European history Books

Book SynopsisA compelling new translation of a vital account of Roman historyWith clarity and vivid intensity, Tacitus's Annals recounts the pivotal events in Roman history from the years shortly before the death of Augustus to the death of Nero in 68 AD, including the reign of terror under the corrupt Tiberius, the great fire of Rome during the time of Nero, and the wars, poisonings, scandals, conspiracies, and murders that were part of imperial life. Despite Tacitus's claim that they were written objectively, the Annals is sharply critical of the emperors' excesses and fearful for the future of imperial Rome, while also filled with a longing for its past glories.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the 

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Book SynopsisDonald Rayfield is Professor of Russian and Georgian at Queen Mary College, University of London. He is the author of a number of books including The Literature of Georgia: A History and Anton Chekhov: A Life.

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Book SynopsisFINANCIAL TIMES HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEAR and DAILY TELEGRAPH BOOKS OF THE YEARShortlisted for the 2012 DUKE OF WESTMINSTER MEDAL FOR MILITARY LITERATUREAt the end of 1917 Britain and France faced a strategic nightmare. Their great offensives against Germany had been calamitous, leaving hundreds of thousands of young men dead and wounded for negligible territorial gains. Despite America''s entry into the war the US army remained tiny, the Italian army had been routed, and Russia had dropped out of the conflict. The Central Powers now dominated Central and Eastern Europe, and Germany could move over forty divisions to the Western Front. Yet only one year later, on 11 November 1918, the fighting ended in a decisive Allied victory. Stevenson''s rich and compelling book retells the story of 1918, and with penetrating original research goes to the very roots of this instrumental turning point in modern history.Trade ReviewIt is impossible ... to exaggerate how impressive this book is -- David Crane * The Spectator *Brilliant and comprehensive ... a major contribution -- A. W. Purdue * The Times Higher Education Supplement *This is, as one would expect from a historian of Stevenson's great learning and analytical power, a masterly study * The Sunday Telegraph *An immensely useful study, emphasising the crucial importance of morale, political stability and trust -- Max Egremont * Literary Review *Stevenson brings to his study a formidable authority and mastery of the sources, and judgments that seem admirably measured and nuanced -- Max Hastings * Sunday Times *A fascinating military narrative ... masterly -- William Anthony Hay * Wall Street Journal *A magnificent and exhaustive account of the war's final year ... Stevenson has a deserved reputation as one of the world's leading authorities on the war -- Tony Barber * Financial Times *A magisterial single volume synthesis of all the themes to deliver a punchy, incisive reboot of WW1 history that is never a dull read * Warships International Fleet Review *An outstanding contribution -- Frank Ellis * Quarterly Review *A monumental study deserving of a wide readership by scholars and generalists alike * Library Journal *Stevenson's grand scope, his international perspective, and his reliable judgements, combined with crystal-clear writing, have produced an exemplary book, a formidable contribution to our understanding of the Great War and the twentieth century * English Historical Review *The strength of the book lies in his ability to weave together astute analysis of the antagonists' abilities and weaknesses ... Told with verve and analytical vigour, Stevenson's book is a compelling and authoritative study of one of the most significant turning points in 20th-century military history -- Robert Gerwath * The Irish Times *Stevenson's detailed, lucid description of the development and maturation of that ability reflects encyclopedic mastery of published and archival sources while synergizing military, economic, political, and social-cultural factors. It is a professor's page-turner. It is also a door-opener to any reader seeking to understand the Great War's last stage * Publishers Weekly *

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Book SynopsisOliver Bullough was born in 1977 and grew up on a sheep farm in mid-Wales. He studied modern history at Oxford University and moved to Russia in 1999. He lived in St Petersburg, Bishkek and Moscow over the next seven years, working as a journalist first for local magazines and newspapers, and then for Reuters news agency. He reported from all over Russia and the former Soviet Union, but liked nothing more than to work among the peoples and mountains of the North Caucasus.He moved back to Britain in 2006, and has spent the following years travelling for and writing this book.He now lives in east London. He likes to travel, to take photographs, to watch Welsh rugby, to cook and to read.Trade ReviewThis wonderful, moving book flashes backwards and forwards over a terrain almost impossible to survey, and manages the feat * Norman Stone *Lively and impassioned ... a tragically neglected corner of our world * Orlando Figes *Oliver Bullough's book is a painstaking, sensitively reported effort to knit together their [the people of the Caucasus] lost history -- Wendell Steavenson * Sunday Times *A book that effortlessly mixes on-the-spot reportage and a wide-ranging history . . . Let its fame be great * The Scotsman *Bullough brings us exciting news, presented as short, gripping stories that ... The history of their resistance and resilience has been largely unknown for two centuries. Now their stories are sung by a champion and will resound beyond their boundaries -- Ian Finlayson * The Times *An impressive debut ... heartfelt and compelling ... With this impassioned volume he has struck a blow for the glory of the Caucasus and helped to give voice to the voiceless -- Justin Marozzi * Financial Times *Bullough should be congratulated on his brave and tireless investigations into an under-reported region of the world -- George Walden * New Statesman *Let Our Fame Be Great is a treat ... Finely bound, with excellent maps, Bullough draws you irresistibly into his narrative, fusing reportage, history and travelogue in colourful, absorbing prose ... The book is a pleasure, and most importantly, it is critical to understanding modern Russia with its worrying collective amnesia -- Daniel Metcalfe * Spectator *Fascinating and ground-breaking ... Bullough has got plenty of dust, snow and mud on his boots from his travels recording the forgotten tragedies of the North Caucasus ... In the process he [has] unearthed many priceless nuggets of historic truth -- Thomas de Waal * OpenDemocracy *

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Book SynopsisThe French Writer and aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900-1944), was born in Lyon. His first two books, SOUTHERN MAIL and NIGHT FLIGHT, are distinguished by a poetic evocation of the romance and discipline of flying. Later works, including WIND, SAND AND STARS and FLIGHT TO ARRAS, stress his humanistic philosophy. Saint-Exupéry's popular children's book THE LITTLE PRINCE is also read by adults for its allegorical meaning. Saint-Exupéry's plane disappeared during a mission in World War II.

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David Edgerton is Hans Rausing Professor at Imperial College London, where he was the founding director of the Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine. He is the author of a sequence of groundbreaking books on 20th century Britain: Science, Technology and the British Industrial 'Decline', 1870-1970; Warfare State: Britain, 1920-1970; and Britain's War Machine, published by Penguin. He is also the author of the iconoclastic and brilliant The Shock of the Old: Technology and Global History Since 1900.

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Book SynopsisCHOSEN AS A BOOK OF THE YEAR BY NEW STATESMAN AND BBC HISTORY MAGAZINE''In this searing book, Priya Satia demonstrates, yet again, that she is one of our most brilliant and original historians'' Sunil Amrith, author of Unruly WatersFor generations, the history of the British empire was written by its victors. British historians'' accounts of conquest guided the consolidation of imperial rule in India, the Middle East, Africa and the Caribbean. Their narratives of the development of imperial governance licensed the brutal suppression of colonial rebellion. Their reimagining of empire during the two world wars compromised the force of decolonization.In this brilliant work, Priya Satia shows how these historians not only interpreted the major political events of their time but also shaped the future that followed. History emerged as a mode of ethics in the modern period, endowing historians from John Stuart Mill to Winston Churchill with outsized policymaking power. Braided with this story is an account of alternative visions articulated by anticolonial thinkers such as William Blake, Mahatma Gandhi and E. P. Thompson. By the mid-twentieth century, their approaches had reshaped the discipline of history and the ethics that came with it.Time''s Monster reveals the dramatic consequences of writing history today as much as in the past. Against the backdrop of enduring global inequalities and debates about reparations and the legacy of empire, Satia offers us a hugely important and urgent moral voice.Trade ReviewMuch of the best scholarship today is ­distinguished by a vigorous and sustained challenge to old imperialist verities. Priya Satia's Time's Monster, which comes out of a long, if little-noticed, intellectual ­counter-tradition in Asia and Europe, bracingly describes how our moral and political imagination became so constrained and how it could be liberated -- Pankaj Mishra, * New Statesman, Books of the Year *Vital. . . a coruscating and important reworking of the relationship between history, historians and empire -- Kenan Malik * Observer *Phenomenal . . . in asking how British men felt able to justify running an empire rooted in violence and systemic inequality, Satia's discussion of this ethical conundrum runs into wonderfully imaginative, even astronomical and spiritual spaces -- Priya Atwal * BBC History Magazine *Priya Satia's book dazzles by its brilliance but also points to other enigmas and mysteries that historians have to confront and unravel * The Wire *Turns the lens on history as a subject, asking how we have told the story of empire in the past. Satia offers a scholarly and analytical interpretation of how historians themselves have framed the ways that empire is understood in British history writing - from John Stuart Mill to EP Thompson -- Yasmin Khan * BBC History Magazine, Books of the Year *A meditative, intensive and sweeping critique of the discipline of history . . . an important book * History Today *Fearless . . . A book that puts the historian's craft to brilliant use in examining the philosophical and conceptual foundations of the discipline of History -- Amitav GhoshNot only a sweeping account of the British Empire over the past three centuries, but also an ambitious intellectual history, touching on everything from the Mahabharata to Marx, and from Shakespeare to Said. . . This urgent and compelling book encourages us to listen to different voices, to tell different stories, and ultimately to rethink what it means to be a historian and to engage critically and imaginatively with the past -- Kim Wagner, author of Amritsar 1919In this searing book, Priya Satia demonstrates, yet again, that she is one of our most brilliant and original historians. Time's Monster casts new light on the British Empire by homing in on a fundamental question --how did 'good' men, acutely concerned with their consciences, preside over systematic exploitation and repeated atrocities? Satia shows that only if we grapple with the complicity of historians in assuaging their moral qualms can we confront empire's darkest legacies in our troubled world -- Sunil Amrith, author of Unruly WatersDeeply thought-provoking and incisively argued, Time's Monster is sure to become a classic for anyone interested in European empires and the role of history in shaping human behaviour. In this extraordinary book, Priya Satia weaves wide-ranging evidence into a lively narrative, proving incontrovertibly why she is one of the most important historians of our time. -- Caroline Elkins, author of Imperial ReckoningA pathbreaking study of the historical imagination's founding in colonialism. Moving from historical counternarratives to anti-historical thinking and poetry, Priya Satia guides us through important new ways of understanding the imperial past and its effects on our shared future. -- Faisal Devji, author of The Impossible IndianA deeply insightful account of the way historical thinking informs the exercise of power. If historians are to play a positive role in the struggle to bend the arc of human history away from tyranny and toward justice, the lessons of this book should weigh heavily on our collective conscience. But more than that, this work is indispensable for anyone who wants to understand how the way we know the past shapes our future possibilities -- Vincent Brown, author of Tacky’s RevoltA magisterial account of the role of history in the making of the British Empire. At a moment of chronic hand-wringing over the decline of the historical profession and the crisis of the humanities, Time's Monster is an especially welcome addition for understanding how history can be used and misused. -- Dinyar Patel, author of NaorojiHistory writing once burnished the monument of imperial progress, and continues to do so for many audiences today. In her brilliant and coruscating account of the uses of history in the making and unmaking of the British empire, Priya Satia offers a striking new way of confronting the problems that continue to plague contemporary societies. This is a bravura performance -- Samuel Moyn, author of Not EnoughAs people around the globe struggle against a world order that owes its existence to rampant resource exploitation and dehumanizing beliefs about racial hierarchies, Priya Satia has given us a timely and powerful reminder about the complicity of history, as a discipline, in the making of that order. -- Jacob Dlamini, author of The Terrorist Album

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Book SynopsisLord Herbert of Cherbury was a flamboyant Stuart courtier, soldier, and diplomat, known for his duelling and extravagance but also for his great intellect. His life and writings offer a unique window into the aristocratic world and culture of the early seventeenth century and the outbreak and impact of the Thirty Years War and British Civil Wars.Table of ContentsIntroduction GREAT EXPECTATIONS 1: A Promising Youth 2: Chafing at the Bit COURTLY ADVENTURES 3: French Leave 4: Courtier and Swordsman 5: Citizen of the World DIPLOMATIC INTERVENTIONS 6: Changing Times 7: My Lord, the Ambassador 8: The Fickleness of Princes INTELLECTUAL OCCUPATIONS 9: Intellectual Ambitions and Interests 10: Philosopher and Theologian 11: Royal Historian 12: Musician and Poet COURT AND COUNTRY 13: Noble Preoccupations 14: 'Treacherous Herbert' or Man of Honour? Epilogue

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Book SynopsisAs the Nazis staged their takeover in 1933, instances of antisemitic violence began to soar.While previous historical research assumed that this violence happened much later, Hermann Beck counteracts this, drawing on sources from twenty German archives, and focussing on this early violence, and on the reaction of German institutions and the elites who led them.Before the Holocaust examines the antisemitic violence experienced in this period - from boycotts, violent attacks, robbery, extortion, abductions, and humiliating ''pillory marches'', to grievous bodily harm and murder - which has hitherto not been adequately recognized. Beck then analyses the reactions of those institutions that still had the capacity to protest against Nazi attacks and legislative measures - the Protestant Church, the Catholic Church, the bureaucracies, and Hitler''s conservative coalition partner, the DNVP - and the mindset of the elites who led them, to determine their various responses to flagrant antisemitTrade Review5* review: "...It is a book all students of the Nazi regime should read..." * Paul Donnelley, Daily Express *Relentlessly concise and nigh monumental within its outstanding sphere of research...nothing less than an astonishing achievement. * David Marx, David Marx Book Reviews *an important book... a major contribution to readers' understanding of the beginnings of the Third Reich. * R. Spickermann, Choice Reviews *The initiation of Hitler's violence against the Jews has long been neglected in the massive literature on the Holocaust. Hermann Beck's Before the Holocaust fills this lacuna with a monumental study of its very first months. The book fully contextualizes and also describes in thorough detail the initial phase of what became a policy of "cumulative radicalization," as well as the very muted reaction to it. An indispensable preliminary to Holocaust studies. * Stanley G. Payne, University of Wisconsin-Madison, author of A History of Fascism 1914-1945 *Based on extensive archival research, Beck's outstanding book accomplishes something that surprisingly has never been done before: a great piece of erudite and original research, Before the Holocaust charts out anti-Semitic violence and other acts of Jew-hatred in the months following Hitler's takeover of power in 1933. In doing so, the book investigates the transition of pre-Nazi German anti-Semitism to National Socialist persecution of the Jews in Germany. Beck accomplishes something extraordinary, namely, to say something genuinely new about the origins and the emergence of the Shoah. * Thomas Weber, Chair in History and International Affairs & Director, Centre for Global Security and Governance, University of Aberdeen *Hermann Beck's Before the Holocaust is a powerful book. Using extensive new research, the study throws a glaring light on the extent and murderous brutality of antisemitic persecution from the very outset of Hitler's accession to power. Moreover, it demonstrates how the Protestant and Catholic churches, as well as the conservative elites, united in their enthusiastic support for the "national revolution", abstained from immediate protest, whatever initial or later misgivings there may have been. For any student of Nazi Germany, Beck's study is a must. * Saul Friedländer, Emeritus Professor of History, UCLA; author of Nazi Germany and the Jews: vol I: The Years of Persecution 1933-1939 *Hermann Beck has painstakingly uncovered a whole range of antisemitic violence that began during the first weeks of Hitler's dictatorship. He discovered these events by working through over a dozen national and regional archives in Germany, as well as numerous collections of published documentary material and newspapers. The appalling terror he reveals often occurred in full public view in cities and towns across the country - horrendous attacks that have been overlooked, ignored, or neglected by generations of historians. In what is sure to become the standard work on the topic, Beck shows beyond a shadow of a doubt that Nazi-led violence rained down on the Jews during the Nazi takeover. Without question, this early and vicious brutality signaled the beginning of the inhumane process that would culminate in the Holocaust. * Robert Gellately, Earl Ray Beck Professor of History, Florida State University; author of Hitler's True Believers: How Ordinary People Became Nazis *This is an important book...This book is a major contribution to readers' understanding of the beginnings of the Third Reich. * Choice *Table of ContentsPreface Introduction: The Search for Archival Evidence Part I: Violence against Foreign Jews 1: Violence against 'Ostjuden' in the Winter and Spring of 1933 2: 'Ostjuden' as Predetermined Targets - a History of Marginalization 3: Attacks against American and West European Jews, among Others Part II: Violence against German Jews 4: Violent Attacks 5: Pillory Marches and the Perfidy Decree 6: Murder 7: Boycott 8: Legal and Economic Discrimination Part III: Reactions to Anti-Semitic Violence 9: The Protestant Church and the 'Jewish Question' 10: Protestant Church Leaders and the 'Jewish Question' 11: The Protestant Church between Action and Silence 12: The Reaction of the Catholic Church 13: Reactions of the German Bureaucracy 14: The Reaction of Hitler's Conservative Coalition Partner Epilogue: How could it happen?

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Book SynopsisThis study looks at the relationship between popular recreations and the spaces in which they took place, and in doing so it provides a history of how England enjoyed itself during the long eighteenth century.Because the poor lacked land of their own, public spaces were needed for their sports and pastimes. Such recreations included: parish wakes and feasts; civic fairs and celebrations; football, cricket and other athletic sports; bull- and bear-baiting; and the annual celebrations of Shrove Tuesday and Guy Fawkes.Three case studies form the core of this book, each looking at the recreations and spaces to be found in different types of settlement: first, the streets and squares of provincial market towns; then the diverse vacant spaces to be found in industrialising towns and villages of the west Midlands and West Riding of Yorkshire; and finally the village greens of rural England. Through a detailed examination of contemporary books, diaries and newspapers, and records in over fortyTrade ReviewA masterly piece of scholarship, based on assiduous and detailed research, yet written in an accessible style. * Roger Munting, Sport in History *This monograph builds upon Emma Griffin's excellent 2001 Cambridge PhD thesis and offers a cultural history of parish wakes and feasts; civic fairs and celebrations; football, cricket and other athletic sports; bull - and bear - baiting; and the annual celebrations of Shrove Tuesday and Guy Fawkes day in the long eighteenth century. [It is] an important and useful, as well as an entertaining, read. * Continuity and Change *...an important and useful, as well as an entertaining, read. * Patrick Driscoll, Cambridge University Press, Continuity and Change *

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewImmensely rewarding... [Lipscomb] traces each woman's life touchingly, from a family background... through decades of work, to their most significant achievements... The book also works as a very readable introduction to Western moral philosophy. * Katie Barron *[the book] had me hooked for weeks * Tom Stoppard, Books of the Year 2022, Times Literary Supplement *Revelatory * , Prospect, Books of the Year 2021 *[a] rich mixture of biography and philosophy... [Lipscomb] skilfully conveys how scientistic philosophers plunged ethics into the subjectivity and delusoriness they sought to avoid, and how four female philosophers helped steer it towards a more human, socially objective realism. * Jane O'Grady, The Daily Telegraph *What Lipscomb's book does well is to paint a vivid and touching picture of the friendships between these four women, as they evolved through their lives. * Kate Manne, Times Literary Supplement *Benjamin Lipscomb's new group biography, The Women Are Up to Something, is a fascinating exploration of their life and thought... Lipscomb paints a vivid portrait not only of them as people, but also a moment in British philosophy too often told through the male line... Lipscomb's book succeeds wonderfully in presenting a particular era in philosophy, and the huge influence of, in particular, Anscombe and Foot in the field of ethics... Lipscomb is not only a powerful advocate for these thinkers, but he also tells their story with a combination of thoroughness and humour. His evocation of their cultural milieu, and the way each of them grappled with their ideas as well as with their world, is both adept and entertaining. * Peter Salmon, Prospect *A wonderful story of four brilliant women whose audaciously unfashionable thought (as well as their attentive teaching and mentorship) has changed the face of the discipline.It is also a delightful story of love, friendship and eccentricity. * Cathy Mason, Literary Review *[Lipscomb] has produced a superior work of personal and intellectual history, sensitive and finely written. * Thomas Nagel, London Review of Books *Professor Lipscomb's ingenious method is to construct a multiple intellectual biography... The intertwined lives of these four, very remarkable women - the sheer intensity of their intellectual quests and of their emotional attachments, their contrasting characters and differing approaches to philosophy, their unifying mission to rescue ethics from the barren plateaus upon which it had been stranded by logical positivism and existentialism - all of this, Lipscomb brings to life in a virtuoso performance of its own, combining clear exposition of often complicated philosophical positions with an emotionally intelligent and highly readable example of the biographer's art. * Oliver Letwin, The Tablet *A welcome corrective to a narrative that centers men at the heart of post-war Oxford philosophy...fascinating and important...The biographical aspect of Lipscomb's book is excellent...These stories are interesting for their own sake, but also heartening for women who suffer still today from such feelings and problems. * Sheryl Misak, Philosopher's Magazine *Lipscomb draws from an impressive collection of sources to give us an insight into the lives, characters, and work of these four brilliant women, both showing how their ideas developed through their life experiences, and painting a very vivid picture of Oxford philosophy in the first half of the past century... highly recommended. The narrative is captivating and easily accessible to the general reader... thought-provoking and absorbing... an important contribution to the increasing number of books that aim to unearth the neglected contributions of women to philosophy. * Elly Vintiadis, The Philosopher *Lipscomb's subjects are depicted in whirlwind portraits of emotional effusiveness, bohemian squalor, and general eccentricity. The book is scattered with delightful anecdotes...[it] entails a celebration of pluralism. It reminds us of the value of listening to others, of entertaining and attending to a heteroglossia of ideas, attitudes, and opinions... it stands out as a timely reminder of how to see nuance in a polarised world. * Cora MacGregor, Oxford Review of Books *Enthralling highly readable Lipscomb has cast his net very wide in his research and managed to interview or correspond with a huge number of people with relevant memories, some of them alas no longer with us. The resulting slice of intellectual history, with its lively and sympathetic portraits of these path-breaking women, fully bears out the back-cover blurb from Anthony Kenny, who confirms the authenticity of the books background and praises it as compulsively readable. Other readers, even those without a background in philosophy, will surely agree. * Lesley Brown, Oxford Magazine *[A] refreshing group biography... Lipscomb keeps things centered on [the] friendship, making powerful use of newly opened archives and the philosophers' unpublished correspondence, as when he brings Oxford to life using Murdoch's letters to friends. This credible corrective couldn't have arrived at a better time. * , Publishers Weekly *Offers engaging accounts of the lives and writings of [these four] women tells stories that rival in passion and intrigue anything that Elena Ferrantes Neapolitan Novels have to offer and contain much to interest specialists as well as general readers. * Alice Crary, Boston Review *The story is fascinating. The Women Are Up to Something is certainly well worth reading. * Bárbara Mujica, Washington Independent Review of Books *Benjamin Lipscomb paints in vivid colours the encounter and long-lasting friendship between Elisabeth Anscombe, Philipa Foot, Mary Midgley, and Iris Murdoch. * Marie Daouda, Engelsberg Ideas *This book tells [these women's] fascinating and intertwined personal stories, describes well the contemporary context and chronicles the success of women in a determinedly male world. It is just lovely to read. * Christine King, Progressive Voices *The Women Are Up To Something, is a more conventional biography of these same four women. Although it inevitably covers much of the same ground as Metaphysical Animals, it does so in a more ortho- dox, more objective,...He also provides much more biographical and philosophical detail about the quartet's main protagonist, R.M. Hare, tracing his philosophical development from the rather mystical work he wrote as a POW, which he never published, through to his final endorsement of a version of utilitarianism. All of this makes Lipscomb's book a good companion volume to Mac Cumhaill and Wiseman. * Marie McGinn, Society *With the publication of The Women Are Up to Something, Benjamin Lipscomb has provided us with a work of original scholarship, a gripping narrative, and a compelling argument about a key period in twentieth century moral philosophy * John Berkman, The Heythrop Journal *This book is most appropriate for the philosophy student or academic, yet its many anecdotes and insights into the personal lives and decisions of these brilliant women demonstrate that philosophical movements, broad cultural currents, and life-and-death decisions are still made by real people who live real lives and who make choices in the quiet of their consciences. * John M. DeJak, Chronicles *Lipscomb's book is an admirably researched piece of scholarship, and compulsively readable... The style and content make this an attractive introduction for newcomers interested in learning something about both their philosophical views and their lives, and it could be a helpful companion to both the interested layperson as well as to students. What is most valuable about the book, in my view, is the rich and evocative picture one gets of the lives of these four women. * Nicholas Sparks, Genealogies of Modernity *This book is a window into the intellectually and socially intense lives of four significant women in British philosophical and literary history...It is the kind of book that makes its readers want to delve more deeply into its subject matter and that really makes it a very worthwhile read indeed. * Margaret Hickey, GRIPT *.. offer more than philosophies in the feminine: a portrait of thought in the central decades of yestercentury. * , ArquitecturaViva 245 *This well written book is a window into the intellectually and socially intense lives of four significant women in British philosophical and literary history. * Margaret Hickey, Position Papers *Lipscomb gives an excellent summary of the body and trajectory of each woman's individual work...[the book] offer[s] an important and rare look into the role of community and friendship in shaping thought, belief, and life. * Amy Frykholm, Christian Century *Lipscomb has told a wonderful story - a story that had to be told...he provides the first sustained engagement with the contribution of these women, their lives and ideas... This is a book that will engage those with an interest in the history of philosophy and ethics, particularly those who welcome the highlighting of the significant but often hidden contribution of women in this field. * Janet Dyson, REtoday magazine *In showing us some of the virtues that make possible cooperation across difference, Lipscombs book does a valuable service. If we can learn from it, the quality of public debate and discussionon social media, in publications, and in the academycould be greatly improved. * Peter Blair, FareForward *The Women Are Up to Something is certainly a good read, and a fine work of intellectual history (and a bit more) that will surely leave many readers wanting to know even more about the women, their work, and 1940s Oxford. * , Complete Review *Four women, friends from studying at Oxford during and after the second world war, revolutionized the field of moral philosophy. At male-dominated Oxford, live issues of moral philosophy had for long been as unheard as the voices of women philosophers. Philippa Foot, Elizabeth Anscombe, Mary Midgley and Iris Murdoch developed their positions in distinct but overlapping ways, fortified by lasting and sustaining friendships. The difference they made brought about the single biggest change in moral philosophy for over a century, replacing arid scholasticism with rich discussions of goodness, virtue, and character. This lively and well-informed book tells us how the intertwined lives of four women philosophers also tell us the story of moral philosophy waking up after a long dogmatic slumber. It's a wonderful story which will keep any reader turning the pages. * Julia Annas, Regents Professor Emerita, Department of Philosophy, University of Arizona *This is a compulsively readable book about a remarkable quartet of women who kept philosophy alive in Oxford during the second world war, and who gave it a new direction after the postwar return of the men. As a survivor of the main period of this story I can attest to the authenticity of its background, and I relished the vivid portraits of each of the heroines. It is a book which will fascinate not only those with an interest in the history of philosophy, but even more those who welcome women's major contributions to fields traditionally the preserve of men. * Sir Anthony Kenny, Emeritus Fellow, St John's College, University of Oxford *Four of the greatest philosophers of the twentieth century were friends at Oxford during World War II; they were women in a field still dominated by men; and they rebelled against a picture of ethics as the play of subjective attitudes, values to be set against the hard facts of science. Benjamin Lipscomb's book about Elizabeth Anscombe, Philippa Foot, Mary Midgley, and Iris Murdoch is absorbing, personal, and intellectually thrilling--at once a vivid recreation of a deep philosophical friendship and a timely defence of objectivity in ethics. I wish I had written it! * Kieran Setiya, Professor of Philosophy, MIT *Table of ContentsTwo Notes Preface Chapter 1 - Facts and Values Chapter 2 - Oxford in Wartime Chapter 3 - Daughters of 1919 Chapter 4 - The Coming Philosophers Chapter 5 - Murdoch's Diagnosis Chapter 6 - Elizabeth Anscombe versus the World Chapter 7 - The Somerville Senior Common Room Chapter 8 - Slipping Out Over the Wall Chapter 9 - Time, Like the Sea...

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Book SynopsisIn 1989 three Soviet republics--Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, known as Baltic countries--started a determined push for independence, risking to destabilize the Soviet Union and to derail international negotiations on German reunification. Politics of Uncertainty traces Soviet and American responses to Baltic claims for independence and, in doing so, sheds light on the end of the Cold War.Trade ReviewThe Soviet Union's sudden and surprising collapse continues to resonate, nowhere more so than in the Baltics. Long subjugated, sometimes pawns, and oftentimes a thorn in the side of Kremlin leaders, the region's recent past tells us much about life next to a superpower. No scholar has better brought the Baltics and the end of the Cold War into focus than Una Bergmane, whose Politics of Uncertainty is certain to set the standard for any future study of this critical geopolitical hotspot. * Jeffrey A. Engel, Center for Presidential History, Southern Methodist University *An excellent work of scholarship, thoroughly researched, original, and incisive. Based on a vast array of sources from the USA, USSR, and Europe, Bergmane gives us a whole new perspective on the Balts' independence struggle and their crucial role in Soviet collapse and the Cold War endgame. This book is essential reading for anyone wanting to understand the strategic significance of the Baltic region today. * Kristina Spohr, author of Post Wall, Post Square: Rebuilding the World after 1989 *Bergmane is a brilliant chronicler of the Baltic quest for independence from Moscow's rule. Juxtaposing Baltic, Russian, and American sources, she tells a very nuanced and yet highly readable story of how Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania negotiated their exit from the USSR, helping to undermine the Soviet empire in the process. A required read for any student of the Soviet collapse. * Sergey Radchenko, author of Unwanted Visionaries: The Soviet Failure in Asia at the End of the Cold War *While the passing of Mikhail Gorbachev was met with appreciative recollections of his legacy of peace and democratization, Russia's brutal war against Ukraine reminds us that the causes and consequences of Soviet disintegration have not been fully established. As the world re-focuses on the process of Russia's imperial decline, Una Bergmane's analysis of the Baltic role in Soviet collapse is revelatory. With its rare and balanced analysis of the internal and international forces in play at the end of the Cold War, Politics of Uncertainty is essential reading for the post-post-Cold War world. * Violeta Davoliūtė, Institute of International Relations and Political Science, Vilnius University *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction Chapter 1: The Origins of the Baltic Question Chapter 2: "Have you not noticed our absence?" The Baltic Question during the Annus Mirabilis of 1989 Chapter 3: Building a New World Order? The Lithuanian Crisis of Spring 1990 Chapter 4: The End of Perestroika? The Baltic Quest for Visibility and the Soviet Crackdown Chapter 5: The Rise of Republics, the Fall of the Center: The Baltic Exception and the Collapse of the USSR Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewIn this engaging and insightful study, Joseph Peterson explores the myriad ways in which Catholic missionary experiences animated debates about race, civilization, and imperial ideology in nineteenth-century French Algeria. What emerges is a rich and troubling story of how lasting perceptions of Muslims and 'the Arab' were wrought in the fires of religious and political competition. Sacred Rivals is an essential book for anyone interested in the intellectual, social, and cultural history of modern empire. * J.P. Daughton, Stanford University *Sacred Rivals renews our understanding of the Catholic-Muslim encounters during the colonization of Algeria by France in the nineteenth century. Drawing from Catholic discourses on Islam and missionary practices on the ground, Joseph W. Peterson analyzes brilliantly the shift from the admiration, by conservative Catholics, for the devout piety of Algerian Muslims to a condemnation of Islam as fanatical and inconvertible by liberal Catholics. These new exclusionary discourses and practices fed religious orientalism, the formation of modern stereotypes of Muslims as the enemies of civilization, and, above all, the racialization of Islam. This wonderful book provides us with an important genealogy of modern Islamophobia while suggesting that Catholicism had also produced earlier resources for the toleration of Islam. * Emmanuelle Saada, Columbia University *This deeply researched and carefully argued book offers new insight into how a specifically 'Catholic Orientalism,' alongside and in tension with a secular state 'civilizing mission,' shaped the ideology and practice of colonial government in nineteenth-century French Algeria. Peterson reveals the surprising ways in which internal contests between conservative and liberal Catholics shaped attitudes towards missionary work, shifting over the course of the nineteenth century from an ambivalent philo-Islamism to an increasingly hostile, racialized view of Muslim fanaticism and the perceived menace of 'pan-Islamism.' It will be of great interest to scholars of religion, race, and colonialism in the French Empire and beyond it. * Judith Surkis, Rutgers University *Weaving its argument seamlessly from the stories of colonizers and colonized in Algeria, Sacred Rivals shows how religion served to articulate and extend French imperial domination, and how colonial occupation offered resurgent Catholicism a field of action it had lost in France. Peterson argues convincingly that conservative Catholics viewed Islam more 'positively' as a model of unified religiosity France had lost; yet failing to find more than a handful of converts, they rationalized their disappointment with increasingly bitter racial and cultural generalizations about Arabs and Muslims. This is a 'social history of ideas' that will be read eagerly by scholars of French empire and the church, and more broadly by readers interested in the roots of French Islamophobia. * Ian Coller, University of California, Irvine *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction Chapter 1: Sincerely Religious: Louis Veuillot and Catholic Representations of Islam and Empire Chapter 2: God and Caesar: Missionaries and Militaires in Colonial Algeria Chapter 3: White unto Harvest: Religion, Race, and the Jesuit Mission Arabe at Constantine Chapter 4: Crusade of Charity: Liberal Catholic Roots of the Civilizing Mission Chapter 5: Conspiracy to Massacre: Liberal Catholics and the Invention of Pan-Islam Chapter 6: Worthy of his Hire: Charles Lavigerie, Algerian Muslims, and Missionary Fundraising Chapter 7: Compel Them to Come: Algerian Students and Colonial Racism between France and Algeria Epilogue Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisIn The Inner Life of Catholic Reform, Ulrich Lehner offers a longue durée overview of the sentiments and spiritual ideas of the 250-year long time span following the Council of Trent, known as Catholic Reform. While there have been many studies of the so-called Counter-Reformation, the political side of Catholic Reform, and of its institutional and social history, the sentiments, motivations and religious practices of Catholic Reform--what Lehner calls the inner life--have been mostly neglected. Reform, Lehner argues, was not something that occurred merely through institutional changes, new laws, and social control. For early modern Catholics, church reform began with personal reform and attempts to live in a state of grace. Lehner seeks to take these religious commitments seriously and understand them on their own terms. The central question he asks is What did Catholics do to obtain salvation, to make themselves pleasing to God? Lehner examines how the spiritual ideas that emerged from attempts to wrestle with the question of the salvation of souls changed the Catholic view of the world.Drawing on a plethora of published and unpublished sources and a wide array of secondary literature--with an emphasis on Europe, but integrating material from Africa, America, and Asia--Lehner documents this transformative period in history, when Catholicism became a world religion.Trade ReviewUlrich Lehner's book is a masterpiece of sympathetic understanding of the religious aspirations of the Catholic Reform...His scholarship and sympathetic openness to the aspirations of the Reform, while recognising its limitations, equips him to give the reader a particularly helpful portrait of this period of Catholic history. * Robert Gascoigne, Journal of Religious History *Lehner's book successfully addresses the historiographical gaps of the Catholic Enlightenment from the lenses of theology and history. Due to its brevity, topics such as controversies that shook Catholicism as well as early modern authors and works, information about popes, and religious orders are left out. This gives readers space to simultaneously study Lehner's book with other scholarship on these topics. This book is ideal for undergraduate and graduate students of history, philosophy, and theology as well as those who are interested in learning more about the history of the Catholic Church during the early modern period. * Kyra Sanchez Clapper, World History Encyclopedia *This book is ideal for undergraduate and graduate students of history, philosophy, and theology as well as those who are interested in learning more about the history of the Catholic Church during the early modern period. * World History Encyclopedia *Ulrich Lehner unfolds a rich new vision of early modern Catholicism. Doctrine could not change, but practices could, and the Catholic Church devised effective ways, many of them new, to instruct and engage, frighten and console parishioners across the world. Most of the faithful were poor, many were illiterate, but through preaching and confession, prayer and catechism, the Church tried to reach them all. * Anthony Grafton, Henry Putnam University Professor of History, Princeton University *The Inner Life of Catholic Reform charts a history that is significant for ecumenical discussions of early modern period and insists, for then and now, that the reform of the church is about the care of souls. * Christine Helmer, Peter B. Ritzma Chair of Humanities, Professor of German and Religious Studies, Northwestern University *A distinguished authority on Catholic enlightenment and "outer reform," Ulrich Lehner focuses here on the much-neglected issue of "inner reform," namely those central practices that aimed not at correct belief but at the sanctification of the individual and community. The result is a brief, readable, and exceptionally rich account that uncovers an array of pious practices central to the self-understanding of Catholics in the early modern period—and that touch upon something abiding and central to Catholic identity to this day. * Kevin Madigan, Winn Professor of Ecclesiastical History, Harvard University *Although Roman Catholicism is known for its profuse material culture and visible institutional presence, Lehner demonstrates his nuanced mastery of its richly multifaceted interior life from the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries. The pervasive emphasis on Catholics' inner reform animated the Church's exuberant external expressions and established its global footprint between the Middle Ages and the modern era. * Brad S. Gregory, author of The Unintended Reformation: How a Religious Revolution Secularized Society *Presenting a picture of reformed orthodoxy that reads remarkably like a manual, almost a catechism, for present-day Catholics, he (Lehner) has succeeded in recovering a way of living the faith that has been largely obscured by the conflicts of the Reformation era. * Victor Houliston, Heythrop Journal *The Inner Life of Catholic Reform: From the Council of Trent to the Enlightenment is a welcome and enlightening book...Lehner's work is a welcome addition to the field and should be required reading in courses on early modern Catholicism. * Christian D. Washburn, University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN, USA *This text would be useful for studying spirituality as well as the history of this largely unknown time period...Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; professionals; general readers. * Choice *Lehner's very readable book is a hybrid between a monograph and a textbook. * Moshe Sluhovsky, Church History *Ulrich Lehner's book presents a detailed description of early modern Catholic devotional theology and the various methods 'charismatic church reformers' advocated to support the spiritual renewal of individual believers...The book is thorough and deeply erudite while remaining clear and accessible. * Marc R.Forster, Journal of Ecclesiastical History *

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Book SynopsisThucydides Historiae Vol. I: Books I-IV

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Book SynopsisLivy Ab Urbe Condita Books I-V

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Book SynopsisThis is the sixth volume in the Oxford Classical Texts series of Livy and contains a Latin text (without translation), together with full apparatus criticus and Latin introduction, of Books 36-40, which cover the period from 192 to 179 BC. This momentous era in the history of Republican Rome begins with the war with Antiochus, which resulted in Rome''s indirect control of Greece and Asia, and concludes with the death of Philip V of Macedon, foreshadowing the Third Macedonian War. During these years Rome also struggled for the increasing dominance of northern Italy and Spain. On the domestic front, Livy depicts this period as the beginning of Roman moral decline, as reflected in such events as the trials of the Scipios, the censorship of Cato, and the Bacchanalia. Since much of the account by Polybius is fragmentary, Livy''s narrative is the main source for the history of the period.Trade Reviewcommand of the material is ... reflected in his extensive bibliographic listing of persons cited. A welcome feature in this volume is the indexes ... marginal line numbers ... are also new. * Rebecca R. Harrison, Religious Studies Review, Vol.26, No.3. *preface is a helpful, current summary of the research and comparative evaluation of the sources. * Rebecca R. Harrison, Religious Studies Review, Vol.26, No.3. *

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Book SynopsisThis is the first volume of a three-volume historical and literary commentary on the eight books of Thucydides, the great fifth-century BC historian of the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta. Of the three books covered in this volume, Book I presents Thucydides'' aims in writing the work and the historical background to the war. Books II and III describe the main events of the first five years of the war (431-426) and include Pericles'' funeral oration, the plague of Athens, the revolt of Mytilene, the destruction of Plataea, and civil war in Corcyra. Thucydides intended his work to be `an everlasting possession'' and the continuing importance of his work is undisputed. Simon Hornblower''s commentary, by translating every passage or phrase of Greek commented on, for the first time allows the reader with little or no Greek to appreciate the detail of Thucydides'' thought and subject-matter. It is the first complete commentary written by a single author this century and exploresTrade Reviewfor its attention to detail, its balanced judgements, and its broad scope, this commentary will become a standard work...it is historically authoritative and historiographically penetrating. Readers at all levels have much to learn from this book, and will appreciate its clear and careful discussions of the many literary masterpieces in Thucydides. Classics Journala model for anyone who wants to get to grips with that great historian: detailed scholarship combined with breadth and lucidity, and the Greek translated into English, too. It is the model on which all future commentaries should be based. The Timesan excellent commentary...it is also an interesting guide to how ancient Greek literature and history have been read and interpreted in the generation from 1960 to 1990. Times Literary SupplementA work at the highest scholarly level...it will play an important role in future research Gnomon

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Book SynopsisPlease note this title is suitable for any student studying:Exam Board: AQALevel/Subject: AS and A Level HistoryFirst teaching: 2015First exams: June 2017Retaining well-loved features from the previous editions, The Crisis of Communism: The USSR and the Soviet Empire 1953-2000 has been approved by AQA and matched to the new 2015 specification. This textbook explores in-depth a period of the practice and demise of Soviet communism. It focuses on key ideas such as de-Stalinisation, ''people power'', leadership and legitimacy, and covers events and developments with precision. Students can further develop vital skills such as historical interpretations and source analyses via specially selected sources and extracts. Practice questions and study tips provide additional support to help familiarise students with the new exam style questions, and help them achieve their best in the exam.

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Book SynopsisThe Fall of Tsarism contains a series of gripping, plain-spoken testimonies from some of the leading participants of the Russian Revolution of February 1917, including the future revolutionary premier Alexander Kerenskii. Recorded in the spring of 1917, months before the Bolsheviks seized power, these interviews represent the earliest first-hand testimonies on the overthrow of the Tsarist regime known to historians. Hidden away and presumed lost for the better part of a century, they are now revealed to the world for the first time.Trade ReviewFor anyone with even a passing interest in the last days of Tzarism. * K. C. O'Connor, CHOICE *This is an extremely important book, both because of the remarkable treasure trove of unique new primary sources that it brings to light and because of Lyandres preliminary assessment of their utility and meaning. It reopens important issues in the history of the February Revolution and is a book that anyone interested in the Russian Revolution will want, indeed need, to read. * Revolutionary Russia *Semion Lyandres shines fresh light on the causes of the February Revolution. He has found important new sources and shows how they can be used to re-interpret the behaviour of leading figures like Alexander Kerensky and Mikhail Rodzyanko. This is an outstanding contribution to early twentieth-century Russian history. * Professor Robert Service, St Antonys College, Oxford *fascinating and important... the intrinsic interest and importance of these accounts is sufficient to captivate the reader and enhance our understanding of the February Revolution. * Catherine Andreyev, English Historical Review *This is a landmark publication that will change the interpretation of the February Revolution of 1917 in Russia ... Lyandres has made an immense contribution. From now on, no book on the February Revolution shall be written without careful examination of these interviews. * Tsuyoshi Hasegawa, The Historian *an exemplary scholarly edition ... This book is a very valuable addition to the sources available for the study of February 1917 * Peter Waldron, European History Quarterly *The volume, which scholars will eagerly welcome, should also prove of interest to a wider reading public. We owe a debt of gratitude to Semion Lyandres for his persistence and his admirable presentation of these important testimonies of the revolution. * Jonathan Daly, History *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations ; List of Maps ; Note to the Reader ; Chronology of Main Events Mentioned in the Interviews ; Part I: The Story of the Interviews ; 1. The Quest for the Lost Oral Histories of the February Revolution ; 2. M.A. Polievktov and the First Oral Histories of the February Revolution ; Part II: The Interviews ; 3. Engel'gardt ; 4. Chikolini ; 5. Gerasimov ; 6. Rodzianko ; 7. Tugan-Baranovskii ; 8. Nekrasov ; 9. Chkheidze ; 10. Skobelev ; 11. Kerenskii ; 12. Tereshchenko ; Conclusion: The Interviews and the Political History of the February Revolution

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Book SynopsisYou could be forgiven for thinking that the smile has no history; it has always been the same. However, just as different cultures in our own day have different rules about smiling, so did different societies in the past. In fact, amazing as it might seem, it was only in late eighteenth century France that western civilization discovered the art of the smile. In the ''Old Regime of Teeth'' which prevailed in western Europe until then, smiling was quite literally frowned upon. Individuals were fatalistic about tooth loss, and their open mouths would often have been visually repulsive. Rules of conduct dating back to Antiquity disapproved of the opening of the mouth to express feelings in most social situations. Open and unrestrained smiling was associated with the impolite lower orders. In late eighteenth-century Paris, however, these age-old conventions changed, reflecting broader transformations in the way people expressed their feelings. This allowed the emergence of the modern smile par excellence: the open-mouthed smile which, while highlighting physical beauty and expressing individual identity, revealed white teeth. It was a transformation linked to changing patterns of politeness, new ideals of sensibility, shifts in styles of self-presentation - and, not least, the emergence of scientific dentistry. These changes seemed to usher in a revolution, a revolution in smiling. Yet if the French revolutionaries initially went about their business with a smile on their faces, the Reign of Terror soon wiped it off. Only in the twentieth century would the white-tooth smile re-emerge as an accepted model of self-presentation. In this entertaining, absorbing, and highly original work of cultural history, Colin Jones ranges from the history of art, literature, and culture to the history of science, medicine, and dentistry, to tell a unique and untold story about a facial expression at the heart of western civilization.Trade ReviewColin Jones knows as much about eighteenth century France as any man alive, and in this study he brings together his prodigious learning and robust curiosity to produce a book that should bring a smile to even the most sullen scholarly face ... Jones tells [his] tale with tremendous insight and wit, drawing on his knowledge of an astonishing array of disciplines and sub-disciplines, from the history of medicine to the history of art. * Darrin M. McMahon, American Historical Review *A tour de force ... Tullett's book is a really successful social and cultural history. * Karen Harvey, author of The Imposteress Rabbit Breeder *... the book... is, among other things, a secret history of dentistry and, because of Jones's wit and erudition, one simply can't imagine the topic being more fascinatingly handled. * Spear's *...entertaining and highly readable * Network Review, David Lorimer *an important contribution to the history of medicine as well as the history of the emotions...It is immensely readable * Reviews in History, Dr Jennifer Wallis *The most intriguing sections of Jones's book examine the establishment of dentistry as a medical science and respectable profession in the 18th century. * Jonathan Beckman, London Review of Books *highly readable, intelligent, unpretentious and even mischievous book... Jones's ingenious and puckish book, poised between high culture and pop psychology, is both entertaining and informative * TLS, Patrice Higonnet *Politics, literature, dentistry and art are wrapped up in a brilliant piece of scholarship. * Michael Prodger, Book of the Year 2014, New Statesman *fascinating exploration * Mary Beard, The Spectator *Fascinating book * The Good Book Guide *It is, in short, an inspiring work by a master of the field. * Anna Jenkin, French History *A combination of impressive learning and entertaining wit * Harriet Devine, Shiny New Books *In just 180 pages, Jones manages to be brilliant about painting, French literature and history, the sociology of emotional expression, and the hucksterish early history of the dental profession. * The Slate, Books of the Year *The most original approach to history in years ... [Colin Jones] had written one of the most absorbing and unusual history books imaginable * Michael Prodger, Sunday Times *immensely readable * The Connexion *The subject of Jones's book may seem recondite, but it is a fascinating mouthful. In mixing dental minutiae, sweeping social history and vivid detail to show why the smile was no laughing matter but something both mutable and meaningful he has written one of the most absorbing and unusual history books imaginable. * Michael Prodger, The Sunday Times *compelling Cheshire cat of a book * Kathryn Hughes, Guardian *ingenious and puckish book * Patrice Higonnet, Times Literary Supplement *a marvellous, engaging and constantly enlightening study * John Brewer, Literary Review *The Smile Revolution is an education and an entertainment ... Colin Jones drills into his subject with wit, clarity and a fine theatrical flourish. * James Hamilton, The Times *The intriguing untold story of how we learned to smile. * The Bookseller *You will never look at an eighteenth-century portrait in the same way after you read these pages so filled with verve, wit, and insight. Colin Jones accomplishes the extraordinary feat of changing our view of the ordinary by showing us how teeth, smiles and laughing all gained profound significance. * Lynn Hunt, author of Inventing Human Rights. *Readers of this witty, engaging study, which wears its wide-ranging scholarship lightly, will certainly find it impossible to keep a straight face. * Malcolm Crook, History *It is a joy to read ... The book is innovative and interdisciplinary in the extreme, combing social, cultural, economic, political and medical history in such a way as to make connections appear entirely natural, and bringing such traditional fields together with the new methodologies of the history of the emotions. It is, in short, an inspiring work by a master of the field. * Anna Jenkin, French History *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1: The Old Regime of Teeth 2: The Smile of Sensibility 3: Cometh the Dentist 4: The Making of a Revolution 5: The Transient Smile Revolution 6: Beyond the Smile Revolution Postscript: Towards the Twentieth-Century Smile Revolution Notes Index

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Book SynopsisThe day of 9 Thermidor (27 July 1794) is universally acknowledged as a major turning-point in the history of the French Revolution. At 12.00 midnight, Maximilien Robespierre, the most prominent member of the Committee of Public Safety which had for more than a year directed the Reign of Terror, was planning to destroy one of the most dangerous plots that the Revolution had faced. By 12.00 midnight at the close of the day, following a day of uncertainty, surprises, upsets and reverses, his world had been turned upside down. He was an outlaw, on the run, and himself wanted for conspiracy against the Republic. He felt that his whole life and his Revolutionary career were drawing to an end. As indeed they were. He shot himself shortly afterwards. Half-dead, the guillotine finished him off in grisly fashion the next day.The Fall of Robespierre provides an hour-by-hour analysis of these 24 hours.Trade ReviewIt's almost as dramatic as the fall of Boris. * Iain Martin, Reaction *The melodramatic story of Maximilien Robespierre's fall has been told many times before, but never in such gloriously sensual detail... Colin Jones brings the French Revolution to life in all its colour and horror... Above all he is brilliant on the psychological twists of politics, which would cost Robespierre his life. * Dominic Sandbrook, 21 Best History Books of 2021, The Times *The book is suspenseful because, even though we know the way things end, it relates the build-up to Robespierres execution in breathless detail. Mining abundant archival material (from the reports of government functionaries, soldiers and spies to the diaries and letters of private citizens of all political beliefs), Jones shows how turbulence, confusion and contingency shaped each moment of that day. * Caroline Weber, London Review of Books *... a thrilling blow-by-blow account of that fateful day in the summer of 1794. One can almost hear the ticking of the clock, minute by minute, second by second, counting down to the guillotine. * Joseph Hone, Books of the Year 2021, History Today *A brilliant hour-by-hour recreation... He has a marvellous eye for colour: the sweat and fear in the Parisian prisons, the exhausted paranoia of the government committees, the stench of the guillotined bodies in the death pits outside the city. He is excellent on the contingency of political history... And, above all, he is brilliant on the psychology of politics, the way the mood of an assembly can switch in a moment with devastating consequences. * Dominic Sandbrook, The Sunday Times *Jones insists that to understand 9 Thermidor it's necessary to dig down to the level of "infinitely small" details. In his admirable account he meticulously reconstructs the day on an hour-by-hour basis, crisscrossing the city as he does so. * Gerard deGroot, The Times *Colin Jones, a professor of history at Queen Mary University of London, handles a huge amount of material with skill and verve. He creates an extraordinarily vivid minute-by-minute portrait of Paris and its people on that pivotal day... * Constance Craig Smith, Daily Mail *The Historian Colin Jones has a gift for examining events afresh. * New Statesman *... minutely detailed and unfailingly gripping... Jones's superbly researched and strikingly original book produces an optic of a radically different kind. 'Only by getting "up close" and drilling down into the "infinitely small" details of the revolutionary process', its author insists, can the day's course and outcome be understood. And for once this counsel of perfection can be put into practice. * John Adamson, Literary Review *Behind the books general reader-friendly narrative structure, academics will find historical virtuosity on display. * Katie Jarvis, The English Historical Review *This is a remarkable, barnstorming doorstop of a book. * David Andress, French History *The greatest merit of Colin Jones's microscopic study of those deadly days in the summer of 1794 is that he succeeds in conveying the terrified uncertainty of the many actors, including large numbers of ordinary Parisians...His account required a massive amount of archival work, and his bibliography is testimony to his labors... The broader educated public with an interest in this extraordinary period will enjoy Jones's lively narrative... * Peter McPhee, H-France *An incisively argued and thrilling moment-by-moment examination of one of the French Revolution's most dramatic days... Colin Jones achieves the exceptional feat of putting 9 Thermidor in a new perspective... Jones's enthralling, incisively argued book is a fine contribution to the debate. * Tony Barber, Financial Times *The story of the Ninth of Thermidor has been told many times, but never so well as in Colin Joness The Fall of Robespierre. * David A Bell, The New York Review *... Colin Jones, as well informed about eighteenth century France as any professor of history could be, leads us through Paris on the exceptional day of 9 Thermidor, Year II. * Johan Hakelius, Engelsberg Ideas *Jones offers a new perspective on the Terror and nature of the Thermidorian Reaction. The unconventional narrative structure and style bring contingency to the fore and, in so doing, lead to new interpretations not only of Maximilien Robespierres downfall but of the course of the French Revolution. * Katlyn Carter, Age of Revolutions *... overall this is a classic: living up to the title exactly, it does so with full marks for style and substance... If you have any interest in the French Revolution, or politics in general, or the "processes of history" you will find The Fall of Robespierre a riveting, rigorous and thought-provoking read. * Anthony Webb, Popular History *This is a remarkable, barnstorming doorstop of a book. * , French History *The work Jones produced to support his point is remarkable... With its minute detailing of human characters, The Fall of Robespierre has the texture of literature and is good material for a mini-series or...how about another Hamilton?... * David Luhrssen, Shepherd Express *Vital, incisive, revelatory, The Fall of Robespierre offers a crisis anatomised, 'by the map and by the clock.' Its close-focus intensity makes us question everything we thought we knew about the bloody events of Thermidor Year II. It takes us to the place, to the instant, to the heartbeat of revolution in the making. * Hilary Mantel, author A Place of Greater Safety and the Wolf Hall trilogy *This is an astoundingly scholarly book, written with a beautifully assured hand... a book for the historian of the French Revolution itself... The minutiae of detail, and the ability to convey it, along with the mounting tension, is a specific talent, and which has been so obviously achieved by the author of this fascinating and superb volume. * Sandra Callard, On: Yorkshire Magazine *This is a remarkable, barnstorming doorstop of a book. * David Andress, French History *Colin Jones's micro-history can be fundamental reading. * Timothy Tackett, University of California, Irvine, Journal of Modern History *Table of ContentsINTRODUCTION: THE FALL OF ROBESPIERRE UP CLOSE PRELUDE: AROUND MIDNIGHT PART 1: ELEMENTS OF CONSPIRACY (Midnight to 05.00 a.m.) PART 2: SETTINGS FOR A DRAMA (5.00 a.m. to Midday) PART 3: A PARLIAMENTARY COUP (Midday to 5.00 p.m.) PART 4: A PARISIAN JOURNÉE (5.00 p.m. to Midnight) PART 5: AT MIDNIGHT, AROUND MIDNIGHT, AFTER MIDNIGHT AFTERWORD: 9 THERMIDOR FROM AFAR NOTES LIST OF CHARACTERS NOTE ON SOURCES BIBLIOGRAPHY AND PRINTED SOURCES INDEX

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Book SynopsisThis is the first environmental history of Russia''s steppes. From the early-eighteenth century, settlers moved to the semi-arid but fertile grasslands from wetter, forested regions in central and northern Russia and Ukraine, and from central Europe. By the late-nineteenth century, they had turned the steppes into the bread basket of the Russian Empire and parts of Europe. But there was another side to this story. The steppe region was hit by recurring droughts, winds from the east whipped up dust storms, the fertile black earth suffered severe erosion, crops failed, and in the worst years there was famine. David Moon analyses how naturalists and scientists came to understand the steppe environment, including the origins of the fertile black earth. He also analyses how scientists tried to understand environmental change, including climate change. Farmers, and the scientists who advised them, tried different ways to deal with the recurring droughts: planting trees, irrigation, and cultivating the soil. More sustainable, however, were techniques of cultivation to retain scarce moisture in the soil. Among the pioneers were Mennonite settlers. Such approaches aimed to work with the environment, rather than trying to change it by planting trees or supplying more water artificially. The story is similar to the Dust Bowl on the Great Plains of the USA, which share a similar environment and environmental history. David Moon places the story of the steppes in the wider context of the environmental history of European colonialism around the globe.Trade ReviewRare is the book that casts Russian history in an almost wholly new light. * Financial Times 2013 Books of the Year *Moon's book is an extremely important contribution to Russian and environmental histories, and can be used in advanced undergraduate as well as graduate courses. * Mark Bernard Tauger, American Historical Review *With this book, David Moon contributes significantly to the environmental history of the Russian and Soviet empires ... The book is thoroughly supported by extensive archival, journal and other research. I recommend it for students of European history, environmental history, Russian history and agricultural history. * Paul Josephson, European History Quarterly *The Plough That Broke the Steppes is an important contribution to the global history of grassland ... Moon's work is both immensely readable and scholarly with a broad historical sweep and interdisciplinary scope. He brings life to scholarly, scientific, and practical agricultural debates on the steppes * Elizabeth Walden, Environmental History *This stimulating book is the first environmental history of the Russian steppe, a flat plain that stretches from Western Russia to Mongolia, north of the Black and Caspian Seas ... Recommended. * N.M. Brooks, CHOICE *In this impressively researched and compellingly argued book, David Moon elevates this problem of what to do with the fertile yet fragile belt of grasslands in Russia's south to one of the enduring 'cursed questions' of the country's history ... Throughout the book Moon evokes his personal experiences on the steppe. These environmental encounters clearly aided his historical thinking and provide vivid examples for the reader. Coming to know the grasslands themselves helped him write this insightful and lasting contribution to environmental and imperial Russian history. * Andy Bruno, History *In the context of current discussions on the causes of climate change and the search for sustainable forms of agriculture, this work is a credit. * Katja Bruisch, Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas *yet another wonderful and ground-breaking book from David Moon ... Throughout, Moon retains a moderate and scientific tone. * Christopher Read, English Historical Review *Table of ContentsPART I: UNDERSTANDING THE STEPPE ENVIRONMENT; PART II: UNDERSTANDING ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE; PART III: COMBATING THE STEPPE ENVIRONMENT?

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Book SynopsisThe high society of Stuart England found Frances Coke Villiers, Viscountess Purbeck (1602-1645) an exasperating woman. She lived at a time when women were expected to be obedient, silent, and chaste, but Frances displayed none of these qualities. Her determination to ignore convention contributed in no small measure to a life of high drama, one which encompassed kidnappings, secret rendezvous, an illegitimate child, accusations of black magic, imprisonments, disappearances, and exile, not to mention court appearances, high-speed chases, a jail-break, deadly disease, royal fury, and - by turns - religious condemnation and conversion.As a child, Frances became a political pawn at the court of King James I. Her wealthy parents, themselves trapped in a disastrous marriage, fought tooth and nail over whom Frances should marry, pulling both king and court into their extended battles. When Frances was fifteen, her father forced her to marry John Villiers, the elder brother of the royal favourite, the Duke of Buckingham. But as her husband succumbed to mental illness, Frances fell for another man, and soon found herself pregnant with her lover''s child.The Viscountess paid a heavy price for her illicit love. Her outraged in-laws used their influence to bring her down. But bravely defying both social and religious convention, Frances refused to bow to the combined authority of her family, her church, or her king, and fought stubbornly to defend her honour, as well as the position of her illegitimate son.On one level a thrilling tale of love and sex, kidnapping and elopement, the life of Frances Coke Villiers is also the story of an exceptional woman, whose personal experiences intertwined with the court politics and religious disputes of a tumultuous and crucially formative period in English history.Trade ReviewBeautiful, very readable, wonderful. * Anna Maria Polidori, Al Femminile *Overall... this is a conscientious book by an author deeply informed about her subject. * Wall Street Journal *[This] lively biography ... brings richly to life the scandals and prosecutions that pursued Edward Coke's beautiful but luckless daughter. ...Luthman writes in an easy, accessible style, with a well-paced narrative, aiming her book at the general reader. Without presuming prior knowledge, she manages to tuck into the folds of this seventeenth-century scandal a rich sample of the latest thinking on the social and political history of the period. * Lorna Hutson, Times Literary Supplement *Lady Purbeck's choices make her life story, told by Johanna Luthman in Love, Madness & Scandal, one of the most fascinating of the 17th century, as well as one of the most salutary... scrupulously researched, thoughtfully argued and carefully written. * Literary Review *Luthman writes in an easy, accessible style, with a well-paced narrative...she manages to tuck into the folds of this seventeenth-century scandal a rich sample of the latest thinking on the social and political history of the period. * Lorna Hutson *Luthman brings to light a lesser-known historical figure and provides a fascinating snapshot of Jacobean society. * Library Review *Scrupulous. * Gerard DeGroot, The Times *[Johanna Luthman] successfully rescues Frances Coke Villiers from being a mere historical footnote in this empathetic examination of one of the early Stuart monarchy's most-notable scandal-tainted women... [She] offers insight into the expectations of countless noblewomen of the age and reveals how remarkable Frances was in living on her own terms. * Publishers Weekly *Johanna Luthman has written a singular account of one of British history's most misunderstood characters. Love, Madness, and Scandal is both a gripping story of Frances Coke Villiers' tumultuous life and a profound meditation on the position of women in seventeenth-century English society. * Amanda Foreman *Table of ContentsAcknowledgements List of Abbreviations Note on Dates and Spelling List of Illustrations List of Persons Prologue 1: Contentious Origins 2: The Marriage-Merry-Go-Round 3: Marriage and Madness 4: Enter the Lover 5: The Legal Troubles 6: Counters and Convictions 7: Town and Country 8: Frances in France 9: Endings Epilogue Appendix: Family Trees Notes Bibliography

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Book SynopsisIn today's world, many believe that everyday life has become selfish and atomised--that individuals live only to consume. Jon Lawrence argues that they are wrong, and that whilst community has changed, it is far from dead. It is time to embrace new communities, and let go of nostalgia for the past.Trade ReviewA vivid and convincing argument about the eternal tug between individualism and community. * Peter Mandler, History Today, Books of the Year 2019 *[A] lively and generous study ... Lawrence's argument is stronger for the way in which it goes against the grain of prevailing thought about social change ... Me, Me, Me? gives its readers a vital alternative prism through which to view present-day social divisions. * Lynsey Hanley, The Financial Times *This richly researched history [...] uncovers the reality behind romantic cliches of our postwar past. [Lawrence] convincingly suggests that the real history of community is one in which people have combined solidarity with self-reliance and privacy ... He makes his case with great clarity. * Selina Todd, The Guardian *A refreshingly optimistic and generally convincing study. * A. W. Purdue, The Times Higher Education Supplement *An evocative exploration of how working-class attitudes have evolved over time in Britain [...] which reads with the colour and interest of a novel. * Gordon Parsons, The Morning Star *Well-researched, engaging and highly informative, with real world examples from all over the country, this book is a must-read for anybody interested in learning about the complexities of British cultural heritage and society. * Colour PR Blog *Table of Contents1: Introduction 2: Family and Place 3: Community and Private Life in Post-war England 4: Moving Out 5: Getting On: The Booming South 6: The Swinging Sixties on Tyneside 7: The Dream is Over 8: Into the Millennium 9: Postscript: Where are We Heading? Appendix - Note on anonymity and sources Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisCommon sense philosophy was one of eighteenth-century Scotland''s most original intellectual products. It developed as a viable alternative to modern philosophical scepticism, known as the ''Ideal Theory'' or ''the way of ideas''. The nine specially written essays in this volume explore the philosophical and historical significance of common sense philosophy in the Scottish Enlightenment. Thomas Reid and David Hume feature prominently as influential authors of competing ideas in the history and philosophy of common sense. The contributors recover anticipations of Reid''s version of common sense in seventeenth-century Scottish scholasticism; revaluate Reid''s position in the realism versus sentimentalism dichotomy; shed new light on the nature of the ''constitution'' in the anatomy of the mind; identify changes in the nature of sense perception throughout Reid''s published and unpublished works; examine Reid on the non-theist implications of Hume''s philosophy; show how ''polite'' literature shaped James Beattie''s version of common sense; reveal Hume''s response to common sense philosophers; explore English criticisms of the Scottish ''school'', and how Dugald Stewart''s refashioning of common sense responded to a new age and the British reception of German Idealism. In recovering the ways in which Scottish common sense philosophy developed during the long eighteenth century, this volume takes an important step toward a more complete understanding of ''the Scottish philosophy'' and British philosophy more broadly in the age of Enlightenment.Trade Review[An] excellent collection of essays on Schottice common sense philosophy * Jenny Keefe, Journal of the History of Philosophy *Table of ContentsC. B. Bow: Introduction: Common Sense in the Scottish Enlightenment 1: Giovanni Gellera: Common Sense and Ideal Theory in Seventeenth Century Scottish Philosophy 2: Gordon Graham: Was Reid a Moral Realist? 3: Claire Etchegaray: Reid on Our Mental Constitution 4: Giovanni B. Grandi: On the Ancestry of Reid's Inquiry: Stewart, Fearn, and Reid's Early Manuscripts 5: Esther Engel Kroeker: Reid's Response to Hume's Moral Atheism: Reid on Morality, Common Sense, and Theism 6: R. J. W. Mills: The Common Sense of a Poet: James Beattie's Essay on Truth (1770) 7: James A. Harris: Hume and the Common Sense Philosophers 8: Paul B. Wood: The 'New Empire of Common Sense': The Reception of Common Sense Philosophy in Britain, 1764-1793 9: C. B. Bow: Dugald Stewart and the Legacy of Common Sense in the Scottish Enlightenment

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Book SynopsisFrom the years leading up to the First World War to the aftermath of the Second, Europe experienced an era of genocide. As well as the Holocaust, this period also witnessed the Armenian genocide in 1915, mass killings in Bolshevik and Stalinist Russia, and a host of further ethnic cleansings in Anatolia, the Balkans, and Eastern Europe. Crisis of Genocide seeks to integrate these genocidal events into a single, coherent history. Over two volumes, Mark Levene demonstrates how the relationship between geography, nation, and power came to play a key role in the emergence of genocide in a collapsed or collapsing European imperial zone - the Rimlands - and how the continuing geopolitical contest for control of these Eastern European or near-European regions destabilised relationships between diverse and multifaceted ethnic communities who traditionally had lived side by side. An emergent pattern of toxicity can also be seen in the struggles for regional dominance as pursued by post-imperialTrade ReviewThe book's breadth of vision, attention to detail, and awareness of synchronicity across these very different regions are remarkable ... [The Crisis of the Genocide is] a remarkable, rich and suggestive history of national projects of elimination in Europe's murderous first half of the twentieth century. * Mark Roseman, Times Literary Supplement *On the whole Mark Levene's impressive study is an extremely readable, informative, and timely book. It should become compulsory reading for Europe's youth in order to make sure that the events that have uprooted Europe in the first half of the 20th century will never happen again. * Peter Hilpold, European Journal of International Law *A renewed purpose for historians of genocide ... a masterclass in the genesis of genocide ... a great accomplishment. Levene's emphasis on the modern political system as the causative element in genocides has opened up fruitful lines of thinking and has advanced the field in major ways ... These volumes dramatically expand our definition of genocide. * Cathie Carmichael, Robert Gerwarth, Eric D. Weitz, Vladimir Solinari, Forum in the Journal of Genocide Research *Few scholars match his [Levene's] panoptic erudition, synthetic ability, cosmopolitan sensitivity, and attention to detail ... a very well-written, thoroughly researched, convincingly argued, and informative book that can be recommended for a broad audience including upper-level undergraduate and graduate students. * Holocaust and Genocide Studies *This extremely ambitious work provides a very knowledgeable and enormously broad survey of violence in large parts of Europe and southwest Asia from the 1910s to the early 1950s. * Christian Gerlach, American Historical Review *Table of ContentsPART ONE: GREAT WAR AND REVOLUTION; PART TWO: INTERREGNUM BETWEEN GREAT WARS

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Book SynopsisFrom the years leading up to the First World War to the aftermath of the Second, Europe experienced an era of genocide. As well as the Holocaust, this period also witnessed the Armenian genocide in 1915, mass killings in Bolshevik and Stalinist Russia, and a host of further ethnic cleansings in Anatolia, the Balkans, and Eastern Europe. Crisis of Genocide seeks to integrate these genocidal events into a single, coherent history. Over two volumes, Mark Levene demonstrates how the relationship between geography, nation, and power came to play a key role in the emergence of genocide in a collapsed or collapsing European imperial zone - the Rimlands - and how the continuing geopolitical contest for control of these Eastern European or near-European regions destabilised relationships between diverse and multifaceted ethnic communities who traditionally had lived side by side. An emergent pattern of toxicity can also be seen in the struggles for regional dominance as pursued by post-imperialTrade ReviewThe book's breadth of vision, attention to detail, and awareness of synchronicity across these very different regions are remarkable ... [The Crisis of the Genocide is] a remarkable, rich and suggestive history of national projects of elimination in Europe's murderous first half of the twentieth century. * Mark Roseman, Times Literary Supplement *On the whole Mark Levene's impressive study is an extremely readable, informative, and timely book. It should become compulsory reading for Europe's youth in order to make sure that the events that have uprooted Europe in the first half of the 20th century will never happen again. * Peter Hilpold, European Journal of International Law *A renewed purpose for historians of genocide ... a masterclass in the genesis of genocide ... a great accomplishment. Levene's emphasis on the modern political system as the causative element in genocides has opened up fruitful lines of thinking and has advanced the field in major ways ... These volumes dramatically expand our definition of genocide. * Cathie Carmichael, Robert Gerwarth, Eric D. Weitz, Vladimir Solinari, Forum in the Journal of Genocide Research *Few scholars match his [Levene's] panoptic erudition, synthetic ability, cosmopolitan sensitivity, and attention to detail ... a very well-written, thoroughly researched, convincingly argued, and informative book that can be recommended for a broad audience including upper-level undergraduate and graduate students. * Holocaust and Genocide Studies *This extremely ambitious work provides a very knowledgeable and enormously broad survey of violence in large parts of Europe and southwest Asia from the 1910s to the early 1950s. * Christian Gerlach, American Historical Review *Table of ContentsPART ONE: RENEWED EUROPEAN CATACLYSM; PART TWO: POST-WAR 'PACIFICATIONS'

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Book Synopsis''Ohe banks of the Thames it is a tremendous chapter of accidents''. As Henry James surveys London in 1888, he sums up what had fascinated urban observers for a century: the random and even accidental development of this unprecedented form of human settlement, the modern metropolis. By Accident or Design: Writing the Victorian Metropolis takes James at his word, arguing that accident was both a powerful metaphor and material context through which the Victorians arrested the paradoxes of metropolitan modernity and reconfigured understandings of form and change. Paul Fyfe shows how the material conditions of urban accidents offer new and compelling modes of analysis for intellectual and literary history. Through extensive archival study and interdisciplinary analysis of urban-industrial accidents, risk management, and civic improvements, By Accident or Design reclaims the metropolis as ground zero for some of the most important thinking about causation in the nineteenth century. It demonstrates the centrality of interdependent concepts of design and accident not only to metropolitan discourse, but also to current critical discourse about the formal and circulatory dynamics of Victorian metropolitan writing. Thus, this book offers a new vocabulary for the dialectics of the modern city and the signature forms of writing about it, including the newspaper, the illustrated periodical, the industrial novel, and urban broadsheets.Trade ReviewReview from previous edition The material here is fascinating ... [Fyfe] has provided readers with stimulating new ways of looking at a broad literary spectrum and that is a considerable achievement. * Jacqueline Banerjee, The Times Literary Supplement *an absorbing and complex piece of work ... There is a critical self-awareness throughout; the book is engaging and methodologically alert ... Fyfe's ability to bring together concerns of urban and intellectual history, literary criticism, archival theory, and more, certainly makes this a stimulating read. * Anna Feintuck, Reviews in History *By Accident or Design constitutes a thoughtful and richly dense literary-historical study of chance, risk and accident in the Victorian city, and one that is alert to the many debates with which it engages. * Ben Moore, Dickens Quarterly *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1: Accidents in the News 2: Dickens and the Traffic of Accidents 3: Industrial Accidents and Novel Insurances 4: Street Literature and the Remediation of Accident 5: Chaos and Connections on the Victorian Railway Afterword: An Accidental Excursion

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Book SynopsisBefore the Second World War, only about 20% of the population went to secondary school and barely 2% to university; today everyone goes to secondary school and half of all young people go to university. How did we get here from there? The Crisis of the Meritocracy answers this question not by looking to politicians and educational reforms, but to the revolution in attitudes and expectations amongst the post-war British public - the rights guaranteed by the welfare state, the hope of a better life for one''s children, widespread upward mobility from manual to non-manual occupations, confidence in the importance of education in a ''learning society'' and a ''knowledge economy''. As a result of these transformations, ''meritocracy'' - the idea that a few should be selected to succeed - has been challenged by democracy and its wider understandings of equal opportunity across the life course. At a time when doubts have arisen about whether we need so many students, and amidst calls for a return to grammar-school selection at 11, the tension between meritocracy and democracy remains vital to understanding why our grandparents, our parents, ourselves and our children have sought and got more and more education - and to what end.Trade Review... a very important book... The clarity of Mandler's writing and historical perspective mediates a subject dominated by sociological and economic interpretation, resulting in a major, indeed fundamental, contribution to understanding modern British society. * M J Moore, CHOICE magazine *... a refreshing perspective on half a century of change in our education system, one which amplifies the forgotten influence of parents and students in the transformation. * Nicola Robertson, University of Strathclyde, Erziehungswissenschaftliche Revue (EWR) *The Crisis of the Meritocracy makes a valuable contribution to the history of post-war education, illuminating the importance of reconceptualising the transition to mass education in terms of the attitudes and motivations of people, rather than of policy. * Florence Smith, History *The Crisis of the Meritocracy is an impressive synthesis of sociology, economics, and history. * Laura Tisdall, Journal of British Studies *David Willetts welcomes a bold account of how the battle between democracy and meritocracy has transformed higher education in the UK * David Willetts, Times Higher *What gives Mandler's account its power and originality is its refreshingly non-technocratic stress not only on broad social and cultural forces at work... a crisply written, tightly argued and hugely informative Olympian survey in which an incisive but humane historian, who over the years has written about a wide range of subjects, brings all his talents to bear. * David Kynaston, Times Literary Supplement *Truly impressive..tour de force of revisionist insight slaying assumptions and myths of both the political left and right by keeping its focus fixed on the wishes and actions of young people and their parents Mandlers significant, original, and thought-provoking findings will help us think more clearly about education today, not only in Britain, but also in the United States and elsewhere. * Marginalia/LA Review of Books *This book is...like a well-prepared restaurant meal with each tasty ingredient carefully balanced by the others...In many respects, this is the book we have been waiting for and we should read Mandlers conclusions not as some dusty historical reflections but as a lesson on the stresses and strains that we are likely to face on the hopefully continuing but not inevitable journey of educational progress. We could not have a better guide. * Nick Hillman, Higher Education Policy Institution *This is a fascinating book... It is unusually wide in its scope, impressive in its scholarship and covers a lot of detail chronicling the expansion of more and more education over the last 75 years. It is highly recommended. * Education Journal *In this brilliant book, Mandler recasts the history of democracy in post-war Britain by placing the social and cultural forces that drove the relentless expansion of mass education centre-stage. It is a refreshingly original tour de force that will challenge many preconceptions. * Jon Lawrence, author of Me, Me, Me? The Search for Community in Post-war England *Fascinating and convincing: contemporary history at its best. Mandler's account of the 'race between education and democracy' shows how modern British education is the product of broad social change rather than political fights and ideology. This makes it hugely relevant to anyone interested in policy. With luck, it may even improve our policymaking. * Alison Wolf, author of Does Education Matter? Myths About Education and Economic Growth *Table of ContentsList of Abbreviations 1: Meritocracy vs. Democracy 2: Before the Butler Act 3: The Crisis of the Meritocracy 4: The Transition to Comprehensive Education 5: The Robbins Principle 6: Where Have All the Students Gone? 7: The Transition to Mass Education 8: The Swing Away from Science 9: Effectively Maintained Inequality Epilogue: More and More Education Appendix Acknowledgements Bibliography

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Book SynopsisIn the mountain of books that have been written about the Third Reich, surprisingly little has been said about the role played by the German nobility in the Nazis'' rise to power. While often confidently referred to, the ''fateful'' role played by the German nobility is rarely, if ever, investigated in any real detail. Nazis and Nobles now fills this gap, providing the first systematic investigation of the role played by the nobility in German political life between Germany''s defeat in the First World War in 1918 and the consolidation of Nazi power in the 1930s. As Stephan Malinowski shows, the German nobility was too weak to prevent the German Revolution of 1918 but strong enough to take an active part in the struggle against the Weimar Republic. In a real twist of historical irony, members of the nobility were as prominent in the destruction of Weimar democracy as they were to be years later in Graf Stauffenberg''s July 1944 bomb plot against Hitler. In this skilful portrait of an aTrade ReviewA compelling and sobering dissection of the misalliance between the German nobility and the Nazis. * Paul Lay, The Times *Nazis and Nobles tells one of the under-documented stories of Hitler's war, how the royal and aristocratic families of Germany from the Hohenzollerns downwards offered support to this thuggish and brutal regime. * Simon Heffer, Best Books of 2021, The Telegraph *[A] weightily fascinating book * Julian Evans, The Telegraph *Stephan Malinowski's cultural-political study of nobles and Nazis, revised and stylishly translated from the German original (2003), invites us to reach our own judgement. Malinowski not only adds indispensable complexity to the bifurcated model of attraction and repulsion, but also offers a riveting and subtle portrait of an elite in decline and in denial after 1918. * Jane Caplan, Times Literary Supplement *[Nazis and Nobles] historiographical importance can hardly be exaggerated. * Mark Falcoff, New Criterion *Nazis and Nobles is not merely a translation of the prize-winning German original. It also includes incorporates many new sources. Malinowski looks at his subjects through an anthropological eye, showing them as great masters at self-portrayal. He provides fascinating biographical sketches of renegades too. * Karina Urbach, Literary Review *Stephan Malinowski shows in his award-winning German-language title (now translated into English), the success of Hitler's power grab was also highly reliant on the actions (and often inaction) of influential members of Germany's aristocracy. * BBC History Magazine *The complex question of the German aristocracy's relationship with the Nazis is at the heart of Stephan Malinowski's brilliant book, Nazis and Nobles [... ] Malinowski has provided the best available analysis of the political radicalisation of Germany's nobility in the 1920s and their widespread support for the Nazis in the early 1930s. * Robert Gerwarth, The Irish Times *Nazis and Nobles: The History of a Misalliance, is at last available in English translation. This important book focuses not on the narrow issue of the complicity of one dynastic family but on the broad social and political history of a diverse class and its relationship to the Nazis during the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich. * Christopher R. Browning, New York Review of Books *A timely book. * Air Mail *[Nazis and Nobles] is as enlightening as it is entertaining. Malinowski has succeeded in writing an outstanding political and cultural history of Prussia in particular, a portrait of the aristocratic elite in decline. * Ulrich Wangemann, Märkische Allgemeine *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. Defining 'Nobility' 2. The Apocalypse and Beyond 3. The Nobility Reloaded 4. Nazis and Nobles: Conflicts 5. Nazis and Nobles: Affinities Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThe third volume of The Oxford History of British and Irish Catholicism examines the period from the defeat of the Jacobite army at the battle of Culloden in 1746 to the enactment of Catholic emancipation in 1829.The first part of the volume offers a chronological overview tracing the decline of Jacobitism, the easing of penal legislation which targeted Catholics, the complex impact of the French Revolution, the debates about the place of Catholics in the post-Union state, and - following the mass mobilisation of Irish Catholics - the passage of emancipation. The second part of the volume shows that this political history can only be properly understood with reference to the broader transformations that occurred in the later eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The period witnessed the expansion of Catholic infrastructure (pastoral structures, chapel building, elementary education and finances) and changes in Catholic practice, for example in liturgy and devotion. The growing infrastructure and more public profession of Catholicism occurred in a society where anti-Catholicism remained a force, but the volume also addresses the accommodations and interactions with non-Catholics that attended daily life. Crucially, the transformations of this period were international, as well as national. The volume examines the British and Irish convents, colleges, friaries and monasteries on the continent, especially during the events of the 1790s when many institutions closed and successor or new ones emerged at home. The international dimensions of British and Irish Catholicism extended beyond Europe too as the British Empire expanded globally, and attention is given to the involvement of British and Irish Catholics in imperial expansion. This volume addresses the literary, intellectual and cultural expressions of Catholicism in Britain and Ireland. Catholics produced a rich literature in English, Irish, Scots Gaelic and Welsh, although the volume shows the disparities in provision. They also engaged with and participated in the Catholic Enlightenment, particularly as they grappled with the challenges of accommodation to a Protestant constitution. This also had consequences for the public expression of Catholicism and the volume concludes by exploring the shifting expression of belief through music and material culture.Table of Contents1: Carys Brown: Jacobitism, Loyalty, and the State, 1746-66 2: James Kelly: Breakthrough: The First Phase of Catholic Relief in Britain and Ireland, 1766-89 3: Marianne Elliott: British and Irish Catholics in the Era of the French Revolution 4: Michael Mullett: Catholics in the United Kingdom, 1800-20 5: Thomas Bartlett: 'The abominable Cath. Quest.': Catholic Emancipation, 1820-30 6: Cormac Begadon: The Infrastructure of Catholicism 7: Peter Phillips: Catholic Belief and Practice 8: Colin Haydon: Anti-Catholicism and Protestant Relations with Catholics 9: Tonya J. Moutray: Convents and Women Religious 10: Liam Chambers: Colleges, Seminaries and Male Religious Houses 11: Dominic Aidan Bellenger: 'Every Quarter of the World': Catholics in the British Empire 12: Michael Tomko: Catholic Literature and Print Culture in English 13: Peadar Ó Muircheartaigh: Catholic Literature and Literary Culture in Welsh, Scottish Gaelic, and Irish 14: Shaun Blanchard: This Side of the Alps: Catholic Enlightenment in Britain and Ireland 15: Thomas Muir: Church Music: A Barometer of Social-Religious Change 16: Carol M. Richardson: Feeble References: Catholic Material Culture

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Book SynopsisThis unusual book explores the historical assumptions at work in the style of literary criticism that came to dominate English studies in the twentieth century. Stefan Collini shows how the work of critics renowned for their close attention to ''the words on the page'' was in practice bound up with claims about the nature and direction of historical change, the interpretation of the national past, and the scholarship of earlier historians. Among the major figures examined in detail are T.S. Eliot, F.R. Leavis, William Empson, and Raymond Williams, while there are also original discussions of such figures as Basil Willey, L.C. Knights, Q.D. Leavis, and Richard Hoggart. The Nostalgic Imagination argues that in the period between Eliot''s The Sacred Wood and Williams''s The Long Revolution, the writings of such critics came to occupy the cultural space left by academic history''s retreat into specialized, archive-bound monographs. Their work challenged the assumptions of the Whig interpretation of English history, and entailed a revision of the traditional relations between ''literary history'' and ''general history''. Combining close textual analysis with wide-ranging intellectual history, this volume both revises the standard story of the history of literary criticism and illuminates a central feature of the cultural history of twentieth-century Britain.Trade ReviewThe Nostalgic Imagination takes its place among Stefan Collini's works as an example par excellence of the rigour that, he teaches us, the critic must exert to remain even-handed: which is in itself the highest praise. * Jack Ingram, Times Literary Supplement *The Nostalgic Imagination reveals the surprising ways that even the most seemingly ahistorical works from this age of criticism not only depended upon conceptions of history, but also influentially conveyed those conceptions to a wider public. * Guy Ortolano, New York University, Ceercles *Stefan Collini's The Nostalgic Imagination... is the most dazzling piece of literary criticism I have read in ages an attempt to decode some of the historical assumptions that underlie the way in which early-twentieth-century critics such as Eliot, Leavis and Empson approached their subject, and written with a wit and intelligence that puts most current academic criticism to shame. * D J Taylor, The Tablet *Collini's book is leavened with sly humour … persuasive and relentlessly interesting * Tony Roberts, PNReview *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1: Whig History and the Mind of England 2: Scrutinizing the Present Phase of Human History 3: Science and Capitalism as Background 4: Rationalism, Christianity, and Ambiguity 5: The History of the Reading Public 6: The Long Industrial Revolution 7: Literary history as cultural history Postscript

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Book SynopsisA unique new account of New Labour in power-drawing on a mass of previously unpublished contributions from most of the main players in the Blair government, including Tony Blair himself.Trade ReviewMaking me feel nostalgic for New Labour is quite an achievement. But the authors of a fascinating new book have somehow managed it ... a perceptive, scholarly study... * Iain Martin, The Times *A fascinating book. * Andrew Grice, The Independent *... fascinating retrospective ... It draws upon the rich seam of material from a host of distinguished contributors ... We hear a whole range of voices with a unique and previously unheard contribution to make [...] an account like this is long overdue. * Alan Johnson, The Spectator *A vital addition to the literature on the Blair government and New Labour ... a fascinating study, packed with first-hand accounts and primary sources, and one, as the authors posit, that the fair-minded reader will find particularly rewarding. * Robert Ledger, LSE Blogs *Davis and Rentoul make generous use of fascinating first-hand testimony. * Oliver Wiseman, CapX *Obviously well informed ... a useful source on the extreme disfunction of our unwritten constitution. * Natalie Bennett, Green World *The best survey of New Labour to date... * insidestory.org *This is an impressive new analysis of the conduct of UK government over the period 1997 to 2007... While there have been numerous treatments of this subject, the authors [...] manage to offer something here which feels genuinely original and different... Davis and Rentoul show how to make contemporary history both insightful and engaging. * Society of Professional Economists *Combining first-hand sources and independent judgement, this is the first book on the Blair-Brown years which moves beyond journalism, biography and memoir to being the first draft of history. * Ed Balls, Former Economic Secretary to the Treasury *The authors have had unprecedented access to the key figures of the Blair-Brown era and made brilliant use of it. Their superbly written book is meticulously researched, rich in insight and wise in judgement. * Sir Michael Barber *The Blair Government changed Britain radically and the reverberations echo through all our current debates. Now is the perfect time to review those years and this is the perfect guide. * Michael Gove *A stunning achievement. It is so well balanced and thoughtful, and makes masterly use of new evidence. It is a complete model of how to write a book. * Sir Anthony Seldon *Table of ContentsPrologue Introduction 1: The Blair-Brown Coalition 2: Sofa 3: Spin, Spads, and Sir Humphreys 4: The Treasury: The Brown-Balls Partnership 5: The Iraq War Conclusion Notes Index

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Book SynopsisLenin lived a controversial life and has had a deeply controversial reputation in the centenary since his death (21 January 1924) His rise from a conventional, educated, provincial, and middle-class background to become not only the leader, even dictator, over the largest country on earth, is dramatic and vital in itself. But it is only part of the story. Even after his death, he was unchallenged as the chief inspirer of a disparate world revolutionary movement which rocked the dominant capitalist world for most of the twentieth century. His admirers and disciples included major intellectual and cultural figures, such as Brecht, Picasso, Sartre, Franz Fanon and Pablo Neruda; disparate radical activists and revolutionaries such as Ho Chi Minh, Joseph Stalin, Mao Ze dong, Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Josip Broz Tito, terrorist groups such as the Red Brigades and Baader-Meinhof, and many liberation movements. Despite this, his work and influence have often been written off as no longer releTable of ContentsIntroduction Part One: Lenin before Leninism Part Two: Lenin as Icon and Inspiration: Leninism after Lenin Bibliography

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