History and Archaeology Books

Book SynopsisTrade Review"The 2018 Medieval Book of the Year"

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Book SynopsisUPDATED FOR THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF PARTITION ‘Puri does profound and elegant work bringing forgotten narratives back to life. It’s hard to convey just how important this book is’ Sathnam Sanghera ‘The most humane account of partition I’ve read ... We need a candid conversation about our past and this is an essential starting point’ Nikesh Shukla, Observer 'Thanks to Ms. Puri and others, [that] silence is giving way to inquisitive—and assertive—voices. In Britain, at least, the partitioned have learned to speak frankly of the past—and to search for ways to reckon with it' Wall Street Journal ________________________ Newly revised for the seventy-fifth anniversary of partition, Kavita Puri conducts a vital reappraisal of empire, revisiting the stories of those collected in the 2017 edition and reflecting on recent developments in the lives of those affected by partition. The division of the Indian subcontinent in 1947 into India and Pakistan saw millions uprooted and resulted in unspeakable violence. It happened far away, but it would shape modern Britain. Dotted across homes in Britain are people who were witnesses to one of the most tumultuous events of the twentieth century. But their memory of partition has been shrouded in silence. In her eye-opening and timely work, Kavita Puri uncovers remarkable testimonies from former subjects of the Raj who are now British citizens – including her own father. Weaving a tapestry of human experience over seven decades, Puri reveals a secret history of ruptured families and friendships, extraordinary journeys and daring rescue missions that reverberates with compassion and loss. It is a work that breaks the silence and confronts the difficult truths at the heart of Britain’s shared past with South Asia.Trade ReviewPuri does profound and elegant work bringing forgotten narratives back to life. It’s hard to convey just how important this book is -- Sathnam SangheraProbably the closest thing to a partition memorial … Heartfelt and beautifully judged -- John Keay * Literary Review *Kavita Puri's book is the most humane account of partition I've read … Partition Voices is important because Puri does not flinch as she dissects the tumultuous event, never shying away from the trauma … We need a candid conversation about our past and this is an essential starting point -- Nikesh Shukla * Observer *Opens a fascinating and necessary conversation about contemporary Britain and its people – where they have come from, what they have done, and who they may now want to be -- Anjali Joseph * Times Literary Supplement *An original and moving collection of testimonies from British Sikhs, Muslims and Hindus about the transformative era of India's partition * Guardian, 50 Best Books of the Summer *Thanks to Ms. Puri and others, [that] silence is giving way to inquisitive—and assertive—voices. In Britain, at least, the partitioned have learned to speak frankly of the past—and to search for ways to reckon with it - Wall Street JournalWith a masterful mix of history, biography and contemporary reportage, Puri crafts a fascinating account of the living memory of South Asia in modern Britain. This book brings together a rich and disparate chronicle of lives ripped apart and remade by the trauma of partition, and deftly traces how the diaspora of post-colonial India and Pakistan helped to reshape the UK. Perceptive, enriching, shocking and joyful, Puri’s is a powerful and courageous book for multicultural Britain -- Tristram HuntConfronts the difficult truths at the heart of Britain’s shared – and often ignored – shared history with South Asia * Stylist, Best non-fiction books of 2019 *One of my favourite books and an important one ... Changed the way I see the world -- Jeremy VineAn intimate, moving and important book by a daughter of partition. Kavita Puri reveals untold stories of those who lived through one of the most violent political earthquakes of the twentieth century. These are stories we need to hear -- Kirsty WarkThis collection reveals how families are still impacted generations down the line and is a crucial read for understanding South Asian history * Cosmopolitan *An amazing, deeply moving book -- Dan SnowThe most extraordinary book. The prologue already had me in tears. This is history – often being told out loud for the very first time ... The book of 2019 that opened my eyes more than anything else. Seminal work, beautifully told -- Emily MaitlisA powerful and timely work. Kavita Puri coaxes often unspeakable and unspoken memories from a time of unimaginable trauma. A must-read for those interested in the fault lines in today's geopolitics -- Anita AnandPowerful, compelling and heartbreaking – these are stories of division and conflict rescued from the past that offer valuable lessons for the present -- Sarfraz ManzoorPartition Voices takes its place alongside other valuable books on partition such as Khushwant Singh's Train to Pakistan and Urvashi Butalia's The Other Side of Silence -- Amit Roy * Eastern Eye *An evocative book that leaves you breathless with its human predicament and gives voice to stories long held prisoner to silence ... Nobody has ever brought out the stories of South Asians now settled in the United Kingdom ... Kudos to Kavita Puri for documenting Partition’s lasting legacy in Britain, an irony in itself. It is a unique book, one that lives with you long after the stories end -- Ziya Us Salam * Frontline Magazine *Puri’s excellent book is a welcome antidote to British amnesia over its colonial legacy. Partition is not just an Indian story, it is a British one too * All About History *An important document of those turbulent times - raw and unbiased -- Bishwanath Ghosh * The Hindu *This is an essential book, remarkable in its reach and power. It brings the difficulty of how we pass on stories across generations into a moving and beautiful focus. Partition Voices is a book of witness and testimony that should have the widest readership possible. * Edmund de Waal *

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Book Synopsis'Ackroyd makes history accessible to the layman' - Ian Thomson, IndependentThe penultimate volume of Peter Ackroyd’s masterful History of England series, Dominion begins in 1815 as national glory following the Battle of Waterloo gives way to post-war depression, spanning the last years of the Regency to the death of Queen Victoria in January 1901.In it, Ackroyd takes us from the accession of the profligate George IV whose government was steered by Lord Liverpool, who was firmly set against reform, to the reign of his brother, William IV, the 'Sailor King', whose reign saw the modernization of the political system and the abolition of slavery. But it was the accession of Queen Victoria, aged only eighteen, that sparked an era of enormous innovation. Technological progress – from steam railways to the first telegram – swept the nation and the finest inventions were showcased at the first Great Exhibition in 1851. The emergence of the middle classes changed the shape of society and scientific advances changed the old pieties of the Church of England, and spread secular ideas across the nation. But though intense industrialization brought boom times for the factory owners, the working classes were still subjected to poor housing, long working hours and dire poverty.It was a time that saw a flowering of great literature, too. As the Georgian era gave way to that of Victoria, readers could delight not only in the work of Byron, Shelley and Wordsworth but also the great nineteenth-century novelists: the Brontë sisters, George Eliot, Mrs Gaskell, Thackeray, and, of course, Dickens, whose work has become synonymous with Victorian England.Nor was Victorian expansionism confined to Britain alone. By the end of Victoria’s reign, the Queen was also an Empress and the British Empire dominated much of the globe. And, as Ackroyd shows in this richly populated, vividly told account, Britannia really did seem to rule the waves.Trade ReviewA masterful assessment of a period that saw change in every area of life * History Revealed *It is Ackroyd’s depiction of an anxious society in the grip of rapid change – industrialisation, fast urbanisation, the impact of the railway and the electric telegraph – that is the most riveting … fascinating * The Times *Ackroyd makes history accessible to the layman -- Ian Thomson * Independent *Ackroyd is a fascinating mix of a nineteenth-century narrative historian and modern social analyst -- Gerard de Groot * The Times *Ackroyd’s trademark insight and wit, and the glorious interconnectedness of all things, permeate each page * Observer *Ackroyd writes with such lightly worn erudition and a deceptive ease that he never fails to engage * Daily Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisThe term 'medieval martial arts' conjures images of armoured knights wielding sword, lance and axe. While the image is correct, at the foundation of knightly combat was a sophisticated form of close quarter combat, centred on fighting with - and against - the dagger, a deadly weapon of both self-defense and last resort. In Mastering the Art of Arms, Volume One: The Medieval Dagger, Guy Windsor presents a complete guide to the principles and practice of Italian dagger combat, as set down in Il Fior di Battaglia a manuscript written in 1410. Readers are guided step-by-step through the process of mastering this six hundred year old art, from choosing a dagger to striking with it; from guard positions to steps and turns; from disarms to locks and takedowns; from safe falling practice to formal drills, and finally pressure testing their skills with sparring. Both a primer on the art and a methodology for on-going training, this book will give the complete novice a solid starting point, while providing useful drills and ideas for advanced martial artists. Those who study other traditional knife arts, and modern military combatives, will find many familiar techniques present in this ancient system. Trade Review Table of ContentsIntroduction to the Mastering the Art of Arms Series Introduction to Volume 1 The Medieval Dagger Chapter One: Fundamental Principle Chapter Two: Foundations from Fiore Chapter Three: Mechanics and Movement Chapter Four: Falling Free Chapter Five: Is This a Dagger which I See Before Me? Chapter Six: Grips, Strikes and Breaks Chapter Seven: Remedy Masters: Control the Weapon Chapter Eight: The System in Brief Chapter Nine: Counter-Remedies Chapter Ten: Dealing with the Backhand Chapter Eleven: When in Doubt, Use Both Hands! Chapter Twelve: The Low Blow Chapter Thirteen: Defense Against the Grab-and-Stab Chapter Fourteen: A Knife for a Knife: Defense with the Dagger Chapter Fifteen: A Dagger Disarm Flowdrill Chapter Sixteen: Armoured Combat Chapter Seventeen: Expanding Your Skills Chapter Eighteen: One System, Many Weapons Chapter Nineteen: Sword vs Dagger Acknowledgments Bibliography Glossary

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Book SynopsisOn 21 October 1966, thousands of tonnes of coal tip waste slid down a mountainside and devastated the mining village of Aber-fan. The black mass crashed through the local school. 144 people were killed. 116 were schoolchildren. Gaynor Madgwick was there. She was eight and severely injured. In this book, Gaynor tells her own story and interviews people affected by the day''s events. Reprint.

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Book SynopsisLviv, Lwów, Lvov, Lemberg. Known by a variety of names, the City of Lions is now in western Ukraine. Situated in different countries during its history, it is a city located along the fault-lines of Europe's history. City of Lions presents two essays, written more than half a century apart - but united by one city. Józef Wittlin's sensual and lyrical paean to his Lwów, written in exile, is a deep cry of love and pain for his city, where most people he knew have fled or been killed. Philippe Sands' finely honed exploration of what has been lost and what remains interweaves a lawyer's love of evidence with the emotional heft of a descendant of Lviv. With an illuminating preface by Eva Hoffman and stunning new photographs by Diana Matar, City of Lions is a powerful and melancholy evocation of central Europe in the twentieth century, with a special resonance for today's troubled continent.Trade Review"[Wittlin's essay My Lwów is] for many Poles the definitive evocation of one of their great lost cities. . . a loving, sensuous, but also gently ironic reconstruction. . . Sands’s perspective is closer to that of the contemporary reader, who struggles with the juxtaposition between beauty, faded grandeur, and whimsical visions of a cosmopolitan past on the one hand, and savage mass murder on the other." —Los Angeles Review of Books"Congratulations to Pushkin Press for bringing lovely, haunted Lviv to a new audience." — Times Literary Supplement"A walk down memory lane, a meditation on time, politics and remembrance." — Dublin Review of Books "Wittlin takes us on a detailed tour of the city... well-illustrated." — East-West Review"Beautiful and disturbing songs in prose." - Kazimierz Wierzyński

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Book SynopsisChurchill may have played the larger role in Hitlerâs defeat, but Orwellâs reckoning with the threat of authoritarian rule in 1984 and Animal Farm defined the stakes of the Cold War and continues to inspire to this day. Their lives are an eloquent testament to the power of moral conviction, and to the courage it takes to stay true to it.Trade Review'Really, very interesting' John Le Carré‘An inspiring story… highly readable’ Andrew Roberts, bestselling author of Napoleon the Great and The Storm of War‘Ricks is an excellent writer; his eye for telling detail brings to life these two remarkable and much-mythologised men’ Keith Lowe, Telegraph'A feast of a book, laden with observations and insights that enable us to see these familiar figures, and through them our own time, in a fresh and illuminating light' John Gray, New Statesman‘A page turner written with great brio... highly enjoyable’ New York Times

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Book SynopsisAn engaging and informative survey of medieval pet keeping which also examines their representation in art and literature. Animals in the Middle Ages have often been discussed - but usually only as a source of food, as beasts of burden, or as aids for hunters. This book takes a completely different angle, showing that they were also beloved domestic companions to their human owners, whether they were dogs, cats, monkeys, squirrels, and parrots. It offers a full survey of pets and pet-keeping: from how they were acquired, kept, fed, exercised, and displayed, to the problems they could cause. It also examines the representation of pets and their owners in art and literature; the many charming illustrations offer further evidence for the bonds between humans and their pets, then as now. A wide range of sources, including chronicles, letters, sermons and poems, are used in what is both an authoritative and entertaining account.Trade ReviewA novel and comprehensive survey. [...] Not only a milestone in the history of our obsession with pets, but also furthers our understanding of the complexity of human-animal relations in the past. * BBC HISTORY *Medieval Pets is a highly accessible and digestible look at one small slice of medieval life. * STUDIES IN MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE TEACHING *A delightful read for anyone interested in the history of pet-keeping, human-animal relations in general, and identity construction in later medieval Europe. * MEDIEVAL ARCHAEOLOGY *A useful addition to a growing body of specialist literature, and in addition, anyone who has ever owned a pet will find it fascinating. * REVIEWS IN HISTORY *Table of ContentsThe Medieval Pet Getting a pet Pet welfare Living with pets Pets in iconography Pets in literature

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Book SynopsisRadical statesman and Member of Parliament for over fifty years, Tony Benn is the pre-eminent diarist of his generation. His political activity continued after 'retirement' through mass meetings, broadcasts and in more recent years through social media. A widower since 2000, Tony Benn died at his home in London on 14th March 2014.Trade ReviewThe Benn Diaries, intensely personal, candid and engaging as they are, rank as an important work of historiography -- Alan Clark * Daily Telegraph *Quite apart from the brio of illuminating a life almost entirely free of boredom (another rarity), the collected Benn has some critical patches of postwar history recorded hot -- Peter Hennessy * The Times *Immensely readable and revealing -- Ben Pimlott * Sunday Times *An archive of incalculable value -- Ruth Dudley Edwards * Independent *The best political diarist of our time * Financial Times *

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Book SynopsisThe first biography of Robert Welch, who founded the John Birch Society and planted some of modern conservatism’s most insidious seeds.Trade Review"The rise of Trump, Q-anon, and a Republican Party seemingly allergic to the ordinary canons of decency and expertise, has led historians to a reexamination of brands of American conservatism previously considered too extreme to be relevant to understanding the present. This work demands a rare combination of talents: an ability to empathize with ways of thinking from which reason recoils, and a moral sense that refuses to normalize it. Miller possesses both in abundance, which is what makes this groundbreaking biography of Robert Welch of the John Birch Society so very valuable."-- "Rick Perlstein, author of Reaganland: America's Right Turn, 1976-1980" "Miller has undertaken the definitive biography of John Birch Society founder Robert Welch, and he has succeeded. A Conspiratorial Life is incredibly thorough, carefully researched and written, and enlivened by energetic prose."-- "Heather Hendershot, author of Open to Debate: How William F. Buckley Put Liberal America on the Firing Line"Table of ContentsIntroduction 1 Chowan County, North Carolina 1700–1899 2 Stockton, 1899–1910 3 Elizabeth City, Raleigh, Annapolis, 1910–1919 4 The Candyman, 1919–1927 5 Professional Breakdown and the Great Depression, 1928–1940 6 America First, 1940–1945 7 Postwar Dreams and Delusions, 1946–1950 8 The Candidate, 1950 9 May God Forgive Us, 1951–1952 10 There’s Just Something about Ike, 1952 11 A Republican Looks at His President, 1953–1954 12 The Saga of John Birch, 1954 13 Adventures in the Far East, 1954–1955 14 Arrivals and Departures, 1955–1958 15 The Indy Eleven, 1957–1959 16 Revelations, 1959–1960 17 Goldwater in ’60, 1960 18 Staccato Jabs, 1961–1962 19 Succession? 1961–1962 20 “Where Were You in ’62?,” 1962 21 Revolution in the Streets and the Paranoid Style in Belmont, 1963 22 Two Novembers, 1963–1964 23 Nadir, 1965–1966 24 Avenging the Insiders, 1966–1968 25 The Fifty-Foot Cabin Cruiser, 1969–1975 26 Bunker, 1970–1978 27 Making Morning in America . . . , 1970–1985 Epilogue Acknowledgments Notes Index

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Winner of ASOR''s 2022 G. Ernest Wright Award for the most substantial volume dealing with archaeological material, excavation reports and material culture from the ancient Near East and Eastern Mediterranean.  This is a complete history of Antioch, one of the most significant major cities of the eastern Mediterranean and a crossroads for the Silk Road, from its foundation by the Seleucids, through Roman rule, the rise of Christianity, Islamic and Byzantine conquests, to the Crusades and beyond.Antioch has typically been treated as a city whose classical glory faded permanently amid a series of natural disasters and foreign invasions in the sixth and seventh centuries CE. Such studies have obstructed the view of Antioch's fascinating urban transformations from classical to medieval to modern city and the processes behind these transformations. Through its comprehensive blend of textual sources and new archaeolog

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Book SynopsisInternationally renowned as the greatest authority on the French Revolution, Georges Lefebvre combined impeccable scholarship with a lively writing style. His masterly overview of the history of the French Revolution has taken its rightful place as the definitive account. A vivid narrative of events in France and across Europe is combined with acute insights into the underlying forces that created the dynamics of the revolution, as well as the personalities responsible for day-to-day decisions during this momentous period.Trade Review'This is more than a history of the French Revolution. It covers all of Europe during the revolutionary period…it also breaks new ground in its account of international relations, and sets the wars of intervention in their true light.' - A.J.P. Taylor'This is more than a history of the French Revolution. It covers all Europe during the revolutionary period, though events in France naturally take first place. It is particularly good on the social and intellectual background. Surprisingly enough, considering that Lefebvre was primarily an economic historian, it also breaks new ground in its account of international relations, and sets the wars of intervention in their true light. The French have a taste for what they call works of synthesis, great general summaries of received knowledge. We might call them textbooks, though of the highest level. At any rate, in its class, whether synthesis or textbook, this is one of the best ever produced.' - A.J.P. Taylor'Probably the greatest study ever written of the earthquake of 1789 and its aftermath.' - John Banville, Irish TimesTable of ContentsPreface Introduction 1. European Expansion 2. European Economy 3. European Society 4. European Thought 5. The States and Social Conflicts 6. The Aristocratic Revolution, 1787-1788 7. The Bourgeois Revolution 8. The Popular Revolution 9. Lafayettes Year 10. The Work of the Constituent Assembly, 1789-1791 11. The Constituent Assembly and Europe 12. Flight of the King and the declaration of war against Australia, June, 1791 - April, 1792 13. The second French Revolution, August - September, 1792 14. Invasion of Poland and of France. Revolutionary counter-attack: Valmy and Jemappes, September, 1792 - January, 1793 15. The origins of the First Coalition Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisOne of A.J.P. Taylor''s best-known books, The Course of German History is a notoriously idiosyncratic work. Composed in his famously witty style, yet succinct to the point of sharpness, this is one of the great historian''s finest, if more controversial, accomplishments. As Taylor himself noted, ''the history of the Germans is a history of extremes. It contains everything except moderation.'' He could, of course, simply be referring to his own book.Trade Review'Mr Taylor, by cutting down to a minimum the ballast of dates and names that so often encumbers historical writing, and concentrating on the fundamental trends and events, has achieved both brevity and lucidity.' -The Observer'Mr Taylor, by cutting down to a minimum the ballast of dates and names that so often encumbers historical writing, and concentrating on the fundamental trends and events, has achieved both brevity and lucidity.''He is not only a brilliant but a profound historian.''The profound is mixed with the wisecrack. It has the shortcomings of its virtues. It will shock the scholarly reader but it must challenge him too.''The Course of German History is vivid, exciting, openly partisan.''His first best-seller, - The Course of German History was written in a "journalistic" rather than academic style and remains extremely readable.''Taylor's work is a model of stylish, scintillating compression.' - The Atlantic Monthly'A lively, if polemical, short history written by one of the twentieth century's greatest historians.''Too much brilliancy is hurtful in intercourse with ideas, as too much wit is in intercourse with men; a dazzling formulation is apt to interfere with the precise presentation of a subject or thesis. Still, in spite of such shortcomings, the book should prove of high value in the study of the German problem.'Table of Contents1. Divided Germany: The Legacy of the Holy Roman Empire 2. The Ascendancy of France, 1792-1814 3. The German Confederation: The Years of Austro-Prussian Partnership, 1815-48 4. 1848: The Year of German Liberalism 5. The Ascendancy of Austria, 1849-60 6. The Conquest of Germany by Prussia, 1862-71 7. Bismarckian Germany: The Ascendancy of Prussia, 1871-90 8. The Germany of William II: The Conquest of Prussia by Germany, 1890-1906 9. The Crisis of Hohenzollern Germany, 1906-1916 10. The Rule of the German Army, 1916-19 11. Republican Interregnum, 1919-30 12. Demagogic Dictatorship and the Completion of German Unity After 1930

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Book SynopsisThis book is totally unique. It is based on the original and wholly authentic testimonies of survivors of the old Dublin tenements. For nearly 150 years, the wretched, squalid tenements of Dublin were widely judged to be the worst slums in all of Europe. By the 1930''s, 6400 tenements were occupied by almost 112,000 tenants. Some districts had up to 800 people to the acre, up to 100 occupants in one building and twenty family members crammed into a single tiny room. It was a hard world of hunger, disease, high mortality, unemployment, heavy drinking, prostitution and gang warfare. But despite their hardship, the tenement poor enjoyed an incredibly close knit community life in which they found great security and indeed, happiness. As one policeman recalls from over half a century ago, they were ''extraordinarily happy for people who were so savagely poor''.

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Book SynopsisThe Easter Rising was arguably the most important event in Irish history. It was an armed insurrection that occurred mainly in Dublin during Easter Week, 1916, mounted by Irish republicans intent on ending British rule in Ireland and establishing an independent Irish Republic. While not immediately successful, its consequences changed the course of Irish history forever.This book explains what happened in the years before and after the Rising, as well as providing an exciting day-by-day account of the events themselves, and biographies of the leading figures.

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Book SynopsisA Century of Bromley offers an insight into the daily lives and living conditions of local people and gives the reader glimpses and details of familiar places during a century of unprecedented change. Many aspects of Bromley''s recent history are covered, famous occasions and individuals are remembered and the impact of national and international events is witnessed. A Century of Bromley provides a striking account of the changes that have so altered the town''s appearance and records the process of transformation. Drawing on detailed local knowledge of the community, and illustrated with a wealth of black-and-white photographs, this book recalls what Bromley has lost in terms of buildings, traditions and ways of life. It also acknowledges the regeneration that has taken place and celebrates the character and energy of local people as they move through the first years of this new century.

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Book SynopsisFor two periods of British history - the first part of the Roman occupation and the Tudor and early Stuart periods - the Weald of south-east England was the most productive iron-producing region in the country. Looking across the tranquil Wealden countryside, it is hard to identify anything that hints at its industrial past. Yet 400 years ago, nearly 100 furnaces and forges roared and hammered there, the smoke from charcoal-making curling up from the surrounding woods and the roads bustling with wagons laden with ore and iron sows.Many British naval campaigns, including the Spanish Armada, the wars against the Dutch and The Seven Years'' War, relied on Wealden iron cannon; the pressures of conflict driving forward the development of iron-producing technology. For a time the economy of the whole area was dominated by the production of iron and its raw materials, providing employment, generating prosperity and shaping the landscape irrevocably. Drawing on a wealth of local evidence, this book explores the archaeology and history of an area whose iron industry was of international importance.

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Book SynopsisExploring the boundaries of the law as they existed in medieval and early modern times and as they have been perceived by historians, this volume offers a wide ranging insight into a key aspect of European society. Alongside, and inexorably linked with, the ecclesiastical establishment, the law was one of the main social bonds that shaped and directed the interactions of day-to-day life. Posing fascinating conceptual and methodological questions that challenge existing perceptions of the parameters of the law, the essays in this book look especially at the gender divide and conflicts of jurisdiction within an historical context. In addition to seeking to understand the discrete categories into which types of law and legal rules are sometimes placed, consideration is given to the traversing of boundaries, to the overlaps between jurisdictions, and between custom(s) and law(s). In so doing it shows how law has been artificially compartmentalised by historians and lawyers alike, and hoTable of ContentsContents: Introduction, Anthony Musson; Law in the landscape: criminality, outlawry and regional identity in late medieval England, W.M. Ormrod; The geographical and practical legal impact of the Peace of God in 11th century Aquitaine, Thomas Gergen; Sanctuary and penitential rebirth in the central Middle Ages, Trisha Olson; Between theology and popular practice: medieval canonists on magic and impotence, Catherine Rider; Maintenance agreements and male responsibility in late medieval England, Sara M. Butler; Crossing boundaries: attitudes to rape in late medieval England, Anthony Musson; Rethinking incest and heinous sexual crime: changing boundaries of secular and ecclesiastical jurisdiction in late medieval Sweden, Mia Korpiola; Rules for solving conflicts of law in the Middle Ages: part of the solution, part of the problem, Dirk Heirbaut; The geographical, jurisdictional and jurisprudential boundaries of English litigation in the early 17th century, Louis A. Knafla; Jurisdictional competition and the evolution of the common law: an hypothesis, Daniel Klerman; English legal history and interdisciplinary legal studies, Jonathan Rose; Index.

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Book SynopsisIn the age of overseas colonization and rise of intercontinental trade, Western Europe's intercontinental trade with East-Central Europe did not diminish either, but considerably increased in both quantity and significance. Commercial relations within Europe also became a substantial factor in the emerging system of world economy. The 'Western challenge' had a profound impact on this region, and the 15th-17th centuries proved to be a crucial period for the 'economic destiny' of the countries of East-Central Europe, among them Hungary. The papers are now provided with supplementary comments, giving information on research and debates since the articles were first published.Table of ContentsContents: The development of feudal rent in Hungary in the 15th century; Der Bauernaufstand vom Jahre 1514 und die ’zweite Leibeigenschaft’; 16th century Hungary: commercial activity and market production by the nobles; Corvées et travail salarié dans les exploitations seigneuriales de la Hongrie des XVIe et XVIIe siècles; Neuvième et dîme seigneuriale au XVIIe siècle en Hongrie; Leventine trade and Hungary in the Middle Ages (theses, controversies, arguements); The Transylvanian route of Levantine trade at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries; Zur Geschichte der Handelsbeziehungen zwischen Österreich und Ungarn im 15. und 16. Jahrhundert; The shifting of international trade routes in the 15th-17th centuries; The role of East-Central Europe in international trade (16th and 17th centuries); The East-Central European aspect of the overseas discoveries and colonization; Business mentality and Hungarian national character; Addenda; Index.

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Book SynopsisThe essays in this volume constitute a series of investigations into the limitations on thought and power as conceived by thinkers in the medieval West and they draw on material ranging from law to literature. The author deals with limits on the human desire for knowledge, the passion with which knowledge could legitimately be pursued, and the propriety of the knowledge sought, as well as the limits that might be tolerable and tolerated in the case of royal incapacity or misbehaviour. One particular focus is the work of Dante Alighieri, and these ideas are traced across a wide range of his thought. Chronologically the essays run from Augustine and the Gnostics through to Shakespeare.Table of ContentsContents: Introduction; The Vices and Virtues of Curiosity: What was God doing before He created the Heavens and the Earth?; Aenigma Salomonis: Manichaean anti-Genesis polemic and the vitium curiositatis in Confessions III.6; Transgressing the limits set by the Fathers: authority and impious exegesis in medieval thought; Libertas inquirendi and the vitium curiositatis in medieval thought; Rex curiosus: a preface to Prospero; Useless Kings and Irregular Statebuilding: Roi fainéant: the origins of an historian's commonplace; Rex inutilis: Sancho II of Portugal and 13th-century deposition theory; Non legitur in historia Francorum: Stephen of Tournai, the last Merovingians, and the Capetian dynasty; Henry II of Cyprus, rex inutilis: a footnote to Decameron I.9; Limits of Thought and Power in the World of Dante: The failure of the Church and Empire: Paradiso, 30; I principi negligenti di Dante e la concezione medioevale del rex inutilis; Pars, parte: Dante and an urban contribution to political thought; The frowning pages: Scythians, Garamantes, Florentines, and the two laws; Human diversity and civil society in Paradiso, VIII; The shadowy, violent perimeter: Dante enters Florentine political life; The voyage of Ulysses and the wisdom of Solomon: Dante and the vitium curiositatis; Index.

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Book SynopsisThis volume centres on the collaborative work of Ivan Berend and GyÃrgy RÃnki, begun in Hungary in the 1950s and continuing till Ranki''s death in 1988, but includes papers by each individually as well as those written jointly. The subject is the social and economic history of Central and Eastern Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries, with a particular focus upon Hungary. The first part looks at the troubled German-Hungarian relations during Hitler''s rule; although focusing on Hungary, it also provides an understanding of the economic ties between Germany and Central and Eastern Europe during the turbulent war years. The economic and political problems of the region in the interwar years are dealt with in the second part. Two of the four studies in the final section present the efforts and strict limitations of reforms in state socialist Hungary. The other two analyze the post-communist economic transformation of Central and Eastern Europe during the 1990s in a broad international coTrade Review'It is an educational read for anybody who wishes to gain a deeper insight into modern Hungarian history.' Vierteljahrschrift für Sozial- und WirtschaftsgeschichteTable of ContentsContents: Preface; Nazi Germany and Hungary: German-Hungarian relations following Hitler’s rise to power (1933-34); The German occupation of Hungary; Die deutsche wirtschaftliche Expansion und das ungarische Wirtschaftsleben zur Zeit des zweiten Weltkrieges; Unwilling Satellite or Last Satellite - some problems of Hungarian-German relations; Economy, Society, and Politics in Interwar Central and Eastern Europe: Economic problems of the Danube region after the break-up of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy; Range and Constraint. The small states of the Danube Basin and the international political and economic system, 1919-45; State and society in East Central Europe between the two World Wars; Limits of Reforming State Socialism and Transformation after its Collapse in the 1990s: The first phase of economic reform of Hungary: 1956-57; The crisis of the Hungarian Reform in the 1970s; End of century global transition to market economy: Laissez-faire on the Peripheries?; From regime change to sustained growth in Central and Eastern Europe (the 1990s.); Index.

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Book SynopsisThe studies collected here centre on the social and economic life of medieval Germany, within a broader European context. The first three articles engage the day-to-day workings of rural society: literature, verbal attack and the language of mediated settlement of conflicts lead to a nuanced view of social hierarchy, in which the meek too have a say. The next group examines some major elements of rural life, dealing with technology, resources, ecology, transport, communication and credit. In the second part, the author focuses on the life of the Jews in Germany, first charting the process of settlement of Jews in Germany, the dynamics of social stratification and household composition, and the impact of economics and persecution on settlement patterns. A case study uncovers the motives and steps that led up to the expulsion of the Jews of Nuremberg in 1498. These themes are followed up into the early modern period, when German Jewry mostly came to live a village life. The last studies Table of ContentsContents: Preface; The social history of peasant speech: Asking the way and telling the law: speech in medieval Germany; Schimpfwörter im Dorf des Spätmittelalters; Ethics, emotions and self-interest: rural Bavaria in the later Middle Ages; Making do with little: studies in the economic history of the German peasantry: Agricultural progress and agricultural technology in medieval Germany: an alternative model; Lords and peasants: a reappraisal of medieval economic relationships; Peasants of the mountains, peasants of the valleys and medieval state building: the case of the Alps; Hauling away in late medieval Bavaria: the economics of inland transport in an agrarian market; Local credit in an agrarian economy: the case of Bavaria (14th and 15th centuries); Immigration, migration, community and expulsion: studies in the social history of German Jews: The formation of a diaspora: the settlement of Jews in the medieval German Reich; Jewish migrations to, within and from medieval Germany; Siedlungsstruktur der Juden Mitteleuropas im Wandel vom Mittelalter zur Neuzeit; Die soziale und demographische Struktur der jüdischen Gemeinde Nürnbergs im Jahre 1489; Umb gemeyns nutz und nottdurfft willen. Obrigkeitliches und jurisdiktionelles Denken bei der Austreibung der Nürnberger Juden 1498/99; Aspects of stratification of early modern German Jewry: population history and village Jews; Making a living: studies in the economic history of European Jews: Jews and commerce: modern fancies and medieval realities; Jüdische Geldleihe im Mittelalter; Geldleiher und sonst nichts? Zur wirtschaftlichen Tätigkeit der Juden im deutschen Sprachraum des Spätmittelalters; Der jüdische Geldhandel in der Wirtschaft des deutschen Spätmittelalters: Nürnberg 1350-1499; Die jüdische Frau im Erwerbsleben des Spätmittelalters; Der Mankus - eine spätmittelalterliche Auferstehung; Between impotence and power - the Jews in the economy and polity of medieval Europe; Index.

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Book SynopsisRapier instructor Tom Leoni offers a full, accurate and accessible English translation of Ridolfo Capoferro's teachings in the Great Representation of the Art and Practice of Fencing, complete with high-resolution reproductions of the 43 original illustrations. Includes a glossary of rapier-fencing terms.Trade Review Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Foreword Introduction Making Capoferro Accessible to the Modern Rapier Student A Personal Journey Who Was Ridolfo Capoferro? The Two Faces of Capoferro: Period Literature Versus Victorian Scholarship Jacopo Gelli: The Main 19th-Century Source on Capoferro Capoferro, His Treatise and Its Importance to the Modern Student Language, Translation, and Editorial Decisions What You Need to Know to Tackle Capoferro Additional Resources Great Representation of the Art and Practice of Fencing To the Most Serene Lord Don Francesco Maria Feltrio della Rovere, Sixth Duke of Urbino To the Kind Reader General Table of the Art of Fencing Here Follows the Great Representation of the Practice of Fencing. Beginning with the Explanation of the Difference Between Art and Practice A Few Recommendations about Fencing Explanation of Some Practical Fencing Terms The Plates and Practical Synopses Some Principles Regarding the Cut A Failsafe Way to Defend Against Any Attack by Parrying with a Riverso and Always Striking with an Imbroccata Glossary of Common and Useful Italian Rapier Fencing Terms

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Book SynopsisThe collapse of the Berlin Wall has come to represent the entry of an isolated region onto the global stage. On the contrary, this study argues that communist states had in fact long been shapers of an interconnecting world, with ''1989'' instead marking a choice by local elites about the form that globalisation should take. Published to coincide with the thirtieth anniversary of the 1989 revolutions, this work draws on material from local archives to international institutions to explore the place of Eastern Europe in the emergence, since the 1970s, of a new world order that combined neoliberal economics and liberal democracy with increasingly bordered civilisational, racial and religious identities. An original and wide-ranging history, it explores the importance of the region''s links to the West, East Asia, Africa, and Latin America in this global transformation, reclaiming the era''s other visions such as socialist democracy or authoritarian modernisation which had been lost in trTrade Review'This is a provocative volume that challenges the liberal Western account of the negotiated transition from Communism in 1989 by stressing the agency of East European reformers and intellectuals. It recontextualises the story as part of the global deradicalisation of socialism and interprets the region as an example of 'in-betweenness', at once part and opposite of the West.' Konrad H. Jarausch, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill'A remarkable scholarly achievement which compels us to rethink the Eastern Europe transition of 1989 in a global context, dispensing with a Western triumphalist view of the end of the Cold War. Through painstaking detail and incisive analysis, this shows us the ways in which East Europeans continue to navigate their own political paths.' Mary Neuburger, University of Texas, Austin'Laying waste to all lingering clichés of the walled hermit kingdoms of socialist-era Eastern Europe, the authors restore the history of Cold War Eastern Europe to the world, depicting it as a region entangled in global supply chains and transnational lines of political influence long before 1989. The authors refuse simplistic narratives of convergence and help explain the contemporary challenges of nativist nationalism.' Quinn Slobodian, Wellesley College, Massachusetts'This excellent book contributes to the recent trend in bringing together Eastern European and global history, and shows the fruitfulness of collective book writing.' Philipp Ther, Universität Wien'1989: A Global History of Eastern Europe offers a nuanced and sobering account of the global context of the fall of the Eastern Bloc and its role in the construction of post-Cold War Europe … makes a unique and necessary contribution not just to the historiography of the revolutions of 1989, but also to our understanding of the rightward drift in contemporary Eastern Europe.' Nick Ostrum, EuropeNow'A must-read for every historian who deals with Eastern Europe after 1945 and especially after 1968. It shows the importance of history for explaining contemporary situations and inspires historians to draw out their research up to the present and to intervene in the public sphere.' Luboš Studený, Prague Economic and Social History Papers'Using a global approach, this extraordinary book, which was written by four authors, who all teach history at the University of Exeter as specialists of different regions (James Mark/Central Europe, Bogdan C. Iacob/Eastern Europe, Tobias Rupprecht/Latin America, and Ljubica Spaskovska/former Yugoslavia), critiques and revises a number of popular aspects of this Eurocentric myth of 1989 … an important contribution to our understanding of today's world.' Árpád von Klimo, H-Diplo'This ambitious, rich, and necessary book is the first comprehensive scholarly synthesis of the global reach of Eastern Europe from late socialism in the 1970s to the postsocialist transition after 1989 through the illiberal turn following 2008. Cowritten by four specialists on Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia, and the Soviet Union, 1989: A Global History of Eastern Europe is a model for collaborative work melding regional expertise in a genuinely comparative, transnational analysis.' Theodora Dragostinova, The American Historical Review'… rich, thought-provoking account of 1989. Without doubt, the monograph will spark academic discussions and will open new avenues for research on this hotly debated period. It thus will be on the recommended list for any scholar interested in the history of the region, its global context, and its ongoing reverberations.' Ruzha Smilova, Southeastern Europe'… 1989 is probably the best transregional history of 1989 one can read today …' Judit Bodnár, Slavic ReviewTable of ContentsAcknowledgements; Introduction; 0.1 Going global; 0.2 The long transition and the making of transitional elites in global perspective; 0.3 A global history of the other '1989s'; 0.4 The end of the '1989' era?; 1. Globalisation; 1.1 From socialist internationalism to capitalist globalisation; 1.2 Debt and ideological re-orientation; 1.3 The choice of 'neoliberal' globalisation; 1.4 Authoritarian transformations?; 1.5 Transformation from within; 1.6 Conclusion; 2. Democratisation; 2.1 Reforming elites; 2.2 Opposition from the local to the global and back; 2.3 Alternatives to '1989': authoritarianism and violence; 2.4 Disciplining transition and democratic peace; 3. Europeanisation; 3.1 The early Cold War: a divided Europe; 3.2 Helsinki – re-bordering Europe?; 3.3 An anti-colonial Europe: critiquing Helsinki; 3.4 A prehistory of Fortress Europe: civilisational bordering in late socialism; 3.5 Eastern Europe, a buffer against Islam?; 3.6 After 1989: 'Fortress Europe'?; 3.7 Conclusion; 4. Self-determination; 4.1 The rise of anti-colonial self-determination; 4.2 The Soviet withdrawal; 4.3 Peace or violence; 4.4 Reverberations of Eastern European self-determination; 4.5 Conclusion; 5. Reverberations; 5.1 1989 as a new global script; 5.2 Instrumentalising 1989: the West and new forms of political conditionality; 5.3 'Taming' the left; 5.4 Interventionism and the '1989' myth; 5.5 Eastern Europeans and the export of the revolutionary idea; 5.6 From Cuba to China: rejecting '1989'; 5.7 Conclusion; 6. A world without '1989'; 6.1 Towards the West? Ambiguous convergence; 6.2 Who is the true Europe? The turn to divergence; 6.3 Beyond the EU: post-socialist global trajectories; 6.4 Conclusion.

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Book SynopsisPoland is a tenacious survivor-state: it was wiped off the map in 1795, resurrected after the First World War, apparently annihilated again in the Second World War, and reduced to satellite status of the Soviet Union after 1945. Yet it emerged in the vanguard of resistance to the USSR in the 1980s, albeit as a much more homogeneous entity than it had been in its multi-ethnic past. This book outlines Poland''s turbulent and complex history, from its medieval Christian origins to the reassertion of that Christian and European heritage after forty-five years of communism. It describes Poland''s transformation since 1989, and explains how Poland navigated its way into a new Commonwealth of Nations in the European Union. Recent years have witnessed significant changes within Poland, Eastern Europe and the wider world. This new edition reflects on these changes, and examines the current issues facing a Poland which some would accuse of being out of touch with ''European values''.Trade Review'… lucid, insightful, and often witty and pithy … the authors are especially good in their dispassionate treatment of sensitive political and social issues and challenges, particularly those that have dominated recent decades. These matters include Poland's place in Europe, the role of the Catholic Church, xenophobic and anti-Semitic traditions, and 'the lack of confidence in many of the state's institutions and in the rule of law, coupled with the low quality of much political debate' (as the authors write in the final chapter). Illustrations (two new ones in this edition), maps, ruler lists, and a good English-language bibliography enhance the volume. Recommended.' P. W. Knoll, ChoiceTable of ContentsList of illustrations and maps; Preface to the third edition; Preface to the second edition; Preface to the first edition; A note on Polish pronunciation; Chronology; Part I. Poland, to 1795: 1. Piast Poland, ?–1385; 2. Jagiellonian Poland, 1386–1572; 3. The Commonwealth of the two Nations, 1572–1795; Part II. Poland, after 1795: 4. Challenging the partitions, 1795–1864; 5. An era of transformation, 1864–1914; 6. Independence regained and lost, 1914–45; 7. Communism and the Cold War, 1945–89; 8. A new republic, 1989–; Geneaological charts of Polish rulers; List of heads of state, presidents, Communist Party leaders (1918–2018); Bibliography; Index.

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Book SynopsisWhile the relationships between parents and children have long been a staple of critical inquiry, bonds between siblings have received far less attention among early modern scholars. Indeed, until now, no single volume has focused specifically on relations between brothers and sisters during the early modern period, nor do many essays or monographs address the topic. The essays in Sibling Relations and Gender in the Early Modern World focus attention on this neglected area, exploring the sibling dynamics that shaped family relations from the fifteenth through the seventeenth centuries in Italy, England, France, Spain, and Germany. Using an array of feminist and cultural studies approaches, prominent scholars consider sibling ties from a range of interdisciplinary perspectives, including art history, musicology, literary studies, and social history. By articulating some of the underlying paradigms according to which sibling relations were constructed, the collection seeks to stimulate fTrade ReviewPrize: Winner of the Society for the Study of Early Modern Women Award for a collaborative project published in 2006 'There is no biblical commandment to "love thy siblings" but there is rich and varied evidence-some of it newly brought to light in this valuable book-about how Renaissance women and men defined themselves in relation to those they called their sisters and brothers. Exploring a wide range of cultural documents, including manuscripts of uncensored letters from a Spanish nun to brothers helping her with her ambition to become a saint, crossing borders from Spain to Italy, France, Germany, and England, as well as dividing Protestants from Catholics, the essays collected in this well-edited interdisciplinary volume work together to create an original and complex picture of siblings interacting with each other. Love (including incest), competition, mutual support in activities from childbirth through musical performance to collaborative authorship: these are just a few of the topics analyzed and vividly illustrated in Sibling Relations and Gender in the Early Modern World.' Margaret Ferguson, Professor of English at the University of California-Davis ’Naomi Miller and Naomi Yavneh, already well-known for their volume on Maternal Measures (Ashgate, 2000), have once again assembled an interesting and stimulating cluster of essays by scholars from various disciplines... the authors have given voice to a wide spectrum of historical subjects and hence have allowed diverse forms of participation and expression to emerge. The editors should be commended for having historicized the relationships between siblings.’ Renaissance Quarterly'... an engaging book... a collection of thoughtful and thought-provoking essays... Ashgate's series, Women and Gender in the Early Modern World, contains some broad-reaching essay collections that expand our knowledge of gender in comparative contexts, to which this book is a welcome addition... this is an excellent book for scholars and their students.' Journal of British StudiesTable of ContentsContents: Introduction: Thicker than water: evaluating sibling relations in the early modern period, Naomi J. Miller and Naomi Yavneh. Divine Devotion: Making a Saint Out of a Sibling, Susan D. Laningham; Recusant sisters: English Catholic women and the bonds of learning, Kari Boyd McBride; Families, Convents, Music: The Power of Sisterhood, Craig A. Monson; 'Liebe Schwester...': Siblings, convents, and the Reformation, Merry Wiesner-Hanks. Ties That Bind: Resisting Henri IV: Catherine de Bourbon and her brother, Jane Couchman; Sister-subject/sister-queen: Elizabeth I among her siblings, Carole Levin; Mary Sidney's other brothers, Margaret P. Hannay. Drawing the Line: The Politics of Private Discourse: Familial Relations in Lady Mary Wroth's Urania, Sheila T. Cavanagh; When the Mirror Lies: Sisterhood Reconsidered in Moderata Fonte's Thirteen Cantos of Floridoro, Valeria Finucci; Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli: musicians and sororal relations in later 16th-century Venice, Rebecca Edwards; The shame of siblings in David and Bethsabe, Stephen Guy-Bray; Sibling bonds and bondage in (and beyond) Shakespeare's The Tempest, Naomi J. Miller. Hand in Hand: Playing the game: sisterly relations in Sofonisba Anguissola's The Chess Game, Naomi Yavneh; 'My deare sister': sainted sisterhood in early modern England, Kathryn R. McPherson; Sisterly feelings in Cavendish and Brackley's drama, Alison Findlay; 'Thy passionately loving sister and faithfull friend': Anne Dormer's letters to her sister Lady Trumbull, Sara Mendelson and Mary O'Connor; Siblings, publications, and the transmission of memory: Johann Albert Hinrich and Elise Reimarus, Almut Spalding; Thicker than blood: l'oltr'altra, Naomi J. Miller and Naomi Yavneh. Index.

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Book SynopsisWitchcraft in Early Modern England provides a fascinating introduction to the history of witches and witchcraft in England from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century. Witchcraft was a crime punishable by death in England during this period and this book charts the witch panics and legal persecution of witches that followed, exploring topics such as elite attitudes to witchcraft in England, the role of pressures and tensions within the community in accusations of witchcraft, the way in which the legal system dealt with witchcraft cases, and the complex decline of belief in witchcraft. Revised and updated, this new edition explores the modern historiographical debate surrounding this subject and incorporates recent findings and interpretations of historians in the field, bringing it right up-to-date and in particular offering an extended treatment of the difficult issues surrounding gender and witchcraft. Supported by a range of compelling primarTable of ContentsPart One: Witchcraft in Early Modern England: 1 Introduction; 2 Elite perspectives on witchcraft: demonology, the law, and educated culture; 3 Witch-trials, witchcraft accusations, and the problem of community; 4 Witch beliefs: the broader spectrum; 5 The decline of witchcraft; Part Two: Assessment: 6 Summing up; Part Three: Documents; Bibliography; Index

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Book SynopsisCovering the development of the Cold War from the mid-twentieth century to the present day, The Cold War 19492016 explores the struggle for world domination that took place between the United States and the Soviet Union following the Second World War. The conflict between these two superpowers shaped global history for decades, and this book examines how this conflict developed into a nuclear arms race, spurred much of the wider world towards war and eventually resulted in the collapse of the Soviet empire. In this accessible yet comprehensive volume, Martin McCauley examines not only the actions of the United States and the Soviet Union but also the effects upon and involvement of other regions such as Africa, Central America, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. Key themes include the Sino-Soviet relationship and the global ambitions of the newly formed People's Republic of China, the rise and fall of communism in countries such as Cuba, Angola and Ethiopia, the US defeTrade Review"The Cold War 1949–2016 is the most readable, comprehensive, knowledgeable narrative of the Cold War. No one can read this book without learning something new, unusual and thought-provoking."Christopher Read, University of Warwick, UKTable of ContentsList of Maps List of Illustrations Foreword 1. ORIGINS OF THE COLD WAR 2. COLD WAR: 1949–53 3. TO THE BRINK AND BACK: 1953–62 4. THE US AND THE SOVIET UNION IN THE THIRD WORLD 5. THE SINO-SOVIET SCHISM 6. CUBA, VIETNAM AND INDONESIA 7. THE WAR OF CULTURES 8. THE PRAGUE SPRING 9. DÉTENTE: 1969–79 10. THE ISLAMIC CHALLENGE TO GDÁNSK: IRAN AND AFGHANISTAN 11. CAMBODIA-KAMPUCHEA 12. POST-DÉTENTE: 1979–85 13. GORBACHEV AND THE END OF THE COLD WAR 14. THE JUDGEMENT 15. THE POST–COLD WAR WORLD Further Reading References

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Book SynopsisThe studies here deal with the first half of the period of almost four centuries (1191-1571) when Greeks, Latins, and other groups coexisted on the island of Cyprus. Under the French-speaking Lusignan dynasty, the Kingdom of Cyprus gradually evolved from a fragmented cluster of indigenous and alien linguistic and religious communities to a more unified yet still multicultural society of Cypriots by the end of the reign of King Hugh IV (1324-59), a process that was redirected in the wake of the Genoese invasion in the 1370s. The ecclesiastical history of Early Frankish Cyprus has traditionally been seen as one long national (Greek) struggle against foreign (Latin) efforts at forced doctrinal and ritual assimilation. In this volume Dr Schabel presents a more nuanced view, with new interpretations of general trends and specific events in the history of the Greek and Latin clergies on the island, the involvement of the crown, the papacy, and the eastern and western emperors, and the relaTrade Review'These are perceptive papers, and, together with the appearance of the Bullarium, they mark a significant enhancement in our understanding of the first two centuries of Lusignan rule in Cyprus.' Crusades '... a very rich and useful collection.' Catholic Historical ReviewTable of ContentsContents: Preface; The status of the Greek clergy in early Frankish Cyprus; The myth of Queen Alice and the subjugation of the Greek clergy of Cyprus; Martyrs and heretics, intolerance of intolerance: the execution of 13 monks in Cyprus in 1231; The Greek bishops of Cyprus, 1260-1340, and the Synodikon Kyprion; The Latin bishops of Cyprus, 1255-1313, with a note on Bishop Neophytos of Solea; Frankish Pyrgos and the Cistercians; The inquisition against Peter de Castro, Vicar of the Dominican province of the Holy Land in Nicosia, Cyprus, 1330 (with Christina Kaoulla); Elias of Nabinaux, archbishop of Nicosia, and the intellectual history of later medieval Cyprus; Archbishop Elias and the Synodicum Nicosiense; Hugh the Just: the further rehabilitation of King Hugh IV Lusignan of Cyprus; Addenda and corrigenda; Name index.

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Book SynopsisTrue-life recollections from the Channel Islanders who were the only British subjects to live under Nazi rule in WWII.

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Book SynopsisCampaldino is one of the important battles between the Guelphs and Ghibellines--the major political factions in the city states of central and northern Italy. It heralded the rise of Florence to a dominant position over the area of Tuscany and was one of the last occassions when the Italian city militias contested a battle, with the 14th century seeing the rise of the condottiere in Italy''s Wars.In this highly illustrated new study, renowned medieval historians Kelly De Vries and Niccolò Capponi have uncovered new material from the battlefield itself, as well as using all the available sources, to breathe new life into this colorful and fascinating battle.Table of ContentsOrigins of the campaign /Chronology /Opposing commanders /Opposing armies /Orders of battle /Opposing plans /The campaign /Aftermath /The battlefields today /Further reading /Index

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Book SynopsisWomen are among the hardest individuals to trace through the historical record and this is especially true of female offenders who had a vested interest in not wanting to be found. That is why this thought-provoking and accessible handbook by Lucy Williams and Barry Godfrey is of such value. It looks beyond the crimes and the newspaper reports of women criminals in the Victorian era in order to reveal the reality of their personal and penal journeys, and it provides a guide for researchers who are keen to explore this intriguing and neglected subject. The book is split into three sections. There is an introduction outlining the historical context for the study of female crime and punishment, then a series of real-life case studies which show in a vivid way the complexity of female offenders' lives and follows them through the penal system. The third section is a detailed guide to archival and online sources that readers can consult in order to explore the life-histories of criminal women. The result is a rare combination of academic guide and how-to-do-it manual. It introduces readers to the latest research in the field and it gives them all the information they need to carry out their own research.

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Book SynopsisPerhaps not in casualties but as far as prestige and standing in the world were concerned, the Bay of Pigs invasion of 1961 was the worst disaster to befall the USA since the War of 1812 when British forces burned the White House. Badly planned, badly organized, the affair was littered with mistakes from start to finish-not least with an inept performance by John F. Kennedy and his new administration. Supposedly an attempt by Cuban exiles to regain their homeland, the whole operation was funded and equipped by the USA. When things began to go wrong with the landings at Playa Larga and Playa Giron on the southern coast of Cuba President Kennedy and his advisers began overruling military decisions with the result that the invading Brigade 2506-made up of Cuban exiles-was left with little or no air cover, limited ammunition and no easy escape. Fidel Castro made great play of his success and American failure at the Bay of Pigs. He, like Nikita Khrushchev, thought Kennedy was weak: the Cuban Missile Crisis of the following year was almost an inevitable consequence of the disaster.

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Book SynopsisThe book examines the impact which the Great War had on the Public Schools and the sacrificial contribution made to the victory which came in 1918. The war consumed about a fifth of all the public schoolboys who fought, while the survivors were scarred by the loss of so many friends. Based largely on source material from school archives and histories, it moves from the naive excitement of the summer of 1914 to the many moving stories that emerge from the carnage of the Western Front. It looks at school life in those war years, boys with their futures on hold and the prospect of death always very close, Headmasters and staff devastated by the loss of so many young lives. About one distinguished Headmaster, who died in January 1919, it was said that the War killed him as straightly and surely as if he had fallen at the front". The book ranges across many topics including the selflessness and pride of Public Schools across the British Empire and in Ireland; the role of the Officers Training Corps in militarising a generation; the letters written from the Front to teachers; the pride taken by schools in the Victoria Crosses etc won by Old Boys; the statistical terms in which the Public Schools contribution can be measured; the ways in which schools commemorated the war, and still do so today. Finally the legacy of the war is examined, both the effect on the schools themselves but also the contribution made by writers and artists to the disillusionment of the inter-war years.

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Book SynopsisPoland was re-created as an independent nation at the end of the First World War, but it soon faced problems as Nazi Germany set about expanding its control on Europe. The Wehrmacht's attack on 1 September 1939 was followed by a Red Army invasion two weeks later. The people of Poland were then subjected to a terrifying campaign of murder, imprisonment and enslavement which only increased as the war dragged on. Polish Catholics faced violence and deportation as they adapted to the draconian laws implemented by the German authorities. Meanwhile, the Polish Jews were forced into ghettos while the plans for the Final Solution were implemented. They then faced annihilation in the Holocaust, code named Operation Reinhard. Despite the dangers, many Poles joined the underground war against their oppressors, while those who escaped sought to fight for their nation's freedom from abroad. They sent intelligence to the west, attacked German installations, carried out assassinations and rose up to confront their enemy, all against impossible odds. The advance of the Red Army brought new problems, as the Soviet's dreaded NKVD introduced its own form of terror, hunting down anyone who fought for an independent nation. The story concludes with Poland's experience behind the Iron Curtain, ending with the return of democracy by 1991.

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Book SynopsisIn the Middle Ages, England had to contend with a string of usurpers who disrupted the British monarchy and ultimately changed the course of European history by deposing England's reigning kings and seizing power for themselves. Some of the most infamous usurper kings to come out of medieval England include William the Conqueror, Stephen of Blois, Henry Bolingbroke, Edward IV, Richard III, and Henry Tudor. Did these kings really deserve the title of usurper or were they unfairly vilified by royal propaganda and biased chroniclers? In this book we examine the lives of these six medieval kings, the circumstances which brought each of them to power, and whether or not they deserve the title of usurper. Along the way readers will hear stories of some of the most fascinating people from medieval Europe, including Empress Matilda, the woman who nearly succeeded at becoming the first ruling Queen of England; Eleanor of Aquitaine, the queen of both France and England who stirred her own sons to rebel against their father, Henry II; the cruel and vengeful reign of Richard II which caused his own family to overthrow him; the epic struggle for power between Henry VI, Margaret of Anjou, Richard of York, and Edward IV during the Wars of the Roses; the notorious Richard III and his monstrous reputation as a child-killer; and Henry VII who rose from relative obscurity to establish the most famous royal family of all time: the Tudors.

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Book SynopsisThe wars fought in Scotland's northern and western highlands between the ninth and fourteenth centuries were a key stage in the military history of the region, yet they have rarely been studied in-depth before. Out of this confused and turbulent period came the more settled and familiar history of the region. The Highlands and islands were controlled by the kings of Norway or by Norse or Norse-Celtic warlords, who not only resisted Scottish royal authority but on occasion seemed likely to overthrow it. That is why Chris Peers's ambitious study is of such value for he provides a coherent and vivid account of the series of campaigns and battles that shaped Scotland. The narrative is structured around a number of battles -Skitten Moor, Torfness, Tankerness, Renfrew, Mam Garvia, Clairdon and Dalrigh -which illustrate phases of the conflict and reveal the strategies and tactics of the rival chieftains. Chris Peers explores the international background to many of these conflicts which had consequences for Scotland's relations with England, Ireland and continental Europe. At the same time he considers to what extent the fighting methods of the time survived into the post-medieval period.

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Book SynopsisReconsidering the German tendency to define itself vis-à-vis an eastern "Other" in light of fresh debate regarding the Second World War, this volume and the cultural products it considers expose and question Germany's relationship with its imagined East. Germany has long defined itself in opposition to its eastern neighbors: its ideas around cultural prestige and its expressions of xenophobia seem inevitably to return to an imagined eastern "Other." Central to the consideration of such projections is the legacy of the Second World War, the subject of fresh debate since 1989: after four decades of political antagonism and cultural disjuncture, the events of the war on the Eastern Front have been rediscovered by Western audiences and have come to occupy complex, shifting positions in the memory culture of the postsocialist states. However, German ignorance of Eastern European experiences of war and genocide, enduring stereotypes, and prescriptive ideas about remembrance have been major stumbling blocks to the emergence of a transnational memory culture considered just by all parties. Despite mass immigration to Germany from the east and intensive contact between German speakers and its cultures, German-language cultural production continues largely to represent Eastern Europe as unknown, wild, and inaccessible. By contrast, the writers and filmmakers under discussion in the present volume have worked with and against such tropes to put forward alternative perspectives. Like their works, the contributions to this volume place the conflicts and prejudices of the twentieth century into a wider historical perspective, exposing and questioning the nature of Germany's relationship with its imagined East. Contributors: Deirdre Byrnes, Raluca Cernahoschi, Shivani Chauhan, Enikő Dácz, Olha Flachs, Daniel Harvey, Jakub Kazecki, Amy Leech, Paul Peters, Ernest Schonfield, Karolina Watroba.Table of ContentsBetween Estrangement and Entanglement: An Introduction to German Visions of Eastern Europe in the Twentieth (and Twenty-First) Century - Jenny Watson Colonizing a Central European City: Transnational Perspectives on Kronstadt/Brașov/Brassó in the First Half of the Twentieth Century - Enikő Dácz Exile as a Literary-Political Mission: Leo Katz's Antifascist Bukovina Novel Totenjäger (1944) - Olha Flachs Brunnenland: The Image of the Bukovina in Paul Celan - Paul Peters "Auch bei uns im fernen Transsilvanien": The Transylvanian Saxons and the Long Shadow of the Third Reich in the Work of Bettina Schuller - Raluca Cernahoschi Through an Orientalist Lens: Colonial Renderings of Poland in German Cinema after 1989 - Jakub Kazecki The Nazi Ghost and the Sinti Woman in Kerstin Hensel's Bell Vedere (1982) - Ernest Schonfield The Haunted Landscape of Babi Yar: Memory, Language, and the Exploration of Holocaust Spaces in Katja Petrowskaja's Vielleicht Esther (2014) - Deirdre Byrnes "dann hüpfe ich auch, komisch und ungeschickt, wie eine Nadel auf einer abgespielten Platte...": The Ethics and Affects of Translation in Katja Petrowskaja's Vielleicht Esther (2014) - Daniel Harvey Expanding the Nationalgeschichte: Entangled European Memory in Nino Haratischwili and Saša Stanišić - Amy Leech Reading Photographic Images and Identifying Mnemonic Threads of the Post-Memorial Project in Sie kam aus Mariupol (2017) by Natascha Wodin - Shivani Chauhan Navid Kermani's Entlang den Gräben (2018) and Its Readers: Remapping Europe's East - Karolina Watroba

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Book Synopsis'A delicious trip through the geography, history and culture of the region' – Sunday Telegraph Ever since the days of the Grand Tour, Tuscany has cast its magic spell on foreign vistiors. Attracted by the perfect combination of history, art, architecture, superb natural beauty and weather – not to mention magnificent traditions of food and drink – British visitors and residents have been at times so numerous that the local word for foreigners was simply 'gli inglesi' – 'the English'. What is it that makes this exquisite part of Italy so seductive? Alistair Moffat embarks on a journey into Tuscany’s past. From the flowering of the Etruscan civilization in the seventh century bc through the rise of the powerful medieval communes of Arezzo, Luca, Pisa and Florence, and the role the area played as the birthplace of the Renaissance, he underlines both the area’s regional uniqueness as well as the vital role it has played in the history of the whole of Italy. Insightful, readable and imbued with the author’s own enthusiasm for Tuscany, this book includes a wealth of information not found in tourist guides. 'A sun-drenched meditation on the character of the place and its people' – The ScotsmanTrade Review'A delicious trip through the geography, history and culture of the region' * Sunday Telegraph *'A sun-drenched meditation on the character of the place and its people' * The Scotsman *'A cavalcade across some of the most fascinating, intriguing and, yes, brutal episodes of the region’s past written in the fast-paced, involving style of an adventure novel' * Italy magazine Book of the Week *'If you read the book, you’ll want to travel to the region' * The Herald *'Moffat's book is never dull . . . like one of the region's fine wines, it doesn't disappoint' * Scottish Review of Books *

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Book SynopsisRussia and Britain were never natural bedfellows. But the marriage, in 1894, of Queen Victoria's favourite granddaughter, Alicky, to the Tsarevich Nicholas marked the beginning of an uneasy Anglo-Russian entente that would last until the Russian Revolution of 1917. The Imperial Tea Party draws back the curtain on the three extraordinary meetings that took place between the British and Russian royal families during those years. These pivotal encounters, although well-intentioned and generally hailed as successes, were beset by misunderstandings and misfortunes. In this wonderfully droll account, Frances Welch presents a vivid snapshot of two dynasties at a time of social unrest. The two families could not know, as they waved each other fond goodbyes from their yachts at Cowes in 1909, that they would never meet again.Trade Review"With her quick wit and light touch, Welch conducts a relentless inquiry into conscience, family loyalty and the nature of the past... an unsettling portrait of moustaches, murder, and lèse-majesté.’ Frances Wilson, The Spectator "In this funny, touching and ultimately tragic book, Welch brilliantly exposes how the British family courted and then abandoned their royal cousins in the run-up to World War I." Kathryn Hughes, Mail on Sunday "A fascinating book... Welch is an excellent writer." The Daily Telegraph "Delightfully witty and entertaining." The Times Literary Supplement "Excellent history... Intrigue aplenty." The Times "Deeply affecting." Daily Mail

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Book SynopsisAn engagingly written account of textile engineering in its key northern centres, rich with historical narrative and analysis. The engineers who built the first generations of modern textile machines, between 1770 and 1850, pushed at the boundaries of possibility. This book investigates these pioneering machine-makers, almost all working within textile communities in northern England, and the industry they created. It probes their origins and skills, the sources of their inspiration and impetus, and how it was possible to develop a high-tech, factory-centred, world-leading marketin textile machinery virtually from scratch. The story of textile engineering defies classical assumptions about the driving forces behind the Industrial Revolution. The circumstances of its birth, and the personal affiliationsat work during periods of exceptional creativity, suggest that the potential to accelerate economic growth could be found within social assets and craft skills. Appreciating textile engineering within its own time and context challenges views inherited from Victorian thinkers, who tended to ascribe to it features of the fully fledged industry they saw before them. The Age of Machinery is an engagingly written account of the trade in its key northern centres, devoid of jargon and yet tightly argued, equally rich with historical narrative and analysis. It will be invaluable not only to students and scholars of British economic history and the Industrial Revolution but also tosocial scientists looking at human agency and its contribution to economic growth and innovation. GILLIAN COOKSON holds a DPhil in economic history and has been employed since 1995 in academic research and consultancy,including as county editor, Victoria County History of Durham.Trade ReviewUnbelievably good value. -- LOCAL HISTORIANA masterly account of the early northern textile machine makers, their origins, social networks, skills and the influence they had on the emergent factory movement. * ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW *This engaging, erudite study investigates the firms and people who made the machines of the Industrial Revolution. * TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE *A brilliant account. * ECONOMIC HISTORY REVIEW *A very important book on the origins of the English Industrial Revolution. ... Rich and insightful. * BUSINESS HISTORY *This is a rich, extremely well-researched and well-argued book that sheds valuable light on the evolution of textile machine technology during the British Industrial Revolution. * JOURNAL OF BRITISH STUDIES *Cookson's account is dense and carefully argued, but it is also rich and engaging, addressing issues of fundamental significance for processes of technological advance and economic growth. Highly recommended. * CHOICE *Table of ContentsIntroduction The Coming of Machinery The Age of Machinery Shaping an Industry The Machine-makers Ingenious Mechanics The Social Life of the Engineer Innovating Reaching Maturity Appendix 1: Keighley textile engineers Appendix 2: Leeds engineering businesses established before 1830 Appendix 3: Estimates of textile machinery at work in the United Kingdom, 1835-56 Bibliography

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Book SynopsisThe story of a modernist building with a significant place in the history of Soviet espionage in Britain, where communist spies rubbed shoulders with British artists, sculptors and writers The Isokon building, also know as Lawn Road Flats, in London was the haunt of some of the most prominent Soviet agents working against Britain in the 1930s and 40s, among them Arnold Deutsch, the controller of the group of Cambridge spies who came to be known as the "Magnificent Five" after the Western movie The Magnificent Seven; the photographer Edith Tudor-Hart; and Melita Norwood, the longest-serving Soviet spy in British espionage history (andinspiration for Judi Dench's character in Red Joan). However, it wasn't only spies who were attracted to the Lawn Road Flats. The crime writer Agatha Christie wrote her only spy novel N or M? in the Flats, and anumber of other artists, architects and writers were also drawn there, among them the Bauhaus exiles Walter Gropius, László Moholy-Nagy and Marcel Breuer; the sculptors and painters Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth; the novelist Nicholas Monsarrat; the writer and founder of The Good Food Guide Raymond Postgate; and the poet (and Bletchley Park intelligence officer) Charles Brasch. The Isokon building boasted its own restaurant and dining club, wheremany of the Flats' most famous residents rubbed shoulders with some of the most dangerous communist spies ever to operate in Britain. Agatha Christie often said that she invented her characters from what she observed going on around her. With the Kuczynskis - probably the most successful family of spies in the history of espionage - in residence, she would have had plenty of material. This book tells the story of a remarkable Modernist building and its even more extraordinary cast of characters. DAVID BURKE is a historian of intelligence and international relations and author of The Spy Who Came In From the Co-op: Melita Norwood and the Ending of Cold War Espionage and Russia and the British Left: From the 1848 Revolutions to the General Strike.Trade ReviewThe book is the product of excellent detective work on Burke's part [and is] a compelling, original and insightful read, often providing minute details of everyday espionage, while chronicling artistic movements and political upheavals engagingly. * HISTORY *Burke's book is constructed like the building itself: each chapter has at its centre a life story of one or other key resident of the ISOKON, and these stories are as interconnected as were the tenants at the Lawn Road Flats. ... [Its] history has now been meticulously restored by David Burke. * TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT *A fascinating book. * CHARTIST *Burke intersperses his painstakingly detailed research with fascinating glimpses of life at the time, drawing on stories and letters that bring his account into vivid relief. * TIMES HIGHER EDUCATION SUPPLEMENT *A lively and vivid chronicle of a generation shaped by war, political upheaval and idealism. * HISTORY TODAY *Cocktails, glamour, spies - Bond would love it. * SAGA MAGAZINE *Burke proves to be a brilliant sleuth...and is insightful on the...daily detail of a spy's life. * TIMES *This book, like the Lawn Road flats themselves, is full of surprises. -- Lynn Barber * SUNDAY TIMES *Reveals the staggeringly rich artistic and political machinations that took place within. * FINANCIAL TIMES *

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Book Synopsis'This book rests on a lifetime’s thinking about history. It helps us see Shakespeare in “a more realistic light”.’ Times Literary Supplement The seventeenth century saw the brief flowering of tragic drama across Western Europe. And in the plays of William Shakespeare, this form of drama found its greatest exponent. These Tragedies, Kiernan argues, represented the artistic expression of a new social and political consciousness which permeated every aspect of life in this period. In this book, Kiernan sets out to rescue the Tragedies from the reductionist interpretations of mainstream literary criticism, by uncovering the wider historical context which shaped Shakespeare's writings. Opening with an overview of contemporary England, the development of the theatre, and a portrait of Shakespeare as a writer, Kiernan goes on to provide an in-depth analysis of eight of his Tragedies – from Julius Caesar to Coriolanus – drawing out their contrasts and recurring themes, and exploring their attitudes to monarchy, war, religion, philosophy, and changing relations between men and women. Featuring a new introduction by Terry Eagleton, this is an invaluable resource for those looking for a new perspective on Shakespeare's writings.Trade Review[A] splendid Marxist exploration of Shakespeare’s work... Victor Kiernan was a historian to rank with Eric Hobsbawm and Christopher Hill. His approach to Shakespeare is based on a deep historical understanding of the contradictions of the period, which makes him deeply sensitive to what the plays reveal. * International Socialism Journal *Kiernan writes with passion and precision on the social and economic contexts of Shakespeare’s plays. * Recent Studies in Tudor and Stuart Drama *This book rests on a lifetime’s thinking about history. It helps us see Shakespeare in “a more realistic light”. * Times Literary Supplement *Table of ContentsIntroduction by Terry Eagleton Foreword Part I: Programmatic Part II: Introductory 1. The Condition of England 2. The Theatre 3. Shakespeare and Tragedy 4. The Tragic Road 5. The Others Part III: The Plays 1. Julius Caeser (1598-99) 2. Hamlet (1600-01) 3. Othello (1603-04) 4. King Lear (1605-06) 5. Macbeth (1606) 6. Timon of Athens (1606-08) 7. Anthony and Cleopatra (1606-08) 8. Coriolanus (1608) Part IV: Tragic Themes 1. The Hero 2. Villains and Revengers 3. Man and Superman 4. War 5. Political Shadows 6. Women and Men 7. Religion and Philosophy 8. Endings and Beginnings

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Book SynopsisCan music make the world a better place? Can it really 'belong' to anyone? Can the magic, mystery and incertitude of music - of the human brain meeting or making sound - can it stop wars, rehabilitate the broken, unite, educate or inspire? From Jimi Hendrix playing 'Machine Gun' at The Isle of Wight Festival in 1970 to the Bataclan under siege in 2015, Ed Vulliamy has lived the music, met the legends, and asked, when words fail, might we turn to music? There's only one way to find out, and that is to listen...

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Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE RATHBONES FOLIO PRIZE BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023 FROM THE PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING CRITIC AND ACCLAIMED AUTHOR OF NEGROLAND 'This is one of the most imaginative - and therefore moving - memoirs I have ever read' - Vivian Gornick, author of Fierce Attachments Margo Jefferson boldly and brilliantly fuses cultural analysis and memoir to probe race, class, family and art. Taking in the jazz and blues icons whom Jefferson idolised as a child in the 1950s, ideas of what the female body could be - as incarnated by trailblazing Black dancers and athletes - Harriet Beecher Stowe's Topsy reimagined in the artworks of Kara Walker, white supremacy in the novels of Willa Cather, and more, this breathtakingly eloquent account is both a critique and a vindication of the constructed self. 'Margo Jefferson's Constructing a Nervous System is as electric as its title suggests. It takes vital risks, tosses away rungs of the ladder as it climbs, and offers an indispensable, rollicking account of the enchantments, pleasures, costs, and complexities of "imagin[ing] and interpret[ing] what had not imagined you' - Maggie Nelson, author of The Argonauts 'If you want to know who we are and where we've been, read Margo Jefferson' - Edmund White, author of A Previous Life 'This is a moving portrait of the life of a brilliant African American woman's mind. Margo Jefferson is so real, her sensibility so literary, her learning such a joy. The gifts of reading her are many' - Darryl Pinckney, author of Sold and GoneTrade ReviewElectric [Jefferson] takes vital risks, tosses away rungs of the ladder as it climbs, and offers an indispensable, rollicking account of the enchantments, pleasures, costs, and complexities of "imagin[ing] and interpret[ing] what had not imagined you -- Maggie Nelson * author of The Argonauts *Margo Jefferson has created a startling and digressive form of auto-analysis... an intimate view of the aesthetic and political landscape of American culture and the secrets, longing, withholding and disavowal necessary to imagine oneself inside it and ward off its damage -- Saidiya Hartman * author of Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments *She knows everything and has felt it all deeply. If you want to know who we are and where we've been, read Margo Jefferson -- Edmund White * author of A Previous Life *Margo Jefferson is one of our most nuanced thinkers on the intersections of race, class, and feminism. Her latest Constructing a Nervous System is especially alive is both spiky and supple; jagged -- Cathy Park Hong * New York Times bestselling author of Minor Feelings *This is one of the most imaginative-and therefore moving-memoirs I have ever read -- Vivian Gornick * author of Fierce Attachments *Jefferson is as precise and sensitive as ever, nonpareil in her scope and ability to synthesize the circus of traditions, arcs, and performances that make up a life -- Most Anticipated Books of 2022 * Vulture *This is a moving portrait of the life of a brilliant African American woman's mind. Margo Jefferson is so real, her sensibility so literary, her learning such a joy. The gifts of reading her are many -- Darryl Pickney * author of Sold and Gone *A tour-de-force of personal narrative -- Keziah Weir * Vanity Fair *Margo Jefferson is the rare memoirist who is always daring the reader to keep up... It is impossible not to be stirred by her odes to fellow black American strivers of excellence * Observer *Constructing a Nervous System compresses memoir and cultural criticism into one slim, explosive volume, and in doing so the Pulitzer Prize-winning author makes both forms new. Hers is a wry, intimate portrayal of a passionate and intellectual woman coming to maturity... Jefferson has that rare ability to make her reader see things anew. -- Margie Orford * Spectator *Part autobiography, part cultural criticism, [Margo Jefferson] reminds us that the rules for how we structure memory, and how we tell our stories, are not immutable. -- Enuma Okoro * Financial Times *Lithe and always surprising... [Jefferson] paints a remarkable portrait of herself as a singular kind of performer * New Statesman *

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Book SynopsisThe Great British Dig brings history and archaeology closer to home than ever before. Each week a team of archaeologists (led by presenter Hugh Dennis) descend on streets and gardens the length and breadth of the country to discover the treasures we have been living right on top of without realising. In this official tie-in book, on-screen expert Dr Chloë Duckworth digs deeper into the sites the show visited, as well as giving practical tips and advice for anyone who wants to have a go themselves. Uncovering a lost world of human stories just a few shovelfuls beneath our feet, Chloë explores the team’s techniques in fascinating detail, offering new insights and explanations about the discoveries made. As well as revealing the actual frontier of the Roman Empire in Britain, the Tudor palace of an Elizabethan spymaster, a revolutionary Victorian prison, a Second World War military base, and a prehistoric village under a school playing field, Chloë includes lots of information for anyone wanting to give it a go themselves. The book is packed with features, tip boxes and practical advice about digging in your own back garden, researching your local area for clues about what might have been there centuries ago, and dating things you may find. Highly illustrated, the book includes images never seen on screen, as well as archive photos and illustrations that bring history to life, and identification guides to bones, pottery, tools, coins and other things you might come across yourself. Foreword by Hugh Dennis, presenter of The Great British Dig.Trade ReviewA beautiful book, bursting with accounts of archaeological digs, practical information and rich historical context. It will be treasured by fans of history and archaeology. * Dan Snow, historian and TV presenter *My first brush with the wonderful world of archaeology was, as a child, discovering tiny pieces of pottery in my own back garden. With excavations in gardens all over the UK, this book reveals the astonishing breadth of British archaeology – in a brilliantly accessible way. * Professor Alice Roberts, anthropologist, author and TV presenter *This book gives a brilliant blow-by blow account of how archaeologists approach excavations. By using a combination of science, interpretation and research it clearly shows how the process of archaeological digging actually happens – and doubles up as a ‘how-to’ guide. * Raksha Dave, President of the Council for British Archaeology *BOOK OF THE MONTH - With fascinating explorations of sites from the show and advice on your own findings, The Great British Dig will help you to explore the fascinating history that can be found close to home. * Countryside magazine *A joy to read. Beautifully presented and crammed with colour photos. Duckworth’s brightly conversational prose zips along, offering behind-the-scenes insights and dashes of humour. * Current Archaeology *An accessible and engaging introductory handbook - a no-nonsense guide that is bound to get you thinking like an archaeologist and make you want to dive into some muddy detective work in no time. * Minerva *An engaging, accessible introduction to practical archaeology, and arms the home enthusiast with the knowledge to start their own dig. * Who Do You Think You Are? magazine *A good archaeological primer. * British Archaeology *Visually splendid. Enthusiastically written. Easy to follow. Lots of practical advice. Ground-breaking stuff. * Best of British *Practical advice… a must-read for fans of the series. * This England *This book acts as a great reminder of why many of us fall for archaeology in the first place…an accessible and engaging introductory handbook * Minerva *Table of ContentsForeword by Hugh Dennis Introduction DIG 1: Cosmopolitan Romans (Benwell, Newcastle Upon Tyne) Identification guide: Roman and prehistoric ceramics Practical guide 1: Gathering your tools DIG 2: Medieval Life and Death (Masham, Yorkshire) Practical guide 2: Researching your local area DIG 3: Rebellious Monks (Lenton, Nottingham) DIG 4: War and Peace (Trow Point, South Shields) Identification guide: Coins Practical guide 3: Digging legally and safely DIG 5: From Mill to POW Camp (Oldham, Greater Manchester) Identification guide: Porcelain and its imitations DIG 6: The Final Frontier (Falkirk, Stirlingshire) Identification guide: Glass bottles Practical guide 4: Laying out your trench DIG 7: The Conquerors’ Castle (West Derby, Liverpool) Identification guide: Medieval ceramics Practical guide 5: All about soil DIG 8: Gardens of Power (Beningbrough, York) Identification guide: Metal small finds Practical guide 6: Excavating finds and features DIG 9: Poverty and Redemption (Oswestry, Shropshire) Identification guide: Clay pipes DIG 10: Out on the Grange (Biggin Hall, Coventry) DIG 11: Crime and Punishment (Devizes, Wiltshire) Practical guide 7: Recording your findings DIG 12: Royalists and Parliamentarians (King’s Lynn, Norfolk) Identification guide: Animal bones DIG 13: The Spymaster’s House (Odiham, Hampshire) Practical guide 8: Caring for finds DIG 14: Prehistoric Mysteries (Stretton, East Staffordshire) Practical guide 9: Carry on digging!

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Book SynopsisBorn in Limerick in 1891, John Edward or 'Ned' Daly was the only son in a family of nine. Ned's father, Edward, an ardent Fenian, died before his son was born, but Ned's Uncle John, also a radical Fenian, was a formative influence. John Daly was prepared to use physical force to win Ireland's freedom and was imprisoned for twelve years for his activities. Ned's sister Kathleen married Tom Clarke, a key figure of the Easter Rising. Nationalism was in the Daly blood. Yet young Ned was seen as frivolous and unmotivated, interested only in his appearance and his social life. How Edward Daly became a professional Volunteer soldier, dedicated to freeing his country from foreign rule, forms the core of this biography. Drawing on family memories and archives, Edward Daly's grandniece Helen Litton uncovers the untold story of Edward Daly, providing an insight into one of the more enigmatic figures of the Easter Rising. As commandant during the Rising, Ned controlled the Four Courts area. On 4 May 1916, Commandant Edward Daly was executed for his part in the Easter Rising. Ned was twenty-five years old. His body was consigned to a mass grave.Trade Reviewsuccinct and articulate -- Books Irelandintimate and insightful -- Books Ireland

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Book SynopsisFrom the Early Neolithic farm at Knap of Howar to the flamboyant chapel built by Italian prisoners of war in the 1940s, the Orkney Islands are amazingly rich in historic and prehistoric sites. At their centre is a cluster of spectacular Neolithic monuments - domestic, ceremonial and burial - now inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Orkney later became a flourishing Norse centre, with St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall as its striking centrepiece. The palaces of the notorious Stewart earls also survive as a relic of Renaissance grandeur; while later periods have left evidence of industry, war and worship. In this extensively illustrated guide, Orkney-based archaeologist Caroline Wickham-Jones introduces more than 60 monuments in concise and accessible terms, set in context by a brief history of the islands. A site location directory is also included.

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