European history Books

Book SynopsisIt is generally accepted that Queen Victoria reigned but did not rule. This couldn't be more wrong.

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Book SynopsisThe real Master and Commander 'There is no man I envy so much as Lord Cochrane' Lord ByronTrade Review'The real Master and Commander' Sunday Telegraph 'Cordingly is a brilliant historian' Daily Telegraph 'Intriguing and satisfying ... Cochrane packed enough drama and history to shame both Horatio Nelson and Sir Francis Drake ... O'Brian fans will find great satisfaction in smoking out similarities and differences between Cochrane and Aubrey' Washington Post 'By rights, Thomas Cochrane should be as well known today as Francis Drake ... Cochrane's adventures in Chile, Peru and Brazil are among the most amazing in naval history' Sunday Times

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Book Synopsis''Packed with vivid character sketches and lyrical description, Tremlett has told a gripping story, full of beauty and darkness'' The TimesWINNER OF THE 2018 ELIZABETH LONGFORD PRIZEIn 1474, a twenty-three year old woman ascended the throne of Castile, the largest and strongest kingdom in Spain. Ahead of her lay the considerable challenge not only of being a young, female ruler in an overwhelmingly male-dominated world, but also of reforming a major European kingdom that was riddled with crime, corruption, and violent political factionism. Her marriage to Ferdinand of Aragon was crucial to her success, bringing together as it did two kingdoms, but it was a royal partnership in which Isabella more than held her own. Her pivotal reign was long and transformative, uniting Spain and laying the foundations not just of modern Spain, but of the one of the world's greatest empires. With authority and flair, acclaimed historian Giles Tremlett Tremlett relates the story of this lTrade ReviewMagisterial ... Tremlett’s contention, which he supports with a sublime presentation of facts and interpretation, is that Isabella represents the first member in the exclusive club of great European queens who exercised sovereign power in their own hand -- Starred Review * Booklist *Richly enjoyable … He seeks to understand his subject, while never underplaying the appalling impact of some of her decisions. Packed with vivid character sketches and lyrical description, Tremlett has told a gripping story, full of beauty and darkness * The Times *A triumphant and chilling account of the rise of Spain and its New World conquests * Daily Telegraph *Magnificent * Sunday Telegraph *This is a most enjoyable book – a lively, intense page-turner written in straight-forward, unpretentious prose … Tremlett balances academic scholarship with journalistic flair to produce an enthralling biography -- Rebecca Rist * Tablet *Magnificent * Daily Telegraph *Tremlett uses his gifts as a writer on Spain’s history to offer us a voluminous biography with fluent and evocative narrative that fully exploits the romantic aspects of the age * Times Literary Supplement *Splendid ***** * Daily Telegraph *The reign of Isabella of Castile and her partnership with Ferdinand of Aragon saw the beginning of the transformation of Spain into a major global power. Tremlett offers a detailed assessment of a woman who to her supporters, was a great Christian monarch, but to her detractors was a fanatical tyrant * Mail on Sunday, Best Paperbacks *Brings to life “Europe’s first great queen” – in reality, “a usurper” – who began the unification of Spain and, less attractively, the expulsion of both Jews and Muslims, in an early example of ethnic cleansing * Daily Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisA clear, intelligently-written guide to a crucial period of Spanish historyWritten in the same tradition as John Julius Norwich's engrossing accounts of Venice and Byzantium, Richard Fletcher's Moorish Spain entertains even as it enlightens. He tells the story of a vital period in Spanish history which transformed the culture and society, not only of Spain, but of the rest of Europe as well. Moorish influence transformed the architecture, art, literature and learning and Fletcher combines this analysis with a crisp account of the wars, politics and sociological changes of the time.

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Book SynopsisThe Hebrides hold a remarkable place in the imaginations of Scotland and England. On the outer edge of the British Isles and facing the Atlantic Ocean, these iconic islands form part of Europe's boundary. Because of their unique position, they have been at the centre of a network of ancient shipping routes which has led to a history of cultures colliding and merging. Home to a long and rich Gaelic tradition, they have attracted saints and sinners, and artists and writers, inspiring awe and dread as well as deep attachment. Over six years, Madeleine Bunting travelled to the Hebrides, exploring their landscapes, histories and magnetic pull. With great sensitivity and perceptiveness, she delves into the meanings of home and belonging, which in these islands have been fraught with tragedy as well as tenacious resistance. She finds that their history of dispossession and migration played a part in the British imperial past. And perhaps more significant still is the extent of the islands' influence on ideas of Britishness. Love of Country shows how the islands' history is a backdrop for contemporary debates about the relationship between our nations, how Britain was created, and what Britain has meant - for good and for ill.Trade Review[An] excellent book... [Bunting's] depth of engagement gives authenticity to the writings and substance to the arguments... Almost the perfect marriage of physical travelogue to the inner landscape of political ideas and cultural reflections that makes this such a super read. I cannot think of a more intellectually challenging or rewarding travel book in recent years... Love of Country is in every way a richer, more mature work than Bunting's award-winning 2009 memoir, The Plot. I expect it to bring her prizes and fame -- Mark Cocker * New Statesman *[Bunting's] crisp and luminous prose is the ideal medium to capture the ambiguities and dichotomies of the landscape; between ever-shifting sea and unfathomably old rock... Bunting has a keen eye for a story... [and her] great achievement with this book is to weave these elements together rather than concentrate on particular examples... When writing about the natural world - particularly the ocean - her prose reaches its own kind of lyrical epiphany. It seems to me that if the "new nature writing" [...] is to be something more than Fotherington-Thomas from the Molesworth books swooning over tormentil and machairs, then it requires Bunting's engagement with questions of politics, religion history, culture and our emotional responses... [A] splendid, precise and gracious book -- Stuart Kelly * Scotland on Sunday *Rich in detail, richer in writing: the elegiac Love of Country is one of the year's best, taking Madeleine Bunting through her old Hebridean haunts * Wanderlust magazine *A heroic journey that takes us as far into the regions of the heart as into the islands of the north-west -- Richard HollowayMadeleine Bunting's pilgrimages to the farthest edge of Britain are revelations of place, language and perspective - uncovering a world rich in story; a world where the ambitious have often foundered, but where the quietly observant visitor can discover self-sufficiency, in the people, their unforgiving land - and in themselves -- Ted NieldMadeleine Bunting's thoughtful, question-asking journey through the Hebrides makes Love of Country an indispensable guide to the past and present of one of the most inspiring landscapes in Europe -- Ian JackMadeleine Bunting writes with both heart and brain at full throttle, weaving together history, geography, literature as she travels the islands she has loved all her life. Love of Country is personal, erudite and quirky - through the history of the Hebrides she has hit on an original and timely exploration of what home means, of what Britain was, and what it has become. -- Lucy KellawayBunting has expertly combined history, literature and travel in a book that certainly taught me much that I was unaware of about these islands, which lie so close to the Scottish mainland but have a history and identity all of their own -- Russell Leadbetter * National (Glasgow) *In the course of this lively, insightful, highly readable travelogue, [Bunting] blends history, geography, literature and nature writing... A modern pilgrim, one of the overriding interests is politics and especially hot future Britishness must be open to a sense of multiple identities -- Brian Maye * Irish Times *Exquisitely-written * New European *Madeleine Bunting writes evocatively about the Hebrides... The best thing about it is that it made me want to revisit the islands I know, as well as visit the ones I haven't been to yet. The book has a lovely balance of autobiography, literary references, history, politics, religion and culture -- Travel book gift ideas * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisThe extraordinary true story of the Stasi's poetry club: Stasiland and The Lives of Others crossed with Dead Poets Society.Engrossing.' ObserverRemarkable.' The TimesMagnificent.' Phillipe SandsGripping.' Literary ReviewA history so outlandish and unlikely that you feel it must be true . . . [A] grippingly well-written book.' Anthony Quinn, Observer Book of the WeekIn 1982, East Germany's fearsome secret police convinced that writers were embedding subversive messages in their work decided to train their own writers, weaponising poetry in the struggle against the class enemy. Once a month, a group of soldiers and border guards gathered in a heavily guarded military compound in East Berlin for meetings to learn how to write lyrical verse.Journalist Philip Oltermann spent five years rifling through Stasi files,Trade Review'A magnificent book. I could not put it down. It is at once touching, exquis-ite, devastating and extraordinary - it's a wonderful narrative, with impeccable detective work, and beautifully written. It manages to be under-stated and thrilling, a kind of literary page turner. I loved it. It deserves to be very widely read and then turned into a movie.' - Philippe Sands, author of EAST WEST STREET and THE RATLINE

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Book SynopsisThe first study of how a group of diverse women spread, built and sustained a national network of branches supporting the militant suffrage campaign in Britain in the years before the First World WarTrade Review'Cowman's work is to be welcomed for the fresh perspective it brings to bear on the WSPU's activities. Her focus on the movement's organisers allows her to integrate the local and national dimensions of the women's suffrage campaaign into a coherent and engaging account.'Kathryn Rix, History of Parliament -- .Table of ContentsIntroduction1. Becoming an organiser2. ‘They wanted me here’: organisers and the itinerant life3. ‘There was only one member… when I arrived’: working as a district organiser4. Life at headquarters5. ‘I urge you not to run the risk of arrest’: organisers and militancy 6. ‘There is [no] person living who, as an organiser, would entirely satisfy some people!’: Organisers and dissent7. WSPU organisers and the warConclusionBiographical appendixSelect bibilographyIndex

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Book SynopsisA 2022 BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR: Sunday Times * Irish Times * Spectator * Financial Times * Telegraph * Aspects of History ‘The history book you need if you want to understand modern Russia' ANNE APPLEBAUM ‘A magnificent, magisterial thousand year history of Russia . . . by one of the masters of Russian scholarship' SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE ‘A great historian at the peak of his powers' WILLIAM DALRYMPLE '[An] excellent short study’ MAX HASTINGS, SUNDAY TIMES ‘If you really want to understand Putin’s Russia today, anchored in its past of myths, then you simply have to read Figes’s superb account’ ANTONY BEEVOR 'A lucid chronological journey that ably illustrates how narratives from the nation’s past have been used to shape its autocratic present’ OBSERVER 'A valuable, instructive overview' INDEPENDENT ------------------------- From the great storyteller of Russia, a spellbinding account of the stories that have shaped the country’s past – and how they can inform its present. No other country has been so divided over its own past as Russia. None has changed its story so often. How the Russians came to tell their story, and to reinvent it as they went along, is a vital aspect of their history, their culture and beliefs. To understand what Russia’s future holds – to grasp what Putin’s regime means for Russia and the world – we need to unravel the ideas and meanings of that history. In The Story of Russia, Orlando Figes brings into sharp relief the vibrant characters that comprise Russia’s rich history, and whose stories remain so important in making sense of the world’s largest nation today – from the crowning of sixteen-year-old Ivan the Terrible in a candlelit cathedral, to Catherine the Great, riding out in a green uniform to arrest her husband at his palace, to the bitter last days of the Romanovs. Beautifully written and based on a lifetime of scholarship, The Story of Russia is a major and definitive work from the great storyteller of Russian history: sweeping, suspenseful, masterful. ------------------------- PRAISE FOR ORLANDO FIGES ‘An outstanding historian and writer, he brings distant history so close that you could feel its heartbeat’ KARL OVE KNAUSGAARD 'Figes knows more about Russia than any other historian' MAX HASTINGS, SUNDAY TIMESTrade ReviewFiges’s book is an absorbing and enlightening read, a triumph of concision, analysis and insight * Daily Mail *A deeply impressive and deeply immersive book . . . The author sets out to reveal Russia’s history, its people’s perception of their past and the manifold ways in which those in power manipulate both events and legend to shape the present. It is a saga of multi-millennial identity politics * Spectator *To understand Putin's paranoia, read this book on Russia's history * Telegraph *A lucid chronological journey that ably illustrates how narratives from the nation’s past have been used to shape its autocratic present * Observer *If you really want to understand Putin’s Russia today, anchored in its past of myths, then you simply have to read Figes’s superb account in The Story of Russia -- Antony BeevorFiges’s book is an absorbing and enlightening read, a triumph of concision, analysis and insight * Daily Mail *An indispensable survey of more than 1,000 years of history shows how myth and fact mix dangerously in the tales this crucial country tells about itself * Guardian *A magnificent, magisterial thousand year history of Russia . . . its tsars and tyrants, wars and massacres, ideas and dreams vividly drawn, its analysis of Russian power and empire essential reading today -- Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of THE ROMANOVS and STALIN: THE COURT OF THE RED TSARAn expert on Russia delivers a crucially relevant study . . . A lucid, astute text that unpacks the myths of Russian history to help explain present-day motivations and actions * Kirkus (starred review) *Urgent and revelatory and brilliantly told, it’s all the things you pray a book will be when you first pick it up -- Peter MorganExcellent short study -- Max Hastings * Sunday Times *The historian’s latest work on Russia is a lucid chronological journey that ably illustrates how narratives from the nation’s past have been used to shape its autocratic present -- Angus Macqueen * Observer *Figes skilfully assesses the evolution of the forms of government and society that inhibited the development of controls of the tsar * BBC History Magazine *Accessible and epic . . . A great introduction to an enthralling subject * History Revealed *An impressive account of the ideas, myths and ideologies that have shaped that country and the way its people interpret the past . . . Figes’s book offers a valuable, instructive overview * Independent *Anyone who wants to detox from Putin’s mythomanic claims about Russia’s history and what it means for today’s world will find some relief in The Story of Russia . . . Figes presents Russia’s history in a straightforward manner * Irish Independent *Valuable book * Irish Times *[An] imaginative sweep and a capacity to encapsulate in a memorable way * TLS *Orlando Figes provides valuable lessons about the importance of mythologizing the country’s past in his sweeping new survey of Russian history * New York Times *Sweeping and concise . . . It is a skilled piece of compression * Tablet *This is a brilliant condensation – his analysis of Soviet Russia is superb – of a seriously complex tale * Spectrum *The Story of Russia combines profound knowledge and understanding of the longer, deeper structural processes of history with the personal experience of an author seeking to understand what is happening on the ground today * Financial Times *Orlando Figes’s latest book provides fascinating insights into this contemporary conundrum. The Story of Russia is a truly incisive and important dissection of Russia’s troubled past, both real and mythical, but it also provides a crucial context for understanding the present * Jewish Chronicle *This book is a timely reminder of the malign uses to which history can be put * Politics Home *A brilliantly concentrated meditation on the power of myth and history, and the ability of both to form and deform and guide and misguide the present. Thoughtful, nuanced and above all persuasive, it shows how we are all trapped in the loops and coils of myth, memory and forgetting, and demonstrates the urgent need for historians to remember, and insist on the truth -- William Dalrymple, Books of the Year * Spectator *Beautifully brief, The Story of Russia shows centuries of regimes that revisit their past to manipulate the future, and eternally start from the wrong place acting in venal self-interest rather than the true national interest -- Best Books of 2022 * Financial Times *Given the news, Orlando Figes’s short book could hardly be better timed ... His story abounds in strange and memorable characters, from emperors to writers. But it’s the sheer sweep that impresses most, as he turns a potentially grim and overwhelming subject into a delightfully brisk and enjoyable read -- Best History Books of 2022 * Sunday Times *To understand Russia’s autocratic present, you must examine its past – although Russia’s perception of that past is ever-shifting. Its founding myths have shaped its history right up to the present. “Russia is a country held together by ideas rooted in its distant past, histories continuously reconfigured and repurposed to suit its present needs -- Best Non-fiction of 2022 * Irish Times *The Story of Russia by Orlando Figes (Bloomsbury, £25) looks 900 years earlier, to the national myths that Putin exploited in his invasion of Ukraine. “The country’s past will be reinvented by the Russian state as its needs change,” Figes observes -- Best History Books of 2022 * Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisFrom royalty to peasantry, every age has its bad eggs, those who break all the rules and rub everyone up the wrong way. But their niggling, anti-social and irritating ways not only tell us about what upset people, but also what mattered to them, how their society functioned and what kind of world they lived in. In this brilliantly nitty-gritty exploration of real life in the Tudor and Stuart age, you will discover:– how to choose the perfect insult, whether it be draggletail, varlet, flap, saucy fellow strumpet, ninny-hammer or stinkard– why quoting Shakespeare was very poor form – why flashing the inside of your hat could repulse someone– the best way to mock accents, preachers, soldiers and pretty much everything else besides Ruth Goodman draws upon advice books and manuals, court cases and sermons, drama and imagery to outline bad behaviour from the gauche to the galling, the subtle to the outrageous. It is a celebration of drunkards, scolds, harridans and cross dressers in a time when calling a man a fool could get someone killed, and cursing wasn’t just rude, it worked!‘Ruth is the queen of living history – long may she reign!’ Lucy Worsley

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Book SynopsisConceived in Paris in 1927 and still in progress when Benjamin fled the Occupation in 1940, The Arcades Project is Benjamin's effort to represent and to critique the bourgeois experience of nineteenth-century history, and, in so doing, to liberate the suppressed "true history" that underlay the ideological mask.Trade ReviewBenjamin's crowning achievement...The Harvard University Press edition of Benjamin now in monumental progress is an admirably generous undertaking. -- George Steiner * Times Literary Supplement *Arcades is an assemblage of quotations, notes and theses that wrestle with themselves to extraordinary effect. In his lifetime, Benjamin saw published only the fragmentary collection One-Way Street, and he initially conceived The Arcades Project as a continuation of that book…It is a privilege, through this collection, to gain access to the workings of such a distinctive mind. -- Guy Mannes Abbott * New Statesman *Some of us don't read fiction. We live on history, biography, criticism, reporting and what used to be called belles-lettres. We will be feasting on Walter Benjamin's Arcades Project for years to come. Just published in its first full English edition, The Arcades Project should also win readers with broader tastes. By any standard, the appearance of this long-awaited work is a towering literary event. A sprawling, fragmented meditation on the ethos of 19th-century Paris, The Arcades Project was left incomplete on Benjamin's death in 1940. In recent decades, as portions of the book have appeared in English, the unfinished opus has acquired legendary status. The Arcades Project surpasses its legend. It captures the relationship between a writer and a city in a form as richly developed as those presented in the great cosmopolitan novels of Proust, Joyce, Musil and Isherwood. Those who fall under Benjamin's spell may find themselves less willing to suspend their disbelief in fiction. The city will offer sufficient fantasy to meet most needs. -- Herbert Muschamp * New York Times *At last, we can glimpse Benjamin's avowed masterpiece, The Arcades Project, and pay homage to this strange, vulnerable man, for whom letters and thought and books were everything. It was thirteen years in the making, and scribbled beneath the 'painted sky of summer'--the huge ceiling mural of Paris' Bibliothèque Nationale...Benjamin claimed The Arcades Project was 'the theater of all my struggles and all my ideas.' This struggle, and those ideas, aimed to chronicle the whole history of the nineteenth century, over which Paris, majestically, presided, whose arcades symbolized the city's heart laid bare...Harvard's Belknap [Press] is brave to publish such an esoteric and pricey specimen. Along with its two recent volumes of Benjamin's Selected Writings, and with a concluding collection in its way soon, we are now much better able to assess the man--foibles and all--and his legacy as a creative whole. -- Andy Merrifield * The Nation *The Arcades Project was a legend before it became a book...This large volume reproduces every relevant scrap in the Benjamin archives, reprinting, verbatim, every entry in the more than 30 notebooks that Benjamin had meticulously maintained to organize his observations and pertinent passages from books pertaining to a variety of different topics and themes, from 'Fashion' and 'Boredom' to 'Barricade Fighting' and 'the Seine.' -- James Miller * New York Times Book Review *Benjamin is important because of his insight into the cultural consequences of capitalism, an insight that gives us a style of thinking about the now inescapable culture of consumerism. We can read Benjamin's enormous fragment on the Paris arcades not so much to gather information about nineteenth-century Paris, of which it is an abundant and pleasurable resource, as to inform our own experience of everyday life. With Benjamin as a guide, one can begin to glimpse a way of reflecting on capitalism that promises to stave off the despair threatening to overwhelm those who choose not to celebrate this age of trademarked emotions, patented identities, and ready-made souls in plastic bags. And if today one is fortunate enough to walk the streets of Paris with his massive book in hand, as I recently was, Benjamin's vision of that city's past begins to haunt the contemporary Parisian streetscape, with phantoms of long-dead dandies and flaneurs, prostitutes and decadents, the ghosts of Baudelaire and Mallarmé appearing and disappearing amid the neon signs and garish billboards advertising American hamburgers and Finnish digital telephones. -- Mark Kingwell * Harper's Magazine *[Benjamin's] style of writing has a narcotic effect that soon envelops the reader in Parisian ambiance. Picking up The Arcades Project is like visiting a ghostly city. One becomes familiar with its thematic streets and alleys, its peculiar cultural constructs, its architecture, and its literatures...The Arcades Project is indeed a sort of magic encyclopedia, freeing its subject from traditional historical and literary interpretations and re-inventing it as a living, breathing picture. It is a maze of small revelations, its pages as seductive and confused as the streets, dreams, and arcades of Paris. -- Jason Cons * Boston Book Review *A painstaking act of literary reconstruction has fleshed out Walter Benjamin's lost masterpiece...We may consider here Benjamin's wonderful remark that 'knowledge comes only in lightning flashes. The text is the long roll of thunder that follows.' The Arcades Project is the reverberation of that thunder in a thousand different directions...This posthumous volume suggests that, in its incomplete and fissiparous state, his reflections are themselves an unflawed mirror for the world which he was attempting to explore. He seems to have retrieved everything, and anticipated everything. -- Peter Ackroyd * The Times *[Benjamin's] magnum opus, The Arcades Project, has finally been translated into English...If the low price for such a large academic volume is anything to go by, the publishers expect this to be a major event. -- Julian Roberts * The Guardian *Benjamin was a vital member of what cultural and art historian Robert Hughes has called the 'modernist laboratory' of the early part of the 20th century, and, like Virginia Woolf or Paul Cezanne or any other modernist worth her salt, his masterwork presents its own form as worthy of as much interest as its content...Fragment or not, The Arcades Project is a vast creative work that is one part realist novel, one part cultural anthropology, and one part social history and critique. -- Matt Weiland * National and Financial Post *Walter's Benjamin's The Arcades Project, a doorstopper of a book by one of the leading intellectuals of the 20th century, starts with the specifics of the technologically innovative Parisian shopping arcade, then spins off into a vast and complex universe of ideas about art, architecture, politics and consumer culture. Not unlike the novels of Umberto Eco and Thomas Pynchon, The Arcades Project uses the template of the past to demystify the present. -- Joe Uris * Portland Oregonian *Because his ideas never cohered into a doctrine, The Arcades remained a treatise about everything that never amounted to anything. But, like the vanished bohemia it documented in such obsessive detail, this ruin of a book has its own sublime grandeur. -- Daniel Johnson * Daily Telegraph *This is a treasure: a translation of Benjamin's great unfinished--and unfinishable--work, a study of the imagination in nineteenth-century Paris, the capital of the nineteenth century, and hence an archaeology of our own strange and wondrous 'consumer society.' * ChristianityToday.com *The Arcades Project is truly a kaleidoscopic montage of a dream of the meanings of society, a dream deferred by the advance of Nazis into Paris. In 1940, when Benjamin fled, he left behind the sprawling, incomplete masterpiece he had begun in 1927. But by then, it had already become, he wrote, 'the theater of all my struggles and all my ideas.' -- Forrest Gander * Providence Journal-Bulletin *Finally available in English, Walter Benjamin's study of nineteenth-century Paris is brilliant...Benjamin wrote many marvelous essays in the 1930s, but his main energy went into a giant enterprise that he called 'the Arcades project.' The forerunners of modern-day department stores, the arcades of nineteenth-century Paris were arched passageways with shops on each side. Benjamin was confident that the book would be his masterpiece. Not only would it grasp the structure of life and thought and art in Paris circa 1848, it would explain all modern art, politics, and life...Harvard University Press has given [The Arcades Project] to us in English in a sumptuous volume. -- Marshall Berman * Metropolis *If The Arcades Project is still worth reading today, it is not only for the quixotic pleasures of its dead ends, but for the traces of hope it finds within 'the guilty context of the living' (as Benjamin wrote elsewhere). Through an analysis of the 'collective dream' of the 19th century, Benjamin hopes to liberate the 20th. -- Diana George * The Stranger *[Readers can] enjoy the book's open-endedness and follow personal itineraries...As Harvard gradually publishes his collected works, Benjamin's strengths become evident. -- Andrew Mead * Architects Journal *Because of its standing as Benjamin's final, and unfinished, work, this tome will prove a curious blessing for those wearing the right equipment...This kaleidoscopic work is arranged in 36 categories with such loosely descriptive headings as 'Prostitution,' 'Boredom,' 'Catacombs,' 'Dream City,' and 'Theory of Progress.' It makes sense why Benjamin would refer to this work as 'the theater of all of my struggles and ideas.' Everything seems to be in there, making it at once awe-inspiring and inscrutable in its present form. Had the war not kept him from its final flower, this theater might have been one of the greatest intellectual works of the century. As it stands, it is merely brilliant. * Kirkus Reviews *Now, at last, American readers too have access to [Benjamin's] final, great unfinished work in an edition that is both well translated and helpfully annotated by the editor of the German edition, Rolf Tiedemann. In 1927, Benjamin began taking notes for a book that would critique the cultural, politic, artistic and commercial life of Paris, a city Benjamin thought of as the 'capital of the nineteenth century'...This edition is comprised of the fastidious notes he made from this never-completed study...His perspective is largely Marxist, but not in any conventional or dogmatic sense. Benjamin's chief virtue is an uncanny originality of vision and insight that transcends the constraints of ideology. * Publishers Weekly *The Arcades Project, which Benjamin worked on for 13 years before his death, was an attempt to capture the reality that he believed underlay the political, economic, and technological world of the 19th and early 20th centuries. In the phenomenon of the Paris arcades, Benjamin saw a turning away from a communal society based on mutual concern to one based on material well-being and economic gain. To fortify his argument, Benjamin used quotations from a variety of published literary, philosophical, and artistic sources and added his own reflections and commentary. Because of Benjamin's untimely and tragic death, this is not a finished work, but, nonetheless, the architectonic of the whole is impressive in its breadth and as an attempt at historical comprehension. Also included is a poignant, beautifully written eyewitness account of Benjamin's last days and hours. -- Leon H. Brody * Library Journal *Presenting some wonderful social history, The Arcades Project is an incomparable work that only Benjamin could have written. It permits readers who would otherwise never have the luxury of comprehension to examine the workings of one of the most remarkable thinkers of 20th-century Europe. -- S. Gittleman * Choice *It is a rare event when a book as long touted or as eagerly awaited actually lives up to these publishing clichés. But this is undeniably true in the case of this translation of Walter Benjamin's Das Passagen-Werk [The Arcades Project], originally issued in 1982...Anglophone readers can finally begin to take true measure of Benjamin's place in 20th-century thought and literature. -- Peter Philbrook * bn.com *Quite simply, the Passagen-Werk is one of the twentieth century's great efforts at historical comprehension--some would say the greatest. -- T. J. ClarkBenjamin's work is the most advanced, most complex, and most comprehensive study of the dominant motifs and unresolved tendencies of the nineteenth century that continue to be of critical importance for us today. No other study has measured up to its methodological inventiveness, or so exemplarily met its demand that history writing be reinvented for every topic and on every occasion. -- Werner HamacherKnowledge of The Arcades Project is essential for a full comprehension of Benjamin's intentions and achievement in the 1930s--especially his highly original and influential attempt to define the idea of the modern. -- Michael W. Jennings[This] edition does a fine job with this wild, often intractable material. Its apparatus is helpful, and properly spare…By and large, the edition is a heroic achievement. -- T.J. Clark * London Review of Books *The force of [Walter Benjamin's] ideas in The Arcades Project is cumulative. You are pulled in and overwhelmed. True, it's a work of cultural history, but it can also be thought of as the greatest epic poem written in the 20th century: fragmented, contradictory, and profoundly suggestive. -- André Alexis * Globe and Mail *Walter Benjamin's effort to unlock the mystery of industrial culture became his central mission, which he pursued by combing the streets of the Paris he loved--or, more exactly, by combing old books about these streets. The materials he culled from these books and his commentary on them constitute The Arcades Project, his masterpiece, which he worked on for 13 years...For students of urban life and industrial culture, The Arcades Project is a gold mine of insights and apercus. * Los Angeles Times Book Review *[The Arcades Project] suggests a new way of writing about a civilization using its rubbish as materials rather than its artworks: history from below rather than above. And [Benjamin's] call elsewhere for a history centered on the sufferings of the vanquished, rather than on the achievements of the victors, is prophetic of the way in which history writing has begun to think of itself in our lifetime..."What does The Arcades Project have to offer? The briefest of lists would include: a treasure hoard of curious information about Paris, a multitude of thought-provoking questions, the harvest of an acute and idiosyncratic mind's trawl through thousands of books, succinct observations, polished to a high aphoristic sheen, on a range of subjects...and glimpses of Benjamin toying with a new way of seeing himself: as a compiler of a 'magic encyclopedia'...[A] magnificent opus. -- J. M. Coetzee * The Guardian *Whether the theme is fashion, collecting, gambling--or any other key to the period--Benjamin lays out a gripping commentary on each. The result is a city-in-miniature. But it is the method underpinning the work that is perhaps the most interesting. In the methodological convolute 'N' Benjamin refers to it as a form of 'literary montage'--Benjamin's shorthand way of saying that each convolute is composed of numerous quotations which are lifted from various sources and then spliced together on the same page. The method enables Benjamin to blast away at received notions of art and cultural history...Besides a useful introduction, this first English edition also contains a number of early drafts and the as yet untranslated second exposé from 1939. Together, these pieces give an insight into Benjamin's anarchic working method, whereby he constantly reshuffles his material. -- Alex Coles * Parachute *In addition to presenting a considerable intellectual challenge simply by virtue of its ambitious contents, Benjamin's project raises serious and varied questions of form…producing an effect that one finds difficult to label definitively analytic or aesthetic; the montage as Benjamin uses it is both at once: it produces knowledge, yet it does so through a mode of presentation that seems intrinsic to the knowledge produced. The Arcades Project is a work that one not only reads or studies, one "experiences" it as well. -- Tim Dayton * Cultural Studies *It is those who parody our world who help to unmask its craziness, and to offer pointers as to how what is might be otherwise…Benjamin indulges in this customary "brushing against the grain of history"…My aim in stressing this side of the book is simply to suggest how kaleidoscopic an object it is, offering the reader challenge of construction, deconstruction, and reconstruction, not once, but over and over again. -- Michael Hollington * Southern Review *The Arcades Project must be among the most influential works of modern literature. Expansive and visionary, it reinvented pretty much every academic discipline by rejecting the autocratic storytelling of history in favor of elegant notes and vignettes which gather into a picture which seems to be endlessly modifying. -- Peter Burnett * The Scotsman *[This book is] the sort of work that will make a considerable dent in the academic landscape or at the very least lead to a new line of thematic inquiry and stream of responsive academic publications...[This edition] provides us with a wealth of material...It stands to be worked and reworked endlessly by its readers and this is why Eiland and McLaughlin's phenomenal work of labour should be recognized as a major contribution to the field of critical and cultural theory today. -- Martin McQuillan * Year's Work in Critical and Cultural Theory *A tragic, fractured masterpiece...It is a truly interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary work, appealing across the broadest range of arts, humanities and social science disciplines imaginable. Benjamin's collage of sourced texts, informed commentary and ingenious speculation leads us through architecture to artistic movements; technology to economics; fact to fantasy. To read this book is to witness a fragmented phantasmagoria: we experience utterance and aphorism; snippets and snapshots; public declamation and private letters; historical minutiae and spectacular scenes. It is a global work, its explorations ranging far beyond 19th-century Paris to illustrate and unravel the universal essence of urban experience. Benjamin was an authentically democratic thinker, inasmuch as he diligently explored, analysed and understood the widest range of cultural forms, no matter how elitist or populist: in The Arcades Project, the reader will encounter political proclamations or philosophical pronouncements in one place and jokes or pornography in another. Is The Arcades Project we read now the one that Benjamin envisioned? Absolutely not. But this eclectic work, a coruscating palimpsest, is a modernist, perhaps even a proto-postmodernist, masterpiece. It is a form of textual flanerie where the journey of exploration is infinite and adaptable: it is ever-open, ever-fresh and, uncannily, when one dips into it, it seems to be ever-changing. Like other formidable creations by writers taken too soon--Lord Byron's Don Juan, Jaroslav Hasek's The Good Soldier Svejk, Thomas Mann's Confessions of Felix Krull, Confidence Man, Franz Kafka's The Castle--Benjamin's The Arcades Project lives, breathes and goes on for ever. -- Richard J. Hand * Times Higher Education *Table of ContentsTranslators' Foreword Exposes "Paris, the Capital of the Nineteenth Century" (1935) "Paris, Capital of the Nineteenth Century" (1939) Convolutes Overview First Sketches Early Drafts "Arcades" "The Arcades of Paris" "The Ring of Saturn" Addenda Expose of 1935, Early Version Materials for the Expose of 1935 Materials for "Arcades" "Dialectics at a Standstill," by Rolf Tiedemann "The Story of Old Benjamin," by Lisa Fittko Translators' Notes Guide to Names and Terms Index

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Book SynopsisDuff Cooper''s classic biography charts the remarkable progress of Talleyrand; a silver-tongued master diplomat, infamous turncoat, peacekeeper and libertine. Talleyrand held high office in five successive regimes from France''s Ancient Regime, into the Revolution of 1789, Robespierre''s Terror, Napoleon''s epic wars, and on through restored kings to more revolution. Duff Cooper brings Talleyrand vividly to life and paints an exhilarating picture of this tumultuous period in European historyTrade ReviewExquisite prose, political experience and decadent worldliness... Duff Cooper's perennial work has stood the test of time * Evening Standard *One of the ornaments of English letters * Sunday Telegraph *Masterly * Glasgow Herald *Duff Cooper's best book * Guardian *Elegant concision * Economist *

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewGruesomely compelling ... A fascinating account -- Nick Rennison * Daily Mail *Gloriously pulsating ... [Fitzharris] has an eye for morbid detail, visceral imagery and comic potential. From out of this hellish vision, Lister emerges as the cool, modern, scientific saviour to whom we should all give thanks -- Wendy Moore * Guardian *Atmospheric ... The Butchering Art has its share of resplendent gore -- Jennifer Senior * New York Times *Thoroughly enjoyable ... With The Butchering Art, Fitzharris explores the intersection of Lister's life, the development of antiseptic surgery, and the horrors of the wards with an almost surgical precision -- Nicola Davis, 'Book of the Day' * Observer *The Butchering Art is a formidable achievement - a rousing take told with brio, featuring a real-life hero worthy of the ages and jolts of Victorian horror to rival the most lurid moments of Wilkie Collins -- John J. Ross * Wall Street Journal *Brilliant ... Thanks to Lister's dogged pursuit of knowledge and fervent attention to the needs of surgical patients, death rates plummeted. Fitzharris tells this story with an equal attention to detail -- Joanna Bourke * Telegraph *Scintillating and shocking ... A book full of gangrene, pus and hideous pain, which will make you thankful never to suffer the horror of having a tumour removed from your jaw with no pain relief -- Bee Wilson * Sunday Times *Hugely entertaining and informative ... Fitzharris brings [Joseph Lister's] sensibility to life with great energy and elegance, and her account is vivid and entertaining, as well as enjoyably (and sometimes eye-wateringly) graphic. The result is rich with anecdote and intellectual excitement, replete with emotional resonance and narrative pleasure -- Matthew Adams * National *An illuminating and grisly look at the work of hacksaw-wielding surgeons of the 19th century -- Sian Cain * Guardian *Well researched and written with verve... A fine read full of vivid detail, prompting thoughtful reflection on the past, and the challenging future, of surgical practice -- Tilli Tansey * Nature *Bloody, visceral, and fascinating * Entertainment Weekly *A lively read, constantly entertaining ... Fitzharris is an unapologetic showman. I imagine her as a ringmaster, inviting us to roll up and read if we dare * The National *A brilliant and gripping account of the almost unimaginable horrors of surgery and post-operative infection before Lister transformed it all with his invention of antisepsis. It is the story of one of the truly great men of medicine and of the triumph of humane scientific method and dogged persistence over dogmatic ignorance -- Henry Marsh * author of Do No Harm and Admissions *Engaging and extensively researched ... A riveting and sympathetic description of one man's quest to help humanity -- Patricia Fara * Literary Review *Electric. The drama of Lister's mission to shape modern medicine is as exciting as any novel -- Dan Snow * author of Battlefield Britain *Book of the Week * The Week *In The Butchering Art, Lindsey Fitzharris becomes our Dante, leading us through the macabre hell of nineteenth-century surgery to tell the story of Joseph Lister, the man who solved one of medicine's most daunting - and lethal - puzzles. With gusto, Dr. Fitzharris takes us into the operating 'theaters' of yore, as Lister awakens to the true nature of the killer that turned so many surgeries into little more than slow-moving executions. Warning: She spares no detail! -- Erik Larson * bestselling author of Dead Wake and The Devil in the White City *With an eye for historical detail and an ear for vivid prose, Lindsey Fitzharris tells a spectacular story about one of the most important moments in the history of medicine-the rise of sterile surgery. The Butchering Art is a spectacular book-deliciously gruesome and utterly gripping. You will race through it, wincing as you go, but never wanting to stop * Ed Yong, author of I Contain Multitudes *An absolutely fascinating and grisly read that vividly brings to life the world of the Victorian operating theatre -- Catharine Arnold * author of Bedlam and Necropolis *Fitzharris slices into medical history with this excellent biography of Joseph Lister, the 19th-century "hero of surgery." ... She infuses her thoughtful and finely crafted examination of this revolution with the same sense of wonder and compassion Lister himself brought to his patients, colleagues, and students * Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) *The Butchering Art is medical history at its most visceral and vivid. It will make you forever grateful to Joseph Lister, the man who saved us from the horror of pre-antiseptic surgery, and to Lindsey Fitzharris, who brings to life the harrowing and deadly sights, smells, and sounds of a nineteenth-century hospital -- Caitlin Doughty * bestselling author of Smoke Gets in Your Eyes and From Here to Eternity *Fascinating and shocking ... [Fitzharris] offers an important reminder that, while many regard science as the key to progress, it can only help in so far as people are willing to open their minds to embrace change * Kirkus (Starred Review) *The Butchering Art, with its attention to detail, its admiration for its subject and its unflinching sympathy for the suffering, proposes a causal chain - running through the history of human sickness and not yet at its end - in which Lister forms a strong and vital link -- Sarah Perry * London Review of Books *

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Book SynopsisAccusatory, libellous, or just bizarre, Penning Poison unveils the history of anonymous letter-writing.''er at number 14 is dirtyReceiving an unexpected and unsigned note is a disconcerting experience. In Penning Poison, Emily Cockayne traces the stories of such letters to all corners of English society over the period 1760-1939. She uncovers scandal, deception, class enmity, personal tragedy, and great loneliness. Some messages were accusatory, some libellous, others bizarre. Technology, new postal networks, forensic techniques, and the emergence of professional police all influence the phenomenon of poison letter campaigns. This book puts the letters back into their local and psychology context, extending the work of detectives, to discover who may have written them and why.Emily Cockayne explores the reasons and motivations for the creation and delivery of these missives and the effect on recipients - with some blasé, others driven to madness. Small communities hit by letter campaigTrade ReviewA well-researched and wide-ranging survey of a fascinating and murky area in the history of letters. * Miranda Seymour, Financial Times *Gripping...full of one engaging story after another * Jonathan Self, Country Life *Emily Cockayne, one of the leading social historians of our times, has written a truly original history of anonymous letter writing. With her unparalleled skills of exploration and empathy, she has provided a brilliant and beautifully written account of neglected phenomenon in all its social complexity. * Emma Griffin, President of the Royal Historical Society *As Emily Cockayne shows in this fascinating history, harassment by anonymous letters has often escalated into criminal proceedings in Britain. Cockayne has an eye for the telling details of everyday life, and her sensitivity to motive and human frailty allows her to see things that the detectives who investigated these cases in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries missed. * Christopher Hilliard, author of The Littlehampton Libels: A Miscarriage of Justice and a Mystery about Words in 1920s England *This book is a great fit for libraries and for private readers who have an interest in such true crime mysteries. * Anna Faktorovich, Pennsylvania Literary Journal *A diligent and fascinating study of a pervasive social phenomenon. * Stephen Bates, Literary Review *[A] fascinating account, not just of poison pen letters themselves, but also of the evolution of the necessary postal networks, technology, forensics and policing. Whether you find the realisation refreshing or dispiriting, it appears that the anxieties of the internet age are merely today's version of a longstanding, spiteful tradition. * Henrietta McKervey, Irish Independent *Emily Cockayne has done a tremendous job in charting [poison pen letters]...the examples contained within are very real, and show that anyone who receives a nameless note from out of the blue is bound to find it at the very least unsettling, if not chillingly sinister. * Alex Johnson, The Idler *Wonderful...If the subject of her book is poison, then Cockayne's treatment of it is the antidote. * Sophie Nicholls, The Critic *[A] revealing history of poison pen letters. * New Statesman *Emily Cockayne takes the reader through the history of the anonymous letter writing from 1760 to 1939, romping through gossip, tip-offs, threats, obscenity, libels and more. They are by turn frightening, scandalous and bizarre, and make for a thrilling read as Cockayne writes with an academic's attention to detail and a novelist's lightness of touch. * Ettie Neil-Gallacher, The Field *An entertaining and original social history of Britain. * Tony Barber, Financial Times *Positively bulging with evidence. * Dennis Duncan, Washington Post *Emily Cockayne, one of the leading social historians of our times, has written a truly original history of anonymous letter writing. With her unparalleled skills of exploration and empathy, she has provided a brilliant and beautifully written account of neglected phenomenon in all its social complexity. * Emma Griffin, LitHub *Fascinating but also subtly affecting ... Penning Poison reveals, there is nothing new under the sun-or between the lines. * Anna Mundow, Wall Street Journal *A lively survey of the practice of sending anonymous letters ... By examining individual cases - the how, when, where and, most important, why - Cockayne has produced something thought-provoking and humane. The opposite of a poison-pen letter, really. * Sadie Stein, New York Times *Penning Poison is a painstaking, energetic history. * Min Wild, Times Literary Supplement *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Dear Madam 1: Gossip - Major Eliot's maiden sisters 2: Tip-offs - Undermined coalmasters in Staffordshire 3: Threats - Lord Dorington's in danger 4: Obscenity - Peer's perversion uncovered 5: Libels - 'er at number 14 is dirty 6: Detectives say 7: Media - Herbert Austin robs men's brains 8: Local stories - And Winifred Simner sows discontent Conclusion - unsigned References Bibliography

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Book SynopsisThe Aeronauts is the true story behind the forthcoming Major Motion Picture, telling the daring life and death escapades of pioneering Victorian balloonist James Glaisher. In 1862, Glaisher set out to do the impossible: ascend higher into the skies than ever before. A pioneer of weather forecasting and of photography, he wanted to take ground-breaking research measurements from different altitudes. Before aeroplanes, the only unpredictable available method of air transportation was the hot air balloon. This is his memoir, detailing death-defying air ballon journeys in his own words.

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Book SynopsisPrior accounts have portrayed Islamic Spain either as a paradise of enlightened tolerance, or as the site where civilisations clashed. Award-winning historian Brian A. Catlos taps a wide array of original sources to paint a more complex picture, showing how Muslims, Christians, and Jews together built a sophisticated civilisation that transformed the Western world, even as they waged relentless war against each other and amongst themselves. Religion was often the language of conflict, but seldom its cause--a lesson we would do well to learn in our own time. Kingdoms of Faith rewrites Spain's Islamic past from the ground up, evoking the cultural splendour of al-Andalus and the many forces that shaped it.Trade Review'A rich narrative account of al-Andalus . . . a reminder that Islam in Europe is set in stone - in marble and mortar - and it cannot be chiselled away.' -- Financial Times'Catlos has produced a substantial new synthesis . . . a gripping, colourful and humane account of a period that ought to be better known.' -- History Today‘Catlos imparts an intimate sense of how members of different ethnic and religious communities negotiated subtle alliances and engaged in long-lasting cultural exchanges.' -- The New Yorker‘The ambition of Brian Catlos in this excellent new account is to provide not just a thoroughly up-to-date history but one that resists the narrative tug of both Right and Left. . . . he has forged a tight synthesis of the latest research in a fresh portrait of nearly a millennium of history.’'A lively, engaging history.' -- Library Journal‘A richly layered tapestry . . . Catlos knows how to tell a story.’ -- Asian Review of Books'A brilliant narrative history of the rise and fall of Muslim Spain... a balanced, lucid, and myth-breaking account of a unique society that has too often been demonised, romanticised or simplified.' -- Matt Carr, author of Blood and Faith: The Purging of Muslim Spain, 1492–1614‘A lively … account of medieval Spain and Portugal which steers away from the usual stereotypes and gives us a new, and much more nuanced account of relations and interactions between the various communities and faith groups in the peninsula.’ -- Hugh Kennedy, Professor of Arabic and author of 'Caliphate: The History of an Idea', SOAS, University of London‘In Kingdoms of Faith, Brian A. Catlos takes us through the kaleidoscopic interplay of Muslim-Christian relations, bringing clarity to a complex narrative. His deft analysis illuminates the forces brought to bear in creating both the myth and reality of life in “Moorish” Spain.’ -- Thomas F. Glick, Emeritus Professor of History, Boston University and author of 'Islamic and Christian Spain in the Early Middle Ages'‘Spirited, probing and original, this is a key history of Muslim Spain. It’s unique perspective illuminates the vexed issue of religious, political and cultural interaction between Christians, Jews and Muslims, underlining the complexity and ambiguity of medieval Spain and revealing its vital importance to the history of modern Europe too.’ -- Elizabeth Drayson, author of 'The Moor’s Last Stand: How Seven Centuries of Muslim Rule in Spain Came to an End', University of Cambridge‘Mediterranean studies have been shaped in an informative and innovative way by Brian Catlos’s contributions in the recent decades. His incursion now into the history of a specific region and polity — that of al-Andalus (Medieval Iberia under Muslim rule) — brings to the fore the same qualities that characterize his previous work: an inquisitive and incisive mind that homes in on perceptive questions, combined with the ability to recreate past events in an appealing manner for a wide audience.’ -- Maribel Fierro, Research Professor, Institute of Languages and Cultures of the Mediterranean, CSIC, Madrid‘'Kingdoms of Faith' constitutes a fresh and original contribution to the history of al-Andalus, rooted in the author’s profound knowledge of medieval Iberian history. Brian Catlos has managed to produce a very well-written and lively narrative that provides an up-to-date synthesis of the most recent developments in this field of history.’ -- Alejandro García Sanjuán, University of Huelva

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Book SynopsisAgincourt took place on 25 October 1415 and was a turning-point not only in the Hundred Years War between England and France but also in the history of weaponry. Azincourt (as it is now) is in the Pas-de-Calais, and the French were famously defeated by an army led by Henry V. Henry V''s stunning victory revived England''s military prestige and greatly strengthened his territorial claims in France. The exhausted English army of about 9,000 men was engaged by 20,000 Frenchmen, but the limited space of battle favoured the more compact English forces. The undisciplined charges of the French combined with the exceptional skill of the English archers contributed to a pivotal moment in European warfare. Not more than 1,600 English soldiers died; the French probably lost more than 6,000 men.Juliet Barker''s shimmeringly brilliant narrative commemorates and analyses a canonical battle in British history.Trade ReviewHistory writ fine, overflowing with extraordinary details . . . a milestone in Agincourt studies -- Erica Wagner * The Times *She brings vividly to life scenes such as the ceremonial surrender of Harfleur at the outset of the campaign, or the extraordinary pageant mounted by the city of London to celebrate the victorious king's return * Independent *Juliet Barker tells this story beautifully. If you buy just one book of history this year, choose this one. It will make a wonderful Christmas present for it is a handsome book, well illustrated, but above all, it is a great story * Literary Review *

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Book Synopsis''Brilliant, a 5 out of 5 masterpiece'' Evening StandardThe renowned historian of the Third Reich takes on the conspiracy theories surrounding Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, in a vital history book for the ''post-truth'' ageThe idea that nothing happens by chance in history, that nothing is quite what it seems to be at first sight, that everything that occurs is the result of the secret machinations of malign groups of people manipulating everything from behind the scenes is as old as history itself. But conspiracy theories are becoming more popular and more widespread in the twenty-first century. Nowhere have they become more obvious than in revisionist accounts of the history of the Third Reich. Long-discredited conspiracy theories have taken on a new lease of life, given credence by claims of freshly discovered evidence and novel angles of investigation. This book takes five widely discussed claims involving Hitler and the Nazis anTrade ReviewA wonderful book that's both hard to put down and brilliantly insightful in its analysis of the ways in which conspiracy theories and so-called "alternative facts" are constructed and justified - and why they're such nonsense... Evans performs his task with such withering and entertaining wit that it's worth putting up with the nonsense to enjoy the brilliant demolition... It's a 5 out of 5 masterpiece. -- Martin Bentham * Evening Standard *There can be no more authoritative guide to these conspiracy theories than Evans ... It is becoming a deadly serious matter. -- Tony Barber * Financial Times *Brilliant ... Deploying him against conspiracy theorists is a bit like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. -- Simon Griffiths * Mail on Sunday *

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Book Synopsis'Effortless and compelling, Brooks is a wonderful storyteller. I doubt I will read a better book this year.' Sunday Telegraph Each of Vermeer's paintings tells a story. In one, a military officer leans toward a laughing girl; in another, a woman stands by a window and weighs silver; in a third, fruit spills from a porcelain bowl onto a lavish Turkish carpet. Hiding in plain sight, these details hint at the intricate threads that bound Vermeer's world together - the officer's hat is made from North American beaver, bought with silver extracted from the mines of Peru, while beaver pelts were traded in their thousands for the Chinese porcelain so beloved by the Dutch in the Golden Age. From a view of Delft, Vermeer gives us the world. As a new Vermeer exhibition opens at the Rijksmuseum, the largest of its kind in history, Vermeer's Hat offers a fascinating perspective on how the burgeoning forces of trade and commerce shaped Vermeer's masterpieces.Trade ReviewSpell-binding ... as a guide to the world behind the pictures Vermeer's Hat is mind-expanding -- John Carey * Sunday Times *A brilliant attempt to make us understand the reach and breadth of the first global age -- Kathryn Hughes * Guardian *Brook takes you into the paintings in a way that can be spookily intimate -- William Leith * Evening Standard *Brook is a gifted storyteller... spellbinding... a treasure trove of astonishing pleasures * The Lady *How brilliantly Brook connects all with all * Guardian *Revelatory * Sunday Business Post *Illuminating footnotes to Vermeer's miracles on canvas * Independent *An erudite, surprising book that finds traces of swashbuckling where you'd least expect -- Thomas Marks * Daily Telegraph *Truly mesmerising. In this accessible but authoritative study, he... shows better than anyone I've read so far, the truly subversive power of detail -- Lesley McDowell * Independent on Sunday *

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Book SynopsisThe Colosseum was Imperial Rome's monument to warfare. Like a cathedral of death it towered over the city and invited its citizens, 50,000 at a time, to watch murderous gladiatorial games. It is now visited by two million visitors a year (Hitler was among them). Award winning classicist, Mary Beard with Keith Hopkins, tell the story of Rome's greatest arena: how it was built; the gladiatorial and other games that were held there; the training of the gladiators; the audiences who revelled in the games, the emperors who staged them and the critics. And the strange after story - the Colosseum has been fort, store, church, and glue factory.Trade ReviewBrilliant ... arguably the best so far in Profile's excellent Wonders of the World series ... it brings the Colosseum to life in all its gory splendour. * Geographical *A work of scholarship written with the general reader in mind ... a pleasure to read. * Spectator *What the authors have given us in the proverbial multum in parvo * Sunday Telegraph *Revels in the accretions of detail and myth ... first-class scholarship and an engagingly demotic style * Independent *Stirring stuff! This is a welcome and well-written book ... it reassesses myths, politely debunks many misconceptions about what we know- and what we don't know - to put the fabulous monument in context from its founding to the present. -- Lindsey Davis, author of the Falco seriesA wonderful book, worthy of its subject: horrifying, impressive, blood-soaked, occasionally very funny and always entertaining -- Robert Harris

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Book SynopsisOn 'Lady Day', March 1943 a group of Christian pacifists took possession of a vacant farm in Frating, a hamlet on the Essex Tendring Peninsula. There they established a working community, inspired by their association with The Adelphi journal, where D.H.Lawrence, John Middleton Murry, Vera Brittain, Iris Murdoch, George Orwell and others shared ideas for the future with European religious radicals such as Nikolai Berdyaev, Martin Buber and Simone Weil. Frating Hall Farm provided a settlement and livelihood for individuals and families (as well as a temporary sanctuary for refugees and prisoners-of-war), and over time became a successful arable and livestock land-holding of more than 300 acres. Scorned initially by their neighbours for their anti-war views, the Frating community won respect not only through their farming achievements, but having established a touring theatre company and choir, for bringing new life to the villages and churches around them. The lost story of Frating Hall Farm is based on the reminiscences of those who grew up on the farm, together with photographs, letters and organisational records, never before seen or published. The book is a kaleidoscopic history of a farm during its eleven-year occupation, and an enquiry into the passionate religious and political ideals of the back-to-the-land movement in wartime and post-war rural England.

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Book SynopsisIn January 1928 Stalin, the ruler of the largest country in the world, boarded a train bound for Siberia where he would embark upon the greatest gamble of his political life. He was about to begin uprooting and collectivization of agriculture and industry across the entire Soviet Union. Millions would die, and many more would suffer. Where did such great, monstrous power come from? The first of three volumes, the product of a decade of intrepid research, this landmark book offers the most convincing explanation yet of Stalin''s power.Trade ReviewIn its size, sweep, sensitivity, and surprises, Stephen Kotkin's first volume on Stalin is a monumental achievement: the early life of a man we thought we knew, set against the world - no less - that he inhabited. It's biography on an epic scale. Only Tolstoy might have matched it -- John Lewis Gaddis (author of THE COLD WAR)Stalin has had more than his fair share of biographies. But Stephen Kotkin's wonderfully broad-gauged work surpasses them all in both breadth and depth, showing brilliantly how the man, the time, the place, its history, and especially Russian/Soviet political culture, combined to produce one of history's greatest evil geniuses -- William Taubman (author of KHRUSHCHEV: THE MAN AND HIS ERA)Stephen Kotkin's first volume on Stalin is ambitious in conception and masterly in execution ... combines biography with historical analysis in a way that brings out clearly Stalin's great political talents as well as the ruthlessness with which he applied them and the impact his policies had on Russia and the world. This is a magisterial work on the grandest scale -- David Holloway (author of STALIN AND THE BOMB)Stephen Kotkin's biography of Stalin, of which this but the first of three volumes, is a most impressive achievement. Based on both archival and printed sources, it treats in meticulous detail the early years of a tyrant who was destined to become one of the most influential political figures of the twentieth century -- Richard Pipes (author of RUSSIA UNDER THE BOLSHEVIK REGIME)

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Book SynopsisXenophon''s History recounts nearly fifty turbulent years of warfare in Greece between 411 and 362 BC. Continuing the story of the Peloponnesian War at the point where Thucydides finished his magisterial history, this is a fascinating chronicle of the conflicts that ultimately led to the decline of Greece, and the wars with both Thebes and the might of Persia. An Athenian by birth, Xenophon became a firm supporter of the Spartan cause, and fought against the Athenians in the battle of Coronea. Combining history and memoir, this is a brilliant account of the triumphs and failures of city-states, and a portrait of Greece at a time of crisis.Table of ContentsA History of My TimesIntroductionSelect BibliographyA Note on the NotesA History of My TimesBook OneBook TwoBook ThreeBook FourBook SixBook SevenAppendixMaps:1. The Aegean2. Asia Minor3. Northern Peloponnese and North West Greece4. Central Greece5. Area of the Isthmus and the Saronic Gulf6. Central and Southern Peloponnese7. ChalcidiceIndex

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Book SynopsisFrom the Velvet Revolution to the disturbing world of Franz Kafka, from the devestation of the Thirty Years War to the musical elegance of Mozart and Dvorak, Prague is steeped in a wealth of history and culture. PRAGUE IN BLACK AND GOLD is a first class history of this unique city, allowing us to unravel layer upon layer of startlingly symbolic sites and buidings to reveal the real Prague. PRAGUE IN BLACK AND GOLD is an exceptional work - and exceptionally reliable ... I am sure that thiswill be an important and exciting guide for all who wish to learn more about the famous people and important events in the history of the Czech lands and their capital Ivan Klima, The Times

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Book SynopsisThe soldiers receive the best service a historian can provide: their story is told in their own words - Guardian''For some reason nothing seemed to happen to us at first; we strolled along as though walking in a park. Then, suddenly, we were in the midst of a storm of machine-gun bullets and I saw men beginning to twirl round and fall in all kinds of curious ways'' On 1 July 1916, a continous line of British soldiers climbed out from the trenches of the Somme into No Man''s Land and began to walk towards dug-in German troops armed with machine-guns. By the end of the day there were more than 60,000 British casualties - a third of them fatal.Martin Middlebrook''s now-classic account of the blackest day in the history of the British army draws on official sources from the time, and on the words of hundreds of survivors: normal men, many of them volunteers, who found themselves thrown into a scene of unparalleled tragedy and horror.Trade ReviewThe soldiers receive the best service a historian can provide: their story is told in their own words * Guardian *A particularly vivid and personal narrative * Times Literary Supplement *Pioneering and hauntingly eloquent -- Peter Parker * Spectator *

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Book SynopsisExam board: OCRLevel: A LevelSubject: History First teaching: September 2015First exams: AS: Summer 2016, A Level: Summer 2017An OCR endorsed resourceSuccessfully cover Unit Group 2 with the right amount of depth and pace. This bespoke series from the leading History publisher follows our proven and popular approach for OCR A Level, blending clear course coverage with focused activities and comprehensive assessment support.- Develops understanding of the period through an accessible narrative that is tailored to the specification content and structured around key questions for each topic- Builds the skills required for Unit Group 2, from explanation, assessment and analysis to the ability to make substantiated judgements- Enables students to consolidate and extend their topic knowledge with a range of activities suitable for classwork or homework- Helps students achieve their best by providing step-by-step assessment guidance and practice questions- Facilitates revision with useful summaries at the start and end of each chapter- Ensures that students understand key historical terms and concepts by defining them in the glossary

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Book SynopsisFor more than 300 years, Kensington Palace has played host to a colourful cast of kings, queens, wayward children, royal aunts and uncles, distant cousins and assorted aristocratic hangers-on. This remarkable building has served as the stage for some of the most dramatic and bizarre events in the royal family’s history. It was here that the young Queen Victoria was held a virtual prisoner for eighteen years; and it was here that George II installed both his wife and his mistress, giving the latter rooms so damp that there were said to be mushrooms growing on the walls. More recently, the palace has witnessed an extraordinary series of scandals, from Princess Diana’s bombshell TV interview with a journalist smuggled into the palace disguised as a salesman, to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s departure for Frogmore Cottage amid rumours of a rift with William and Kate. Through exclusive interviews with palace staff past and present and detailed historical sources, Tom Quinn takes a look beyond official accounts, delving into the frequently outrageous but often heart-warming history of the palace and its inhabitants, from its earliest beginnings to the present day. With a postscript reflecting on Harry and Meghan’s shock decision to leave the country, Kensington Palace: An Intimate Memoir from Queen Mary to Meghan Markle offers a rare behind-the-scenes insight into one of Britain’s most iconic residences.Trade Review"A sparkling account of the often very unregal goings-on at the palace. Richly laced with insider gossip, this is behind-the-scenes royal history at its most entertaining." - Jane Shilling, Daily Mail "A fascinating must-read." - Bella

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Book SynopsisFrom award-winning historian Robin Lane Fox, Alexander the Great searches through the mass of conflicting evidence and legend to focus on Alexander as a man of his own time. Tough, resolute, fearless, Alexander was a born warrior and ruler of passionate ambition who understood the intense adventure of conquest and of the unknown. When he died in 323 BC aged thirty-two, his vast empire comprised more than two million square miles, spanning from Greece to India. His achievements were unparalleled - he had excelled as leader to his men, founded eighteen new cities and stamped the face of Greek culture on the ancient East. The myth he created is as potent today as it was in the ancient world. Combining historical scholarship and acute psychological insight, Alexander the Great brings this colossal figure vividly to life. ''So enjoyable and well-written ... Fox''s book became my main guide through Alexander''s amazing story''

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Book SynopsisFor reasons of language and history, the United States has prized its Anglo heritage above all others. However, as Carrie Gibson explains with great depth and clarity in El Norte, America has much older Spanish roots - ones that have long been unacknowledged or marginalized. The Hispanic past of the United States predates the arrival of the Pilgrims by a century and has been every bit as important in shaping the nation. El Norte chronicles the sweeping and dramatic history of Hispanic North America from the arrival of the Spanish to the present - from Ponce de Leon's initial landing in Florida in 1513 to Spanish control of the vast Louisiana territory in 1762 to the Mexican-American War in 1846 and up to the more recent tragedy of post-hurricane Puerto Rico and the ongoing border acrimony with Mexico. Interwoven in this stirring narrative of events and people are cultural issues that have been there from the start and remain unresolved: language, belonging, community, race and nationality. Seeing them play out over centuries provides vital perspective at a time when it is urgently needed. In 1883, Walt Whitman wrote 'to that composite American identity of the future, Spanish character will supply some of the most needed parts.' That future is here, and El Norte, an emotive and eventful history in its own right, will have a powerful impact on our perception of the United States.Trade Reviewa detailed and anecdote-rich summary of how far back the Hispanic presence goes in what is now the US * TLS *Gibson's sprawling work makes a major contribution by reminding us of the falseness of Donald Trump's xenophobic narrative. Her rich account leaves no doubt that America is a vastly more interesting place because of the millions of Hispanic immigrants who have been arriving on our shores for more than 600 years. * Guardian *Gibson's book is a scholarly, compelling case for reassessing the Hispanic role in US history... El Norte is a worthy history of an overlooked population. * History Today *El Norte is the book that Americans, Anglo and Hispanic, should read as an education on their own American place or role . . . This is a serious book of history but also an engaging project of reading the future in the past. * New York Times Book Review *[Gibson] writes engagingly of moments of violence and injustice, deprivation and discrimination, music and muses: Her paragraphs on the early-20th-century Texas society women who bickered over how to restore the Alamo, for instance, would do justice to the pen of an Edith Wharton. * Wall Street Journal *In this enlightening and exhaustively researched work, Carrie Gibson has accomplished the monumental task of recovering an extraordinary and consequential Hispanic past traditionally written out of American history. Her narrative is far reaching, vividly detailed, and a gift to assessing the American experience and evolving identity. -- Jack E. Davis, author of THE GULF, winner of the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for HistoryCarrie Gibson has written an epic history which will significantly change the way we look at American history...Her research is meticulous in detail and her writing propels the reader through 500 years to today. So thorough is her work that I will be keeping El Norte on my bookshelf -- but pulling it down often to leaf through its pages. -- Richard Parker, author of LONE STAR NATIONA sweeping story of our Hispanic roots that links the dreamers of the Conquest with the Dreamers of the present, ranging across a continent's history from first contacts in Florida to intersecting empires on Vancouver Island. In connecting places across the United States with their Hispanic pasts, Carrie Gibson connects our America with what one Cuban called Nuestra América, blurring borders at a time when others are building them up. -- Paul Gillingham, author of CUAUHTEMOC’S BONES

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Book Synopsis"[An] incredibly moving collection of oral histories . . . important enough to be added to the history curriculum" Telegraph"Essential reading" History Today"A moving evocation . . . An illuminating if harrowing insight into life in a totalitarian state." Clarissa de Waal, author of ALBANIA: PORTRAIT OF A COUNTRY IN TRANSITION"Albania, enigmatic, mysterious Albania, was always the untold story of the Cold War, the 1989 revolutions and the fall of the Berlin Wall. Mud Sweeter Than Honey goes a very long way indeed towards putting that right" New EuropeanAfter breaking ties with Yugoslavia, the USSR and then China, Enver Hoxha believed that Albania could become a self-sufficient bastion of communism. Every day, many of its citizens were thrown into prisons and forced labour camps for daring to think independently, for rebelling against the regime or trying to escape - the consequences of their actions were often tragic and irreversible. Mud Sweeter than Honey gives voice to those who lived in Albania at that time - from poets and teachers to shoe-makers and peasant farmers, and many others whose aspirations were brutally crushed in acts of unimaginable repression - creating a vivid, dynamic and often painful picture of this totalitarian state during the forty years of Hoxha's ruthless dictatorship.Very little emerged from Albania during communist times. With these personal accounts, Rejmer opens a window onto a terrifying period in the country's history. Mud Sweeter than Honey is not only a gripping work of reportage, but also a necessary and unique portrait of a nation.With an Introduction by Tony Barber*Winner of the Polityka Passport Prize**Winner of the Koscielski Award*Translated from the Polish by Zosia Krasodomska-Jones and Antonia Lloyd-JonesTrade Review"A moving evocation of the 'everyday terror' systematically perpetrated over 41 years of Albanian communism. The author brings together survivors' accounts of life under Albania's ruthless dictator, Enver Hoxha. Despite the inevitable bleakness, the author's skillful interviewing allows those recounting their experiences to engage us in their absorbing narratives. An illuminating if harrowing insight into life in a totalitarian state. -- Clarissa de Waal * author of ALBANIA: PORTRAIT OF A COUNTRY IN TRANSITION *Beautifully researched, the book brings back to life sufferings and hopes of traumatized families and individuals that fell victim to the heartless cogwheels of a totalitarian regime. It will help a younger generation who has not lived under Communism to understand the past, and inspire them to work to build a better future -- Gjergj Erebara * Balkan Investigative Reporting Network *Like Nobel laureate Svetlana Alexievich, whose oral histories have documented political oppression, Rejmer allows the voices of everyday Albanians to reveal the privations and fear under which they lived . . . A gripping book of starkly revealing testimony * Kirkus Review *In the style of Svetlana Alexievich, Margo Rejmer uses interviews to approach the suffering of a still little-known people . . . Rejmer's poignant book rescues memory before it fades -- MARTA REBÓN * El País *Albania, enigmatic, mysterious Albania, was always the untold story of the Cold War, the 1989 revolutions and the fall of the Berlin Wall. Mud Sweeter Than Honey goes a very long way indeed towards putting that right. -- Charlie Connelly * New European *[Rejmer] lets the lived experience of Albanians speak for themselves, until the whole spectrum comes into view . . . a seamless translation -- Filip Noubel * Asymptote Journal *Tells, in their own words, the stories of Albanians during communism and especially those of prisoners of the regime. One word wrong or a friend who tries to flee and whole lives are ruined. Rejmer's is a fine collection. -- Tim Judah * Financial Times *[An] incredibly moving collection of oral histories . . . important enough, to be added to the history curriculum -- Tim Stanley * Telegraph *A pioneering, necessary book of such uncompromising clarity that even readers familiar with the broad outlines of Albania's recent past are likely to find its contents shocking. -- Roderick Bailey * Literary Review *Margo Rejmer, the Polish writer who assembled this extraordinary book, offers a 'polyphonic' account of victims of Albanian communism in the style of Svetlana Alexievich's Chernobyl Prayer -- Ian Thomson * Spectator *This outstanding record of recollections of those who lived through it makes for chilling reading . . . It is impossible to imagine a title that better captures the squalid and sinister horror of life in Albania under communism * Strong Words *Essential reading for anyone wishing to understand Communist Albania where, whether outside or inside prison, no one was every able to feel free -- Enriketa Papa-Pandelejmoni * History Today *

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Book SynopsisAs a close aide to Michel Barnier, Stefaan De Rynck had a front row seat in the Brexit negotiations. In this frank and uncompromising account, De Rynck tells the EU’s side of the story and seeks to dispel some of the myths and spin that have become indelibly linked to the Brexit process. From the mood in the room to the technical discussions, he gives an unvarnished account of the deliberations and obstacles that shaped the final deal. De Rynck demonstrates how the EU-27’s unity held firm throughout, while the UK vacillated, changed negotiators, changed prime ministers and changed their aims and tactics. Attempts by the UK to run down the clock and issue ultimatums to force the EU to acquiesce are shown to have had no effect on the course of events. Instead Barnier’s team was successful in protecting EU interests, in fulfilling the mandate defined by 27 national governments while still agreeing different forms of Brexit with two UK prime ministers. For the EU, Brexit was not, as some UK commentators and politicians liked to portray it, a fight with the UK. It was a fight to get a deal that worked for the EU.Trade ReviewAn insider account of how the EU dealt with Brexit by one of the close aides of Michel Barnier, the EU’s former chief negotiator. Without descending into triumphalism, the book shows how the EU achieved all its main strategic objectives — while the British side played a weak hand badly. -- Gideon Rachman, Financial Times, BEST SUMMER BOOKS 2023This EU insider’s account reveals how British politicians were outclassed… many reporters came to know De Rynck as a straight-talking, trusted source who could explain the technical issues at the heart of the negotiations. There is plenty of fascinating detail here for students of Brussels statecraft. -- Simon Nixon, The TimesThe Brexit you’ll never hear about from a British negotiator. An important book. -- Robert Peston, ITV Political EditorDe Rynck writes with the fierce and exhausted pride of a member of a crack team of surgeons who have just successfully carried out a highly complex operation for the very first time. * European Political Science *A book as good as this could only have been written by someone on the inside – and with the impressive breadth and depth of knowledge as Stefaan De Rynck. It is as illuminating as it is fascinating. Reading it not only makes for better understanding of Brexit but of the EU itself and – dare I say – of the post-Brexit UK. -- Katy Hayward, Professor of Political Sociology, Queen’s University BelfastStefaan De Rynck had a ringside seat for all the twists and turns of Britain’s departure from the European Union. This insightful book provides important insights into Brexit from a European perspective – and explains how and why we got to where we are today. -- Oliver Wright, Policy Editor, The TimesA piercing analysis of the UK's historic decision to leave the EU, De Rynck’s masterful overview may make difficult reading for some in Britain but it offers hope that the two sides can take a more constructive approach going forward. -- Pippa Crerar, Political Editor, The GuardianAn accurate and true insight into the machinations of Brexit, our role as negotiators and our efforts to bring the deal over the line. -- Michel Barnier, former chief EU Brexit negotiatorA valuable account… well worth a read because the narrative is so revealing of the EU’s mindset during these crucial years. -- Lord Frost, The HouseAn insider’s account of an arduous process… its message: unpreparedness has grave consequences in politics. -- Business PostTable of ContentsForeword by Peter Foster Chronology Introduction Part I: Uniting the EU (June 2016–December 2017) 1. No negotiation without notification 2. More glue for uniting the EU 3. Brexit bill: show EU the money 4. Protecting citizens’ rights: which rights, which citizens? Q. How do we explain the unity of the EU? Part II: On the elusive search for a bespoke relationship (July 2016–November 2018) 5. The transition period (aka “a vassal state”) 6. The Barnier staircase from Norway to Canada: it is cold outside of the EU 7. Theresa May wants a common rulebook on UK terms 8. The Salzburg summit, sound but no music Q. Was Mutti Merkel tougher than the rest? Part III: On the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland (June 2017–December 2020) 9. The origins of the backstop 10. Theresa May’s Pyrrhic victory 11. Boris Johnson meets Brexit reality 12. Johnson agrees to customs checks in the Irish Sea Q. Did the EU fail to understand Northern Ireland? Part IV: The journey towards the meaning of Brexit (2020– ) 13. The UK leaving global Europe: strategic myopia by the EU? 14. The rollercoaster ride to a level playing field 15. Frosty negotiations on a new relationship Q. On the art of the deal? Conclusion

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Book SynopsisThe #1 Irish Times bestseller WINNER of the An Post Irish Book Awards 'A clear-eyed, myth-dispelling masterpiece' Marian Keyes 'Sweeping, authoritative and profoundly intelligent' Colm Tóibín, Guardian 'With the pace and twists of an enthralling novel' Irish Times 'Evocative, moving, funny and furious' Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times 'An enthralling, panoramic book' Patrick Radden Keefe 'A book that will remain important for a very long time' An Post Irish Book Award We Don't Know Ourselves is a very personal vision of recent Irish history from the year of O'Toole's birth, 1958, down to the present. Ireland has changed almost out of recognition during those decades, and Fintan O'Toole's life coincides with that arc of transformation. The book is a brilliant interweaving of memories (though this is emphatically not a memoir) and engrossing social and historical narrative. This was the era of Eamon de Valera, Jack Lynch, Charles Haughey and John Charles McQuaid, of sectarian civil war in the North and the Pope's triumphant visit in 1979, but also of those who began to speak out against the ruling consensus – feminists, advocates for the rights of children, gay men and women coming out of the shadows. We Don't Know Ourselves is an essential book for anyone who wishes to understand modern Ireland.Trade ReviewA clear-eyed, myth-dispelling masterpiece. Engaging, analytical, insightful, fascinating, this is a hugely important book. Rooting the politics in the personal makes a potentially overwhelming read into a book that reads as easily as a novel -- Marian KeyesWhile his sweeping, authoritative and profoundly intelligent book sees modern Ireland through the lens of his own life and that of his family, it also offers sharp and brilliant analysis of what form change took when it arrived in Ireland -- Colm Tóibín, GuardianScintillating... Combines personal with political on a journey to the heart of Irish identity' * Business Post *A remarkably original, fluent and absorbing book, with the pace and twists of an enthralling novel and the edge of a fine sword, underpinned by a profound humaneness -- Diarmaid Ferriter, Irish TimesOur leading public intellectual has written the bible on incorrigible Irish roguery * Irish Independent *Fintan is now routinely described as 'Ireland's leading public intellectual'... If we must have a hegemony, the best by a long way is the liberal kind. And to know how it happened here, this is the bible' * Sunday Independent *At heart, it's an investigation of the arrival of modernity in Ireland and just how much upheaval it caused * Herald *Ireland's past is here painted by Fintan O'Toole mainly through villains, victims, eccentrics and scandals * BBC History Magazine *An enthralling, panoramic book, a personal history of six decades of Irish life, from one of the foremost chroniclers of contemporary Ireland. With his customary deep erudition and sly wit, O'Toole weaves together an astonishing array of material... Jostling with anecdotes and arresting statistics, We Don't Know Ourselves is a feast: a deeply absorbing chronicle of the 'known and unknowable' and of the profound transformation of a place' -- Patrick Radden KeefeA sweeping thesis about Irish identity... We Don't Know Ourselves may well be the best thing he's ever written' * Sunday Business Post *A personal and empathetic account of the social upheavals his country has weathered since 1958... This is an uplifting, almost playful read, with suggestive analysis lying beneath skilful vignettes' * Financial Times *An illuminating, provocative and very entertaining look at how Ireland has changed over the author's lifetime, with the massive social, economic and political changes since his birth in 1958 linked to episodes in his own story * RTÉ *There's no shirking the stark reality of postwar Ireland, as Fintan O'Toole takes us on a personal journey that mirrors Ireland's seismic shift to modernity... This book's early chapters are among the best I've read about Ireland in the decades after the Second World War, at once evocative, moving, funny and furious' * Sunday Times *Told in beautiful, crisp prose and enlivened by anecdotes from the front line, We Don't Know Ourselves is the story of that victory – with all its ups and downs. Balanced and fearless, it is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand modern Ireland – or thinks they already do * Irish Examiner *A wonderfully readable account of the Irish State's turbulent coming of age and, to my mind, it is the nearest we will come to making sense of who we are how we got here * Irish Independent *This is an essential read for anyone who wishes to understand modern Ireland * The Clare Champion *I'm sure we all have books we're looking forward to over Christmas. Fintan O'Toole's We Don't Know Ourselves [...] is top of my stack * Sunday Independent *An astonishing book, fresh and passionate. Deeply moving but often funny and wry, a chronicle for our times. The most remarkable Irish nonfiction book I've read in the last 10 years -- David McRedmond, Irish TimesTruly, this is a book for the ages -- Maria Dickinson, Irish TimesMasterly, fascinating and frequently horrifying * TLS *Only a writer with O'Toole's experience and finesse could pull off a memoir as audacious as this * Meath Chronicle *A brilliant interweaving of memories (though this is emphatically not a memoir) and engrossing social and historical narrative... An essential book for anyone who wishes to understand modern Ireland * Irish Central *An essential read for anyone who wishes to understand modern Ireland * The Clare Champion *It is a mark of O'Toole's intense gaze that while he does cover the northern tragedy by far the greater part of this powerful book is devoted to the Republic in which he grew up in a working-class Dublin family in the late 1950s * Slugger O'Toole *

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Book SynopsisOn the remote north-western Isle of Lewis stands one of the most spectacular megalithic monuments in the world, a stone circle forming part of a huge Celtic Cross, built over four thousand years ago. Behold Callanish! This small book, packed with fine old engravings, is a great new introduction to the 'Stonehenge of the Hebrides' by one of the leading writers and lecturers in the subject. WOODEN BOOKS are small but packed with information. "Fascinating" FINANCIAL TIMES. "Beautiful" LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS. "Rich and Artful" THE LANCET. "Genuinely mind-expanding" FORTEAN TIMES. "Excellent" NEW SCIENTIST. "Stunning" NEW YORK TIMES. Small books, big ideas.

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Book SynopsisThe first comprehensive history of the Sami people of the Nordic countries and northwestern Russia. There is no single volume which encompasses an integrated social and cultural history of the Sami people from the Nordic countries and northwestern Russia. Neil Kent's book fills this lacuna. In the first instance, he considers how the Sami homeland is defined: its geography, climate, and early contact with other peoples. He then moves on to its early chronicles and the onset of colonisation, which changed Sami life profoundly over the last millennium. Thereafter, the nature of Sami ethnicity is examined, in the context of the peoples among whom the Sami increasingly lived, as well as the growing intrusions of the states who claimed sovereignty over them. The Soviet gulag, the Lapland War and increasing urbanisation all impacted upon Sami life. Religion, too, played an important role from pre-historic times, with their pantheon of gods and sacred sites, to their Christianisation. In the late twentieth century there has been an increasing symbiosis of ancient Sami spiritual practice with Christianity. Recently the intrusions of the logging and nuclear industries, as well as tourism have come to redefine Sami society and culture. Even the meaning of who exactly a Sami is is scrutinised, at a time when some intermarry and yet return to Sapmi, where their children maintain their Sami identity.Trade Review'This detailed and comprehensive study of a people who have lived for thousands of years on Europe's northernmost margins reveals an astonishing diversity of language, culture and livelihoods. The lands of the Sami, as Neil Kent so ably shows, embrace far more than reindeers and Yuletide tourism.' * David Kirby, Emeritus Professor of Modern History, School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London and author of A Concise History of Finland *'The Sami People of the North is exhaustive, nuanced, and best of all, accessible. With his sustained attention to historical detail, Neil Kent has done a valuable service for anyone thinking about the Sami - or, for that matter, indigenous populations generally.' * Nick McDonell, author of Twelve and The Civilization of Perpetual Movement: Nomadism in World Politics *

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Book Synopsis'Nicola Tallis, one of our great popular historians.' Alison WeirThe first biography of Lettice Knollys, one of the most prominent women of the Elizabethan era.Cousin to Elizabeth I – and very likely also Henry VIII’s illegitimate granddaughter – Lettice Knollys had a life of dizzying highs and pitiful lows. Darling of the court, entangled in a love triangle with Robert Dudley and Elizabeth I, banished from court, plagued by scandals of affairs and murder, embroiled in treason, Lettice would go on to lose a husband and beloved son to the executioner’s axe. Living to the astonishing age of ninety-one, Lettice’s tale gives us a remarkable, personal lens on to the grand sweep of the Tudor Age, with those closest to her often at the heart of the events that defined it. In the first ever biography of this extraordinary woman, Nicola Tallis’s dramatic narrative takes us through those events, including the religious turmoil, plots and intrigues of Mary, Queen of Scots, attempted coups, and bloody Irish conflicts, among others. Surviving well into the reign of Charles I, Lettice truly was the last of the great Elizabethans.Trade ReviewStunning ... Nicola Tallis brings this remarkable woman out of the shadows and dazzlingly to life. It is a story of love, loss, intrigue and betrayal, and is told with customary finesse by one of our most talented historians. Not to be missed. -- Tracy BormanA fascinating insight both into Lettice herself and into the wider stories and life of the age. * The Spectator *Beautiful and thought-provoking ... Elizabeth's Rival stands as a testament as to why the figures that are cast aside in history should be explored. * All About History *Nicola Tallis brings us into a complex, compelling world, suffused with intrigue, betrayal, love and heartbreak, centred around the fascinating figure of Lettice Knollys. She is well deserving of such a biography. * History Today *Wonderfully written and researched ... I couldn't put it down. * Tudors Dynasty *A lively, colourful ride through the Tudor years and their Stuart postscript. * The Bookbag *Expertly researched and beautifully written ... Elizabeth's Rival is a tour de force. * Adrienne Dillard Blog *

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Book SynopsisBorn in Central America, Matthew Parker spent part of his childhood in the West Indies, acquiring a life-long fascination with the history of the region. Since graduating from Oxford, he has worked as an editorial consultant on a number of works of history, and written three bestselling books. He now lives with his family in east London.Trade ReviewCompelling, wonderful . . . The Sugar Barons is an exemplary book; history as it should be written * Independent *Gripping . . . a compendium of greed, horrible ingenuity and wickedness, but also a fascinating and thoughtful social history -- William DalrympleA shocking tale of corruption and brutality ... an admirable and gripping history * Sunday Times *Very impressive - a meticulously researched piece of work, and so engagingly written ... what a story! -- Andrea Levy, author of Small Island and Long SongA tumultuous rollercoaster of a book ... Mr Parker tells an extraordinary, neglected and shameful history with gusto * Economist *

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Book SynopsisAn immersive radical walking guide to one of Europe's most popular citiesTrade Review'A guide through Berlin's riveting history that is gripping, tragic, triumphant and above all, authentic' -- Dan Arrows, host of 'The Iron Dice' Podcast'Fascinating and eclectic. This guidebook illuminates hidden histories with clarity, honesty, wit and irony. Read it and walk it!' -- David Rosenberg, author of 'Rebel Footprints''Inspirational. This collection of walking tours of Red Berlin is full of wonderful tales from a city which has, despite everything, remained experimental and revolutionary while others have become little more than malls or museums, all related with a deliciously bone-dry Berlinische humour' -- Owen Hatherley, author of Red MetropolisTable of ContentsAcknowledgements Abbreviations and German Words Introduction 1. (Anti)Colonialism 2. November Revolution 3. Rosa Luxemburg’s Berlin 4. Neukölln Will Stay Red! 5. 1968 in West Berlin 6. Riots in Kreuzberg 7. The East Is Red 8. Queer Berlin 9. Berlinerinnen 10. Afterword: Where This Book Was Written About the Author Index

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Book SynopsisExam board: OCRLevel: A-levelSubject: History First teaching: September 2015First exams: Summer 2016Target success in OCR AS/A-level History with this proven formula for effective, structured revision; key content coverage is combined with exam preparation activities and exam-style questions to create a revision guide that students can rely on to review, strengthen and test their knowledge.- Enables students to plan and manage a successful revision programme using the topic-by-topic planner- Consolidates knowledge with clear and focused content coverage, organised into easy-to-revise chunks- Encourages active revision by closely combining historical content with related activities- Helps students build, practise and enhance their exam skills as they progress through activities set at three different levels- Improves exam technique through exam-style questions with sample answers and commentary from expert authors and teachers- Boosts historical knowledge with a useful glossary and timeline

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Book Synopsis''With fair-tressed Demeter, the sacred goddess, my song begins,With herself and her slim-ankled daughter, whom Aidoneus onceAbducted...''Most people are familiar, at least by repute, with the two great epics of Homer, the Iliad and the Odyssey, but few are aware that other poems survive that were attributed to Homer in ancient times. The Homeric Hymns are now known to be the work of various poets working in the same tradition, probably during the seventh and sixth centuries BC. They honour the Greek gods, and recount some of the most attractive of the Greek myths. Four of them (Hymns 2-5) stand out by reason of their length and quality. The Hymn to Demeter tells what happened when Hades, lord of the dead, abducted Persephone, Demeter''s daughter. The Hymn to Apollo describes Apollo''s birth and the foundation of his Delphic oracle. In the Hymn to Hermes Apollo''s cattle are stolen by a felonious infant - Hermes, god of thieves. In the Hymn to Aphrodite the goddess of love herself becomes infatuated with a mortal man, the Trojan prince Ankhises. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.Trade ReviewThis welcome new translation of the Homeric Hymns offers a skilled and nuanced verse rendering that is accompanied by intelligent and helpful notes. The introductory material is brief; the end-notes more thorough yet always concise; throughout there is frequent and up-to-date reference to important bibliography on the hymns. Readers should find the translation poetic and often striking, and they will also come away with a firm sense of modern scholarship on these short epic works. * Journal of Hellenic Studies *

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Book SynopsisEmpires of the Sea shows the Mediterranean as a majestic and bloody theatre of war. Opening with the Ottoman victory in 1453 it is a breathtaking story of military crusading, Barbary pirates, white slavery and the Ottoman Empire - and the larger picture of the struggle between Islam and Christianity. Coupled with dramatic set piece battles, a wealth of riveting first-hand accounts, epic momentum and a terrific denouement at Lepanto, this is a work of history at its broadest and most compelling.

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Book SynopsisThe Magic Lantern is one of those rare books that capture history in the making, written by an author who was witness to some of the most remarkable moments that marked the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe. Timothy Garton Ash was there in Warsaw, on 4 June, when the communist government was humiliated by Solidarity in the first semi-free elections since the Second World War. He was there in Budapest, twelve days later, when Imre Nagy - thirty-one years after his execution - was finally given his proper funeral. He was there in Berlin, as the Wall opened. And most remarkable of all, he was there in Prague, in the back rooms of the Magic Lantern theatre, with Václav Havel and the members of Civic Forum, as they made their 'Velvet Revolution'.Trade ReviewIn the future, there will probably be streets in Warsaw, Prague and Budapest bearing the name of Timothy Garton Ash -- Karel Kyncl * Independent *A wonderful combination of first-class reporting, brilliant political analysis and reflection. * New York Times Book Review *[Garton Ash's] own involvement in these events, intellectual and emotional, is of such intensity that he can speak... from the inside as well as from the outside. Yet the sense of historic dimension... is never lost. And the quality of the writing places it clearly in the category of good literature. * George Kennan *Along with the historian's long view, Garton Ash has an eye and an ear for the telling detail. * Washington Post Book World *Table of Contents1: Witness and History 2: Warsaw: The First Election 3: Budapest: The Last Funeral 4: Berlin: Wall's End 5: Prague: Inside the Magic Lantern 6: The Year of Truth 7: Thirty Years On: Time for a New Liberation?

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Book SynopsisA remarkable popular history of the English Civil War, from the perspectives of those involved in this most significant turning point in British history.The compelling narrative draws on new sources such as letters, memoirs, ballads and plays to bring to life the Roundheads and Cavaliers, the foot soldiers, war widows and witchfinders of one of the most significant turning points in British history, culminating in Oliver Cromwell's triumph and the execution of Charles I.By blending the political and the personal, Diane Purkiss illuminates both the ideologies behind the English Civil War and the fears of those who fought in it; the men who were destroyed by the conflict and those, such as Oliver Cromwell, who were defined by it.Trade Review‘Rich, vivid and passionate…a moving, lyrical and principled piece of writing…Purkiss has a gift for evocation.’ Independent ‘You begin to get close to what it would have been like to live through the nine momentous years from 1640 to 1649…it would be hard to imagine anything more irresistible than this rich layer cake of a book, crammed with the stories and the voices that make history human.’ Guardian ‘Purkiss has an eye for the narrative vignette that can illuminate the age.’ Sunday Times ‘Wonderful…Purkiss offers a sumptuous portrait gallery of the men and women who lived, wrote and died during this turbulent period…A joyous read.’ Daily Telegraph ‘Narrative history at its best: gripping, heartfelt, complex.’ Mail on Sunday ‘This book vigorously brings the horror and humanity of the conflict to life.’ Financial Times ‘Light in touch, though grounded in an enormous wealth of documentary material this “people's history” shows how England’s men and women coped with quite extraordinary times.’ Scotsman

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Book SynopsisAs a QC tries to get a pardon in Scotland for those accused of witchcraft in the past, this new edition of Scottish Witches explains why Scotland pursued witches - 4000 people were accused of witchcraft and 2000 were killed by strangulation at the stake, burning and drowning. Prejudice, discrimination, intolerance and fear possessed Scotland before and during the Reformation and caused King James I and VI to lead a period of superstition, intolerance and killing.Table of ContentsIntroduction PROVE IT - the signs of a witch Confession; Detection - Spot the Witch; Witch-Pricking; Ordeal by Water; Ordeal of Touch; Walking; Torture; Reputation; Evidence; Escape from the Flames; The Sentence; The Cost THE GUILTY ONES: FAMOUS WITCH TRIALS Bessie Dunlop of Ayrshire Katherine Ross, Lady Foulis The North Berwick Witches Margaret Barclay of Irvine Alexander Hamilton, Elizabeth Steven and Katherine Oswald of East Lothian Agnes Finnie of Edinburgh Robert 'Hob' Grieve Marie Lamont of Inverkip Isobel Gowdie Major Thomas Weir and Grizel Weir Sir George Maxwell and the Witches of Pollokshaws The Witches of Bo'ness Christian Shaw of Bargarran and the Paisley Witches The Witches of Pittenweem THE STUFF OF LEGENDS Michael Scott - The Wondrous Wizard Lord Soulis Alexander Skene Robert Grierson of Lag John Graham of Claverhouse Aleister Crowley WITCHCRAFT IN POETRY AND STORYTELLING Poetry The Earl of Brodie and the Hare The Witch of Laggan The Lady and the Horse SCOTTISH WITCHCRAFT IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY INDEX

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