European history Books

Book SynopsisAcclaimed historian Alistair Moffat sets off in the footsteps of the Highland clans and their definitive conflicts. In twelve journeys he explores places of conflict, recreating as he walks the tumult of battle. As he recounts the military prowess of the clans he also tells of their lives, their language and culture before it was all swept away. From the colonisers who attempted to ‘civilise’ the islanders of Lewis in the sixteenth century through the great battles of the eighteenth century – Killiekrankie, Dunkeld, Sheriffmuir, Falkirk and Culloden – this is a unique exploration of many of the places and events which define the country’s history. The disaster at Culloden in 1746 represented not just the defeat of the Jacobite dream but also the unleashing of merciless retribution from the British government which dealt the Highland clans a blow from which they would never recover. Locations included are: Prestonpans • Glenfinnan • The Isle of Lewis • Edinburgh • Inverlochy • Tippermuir • Mulroy • Killiecrankie • Dunkeld • Sherriffmuir • Falkirk • Culloden Moor • Arisaig & MorarTrade Review'Taking the reader through key historical moments of battles that would alter the country forever, he also offers fascinating insight into the language, culture and lives of the clans' * The Bookseller *'This is a splendid book, evocative, and enlightening, Study it and take it with you if you set out to explore these scenes of long-ago battles; or, with its help, content yourself with reliving them in your imagination' -- Allan Massie * The Scotsman *'There are digestible explanations of the complex politics that drew so much blood and reflections on the Gaelic culture that was swept away after Culloden... a stirring account' -- Mary Miers * Country Life Magazine *'Centuries melt away in this riveting read' * Sunday Post *'A marvellous book in which the author takes you by the hand and leads you through some of the pivotal moments in Scottish history' -- Ken Lussey * Undiscovered Scotland *'The prolific Scottish author Alistair Moffat has developed something of a speciality in combining scholarly analysis of historical figures with vivid descriptions of his own journeys in their footsteps... well-researched and well-written' -- Ian Bradley * Church Times *'He clambers through terrain described with vivid, sensory immediacy, telling the story of each battle, setting each in context in the landscape and offering terrifying glimpses of Scotland’s past' * The Tablet *'Moffat has blended solid history with a readable style and elements of a travelogue to create an engaging piece that spans genres and should interest a wide audience' -- Robbie MacNiven * Current Archaeology *

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Book SynopsisIn rural Ireland in 1950, a respectable widow has an affair with a visiting stranger. To conceal her pregnancy, she travels to Belfast, where she gives birth to a baby girl called Marie Therese. She returns to her village life, leaving her daughter to face a life of misery in Nazareth House Orphanage. Cruelly bullied and beaten by the nuns that were supposed to care for her, Marie Therese grows up withdrawn and an outsider. At 17, uneducated and afraid, she is forced to leave the orphanage to live with a manipulative couple that cause her to have a breakdown. Yet, astonishingly in the midst of this turmoil, Marie Therese strives to take control of her life, educating herself and gaining the confidence to establish a nursing career. Determined to find out who she really is, she finally sets out to trace a mother who the nuns told her did not exist. Marie Therese's story is about the resilience of the human spirit and the need we all have to discover who we really are. Nazareth House is one of the institutions currently under investigation by the Historical Abuse Inquiry.

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Book SynopsisConflict in 19th Century Ireland, has been updated and revised to assist teachers and students to meet the requirements of the CCEA GCE History A2 1 Unit 2, `Ireland Under the Union 1800-1900'. This comprehensive account of the birth of the modern era in Irish politics by a highly regarded author explores the development of unionism and nationalism, and the relationship between Ireland and the British government. Covering topics such as Catholic emancipation and the Home Rule movement. Complemented by an index and a photographic section to visually support the study of the period. Contents: Chapter 1 Opposition to the Union Constitutional Nationalism 1800-1845 Revolutionary Nationalism 1800-1900 Constitutional Nationalism 1845-1900 Cultural Nationalism 1800-1900 Opposition to the Union - Conclusion Chapter 2 The Significance of Social and Economic Issues Chapter 3 The British Government's Response to Irish Nationalism Chapter 4 Supporters of the Union Conclusion Table of ContentsContents: Opposition to the Union The Significance of Social and Economic Issues The British Government's Response to Irish Nationalism Supporters of the Union Conclusion

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Book SynopsisFirst published in 2000, 'Northern Protestants - An Unsettled People' was an instant success and is widely recognised as a ground-breaking book. Based on over sixty in-depth interviews with a wide range of northern Protestants, Susan McKay presents an uncompromising and clear-eyed examination of her own people - the Protestants of Northern Ireland. Her analysis of the upheavals within the Protestant community and unionist politics is a thought-provoking contribution to current debates about Northern Ireland. This updated edition includes a new introduction, and provides the backdrop to her new title 'Northern Protestants - On Shifting Ground'.

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Book SynopsisThe Royal Irish Constabulary are often portrayed as the villains of the War of Independence in Ireland, Irishmen who betrayed their country by serving the British regime. No memorial has been raised in Ireland to those who died during the conflict and their names are largely forgotten, apart from a few who gained notoriety through the fact that Michael Collins himself ordered their killing. As a result, while their deaths are recorded in histories of the time, little attention is paid to the men themselves. In Police Casualties in Ireland 1919 - 1922, Richard Abbott addresses this imbalance by recording in detail the deaths of over 500 police casualties during the war, not only from the RIC, but also the Dublin Metropolitan Police, the Auxiliaries, Black and Tans and Ulster Special Constabulary. His portrayals of these men remind us that behind the villainous caricatures were human beings, who left behind devastated families and friends, just as the victims on the other side did.

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Book Synopsis‘It is love of country that inspires us; not hate of the enemy …’ Terence MacSwiney, the renowned Republican lord mayor of Cork, died on 25 October 1920, on the seventy-fifth day of a hunger strike he started in Brixton Prison in an attempt to gain recognition as a political prisoner of war. His sacrifice brought worldwide media attention to Ireland’s struggle for independence. Principles of Freedom, his collection of political writings, provides a glimpse into the thinking of a man prepared to give his all for Irish freedom.

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Book Synopsis‘A tale of arson, loot and murder’ was how one source described the events that would befall Cork city on the night of 11–12 December 1920. In a scene of almost unprecedented destruction, members of the British forces bent on revenge for the ambushes at Kilmichael and Dillon’s Cross set fire to both the commercial and the civic heart of the city. One side of Patrick Street and the area surrounding it were razed to the ground, while City Hall and the neighbouring Carnegie Library were gutted as Auxiliaries and Black and Tans shot at Cork’s firemen and cut their hoses in an effort to ensure maximum damage. Then, to add insult to injury, as the smoke cleared the British government tried to blame Cork’s own citizens for the devastation. Using eyewitness accounts and contemporary sources, and illustrated with exceptional images from the period, Cork Burning tells the story of the events before, during and after that infamous night. It covers such topics as Cork City before December 1920, the Black and Tans, Auxiliaries and K Company, Republican Cork, a timeline of events before the burning of Cork City, early fires and arson by crown forces in Cork, the Kilmichael Ambush, the Dillon’s Cross Ambush, premises destroyed, official investigations into the causes, compensation and rebuilding.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements 9 Introduction 11 Timeline of Events before the Burning of Cork City 19 Cork City Before December 1920 25 The British Forces in Cork in 1920 49 Republican Cork 59 Arson Rampant in Cork 77 The Kilmichael Ambush 89 The Dillon’s Cross Ambush 93 The Burning of the City 103 Business Premises destroyed 145 Local Reaction to the Burning 155 British Reaction 169 Bishop Cohalan’s Decree 177 Compensation Claims 181 Rebuilding Cork City 191 Epilogue 217 Appendix 1 The Higginson Inquiry 221 Appendix 2 The Strickland Inquiry 227 Bibliography 243 Index 249

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Book SynopsisIn these essays and speeches Michael Collins spellled out his vision for the future of Ireland, as well as his analysis of its past. Some of them are written in the anguish of a civil war which he struggled so hard to avoid, and in which he saw his country torn apart while seeking to establish and defend democracy, liberty and stability. Michael Collins’ overall vision is still inspiring, he sees the necessity for open trade with overseas markets, for investment and management, and for putting the “national economy on a sound footing” as a priority. Noted historian Tim Pat Coogan provides an introduction to the man and his times, giving an insight into the times that prompted him to write his articles and speeches.

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Book Synopsis‘Passengers’ is a social history of Britain between 1790 and 1840. This is the period of the Napoleonic War and of rapid technological change and social tension. It was a contradictory age, simultaneously the elegant era of Jane Austen and the inspiration for Charles Dickens’s work on poverty and injustice. The book has an initial focus on transport and hospitality, but it is also a wider portrait of this important but neglected period of British history. The author covers all aspects of the period-work, law, technology, finance, politics, poverty and crime are the most prominent. The inn and the stagecoach were some of the few places that the different classes met and co-existed in a country that was stratified and deferential. The poor served the transport and hospitality system, the middle classes used it and the ruling classes profited from it. The life of women is an important part of this book; they worked at levels in the travel and hospitality industries.This is everybody’s story, an exposition of real places and real people in a society that was ‘on the move’, in all senses of the phrase.Table of ContentsIntroduction: Is there Really a Stagecoach History of Britain?; 1 The Walking Classes; 2 Scandal at the Swan; 3 Respectability; 4 Bad Education ; 5 Calculated Charity; 6 The Stagecoach Masters; 7 The Entrepreneurial Widows; 8 Crime in the Coaching Inn; 9 Crime On The Road; 10 Roads Work; 11 Who’s on Board Today?; 12 The Stagecoach Driver: A Class Act; 13 A Georgian Family and their Struggle with Transport; 14 Melancholy Events; 15 The Stagecoach v the Law; 16 Hell for Horses; 17 A Journey up the Great North Road; 18 Moving the Mail; 19 Attacked by a Lioness; 20 The Brighton Line; 21 Inn Hospitality; 22 Poor Women and their Work; 23 New Times, New Time and New Timing; 24 First with the News; 25 The Stagecoach Defeats the Steam Engine; 26 The Steam Engine Defeats The Stagecoach; Conclusion: Immortality via Nostalgia.

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Book SynopsisThis fascinating book was written by the brother of Lanoe Hawker VC DSO as a tribute. The Hawkers came from a distinguished sporting family with strong military and naval records and Lanoe from the outset set his sights on flying for the RFC. After the Central Flying School he crossed to France in October 1914 with 6 Squadron equipped with BE2s and Henri Farmans. As the war in the air progressed so Hawker came more and more into his own both as a combat pilot and commander. He was rapidly promoted and given command of 24 Squadron. He, like other pilots, flew numerous machines such as Bristol Scouts, FE4227s and the famous DH2s. This book contains many combat reports by pilots of their missions and these make the most graphic reading. The relative merits, qualities and characteristics of the aircraft both British, French and German are discussed with pilots' opinions. For a better insight into combat air operations Hawker VC - The First RFC Ace is unlikely to be surpassed, thanks to the extensive use of first-hand accounts. Casualty/death rates were appalling but this special band of brothers flew on regardless until their turn came.

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Book SynopsisPassages from Antiquity to Feudalism is a sustained exercise in historical sociology that shows how the slave-based societies of Ancient Greece and Rome eventually became the feudal societies of the Middle Ages. In the course of this study, Anderson vindicates and refines the explanatory power of historical materialism, while casting a fascinating light on the Ancient world, the Germanic invasions, nomadic society, and the different routes taken to feudalism in Northern, Mediterranean, Eastern and Western Europe.Through this work and its companion volume, Lineages of the Absolutist State, Anderson presents a Marxist history of Western political development that takes readers from the first stirrings of political consciousness in the classical world to the rise of absolutist monarchies in Europe and the birth of the modern epoch.Trade ReviewA complex, beautifully interwoven account of Europe from the ancient Greeks to modern absolutist monarchies ... exhilarating. * Guardian *Quite splendid ... A powerful and lucid intelligence. -- Eric Hobsbawm * New Statesman *The breath-taking range of conception and the architectural skill with which it has been executed make his work a formidable intellectual achievement. * New York Review of Books *

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Book SynopsisIn this classic text, first published in 1977, Tom Nairn memorably depicts the 'slow foundering' of the United Kingdom on the rocks of imperial decline, constitutional anachronism and the gathering force of civic nationalism. Rich in comparisons between the nationalisms of the British Isles and those of the wider world, thoughtful in its treatment of the interaction between nationality and social class, The Break-Up of Britain concludes with a bravura essay on the Janus-faced nature of national identity. Postscripts from the Thatcher and Blair years trace the political strategies whose upshot accelerated the demise of a British state they were intended to serve. As a second Scottish independence referendum beckons, a new Introduction by Anthony Barnett underlines the book's enduring relevance.Trade ReviewThe most forceful and original mind to confront, demask and anatomise the British state. The perception that Great Britain was a multinational state and not a united nation had never quite been lost over the centuries, but it was Tom Nairn who almost single-handedly hammered this truth into the skull of British intellectuals and campaigners until it became - as it is today - practically uncontested by the political class -- Neal AschersonThe Break-Up of Britain is Tom Nairn's greatest book. A potent and long-lasting challenge * Scotsman *Tom Nairn pioneered critical retrospect of the United Kingdom, and scandalised people by looking forward calmly to its disintegration. This in a style of extraordinary vigour and beauty - and not least humour: writing as democratic as his own unswerving politics -- Perry AndersonTom Nairn's fundamental insight was to recognise that the United Kingdom was an imperial construct, and that the ties that once bound the people of these islands were fraying * New Statesman *More than anyone else, Tom Nairn has shaped how we think about the United Kingdom and its creaking constitutional architecture. The national conversation he started, the national journey he so profoundly shaped in his work, is far from over * Herald *Powerful and prophetic. Nairn is perhaps Britain's most perceptive and ambitious national storyteller, an audaciously creative stylist. -- New Statesman * Rory Scothorne *Combines often stunning writing with immense knowledge of literature, history, and political philosophy ... Nairn has made a priceless contribution towards a desperately needed new discourse. * The Hindu *The most significant book on British politics of the past half-century -- Anthony Barnett * openDemocracy *

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Book SynopsisThe remarkable story of the money sent by the Choctaw to the Irish in 1847 is one that is often told and remembered by people in both nations. This gift was sent to the Irish from the Choctaw at the height of the Great Irish Famine, just sixteen years after the Choctaw began their march on the Trail of Tears toward the areas west of the Mississippi River. Famine Pots honours that extraordinary gift and provides further context about and consideration of this powerful symbol of cross-cultural synergy through a collection of essays and poems that speak volumes of the empathy and connectivity between the two communities. As well as signalling patterns of movement and exchange, this study of the gift exchange invites reflection on processes of cultural formation within Choctaw and Irish society alike, and sheds light on long-time concerns surrounding spiritual and social identities. This volume aims to facilitate a fuller understanding of the historical complexities that surrounded migration and movement in the colonial world, which in turn will help lead to a more constructive consideration of the ways in which Irish and Native American Studies might be drawn together today.

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Book SynopsisBetween the fifth century and the ninth, several thousand churches were founded in Ireland, a greater density than most other regions of Europe. This period saw fundamental changes in settlement patterns, agriculture, social organisation, rituals and beliefs, and churches are an important part of that story. The premise of this book is that landscape archaeology is one of the most fruitful ways to study them. By looking at where they were placed in relation to pagan ritual and royal sites, burial grounds, and settlements, and how they fared over the centuries, we can map the shifting strategies of kings, clerics and ordinary people. The result is a fascinating new perspective on this formative period, with wider implications for the study of social power and religious change elsewhere in Europe. The earliest churches, founded at a time of religious diversity (400-550), were often within royal landscapes, showing that some sections of the elite chose to make space for the new religion. These often lost out to new monasteries positioned at a remove from core royal land, making it possible to grant them the great estates on which their wealth was based (550-800). Now, however, founding churches was no longer a prerogative of kings for we see numerous lesser churches outside these estates. In this way middle-ranking people helped transform the landscape and shape religious cultures in which rituals and beliefs of local origin co-existed alongside Christianity. Finally, in the Viking Age (800-1100), some lesser churches were abandoned while community churches began to exert more of a gravitational pull, foreshadowing the later medieval parish system.Table of ContentsIntroduction Archaeological Approaches to Religion and Religious Change Structure, Study Areas and Site Types 1 Contexts for Conversion and Concepts of Territory Late Iron Age Society and Ritual Trends in Mortuary Practice to 800 Polities, Territories and Boundaries 2 Landscapes of Conversion to c. 550 Southern Ui Faelain Mag Reta Fir Maige Corcu Duibne Discussion 3 Ecclesiastical Estates, c. 550-800 Core Ecclesiastical Landholdings Detached Parcels of Ecclesiastical Land Fir Maige Mag Reta and Adjacent Territories Corcu Duibne Discussion 4 Churches Outside Ecclesiastical Estates, c. 550-800 Models of Episcopal Authority and Pastoral Care Characterising Lesser Churches Fir Maige Southern Ui Faelain Corcu Duibne Discussion 5 Society, Burial Patterns and Churches, c. 800-1100 Models of Social and Economic Change Inecclesiamento: church sites and settlement dynamics elsewhere in Europe From Family to Community Burial? Continuity and Change at Important Church Sites Conclusion 6 Churches in the Landscape, c. 800-1100 Fir Maige Southern Ui Faelain Corcu Duibne Discussion Summary and Conclusion Medieval Land Divisions of Peninsular Corcu Duibne by Paul MacCotter Appendix: The Church Sites of Corcu Duibne Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisDublin's Natural History Museum is a uniquely preserved sliver of the past, an intact example of a nineteenth-century natural science collection. While its polished cases and stuffed animals show us what the museum looked like in its heyday, this book is the first detailed exploration of its early history, showing how and why it came into being, and what it meant in nineteenth-century Irish culture. From its earliest days as a small collection at the Royal Dublin Society to the gala inauguration of its new home on Merrion Square in 1857, everyone had an idea about what it was for, and how natural science would benefit Ireland. It was the first public museum in Ireland, a project of the RDS that was supported by central government as an educational venue, and was frequented by ordinary citizens and visitors as well as leading lights of natural science. Its history offers a view of science in Ireland showing that the museum was built over time by donations from citizens and scientific amateurs as well as professionals, and that Irish men of science shaped new knowledge from the raw material in the collections. Far from the aura of genteel nostalgia that continues to attract visitors today, the Natural History Museum of the nineteenth century was an active scientific institution with strong connections to the wider sphere of European science, and shows how participation in natural science was a form cultural activity for the people who engaged with the museum.

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Book SynopsisThe book analyses the relationship between crime and conflict in Northern Ireland since the establishment of the Northern Irish state in 1921. Despite the vast research literature that focuses on Northern Ireland's political divisions and the violence of the 'Troubles', the relationship between these issues and crime has received much less attention.

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Book SynopsisThe book narrates the story of three generations of the Wise family as they became Cork-based merchant princes. It is also the story of their North Mall distillery, the then largest in Cork city, which even rivalled the great distilling houses of Dublin.

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Book SynopsisBritain in the nineteenth century saw a series of technological and social changes which continue to influence and direct us today. Its reactants were human genius, money and influence, its crucibles the streets and institutions, its catalyst time, its control the market.In this rich and fascinating book, James Hamilton investigates the vibrant exchange between culture and business in nineteenth-century Britain, which became a centre for world commerce following the industrial revolution. He explores how art was made and paid for, the turns of fashion, and the new demands of a growing middle-class, prominent among whom were the artists themselves. While leading figures such as Turner, Constable, Landseer, Coleridge, Wordsworth and Dickens are players here, so too are the patrons, financiers, collectors and industrialists; lawyers, publishers, entrepreneurs and journalists; artists' suppliers, engravers, dealers and curators; hostesses, shopkeepers and brothel keepers; quacks, charlatans and auctioneers. Hamilton brings them all vividly to life in this kaleidoscopic portrait of the business of culture in nineteenth-century Britain, and provides thrilling and original insights into the working lives of some of our most celebrated artists.Trade ReviewMoney and art are so tightly intertwined that we forget there was a time when the embrace was not quite so fierce... This is a persuasive and discursive account of how we got this way. * Sunday Times, Art Book of the Year *A beautifully written cultural history and a compendium of scurrilously funny stories -- Lucy Hughes-Hallett * Observer, Books of the Year *One of the best works of art history for years - a riveting account of how Constable, Turner and contemporaries made (or failed to make) their money. -- Philip Hensher * Spectator, Books of the Year *Groundbreaking... a scholarly but humane, and richly enjoyable, survey of the symbiotic relationship between art and money in 19th-century Britain -- David Kynaston * Observer, Books of the Year *A scholarly but also enjoyably anecdote-studded guide to the 19th-century London art world. The accounts of the eccentricity and rapacity of artists and collectors alike make one mutter "plus ça change". -- Martin Gayford * Spectator, Books of the Year *A brilliantly engaging account of the most interesting of all subjects: how artists make their money, in this case in 19th-century England. -- Philip Hensher * Guardian, Books of the Year *Wonderful... If you were setting out as an artist in 19th-century London, this is the book you would want as your vade mecum... Full of interesting ideas and odd aperçus... Entirely joyous -- Lynn Barber * Sunday Times *To read this book is as pleasurable as a long lunch with a first-rate raconteur... Hamilton writes beautifully... Seldom have I learnt so much from a single book while simultaneously being so excellently entertained. -- Lucy Hughes-Hallett * The Times *Hamilton's fascinating and richly researched book surveys the art world from a number of different angles... It is lucid, insightful and simply gripping... This is a brilliant account of learning, or failing, to survive in a market of extraordinary brutality. -- Philip Hensher * Spectator *A great sweep of a book, gathering numerous colourful studies of painters, engravers and sculptors, as well as patrons, dealers and members of the spectating public. -- Seamus Perry * Literary Review *Entertaining and original ... As a whole, like a plum pudding, this book is both nourishing and full of succulent bits and pieces. -- Martin Gayford * Daily Telegraph *A gripping story not of artistic movements but of practicalities: who bought the art, who copied it, and how much difference new paint colours made... Hamilton is terrific on the story of how pigment production moved into the new scientific age -- Kathryn Hughes * Guardian *Hamilton is a lucid and frequently droll guide to this symbiotic world. His book is not about paintings but about the trades such as curating, pigment-making and publishing that grew up around them. There was plenty of colour off the canvas, too. * Mail on Sunday *Any number of novelists and historians could find inspiration in this vivid account of how the audience for art in Britain broadened during the nineteenth century... This is grand entertainment as well as serious history. -- Evelyn Toynton * Prospect *Fascinating, compelling and timely. * Art Quarterly *

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Book SynopsisDespite its reputation as the longest established in Europe, the history of the English monarchy is punctuated by scandal, murders, betrayals, plots, and treason. Since William the Conqueror seized the crown in 1066, England has seen three civil wars; six monarchs have been murdered or executed; the throne of England has been usurped four times, and won in battle three times; and personal scandals and royal family quarrels abound. Dark History of the Kings & Queens of England provides an exciting and dramatic account of English royal history from 1066 to the present day. This engrossing book explores the scandal and intrigue behind each royal dynasty, from the ‘accidental’ murder of William II in 1100, through the excesses of Richard III, Henry VIII and ‘Bloody’ Mary, to the conspiracies surrounding the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997, William and Kate Middleton’s on-off courtship before they married, and Prince Harry’s years of partying, girlfriends and Las Vegas strip poker, before his 2018 marriage to American divorcée Meghan Markle. Carefully researched, superbly entertaining and illustrated throughout with more than 200 colour and black-and-white photographs and artworks, this accessible and immensely enjoyable book highlights the true personalities and real lives of the individuals honoured with the crown of England—and those unfortunate enough to cross their paths.Table of ContentsIntroduction Chapter 1: Conspirators and Conquerors: A Dirty Business — The Normans Chapter 2: Unholy Alliances — The Plantagenets Part I Chapter 3: Crusading Kings and Troublesome Barons — The Plantagenets Part II Chapter 4: Lovers, Land and Treason — The Plantagenets Part III Chapter 5: Insanity, Civil War and Child Murder — The Plantagenets Part IV Chapter 6: Conspiracy and Bloodshed — The Tudors Part I Chapter 7: Decapitation and Divorce — The Tudors Part II Chapter 8: Turmoil, Terror and Fatal Illness — The Tudors Part III Chapter 9: Gloriana and Gore — The Tudors Part IV Chapter 10: Roundheads and Regicide — The Stuarts Part I Chapter 11: A Not-So-Merry Monarchy — The Stuarts Part II Chapter 12: Mistresses and Madness — The Hanoverians Part I Chapter 13: Battle Royal — The Hanoverians Part II Chapter 14: Scandal Behind Closed Doors — The House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha Chapter 15: A Loose Cannon — The Windsors Part I Chapter 16: A Modern Monarchy? — The Windsors Part II Index

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Book SynopsisThis is a new edition of the authoritative study of the family of Sir Rhys ap Thomas in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. It places the family in the social and political context of Anglo-Welsh history: the turbulent career of Gruffydd ap Nicholas of Newton (Carmarthenshire) and his sons during the Wars of the Roses, the crucial importance of Rhys ap Thomas to the establishment of the new Tudor dynasty in both Wales and England; the close relationship between Sir Gruffudd ap Rhys and Prince Arthur, and the execution for treason of Sir Gruffudd's son in 1531 which crippled the family for two generations. A new introduction reviews aspects of the Wars of the Roses in Wales and the impact that the new Tudor dynasty had on the relationship between England Wales after 1485.Table of ContentsPart 1: Servants and Victims of Lancastrian, Yorkist and Tudor Monarchs Introduction 1. The Rise to Distinction 2. A Family of Renegades 3. Sir Rhys ap Thomas 4. Crisis and Catastrophe: Rhys ap Gruffydd 5. Restoration and Rehabilitation Part II The Life of Sir Rhya ap Thomas Introdution 1. 'A Short View of the Life of Rice ap Thomas' 2. Gruffydd ap Nicholas 3. The Young Rhys ap Thomas 4. The Reign of Ricard III 5. Henry Tudor's Enterprise 6. The Reign of Henry VII 7. Henry VIII and Sir Rhys ap Thomas

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Book SynopsisGeoffrey le Baker's chronicle covers the reigns of Edward II and Edward III up to the English victory at Poitiers. David Preest's new translation includes extensive notes and an introduction by Richard Barber. Geoffrey le Baker's chronicle covers the reigns of Edward II and Edward III up to the English victory at Poitiers. It starts in a low key, copying an earlier chronicle, but by the end of Edward II's reign he offers a much more vivid account. Baker's description of Edward II's last days is partly based on the eyewitness account of his patron, Sir Thomas de la More, who was present at one critical interview. This story of Edward's death, like many other details from his chronicle, was picked up by Tudor historians, particularly by Holinshed, who was the source for Shakespeare's history plays. The reign of Edward III is dominated, not by Edward III himself, but by Baker's real hero, Edward prince of Wales. His bravery aged sixteen at Crécy is presented as a prelude to his victory at Poitiers, a battle which Baker is able to describe in great detail, apparently from what he was told by the prince's commanders. It is a rarity among medieval battles, because - in sharp contrast to the total anarchy at Crécy - the prince and his staff were able to see the enemy's manoeuvres. Throughout the chronicle there are sharply defined vignettes which stay in the mind - the killing of the Scottish champion on Halidon Hill, the drowning of Sir Edward Bohun, the earls of Salisbury and Suffolk as prisoners carried in a cart, the death of Sir Walter Selby and his two sons, the bravery of Sir Thomas Dagworth against a cobbler's son, the duel between Otho and the duke of Lancaster, John Dancaster and the lewd washerwoman. Baker writes in a complex Latin which even scholars find problematic,and David Preest's new translation will be widely welcomed by anyone interested in the fourteenth century. There are extensive notes and an introduction by Richard Barber. DAVID PREEST has also translated The Chronica Maiora of Thomas Walsingham, a Choice Outstanding Academic Title; RICHARD BARBER's recent book Edward III and the Triumph of England draws heavily on Geoffrey le Baker's work for the first twenty years of Edward'sreign.Trade ReviewThis excellent translation is very much needed. Unequivocally a great boon... and the editors are to be praised for their important contribution. * HISTORY *

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Book SynopsisFirst extended treatment of the city of St Andrews during the middle ages. St Andrews was of tremendous significance in medieval Scotland. Its importance remains readily apparent in the buildings which cluster the rocky promontory jutting out into the North Sea: the towers and walls of cathedral, castleand university provide reminders of the status and wealth of the city in the Middle Ages. As a centre of earthly and spiritual government, as the place of veneration for Scotland's patron saint and as an ancient seat of learning,St Andrews was the ecclesiastical capital of Scotland. This volume provides the first full study of this special and multi-faceted centre throughout its golden age. The fourteen chapters use St Andrews as a focus for the discussion of multiple aspects of medieval life in Scotland. They examine church, spirituality, urban society and learning in a specific context from the seventh to the sixteenth century, allowing for the consideration of St Andrews alongside other great religious and political centres of medieval Europe.Trade ReviewA particularly rewarding collection, full of fresh scholarship. * SPECULUM *Offers both a new overview as well as additional evidence and fresh insights. For years to come, it will surely be a source for scholars and others who are pursuing not only the history of St Andrews but also the wider subject of Scottish medieval history. * THE RICARDIAN *The volume is truly multidisciplinary, containing contributions from art historians, archaeologists, architectural historians as well as historians. This is a real strength..The editors should be commended for such a rewarding collection. * MEDIEVAL ARCHAEOLOG *Table of Contents'Ancient Magnificence': St Andrews in the Middle Ages: An Introduction - Michael H Brown and Katie Stevenson From Cinrigh Monai to Civitas Sancti Andree: A Star is Born - Simon Taylor The Idea of St Andrews as the Second Rome Made Manifest - Ian Campbell The Medieval Ecclesiastical Architecture of St Andrews as a Channel for the Introduction of New Ideas - Richard Fawcett When the Miracles Ceased: Shrine and Cult Management at St Andrews and Scottish Cathedrals in the Later Middle Ages - Tom Turpie Religion, Ritual and the Rhythm of the Year in Later Medieval St Andrews - David Ditchburn Living in the Late Medieval Town of St Andrews - Elizabeth Ewan The Burgh of St Andrews and its Inhabitants before the Wars of Independence - Matthew Hammond The Archaeology of Medieval St Andrews - Derek Hall and Catherine Smith Prelates, Citizens and Landed Folk: St Andrews as a Centre of Lordship in the Late Middle Ages - Michael H Brown Augmenting Rentals: The Expansion of Church Property in St Andrews, c. 1400-156 - Elizabeth Rhodes The Prehistory of the University of St Andrews - Norman Reid University, City and Society - Roger A Mason The Medieval Maces of the University of St Andrews - Julian Luxford Heresy, Inquisition and Late Medieval St Andrews - Katie Stevenson Appendix 1: The St Andrews Foundation Account - Simon Taylor Appendix 2: The Augustinian's Account - Simon Taylor Appendix 3: The Boar's Raik - Simon Taylor Appendix 4: University of St Andrews Library, UYSL 110/6/4 - Matthew Hammond

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Book SynopsisFirst full examination of the medieval livery collar, form, function, and significance. The livery collar had a pervasive presence in late-medieval England. Worn about the neck to denote service to a lord, references to the collar abound in government records, contemporary chronicles and correspondence, and many depictions of the collar can be found in illuminated manuscripts and on church monuments. From the fifteenth century the collar was regarded as a powerful symbol of royal power, the artefact associating the recipient with the king; it also played a significant function in the construction and articulation of political and other group identities during the period. This first book-length study of the livery collar examines its cultural and political significance from the late fourteenth to the early sixteenth centuries, in particular between 1450 and 1500, the period associated with the Wars of the Roses. It explores the principal meanings bestowed on the collar, considers the item in its various political contexts, and places the collar within the sphere of medieval identity construction. It also investigates the motives which lay behind its distribution, shedding new light on the nature and understanding of royal power at the time.Trade ReviewCarefully researched and well-written...Ward has rendered a valuable service to scholars of the late Middle Ages by focusing on one of the more ubiquitous cultural symbols of the age. * ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW *A revelation for anyone interested in livery collars and what they meant. * THE RICARDIAN *Table of ContentsIntroduction: The Livery Collar and its Contexts Function, Meaning and Significance The Political Milieu Visual Culture, Agency and Identities of Association The Appearance of Lancastrian and Yorkist Livery Collars on Church Monuments: Distribution and Motivations Livery Collars in Wales and the Edgecote Connection Conclusion Appendix 1: Genealogies Appendix 2: Livery Collars on Church Monuments in England, Wales and Ireland to c. 1540 Bibliography

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Book SynopsisAn examination of the ways in which the fluid concept of "chivalry" has been used and appropriated after the Middle Ages. One of the most difficult and complex ethical and cultural codes to define, chivalry has proved a flexible, ever-changing phenomenon, constantly adapted in the hands of medieval knights, Renaissance princes, early modern antiquarians, Enlightenment scholars, modern civic authorities, authors, historians and re-enactors. This book explores the rich variations in how the Middle Ages were conceptualised and historicised to illuminate the plurality of uses of the past. Using chivalry as a lens through which to examine concepts and uses of the medieval, it provides a critical assessment of the ways in which medieval chivalry became a shorthand to express contemporary ideals, powerfully demonstrating the ways in which history could be appropriated. The chapters combine attention to documentary evidence with what material culture can tell us, in particular using the built environment and the landscape as sources to understand how the medieval past was renegotiated. With contributions spanning diverse geographic regions and periods, it redraws current chronological boundaries by considering medievalism from the late Middle Ages to the present. Katie Stevenson is Senior Lecturer in Late Mediaeval History and Director of the Institute of Scottish Historical Research at the University of St Andrews; Barbara Gribling is a Junior Research Fellow in the Department of History at Durham University. Contributors: David W. Allan, Stefan Goebel, Barbara Gribling, Steven C. Hughes, Peter N. Lindfield, Antti Matikkala, Rosemary Mitchell, Paul Pickering, Katie StevensonTrade ReviewFull of fascinating discussion regarding the long-term cultural impacts of chivalry. * FOLKLORE *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Chivalry and the Medieval Past - Katie Stevenson and 'An Institution Quite Misunderstood': Chivalry and Sentimentalism in the Late Scottish Enlightenment - David W. Allan Creating a 'Medieval Past' for the Swedish Orders of Knighthood - Antti Matikkala 'Hung Round with the Helmets, Breast-Plates, and Swords of our Ancestors': Allusions to Chivalry in Eighteenth-Century Gothicism - Peter N. Lindfield Knights on the Town? Commercial and Civic Chivalry in Victorian Manchester - Rosemary A. Mitchell 'The Dark Side of Chivalry': Victory, Violence and the Victorians - Barbara Gribling Daze and Knights: Anachronism, Duelling and the Chivalric Ethic in Nineteenth-Century Italy - Steven C. Hughes The German Crusade: The Battles of Tannenberg, 1410 and 1914 - Stefan Goebel 'Hark ye back to the age of valour': Re-enacting Chivalry from the Eglinton Tournament to Kill Streak - Paul Pickering

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Book SynopsisNorfolk is a county sadly rich in "lost" country houses; this account and gazetteer offer a comprehensive account of them. Winner of the general non-fiction category in the East Anglian Book Awards 2016. The country houses lost from the landscape since the late nineteenth century exercise a peculiar grip on the English imagination, seeming to symbolise the passing of a world of taste and elegance, of stability and deference: a world destroyed by modernity. This important new book argues that most previous studies of the subject have been characterised by nostalgia and vagueness, and by a tendency to exaggerate the scale of the destruction and simplify its causes. It presents a balanced, systematic analysis of country house losses in Norfolk, discussing the scale and chronology of destruction. The authors argue that the loss of great houses was not an entirely new development of the twentieth century, they explain the varied reasons why houses were abandoned and destroyed, and they explore the archaeological traces which these places, their gardens and parks, have left in the modern landscape. Their arguments are illuminated by a full and lavishly-illustrated gazetteer. This book, the results of many years of fieldwork and documentary research, will be essential reading for all those interested in the history of the country house, in the development of the post-medieval landscape, and in the archaeology and history of the county of Norfolk. Tom Williamson is Professor of Landscape History at the University of East Anglia; Ivan Ringwood is an independent historical researcher; Sarah Spooner is Lecturer in Landscape History at the University of East Anglia.Trade ReviewInvaluable for scholars exploring the architectural, environmental and landscape legacy of the country house in Norfolk...Excellent book. * LANDSCAPE HISTORY *It is authoritative and meticulously researched on both physical and documentary evidence. For anyone interested in the history of Norfolk, this is an important reference tool. * REFERENCE REVIEWS *The fascinating gazetteer here, from Appleton Hall to Wroxham House, includes many examples you can't help but wish somehow had made it through intact to the modern era. * EASTERN DAILY PRESS *Table of ContentsLost Country Houses Norfolk Houses: early losses Norfolk Houses: the twentieth-century losses Lost Country Houses in the Landscape Conclusion: The Death of the Country House? Gazetteer Appendix

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Book SynopsisRich in archival detail and offering a ground-breaking analysis, this book presents a radically new interpretation of British politics and policy failings during the Great Famine. The Irish famine of the 1840s is the biggest humanitarian crisis in the United Kingdom's history. Within six years of the arrival of the potato blight in Ireland in 1845, more than a quarter of its residents had unexpectedly died or emigrated. Its population has not yet fully recovered since. Historians have struggled to explain why the British government decided to shut down its centrally organised relief efforts in 1847, long before the famine ended. Some have blamed the laissez-faire attitudes of the time for an inadequate response by the British government; others have alleged purposeful neglect and genocide. In contrast, The Great Famine in Ireland and Britain's Financial Crisis uncovers a hidden narrative of the crisis, which links policy failure in Ireland to financial and political instability in Great Britain. More important than a laissez-faire ideology in hindering relief efforts for Ireland were the British government's lack of a Parliamentary majority from 1846, the financial crises of 1847, and a battle of ideas over monetary policy between proponents and opponents of financial orthodoxy. The high death toll in Ireland resulted from the British government's plans for intervention going awry, rather than being prematurely cancelled because of laissez-faire. This book is essential reading for scholars, students and anyone interested in Anglo-Irish relations, the history of financial crises and famines, and why humanitarian-relief efforts can go wrong even with good intentions.Trade ReviewThe Great Famine is based on the author's multi-award-winning PhD thesis. Well-researched and extensively footnoted ... The book nonetheless deserves a wide readership as a serious and balanced contribution to the Irish economic history canon. * THE IRISH TIMES *An extraordinarily wide-ranging, deeply researched and original critique of economic thinking, politics and policy making in mid-nineteenth Britain and Ireland. Read's work radically reshapes our understanding of the Great Irish Famine and of British politics more generally. It is the most holistic account yet of the catastrophic consequences of political and policy failure in a time of crisis, good intentions notwithstanding. * Liam Kennedy, Emeritus Professor of Economic History, Queen’s University Belfast *In this bold new interpretation of the biggest economic policy disaster in modern British history, Charles Read argues that the failure to provide sufficient relief spending during the Great Irish Famine was the result of a fiscal and financial crisis rather than a commitment to laissez faire ideology. This is essential reading for any serious scholar of modern Irish and British history. * Stephen Broadberry, Professor of Economic History, University of Oxford *Despite being written for a scholarly audience, the book's jolt to the senses resonates far beyond any solely academic setting. Great Famine injects a massive strand of fresh thinking into what had largely appeared to have been a dead end of history. It's challenging to describe what an incredible achievement this is. Parts of Great Famine go right against the grain of Britain's mythology about itself: it's almost heretical. It's hard not to be awestruck at the audacity of Dr Read's thesis and the way he unveils it. https://www.cambridgeindependent.co.uk/news/amp/cambridge-author-exhumes-irish-famine-and-details-a-financia-9287608/ -- Mike Scialom * Cambridge Independent *Recommended. * CHOICE *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Preface Acknowledgements Abbreviations Introduction 1. The sources of financial and political instability 2. The economic policy reforms of Sir Robert Peel 3. Famine relief before the crises of 1847 4. Famine relief during and after the crises 5. The intentions and consequences of redistributive relief policy 6. Ireland and Mauritius: the British Empire's other famine in 1847 Conclusion: Britain's biggest economic-policy failure Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisDemonstrates the vital role Sunday schools played in forming and sustaining faith before, during, and after the First World War for British populations both at home and abroad. Sunday schools were an important part of the religious landscape of twentieth-century Britain and they were widely attended by much of the British population. The Sunday School Movement in Britain argues that the schools played a vital role in forming and sustaining the faith of those who lived and served during the First World War. Moreover, the volume contends that the conflict did not cause the schools to decline and proposes that decline instead set in much earlier in the twentieth century. The book also questions the perception that the schools were ineffective tools of religious socialisation and examines the continued attempts of the Sunday school movement to professionalise and improve their efforts. Thus, the involvement of the movement with the World's Sunday School Association is revealed to be part of the wider developing international ecumenical community during the twentieth century. Drawing together under-utilised material from archives and newspapers in national and local collections, The Sunday School Movement in Britain presents a history of the schools demonstrating their lasting significance in the religious life of the nation and, by extension, the enduring importance of Christianity in Britain during the first half of the twentieth century.Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Introduction 1. British Sunday Schools before the First World War, 1900-14 2. British Sunday Schools and the First World War, 1914-18 3. Sunday Schools in the Religious Life of the British Forces, 1914-18 4. British Sunday Schools between the World Wars, 1918-39 5. Teaching, Training and Teachers: Reforming the Sunday School Movement, 1900-39 6. British Sunday Schools and the World, 1900-39 Conclusion Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThe very best outrage from the Tunbridge Wells Advertiser, the newspaper that coined the phrase 'Disgusted from Tunbridge Wells' for grumpy complaints.

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Book SynopsisThe ten years from 2010 have been devastating. A decade of austerity and paralysis nurtured contempt for leaders, institutions and fellow citizens and fertilised the ground for a rebellious Brexit. It has been a decade characterised by national tragedies from Grenfell to Windrush, and food banks to the property crisis.But, as Adam Smith said, 'there's a great deal of ruin in a nation'. No truthful portrait of an era can be monochrome. Bright spots included the rise of renewable energy, lower crime rates, legalisation of same-sex marriage and the creative industries continuing to punch well above their weight in spite of cuts.In The Lost Decade, Polly Toynbee and David Walker offer the definitive survey of this most tumultuous of periods in British history and look to what lies ahead for us. This is the anatomy of a dark decade, bringing hope for better to come.

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Book SynopsisAfter the great battles of 1916, the Allied Armies planned to launch massive attacks North and South of the Somme. The German withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line in March 1917 forced the new French CinC General Nivelle to rethink and the French embarked on a major attack in the Aisne area and along the Chemin des Dames, with the British conducting large scale diversionary operations around Arras. The French suffered disastrously and, rendered incapable of further offensive operations, it fell to the British to step up the pressure, which they did albeit at a terrible price. This latest work by expert Jack Sheldon describes the event of Spring 1917 from the defenders' perspective. In particular it reveals the methods the Germans used to smash the French attacks and Oberst Fritz von Lossberg's transformation of the defences in the Arras front. Actions described in detail are the bitter battles around Monchy Le Preun, the Roeux Chemical works and Bullecourt as well as the capture of Vimy Ridge.

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Book Synopsis"...a fascinating barometer of the state of the nation right now, in the wake of austerity, Brexit and Covid." - Travis Elborough England's seaside is made up of a striking variety of coastlines including cliffs, coves, pebbled shore, wide sandy beaches, salt marshes, and estuaries cutting deep inland. On these coastal edges England's great holiday resorts grew up, developed in the early eighteenth century originally as spas for medicinal bathing but soon morphing into places of pleasure, entertainment, fantasy and adventure. Acclaimed writer Madeleine Bunting journeyed clockwise around England from Scarborough to Blackpool to understand the enduring appeal of seaside towns, and what has happened to the golden sands, cold seas and donkey rides of childhood memory. Taking in some forty resorts, staying in hotels, caravans and holiday camps, she swims from their beaches and talks to their residents to delve into their landscapes, histories and contemporary plight.Trade ReviewA brilliant new book... It is a travelogue, an impressive work of social history, an affectionate celebration and much more besides. But a grim English irony burns through almost every page -- John Harris * Guardian *A poignant picture of life on the edge of England -- Ysenda Maxtone Graham * Spectator *Eloquent and detailed... Britain's island story has never seemed so pertinent * Financial Times *[A] remarkable book, as bracing as a smack in the face by a stiff sea breeze, Madeleine Bunting tours the English coastline to discover what it reveals about the state of the nation today * Guardian *This superb tour of the English coastline is compelling, sometimes exhilarating but also profoundly sad... Bunting's wonderful travelogue offers us a powerful - and deeply dispiriting - microcosm of the whole nation * Observer *This was an epic journey... An ambitious, thorough and hugely readable investigation of this country's coastal fun-palaces * Mail on Sunday *Beautifully written... Our intrepid author, it has to be said, embraces the Spartan version of the seaside... Her trip brings out her lyrical powers and salt-and-vinegar sharpness * Literary Review *[The Seaside] is stuffed with statistics, scraps of conversation, longer interviews, literary allusion and potted history... Bunting is an engagingly dogged guide * TLS *Bracing * Strong Words *A fond exploration of our often conflicted relationship with the British beach resort. Its love for the institution is apparent and tender, but, rather like the country itself, Bunting also finds these locations to be divided and somewhat adrift. Her book makes for a fascinating barometer of the state of the nation right now, in the wake of austerity, Brexit and Covid -- Travis ElboroughI enjoyed this very much. We all have happy seaside memories , and even though Bunting, too, finds the reason for our resorts' decline in in the fact that they were beaten to the sunburned pound and Kiss Me Quick Hat by the Costa This or That, I'd very much like her to be taken at her word and employed to revive their fortunes. Gauleiter Bunting has an authentic whiff of whelk about it' -- Jeremy Paxman[Bunting] reminds the reader of what it is like to be beside, or in, the sea * Country Life *

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Book SynopsisNina Anisimova was born in 1909 in imperial St Petersburg. One of the most renowned character dancers of the Stalinist period, she won her way into the hearts of her audience over many decades. Yet few knew that her exemplary career was a fragile construct built atop a dark secret. In 1938, at the height of the Great Terror, Nina vanished. Only a handful of people knew that this famous dancer had not only been arrested by Secret Police as a Nazi Spy, but sentenced to forced labour in a camp in Kazakhstan. There, her art would become a salvation, giving her a reason to fight for her life when she found herself without winter clothes in temperatures of minus 40 degrees. Over the coming weeks, Nina's husband, Kostia Derzhavin, began to piece together what had happened to his wife. What he decided to do next was almost without precedent - to take on the ruthless Soviet state to prove her innocence. He would put himself in danger to save the woman he loved. Dancing for Stalin is a remarkable true story of suffering and injustice of courage, resilience and love.Trade Review'Christina Ezrahi vividly charts this brutal and uplifting story, bringing alive an extraordinary resourcefulness and determination to survive.' Helen Rappaport, author of The Race to Save the Romanovs 'Nina Anisimova's story is extraordinary - heroic and harrowing in equal measure, a snapshot of the best and worst of Stalin's Russia - and Christina Ezrahi does it vivid, gripping justice.' Judith Mackrell, author of Going with the Boys

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Book SynopsisLONGLISTED FOR RSL ONDAATJE PRIZE 2021 'Terrific... Britain's urban landscape is just as freighted with myth and mystery as its castles and ancient monuments and [Rees] proves it by unearthing a treasure trove of riveting stories.' - Sunday Times, Best Books of the Year, 2020 ----- There is a Britain that exists outside of the official histories and guidebooks - places that lie on the margins, left behind. A Britain in the cracks of the urban facade where unexpected life can flourish. Welcome to UNOFFICIAL BRITAIN. This is a land of industrial estates, factories and electricity pylons, of motorways and ring roads, of hospitals and housing estates, of roundabouts and flyovers. Places where modern life speeds past but where people and stories nevertheless collect. Places where human dramas play out: stories of love, violence, fear, boredom and artistic expression. Places of ghost sightings, first kisses, experiments with drugs, refuges for the homeless, hangouts for the outcasts. Struck by the power of these stories and experiences, Gareth E. Rees set out to explore these spaces and the essential part they have played in the history and geography of our isles. Though mundane and neglected, they can be as powerfully influential in our lives, and imaginations, as any picture postcard tourist destination. 'Unexpected and fascinating' - Melissa Harrison, author of The Stubborn Light of Things 'The mythical and the municipal collide in a weirdly compelling tour of Britain's built environment.' - Financial TimesTrade Review"The mythical and the municipal collide in a weirdly compelling tour of Britain's built environment" - The Financial Times"Rees finds soul in these soulless locations, charting stories and encounters as rich as those found among rolling hills and chocolate box villages. A delight." - The New European"Terrific... Britain's urban landscape is just as freighted with myth and mystery as its castles and ancient monuments and [Rees] proves it by unearthing a treasure trove of riveting stories." - Sunday Times, Best Books of the Year, 2020"Should be required reading in every motorway service station coffee shop up and down this land" - The Psychogeographic Review"A wonderful ramble through the Brexit Britain of today - warts and all." - Elsewhere: A Journal of Place"Essential reading if you are interested in the urban wyrd and how folklore is mutating and developing in modern times." - Folk Horror Revival"Unofficial Britain was my book of 2020" - Paul Cheney, Half Man Half Book"Effortlessly combining urban folklore and personal memoir, history and psychogeography, road-trip narrative and gonzo journalism." - Ends of the World"Unexpected and fascinating" - Melissa Harrison, author of The Stubborn Light of Things"A fascinating and sometimes unnerving book" - Shiny New Books"Dry and often very funny" - Bookmunch"[...] harnesses the personal and philosophical, offering thoughts that are penetrating yet always entertaining [...] A fresh take on vistas some may too readily dismiss." - Never Imitate"You should read this book. It will make you stay up too late, laugh out loud, and then freak yourself out looking out of the window at the haunted-looking binbag blowing past Carpet Right in the dead of night." - Michael Smith, author of Unreal City"An appreciation of quotidian, overlooked and sometimes grotty landscapes; part memoir, part 'hauntology', and a stiff dose of nearness and weirdness to counter the tweeness that afflicts some topographical writing." - Will Wiles, author of Care of Wooden Floors

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Book Synopsis___ An innocent woman sent to the Gulag. A passion that gave her the will to survive. ‘Shattering, cinematic and brave’ Simon Morrison, author of Bolshoi Confidential ___ Nina Anisimova was one of Russia’s most intriguing ballerinas and one of the first Soviet female choreographers. Yet few knew that her exemplary career concealed a dark secret. In 1938, at the height of Stalin’s Great Terror, Nina was arrested by the secret police, accused of being a Nazi spy and sentenced to forced labour in a camp in Kazakhstan. Trapped without hope – and without winter clothes in temperatures of minus 40 degrees – her art was her salvation, giving her a reason to fight for her life. As Nina struggled to survive in the Gulag, her husband fought for her release in Leningrad. Against all odds, she was ultimately freed and astonishingly managed to return to her former life, just as war broke out. Despite wartime deprivation and the suffocating grip of Stalin’s totalitarian state, Nina’s irrepressible determination set her on the path to become an icon of the Kirov Ballet. A remarkable true story of suffering and injustice, of courage, resilience and triumph. ___ ‘Nina Anisimova’s story is extraordinary – heroic and harrowing in equal measure, a snapshot of the best and worst of Stalin’s Russia – and Christina Ezrahi does it vivid, gripping justice.’ Judith Mackrell, author of The Unfinished Palazzo ‘Christina Ezrahi vividly charts this brutal and uplifting story, bringing alive an extraordinary resourcefulness and determination to survive.’ Helen Rappaport, author of The Race to Save the Romanovs ‘Christina Ezrahi has uncovered a remarkable, untold episode in Soviet ballet history, which she brings to life through her customary rigorous research, clarity of expression and elegance of prose.’ Baroness Deborah Bull ‘An inspiring tale of survival against the odds. Ezrahi's diligent scholarship casts much-needed light on ballet history's darkest chapter.’ Luke Jennings, dance critic and author of Killing EveTrade Review‘Shattering, cinematic and brave’ Simon Morrison, author of Bolshoi Confidential ‘Nina Anisimova’s story is extraordinary – heroic and harrowing in equal measure, a snapshot of the best and worst of Stalin’s Russia – and Christina Ezrahi does it vivid, gripping justice.’ Judith Mackrell, author of The Unfinished Palazzo ‘Christina Ezrahi vividly charts this brutal and uplifting story, bringing alive an extraordinary resourcefulness and determination to survive.’ Helen Rappaport, author of The Race to Save the Romanovs ‘Christina Ezrahi has uncovered a remarkable, untold episode in Soviet ballet history, which she brings to life through her customary rigorous research, clarity of expression and elegance of prose.’ Baroness Deborah Bull ‘An inspiring tale of survival against the odds. Ezrahi's diligent scholarship casts much-needed light on ballet history's darkest chapter.’ Luke Jennings, dance critic and author of Killing Eve

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Book Synopsis'Outstanding . . . thought-provoking, readable and informative' SoldierOne hundred years on...On 18 July 1917, a heavy artillery barrage was unleashed by the Allied forces against an entrenched German army outside the town of Ypres. it was to be the opening salvo of one of the most ferociously fought and debilitating encounters of the First World War.Few battles would encapsulate the utter futility of the war better that what became known as the Battle of Passchendaele. By the time the British and Canadian forces finally captured Passchendaele village on 6 November, the Allies had suffered over 271,000 casualties and the German army over 217,000.Passchendaele: Requiem for Doomed Youth shows how ordinary men on both sides endured this constant state of siege, with a very real awareness that they were being gradually, deliberately felled. Here, Paul Ham tells the story of an army caught in the grip of an extraordinary power struggle – both global and national. As Prime Minister Lloyd George and Commander Haig’s relationship deteriorated beyond repair, so a terrible battle of attrition was needlessly and painfully prolonged.Ham lays down a powerful challenge to the ways in which we have previously seen this monumental battle. Through an examination of the culpability of governments and military commanders in a catastrophe that destroyed the best part of a generation, Paul Ham argues that Passchendaele, far from being a breakthrough moment, was the battle that nearly lost the Allies the war.‘Paul Ham brings new tools to the job, unearthing fresh evidence of a deeply disturbing sort. He has a magpie eye for the telling detail.’ Ben Macintyre, The TimesTrade ReviewExcellent * Spectator *Outstanding . . . thought-provoking, readable and informative * Soldier *In this centenary study, Australian military historian Paul Ham gives the strategic and political background to the battle. Which he sees as the defining tragedy in the greater disaster of the First World War * BBC History Magazine *

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Book SynopsisThis collection paints a picture of Hitler from members of his household in the unique position of being �seemingly ever-present, yet totally unconnected to events.� The reader is introduced to Hitler's Bodyguard Karl Krause (1934-39), his house administrator Herbert Dohring (1935-43) and chambermaid Anna Plaim (1941-43). From these accounts we get a deeper sense of Hitler in close proximity. These accounts massively add to our understanding of Hitler as a three dimensional character, especially from subjects like Plaim who only knew Hitler's home life, having rarely left Berghof. The series is able to shed light on his likes and dislikes from foods to his hobbies, creating a strange sense of humanity. This collection also provides the reader with fresh anecdotes, observations and portraits of Hitler's entourage and relatives. Plaim's images of Eva Braun come from finding torn fragments in the bin, whilst Dohring sheds light on Martin Bormann's demeanour.

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Book SynopsisThe parish church is a symbol of continuity, a cornerstone of the urban and rural landscape, and a treasure trove often as rich in cultural history as any museum. This compact and accessible guide explores all of these aspects of the parish church, beginning by examining why churches are built where they are, and going on to explain how both church buildings and churchyards have changed over time. It also describes their fixtures and furnishings, including fonts, screens, stained glass and monuments, explaining the ritual and symbolic purpose of these features and how their significance has shifted over time. Lavishly illustrated with colour photographs, this book will provide an indispensable primer for anyone who is curious about the nation’s parish churches and wants to explore them further.Table of ContentsThe Broad Sweep of History History of the Parish Church The Churchyard The Church Exterior The Interior The Furnishings Further Reading Places to Visit Index

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Book SynopsisFrom the monumental splendour of Tower Bridge and the august span at Westminster to the engineering masterpieces at Ironbridge and the Forth, bridges comprise some of the most recognisable landmarks in Britain. Whether the smallest arch or the largest overpass, each has a rich architectural, economic, social and sometimes even religious history. This beautifully illustrated introduction by Richard Hayman explains how piety built and maintained bridges in the Middle Ages; how economic forces inspired a new generation of road bridges in the eighteenth century, such as the Menai Bridge in North Wales, and how technological prowess gave us soaring Victorian railway viaducts and the concrete road bridges of the twentieth century.Table of ContentsAcross the Water Medieval Bridges Road Bridges Aqueducts and Railway Bridges Steel and Concrete Further Reading Places to Visit Index

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Book SynopsisA beautifully illustrated history of Britain’s most revered and valued institution: the NHS. In March 2020 the UK went into lockdown to help contain the spread of COVID-19 and protect the NHS from one of the greatest threats that it has faced in its 72-year history. Today more than ever, all eyes are on this beloved institution as it continues to innovate and adapt to meet the challenges of providing national healthcare in the modern world. In this fully illustrated introduction, Dr Susan Cohen traces the history of the NHS from its establishment after the Second World War, through seven decades of changing management and organisation, often in controversial political circumstances, right up to the current COVID-19 crisis. Including personal recollections from healthcare professionals on the frontline, as well as the patients in their care, this important and timely volume offers a comprehensive overview of one of the world's most remarkable healthcare systems.Table of ContentsPublic Health Care Before the NHS A New Dawn 1950 to 1970 1970 to 2000 The NHS in the Twenty-first Century Further Reading Places to Visit Acknowledgements Index

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Book Synopsis*Winner of the PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize**Longlisted for The Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction**A Sunday Times Book of the Year**A Daily Telegraph Book of the Year* *A Times Book of the Year**An Observer Book of the Year*A woman awakes in a prison cell.She has been on the run but the authorities have tracked her down and taken her to the Tower of London - where she is interrogated about the Gunpowder Plot. The woman is Anne Vaux - one of the ardent, brave and exasperating members of the aristocratic Vauxes of Harrowden Hall. Through the eyes of this remarkable family, award-winning author Jessie Childs explores the Catholic predicament in Elizabethan England - an age in which their faith was criminalised and almost two hundred Catholics were executed. From dawn raids to daring escapes, stately homes to torture chambers, God's Traitors exposes the tensions masked by the cult of Gloriana - and is a timely reminder of the terrible consequences when religion and politics collide.Trade ReviewA triumph of story-telling, backed by first-rate research -- Antonia FraserAbsorbing, exciting and relevant -- Ben MacIntyre * The Times Book of the Week *Richly packed, absorbing... A parade of extraordinary characters -- Simon Callow * Guardian *Thrilling * New Statesman *God’s Traitors, with its crisp prose and punctilious scholarship, brilliantly recreates a world of heroism and holiness in Tudor England... It is little short of a triumph -- Ian Thomson * Financial Times *Beautifully written... Hollywood could not have made it up -- Professor JJ ScarisbrickBrilliant * Wall Street Journal *Truly excellent... God's Traitors crosses the divide between popular and academic history. It raises issues of some real historical importance -- Michael Questier * Spectator *This vivid, minutely researched and brilliantly original history is a much-needed look at the dark side of the Elizabethan age -- Dan Jones * Sunday Times *Excellent... An engaging history of English papists, filled with memorable episodes * The Economist *In the quality of her research and sensitive handling of issues that remain raw to this day, Jessie Childs succeeds in evoking ‘the lived experience of anti-Catholicism’ as few have done before... Childs’s language is lively and inventive... By picturing Elizabethan recusants in all their complexity, Jessie Childs has enabled them to speak for themselves at last -- John Cooper * Literary Review *Superb and groundbreaking... It isn’t possible in the space of a review to do justice to the breadth and depth of Childs’ research and insight; but they illuminate the entire landscape of English life...a superlative, flawlessly written book... Childs’ description of an exorcism at Lord Vaux’s house in Hackney...is one of the most extraordinary things I have ever read -- Matthew Lyons, author of The FavouritePlots and priest holes abound -- Caroline Sanderson * Bookseller *Childs is a lucid, passionate writer and she gets under the skin of her subject... It's not often that history books get the balance of expert research and storytelling with chutzpah just right but Childs has managed it with this informative and entertaining book -- Doug Johnstone * Big Issue *[A] moving historical account... Childs paints a vivid, sometimes even humorous picture of devout Catholics keeping up appearances -- Daisy Dunn * Daily Mail *

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Book SynopsisSHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE AND THE HESSELL-TILTMAN PRIZE A journey told through stories and songs into Doggerland, the ancient region that once joined the east coast of England to HollandTime Song tells of the creation, the existence and the loss of a country now called Doggerland, a huge and fertile area that once connected the entire east coast of England with mainland Europe, until it was finally submerged by rising sea levels around 5000 BC.Julia Blackburn mixes fragments from her own life with a series of eighteen 'songs' and all sorts of stories about the places and the people she meets in her quest to get closer to an understanding of this vanished land. She sees the footprints of early humans fossilised in the soft mud of an estuary alongside the scattered pockmarks made by rain falling eight thousand years ago. She visits a cave where the remnants of a Neanderthal meal have turned to stone. In Denmark she sits beside Tollund Man who, despite having lain in a peat bog since the start of the Bronze Age, seems to be about to wake from a dream...'This book is a wonder' Adam Nicolson, Spectator'A clairvoyant and poetic conversation with the past' Antony GormleyTrade ReviewA poetic and fascinating exploration of life on Doggerland... This is one of the only books I've ever read that has made me feel better about climate change. * Guardian *Book of the Week* *A magical, mesmerising book - a book which makes you feel giddy at the thought of the deep gulf of history hidden just beneath your feet. * Scotsman *Breathtaking... [a] splendidly rich book... I admire the intelligence, the appetite for discovery and the shining imagination that have gone into [Time Song]. * Literary Review *Julia Blackburn's marvellous Time Song: Searching for Doggerland...is startling, funny and often very moving. -- Simon Winder * New Statesman, *Books of the Year* *[Time Song] is time travel... wonderful. * Observer *

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Book Synopsis‘Astonishing… A marvellous poetic reminder that every place is a universe of magical possibility to the perceptive mind’ Damian Le Bas, author of The Stopping Places A smuggler and a deserter, Darran Anderson’s grandfathers skirted the Second World War on the fringes of legality. His father survived the height of the political violence in Northern Ireland and Darran himself came of age during the final years of the Troubles before leaving his hometown to find a way to exist in the world. But when another young man in his family disappears, Darran is brought back to Derry. Walking the banks of the River Foyle, he starts on a search for what has been lost. A portrait of a city, a biography of a family, a record of the objects that make up a life, Inventory offers a vital new perspective on a troubled history.Trade ReviewA radically different take on memoir... Inventory is a book of hard-won truths, a detailed map of a journey out of the labyrinth, the maze of memories, anecdotes, evasions and secrets… A book of revelations, then, both large and small, its truths reverberate in the imagination long after you finish reading it -- Sean O'Hagan * Observer *Absolutely masterful -- Lisa McGee, writer of Derry GirlsInventory is a remarkable memoir; a work of auto-archaeology, really, in which Darran Anderson disinters his own and his country’s hard pasts, shaking life, love and loss out of the objects of his youth in Northern Ireland. Bleak, tender, inventive and oddly gripping, this is a book of restless ghosts, written in defiance of darkness, and told by means of diving into what Nabokov once called “the dream life of debris” -- Robert MacfarlaneImportant... vividly rendered... Inventory may in fact be above all an exercise in memory -- gathering, questioning, verifying, and identifying the voids. Even when the subjects are difficult to catch, the hunt is always vital and compelling -- Garrett Carr * Times Literary Supplement *A portrait of a family and a portrait of a city -- vivid, intense, engrossing, and always beautifully written -- Kevin Barry

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Book SynopsisA gripping and shocking insight into Russia's most influential oligarchs, including Roman Abramovich and Boris Berezovsky, from New York Times bestselling author of The Accidental Billionaires.To understand the state of Russia today, one must understand the oligarchs who have shaped it. Once Upon a Time in Russia is the true and untold story of the larger-than-life oligarchs who reaped the riches of privatisation after the fall of the Soviet regime: "Godfather of the Kremlin" Boris Berezovsky, a mathematician whose first entrepreneurial venture was running an automobile reselling business, and Roman Abramovich, his dashing young protégé who built a multi-billion-dollar empire of oil and aluminium. Locked in a complex, uniquely Russian partnership, the two battled their way through the "Wild East" of Russia, with Berezovsky acting as the younger man's krysha - his roof, his protector.Written with the heart-stopping pace of a thriller, this true story of amassing obscene wealth and power depicts a world seldom seen up close. Under Berezovsky's krysha, Abramovich built one of Russia's largest oil companies from the ground up in exchange for cash deliveries - including 491 million dollars in just one year. But their relationship frayed when Berezovsky attacked President Vladimir Putin in the media. As Berezovsky fled to the UK, Abramovich continued to prosper.Dead bodies trailed Berezovsky's footsteps, and threats followed him to London, where an associate of his died painfully and famously of Polonium poisoning. Then, Berezovsky himself was later dead, officially declared a suicide.Exclusively sourced, capturing a momentous period in recent world history, Once Upon a Time in Russia is at once personal and political, offering an unprecedented look into the wealth, corruption, and power behind what Graydon Carter dubbed 'the story of our age'.Trade ReviewAssassination plots, intimidation tactics, political manoeuvring and money in unfeasibly large quantities – this is the stuff of Ben Mezrich’s Once Upon a Time in Russia, a nonfiction journey into the rise (and, in some cases, fall) of the oligarchs . . . one of our favourites. * GQ *[A] fascinating and often chilling read. * The Sport *

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Book SynopsisIn Praise of Disobedience draw on works from a single miraculous year in which Oscar Wilde published the larger part of his greatest prose - the year he came into maturity as an artist. Before the end of 1891, he had written the first of his phenomenally successful plays and met the young man who would win his heart, beginning the love affair that would lead to imprisonment and public infamy. In a witty introduction, playwright, novelist and Wilde scholar Neil Bartlett explains what made this point in the writer's life central to his genius and why Wilde remains a provocative and radical figure to this day.Included here are the entirety of Wilde's foray into political philosophy, The Soul of Man Under Socialism; the complete essay collection Intentions; selections from The Portrait of Dorian Gray as well as its paradoxical and scandalous preface; and some of Wilde's greatest fictions for children. Each selection is accompanied by stimulating and enlightening annotations. A delight for fans of Oscar Wilde, In Praise of Disobedience will restore and revitalize an often misunderstood legacy.Trade ReviewI loved Wilde's The Soul of Man Under Socialism - loved its uncompromising approach to the crushing problem of social and economic inequality . Wilde takes no prisoners from the very outset -- Will Self * Guardian *Wilde offers us an important reminder of virtues we as a society may have for a time lost: the need to strive for utopias; the inevitability of socialism if our world is to survive; the need to reinvigorate humanity's spirit of rebelliousness and disobedience, and to challenge, not accept, the injustices and inequalities we see all around us. The world needs Oscar Wilde and his daring, beautiful ideas today more than ever. * PopMatters *When I feel myself becoming gloomy or pessimistic, the book that reminds me that change and optimism are possible is Oscar Wilde's The Soul of Man Under Socialism, a wise and witty essay that recommends both equality and indolence, and appears to believe you can't have one without the other. -- Hanif Kureishi

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Book SynopsisThis fascinating book studies the life and times of Mary Tudor and Charles Brandon, Henry VIII's dearest sister and his closest companion. Charles rose from being Henry's childhood friend to becoming the Duke of Suffolk; a consummate courtier and diplomat. Mary was always royalty. At first married to the King of France, Mary quickly wed Charles after Louis XII's death in 1515, against her brother's wishes. Their actions could have been construed as treason yet Henry chose to spare their lives. They returned to court and despite their ongoing disagreements throughout the years, especially over the king's marriage to Anne Boleyn, the Tudor Brandons remained Henry's most loyal subjects and perhaps more importantly, his beloved family.

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Book SynopsisMargaret Tudor was Henry VIII's older sister and became the Queen of Scotland after her marriage to James IV in 1503. Her life was troubled and fraught with tension. She was continually caught between her country of birth and the country she ruled. After James IV's death, she made the disastrous decision to marry the Earl of Angus, threatening her regency and forcing the Scottish council to send for the Duke of Albany to rule in her stead. Over the years, Margaret's allegiance swung between England and Scotland, making her brother Henry VIII both her ally and her enemy at times. Although Margaret wished for peace between the two countries, these were tumultuous years and she didn't always make the wisest choices. Yet, all she did she did for her son James V, and her absolute conviction he would rule Scotland as its rightful king.

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