History Books

Book SynopsisThe Nuremberg Interviews reveals the chilling innermost thoughts of the former Nazi officials under indictment at the famous postwar trial. The architects of one of history's greatest atrocities speak out about their lives, their careers in the Nazi Party and their views on the Holocaust. Their reflections are recorded in a set of interviews conducted by a U.S. Army psychiatrist. Dr Leon Goldensohn was entrusted with monitoring the mental health of the two dozen German leaders charged with carrying out genocide, as well as that of many of the defence and prosecution witnesses. These recorded conversations have gone largely unexamined for more than fifty years.Here are interviews with some of the highest-ranking Nazi officials in the Nuremberg jails, including Hans Frank, Hermann Goering, Ernest Kaltenbrunner, and Joachim von Ribbentrop. Here, too, are interviews with lesser-known officials who were, nonetheless, essential to the workings of the Third Reich. Goldensohn was a particularly astute interviewer, his training as a psychiatrist leading him to probe the motives, the rationales, and the skewing of morality that allowed these men to enact an unfathomable evil. Candid and often shockingly truthful, these interviews are deeply disturbing in their illumination of an ideology gone mad.Each interview is annotated with biographical information and footnotes that place the man and his actions in their historical context and are a profoundly important addition to our understanding of the Nazi mind and mission.Trade ReviewA gripping work of history, a series of oral narratives that drag the reader, almost by force, into the nightmarish mental landscape of the Third Reich -- William Grimes * New York Times *A rare document...striking proof of the banality of evil * Kirkus Reviews *Goldensohn serves as a down-to-earth Dante in these anterooms to hell, getting one damned soul after another to reveal himself in his own words...as Goldensohn made his rounds, he mostly kept his astonishment and dismay under control. It's more than readers will be able to do * Newsweek *Goldensohn's conversations with these men are perturbing because most of the them seem like many of us except for the circumstances that lured them into opportunistic deviance. Goldensohn may not have left a headline-making legacy of belated revelations, but he has complicated further the tapestry of evil * Publishers Weekly *Virtually all the top Nazi officials tried at Nuremberg are interviewed here, and their responses make for fascinating yet chilling reading... Without necessarily intending to do so, these men reveal how easily totalitarian systems can induce acquiescence to or even enthusiastic participation in evil * Booklist *

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Book SynopsisOn Sunday 10 June 2018, tens of thousands of women wearing scarves of green, white and violet took to the streets in Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh and London as part of PROCESSIONS, a mass artwork to mark 100 years since the first women were allowed to vote in the UK. Produced by arts charity Artichoke and commissioned by 14-18 NOW, the UK's arts programme for the First World War centenary, PROCESSIONS was a moment for celebration and reflection on what it means to be a woman today. In the months leading up to 10 June, 100 artists were commissioned to work with arts and community organisations across the country to make banners: original artworks inspired by the banners made by the suffragists and suffragettes who had campaigned for votes for women a century before. These twenty-first-century banners were powerful statements made in text and textile, referencing the earlier struggles for equality and reflecting the modern-day concerns of women and those identifying as women. Women Making History is the first opportunity to see each of these banners up close in all their glorious detail and to observe a historic moment, when a mass artwork made by women in all their diversity transformed the central streets of our four capital cities. With contributions from Dame Helen Pankhurst, June Sarpong and Saoirse Monica Jackson, and many other collaborators, artists and participants from across the country, this fully illustrated book shows how art can both make and bring history alive.Trade ReviewA beautiful volume -- Charlotte Brook * Harper's Bazaar *An important archive of a celebration... Women Making History is evidence of the huge ambition of a community artwork and its geographic, cultural and demographic reach. * Art Quarterly *

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Book SynopsisThis is high drama played out on a stage that spanned from Greece and Egypt to India, full of plots, poisoning, treachery, incest, murder, rebellion and conquest.

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Book SynopsisThis is the extraordinary history of the hidden civilizations of the first people of the South American Andes, with over 200 photographs and illustrations. This is a fascinating in-depth guide to the mysterious Inca world, providing an extraordinary insight into everyday life. It offers a vivid account of how the Chavin, Nazca, Moche, Wari, Tiwanaku, Chimu, Inca and other people lived. It explores the daily life of the Incas from birth and childhood, to adulthood, marriage, the rituals of death and burial. Chart the progression of Andean societies from primitive villages to the busy, bustling cities of the Late Horizon period including Tiwanaku, Chan Chan and Cuzco. 200 stunning colour photographs, illustrations and detailed maps accompany a lively text, to create a glorious vision of the Inca world. The lives of the ancient native people of Peru and the Andes are shrouded in mystery and mythology. This volume uncovers the day-to-day realities of the ancient Andean world. Beautiful photographs and illustrations create a pictorial timeline from the first villages to the bustling cities of the late period. Explore the working conditions of the Andean civilizations and the realities of daily life. Delve into the religion and mythology of the Inca world. With over 200 full-colour illustrations, accompanied by engaging text, timelines and a comprehensive glossary, this is a highly readable source of reference for both specialist and general reader.Trade Review"'This book takes you to the very heart of the Inca civilization. From the dizzying heights of the Andean cordilleras to the golden kingdoms of coastal Peru and onwards to the Incas the story unfolds with breathtaking clarity.' (Tony Morrison, photographer and author of Pathway to the Gods)"

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Book SynopsisWhat were the cultural factors that held the British world together? How was Britishness understood at home, in the Empire, and in areas of informal British influence? This book makes the case for a ‘cultural British world’, and examines how it took shape in a wide range of locations, ranging from India to Jamaica, from Sierra Leone to Australia, and from south China to New Zealand. Eleven original essays explore a wide range of topics, including images of nakedness, humanitarianism, anti-slavery, literary criticism, travel narratives, and household possessions. The book argues that the debates around these issues, as well as the consumer culture associated with them, helped give the British world a sense of cohesion and identity. The cultural construction of the British world will be essential reading for historians of imperialism and globalisation, and includes contributions from some of the most prominent historians of British imperial and cultural history.Trade Review'This volume brings together some of the most eminent scholars of British imperial history, and provides a thought-provoking showcase for a range of innovative approaches to the cultural history of empire. The essays set new agendas for future research, and offer fascinating insights into the cultural connectedness of a once-British world.'Simon J. Potter, Reader in Modern History at the University of Bristol'"Culture" here knows no bounds. It hails politics, the popular, military, capital and the body – not simply to show their interconnections but to track the ways that empire itself both integrated and compartmentalised the terrains it aimed to colonise.'Antoinette Burton, Professor of History and Bastian Professor of Global and Transnational Studies at the University of Illinois -- .Table of ContentsIntroduction: The cultural construction of the British world – Barry Crosbie and Mark Hampton1. Naked natives and noble savages: the cultural work of nakedness in imperial Britain – Philippa Levine2. British radicals in Asia and the persistence of empire c.1820–1950 – C.A. Bayly3. Sugar wars: the culture of free trade versus the culture of antislavery in Britain and the British Caribbean, 1840–50 – Philip Harling4. At home in the Ottoman Empire: humanitarianism and the Victorian diplomat – Michelle Tusan5. A semi-exclusionary empire?: the use of British colonial ideals in Trinidad and Bengal – Martin J. Wiener6. The curious case of the chabutra-wallahs: Britons and Irish imperial culture in nineteenth-century India – Barry Crosbie7. Sorting out China: British accounts from pre-opium war Canton – John M. Carroll8. John Stuart Mill’s other island: the discourse of unbridled capitalism in post-war Hong Kong – Mark Hampton9. Scrutiny abroad: literary criticism and the colonial public – Christopher Hilliard10. Mr. Hickey’s pictures: Britons and their collectibles in late eighteenth-century India – Tillman Nechtman11. Material culture and Sierra Leone’s civilising mission in the nineteenth century – Bronwen EverillIndex

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Book SynopsisThe Brienne/Beaumonts, a noble family originally from Champagne, spread across Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean in the Middle Ages. Their story begins with John de Brienne (c. 1175/78-1237), who was the emperor of Constantinople, became king of Jerusalem by marriage, and claimed the throne of a kingdom in modern-day Turkey called Armenian Cilicia. His life, his children and his grandchildren's lives were remarkably international.His daughters were born in Italy and what is now Lebanon; one of his sons, who grew up in Constantinople, France and Spain, was the stepfather of the king of Scotland; one of his grandchildren was the king of Germany, Italy and Sicily; and several other grandchildren settled in England, where one married a Scottish heiress and was the great-grandfather of a king of England and an English-born queen of Portugal.The Beaumonts tells the story of the places where the Brienne/Beaumont family settled and held influence between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries

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Book SynopsisThis is Orwell''s memoir of his experiences during the Spanish Civil War - a groundbreaking work of dissident literature drawn from vivid personal experience. There are occasions where it pays better to fight and be beaten than not to fight at all...Both a memoir of Orwell''s experiences during the Spanish Civil War and a heartfelt tribute to those who died, Homage to Catalonia is an extraordinary first-hand record of his time on the frontline. Written with all of the depth, passion and deep human understanding that defines Orwell''s writing this is a vivid account of the battles that were faced by ordinary working people as they fought for both their lives and their ideologies.Although Orwell was himself near-fatally wounded he finds both bleak and comic notes in his experience which is recorded with such clarity and depth that this short work has become one of his best known.''The finest model of how to write about a foreign conflict, a war or a revolution... Brilliant reportage'' Timothy Garten-Ash ''[Orwell] describes what is happening in Catalonia during the Spanish Civil War in such a way that we are able to see why he's so upset about Soviet power. His argument is not one of category and concept but of irresistible observation'' Timothy Snyder''When he went to Spain, [Orwell] was an unknown. He wasn't Hemingway. He wasn't a well-connected intellectual. He just had this amazing eye for detail. He was an amazing observer, and he could write so powerfully. This book, to me, is just one of the classics of foreign reporting'' Guy Raz

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Book Synopsis*A BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week*Carefully observed, rich in detail, imaginative, compassionate and angry. A raw, unexpected portrait of Britain's grandeur, wealth, energy, cruelty and hypocrisy in the age of liberalism' RORY STEWART''A shocking story of prejudice and injustice, told in meticulous detail'' KEIR STARMERFrom award-winning historian and Sunday Times bestselling author Chris Bryant MP, James and John tells the story of what it meant to be gay in early 19th-century Britain through the lens of a landmark trial.They had nothing to expect from the mercy of the crown; their doom was sealed; no plea could be urged in extenuation of their crime, and they well knew that for them there was no hope in this world.When Charles Dickens wrote these tragic lines he was penning fact, not fiction. He had visited the condemned cells at the infamous prison at Newgate, where seventeen men who had been sentenced to death were awaiting news of their pleas for mercy. Two men stood out: James Pratt and John Smith, who had been convicted of homosexuality. Theirs was an unnatural offence', a crime so unmentionable it was never named. That was why they alone despaired and, as the turnkey told Dickens, why they alone were dead men'. The 1830s ushered in great change in Britain. In a few short years the government swept away slavery, rotten boroughs, child labour, bribery and corruption in elections, the ban on trades unions and civil marriage. They also curtailed the bloody code' that treated 200 petty crimes as capital offences. Some thought the death penalty itself was wrong. There had not been a hanging at Newgate for two years; hundreds were reprieved. Yet when the King met with his hanging' Cabinet, they decided to reprieve all bar James and John. When the two men were led to the gallows, the crowd hissed and shouted. In this masterful work of history, Chris Bryant delves deep into the public archives, scouring poor law records, workhouse registers, prisoner calendars and private correspondence to recreate the lives of two men whose names are known to history but whose story has been lost, until now.

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Book SynopsisHow do the disillusioned, the forgotten, and the persecuted not merely hold on to life but expand its possibilities and preserve its beauty? What, in other words, does utopia look like in black?These questions animate Aaron Robertson's exploration of Black Americans' efforts to remake the conditions of their lives. Writing in the tradition of Saidiya Hartman and Ta-Nehisi Coates, Robertson makes his way from his ancestral hometown of Promise Land, Tennessee, to Detroit the city where he was born, and where one of the country's most remarkable Black utopian experiments got its start. Founded by the brilliant preacher Albert Cleage Jr., the Shrine of the Black Madonna combined Afrocentric Christian practice with radical social projects. Central to this endeavour was the Shrine's chancel mural of a Black Virgin and child, the icon of a nationwide liberation movement that would come to be known as Black Christian Nationalism.Alongside the Shrine's story, Robertson reflects on a diverse array of Black utopian visions, from the Reconstruction era through the countercultural fervour of the 1960s and 1970s and into the present day. By doing so, Robertson showcases the enduring quest of collectives and individuals for a world beyond the constraints of systemic racism.The Black Utopians offers a nuanced portrait of the struggle for spaces both ideological and physical where Black dignity, protection, and nourishment are paramount. This book is the story of a movement and of a world still in the making one that points the way toward radical alternatives for the future.A TIME Book of the YearA New York Times Book of the Year

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Book SynopsisThese photos o Kings Cross will fascinate anyone interested in London's lost local history, or who knew this area of Victorian buildings - and particularly the gasholders - between St Pancreas Stations, before this city landscape disappeared forever.

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Book SynopsisEvery Tudor Queen had ladies-in-waiting. They were her confidantes and her chaperones. Only the Queen''s ladies had the right to enter her most private chambers, spending hours helping her to get dressed and undressed, caring for her clothes and jewels, listening to her secrets. But they also held a unique power. A quiet word behind the scenes, an appropriately timed gift, a well-negotiated marriage alliance were all forms of political agency wielded expertly by women. The Waiting Game explores the daily lives of ladies-in-waiting, revealing the secrets of recruitment, costume, what they ate, where (and with whom) they slept. We meet María de Salinas, who travelled to England with Catherine of Aragon when just a teenager and spied for her during the divorce from Henry VIII. Anne Boleyn''s lady-in-waiting Jane Parker was instrumental in the execution of not one, but two queens. And maid-of-honour Anne Basset kept her place through the last four consorts, negotiating the conflicting loyalties of her birth family, her mistress the Queen, and even the desires of the King himself. As Henry changed wives, and changed the very fabric of the country''s structure besides, these women had to make choices about loyalty that simply didn''t exist before. The Waiting Game is the first time their vital story has been told.

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Book Synopsis The early twentieth-century advent of aerial bombing made successful evacuations essential to any war effort, but ordinary people resented them deeply. Based on extensive archival research in Germany and France, this is the first broad, comparative study of civilian evacuations in Germany and France during World War II. The evidence uncovered exposes the complexities of an assumed monolithic and all-powerful Nazi state by showing that citizens' objections to evacuations, which were rooted in family concerns, forced changes in policy. Drawing attention to the interaction between the Germans and French throughout World War II, this book shows how policies in each country were shaped by events in the other. A truly cross-national comparison in a field dominated by accounts of one country or the other, this book provides a unique historical context for addressing current concerns about the impact of air raids and military occupations on civilians.Trade Review “This work adopts an innovative transnational and comparative approach…Because of the richness of the sources it complements very usefully the history of refugees and the exodus in Europe during the Second World War, a history that for several decades has often been forgotten by historians.” · Francia “With [this] publication Julia Torrie has established herself as a significant scholar of the home front during World War II...Dr. Torrie has written a fascinating book based on in-depth research in [more than twenty] French and German archives. She introduces younger and older scholars to aspects of World War II that have received little attention. She has also mastered the skills needed to carry out an excellent comparative study.” · Canadian Journal of History/Annales canadiennes d’histoire “Torrie has written an interesting and thoroughly researched book that considerably deepens our knowledge of the relationship of the “Third Reich” to its own population and to that of occupied France. She shows that the evacuations within Germany as well in occupied France were problematic.” · Historische Zeitschrift “The book makes an extensive use of French and German archives and has generally demonstrated a good knowledge of the existing secondary literature…Overall Torrie’s text is a welcome contribution to the literature on World War Two.” · H-France Review “Torrie has accomplished a great deal, a rich analysis of the significance of evacuations to national identity, the relationship between rulers and ruled, as well as the ambiguous mix of competition and sharing among enemies.” · Central European History “Overall, this is an impressively researched study…In revealing the need to examine opposition to evacuation policies, Torrie’s book is an important addition to the literature on wartime civilian evacuation.” · American Historical Review “…a useful, well-crafted book…any bi-national comparison will face difficulties of the incomparable. It is skilful to attempt one, and Torrie’s succeeds. .. we are more enlightened as to the relations between people and state in authoritarian regimes, and have developed ideas of belonging, rights and privileges. The book is a worthy contribution to a growing literature on the civilian experience of air war in Europe.” · Reviews in History “The strength of Torrie’s monograph is certainly its comparative analysis of German and French evacuations and relationship between them…A highly readable and convincing study.” · Choice "[The book] is well written and well constructed...A high quality work." · Robert Gildea, Oxford UniversityTable of Contents List of Illustrations Abbreviations Acknowledgements Introduction Chapter 1. Preparing for Air War Chapter 2. Order or Chaos Chapter 3. Organizing Evacuations Chapter 4. Our Stay Gives Us No Pleasure Chapter 5. If Only Family Unity Can Be Maintained Chapter 6. On the Basis of Selection Chapter 7. Responding to Chaos Chapter 8. Evacuation's Aftermath Notes Note on Sources Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisDiscover for the first time the story of the Organisation Todt, a hidden and brutal organisation overseen by Hitler at the heart of the Nazi machine.

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Book SynopsisHailed on publication as a thought-provoking, authoritative analysis of the true beginnings of the Second World War, this revised edition of The Road to War is essential reading for anyone interested in this momentous period of history. Taking each major nation in turn, the book tells the story of their road to war; recapturing the concerns, anxieties and prejudices of the statesmen of the thirties.Trade ReviewThe best short work on the origins of the second world war. It is a masterpiece of compression * Literary Review *Stimulating and enjoyable... essential reading * Guardian *Well-written, authoritative -- Norman Stone * Sunday Times *The authors combine passion with understanding to make sound historical sense * The Economist *It is mesmerising to read about a world careering to hell * Independent *

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Book SynopsisHistorian Michael Martinez surveys political sex scandals in American history, from the earliest years of the Republic to today, to explore how these events impacted the politics of the day and the legacy they left for future generations of American leaders.Table of ContentsTable of ContentsPrefatory Matter (dedication, epigraph, table of contents)Photograph CaptionsIntroduction and AcknowledgmentsChapter 1: “My Real Crime is An Amorous Connection with His Wife”: Alexander Hamilton and Maria ReynoldsChapter 2: “Dreams of Freedom in His Slave’s Embrace”: Thomas Jefferson and Sally HemingsChapter 3: “She is as Chaste as a Virgin”: Andrew Jackson and the Petticoat AffairChapter 4: “You Have Dishonored My House, and You Must Die!”: Daniel Sickles and Philip Barton Key IIChapter 5: “I Never Kissed Miss Tilton, I Never Told a Lie!”: Reverend Henry Ward Beecher and Elizabeth TiltonChapter 6: “Ma, Ma, Where’s My Pa? Gone to the White House, Ha, Ha, Ha!”: Grover Cleveland’s Illegitimate SonChapter 7: “It’s a Good Thing I’m Not a Woman. I Would Always be Pregnant. I Can’t Say No”: Warren G. Harding, Carrie Phillips, and Nan BrittonChapter 8: “She had the WAYS; he had the MEANS”: Wilbur Mills and Fanne FoxeChapter 9: “If Anybody Wants to Put a Tail on Me, Go Ahead. They’ll be Very Bored”: Gary Hart and Donna RiceChapter 10: “This Shadow Life Made a Mockery of My Marriage”: Bob PackwoodChapter 11: “I Did Not Have Sexual Relations with That Woman, Miss Lewinsky”: Bill Clinton and Monica LewinskyChapter 12: “Out of Respect for My Family, and Out of a Specific Request from the Levy family, I Think It’s Best That I Not Get into Those Details”: Gary Condit and Chandra LevyChapter 13: “If Only He’d Hired a Hooker Like a Normal Congressman”: Anthony WeinerChapter 14: “Who Would Have Thought That 90 Seconds with Donald Trump Would Turn into 90 Percent of My Life?”: Donald Trump’s Sex ScandalsAfterwordReferencesAbout the Author

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Book SynopsisThe myths about Franklin Delano Roosevelt live on. For the left, FDR was a champion of the working class and the oppressed, suffering abuse as a “traitor to his class.” He gave up the lifestyle of the Hudson River gentry to lead his country out of the Depression and to victory against fascism. For many on the right, FDR was out of his depth on economics but provided Americans with the optimism and confidence necessary to prevail during the Depression and gain victory in World War II. Debunking FDR: The Man and the Myths exposes the suppressed and distorted facts about FDR’s life and the legends about him (many invented by FDR himself!) promoted by generations of historians. Contrary to myth, FDR was not a reluctant candidate acceding to the desires of the “people,” but a scheming, self-promoting politician faithful to his class and vain about his lineage (as unroyal as in fact it was). He was contemptuous of Americans who refused to be his “subjects.” He was impulsive, frivolous, vindictive, eager for war with Japan, in thrall of Stalin, and welcoming to Communists. The “dictator,” the “country squire in the White House” (as he was often known then), fundamentally changed the country and clung to power unto death. FDR’s influence lives on in crony capitalism, government-dependent populations, racial and class division, and a mammoth administrative state run by a credentialed, America-hating elite. Debunking FDR offers cautionary reminders to the FDR-admiring left—and a growing segment of the right.

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Book SynopsisThe completely updated edition of J. M. Roberts and Odd Arne Westad's widely acclaimed, landmark bestseller The Penguin History of the WorldFor generations of readers The Penguin History of the World has been one of the great cultural experiences - the entire story of human endeavour laid out in all its grandeur and folly, drama and pain in a single authoritative book. Now, for the first time, it has been completely overhauled for its 6th edition - not just bringing it up to date, but revising it throughout in the light of new research and discoveries, such as the revolution in our understanding of many civilizations in the Ancient World. The closing sections of the book reflect what now seems to be the inexorable rise of Asia and the increasingly troubled situation in the West.About the authors:J.M. Roberts, CBE, published The Penguin History of the World in 1976 to immediate acclaim. His other major books include The Paris Commune from the Right, The Triumph of the West (which was also a successful television series), The Penguin History of Europe and The Penguin History of the Twentieth Century. He died in 2003.Odd Arne Westad, FBA, is Professor of International History at the London School of Economics. He has published fifteen books on modern and contemporary international history, among them The Global Cold War, which won the Bancroft Prize, and Decisive Encounters, a standard history of the Chinese civil war. He also served as general co-editor of the Cambridge History of the Cold War.Reviews:'A work of outstanding breadth of scholarship and penetrating judgements. There is nothing better of its kind' Lord Jonathan Sumption, Sunday Telegraph 'A stupendous achievement' A. J. P. Taylor'A brilliant book ... the most outstanding history of the world yet written' J. H. PlumbTrade ReviewA work of outstanding breadth of scholarship and penetrating judgments. There is nothing better of its kind -- Jonathan Sumption * Sunday Telegraph *At once entertaining and scholarly ... a book as challenging as it is consistently absorbing -- Christopher HibbertA stupendous achievement -- A. J. P. TaylorA brilliant book ... the most outstanding history of the world yet written' -- J. H. PlumbThe leading historical mind of his generation * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisBERNICE L. McFADDEN is the bestselling and award-winning author of Richard & Judy Book Club pick Sugar, and eight other novels. She's won the American Book Award, the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work, has been featured in O, The Oprah Magazine and is a four-time Hurston/Wright Legacy Award finalist, as well as the recipient of three awards from the BCALA. She lives in Brooklyn, New York. Firstborn Girls is her first memoir.

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Book SynopsisEvery time you try to say 'Africa is...' the words crumble and break. From every generalisation you must exclude at least five countries. And just as you think you've nailed down a certainty, you find the opposite is also true. Africa is full of surprises. For the past three decades, Richard Dowden has travelled this vast and varied continent, listening, learning, and constantly re-evaluating all he thinks he knows. Country by country, he has sought out the local and the personal, the incidents, actions, and characters to tell a story of modern sub-Saharan Africa - an area affected by poverty, disease and war, but also a place of breathtaking beauty, generosity and possibility. The result is a landmark book, compelling, illuminating, and always surprising. Updated for 2018, Africa remains one of the most comprehensive, intelligent and responsive works on the continent ever written.

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Book SynopsisIn the early morning of 9 April 1940 a fleet of German ships entered the Oslofjord. The Norwegian artillery delayed the German advance long enough for King Haakon VII and his cabinet to escape to England, but there was no stopping the Nazi blitzkrieg. Norway stood on the cusp of a traumatic five-year occupation whose aftershocks would continue to trouble its national consciousness long after the defeated Germans departed in May 1945. In a magnificent feat of storytelling, Robert Ferguson tells the extraordinary and relatively little-known story of the occupation and its judicial aftermath. He focuses in particular on the Germans' attempt to use a Norwegian Nazi administration under Vidkun Quisling to impose a National Socialist revolution on Norwegians, and on the many brave and ingenious ways in which the Norwegians resisted the attempt. Ferguson describes the occupation in all its aspects from Nazi terror to non-violent resistance, from censorship to sabotage ending with a riveting and heart-rending account of the trial and ensuing execution of a member of the Norwegian resistance. Norway's War presents a series of heterogeneous but interlinked narratives which are richly involving in themselves but which always allow the wider politico-military story to keep moving forward. The key players in the occupation, whether occupiers, collaborators or resisters, both non-violent and otherwise, are memorably characterised. One of them, the remarkable double agent Gunnar Waaler, occupies an especially prominent place in the narrative. Above all, Norway's War evokes the bravery of ordinary Norwegians in a manner that is deeply engaging, moving and fascinating.

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Book Synopsis'A celebration of the city and its enduring love affair with music and musicians, venues and shops, one which will spark the remembrance of unique, high-octane experiences for all of us' – Ian Rankin Discover Edinburgh’s hidden music heritage with this eye-opening guide to the city’s musical milestones, famous gigs, infamous incidents and colourful characters. From folk to funk, pop to punk, this compilation of bite-sized stories shines a light on the key people, venues and gigs that have shaped the city’s music scene. From Bowie to the Bay City Rollers, Edinburgh’s Greatest Hits touches on the big names as well as revealing some lesser-known legends and tall tales. Jim Byers, Fiona Shepherd, Alison Stroak and Jonathan Trew share decades of music fandom and journalism between them and are uniquely placed to explore the capital’s music scene, past and present.Trade Review'A fascinating and witty look at Edinburgh's music history. An excellent read' -- Bruce Findlay, Simple Minds manager and owner of Bruce's record shop'From The Beatles to David Bowie to homegrown stars, a wonderful new book celebrates Edinburgh’s musical history' -- Martha Vaughan * Herald *'Reclaims the Scottish capital as the birthplace of the country’s thriving live music industry' -- Brian Ferguson * The Scotsman *'A celebration of the city and its enduring love affair with music and musicians, venues and shops, one which will spark the remembrance of unique, high-octane experiences for all of us' -- Ian Rankin'A brilliant snapshot of rock and pop in Edinburgh' -- Stuart Cosgrove'A brilliant pocket sized guide packed full of fascinating bite-sized stories' -- Grant Stott * BBC Radio Scotland Afternoon Show *

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Book SynopsisThis book examines how the Covid-19 pandemic can be described as a biopolitical crisis, taking into account a fact often overlooked by commentators: Covid-19 is a zoonosis, i.e. a disease transmissible between animal species. The Sars-Cov2 virus causing this respiratory disease circulated in bats before passing to humans under as yet mysterious conditions, and it was transmitted from humans to other species, notably mink and deer. Building on Michel Foucault's revival of the term biopolitics' and related notions (disciplinary power, pastoral power, cynegetic power), this book traces a set of public health measures taken over the last two centuries to control epidemics. It underlines how the need to conserve virus strains in order to identify and anticipate their mutations has given rise to cryopolitics, i.e. a set of techniques aimed at suspending the living in order to defer death. The book then questions the emancipatory scope of this cryopolitics by examining interspecies solidarity built by the warning signals sent by animals to humans about coming threats, be they pandemics, natural disasters or climate change. By blurring the boundaries between the wild and the domestic resulting from the process of domestication, the politics of zoonoses relies on sentinels who preserve the memory of signs from the past to prepare living beings for future threats by involving them in a common ideal.

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Book SynopsisThe Russian Revolution of 1917 was not just a world-historical event in its own right, but also struck powerful blows against racism and imperialism, and so inspired many black radicals internationally. This edited collection explores the implications of the creation of the Soviet Union and the Communist International for black and colonial liberation struggles across the African diaspora. It examines the critical intellectual influence of Marxism and Bolshevism on the current of revolutionary ‘black internationalism’ and analyses how ‘Red October’ was viewed within the contested articulations of different struggles against racism and colonialism. Challenging European-centred understandings of the Russian Revolution and the global left, The Red and the Black offers new insights on the relations between Communism, various lefts and anti-colonialisms across the Black Atlantic – including Garveyism and various other strands of Pan-Africanism. The volume makes a major and original intellectual contribution by making the relations between the Russian Revolution and the Black Atlantic central to debates on questions relating to racism, resistance and social change.Trade Review'This ideologically diverse collection is uniformly well-written and exceedingly informative. The inescapable and unavoidable conclusion it renders is that the Russian Revolution of 1917 delivered a mighty blow against colonialism, imperialism and forms of apartheid alike. Simultaneously, by implication it blazes the trail and illuminates the way forward for those seeking to create a better world.' Gerald Horne, author of Paul Robeson: The Artist as Revolutionary'Featherstone and Høgsbjerg must be credited with putting together a fantastic edited collection which makes both an important contribution to keeping alive, and shedding new light on, herstories and histories of Black radical rebellion. In doing so, they have further reminded us of the struggles that have, in different ways, been central to the Black Lives Matter movement in recent times, as well as wider transnational (and interconnected) opposition to neo-imperialism.'Stephen D. Ashe, University of Durham, Ethnic and Racial Studies -- .Table of ContentsIntroduction: Red October and the Black Atlantic – David Featherstone and Christian HøgsbjergPart I Racism, resistance and revolution1 Claude McKay’s Bolshevization in London – Winston James2 From Russian colonies to Black America … and back: Lenin and Langston Hughes – Matthieu Renault3 African American literature in the Soviet Union, 1917-1930s: contacts, translations, criticism and editorial policy – Olga PanovaPart II Spreading the Revolution Across the Black Atlantic4 Bolshevism and African American agency in the African American Radical Press, 1917-24 – Cathy Bergin5 International Communist trade union organisations and the call to black toilers in the interwar Atlantic world – Holger Weiss6 Firebrands, trade unionists and Marxists: the shadow of the Russian Revolution, the colonial state and radicalism in Guyana, 1917-57– Nigel Westmaas7 Racialising the Caribbean Basin: the Communist racial agenda for the American hemisphere, 1931-35– Sandra Pujals8 The Left Book Club and its associates: The transnational circulation of socialist ideas in an Atlantic network– Matheus Cardoso da SilvaPart III Africa, the Soviet Union and the Cold War9 The beginning of the Cold War in the Gold Coast? – Marika Sherwood10 Decolonisation and the Cold War: African student elites in the USSR, 1955-64 – Harold D. Weaver11 ‘Peoples' Friendship’ in the Cold War: the Patrice Lumumba Peoples' Friendship University – Rachel RubinAfterword: A Black journey of Red hope – Maxim Matusevich

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The definitive account of the Great War and a national bestseller from eminent military historian John Keegan2018 marks the centenary of the First World War – the war that created the modern world. It destroyed a century of relative peace and prosperity and saw a continent at the height of its success descend into slaughter. It unleashed both the demons of the twentieth century - political hatred, military destruction and mass death - and the ideas which continue to shape our world today: modernism in the arts, new approaches to psychology and medicine, and radical ideas about economics and society.By the end of the war, three great empires – the Austro-Hungarian, the Russian and the Ottoman – had collapsed. But as Keegan expertly shows, the devastation extended over the entirety over Europe and still profoundly informs the politics and culture of the continent today. Pertinent, authoritative and gripping, this panoramic account of WW1 is regarded as a world history classic. ‘The best and most approachable introduction to the war’ Guardian‘Nobody describes a battle as Keegan does, vividly relating the unfolding events to the contours of the field of combat... This book is a kind of war memorial. As first-hand memory fades, The First World War honours the dead as only true history can’ Sunday Times

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Book Synopsis'Massive, groundbreaking new research that sheds more truth on the Holocaust.' - Helen FryNever told in detail before, this is the account of how, for four years, British and Allied codebreakers decrypted secret SS and Gestapo messages detailing the mass killings of the Holocaust, and how the Germans in turn deployed cryptanalysis to try to conceal their persecution of Europe's Jews. The compelling and fast-paced narrative is told from the perspectives of two central and opposing characters, who never meet.At Bletchley Park, there is the legendary but unsung British codebreaker Nigel de Grey, shy, determined, nicknamed 'the Dormouse' by his colleagues. In Nazi-occupied Poland, SS Major Hermann Höfle, a former taxi driver from Salzburg, and one of the Third Reich's ruthless bureaucrats of mass death, oversees the operations of five concentration camps, including Treblinka.De Grey fought hard to make sure the vital intelligence from decrypted signals reached Allied leaders and was acted on. Höfle, meanwhile, used complex coded messages to try to conceal the mass killings. De Grey worked with his American counterparts, as well as codebreakers and intelligence agents from the Soviet Union, France, the Vatican, Switzerland and Poland. Yet he had dangerous enemies closer to home: a cabal of senior British government and intelligence officials disbelieved or ignored repeated intelligence reports about the ongoing Holocaust.Flawlessly researched, this is the story of a battle between good and evil, between life and mass death, a cat-and-mouse war of electronic wits. More than eighty years on, as Russian leaders face war crimes charges in international courts, the words 'Never again' seem more pertinent than ever.

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Book SynopsisBy the sixth century of the common era the Roman Empire already had many hundreds of years of accumulated ceremonial embedded in its government, and practical science embodied in its army. The transition from Republic to Imperium and the more hierarchical structure that entailed, and the absorption of Christianity into state processes, had pushed the development of court ceremonial apace, and particularly driven its embodiment and display in ever more opulent regalia. The regalia embraced not only garments of distinctive form and decoration, but also both dress and non-dress accessories. It was crucial in displaying rank and function on an everyday basis, yet was also varied considerably for special occasions. Military dress largely reflected forms current amongst ordinary men, but with an emphasis on functionality, eschewing the excesses of fashion. Detailed literary and artistic sources, archaeology and insights derived from reconstruction and practical experience has gone into creating an incredibly lavish picture of the clothing of the longest-enduring political entity in history.

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Book SynopsisA brilliant new account of one of the world's most remote, mysterious and misunderstood places: Easter Island.More than 1200 miles from the nearest inhabited island and 2200 miles from mainland Chile, Easter Island is one of the most inaccessible places on the planet, made famous by its thousand huge statues. How people came to live there and what happened to them has been the cause of heated debate. Now, in this compelling and deeply researched new book, The Last Island on Earth, we find out the answers. For too long, people have imposed their own theories on this extraordinary place and its inhabitants. Thor Heyerdahl, after his famous Kon-Tiki expedition, claimed the island had been discovered by light-skinned people from South America, believing only they could have been capable of travelling there and building the statues. Erich von Däniken took it to greater extremes, saying the statues had been carved by aliens. More recently, Jared Diamond's theory of ecocide that Islanders destroyed their world by cutting down all the trees has become popular as a vital message about the need to conserve our planet's resources. None of this survives scrutiny, or captures the island's inspiring, and tragic, real story. With new research, local indigenous histories and rediscovered historical sources, archaeologist Mike Pitts creates a fascinating and comprehensive portrait of Easter Island and reveals how the truth is even more remarkable than the fiction.

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Book SynopsisLowestoft, on the Sunrise Coast, is as far east as you can be in the United Kingdom without getting your feet wet. Once a major fishing port, the town was reinvented by Samuel Morton Peto in the nineteenth century as a resort to rival Brighton. Suffering from the decline of these industries, Lowestoft now seeks to become the onshore centre for the renewable energies industry. Michael Rouse's photographs chart some of these changes, from the loss of the old fishing industry to the town's need to cater for modern holidaymakers with car parks and enhancement schemes along the beautiful South Beach. He travels outside Lowestoft to the once sea-threatened villages of Pakefield and Kessingland, to the crumbling cliffs of Corton and its holiday villages, and finally to the colourful Oulton Broad.

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Book SynopsisChosen as a Book of the Year in the Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail'A masterpiece' Frederick Forsyth 'Beautifully written... unlikely to be surpassed' Simon Heffer'Superb' Daily Mail, Book of the Week'Terrific' ObserverThroughout history there have been many long-running rivalries between party leaders, but there has never been a connection like that between Clement Attlee and Winston Churchill, who were leaders of their respective parties for a total of thirty-five years. Brought together in the epoch-making circumstances of the Second World War, they forged a partnership that transcended party lines, before going on to face each other in two of Britain's most important and influential general elections. Based on extensive research and archival material, Attlee and Churchill provides a host of new insights into their remarkable relationship. From the bizarre coincidence that they shared a governess, to their explosive wartime clashes over domestic policy and reconstruction; and from Britain's post-war nuclear weapons programme, which Attlee kept hidden from Churchill and his own Labour Party, to the private correspondence between the two men in later life, which demonstrates their friendliness despite all the political antagonism, Leo McKinstry tells the intertwined story of these two political titans as never before. In a gripping narrative McKinstry not only provides a fresh perspective on two of the most compelling leaders of the mid-twentieth century but also brilliantly brings to life this vibrant, traumatic and inspiring era of modern British history.Trade ReviewSuperb... A timely parable about the necessity for cooperation, concession and compromise in politics. * Daily Mail, 'Book of the Week' *This book stands out in the sea of Churchilliana with its highly original portrait of Winston's close wartime partnership with the Labour leader. * Daily Telegraph, '50 Best Books of 2019' *Dual biographies are a tricky endeavour. McKinstry rises to the challenge brilliantly. His account is elegantly structured, his prose is lucid, he explains complex events with clarity, his anecdotes are telling and often funny, his judgments are assured and he brings to gripping life the characters of the leading men and the rest of the cast. -- Andrew Rawnsley * Observer *Excellent... McKinstry shows how the two men's contrasting talents and personalities combined at their nation's time of greatest need. * Daily Mail, Books of the Year *In this superb dual biography Leo McKinstry brilliantly describes both men, what they did and how they reacted to each other... Most of us know quite a lot about Churchill. Attlee, calm, soft-spoken, an MC-winner in World War I, self-effacing, remains for many a forgotten man. Until now... A masterpiece. * Frederick Forsyth *Until now, arguably the most significant political relationship of the twentieth century has awaited its definitive study. Leo McKinstry, through exhaustive research and detailed analysis, has provided an intensely scholarly and beautifully written account of it that is unlikely to be surpassed. * Simon Heffer, author of The Age of Decadence *Leo McKinstry's fine book on the relationship between Churchill and the Labour leader Clement Attlee is a subtle and nuanced work full of illuminating insights.... First-class * Literary Review *Attlee and Churchill really does get to the heart of a complicated but fascinating relationship. * Scotsman *Leo McKinstry's biographical pairing of Attlee and Churchill serves to hymn a vanished golden age of bipartisan collaboration and respectful rivalry. * New Statesman *Leo McKinstry is a first-class historian who has produced a scholarly and very well-written account of the fascinating relationship between arguably the two most significant premiers of the twentieth century. His recognition of the mutual respect - indeed admiration - that lay at its core is highly insightful. Never in our world of fractious, contempt-driven politics has a book like this been needed more. * Andrew Roberts, author of Churchill: Walking with Destiny *A masterful account of the collaboration, rivalry and conflict between two remarkably different leaders who shaped Britain's fate in the second half of the twentieth century. * Tom Bower, author of Dangerous Hero *A superb account of two utterly different men whose lives entwined to preserve freedom. * Joshua Levine, author of Dunkirk *By turns fascinating and illuminating, this is a gripping exploration of the intertwined lives of these two great men - so fundamentally different and yet as McKinstry demonstrates, perhaps in some ways not quite so far apart as all that... In the course of following Attlee and Churchill's parallel progressions from youth to maturity, from bloodied battlefields to the corridors of Number 10, McKinstry affords us beguiling new angles and new insights - with vivid, powerful stories, admirable balance and flashes of terrific humour. * Sinclair McKay, author of The Secret Life of Bletchley Park *From start to finish, an enthralling and original story of two great statesmen from an age when political giants still walked the earth. * Emeritus Professor Tim Blanning, University of Cambridge *I can count on the fingers of one hand history books which are both superbly researched and sublimely written - I have just discovered another. * Emeritus Professor David Wilson, Birmingham City University *In this highly readable and well-researched volume, McKinstry reveals the length, complexity and nuance of the relationship between these two great figures. * Allen Packwood, Director of the Churchill Archives Centre *A delight to read... This is an entrancing book. Yet it is also a melancholy one. Comparing these titans, both devoted to the service of country and nation, with the pygmies of today is to be constantly reminded of our national decline. -- Allan Massie * Catholic Herald *Studying each of these men goes a long way towards enlightening us, and some preconceptions are neatly pricked along the way... McKinstry offers much to inform and intrigue. -- Sonia Purnell * The Oldie *Table of Contents1: Contenders 1: Blenheim and Putney 2: Lancashire and Stepney 3: Sidney Street 4: Gallipoli 5: Plugstreet and Kut 6: Limehouse and Dundee 7: Treasury 8: India 9: Germany 10: Fort Belvedere 11: Munich 12: Admiralty 2: Comrades 13: Norway 14: Dunkirk 15: Empire and Commonwealth 16: Atlantic 17: Washington and Singapore 18: Russia and Egypt 19: Downing Street 20: Conference and Cabinet 21: Normandy and Italy 22: Britannia 3: Competitors 23: Campaign 24: Potsdam and Palace 25: Fulton and Zurich 26: New Jerusalem 27: Woodford and Walthamstow 28: Europe and Korea 29: Abadan 30: Summit 31: Commons 32: St Paul's and Temple

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Book SynopsisFrom nurses and teachers to wildland firefighters and funeral directorsan intimate, honest, and illuminating collection of interviews that reveal what it's like to work in America at this historic and volatile moment in time.Author Mark Larson sits down with more than one hundred workers from across the socioeconomic spectrum as they share their experiences with work and what it has meant in their livesthe good, the bad, the mundane, and the profound. Doulas, firefighters, chefs, hairstylists, executives, actors, stay-at-home parents, and so many more talk about what they do all day and how it aligns (or doesn't) with what they want to be doing with their lives. The pandemic, the ensuing Great Resignation, and the current reckonings with racial justice are among the forces that are now upending and reshaping our longstanding relationships with work. Larson's interviews display how these forces collide in the lives of average Americans as they tell their own stories with passion, heartbreak, and, ultimately, hope. Working in the 21st Century asks why we show upor don'tto the jobs we've chosen, and how the upheaval of the past few years has changed how we perceive the work we do. It will be released to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Studs Terkel's 1974 classic Working.

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Book SynopsisChil Rajchman, a Polish Jew, was arrested with his younger sister in 1942 and sent to Treblinka, a death camp where more than 750,000 were murdered before it was abandoned by German soldiers. His sister was sent to the gas chambers, but Rajchman escaped execution, working for ten months under incessant threats and beatings as a barber, a clothes-sorter, a corpse-carrier, a puller of teeth from those same bodies. In August 1943, there was an uprising at the camp, and Rajchman was among the handful of men who managed to escape. In 1945, he set down this account, a plain, unembellished and exact record of the raw horror he endured every day. This unique testimony, which has remained in the sole possession of his family ever since, has never before been published in English. For its description of unspeakably cruelty, Treblinka is a memoir that will not be superseded. In addition to Rajchman's account, this volume includes the complete text of Vasily Grossman's 'The Hell of Treblinka', one of the first descriptions of a Nazi extermination camp; a powerful and harrowing piece of journalism written only weeks after the camp was dissolved. Introduction by Samuel Moyn, Professor of History at Columbia University and author of A Holocaust Controversy: The Treblinka Affair in Postwar France.Trade Review'His 96-page memoir, translated from the original Yiddish, has a powerful immediacy' Martin Gilbert, The Times. * The Times *'The small details, both poignant and horrific, leave a mark, which is as it should be' The Irish Examiner. * Irish Examiner *'This is one of the most horrific books I have read, and I found it impossible to put down ... a major addition to the literature of the Holocaust' Mail on Sunday. * Mail on Sunday *'This is an important book that deserves a prominent place in Holocaust literature' Victor Sebestyen, Sunday Times. * Sunday Times *'Rajchman describes the indescribable in this devastating account of surviving Treblinka ... An essential and unforgettable piece of Holocaust testimony' Robert Collins, Sunday Times. * Sunday Times *Table of ContentsPreface by Samuel Moyn. Treblinka. 'The Hell of Treblinka' by Vasily Grossman. Map. Further reading.

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Book SynopsisThe Federalist Papers is a collection of 85 articles and essays written under the pseudonym "Publius" to promote the ratification of the United States Constitution. The Federalist Papers are notable for their opposition to what later became the United States Bill of Rights. The idea of adding a Bill of Rights to the Constitution was originally controversial because the Constitution, as written, did not specifically enumerate or protect the rights of the people, rather it listed the powers of the government and left all that remained to the states and the people. Alexander Hamilton, the author of Federalist No. 84, feared that such an enumeration, once written down explicitly, would later be interpreted as a list of the only rights that people had.The first 77 of The Federalist Papers were published serially in the Independent Journal, the New York Packet, and The Daily Advertiser between October 1787 and April 1788. The original plan was to write a total of 25 essays, the work divided evenly among the three men. In the end they wrote 85 essays in the span of six months. Jay wrote five, Madison wrote 29, and Hamilton wrote the remaining 51.This case laminate collector''s edition includes a Victorian inspired dust-jacket. 

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Book SynopsisFor most of recorded history, women have been sidelined, if not silenced, by men who named the built environment after themselves. Now is the time to look unflinchingly at Scotland's heritage and bring those women who have been ignored to light. Can you imagine a different Scotland, a Scotland where women are commemorated in statues and streets and buildings - even in the hills and valleys? This is a guidebook to that alternative nation, where the cave on Staffa is named after Malvina rather than Fingal, and Arthur's Seat isn't Arthur's, it belongs to St Triduana. You arrive into Dundee at Slessor Station and the Victorian monument on Stirling's Abbey Hill interprets national identity through the women who ran hospitals during the First World War. The West Highland Way ends at Fort Mary. The Old Lady of Hoy is a prominent Orkney landmark. And the plinths in central Glasgow proudly display statues of the suffragettes who fought until they won. In this guide, streets, buildings, statues and monuments are dedicated to real women, telling their often unknown stories.Trade Review'Charming or amusing though these imagined memorials are, the heart of the book is serious, the product of assiduous research, and extremely interesting. Treat it as a quasi-official gazetteer and it will deepen your knowledge of Scotland, even in many cases of your own city, town, village or countryside, and enrich your travels.' -- Allan Massie * Scotsman *'a comprehensive, vital portrait of Scotland through a female lens' * The Skinny *‘Where Are the Women? provides a tantalising glimpse of an alternative universe where the female contribution is prized.’ * Herald *‘stunning . . . a dip in, dip out “alternative guidebook” where Scotland’s late, great women are commemorated’ * Sunday Post *

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Book SynopsisRussia is a country of contradictions: a nation of cultural refinement and artistic originality and yet also a country that rules by 'the iron fist'. In this riveting history, Martin Sixsmith shows how Russia's complex identity has been formed over a thousand years, and how it can help us understand its often baffling behaviour at home and abroad.Combining in-depth research and interviews with his personal experiences as a former BBC Moscow correspondent, Sixsmith skilfully traces the conundrums of modern Russia to their roots in its troubled past, and explains the nation's seemingly split personality as the result of influences that have divided it for centuries.A Sunday Times bestseller, Russia is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the complex political landscape of this country, and its unique place in the modern world.Trade ReviewSixsmith has the knack of delivering complex material with a clear voice * The Times *A lively chronicle -- Orlando Figes * Sunday Times *Russia, a 1,000 Year Chronicle of the Wild East contains many of the required ingredients to become the leading popular history of Russia. Colloquial, personal and anecdotal in style ... well researched and factually sound. * TLS *"Russia" delivers a thoroughly satisfying history...a lively opinionated narrative. * Publishers Weekly *

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book SynopsisA paperback reissue of Londonopolis (9781849941655) This curious history of London whisks you down the rabbit hole and into the warren of backstreets, landmarks, cemeteries, palaces, markets, museums and secret gardens of the great metropolis. Meet the cockneys, politicians, fairies, philosophers, gangsters and royalty that populate the city, their stories becoming curiouser and curiouser as layers of time and history are peeled back. Find out which tube station once housed the Elgin Marbles and what lies behind a Piccadilly doorway that helped Darwin launch his theory of evolution and caused the Swedes to wage war against Britain. Do you believe in fairies? Do you know which Leadenhall site became a Nag's Head tavern, morphing into the mighty East India Company, before taking flight as the futuristic Lloyds Building? Who named the Natural History Museum's long-tailed dinosaur Mr Whippy? Spanning above and below ground, from the outer suburbs to the inner city, and from the medieval period to the modern day, Londonopolis is a celebration of the weird and the wonderful that makes the mysterious city of London so magical.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book SynopsisThis book is both a guide and a history, exploring the curious and entertaining glories of Oxford through two of the most famous fantasies in world literature.

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Book SynopsisBlamed for the bloody disasters of the 20th century: Auschwitz, the Gulags, globalisation, Islamic terrorism; heralded as the harbinger of reason, equality, and the end of arbitrary rule, the Enlightenment has been nothing if not divisive. To this day historians disagree over when it was, where it was, and what it was (and sometimes, still is). Kieron O'Hara deftly traverses these conflicts, presenting the history, politics, science, religion, arts, and social life of the Enlightenment not as a simple set of easily enumerated ideas, but an evolving conglomerate that spawned a very diverse set of thinkers, from the radical Rousseau to the conservative Burke.

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