History Books
Reaktion Books Revolt in the Netherlands: The Eighty Years War,
Book SynopsisIn 1568, the Seventeen Provinces in the Netherlands rebelled against the absolutist rule of the king of Spain. A confederation of duchies, counties, and lordships, the Provinces demanded the right of self-determination, the freedom of conscience and religion, and the right to be represented in government. Their long struggle for liberty and the subsequent rise of the Dutch Republic was a decisive episode in world history and an important step on the path to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. And yet, it is a period in history we rarely discuss. In his compelling retelling of the conflict, Anton van der Lem explores the main issues at stake on both sides of the struggle and why it took eighty years to achieve peace. He recounts in vivid detail the roles of the key protagonists, the decisive battles, and the war's major turning points, from the Spanish governor's Council of Blood to the Twelve Years Truce, while all the time unraveling the shifting political, religious, and military alliances that would entangle the foreign powers of France, Italy, and England. Featuring striking, rarely seen illustrations, this is a timely and balanced account of one of the most historically important conflicts of the early modern period.
£24.00
Reaktion Books Out of the Depths: A History of Shipwrecks
Book SynopsisOut of the Depths explores all aspects of shipwrecks across 4,000 years, examining their historical context and significance, and showing how shipwrecks can be time capsules, shedding new light on long-departed societies and civilizations. Alan G. Jamieson not only informs readers of the technological developments over the last sixty years that have made the true appreciation of shipwrecks possible, but covers shipwrecks in culture, maritime archaeology, treasure hunters and their environmental impacts. Although shipwrecks have become less common in recent decades, their implications have become more wide-ranging: since the 1960s, foundering supertankers have caused massive environmental disasters, and in 2021 the blocking of the Suez Canal by the giant container ship Ever Given had a serious impact on global trade.
£25.50
Four Courts Press Ltd Palles: The Legal Legacy of the Last Lord Chief
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£47.50
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Railway Guns of World War II
Book SynopsisWorld War II marked the zenith of railway gun development. Although many of the railway guns deployed at the start of the conflict were of World War I vintage, Germany''s ambitious development programme saw the introduction of a number of new classes, including the world''s largest, the 80cm-calibre Schwerer Gustav and Schwerer Dora guns, which weighed in at 1,350 tons and fired a huge 7-ton shell.This book provides an overview of the types of railway guns in service during World War II, with a special focus on the German railway artillery used in France, Italy and on the Eastern Front, and analyzes why railway guns largely disappeared from use following the end of the war.Table of ContentsIntroduction / French Railway Artillery / Belgian Railway Artillery / German Railway Artillery / Italian Railway Artillery / Soviet Railway Artillery / Finnish Railway Artillery / Japanese Railway Artillery / British Railway Artillery / US Railway Artillery / Conclusion / Bibliography / Index
£11.69
Four Courts Press Ltd Landscapes of Kinships in Early Medieval Ireland
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£64.66
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC German Soldier vs Polish Soldier
Book SynopsisThe Nazi invasion of Poland in September 1939 saw mostly untested German troops face equally inexperienced Polish forces. With the Polish senior leadership endeavouring to hold the country's industrialized east, Hitler's forces unleashed what was essentially a large pincer operation intended to encircle and eliminate much of Poland's military strength. Harnessing this initial operational advantage, the Germans were able to attack Polish logistics, communications and command centres, thereby gaining and maintaining battlefield momentum. With the average infantry soldier on both sides comparatively well-led, equipped and transported, vital differences in battlefield support (especially air power and artillery), tactics, organization and technology would make all the difference in combat.Featuring specially commissioned artwork, archive photography and battle maps, this study focuses upon three actions that reveal the evolving nature of the 1939 campaign. The battle of Tuchola Table of ContentsIntroduction The Opposing Sides Cutting the ‘Polish Corridor’ Lomza and Nowogród The Bzura Pocket Analysis Aftermath Unit Organizations Bibliography Index
£12.59
Bloomsbury USA Leftovers
Book SynopsisA topical and richly entertaining history of food preservation and food waste in Britain from the sixteenth-century kitchen to the present day.In Leftovers, Eleanor Barnett explores the many ingenious ways in which our ancestors sought to extend the life of food through preservation, the culinary reuse of leftovers and the recycling of food scraps. Embracing a broad historical lens, the book spans Tudor household management; the world-changing inventions in food preservation of the Industrial Revolution from the tin can to artificial refrigeration; the growth of public health initiatives and organised food waste collection in the Victorian era; state promotion of thrifty eating during the two World Wars; and the politics of food and packaging waste in the modern era of sustainability.Opening a window on the everyday experiences of ordinary people in the past, Leftovers reveals how factors such as religious belief, class identities and gender have histor
£23.79
John Wiley and Sons Ltd A Century of Labour
Book SynopsisBritain’s first Labour government took office on 22 January 1924. Its centenary provides an opportunity to reassess the party's performance over the last 100 years, and with an election pending, the character and purpose of the modern party. Labour defined the dominant political settlement of much of the Twentieth Century: the welfare state. It has achieved much in pursuit of material change, social reform and equality. It has challenged patriarchy, racism and the legacy of imperialism, promoted human rights and delivered democratic and constitutional renewal. Yet any honest assessment must acknowledge a century littered with failures and missed opportunities. In this compelling book, Jon Cruddas, one of the country's foremost experts on Labour politics, details the vivid personalities and epic factional battles, the immense achievements and profound disappointments that define a century of Labour. Uniquely framed around competing visions of socialist justice within the Party, he provides a way to rethink Labour history, the divisions and factions on the left and to reassess key figures at the helm of the movement from Keir Hardie through to Keir Starmer.Trade Review‘This dense history of ideas is not a breezy read – but it adds up to a heartfelt plea for pluralism from a Labour thinker whose parliamentary career is drawing to a close just as his party enters a new chapter.’The Guardian'Jon Cruddas is a member of that relatively rare species, an active politician who is also an intellectual.'Chris Mullin, The Spectator ‘If the Labour Party is to win office and govern effectively, it should study A Century of Labour, and embrace the deep lessons it offers about success built on tolerance, respect and pluralism.’Neal Lawson, Director of Compass‘Cruddas’ clear-eyed analysis gets to the very heart of the ideas and the personalities that have united and divided the Labour Party. A must-read from one of Labour’s most insightful and original thinkers.’Lisa Nandy MP‘A brilliantly bold and bracing journey through Labour’s rich yet troubled history.’Adrian Pabst, author of Postliberal Politics‘An outstanding dissection and celebration of the modern Labour movement. Jon Cruddas is that rarest of breeds, a genuine scholar-politician.’Jesse Norman MP, author of Adam Smith: What He Thought, and Why it Matters‘Quite simply the best history of the Labour Party I have read. Cruddas’ retrieval of the ethical tradition will serve as a guide to the Labour Party’s future.’Lord Glasman, Labour Peer ‘An incisive, original, and thought-provoking account of the different political strands that have defined the Labour party’s outlook over the decades. This book will be required reading, not only for those engrossed in the party’s past, but for those concerned about its future under Keir Starmer.’Mark Wickham-Jones, University of Bristol‘In this absorbing new history of the Labour party Jon Cruddas analyses the party’s successes and failures…An important contribution to the debate on Labour’s future.’Andrew Gamble, University of Sheffield‘important and authoritative’ Labour Hub‘a thorough and enlightening analysis of Labour’s strengths and weaknesses’Professor Pat Thane, Society‘timely […] full of excellent analysis’Morning StarTable of ContentsAcknowledgements Preface Chapter 1: History Chapter 2: Justice Chapter 3: Origins Chapter 4: Minorities: 1924-1931 Chapter 5: Thirties: 1931-1939 Chapter 6: Jerusalem: 1939-1951 Chapter 7: Waste: 1951-1964 Chapter 8: Strife: 1964-1979 Chapter 9: Wilderness: 1979-1987 Chapter 10: Revival: 1987-1997 Chapter 11: Landslides: 1997-2010 Chapter 12: Isolation: 2010-2024 Chapter 13: Purpose Appendices Notes Index
£21.25
The History Press Ltd Women in Policing
Book SynopsisThe history of policing in Britain is a considerably under-researched subject, and the advancement of women within that history even more so. This book seeks to fill that gap, by tracking the progress of women in policing - a story that is longer and more complex than perhaps first meets the eye.Rather than taking a broad narrative overview of women''s progress in the realm of law enforcement, this book examines individual experiences within that history. It tells women's stories as a representative snapshot of the time in which they policed, allowing the reader to understand the wider context whilst taking the time to relfect on those women who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty.Assembled from a collection of experts in the field of police history and the Police History Society, this is a must-read for anyone with an interest in women's, social, or policing history in Britain.
£17.00
Workman Publishing Vintage Beer: A Taster's Guide to Brews That
Book Synopsis2014 Gold Medal Winner from the North American Guild of Beer Writers for Best Beer Book Like good wine, certain beers can be aged under the right conditions to enhance and change their flavors in interesting and delicious ways. Good candidates for cellaring are either strong, sour, or smoked beers, such as barleywines, rauchbiers, and lambics. Patrick Dawson gives a list of easy-to-follow rules that lay the groundwork for identifying these cellar-worthy beers and then delves into the mysteries behind how and why they age as they do. Beer styles known for aging well are discussed and detailed profiles of commonly available beers that fall into these categories are included. There is also a short travel guide for bars and restaurants that specialize in vintage beer gives readers a way to taste what this new craft beer frontier is all about.
£10.99
The History Press Ltd Visiting the Past: A Guide to Britain's
Book SynopsisArchaeology isn’t just for academics and television presenters – it’s for everyone. And it is all around us. Get your boots on and explore Britain’s national and local archaeology sites for yourself with this revised and updated, easy-to-read, fully illustrated guide.Follow our islands’ history in this step-by-step introduction. Discover what life was like from the earliest days of human habitation right through to the world wars. Then get out to visit the best sites and see what features each era left behind for us to find – and find out how to spot archaeology for yourself in the most surprising places.Be warned: you may never look at an empty field, a stone monument or an old building in the same way again!
£15.19
Michael O'Mara Books Ltd An Apple A Day: Old-Fashioned Proverbs and Why
Book SynopsisDoes absence really make the heart grow fonder?Can beggars be choosers?Is it always better late than never?Proverbs are short, well-known, pithy sayings that offer advice or words of encouragement and are used in everyday English without much thought ever being given to their meanings, or indeed, usefulness. In An Apple A Day Caroline Taggart explores the truth behind our favourite proverbs, their history and whether they offer any genuine help to the recipient. Did you know that The Old Testament has an entire book devoted to proverbs? Or that 'a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush' is a proverb from falconry that dates back to the Middle Ages? Many proverbs are still in use today, including the very famous 'slow and steady wins the race', which derives from one of the many fables of Aesop. Lighthearted but authoritative, An Apple A Day proves that proverbs are as useful today as they ever were.Trade ReviewExploring well-known proverbs, their origins, meanings and relevance to life today, this is a fun and fascinating book to dip into, written by an author with a neat sense of humour * Choice Magazine *Explores the origins of common proverbs and sayings, examining whether they really do hold true * Daily Mirror *Witty, wise and authoritative, An Apple A Day proves that proverbs are as useful today as they ever were * Lancashire Evening Post *
£8.20
The History Press Ltd The Little History of Lancashire
Book SynopsisThe Historic County of Lancashire once stretched from Coniston Water in the Lake District in the north to the River Mersey in the south. It was the scene of Georgian triumph and tragedy in the first Industrial Revolution, and philanthropy and civil rights struggles in the Victorian era, followed by decline, renewal and hope for the future.From the formation of the county's terrain in the Ice Age and its earliest occupation by the Celts, through Roman occupation, the arrival of the Normans and the turbulence of civil war, Hugh Hollinghurst guides us through the ups and downs of Lancastrian history. Complete with illustrations and photographs, The Little History of Lancashire is the story of those who suffered and those that benefited.
£13.49
Oneworld Publications In the Shadows of the American Century: The Rise
Book SynopsisFor a decade America’s share of the global economy has been in decline. Its diplomatic alliances are under immense strain, and any claim of moral leadership has been abandoned. America is still a colossus, possessing half the world’s manufacturing capacity, nearly half its military forces, and a formidable system of global surveillance and covert operations. But even at its peak it may have been sowing the seeds of its own destruction. Is it realistic to rely on the global order established after World War II, or are we witnessing the changing of the guard, with China emerging as the world’s economic and military powerhouse? America clings to its superpower status, but for how much longer?Trade Review‘A brilliant and deeply informed must-read for anyone seriously interested in geopolitics, the history of Empire, and the shape of the future.’ -- New York Journal of Books‘A profound meditation on the nature of American state power.’ -- James A. Robinson, Dr. Richard L. Pearson Professor of Global Conflict Studies, University of Chicago, and co-author of Why Nations Fail‘McCoy’s detailed, panoramic analysis…joins the essential short list of scrupulous historical and comparative studies of the United States as an…imperial power.’ -- John Dower, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Embracing Defeat and War Without Mercy‘Persuasively argues for the inevitable decline of the American empire and the rise of China… Powerful.’ -- Viet Thanh Nguyen, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sympathizer‘One of our best and most underappreciated historians takes a hard look at the truth of our empire, both its covert activities and the reasons for its impending decline.’ -- Oliver Stone‘“What is the character of this American empire?” Alfred McCoy asks at the outset of this provocative study. His answer not only limns the contours of the American imperium as it evolved during the twentieth century, but explains why its days are quite likely numbered. This is history with profound relevance to events that are unfolding before our eyes.’ -- Andrew J. Bacevich, author of America’s War for the Greater Middle East‘A meticulous, eye-opening account of the rise, since 1945, and impending premature demise of the American Century of world domination.’ -- Ann Jones, author of They Were Soldiers‘Sobering reading for geopolitics mavens and Risk aficionados alike.’ * Kirkus *
£10.44
The History Press Ltd The Women Who Went Round the World
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£19.54
Atlantic Books The Subterranean Railway: How the London
Book SynopsisRevised and updated edition of Christian Wolmar's classic history of the London Underground, with a new chapter on Crossrail.'I can think of few better ways to while away those elastic periods awaiting the arrival of the next eastbound Circle Line train than by reading [this book].' Tom Fort, Sunday TelegraphSince the Victorian era, London's Underground has played a vital role in the daily life of generations of Londoners. In The Subterranean Railway, Christian Wolmar celebrates the vision and determination of the nineteenth-century pioneers who made the world's first, and still the largest, underground passenger railway: one of the most impressive engineering achievements in history. From the early days of steam to electrification, via the Underground's contribution to twentieth-century industrial design and its role during two world wars, the story comes right up to the present with a new chapter on the sleek and futuristic Crossrail line. The Subterranean Railway reveals London's hidden wonder in all its glory and shows how the railway beneath the streets helped create the city we know today.Trade ReviewI can think of few better ways to while away those elastic periods awaiting the arrival of the next eastbound Circle Line train than by reading [this book]. -- Tom Fort * Sunday Telegraph *The ferocious rivalries, administrative bungles, short-sighted compromises, cost over-runs and delays. Railway politics were ever thus. * Independent *An excellent history of the London Underground * The Times *Table of Contents0: Introduction: The Phantom Railway 1: Midwife to the Underground 2: The Underground Arrives 3: London Goes Underground 4: The Line to Nowhere 5: Spreading Out 6: The Sewer Rats 7: Deep under London 8: The Dodgy American 9: Beginning to Make Sense 10: The Underground in the First World War 11: Reaching Out 12: Metroland, the Suburban Paradox 13: The Perfect Organization? 14: The Best Shelters of All 15: Decline - and Revival? 16: London's New Subterranean Railway
£10.99
The History Press Ltd Longbow
Book SynopsisRobert Hardy is famous throughout the world as an actor. Not so widely known is his deep interest in archery and its history. An acknowledged expert on the longbow, he is a Trustee of the Royal Armouries at HM Tower of London, and of the Mary Rose Trust.His meticulously researched book begins by describing the earliest known examples of the longbow, revealing that it was in use worldwide at least 8,000 years ago. With drama, vigour and enthusiasm, he chronicles the arrival of the longbow in Britain, its curious temporary disappearance, its return and gradual adoption as the most important weapon in the English military arsenal, and its coming of age at the battles of Crecy, Poitiers and Agincourt.Longbow describes the archers themselves, where they came from, their equipment, training, uniform, way of life and terms of service; the fact and fiction of the Robin Hood legend; the reasons why the French never took to the weapon; the devastating effects of longbow against longbow in the Wars of the Roses; the eventual decline of the bow and Henry VIII''s campaign to maintain it. Also examined is the longbow as a sporting and hunting weapon, and its status in Britain today. There is a detailed account of how to make a longbow from scratch, including all the tools and materials required.Another bonus for the enthusiast is an important technical appendix written by three experts on the longbow - Henry Blyth of Reading University, Prof. P. L. Pratt of the Imperial College of Science and Technology, and Peter Jones of the Royal Armaments Research and Development Establishment. The chapter on the Mary Rose has been co-written with Prof. Pratt and Prof J. Levy, also of the Imperial College, and is the result of over ten years of study.Longbow, beautifully illustrated in both colour and black and white, is a compelling story and a major contribution to the history of archery.
£17.09
Canongate Books Blood Legacy: Reckoning With a Family’s Story of
Book SynopsisLONGLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE'An incredible work of scholarship' Sathnam SangheraThrough the story of his own family's history as slave and plantation owners, Alex Renton looks at how we owe it to the present to understand the legacy of the past. When British Caribbean slavery was abolished across most of the British Empire in 1833, it was not the newly liberated who received compensation, but the tens of thousands of enslavers who were paid millions of pounds in government money. The descendants of some of those slave owners are among the wealthiest and most powerful people in Britain today. Blood Legacy explores what inheritance - political, economic, moral and spiritual - has been passed to the descendants of the slave owners and the descendants of the enslaved. He also asks, crucially, how the former - himself among them - can begin to make reparations for the past.Trade ReviewA courageous, deeply affecting and excoriatingly honest account of his family's role in enslavement -- PHILIPPE SANDS * * Financial Times * *Renton . . . dismantles the myths with the efficiency of someone shelling pistachios for a snack . . . remarkable . . . an incredible work of scholarship -- SATHNAM SANGHERA * * The Times * *An important book . . . one of the strengths of Renton's book is that it takes seriously the issue of class . . . In breaking class ranks, Renton has given voice to a long suppressed truth . . . [an] admirable book * * Observer * *In this unflinching, fascinating and very human account, drawn from his own family papers, Alex Renton takes a crucial first step towards reparation, by acknowledging the cruel reality of his ancestors' callous exploitation of enslaved people's labour from afar; detailing the damage done, and both asking and beginning to answer the question of what can be done to purge these sins and their legacies today -- MIRANDA KAUFMANN, author of Black TudorsBlood Legacy is a moving, timely, well-written and strikingly thoughtful book that makes an important contribution to the growing debate on the horrors that accompanied Britain's empire-building. Alex Renton's forensic and remarkably honest analysis of his own family papers, and the profound darkness they contain, highlights our continuing failure to acknowledge the extreme toxicity of so much of our Imperial history -- WILLIAM DALRYMPLEUtterly gripped - an incredible book. Alex's work is my book in practice -- EMMA DABIRIA deeply moving, brave and powerful book -- ANDREW MARRMoving and deeply researched, Alex Renton's account of his ancestors' slaveholding brings home the everyday brutality of Caribbean slavery and its contribution to the making of Britain both then and since. Blood Legacy sets the ordinariness of slaveholding in the eighteenth-century monied world alongside accounts of the extraordinary lives of those they owned. This is a book that asks white Britons to look hard at our past and its consequences in the present -- PROFESSOR DIANA PATONA fascinating family history of profit and loss made during slavery in the Caribbean. This book is truth not fiction -- PROFESSOR SIR GEOFF PALMERA useful counter to British self-congratulation on the ending of the Atlantic slave trade . . . It must make any reader question much of the received wisdom about the eighteenth-century Enlightenment -- ANDREW MARR * * Sunday Times * *
£10.44
Orion Publishing Co Evensong
Book SynopsisParish churches have been at the heart of communities for more than a thousand years. But now, fewer than two in one hundred people regularly attend services in an Anglican church, and many have never been inside one. Since the idea of ''church'' is its people, the buildings are becoming husks - staples of our landscapes, but without meaning or purpose. Some churches are finding vigorous community roles with which to carry on, but the institutional decline is widely seen as terminal.Yet for Richard Morris, post-war parsonages were the happy backdrop of his childhood. In Evensong he searches for what it was that drew his father and hundreds like him towards ordination as they came home from war in 1945. Along the way we meet all kinds of people - archbishops, chaplains, campaigners, bell-ringers, bureaucrats, archaeologists, gravediggers, architects, scroungers - and follow some of them to dark places.Part personal odyssey, part lyrical history, Evensong
£21.25
The History Press Ltd 1945
Book SynopsisA vivid portrait of a world at the end of war, told through 12 months from around the globe
£11.69
Orion Publishing Co Men at War
Book SynopsisAs the Second World War moves beyond living memory and its last veterans leave us, we are in danger of losing our opportunity to understand the reality behind the conflict''s myths, machines and iconography. From filmmakers, writers, artists and ordinary people (including his own family members), Luke Turner assembles a broad cast of characters to bring this much-mythologised conflict to life.There are conscientious objectors, a bisexual Commando, a transgender RAF pilot and those who simply did what they could to survive and return home to a complicated peace. By exploring a wartime experience that embraces sex, lust and the body as much as tactics and weaponry, Turner argues that the only way we can really understand the Second World War is to get to grips with the complexity of the lives and identities of those who fought and endured it.
£10.44
The History Press Ltd The Day Peace Broke Out
Book SynopsisThe day peace broke out
£11.69
John Wiley and Sons Ltd The Assault on the State
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£17.00
The History Press Ltd The Tudors and Europe
Book SynopsisIn 1517, a certain Dr Beale, rector of St Mary Spitall in London, had roused the capital's mob by laying the blame for an increase in poverty squarely upon the shoulders of grasping foreigners. God has given England to Englishmen,' he fumed, and as birds would defend their nest, so ought Englishmen to cherish and defend themselves and to hurt and grieve aliens for the common weal.' But migration was not the only factor influencing Tudor attitudes to Europe. War, religion, commerce and dynastic security were all critical in linking England to developments abroad, and in ways that remain strikingly relevant today. What were the forces that shaped the shifting perspectives of Tudor men and women and their rulers towards a continent at the crossroads? And what, in turn, were the responses of sixteenth-century Europeans to their counterparts across the Channel? The Tudors and Europe looks at a time when the very survival of England hung critically in the balance and asks if it has lessons for the present.
£17.09
Manchester University Press Long Peace Street: A Walk in Modern China
Book SynopsisThrough the centre of China’s historic capital, Long Peace Street cuts a long, arrow-straight line. It divides the Forbidden City, home to generations of Chinese emperors, from Tiananmen Square, the vast granite square constructed to glorify a New China under Communist rule. To walk the street is to travel through the story of China’s recent past, wandering among its physical relics and hearing echoes of its dramas. Long Peace Street recounts a journey in modern China, a walk of twenty miles across Beijing offering a very personal encounter with the life of the capital’s streets. At the same time, it takes the reader on a journey through the city’s recent history, telling the story of how the present and future of the world’s rising superpower has been shaped by its tumultuous past, from the demise of the last imperial dynasty in 1912 through to the present day.Trade Review‘Filled with insights, observations and anecdotes, Chatwin brings to life the past – and present – of one of the world’s great cities in an account that is as thoughtful as it is informative.’Peter Frankopan, Professor of Global History, Worcester College, University of Oxford'Bringing together past and present, personal and political, Jonathan Chatwin gives readers a thoughtful and deeply-informed account of modern China through the marvellous device of a stroll down Beijing's longest avenue - and all in lucid and compelling prose.'Rana Mitter, Director of the University China Centre, University of Oxford'Even the most dedicated flâneur has to work hard to find the charm in Chang’an Avenue, the main thoroughfare of, as Jonathan Chatwin rightly describes it, the "glorious mess of Beijing". Industrial relics, bankrupt theme parks, rabbit hutch housing, paranoid Communist Party elite boltholes and Tiananmen’s ghosts all loom large. But Chatwin walks the walk and, along the way dissects the street, its denizens and its enduring role in China’s history and collective modern traumas. 'Paul French, New York Times bestselling author of Midnight in Peking and City of Devils: A Shanghai Noir'Jonathan Chatwin offers a distinctive window onto Beijing's past and present by taking readers along with him on a long trek down an important thoroughfare. An appealing mix of anecdotes from a journey and digressions backward in time make Long Peace Street a novel addition to the rich literature on China's sprawling capital.' Jeffrey Wasserstrom, Chancellor's Professor of History at the University of California, Irvine, coauthor of China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know'This three-dimension, moving timeline along the heart of imperial and contemporary Beijing made me want to head out the door and follow Chatwin's flaneur footsteps. "Long Peace Street" seamlessly blends history and reporting, shining a light on both the capital's neglected bookends and its dense core. I couldn't put it down.'Michael Meyer, author of The Last Days of Old Beijing, In Manchuria, and The Road to Sleeping Dragon'Long Peace Street is a brilliant achievement. To read this book is to travel with an engaging writer as he explores the China of today and the raw pathos of its past. Long Peace Street gives its readers an insight essential for a sophisticated understanding of Chinese society today.'M. A. Aldrich, author of The Search for a Vanishing Beijing: A Guide to the Capital of China through the Centuries'As a dive into Beijing’s history and an excursion through its present, Long Peace Street is entertaining, informative, well-written and companionable.'Post Magazine -- .Table of ContentsIntroductionDay one: Shougang Iron and Steel to Tiananmen1 Capital Iron and Steel – origins – the Great Leap Forward – a bad neighbour – future plans2 New suburbia – the city in history – the hutong – Shijingshan Amusement Park3 Change – ring roads and the New Beijing – Great Olympics4 Babaoshan ghosts – the cemetery – the life of Peng Dehuai – return to Hunan5 A diversion – straightness – the road as metaphor6 Military markings – Tomb of the Princess – new regime, new capital? – the Military Museum7 Diaoyutai State Guesthouse – December 1980 – ‘To Rebel is Justified’ – Chairman Mao’s dog8 Big roofs – Capital Museum – pailou – some history9 Muxidi Bridge – petitions and protests – May Fourth – Democracy Movement – 1976 – 1978 – 1989 – the aftermath10 Rainbows – walls, walls, and yet again walls – breaches – New Year’s Day in Xi’an – demolition – socialist core values11 A hungry refrain – little grey streets – reform and opening-up – state owned enterprises12 An assassination – Middle and Southern Seas – imperial pretensions – Xinhuamen – paranoia – hidden places – Mao at ZhongnanhaiDay two: Tiananmen to Sihui Dong subway station13 The middle of the Middle Kingdom – hidden tales of Tiananmen – the Great Helmsman14 A walk to Tiananmen – into the Forbidden City – intruders15 Four days in the Forbidden City16 Out of the Forbidden City – scholar trees – dislocation – destruction – impressions of Beijing – going native – Legation Street today – fireworks over Tiananmen17 The man who died twice – Wangfujing – a literary traveller – the end of the Qing – Morrison and Yuan Shikai – a sad coda – Palm Sunday in Sidmouth18 Oriental Plaza – walking in cities – the Imperial Observatory – origins of the Chinese calendar – the Jesuits – the Republican calendar – time in modern China19 Outside the wall – the Grand Canal and the eastern suburbs – 22nd August 1967 – all palaces are temporary palaces – Forsan et haec olim – red20 One city – the east is rich – weird architecture – mall life – underground21 G103 – the story of a nation – the endEpilogueIndex
£15.58
Luath Press Ltd Wild Mountain Times
£11.69
John Murray Press Cinderella Boys
Book Synopsis''Masterful'' David Price''McKinstry has done a fine job in rescuing Coastal Command from long neglect'' Richard OveryThe remarkable story of the unsung RAF wing who made Allied victory possible.In 1943 Britain was engaged in an epic struggle for survival as deadly wolf packs of German U-boats roamed the Atlantic. In desperation, Churchill turned to an overlooked, underfunded force known as The Cinderella Service. Armed with long-range planes, depth charges, rocket projectiles and radar equipment, the Cinderella boys provided vital air defence. The German hunters became the hunted, and - in a stunning defeat - fully retreated by the summer.The transformation of Coastal Command from a ramshackle outfit into a formidable organisation served as one of the turning points of the war. But they never received the credit they deserved. Based on a wealth of new sources, Leo McKinstry shines a light on the courageous pilots, i
£11.69
Random House Urban Jungle
Book SynopsisAn eye-opening and urgent re-examination of nature in our cities, from the Sunday Times bestselling author.Awe-inspiring full of wonder, warning and hope' ISABELLA TREE, author of WildingOur modern-day cities might seem to represent our separation from the vitality of the natural world. Yet, as Ben Wilson reveals in this invigorating re-examination of urban landscapes across the globe, nature has always been at the heart of the city.Moving from Los Angeles and Delhi to Singapore and Amsterdam, Wilson explores how the bond between humans and nature has oscillated throughout history, and shows that in a time of climate crisis a new approach to rewilding may prove to be the city's saviour.Wilson soars like a falcon over global cities on five continents' WASHINGTON POSTNovel and provocative'THE TIMES
£11.69
Verso Books The Reckoning: From the Second Slavery to
Book SynopsisThe Age of Revolution (1776-1848) destroyed the main slave regimes of the Caribbean but a 'Second Slavery' surged in the US South, Cuba and Brazil, powered by demand for plantation produce and a system of financial credit that leveraged the value of the slaves. By 1860, more than 6 million captives of African descent toiled to produce the cotton, sugar and coffee craved by global consumers. This 'Second Slavery' mimicked capitalist disciplines, intensified slavery's racial character and launched half a century of headlong economic growth.On the eve of the American Civil War, the Slave Power seemed invincible. The slaveholding elite entrenched their 'peculiar institution' in the fabric of the Union only to risk everything on secession. Nobody solicited the slaves' wishes until it became clear that, wherever they could, they were deserting the plantations and joining the Union forces.Abolition radicals destroyed the Second Slavery and victory for the North also spelled defeat for slavery in Cuba and Brazil. But in each of these societies racial oppression was to be reconfigured by 'Black Codes', Jim Crow and toxic doctrines of racial destiny.Slavery leaves an indelible mark on many Atlantic nations. The Reckoning charts the historic impact of slavery and anti-slavery, of black and white activists, of fugitive slaves, feminists, writers, clerics and soldiers. Notwithstanding much unfinished business, the anti-slavery struggle retains its capacity to illuminate and inspire.Trade ReviewTremendously impressive, the result of a lifetime of learning. Historical writing at its best -- Marcus Rediker, author of The Slave ShipBy concluding his decades-long project on New World slavery, and by drawing the attention of British readers to an often-neglected aspect of that history, Blackburn has fittingly capped a lifetime of scholarship. -- Michael Taylor * Literary Review *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Why the ‘Second Slavery’? Patterns of the ‘First Slavery’ Slavery’s Survivors: The American South, Brazil, Cuba Distinctiveness of the Second Slavery Industry, Finance and SlaveryFortifications of the Second SlaveryPart One: Westwards Expansion I Pioneers of the Second Slavery Contested Origins of the United States The US Constitution and Slavery An Abolition Moment? The Northwest Ordinance and Militia Act From the Haitian Revolution to the Louisiana Purchase Birth of the White Man’s Republic Indian Removal and the German Coast Revolt The Price of Compromise The Missouri Controversy A Choice for Slavery II The Making of the Hispano-Cuban Elite A Cuban Miracle? Cuba as a ‘Society with Slaves’ The British in Havana The Hispano-Cuban Reconquest of Florida The Great Slave Revolt in St Domingue The Plantation Surge Cuba as a Slave Society The Colonial Pact A Model Colony?III Brazil: Independence, Monarchy, Slavery and CitizenshipPatterns of Race and SlaveryMercantilism’s End and a New Slave Trade BoomStirrings of Independence and Anti-slavery The Last Days of Colonial BrazilAdherence to the Emperor Liberty, Pacification and Terror in Bahia Pedro’s Setbacks and Abdication The Regency and the Slave TradeBrazil and Backwardness Romanticism and ‘Natural History’Power Was EverythingBrazil Ends the Slave TradeIV Life and Toil on the Slave PlantationRacial Capitalism and the Chattel PrincipleA Multitude of Tasks‘Vigilance Without Punishment is an Illusion’The Productivity of Gang LabourThe Slaveholder as Colonist and Potentate Natural Economy and the Reproduction of the Slave PopulationV Slaveholder Capitalism, Credit and Westwards ExpansionSlaveholders and Modernity Dimensions of the Plantation BoomSlavery Away from the PlantationsCredit is King?Mechanization and its LimitsThe Special Case of Sugar ProcessingAccounting for SlaveryPlanters Ride the Business CycleSlave Dealers Become Sugar LordsHow Cotton Paid for EmpirePart Two: Why the Slaveowners Lost VI. War, Peace and Slavery, 1815-60Mechanics of the Congress SystemConservative Reaction and Bourgeois AdvanceThe Vienna Congress and the Slave TradeLatin America, Britain and the Monroe Doctrine A Congress of the Americas?The Fate of CubaBrazil, Britain and the Upshot of 1850 The Diplomacy of Bullies Filibustering in Texas and CubaMutations of the PeaceVII. Anti-Slavery and the Origins of the Civil WarAnti-Slavery and the Northern MilieuThe Appeal and the Liberator The American Anti-Slavery Society‘A Shock as of an Earthquake’: Pro-Slavery OverreachesSplits over Women’s Rights The Whig and Liberty parties The Role of Frederick DouglassPolitical Abolitionism, Free Soil and the Wilmot Proviso Militant Anti-slaveryThe Dynamics of the Sectional ConflictThe Fugitive Slave Law and Underground Railroad Bleeding Kansas The Rise of the Republican PartyThe Slave Power and the Dred Scott Decision John Brown’s BodyThe Last Cords of Union BreakThe Meaning of Secession: A Slaveholders’ RevoltVIII. Emancipation and Reconstruction in North AmericaWar for the UnionNovelty of the US Civil WarLincoln Discovers that Patriotism Is Not EnoughThe Emancipation Proclamation Emancipation from Above and BelowThe Defeat of the ConfederacyPresidential Reconstruction and the Radical ChallengeThe Radical Programme: Confiscation and Black SuffrageThe Rise and Fall of Radical Reconstruction in the SouthThe North and Radical ReconstructionBlacks and Whites in the New South A Second Revolution?IX. The Ending of Slavery in CubaCuba and Isabelline Spain Puerto Rican Comparisons Tepid Abolitionism of the Cuban Middle ClassSpain’s Politics of AttractionCrisis of the Isabelline RegimeAbolitionism and the Priorities of Imperialist DiplomacyThe Moret Law The ‘Lottery of Princes’ The Republic of DukesBourbon Restoration and the Triumph of the RentierThe Pact of ZanjónSlavery Ends at LastThe United States Seizes Control X. Brazil: The Last EmancipationSlavery’s Place in the Imperial Order Repercussions of the Atlantic Slave Trade Ban The War with Paraguay Crabwise Advance of Emancipationism The Rio Branco Law of 1871The Political Economy of FreedomChurch and StateThe Social Profile of Brazilian AbolitionismRepublicanism and PositivismThe Abolitionist Offensive, 1880-4The Final Assault on Slavery Ordered Freedom‘A Tattered and Ridiculous Liberty’Epilogue: Legacies of Slavery and AbolitionAcknowledgements
£31.50
American University in Cairo Press The Story of the Banned Book: Naguib Mahfouz's
Book SynopsisAn award-winning account of Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz’s most controversial novel and the fierce debates that it provoked Naguib Mahfouz’s novel Children of the Alley has been in the spotlight since it was first published in Egypt in 1959. It has been at times banned and at others allowed, sold sometimes under the counter and sometimes openly on the street, often pirated and only recently legally reprinted. It has inspired anxiety among the secular authorities, rage within the religious right, and a drawing of battle lines among Arab intellectuals and writers. It dogged Mahfouz like a curse throughout the remainder of his career, led to his attempted assassination, and sparked a public debate that continues to this day, even after the author’s death in 2006. It is Egypt’s iconic novel, in whose mirror millions have seen themselves, their society, and even the universe, some finding truth, others blasphemy.In this award-winning account, Mohamed Shoair traces the story of Mahfouz’s novel as a cultural and political object, from its first publication to the present via Mahfouz’s award of the Nobel prize for literature in 1988 and the attempt on his life in 1994. He presents the arguments that swirled about the novel and the wide cast of Egyptian figures, from state actors to secular intellectuals and Islamists, who took part in them. He also contextualizes the interactions among the principal characters, interactions that have done much to shape the country’s present.Extensively researched and written in a lucid, accessible style, The Story of the Banned Book is both a gripping work of investigative journalism and a window onto some of the fiercest debates around culture and religion to have taken place in Egyptian society over the past half-century.Trade Review“The Story of the Banned Book is highly researched investigative journalism at its best. . . . This is a fascinating study of the intricate dynamics of the intersectionality of the political, religious, social, and cultural life in modern Egypt.” —Arab Studies Quarterly“[A] forensic literary investigation. . . . Like any good detective—and Shoair is an exceptional one—he presents the reader with a fluent intellectual thriller, a cross-over book that will interest scholars of Arabic literature and intellectual historians as much as it will delight the general reader for whom it is mostly addressed. . . . The Story of the Banned Book is not only a literary and intellectual achievement, but also a methodological triumph.” —Yoav Di-Capua, The Journal of North African Studies"A thrilling thread on Naguib Mahfouz, literary rivalries, and Egyptian politics as they stood in the mid 20th century, pulled through the needle’s eye of the story of a single novel."— M. Lynx Qualey, ArabLit Quarterly"It is rare that one book documenting the life of another book sheds so much light on the literature, politics, religious feuds, and even cinematic trends of a couple of generations"—Peter Theroux, Middle East Quarterly“Diving deep into the various interpretations and defenses of Mahfouz's most famous novel . . . Shoair's investigation is a fascinating insight into the lack of literary freedom in Egypt at the time.” —Amelia Smith, Middle East Monitor"Readers invested in the ongoing debates about book banning will find this to be a worthy resource."—Publishers Weekly“The plot is more compelling than most literature I have read.” —Elliott Colla, Georgetown University"[E]xcellent and thought-provoking"—David Tresilian, Al-Ahram Weekly“The joy of this book is its evocation of time and place, and the way it seeks out what may be absent or forgotten from the stances of intellectuals. However Shoair does not recount gossip; rather, his concern is verifiable knowledge.” —al-Quds al-‘Arabi"A study of literary censorship and of the fight between artistic expression and religious and political authority in Egypt from the 1950s through today."—BULAQ“Outstanding” —al-Ahram“Shoair digs into the passion of how this iconic novel was written”—Donia Kamal, author of Cigarette Number Seven"Shoair’s meticulous, forensic account of the fierce controversies and confrontations provoked by the publication and censorship of Mahfouz’s notorious novel takes the reader on a page-turning journey through the labyrinth of postcolonial Egypt’s fraught and high-stakes cultural politics and offers nuanced critical insight into the author's work. A perfect marriage of literary and cultural history, and investigative journalism, and masterfully translated by Humphrey Davies, this book is essential reading for anyone interested in understanding an entire era of modern Egyptian history and its place in contemporary global politics."—Samah Selim, Rutgers University
£28.49
Helion & Company War on the Turtles Back
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£23.96
Watkins Media Limited They Were Here Before Us
Book SynopsisAn epic and highly readableinvestigation into our very earliest ancestors, focusing on the land corridor thorough which humans passed from Africa to Europe and the evidence left behind of their lives and deaths, struggles and beliefs.
£16.14
Helion & Company Fall of the MerchantFarmer Republic
£23.96
University of Wales Press Free and Public: Andrew Carnegie and the
Book SynopsisA study of the thirty-five Carnegie libraries built in towns and industrial communities in Wales before the First World War. The library system is in a transformative phase that attracts much attention; these Carnegie buildings have never been fully recorded, and some are in critical condition. This book illustrates their social, cultural and architectural significance, and how they reflect Carnegie’s extraordinary philanthropic vision. It reviews the free and public library system in Wales and Great Britain from the first Public Libraries Act of 1850, followed by an account of Carnegie’s career as ‘the richest man in the world’ and the importance he attached to promoting libraries for all, regardless of age and gender. The haphazard development of public libraries in the nineteenth century is the context in which Carnegie’s links with Wales are noted, along with the circles in which he moved in Britain. The largest section discusses the libraries’ locations, sites and patrons, and the buildings themselves. It concludes with Carnegie’s legacy in Wales, not least the role of his UK Trust in the county library movement after 1911.Table of ContentsPreface Illustrations 1. The Public Library 2. Andrew Carnegie, 1835-1919 3. Philanthropy and the Free Library 4. Early Public Libraries in Wales 5. Andrew Carnegie and Wales 6. Creating Carnegie Libraries 7. Building the Carnegie Libraries Sites Architects and builders Architectural styles Inside the libraries Patrons 8. Abortive Proposals for Carnegie Libraries 9. The Carnegie Legacy in Wales Gazeteer of Carnegie Libraries built in Wales Notes List of Sources
£11.39
Pen & Sword Books Ltd Yompers With 45 Commando in the Falklands War
Book SynopsisA gripping and thrilling insight into service with the elite Royal Marines during the Falklands War.
£999.99
Helion & Company OutCountry War Volume 1
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£16.96
Pen & Sword Books Ltd Rituals Myths in Nursing
Book SynopsisFrom leeches to lice, bowels to bedpans, nurses relate their experiences of hospital wards in the 20th century.
£11.69
Helion & Company Operation Gardening
£23.96
Orion Publishing Co The Lion and the Dragon
Book SynopsisNapoleon warned ''Let China sleep; when she wakes, she will shake the world''. Lawrence James''s magisterial history analyses the relationship between Britain and China between the beginning of the Opium Wars in 1839 and the transfer of power in Hong Kong in 1997. THE LION AND THE DRAGON reveals the part that Britain played in the awakening of China, then covers relations between the two countries during the period when an aroused China did indeed shake the world. Lawrence James also follows the parallel trajectories of four competitive empires - the British, the Chinese, the Russian and the Japanese - during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and then the fortunes of a fifth imperial power, the United States. Successive British governments saw China as a source of wealth which needed to be protected. Local objections were seen off by force (the ''Opium'' wars of 1839-42, 1856-7 and 1859-60) whose results proved that the Qing emperors could not protect their cou
£11.69
Gill From Crown to Harp
£25.99
Casemate Publishers Black Hearts and Painted Guns: A Battalion’s
Book SynopsisKelly Eads joined the 101st Airborne Division soon after 9/11, his experience reflecting the patriotism and commitment of so many young men and women who responded to the attack. He deployed to Iraq twice with the 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment. Early in their deployment to Iraq, the 2nd Battalion brought the fight directly to the enemy by setting up patrol bases in the local areas where they lived and operated. Soon they built a reputation for themselves, becoming known to the enemy as the Black Hearts—The 502nd had been distinguished on the battlefield by black hearts on their helmets since World War II. Their Scout Platoon became known as Painted Guns due to their practice of camouflaging their rifles.During Eads’ deployments, the battalion would experience thousands of Improvised Explosive Devices and firefights. They would spend countless hours in blistering 120-degree desert heat, controlling roads and preventing enemy freedom of movement; and would dedicate months to hunting enemy mortar teams and terror cells. With the help of Dan Morgan, an Infantry officer who deployed multiple times to Iraq and Afghanistan as a commander and operations officer, Eads takes the reader on a rollercoaster of combat experiences during the hunt for the most violent terrorist in Iraq, Abū Muṣʻab Zarqāwī, bringing to life the painstaking and horrid details of combat in a sectarian war. He tells the story of the soldiers’ camaraderie, built through adversity, and the love of family that sustained them.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Military Terms and Ranks Introduction Prologue Chapter 1 A Call to Serve Chapter 2 The Legacy of the 101st Airborne “Screaming Eagles” Chapter 3 Training for War Chapter 4 Deployment to Hell Chapter 5 The Grim Reaper (a.k.a. Route Motorhead) Chapter 6 Kill Zone Chapter 7 “Blue on Blue”: The Chaos and Confusion of War Chapter 8 Patrol Base Gator Swamp Chapter 9 Operation Glory Light Chapter 10 Duty Status Whereabouts Unknown Chapter 11 Offense is the Best Defense Chapter 12 Battalion Scout Reconnaissance/Sniper Platoon Chapter 13 Clearing the Chakas Chapter 14 Keeping up the Pressure Chapter 15 Heading Home Chapter 16 The Kitchen Table Battlefield Epilogue Appendix I In Memoriam Appendix II Memorial Photos
£26.36
C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd The Innocence of Pontius Pilate: How the Roman
Book SynopsisThe gospels and ancient historians agree: Jesus was sentenced to death by Pontius Pilate, the Roman imperial prefect in Jerusalem. To this day, Christians of all churches confess that Jesus died 'under Pontius Pilate'. But what exactly does that mean? Within decades of Jesus' death, Christians began suggesting that it was the Judaean authorities who had crucified Jesus--a notion later echoed in the Qur'an. In the third century, one philosopher raised the notion that, although Pilate had condemned Jesus, he'd done so justly; this idea survives in one of the main strands of modern New Testament criticism. So what is the truth of the matter? And what is the history of that truth? David Lloyd Dusenbury reveals Pilate's 'innocence' as not only a neglected theological question, but a recurring theme in the history of European political thought. He argues that Jesus' interrogation by Pilate, and Augustine of Hippo's North African sermon on that trial, led to the concept of secularity and the logic of tolerance emerging in early modern Europe. Without the Roman trial of Jesus, and the arguments over Pilate's innocence, the history of empire--from the first century to the twenty-first--would have been radically different.Trade Review‘David L. Dusenbury’s The Innocence of Pontius Pilate is a model of intelligent, accessible and persuasive scholarship.’'[The Innocence of Pontius Pilate] contributes to a very interesting history of our disputed and entangled conceptions of secular power and spiritual kingdom and the nature and location of political sovereignty.' -- Catholic Herald
£16.14
Verso Books Liberty against the Law: Some Seventeenth-Century
Book SynopsisIn this, the last book published during his lifetime, renowned historian of the English Revolution Christopher Hill uses the literary culture of the seventeenth century to explore the immense social changes of the period as well as the expressions of liberty, the law and the hero-worship of the outlaw defiance. As well as chapters on gypsies and vagabonds, Hill analyzes class, religion and the shift away from the importance of the church after the Reformation. Liberty against the Law is a late classic of Hill's work and essential reading for anyone interested in the history and politics of the seventeenth-century.Trade ReviewBarely twenty per cent of the population, Hill estimates, could have been content with the law, and he celebrates the energetic dissenters, like poachers, highwaymen, smugglers, pirates - and the antinomians, who claimed sexual liberty on the creative grounds that the godly were exempt from moral law -- Keith Thomas * Guardian *He deconstructs what was until recently the received version of English history, and leaves it tattered ... In celebrations of the vagabond life, in Robin Hood ballads and the romances of piracy, in meditations on the noble savage, and especially in the poems of John Clare, Hill finds a culture of dissent from the grim canon of progress -- Derek Hirst * Times Literary Supplement *
£16.99
Troubador Publishing Ltd Stack
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£10.44
Verso Books Insurgent Empire: Anticolonial Resistance and
Book SynopsisMuch has been written on the how colonial subjects took up British and European ideas and turned them against empire when making claims to freedom and self-determination. The possibility of reverse influence has been largely overlooked. Insurgent Empire shows how Britain's enslaved and colonial subjects were not merely victims of empire and subsequent beneficiaries of its crises of conscience but also agents whose resistance both contributed to their own liberation and shaped British ideas about freedom and who could be free. Insurgent Empire examines dissent over the question of empire in Britain and shows how it was influenced by rebellions and resistance in the colonies from the West Indies and East Africa to Egypt and India. It also shows how a pivotal role in fomenting dissent was played by anti-colonial campaigners based in London at the heart of the empire.Trade ReviewGopal has calmly and authoritatively produced this impressive study of resistance against Empire, in the face of the kind of constant hostility that only serves to reminds us why her work is so urgent in the first place. We all owe her a debt. -- Afua Hirsch, author of Brit(ish)an astonishing writer and thinker, one who is fearless in how she uses history to explain where we are now. Her work is essential to showing how empire and colonialism pervades every nook and cranny of the British establishment today and why we should all continue to speak truth to power, like she does every damn day. -- Nikesh Shukla, editor of The Good ImmigrantA superb study of anticolonial resistance -- GuardianThis impressive book challenges the assumptions that underpin many academic and journalistic understandings of the British empire; it restores the idea of resistance and dissent, placing anti-colonial struggle from the 1857 uprising in India, to Mau Mau in Kenya, at the heart of historical change. It argues convincingly that, when it did occur, British anti-colonialism in the metropole was forged through exposure to imperial insurgency. By doing so, it tackles the whole premise of British liberal imperial progress and benevolence which remains so pervasive to this day. It's also a hopeful book, indicating ways out of mythological cul-de-sacs. Erudite, but highly readable, this book will be definitely be on my reading lists for students. -- Yasmin Khan, Associate Professor of History at Kellogg College, OxfordAn outstanding contribution to our understanding of the struggles against the British empire -- Andrew Murray * Morning Star *sets out to celebrate the political agency of colonised peoples, its importance in bringing an end to empire and the impact it had on metropolitan liberal and radical thinking. -- Matthew Reisz * Times Higher Education *A tremendous book that deserves the widest possible readership ... one of the most important books on the British Empire of the last Decade. * Race & Class *Punchy * Prospect *Impressive in its scope and rigour...Insurgent Empire is an important challenge to those that would rather uncritically accept the myth of a benevolent imperial power than work to celebrate radicalism and resistance as part of a national history. * Hong Kong Review of Books *[Gopal] mounts a powerful challenge to the notion that anticolonial resistance was born of an education in British notions of liberty. -- Adom Getachew * London Review of Books *Gopal's meticulously researched study is a major contribution to the historiography of the British Empire, as notable for its research as it is for its lucid, forceful prose. -- Chandak Sengoopta * Journal of British Studies *Incisive ... Insurgent Empire demonstrates how often critics have hacked at the pedestals of imperial pieties, and how consistently voices outside Britain have inspired them. -- Maya Jasanoff * New Yorker *A compelling account of how anti-colonial ideas were repeatedly re-litigated in the face of fierce opposition and shows the tireless work of these groups and individuals in slowly constructing and deconstructing concepts of liberty and equality. -- Michael Taster * LSE Review of Books: Best Books of 2020 *Excellent ... Gopal's exploration of the interplaybetween anti-colonial resistance in India, the West Indies and Britain deploys biography, history and cultural studies to support her persuasive argument that the colonies were not just the passive recipient of Britain's "civilising mission" but also the sources of a more refined understanding of key principles like equality and freedom. -- Ferdinand Dennis * Big Issue *Few academics are doing so much, and so boldly, to expose how the legacy of empire continues to warp our thinking and institutions. * Prospect: The world’s top 50 thinkers 2021 *Wonderful ... turn[s] upside down the cliched and self-serving argument that British imperialism brought 'western' ideas of democracy and freedom to their poor benighted black and brown subjects in the colonies -- Neil Rogall * rs21 *
£14.24
Troubador Publishing Home from Home
Book SynopsisHome from Home provides a deep, empathetic view of Ukrainians settling in the UK, their past and current difficulties integrating, and their legendary resilience to overcome and survive as a free and proud people.
£15.29
Reaktion Books Archimedes
Book SynopsisA bold reimagining of the life and work of Archimedes of Syracuse.
£14.39
University of Wales Press Made by Labour: A Material and Visual History of
Book SynopsisThis is the first full-length study of the material and visual culture of the British labour movement in almost half a century. It draws together the fruits of recent research into a comprehensive material and visual analysis of the nineteenth-century labour movement’s development. It analyses the meaning of ‘labour things’, the role they played in the lives of working people and the ways they have influenced the writing of labour history. Over ninety beautifully illustrated, expertly contextualised objects are used to narrate the history of British labour in its most crucial phase of development. Chapters on curation and preservation, a directory of museums where labour things may be seen, and a full bibliography complete the treatment of this important and rapidly developing field, making the book not just essential academic reading but a handbook for anyone who wishes to explore this vital part of our shared culture.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Foreword by Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester Preface List of images 1 Understanding labour things 2 Images and objects 3 Preservation, collections, curation and conservation 4 Directory of places that have nineteenth- century labour and working- class objects Notes Select bibliography
£18.04