European history Books

Book SynopsisA sweeping history of the Age of Reason, which shows how, although it was a time of progress in many areas, it was also an era of brutality and intolerance, by the author of The Borgias and The Florentines.During the 1600s, between the end of the Renaissance and the start of the Enlightenment, Europe lived through an era known as the Age of Reason. This was a revolutionary period which saw great advances in areas such as art, science, philosophy, political theory and economics.However, all this was accomplished against a background of extreme political turbulence and irrational behaviour on a continental scale in the form of internal conflicts and international wars. Indeed, the Age of Reason itself was born at the same time as the Thirty Years' War, which would devastate central Europe to an extent that would not be seen again until the twentieth century.The period also saw the development of European empires across world and a lucrative new transatlantic commerce began, which brought transformative riches to western European society. However, there was a dark underside to this brilliant wealth: it was dependent upon mass slavery. By exploring all the key events and bringing to life some of the most influential characters of the era, including Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Newton, Descartes, Spinoza, Louis XIV and Charles I, Paul Strathern tells the story of this paradoxical age, while also counting the human cost of imposing the progress and modernity upon which the Western world was built.Trade ReviewStrathern's canvas is immense, yet the picture he paints is never less than pellucid, and packed with lively detail and fascinating facts -- John Banville * Wall Street Journal on The Other Renaissance *Strathern has a good eye for striking details and arresting anecdotes * Literary Review on The Other Renaissance *Strathern combines diligent research with an exemplary narrative verve and keeps the pages turning * Financial Times on Death in Florence *Strathern has done his research thoroughly, and tells a good story well * Sunday Telegraph on The Medici *This is popular history at its narrative best - rich in colour, character and consequence * The Times on The Artist, the Philosopher and the Warrior *He [Strathern] is adroit in bringing together his personalities and wider currents and illuminates them with vivid detail. * New Statesman *Table of ContentsPrologue: Prologue 1: Reason and Rationale 2: Two Italian Artists 3: Spread of the Scientific Revolution 4: The English Civil War and Thomas Hobbes 5: The New World and the Golden Age of Spain 6: Two Transcendent Artists 7: The Money Men and the Markets 8: Two Artists of the Dutch Golden Age 9: The Sun King and Versailles 10: England Comes of Age 11: A Quiet City in South Holland 12: Exploration 13: A Courtly Interlude 14: Spinoza and Locke 15: The Survival and Spread of the Continent of Reason 16: New Realities 17: Logic Personified 18: On the Shoulders of Giants Epilogue: Epilogue

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Book SynopsisAn original and fascinating history of Dublin that tells the story of the city through its bridges.Dublin started life on the south bank of the River Liffey and for six or seven centuries that is more or less where the town stayed. In all that time, there was only one bridge across the river. Then, suddenly, in the twenty years after 1670, three more bridges were thrown up and the north side was born. Within a century, Dublin was being talked of as one of the ten largest cities in the whole of Europe.Built over a span of a thousand years, the twenty bridges that now traverse the tidal section of the Liffey have each contributed to the city's development, as it pushed through the open fields north of the river and east towards the bay, so much so that it is possible to piece together Dublin's history by tracing their construction in chronological order.Starting with Church Street Bridge, Dublin's first, which dates back to the Vikings, and ending with Rosie Hackett Bridge, erected in 2014, Fergal Tobin charts the rise of Ireland's capital city as never before and reveals how, perhaps more than any other city in the world, it has been truly made by its bridges.Trade ReviewA stunning achievement * Irish Times *Anyone interested in Dublin and its development will find it a joy * Sunday Independent *Witty, thought-provoking, wide-ranging and highly readable. * Irish Times on THE IRISH DIFFERENCE *The beauty of this book is in the telling: The Irish Difference lays out its themes and chronologies with impeccable clarity, and is full of fascinating detail... Exemplary. * Irish Independent on THE IRISH DIFFERENCE *You may not agree with everything Fergal Tobin says; you may not even agree with any of it. But the book is so entertaining, so well-written, and so thought-provoking that you are certainly likely to enjoy it. -- David McCullagh * RTÉ Online on THE IRISH DIFFERENCE *Table of Contents1: Fr Mathew Bridge 2: Islandbridge 3: Rory O'More Bridge 4: Grattan Bridge 5: O'Donovan Rossa Bridge 6: Mellowes Bridge 7: O'Connell Bridge 8: The Ha'penny Bridge 9: Heuston Bridge 10: Liffey Viaduct 11: Butt Bridge 12: Loopline Bridge Water Break: Water Break 13: Talbot Memorial Bridge 14: Frank Sherwin Bridge 15: East Link 16: Millennium Bridge 17: James Joyce Bridge 18: Seán O'Casey Bridge 19: Samuel Beckett Bridge 20: Rosie Hackett Bridge

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Book SynopsisNo one personified the age of industry more than the miners. The Shadow of the Mine tells the story of King Coal in its heyday - and what happened to mining communities after the last pits closed. Coal was central to the British economy, powering its factories and railways. It carried political weight, too. In the eighties the miners risked everything in a year-long strike against Thatcher's shutdowns. Defeat foretold the death of their industry. Tens of thousands were cast onto the labour market with a minimum amount of advice and support. Yet British politics all of a sudden revolves around the coalfield constituencies that lent their votes to Boris Johnson's Conservatives in 2019. Even in the Welsh Valleys, where the 'red wall' still stands, support for the Labour Party has halved in a generation. Huw Beynon and Ray Hudson draw on decades of research to chronicle these momentous changes through the words of the people who lived through them.Trade ReviewA powerful study of tumultuous political events steeped in knowledge of the coalfields. Essential reading for all those who care about the future - and hence the past - of working-class politics. -- Hilary Wainwright, author of A New Politics from the LeftAfter defeat by Thatcher, the pits were levelled and the Miners' Welfare Halls, their social and intellectual centres, vanished. With carefully controlled passion, this book indicts such ruthless disregard for the values of care and association. -- Sheila Rowbotham, author of Daring to HopeDrawing on decades of research ... [The Shadow of the Mine] is a moving account of 150 years of coalfield history ... By tracing the "deep story" of the marginalisation of Britain's coalfields, it aims to understand the continuing exclusion of working-class people in deindustrialised areas from political and social life. -- Diarmaid Kelliher * Antipode *The Shadow of the Mine reminds us why this spirit [of solidarity and collectivism] has lived on in the coalfields, in spite of people feeling a sense of political betrayal going back decades ... enlightening. -- Conrad Landin * Guardian *Refreshing and necessary ... [The Shadow of the Mine] explains in loving, careful detail why working people's relationship with Labour in former industrial communities ... had become complex and ultimately soured. -- Laura Pidcock * Red Pepper *Beynon and Hudson ... write with authority and respect of the former mining communities of Britain. -- John Lloyd * Financial Times *Starmer and his allies in Renaissance would do better to pick up a copy of The Shadow of the Mine ... As Beynon and Hudson make clear, the succession of defeats inflicted on the trade unions over the last four decades has brought about the gradual fragmentation of old loyalties. -- Tom Blackburn * Tribune *A solid account of the history of the coalfields in Durham and South Wales and the impact of deindustrialisation and closure upon them. -- Mike Phipps * Labour Hub *A brave book ... anyone interested in the transformation that has reshaped Britain's former coalfields should read The Shadow of the Mine. -- Ewan Gibbs * Jacobin *Considered, comprehensive and insightful ... a book that deserves the widest distribution -- Steven Andrew * Morning Star *Elegiac ... [The Shadow of the Mine] provides essential economic and social context for both the Leave vote in 2016 and the consequent collapse of the so-called 'Red Wall'. -- Rhian E. Jones * Tribune *The work of two outstanding 'organic intellectuals' of the very communities they are giving voice to ... Anyone who wants to go beyond the 'Red Wall' platitudes of British politics ought to start with The Shadow of the Mine. * Spokesman *Excellent -- Robert Colls * New Statesman *Superb and timely ... full of lessons and insights for today -- Steve Davies * New Socialist *A concern for the dignity of those who made (and continue to make) their lives in the coalfields runs through the book like an unbroken seam. -- Gavin Bridge * AAG Review of Books *

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Book SynopsisMaking the Revolution Global shows how black radicals transformed socialist politics in Britain in the years before decolonisation. African and Caribbean activist-intellectuals, such as Amy Ashwood Garvey, C.L.R. James, Jomo Kenyatta, Kwame Nkrumah and George Padmore, came to Britain during the 1930s and 1940s and intervened in debates about capitalism, imperialism, fascism and war. They consistently argued that any path towards international socialism must have colonial liberation at its heart. Although their ideas were met with opposition from many on the British Left, they convinced significant sections of the movement of the revolutionary potential of colonised peoples. By centring the entanglements between black radicals and the wider British socialist movement, Theo Williams casts new light on responses to the 1935 Italian invasion of Ethiopia, the 1945 Fifth Pan-African Congress, and a wealth of other events and phenomena. In doing so, he showcases a revolutionary tradition that, as illustrated by the global Black Lives Matter demonstrations of 2020, is still relevant today.Trade ReviewTheo Williams authoritatively details how Black militant Pan-Africanist radicals in Britain around George Padmore not only fought for colonial liberation in Africa and the Caribbean during the 1930s and 1940s but also worked with the Independent Labour Party led by Fenner Brockway to help change the way half the British Left thought about racism and imperialism. This very impressive organisational history of the International African Service Bureau thus illuminates the wider relationship of socialism to black liberation in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution of 1917, and so represents an invaluable contribution to scholarship on 'the red and the black'. -- Christian HogsbjergA fine, nuanced study of Black radical contributions to critical debates within the U.K, Europe, Africa and the colonies about the interplay of capitalism, fascism, and imperialism. Williams's exceptional archival research is matched by a dogged commitment to recovering the lives and work of key figures like George Padmore and C.L.R. James. This book gives fresh perspective to the 20th century European Left, and helps to decolonize the study of global radicalism. -- Bill V. Mullen, Emeritus Professor of American Studies, Purdue UniversityA timely book which sparkles with fresh ideas. In his accommodating prose Williams shows how the native traditions of British socialism and diasporic Pan-Africanisms coexisted in a jarring but constant dialogue. He brings to light the buried pas de deux which reveals each to have been in the other. This is a history in which every moment resonates for the present.. -- Bill SchwarzWilliams' account throws more light on a story that has yet to be told in its entirety - how campaigners across race lines worked together to contribute to the great world-shaping movements towards decolonisation and liberation. This is a serious and worthwhile addition to scholarship on internationalism. -- Priyamvada GopalMaking the Revolution Global powerfully recasts the story of interwar Black British radicalism, illustrating the ways anti-imperialism and pan-Africanism shaped British socialism. This timely, rich and layered account demonstrates that anti-racism and anti-imperialism were not marginal to the metropolitan left, but instead constituted key axes of debate and contestation among British socialists. -- Adom Getachew, author of Worldmaking after Empire: The Rise and Fall of Self-DeterminaitonThis very thoroughly researched book is an exploration of the political attitudes/policies of left-wing political parties (and then even the Labour Party) regarding imperialism, colonialism and independence in the UK. It investigates the relationships between Black activists - individuals and organisations - and these political parties. After all, 'imperialism was central to capitalism', which explains why some/many want to retain the colonies. And what was the effect on them all? So a vast amount of information on George Padmore, Makonnen, C.L.R.James, Chris Jones, et al, including women activists. And just as much on the organisations they set up/were involved with eg IASB, Pan-African Federation, Negro Welfare Association. It ends with an analysis of their influence on returning African leaders such as Jomo Kenyatta and Kwame Nkrumah. -- Marika SherwoodFascinating and revealing -- Neil Rogall * rs21 *

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Book SynopsisA historian's personal journey into the complex questions of immigration, home and nationFrom Ireland to London in the 1950s, Derry in the Troubles to contemporary, de-industrialised Manchester, Joyce finds the ties of place, family and the past are difficult to break. Why do certain places continue to haunt us? What does it mean to be British after the suffering of Empire and of war? How do we make our home in a hypermobile world without remembering our pasts?Patrick Joyce's parents moved from Ireland in the 1930s and made their home in west London. But they never really left the homeland. And so as he grew up among the streets of Paddington and Notting Hill and when he visited his family in Ireland he felt a tension between the notions of home, nation and belonging. Going to My Father's House charts the historian's attempt to make sense of these ties and to see how they manifest in a globalised world. He explores the places - the house, the street, the walls and the graves - that formed his own identity. He ask what place the ideas of history, heritage and nostalgia have in creating a sense of our selves. He concludes with a plea for a history that holds the past to account but also allows for dynamic, inclusive change.Trade Reviewan immensely readable, thoroughly enjoyable book ... Hegel would have admired the way Joyce lets a sharply individualised life distil a whole socal history. -- Terry Eagleton, author of Why Marx was RightA haunting meditation on Ireland and England, war and migration, Derry and Manchester. I admired the originality of his observations and his tone of melancholy, calm wisdom. -- Colm Toibin * Books of the Year 2021, Guardian *Merges personal stories with large political moments. Joyce's family came to England from Mayo and Wexford. His account of his life in London, of the legacy of war and of his experiences in Ireland is written with wisdom and grace. -- Colm Toibin * Authors' and Critics' 2021 Favourites, Irish Times *This is a rare kind of writing, a form of meditation on the societies that are forming and melting around us in the present. Only a voice such as this can alert us to these historical worlds -- Seaumas DeaneI can't think of another historian around who could write something so suggestive and profound, so much on both a minor and major scale, constantly tracing the connections between the two. -- Paul Ginsbourg

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Book SynopsisSince the disastrous Pompidou years, working-class Paris has been steadily nibbled away, either by destruction or more insidiously by a kind of internal colonization. Take for example a small outlying district populated by Arabs, blacks and poor whites twenty years ago, the L'Olive neighbourhood north of La Chapelle The area is noted as pleasant, people frequent it and explore it, and as the rents are low some settle there. Others follow, first friends and then anyone else. Rents go up, buildings are renovated, bars open, then an organic food shop, a vegan restaurant...The earlier indigenous inhabitants are driven out by the rising rents and settle further away, in Saint-Denis if they are lucky, or else in Garges-lès-Gonesse, Goussainville or God knows where.But new neighbourhoods are emerging, for example the Chinese quarter of Bas Belleville, which has grown since the 1970s to the point that in some streets, such as Rue Civiale or Rue Rampal, the restaurants and shops are all Chinese, with many Chinese sex workers on Boulevard de la Villette. These Chinese almost all come from Wenzhou, a large province south of Shanghai, whose inhabitants are reputedly known for their commercial skills.Paris is constantly changing as a living organism, both for better and for worse. This book is an incitement to open our eyes and lend an ear to the tumult of this incomparable capital, from the Périphérique to Place Vendôme, its markets of Aligre and Belleville, its cafés and tabacs, its history from Balzac to Sartre. In some thirty succinct vignettes, from bookshops to beggars, Art Nouveau to street sounds, Parisian writers to urban warts, Jacobins to Surrealism, Hazan offers a host of invaluable aperçus, illuminated by a matchless knowledge of his native city.Trade ReviewA jewel of a book. A must read for any aspirant Parisian flâneur or intellectually curious visitor to the city. Hazan reminds us that Paris is so much more than its wide boulevards and antiseptic tourist spots. He invites us to consider its multi-layered, multi-linguistic, multicultural, amorphous past and present. Paris in Turmoil is the perfect aperitif to the city and will enrich any visit. Better still, it can be read in one sitting on the Eurostar on your way there. -- Edward Chisholm, author of A Waiter in Paris: Adbentures in the Dark Heart of the CityHazan meshes history, architecture, philosophy, and social geography in this concise yet wide-ranging tribute to his native Paris. Throughout, Hazan expertly reflects on the city's cultural and intellectual transformations, and spotlights writers who "left their mark on the city," including Victor Hugo and Honoré de Balzac. The result is an astute and opinionated tour of one of the world's great cities. * Publishers Weekly *Hazan, a political activist and insatiable flâneur ("stroller," roughly), has compiled something far greater than musings on the City of Light. Read together, these pieces offer an extended invitation to the reader to take the many layers of Parisian life and history more seriously and give them the attention they merit...Readers already familiar with Paris will find this fiery and charming volume the perfect companion for a thought-provoking walk around the City of Light. -- Library JournalFascinating ... Hazan's focus on the detail, colour and texture of Paris has the effect of transporting you there. -- Rhian E. Jones * New Humanist *

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The fissures that have split the United Kingdom in the last decades have run through Northern Ireland. Since the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, the fragile peace has been threatened by Brexit, the rise and fall of the D U P and the failure of power-sharing arrangement between the main parties at the Stormont Assembly. As the very future of Northern Ireland is now in jeopardy, will Britain face up to its imperial legacy and address the deep inequalities that remain in the aftermath of the Troubles, and the uneven development of the 'New Ireland'?Geoffrey Bell offers an insightful history of Ulster Unionism from the 1960s to the present day. In recent years this has come to a crisis point. What is the future of the Union in the post-Brexit reality? How will the relationship between Northern Ireland and Westminster develop? Can the United Kingdom survive?

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Book SynopsisIn this reissue of the 1972 classic of social anatomy, Richard Sennets adds a new introduction to shows how the injuries of class persist into the 21st century. In this intrepid, groundbreaking book, Richard Sennett and Jonathan Cobb uncover and define a new form of class conflict in America?an internal conflict in the heart and mind of the blue-collar worker who measures his own value against those lives and occupations to which our society gives a special premium.The authors conclude that in the games of hierarchical respect, no class can emerge the victor; and that true egalitarianism can be achieved only by rediscovering diverse concepts of human dignity. Examining personal feelings in terms of a totality of human relations, and looking beyond the struggle for economic survival, The Hidden Injuries of Class takes an important step forward in the sociological critique of everyday life.Trade ReviewTheir work is subtle, refined and sympathetic. It is an excellent example of social-science work in which the authors do not pretend impartiality but state their values and allow their readers to learn from their findings and argue with their conclusions. * The New Yorker *Among the many recent studies of working class life...this stands out both for its compassion and its willingness to venture into subjective psychic realities painfully difficult to articulate and impossible to quantify. * Kirkus Review *The book is an exercise in secular prophecy, frequently involuted, sometimes contradictory, and often brilliant * New York Times *They are strongly marked by a personal style of thought which delights in para- dox and digs into the mind of the American worker in the manner of a Shakespearian critic analyzing the character of Hamlet * Political Science Quarterly *

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Here is the whole of recorded British royal history, from the legendary King Alfred the Great onwards, including the monarchies of England, Scotland, Wales and the United Kingdom for over a thousand years. Fascinating portraits are expertly woven into a history of division and eventual union of the British Isles - even royals we think most familiar are revealed in a new and sometimes surprising light. This revised and shortened edition of The Mammoth Book of British Kings & Queens includes biographies of the royals of recorded British history, plus an overview of the semi-legendary figures of pre-history and the Dark Ages - an accessible source for students and general readers.

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Book SynopsisThe University of Oxford offers 800 years of history: its 39 colleges are inextricably linked with the daily life of a busy city with beautiful buildings, cobbled lanes, and turrets and spires. Fully revised for 2019, and with a map to guide visitors, this guide explores each college, detailing the historical and architectural magnificence, and tales of famous men and women who founded them.

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Book SynopsisThe film Braveheart had a surprising impact on the political change in Scotland, coinciding with the return of the Scottish Parliament after 300 years. The film was described as 'the most politically influential movie of the 20th century'. 'Better the pen than the sword' said Randall Wallace on being asked how it felt to be partly responsible for the freedom of a nation following the Devolution Referendum. The first written about the movie, this book looks at the life and legacy of William Wallace through his modern portrayal image in the movie.

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Book SynopsisThis City Now sets out to retrieve the hidden architectural, cultural and historical riches of some of Glasgows working-class districts. Many who enjoy the fruits of Glasgows recent gentrification may be surprised and delighted by the gems which Ian Mitchell has uncovered beyond the usual haunts.Trade ReviewThis book is not only an attempt to reinsert into public consciousness the architectural and cultural delights of Glasgows working-class areas. It also recaptures the social and political history of the working-classes of those districts. Ian Mitchell's affection for his adopted city shines through every page of this book. He has lived in Glasgow exactly the same number of years as I have yet his knowledge and appreciation of the city put me to shame. More importantly the book has inspired me to put on my walking boots and head for Govan Road, Bridgeton Cross and Tollcross Park. I am sure it will have the same effect on many of its readers. From the Foreword by ELEANOR GORDON Professor of Gender and Social History, University of GlasgowTable of ContentsPollokshaws, Govanhill, Gorbals, Govan, Clydebank, Yokerstoun, Partick, Anderston, Maryhill, Possil, Springburn, Dennistoun, Parkhead, Rutherglen and Brigton Cross

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Book SynopsisHere, name by name, parish by parish, province by province, Kevin Myers details Ireland’s intimate involvement with one of the greatest conflicts in human history, the First World War of 1914 to 1918, which left no Irish family untouched. With this gathering of his talks, unpublished essays and material distilled from The Irish Times and elsewhere, Myers lays out the grounds of his research and findings in Connaught, Leinster, Munster and Ulster. He revisits the main theatres of war in Europe – The Somme, Ypres and Verdun, the war at sea and Gallipoli. He documents these bloody engagements through the lives of those involved, from Dublin to Cork, Sligo to Armagh, to the garrison towns of Athy, Limerick, Mullingar and beyond. In Ireland’s Great War Myers uncoils a vital counter-narrative to the predominant readings in nationalist history, revealing the complex and divided loyalties of a nation coming of age in the early twentieth century. This remarkable historical record pieced together the neglected shards of Ireland’s recent past and imparts a necessary understanding of the political process that saw Sinn Féin’s electoral victory in 1918 and the founding of the Irish Free State. By honouring Ireland’s forgotten dead on the centenary of the Great War. Myers enables a rediscovery of purpose that will speak to future generations.

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Book SynopsisThis landmark work contains a remarkable selection of 560 of the thousands of songs and poems created during, and reflecting upon, the most extraordinary decade of Ireland’s history. This opened with the Dublin Lockout of 1913 and ended with the post-independence civil war, embracing World War I, the Rising of 1916, and the Anglo-Irish war. The Indignant Muse also includes 177 musical airs and 136 illustrations.Trade Review‘Terry Moylan’s compilation surpasses in scale, variety and historical interest anything that’s been attempted to date … the glory of the collection is the large number of items published here for the first time … a herculean effort by a lifetime collector of songs with an encyclopaedic knowledge of his material.’ — from the Foreword by Gearóid Ó Tuathaigh

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Book SynopsisOn Dangerous Ground is the revolutionary period memoir of Republican Máire Comerford (1893–1982). This striking memoir, one of the last of its era, includes Comerford’s original text, written mainly in the 1940s and ’50s, and new material unearthed from her extensive archive that also contains a wealth of photographs and memorabilia from the period. The memoir begins with Comerford’s recollection of Sunday strolls to Avondale, former home of Charles Stewart Parnell, who was a neighbour of her father, the mill owner James Comerford. As a young woman, she experiences a ‘political awakening’ at the hands of a fierce Unionist woman in a secretarial college in London. Máire Comerford (the only Catholic in the class) begins to engage with Irish history books to counterbalance this brush with religious sectarianism. On her return to County Wexford to live with her mother’s people – a move necessitated by the family’s change of fortune – she re-enters the genteel world of fox hunting and luncheon parties. The memoir paints an intriguing picture of rural life of the time heralding the arrival of the motorcar, social and economic conditions, the rise of the Gaelic League, debates about Home Rule, and the First World War. While the description of her surroundings as a young adult is intriguing and often charming, change is in the air in Ireland and a sharp and wide-ranging political analysis is ever present throughout her writing. Following Comerford’s witness account of Dublin during the 1916 Rising, she begins a life of political engagement, joining Cumann na mBan, Sinn Féin and the Gaelic League. In 1919, she moves permanently to Dublin to live with and work for renowned historian and nationalist, Alice Stopford Green. There, she becomes immersed in Republican politics and the War of Independence. Comerford’s memoir gives voice to the experience of Republican women during revolutionary times, highlighting the immense contribution of women in the struggle for an Irish Republic. She works all over the country, moving arms, carrying dispatches, finding safe houses, researching atrocities and working assiduously for Ireland. She experiences raids, prison vigils, funerals of her comrades and dangers of all kinds, but nothing cuts as deep as the sense of utter betrayal following the signing of the Treaty in 1922. Comerford takes the anti-Treaty side, is imprisoned a number of times and endures a 27-day hunger strike. Following her release, she leaves Ireland on a tour of east coast American cities to raise funds for the Republican cause at the behest of de Valera. She returns to a harsh, poverty-stricken and lonely existence, eking out a living on a hilltop poultry farm in Wexford. But while her memoir ends in bleak times, her overarching vision suggests an unquenchable optimism – and that the fight will go on. An epilogue by the editor chronicles the years between 1927 and her death.Trade ReviewDescribed as the last comprehensive witness account of the revolutionary period, it is an absorbing read. In 1923, a Daily Mail report called her the Jeanne d’Arc of the Republican cause, the most daring woman working for the Republican movement. -- Mary Burke * The Tuam Herald *This first-hand account includes Comerford’s original text, written mainly in the 1940s and ’50s, and new material unearthed from her extensive archive. * The Journal *This is a fascinating diary written by a republican ‘true believer’. -- J. Anthony Gaughan * The Irish Catholic *In this decade of centenaries, some of those who made their mark 100 years ago have had their lives and contributions critically examined. However, there has also been an acceptance that a number of women who lived through those times had not heretofore been recognised for their contributions. Máire Comerford is one such woman and her recently published memoir is probably the last first-person account we are likely to see written by a witness and participant in extraordinary times. -- The Mick Clifford Podcast * Irish Examiner *This book does something important: it adds new insights and understanding to events in Ireland, 1916-mid 20s, the most analysed and described epoch in modern Irish history. -- John Kirkaldy * Books Ireland *Máire Comerford’s words are truly inspiring and no Republican home should be without this book. * An Phoblacht *Comerford’s memoir places the reader in the lived reality of the time, showing how ordinary lives crossed over with history. Editor Hilary Dully not only has access to original documents, photos and stories, but can also see the direct personal impact Comerford has on the lives of people around her. While Máire’s memoir ends in bleak times, her overarching vision suggests an unquenchable optimism. * Wexford Local *Having access to original documents, photos and stories, Hilary also knows directly personal impact Comerford had on the lives of people around her. -- Cathy Lee * The Independent *These memoirs took more than forty years to be published and are well written and most interesting for any student of Irish history. -- Eva Ó Cathaoir * National Graves Association *'Meticulously edited by Hilary Dully from the original typescript, it’s a terrific read, a page-turner … illustrated with richly evocative photos … Of all the first-person memoirs I’ve read, this is by far the most inspiring. Comerford has an unforgettable, idiosyncratic voice, her language rich with imagery, full of physical movement. Both astute and tender, she feels modern. I could identify with her. Was it her sense of humour? Her honesty? Her lack of self-aggrandisation? Her intense love for animals? I was certainly drawn to all of these qualities. And her characters hum with life.' Martina Evans, Irish Times

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Book SynopsisIn this highly original and now classic text, Ian Buruma explores and compares how Germany and Japan have attempted to come to terms with their violent pasts, and investigates the painful realities of living with guilt, and with its denial.As Buruma travels through both countries, he encounters people whose honesty in confronting their past is strikingly brave, and others who astonish by the ingenuity of their evasions of responsibility. In Auschwitz, Berlin, Hiroshima and Tokyo he explores the contradictory attitudes of scholars, politicians and survivors towards World War II and visits the contrasting monuments that commemorate the atrocities of the war.Buruma allows these opposing voices to reveal how an obsession with the past, especially distorted versions of it, continually causes us to question who should indeed pay the wages of guilt.Trade Review"'A comparative study of great subtlety and intelligence' Spectator * 'A profound book' Hugh Trevor-Roper, Sunday Telegraph 'Absorbing and sometimes surprising' A. C. Grayling, Financial Times 'Buruma's sensitive account... is most disturbing to read. I strongly recommend [this] unusual book.' Sunday Times"

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Book SynopsisMany more people encountered newspapers, business press products or jobbing print than the glamorous books of the Enlightenment. This book looks at the way in which print effected a business revolution. Publishing Business in Eighteenth-Century England assesses the contribution of the business press and the publication of print to the economic transformation of England. The impact of non-book printing has been long neglected. A raft of jobbing work serviced commerce and finance while many more practical guides and more ephemeral pamphlets on trade and investment were read than the books that we now associate with the foundations of modern politicaleconomy. A pivotal change in the book trades, apparent from the late seventeenth century, was the increased separation of printers from bookseller-publishers, from the skilled artisan to the bookseller-financier who might have noprior training in the printing house but who took up the sale of publications as another commodity. This book examines the broader social relationship between publication and the practical conduct of trade; the book asks what itmeant to be 'published' and how print, text and image related to the involvement of script. The age of Enlightenment was an age of astonishing commercial and financial transformation offering printers and the business press new market opportunities. Print helped to effect a business revolution. The reliability, reputation, regularity, authority and familiarity of print increased trust and confidence and changed attitudes and behaviours. New modes of publication and the wide-ranging products of printing houses had huge implications for the way lives were managed, regulated and recorded. JAMES RAVEN is Professor of Modern History at the University of Essex and a Fellow of Magdalene College Cambridge.Trade ReviewThe delight of this study is actually in the many surprising discoveries that Raven has collected as the basis for his larger argument. * LIBRARY *The breadth and nuance of this study make its arguments persuasive and make it a significant contribution to the history of the book and of printing. * PAPERS OF THE BIBLIOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY OF CANADA *An innovative and exciting book [which] represents a major scholarly achievement and step forward not simply in linking the history of printing and trade, but in challenging influential trends in eighteenth-century historiography more broadly.. It deserves to be read by anyone interested in the social, economic, educational or political history of eighteenth-century Britain. * HISTORY *[An] exceptionally fertile and knowledgeable book. * ARCHIVES *With Publishing Business in Eighteenth-Century England, Raven makes his position as the doyen of eighteenth-century book trade historians pretty much unassailable.. Raven has cleared the way for a new wave of financially literate research into the knowledge economies of eighteenth-century Britain. * SHARP NEWS *Convincingly shows that the printing business did more than profit from the new information age - it had a key role in sustaining the 'English miracle'. * TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT *Table of ContentsThe Mediation of the Press England and the Uneven Economic Miracle The Printed and the Printers Serviced by Stationery and Printing Printing and the City of London Advertising The Advertisers Intelligence Instruction and Guidance Widening Discussion Business, Publishing and the Gentleman Reader Conclusion Select Bibliography

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Book SynopsisFresh assessments of Edgar's reign, reappraising key elements using documentary, coin, and pictorial evidence. King Edgar ruled England for a short but significant period in the middle of the tenth century. Two of his four children succeeded him as king and two were to become canonized. He was known to later generations as "the Pacific" or"the Peaceable" because his reign was free from external attack and without internal dissention, and he presided over a period of major social and economic change: early in his rule the growth of monastic power and wealth involved redistribution of much of the country's assets, while the end of his reign saw the creation of England's first national coinage, with firm fiscal control from the centre. He fulfilled King Alfred's dream of the West Saxon royalhouse ruling the whole of England, and, like his uncle King Æthelstan, he maintained overlordship of the whole of Britain. Despite his considerable achievements, however, Edgar has been neglected by scholars, partly becausehis reign has been thought to have passed with little incident. A time for a full reassessment of his achievement is therefore long overdue, which the essays in this volume provide. CONTRIBUTORS: SIMON KEYNES, SHASHI JAYAKUMAR, C.P. LEWIS, FREDERICK M. BIGGS, BARBARA YORKE, JULIA CRICK, LESLEY ABRAMS, HUGH PAGAN, JULIA BARROW, CATHERINE KARKOV, ALEXANDER R. RUMBLE, MERCEDES SALVADOR-BELLOTrade ReviewA welcome cheaper reprint of important papers. * NORTHERN HISTORY *[An] academic history, aimed at those with a serious interest in Anglo-Saxon history. It will be of great value for them, casing light on this otherwise obscure reign. * WWW.HISTORYOFWAR.ORG *A timely reassessment of this monarch and reign. * YEAR'S WORK IN ENGLISH STUDIES *Illuminates aspects of Edgar's reign that have not been well covered in most general works, and its consistently high standard will ensure that it becomes essential reading for those who wish to understand the life and times of Edgar the Peaceable. * ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW *Table of ContentsEdgar: Rex admirabilis - Simon D Keynes A Conspectus of the Characters of King Edward, 957-975 - Simon D Keynes Eadwig and Edgar: Politics, Propaganda, Faction - Shashi Jayakumar Edgar, Chester, and the Kingdom of the Mercians, 957-9 - C P Lewis Edgar's Path to the Throne - Frederick M. Biggs The Women in Edgar's Life - Barbara Yorke Edgar, Albion and Insular Domination - Julia C Crick King Edgar and the Men of the Danelaw - Lesley Abrams The Pre-Reform Coinage of Edgar - Hugh Pagan The Chronology of the Benedictine "Reform" - Julia Barrow The Frontispiece to the New Minster Charter and the King's Two Bodies - Catherine E. Karkov The Laity and Monastic Reform in the Reign of Edgar - Alexander R. Rumble The Edgar Panegyrics in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle - Mercedes Salvador-Bello

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Book SynopsisTowards the end of 1831, the authorities unearthed a series of crimes at Number 3, Nova Scotia Gardens in East London that appeared to echo the notorious Burke and Hare killings in Edinburgh three years earlier. After a long investigation, three bodysnatchers were put on trial for supplying the anatomy schools of London with suspiciously fresh bodies for dissection.They later became known as The London Burkers, and their story was dubbed 'The Italian Boy' case. The furore which led directly to the passing of controversial legislation which marked the beginning of the end of body snatching in Britain.In The Italian Boy, Sarah Wise not only investigates the case of the London Burkers but also, by making use of an incredibly rich archival store, the lives of ordinary lower-class Londoners. Here is a window on the lives of the poor - a window that is opaque in places, shattered in others but which provides an unprecedented view of low-life London in the 1830s.Trade ReviewColourful without being sensationalist, the result is compelling -- Andrew Holgate * Sunday Times *Brilliant -- Christopher Hirst * Independent *Excellent...an impressively strong sense of 19th-century poverty seems to ooze from its pages and the details are fascinating -- Toby Clements * Daily Telegraph *Engrossing...Wise exposes an entire "resurrection community" in London's underworld and shows how "The Italian Boy case" captured the public imagination -- Ian Pindar * Guardian *A work of great skill and sympathy -- Peter Ackroyd * The Times *

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Book SynopsisEarly on 1 September 1914, the Germans surprised 1st Cavalry Brigade harbouring in the little town of Nery. Their initial bombardment caused chaos and destruction and the British took time to organize themselves. The actions of two batteries of the Royal Horse Artillery were eventually so successful that even today there is a battery known as Nery Battery RHA. The Queen's Bay's a cavalry regiment, charged in classic style and the Germans, who mistakenly thought they were out numbered, withdrew with heavy casualties. Of the three VCs, two were posthumous. While a small engagement by later Great War standards, Nery is a classic case study of an artillery duel and cavalry action.

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Book SynopsisJohn Howard's name will forever be linked to the highly successful Pegasus Bridge assault by his glider-born company of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. His men regarded him with awe and his courage and toughness were bye-words. However this book reveals the human side of the man as well as providing a graphic account of the preparation, actual operation and aftermath of this iconic raid.The Pegasus Diaries is a book that will be enjoyed by men and women alike, presenting as it does a complex man often torn between his high sense of loyalty to his men and devotion to duty.

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Book SynopsisFrom flowers and perfumes to urban sanitation and personal hygiene, smell—a sense that is simultaneously sublime and animalistic—has played a pivotal role in western culture and thought. Greek and Roman writers and thinkers lost no opportunity to connect the smells that bombarded their senses to the social, political and cultural status of the individuals and environments that they encountered: godly incense and burning sacrifices, seductive scents, aromatic cuisines, stinking bodies, pungent farmyards and festering back-streets. The cultural study of smell has largely focused on pollution, transgression and propriety, but the olfactory sense came into play in a wide range of domains and activities: ancient medicine and philosophy, religion, botany and natural history, erotic literature, urban planning, dining, satire and comedy—where odours, aromas, scents and stenches were rich and versatile components of the ancient sensorium. The first comprehensive introduction to the role of smell in the history, literature and society of classical antiquity, Smell and the Ancient Senses explores and probes the ways that the olfactory sense can contribute to our perceptions of ancient life, behaviour, identity and morality.Trade Review"Smell finally receives respect among the “lower” senses. Fragrant odors and foul stenches attracted and assaulted noses in the less hygienic, less deodorized social and commercial environments of Athens and Alexandria and the squalid tenements of Rome and Pompeii. Medical aromatherapies, religious rituals, and literary practice vis-à-vis elusive aromas produced pleased perceptions, scientific explanations, and disgusted reactions. Modern cultural researchers examine ancient production (natural and artificial) and sniffing responses. Bradley assembled 12 scholars who survey stink and savor in Greek, Roman, Hebrew, and Christian sensoriums...Required reading as an introduction to the cultures of antiquity. Summing Up: Essential." - D. Lateiner, Ohio Wesleyan University, CHOICE"...a welcome addition to the slowly growing corpus of smell literature and is further evidence of the importance of the current 'sensory turn' in the exploration of the lives of ancient peoples...The volume cleverly manages to combine discussions of smelly poetry, satire and physiological texts with archaeological and experiential studies of smelly places – meaning that there is something here for every classical scholar. If this volume is representative of the standard and quality of the forthcoming volumes in the Senses in Antiquity series, then I detect a very strong whiff of anticipation for the next installment." - Stuart Eve, University College London, BMCRTable of ContentsIntroduction: smell and the ancient senses Smell as sign and cure in ancient medicine Ancient philosophers on the sense of smell Divine scents and presence Smelling trees, flowers and herbs in the ancient world Making scents of poetry Roman urban smells: the archaeological evidence Urban smells and Roman noses The scent of Roman dining Foul bodies in ancient Rome Fragrance in the Rabbinic world The smell of Christianity Missing noses BibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisThe history of ancient Rome omitting all the boring bits. Following the success of BBC2 hit Rome on BBC2, no one has looked at the private lives of the Roman Emperors again in the same light. Anthony Blond's scandalous exposé of the life of the Roman emperors is a must-read for anyone interested in what really went on in ancient Rome. Julius Caesar is usually presented as a glorious general when, in fact, he was an arrogant charmer and a swank; Augustus was so self-conscious about his height that he put lifts in his sandals.But they were nothing compared with Caligula, Claudius and Nero. Blond's book is eye-opening in its revelations, and unfailingly entertaining.Trade ReviewThis is the sort of book that gives ancient history a good name. * Sunday Telegraph *...informative fun... * TLS *Lively and amusing - the Emperors enjoyably monstrous. * Observer *

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Book SynopsisTwenty of the most crucial moments in Britain's history.BBC History Magazine asked a selection of leading historians to choose and describe the twenty most important turning points in British history from AD 1000 to 2000. Collected together, their choices present a new way of looking at our nation's story. From the Danish invasion of Britain in 1016, to the Suez crisis in 1956, the key moments include victories (or defeats) both at home and abroad, plague, reform and even revolutions that have reshaped the British way of life. Each contribution brings the past to life, offering new perspectives and food for debate: did the Battle of Agincourt change England's role in Europe? What was the impact of American independence on Britain? Was 1916 more important than 1939? Thought-provoking and inspiring accounts.Trade ReviewIf the Turning Points series - first and foremost wonderful story telling - was taught as a school history course it would excite a new generation. * Christopher Lee *Much of interest and value in this short collection of essays. They provoke discussion; they invite us to ponder on our history and to consider what it means to be British. -- Allan Massie * The Scotsman *Fascinating and thought-provoking * Suite101.com *Wonderful * Good Book Guide *

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Book SynopsisThe early twentieth century saw the transformation of the southern Irish Protestants from a once strong people into an isolated, pacified community. Their influence, status and numbers had all but disappeared by the end of the civil war in 1923 and they were to form a quiescent minority up to modern times. This book tells the tale of this transformation and their forced adaptation, exploring the lasting effect that it had on both the Protestant community and the wider Irish society and investigating how Protestants in southern Ireland view their place in the Republic today.

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Book SynopsisDonegal (or Dun an nGall in Irish, meaning 'the fort of the stranger') is the name given to the most northerly county in Ireland. Strange things have happened, and continue to happen, in this wild and beautiful place and ghost stories are part of the fabric of life here. This spooky selection features the goblin child of Castlereagh, the Blue Stacks Banshee, the ghostly swans of Burt Castle, the Wraiths and Dunlewy Bridge, the legend of Stumpy's Brae, the Bridgend Poltergeist and many more. Drawing on historical and contemporary sources and including many first-hand experiences and previously unpublished tales, Haunted Donegal will enthrall anyone interested in the unexplained.

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Book SynopsisFrom Blenheim and Waterloo to 'Up Yours, Delors' and 'Hop Off You Frogs', the cross-Channel relationship has been one of rivalry, misapprehension and suspicion. But it has also been a relationship of envy, admiration and affection. In the nearly two centuries since the final defeat of Napoleon, France and Britain have spent much of that time as allies - an alliance that has been almost as uneasy, as competitive and as ambivalent as the generations of warfare. Their rivalry both on peace and war, for good and ill, has shaped the modern world, from North America to India in the eighteenth century, in Africa, the Middle East and South East Asia during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and it is still shaping Europe today. This magisterial book, by turns provocative and delightful, always fascinating, tells the rich and complex story of the relationship over three centuries, from the beginning of the great struggle for mastery during the reign of Louis XIV to the second Iraq War and the latest enlargement of the EU. It tells of wars and battles, ententes and alliances, but also of food, fashion, sport, literature, sex and music. Its cast ranges from William and Mary to Tony Blair, from Voltaire to Eric Cantona; its sources from ambassadorial dispatches to police reports, from works of philosophy to tabloid newspapers, from guidebooks to cartoons and films. It's a book which brings both British humour and Gallic panache to the story of these two countries, in sickness and in health, for richer for poorer, in victory and in defeat, in dominance and in decline.Trade ReviewAn outstanding study of a three-century love-hate relationship... hugely readable -- Andrew Roberts * Sunday Times *Epic, instructive and engaging * Independent *An intellectual feast * Times Literary Supplement *Deftly written and meticulously researched... packed with detail and anecdote -- John Thornhill * Financial Times *Well-written and thoroughly researched... There is as good an account as you could want of the rivalry in the 18th century...and of the Napoleonic wars that took the story into the 19th... A satisfying and intelligent book, packed with information and provoking in its assertions and conclusions -- Simon Heffer * Daily Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisIn the autumn of 1502 three giants of the Renaissance period - Cesare Borgia, Leonardo da Vinci and Niccolò Machiavelli - set out on one of the most treacherous military campaigns of the period. Cesare Borgia was a ferocious military leader whose name was synonymous with brutality and whose reputation was marred with the suspicion of incest. Niccolò Machiavelli was a witty and subversive intellectual, more suited to the silken diplomacy of royal courts than the sodden encampments of a military campaign. And Leonardo da Vinci was a visionary master and the most talented military engineer in Italy. What led him to work for the monstrous Borgia? And what attracted him to the cunning Machiavelli?In his extraordinary new book acclaimed historian Paul Strathern ingeniously focuses on this improbable collusion of three iconic figures of the Italian Renaissance to unite three mighty strands of the period - war, politics and art. As each man's life unfolds, so does the Italian Renaissance.Trade ReviewA brilliant snapshot of Renaissance Italy... a triumph * Sunday Telegraph *This is popular history at its narrative best... rich in colour, character and consequence * The Times *This is a portrait of a fascinating trio, and an insight into the apparent paradox of why such turbulent times produced such an outpouring of human sentiment almost unparalleled in the history of the West -- Edward King * Sunday Times *The story he has to tell is exciting and revealing...and the narrative has a natural arc, beginning in hope and fear and climaxing in deceit and bloodshed * Guardian *Strathern deftly interweaves the narratives of his three main characters and successfully evokes their odyssey... he has a sensitive ear for memorable phrases and a keen eye for striking detail -- Thomas Wright * Independent on Sunday *

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Book SynopsisThe Spirit of Venice is a history of the first great economic and naval power of the modern Western world, from its struggle to ascendancy, through the arc of its glory - when its trading empire reached as far afield as China, Syria and West Africa - to the beginning of its long and fascinating decline.Told through the lives of the brilliant and often wayward individuals who are inextricably bound to the Republic, this is the story of the Venice of Marco Polo, Titian, Tintoretto, Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Casanova, and a scintillating array of equally captivating heroes and villains. It reveals a vibrant city of invention, which pioneered banking, presided over the first bond-market crash, and whose renowned Arsenal became the world's first assembly line. And while Venice had no Statue of Liberty or mother of parliaments, it was for many years the nearest the modern western world came to a liberal democracy. Gloriously rich with detail and intrigue, The Spirit of Venice constitutes a refreshing and authoritative new way into the history of the most evocative of cities.Trade ReviewFascinating. A readable and delightful book. -- Harry Reid * Herald *Strathern sketches out fascinating aspects of the social life of Venice... Vivid. * BBC History Magazine *Colourful. * Sunday Times *The rise and fall of La Serenissima is vividly depicted. -- Christopher Hirst * Independent *Perfect holiday companion * The Lady *

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Book SynopsisThere was life before the fall.1989 was a year of astonishing and rapid change: the fall of the Berlin Wall marked the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and an end to an entire way of life for millions of people behind the Iron Curtain. Bloc Life collects first hand testimony of the people who lived in East Germany, Czechoslovakia and Romania during the Cold War era, and reveals a rich tapestry of experience that goes beyond the headlines of spies and surveillance, secret police and political corruption. In fact, many of the people remember their lives under communism as 'perfectly ordinary' and even hanker for the 'security' that it offered.From political leaders, athletes and pop stars, to cooks, miners and cosmonauts, the stories collected in Bloc Life evoke the moods, preoccupations and experiences of a world that vanished almost overnight.Trade ReviewThe stories are by turns harrowing, miraculous and utterly compelling * The Sunday Times *This is a powerful and moving book evoking a way of life that seems long gone and far away, but was endured by millions of people less than 20 years ago, and just a few hundred miles away * The Mail on Sunday *

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Book SynopsisThis is the portrait of a world on the eve of its destruction. Bernard Wasserstein presents a disturbing interpretation of the collapse of European Jewish civilization even before the Nazi onslaught and World War Two. In this revisionist account of modern European Jewry, Wasserstein shows how the harsh realities of the age devastated the lives of communities and individuals. By 1939, the Jews faced an existential crisis that was as much the result of internal decay as of external attack. Ranging from Vilna ('Jerusalem of Lithuania') to Salonica with its Judeo-Español-speaking stevedores and singers, and beyond, the book's focus is squarely on the Jews themselves rather than their persecutors. Wasserstein's aim is to 'breathe life into dry bones.' Based on vast research, written with compassion and empathy, and enlivened by dry wit, On the Eve paints a vivid and shocking picture of the European Jews in their final hour.Trade ReviewNothing less than a marvel. Nothing escapes his gaze * Sunday Times *The extensively researched On the Eve is an enlightening and moving evocation of the richness and heterogenity ... of Jewish life in pre-war Europe. * Jewish Chronicle *In poignant detail, Wasserstein chronicles the salons, publishing houses and film studios of Jewish communities in Lithuania, Poland and Austria. The book is brocaded with scenes of a people and a culture in their final hour. * Independent *Only the finest historian could hope to expose the anti-semitic idiocies of 1930s Europe and explore the Jewish response in a sensitive and even-handed way. Enter Wasserstein, who has written one of the most important books I've ever read. -- Jonathan Wright * Herald *

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Book SynopsisEngland, says Matthew Engel, is the most complicated place in the world. And, as he travels through each of the historic English counties, he discovers that's just the start of it. Every county is fascinating, the product of a millennium or more of history: still a unique slice of a nation that has not quite lost its ancient diversity. He finds the well-dressers of Derbyshire and the pyromaniacs of Sussex; the Hindus and huntsmen of Leicestershire; the goddess-worshippers of Somerset. He tracks down the real Lancashire, hedonistic Essex, and the most mysterious house in Middlesex. In Durham he goes straight from choral evensong to the dog track. As he seeks out the essence of each county - from Yorkshire's broad acres to the microdot of Rutland - Engel always finds the unexpected . Engel's England is a totally original look at a confused country: a guidebook for people who don't think they need a guidebook. It is always quirky, sometimes poignant and often extremely funny.Trade ReviewWry, rueful, funny, packed with knowledge, and, like all good reporting, entirely personal and subjective, it is simply the most enjoyable commentary on today's England that could be imagined. * Sunday Times *The book is a triumph and deserves an audience far beyond those infatuated with the clickety-clack of steel wheels * Independent *... quirky three year quest for the essence of England. If you could bottle his wit, it would taste as sharp, rich and savoury as Worcestershire sauce on a Cornish pasty stuffed to bursting. -- Ian Finlayson * Times *Highly personal and very funny * London Review of Books *[Engel] has managed to do the seemingly impossible and find a new way to write about England... The great pleasure in the book - for Engel as much as the reader - is in his love of the entertaining factual nugget -- Michael Prodger * Financial Times *Engel has the perfect light, humorous touch for the task. * New Statesman *Immensely enjoyable... Engel is a wonderfully wry comic writer. -- Ian Samson * The Guardian *

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Book SynopsisThe Spanish Civil War captured the imaginations of writers and readers around the world. ¡No Pasarán! collects thirty-eight of the most vivid, poignant stories to come out of the conflict, by writers from across the political, geographical and artistic spectrum. The writers include celebrated international figures such as Jean-Paul Sartre, Leonardo Sciascia and Victor Serge and well known British and American observers such as George Orwell, Gamel Woolsey, Langston Hughes and Muriel Rukeyser. Uniquely, where previous collections privileged the writings of the International Brigades, ¡No Pasarán! draws most heavily on writers from Spain itself - including Mercè Rodoreda, Javier Cercas and Luís Buñuel. ¡No Pasarán! is the essential anthology of Spain's Civil War writing, and allows the reader to witness life and death, hope and despair at the front lines of one of the century's most bitter wars.Trade ReviewIn this superb, shattering book of testimonies, Pete Ayrton has organised the best of all introductions to the Spanish Civil War -- Neal AschersonThese pieces bring home the visceral nature of the Spanish conflict, a clash of ideologies that defined a generation and continues to reverberate today * New Internationalist *With every page the reader learns and appreciates more, with deeper insight than previously, about the true nature of the war * Morning Star *¡No Pasarán! evokes to perfection this most 'impossible' of wars - only through such outstanding writing can we understand what these wars really meant, and cost -- Helen Graham, author of The Spanish Civil War: A Very Short IntroductionWith a judicious mixture of famous and recondite pieces, admirably translated by a well selected team, the editor offers a touching blend of humour and pathos, reality and artifice * Times Literary Supplement *

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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