland. 'an epic new series of books' - RTE Guide on 16LivesTrade ReviewKenna has a gift for finding the right quotation to make his point -- tintean.orgThis series of sympathetic biographies attempts to show the day-to-day lives of the rebel leaders and the Ireland in which they lived … These two biographies are valuable additions to the historiography of the Rising and revolution, especially in highlight the diverging ambitions, desires and visions of the men who organised it -- Dublin Review of Books

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Book SynopsisThe final stage of Simon Schama's epic voyage around Britain spans centuries, crosses the breadth of the empire and covers a vast expanse of topics - from the birth of feminism to the fate of freedom.The Fate of the Empire asks crucial questions about the nature of empire, journeying from celebrations of industrial and imperialist power at the Great Exhibition, to the catastrophic Irish potato famine and the Indian Mutiny. Through the military and economic shocks and traumas of our past, Schama asks the question that is still with us - is the immense weight of our history a blessing or a curse, a gift or a millstone around the neck of our future?This third and final volume in the series is a vast compelling history, made more so by the lively storytelling and big bold characters at the heart of the action. But alongside flamboyant heroes, like Nelson and Churchill, Schama recalls unsung heroines and virtually unknown enemies. Alongside the grand ideas, he exposes the grand illusions that cost untold lives.Trade ReviewSchama has a masterly ability to conjure up character and vivify conflict. -- Ben Rogers * Financial Times *He remains a master storyteller, admirably and sceptically well read in current revisionist histories, and a wonderful guide to a new history of Britain. * The Times *Simon Schama's A History of Britain is far more than the book of the TV series... The book is far richer and fuller, covering a huge span so economically that there is room for plenty of arresting detail... It is the sort of vivid history that keeps you awake. * Daily Mail *Popular history at its finest. * Sunday Express *A History of Britain, its text supplemented by wonderful illustrations, affords the rare joy of witnessing a scholar at the peak of his powers convincing the reader that he has a cracking good tale to tell and that he is loving every minute of the telling. -- Roy Porter * Literary Review *

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Book SynopsisOn 30 April 1945, Adolf Hitler committed suicide. The following day, his propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels also killed himself and the crumbling Third Reich passed to Admiral Karl Dönitz. The Nazis' position seemed hopeless. Yet remarkably, the war in the rest of Europe went on for another ten days. After Hitler looks at these days as a narrative day-by-day countdown but also as a broader global history of a European war that had seen some of the most savage battles in history. Relations between the 'Big Three' - the United States, Great Britain and the Soviet Union - suddenly plunged to near breaking point. This book reveals that tumultuous story.After Hitler also looks at the wider canvas of the war and the terrible humanitarian catastrophe uncovered in Europe. It describes those who felt the joy of freedom, but also those who faced a highly uncertain future. As Red Army soldiers joined forces with their British and American allies, Stalin's East finally came face to face with Churchill's and Truman's West. After Hitler tells of their growing mistrust, but also of moments of remarkable goodwill and co-operation - the brief but poignant hope that these great nations could together fashion a new and safer future. This is a fascinating exploration of the brief but crucial period that shaped the emerging post-war world.Trade ReviewA compelling and little-told account of a few days that set the scene in Europe for much of the next 50 years . . . a 'must-read' for professional and amateur historian alike * General The Lord Richards of Herstmonceux GCB CBE DSO, Late Chief of Defence Staff UK *Michael Jones has described the death agonies of Nazism in an excellent, vivid and often moving narrative of the ten days between Hitler's suicide on April 30, 1945, and the celebration of VE day on May 9. He has deftly blended the stories of great events and the great figures who shaped them with the experiences of the myriad men and women who carried out their orders * The Times *An evocative, clear and exciting recreation of the final ten days of the crumbling Third Reich. It is fast paced, exceedingly well written, with some very thoughtful and insightful analysis of the atmosphere between the Great Power leaders on the eve of the Cold War, in particular the sensitive surrender negotiations . . . really well done * Robert Kershaw *[Michael] Jones - a master of the vignette - provides an effective retelling of the story. Using an impressive selection of eyewitness accounts, he skips across Europe in that last week of the war - from Reims to Luneburg, Prague to Flensburg - giving an engaging, lively summary of events * BBC History *An absorbing history . . . communicates the pity of the war and its aftermath with a proper sympathy * Sunday Telegraph *Hitler, broken and despairing, killed himself on 30 April 1945; the war in Europe formally ended on 9 May. Acclaimed historian Michael jones resists the common urge to skip over that gap, unearthing a wealth of intriguing detail, much from primary sources . . . in a year sure to be swamped with war publications, few are likely to offer such novel approaches * Press Association *As such a recognisable and universally reviled figure of the 20th century, Adolf Hitler tends to overshadow what happened after his suicide. This book tells that story, as the German capital Berlin crumbled and tensions between the US, UK and Soviet Union rose * History Revealed *Michael Jones has woven together the many stories of those terrible ten days in a most compelling fashion * The Spectator *A tale of heroism and barbarism; of overwhelming triumph and abysmal defeat; of refugees and revenge; of a nightmare shattered and emerging hopes of a better future . . . Jones demonstrates an ease of command of his historical material and he understands the complex personalities of the commanders who dominate his pages. This is the best book of its genre * Australian *Michael Jones's superbly researched account vividly evokes the death throes of the Third Reich * Mail on Sunday *Fast moving and addictively readable, this book covers the ten days from Hitler's suicide to VE Day in Moscow on 9 May 1945 * Independent *

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