History Books

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

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Book SynopsisOur penchant for keeping house plants is an ancient practice dating back to the Pharaohs. House Plants explores the stories behind the plants we bring home and how they were transformed from wild plants into members of our households. A billion-dollar global industry, house plants provide an interaction with nature, and contribute to our health, happiness and wellbeing. They also support their own miniature ecosystems and are part of the home biome. Featuring many superb illustrations, House Plants explores both their botanical history and cultural impact, from song (Gracie Fields’s Biggest Aspidistra in the World), literature (Orwell’s Keep the Aspidistra Flying) and cinema (Audrey II in Little Shop of Horrors) to fashion, technology, contemporary design, and painting.

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Book SynopsisThis book reveals how the ancient Maya - and their buildings, ideas, objects and identities - have been perceived, portrayed and exploited over 500 years in the Americas, Europe and beyond. Engaging in interdisciplinary analysis, the book summarizes ancient Maya art and history from the Preclassic period to the Spanish invasion, as well as the history of engagement with the ancient Maya, from Spanish invaders in the sixteenth century, to later explorers and archaeologists, taking in scientific literature, visual arts, architecture, world's fairs and Indigenous activism. It also looks at the decipherment of Maya inscriptions, Maya museum exhibitions and artists' responses, and contemporary Maya people's engagements with their ancestral past. Featuring the latest research, this book will interest scholars as well as general readers who wish to know more about this ancient, fascinating culture.

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Book SynopsisFrom the saviour of the realm to the subject of multiple attempted assassinations in the space of six years. King Henry IV's reign was characterised by his fear and paranoia, but above all a continued quest for survival. The son of John the Gaunt, Henry was seen as a confident, well-educated, generous, and spiritually fervent young man. And, in 1399, having ousted the insecure tyrannical Richard II, he was enthusiastically greeted as the new King of England. However, therein lay Henry's weakness. Upon assuming the crown, he found himself surrounded by men who would only support him as long as they could control him. When they failed, they plotted to kill him.Long characterised as a treacherous murderer for slaying Richard II, Henry IV's achievements as king have been played down throughout history. However, in this fascinating examination of his reign, Ian Mortimer revaluates what Henry managed to accomplish against all adversity as king. Provoking a social revolution as well as a political one, he took a poorly ruled nation into a new, Lancastrian dynasty, and, while perhaps not the most glorious king England has ever had, he certainly proves to one of the bravest.'[Mortimer] has... a vivid historical imagination which lends colour and excitement to his pages' Literary ReviewTrade Review[Mortimer] has an instinctive sympathy for the men about whom he writes, a real understanding of the mentalities of late medieval England, and a vivid historical imagination which lends colour and excitement to his pages * Literary Review *Mortimer's book is a success and tells an important story very well -- Richard Francis * Daily Telegraph *An arresting and original biography -- Jessie Childs * Sunday Telegraph *[It] possesses the rare combination of clarity, liveliness, balanced judgement, erudition without pedantry, and scholarship founded on his own research among primary sources * Scotland on Sunday *The book is at its most compelling in conjuring a sense of place or occasion * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisIn The Middle Ages and the Movies eminent historian Robert Bartlett takes a fresh, cogent look at how our view of medieval history has been shaped by eight significant films of the twentieth century. The book ranges from the concoction of sex and nationalism in Mel Gibson’s Braveheart, to Fritz Lang’s silent masterpiece Siegfried, the art-house classic The Seventh Seal and the epic historical drama El Cid. The historical accuracy of these films is examined, as well as other salient aspects – how was Umberto Eco’s Name of the Rose translated from page to screen? Why is Monty Python and the Holy Grail funny? And how was Eisenstein’s Alexander Nevsky shaped by the Stalinist tyranny under which it was filmed?

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Book SynopsisSuspended between sea and sky, battered by the waves and the wind, lighthouses mark the battlelines between the elements. They guard the boundaries between the solid human world and the primordial chaos of the waters; between stability and instability; between the known and the unknown. As such, they have a strange, universal appeal that few other manmade structures possess. Engineered to draw the gaze of sailors, lighthouses have likewise long attracted the attention of soldiers and saints, artists and poets, novelists and filmmakers, colonizers and migrants, and, today more than ever, heritage tourists and developers. Their evocative locations, their isolation and resilience have turned these structures into complex metaphors, magnets for stories. This book explores the rich story of the lighthouse in the human imagination.Trade Review'Hauntingly beautiful, dazzlingly written and brimming with amazing information, Where Light in Darkness Lies is brilliant on lighthouses as symbols of the human struggle for survival and meaning in the face of an ever-encroaching darkness. With her extraordinary eye for detail and evocatively poetic language, Veronica della Dora guides us effortlessly through history, geography, literature, religion, art, film and, not least, actual lighthouses, changing the way we see and understand the world.' – Maximos Constas

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Book SynopsisDisgrace is the first truly global history of sexual violence. The book explores how sexual violence varies widely across time and place, from nineteenth-century peasant women in Ireland who were abducted as a way of forcing marriage, to date-raped high-school students in twentieth-century America, and from girls and women violated by Russian soldiers in 1945 to Dalit women raped by men of higher castes today. It delves into the factors that facilitate violence – including institutions, ideologies and practices – but also gives voice to survivors and activists, drawing inspiration from their struggles. Ultimately, Joanna Bourke intends to forge a transnational feminism that will promote a more harmonious, equal and rape- and violence-free world.Trade Review'Bold in its global vision and eminently readable, Disgrace is a work of scholarship that is full of empathy and conviction. Joanna Bourke builds upon decades of her research and brings a historian's omniscient eye to a topic which may be called "timely", but in fact has long been a part of human history. Across geographies, cultures, and eras, the reality of sexual violence has always served as a sobering reminder of humanity's flaws and cruelties. Here is an eye-opening book to help us understand that reality more fully - and to help us envision a future free of rape.' - Winnie M Li, author of Dark Chapter and Complicit, activist and rape survivor

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Book SynopsisThe French Revolution facilitated the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte, but after gaining power he knew that his first task was to end it. In this book William Doyle describes how he did so, beginning with the three large issues that had destabilized revolutionary France: war, religion and monarchy. Doyle shows how, as First Consul of the Republic, Napoleon resolved these issues: first by winning the war, then by forging peace with the Church and finally by making himself a monarch. Napoleon at Peace ends by discussing Napoleon’s one great failure – his attempt to restore the colonial empire destroyed by war and slave rebellion. By the time this was abandoned, the fragile peace with Britain had broken down, and the Napoleonic wars had begun.

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Book SynopsisOn a scorching June Sunday in 1876, thousands of Indian warriors - Lakota Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapaho - converged on a grassy ridge above the valley of Montana's Little Bighorn River. On the ridge five companies of United States cavalry - 262 soldiers, comprising officers and troopers - fought desperately but hopelessly. When the guns fell silent, no soldier - including their commanding officer, Lt Col. George Armstrong Custer - had survived. Custer's Last Stand is among the most enduring events in American history - 130 years after the fact, books continue to be written and people continue to argue about even the most basic details surrounding the Little Bighorn. Evan S. Connell, whom Joyce Carol Oates has described as 'one of our most interesting and intelligent American writers', wrote what continues to be the most reliable - and compulsively readable - account of the subject. Connell makes good use of his research and novelist's eye for story and detail to re-create the heroism, foolishness and savagery of this crucial chapter in the history of the West.

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Book SynopsisTo secure a comfortable afterlife, ancient Egyptians built fortress-like tombs and filled them with precious goods, a practice that generated staggering quantities of artefacts over the course of many millennia, but one which has also drawn thieves and tomb-raiders to Egypt since antiquity. Drawing on modern scholarship, reportage and period sources, this book tracks the history of treasure-seekers in Egypt and the social contexts in which they operated, revealing striking continuities throughout time. Readers will recognize the foibles of today’s politicians and con artists, the perils of materialism, and the cycles of public compliance and dissent in the face of injustice. In describing an age-old pursuit and its timeless motivations, A Short History of Tomb-Raiding shows how much we have in common with our Bronze Age ancestors.

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Book SynopsisAccording to legend, the English landscape – so calm on the surface – is really the Devil’s work. Cloven Country tells of rocks hurled into place and valleys carved out by infernal labour. The Devil’s hideous strength laid down great roads in one night, and left scars everywhere as the hard stone melted like wax under those burning feet. With roots in medieval folklore, this is not the Satan of prayer, but a clumsy ogre, easily fooled by humankind. When a smart cobbler or cunning young wife outwitted him, they struck a blow for the underdog. Only the wicked squire and grasping merchant were beyond redemption, carried off by a black huntsman in the storm.

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Book SynopsisNubia, the often overlooked southern neighbour of Egypt, has been home to groups of vibrant and adaptive peoples for millennia. This book explores the Nubians’ religious, social, economic and cultural histories, from their nomadic origins during the Stone Ages to their rise to power during the Napatan and Meroitic periods, and it concludes with the recent struggles for diplomacy in North Sudan. Situated among the ancient superpowers of Egypt, Aksum and the Graeco-Roman world, Nubia’s connections with these cultures shaped the country’s history through colonialism and cultural entanglement. Sarah M. Schellinger presents the Nubians through their archaeological and textual remains, reminding readers that they were a rich and dynamic civilization in their own right.

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For more than four hundred years, the Catholic Church’s Index Librorum Prohibitorum struck terror into the hearts of authors, publishers and booksellers around the world, while arousing ridicule and contempt from many others, especially those in Protestant and non-Christian circles. Biased, inconsistent and frequently absurd in its attempt to ban objectionable texts of every conceivable description – with sometimes fatal consequences – the Index also reflected the deep learning and careful consideration of many hundreds of intellectual contributors over the long span of its storied evolution. This book constitutes the first full study of the Index of Prohibited Books to be published in English. It examines the reasons behind the Church’s attempts to censor religious, scientific and artistic works, and considers not only why this most sustained of campaigns failed, but what lessons can be learned for today’s debates over freedom of expression and cancel culture.

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Book Synopsis‘There is more history in a bowl of pasta than in the Colosseum’, writes Andreas Viestad in Dinner in Rome. From the table of a classic Roman restaurant, Viestad takes us on a fascinating culinary exploration of The Eternal City, and global civilization. Food, he argues, is history’s secret driving force. Viestad finds deeper meanings in his meal: From the bread that begins the dinner he traces the origins of wheat and its role in Rome’s rise as well as its downfall. From his fried artichoke antipasto he explains olive oil’s part in the religious conflict of 16th-century Europe. From his sorbet dessert he recounts how lemons featured in the history of the Mafia in the 19th century, and how the hunger for sugar fuelled the slave trade. Viestad’s dinner may be local, but his story is universal. His ‘culinary archaeology’ is an entertaining, flavourful journey across the dinner table and time. You’ll never look at spaghetti carbonara the same way again.Trade ReviewAs enchanting as it is fascinating: Andreas Viestad has a calm gift for evocative scene-setting, story-telling and, crucially, for making and exploring connections that brings everything, illuminatingly to life.' – Nigella Lawson; 'Andreas Viestad has written a fascinating, thought-provoking and funny book about the importance of food in history. He zips seamlessly between the smells and flavors of a meal in a restaurant in Rome and the long lines of history.' – Alice Waters; 'A fascinating look at food and its history through the prism of one classic restaurant in Rome. Andreas Viestad has created a “culinary archaeology” that’s as erudite as it is gripping. He’s as comfortable with amusing asides and anecdotes as he is with the deepest digs. His writing leaves you entranced, hugely enlightened – and hungry.' – Marina O’Loughlin, Restaurant Critic for The Sunday Times; 'History and food memories are everlasting. They bring an eternal pleasure of time and place throughout the decades and centuries. This book reminds us of how deeply rooted food is in our travels, stories and traditions.' – Daniel Boulud; 'A uniquely beautiful, historical account of Andreas’ two-hour meal at a well-known trattoria in the Campo dei Fiori area of Rome. For me, Rome is the eternal city and one that I love for its history, art, architecture, and food. Andreas has brought the history of the world to life through a meal at a Roman table. He writes an entertaining and beautifully written account of how food shapes not only who we are but where we were and where we go as humans. He narrates the history of ingredients that grace the table such as bread, olive oil, pasta, pepper, and wine. It is a wonderful addition to my collection of cookbooks and culinary memoirs and travel books. It is a book that tells the history of the world according to the food that is eaten on a leisurely afternoon in one of the world’s most beautiful and historical cities. It’s a must-read.' – Lidia Bastianich, author, chef and host of PBS’s Lidia’s Kitchen; 'If “Culinary Archaeology” had been a course major back when I was in college, I just might have graduated with honors. Andreas Viestad takes us on an evocative journey through time, effortlessly weaving past and present, and transforming one classic Roman meal into an appetite-inducing learning experience. This is the best possible insalata mista: with equal parts cookbook, history lesson, travelogue, and fantasy. It’s right up there with sitting in the Campo dei Fiori on a gorgeous spring day, devouring a hillock of crispy carciofi alla guidea.' – Danny Meyer, restaurateur, author of Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business; 'Insightful and enchanting. Viestad reminds us of the power of food and how it has greatly impacted the formation of world history.' – Eric Ripert, chef

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

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Book SynopsisIn Ukraine: A Nation on the Borderland, now available in paperback, Karl Schloegel presents a picture of a country which lies on Europe's borderland and in Russia's shadow. In recent years, Ukraine has been faced, along with Western Europe, with the political conundrum resulting from Russia's actions and the ongoing Information War. As well as exploring this confrontation, Schloegel provides detailed, fascinating historical portraits of a panoply of Ukraine's major cities: Lviv, Odessa, Czernowitz, Kiev, Kharkov, Donetsk, Dnepropetrovsk and Yalta - cities whose often troubled and war-torn histories are as varied as the nationalities and cultures which have made them what they are today, survivors with very particular identities and aspirations. Schloegel feels the pulse of life in these cities, analysing their more recent pasts and their challenges for the future.Trade Review'Karl Schloegel excels at bringing 20th century history to life through urban space, to which he is a guide with wit, subtlety, humanity and restraint. His skills lie in his assiduous research, scouring through phonebooks, minutes, memoirs and maps, brought to life through a vivid eye for the look and feel of a city's architecture, streets and vistas. Here, Schloegel leaves his usual territory - Soviet and post-Soviet Moscow - to take us on a tour of the cities of Ukraine, revealing the diversity, complexity and importance of a country too often seen through a reductive East/West binary. Here, we have great cosmopolitan cities like Odessa and Kiev, and cities that were once great cosmopolitan cities forced into provinciality by the Holocaust, like Lviv and Chernowitz; the crushing of the diverse histories of Crimea into a shrill Russian nationalism; the stories and streets of Soviet industrial behemoths like Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk; and the outward-looking capital of the Soviet avant-garde of the '20s, Kharkov. All these cities suffered from Russian nationalism, from Stalin's great famine, and from a horrific German occupation, that Schloegel describes with a restrained rage. They have carved out from these terrible experiences distinctive identities and unique spaces, and here they've finally found a sympathetic western interpreter.' - Owen Hatherley; 'Through Karl Schloegel's encounter with Ukraine the reader will understand the crisis of democratic politics in the West as a whole. It is among the very few texts written in our century which reveal the psychological core and philosophical essence of the challenges thinking citizens now face.' - Timothy Snyder; 'The deftly translated Ukraine: A Nation on the Borderland is a powerful and erudite assertion of Ukraine's legitimacy as a nation-state, its rich cultural heritage, and the underlying sources of Russia's campaign against it. In the book, Schloegel, a renowned scholar and life-long admirer of Russia, takes his readers on a tantalising historical and intellectual tour of Ukraine's major cities. . . . What's best about Schloegel's Ukraine is the affectionate, inspiring journey on which he takes the reader through the nation's ages, empires, and metropolises, colouring in the blank swathes with history, purpose, and significance . . . He populates each vignette with its literary and luminaries and other figures of history who lived at least part of their lives in Ukraine.' - International Politics and Society; 'This book is an invitation to the broader public, well-familiar by now with the cities in Western and Eastern Europe, to discover Ukraine, to explore its multifaceted identities. Since an end to the war in Ukraine is not yet in sight, books like this are much needed. When most of the publications available reiterate the same narratives of unbridgeable differences between Ukraine's east and west, it takes Schloegel's insightfulness and erudition to show the commonalities between Lviv in the West, Odessa in the South and Donetsk in the East; to take Ukraine out of the shadow of Russia and put it back on Europe's mental maps.' - European History Quarterly; 'Suggesting that, despite its prominence as a target of Russian aggression, Ukraine remains unfamiliar to most Westerners, Schloegel profiles the country's major cities. He explores the dilemmas presented by the country's geographical relationships with Russia and Europe.' - Survival: Global Politics and Strategy; 'One of the best works on Ukraine's highly peculiar geography, history, and modernity I've ever come across . . . As Schloegel himself points out repeatedly, the struggle for Ukraine's future is not going to end any time soon. Books such as this inspire hope that the struggle is not in vain and that Ukraine will eventually emerge as a fully fledged European state - not just "a country at the edge."' - Geographical Magazine; 'In response to these events, this book is an effort to make amends: to educate the broader public about Ukraine, Europe's terra incognita. It presents not only a fascinating, oftentimes poetic investigation of Ukraine's highly diverse urban landscapes, but also records the inner struggles of a German historian trying to make sense of Putin's undeclared war against Ukraine . . . This book is a path-breaking study of the urban archaeology of post-Soviet Ukraine, haunted by the demographic catastrophes of the twentieth century.' - Europe-Asia StudiesTable of ContentsPREFACE TO THE NEW EDITION UKRAINE, OR REMAPPING EUROPE: PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION AUTHOR'S NOTE EUROPE'S UKRAINA: AN INTRODUCTION 1 INFORMATION WAR 2 FAREWELL TO EMPIRE, FAREWELL TO RUSSIA? 3 SEEING FOR OURSELVES: DISCOVERING UKRAINE 4 KIEV, METROPOLIS 5 AH, ODESSA: A CITY IN AN ERA OF GREAT EXPECTATIONS 6 PROMENADE IN YALTA 7 LOOK UPON THIS CITY: KHARKOV, A CAPITAL OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 8 DNEPROPETROVSK: ROCKET CITY ON THE DNIEPER AND CITY OF POTEMKIN 9 DONETSK: TWENTIETH-CENTURY URBICIDES 10 CZERNOWITZ: CITY UPON A HILL 11 LVIV: CAPITAL OF PROVINCIAL EUROPE 12 THE SHOCK: THINKING THE WORST-CASE SCENARIO FURTHER READING ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS PHOTO ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

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Book SynopsisAlle Thyng Hath Tyme recreates medieval people’s experience of time: as continuous and discontinuous, linear and cyclical, embracing Creation and Judgement, shrinking to ‘atoms’ or ‘droplets’ and extending to the silent spaces of eternity. They might measure time by natural phenomena such as sunrise and sunset, the motion of the stars or the progress of the seasons, even as the late medieval invention of the mechanical clock was making time-reckoning more precise. Negotiating these mixed and competing systems, medieval people gained a nuanced and expansive sense of time that rewards attention today.Trade Review'In the Middle Ages, time didn’t just pass. Medieval people were “temporal virtuosos”, this book argues, living within great natural cycles, under shifting planetary influence, regulated by clock time with liturgical hours ringing in the air, generations succeeding generations while experiencing constant renewal and change. Alle Thyng Hath Tyme shows that an active experience of time – then as now – is an engagement with life itself. Make time for this book!' – Carolyn Dinshaw, Julius Silver Professor, New York University, and author of How Soon Is Now? Medieval Texts, Amateur Readers, and the Queerness of Time

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Book SynopsisPresents the history of the raising, training and service of the Barnsley Pals in the Great War.

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Book SynopsisA history of pets and their companions in Britain from the Victorians to today.Pet Revolution tracks the British love affair with pets over the last two centuries, showing how the kinds of pets we keep, as well as how we relate to and care for them, has changed radically. The book describes the growth of pet foods and medicines, the rise of pet shops, and the development of veterinary care, creating the pet economy. Most importantly, pets have played a powerful emotional role in families across all social classes, creating new kinds of relationships and home lives.For the first time, through a history of companion animals and the humans who lived with them, this book puts the story of the ‘pet revolution’ alongside other revolutions — industrial, agricultural, political — to highlight how animals contributed to modern British life. 'Hamlett and Strange state that their aim is to chart 200 years of pet-keeping in order to ‘understand how pets became so integral to the British and their homes’. In this richly detailed and enjoyable history, they have achieved their purpose.' — Daily Mail'From pet economics to pet cemeteries, this wonderfully engaging history explains the changing role of pets over two hundred years. It is as entertaining as it is informative, comprising charming stories and smart analysis.' — Claire Langhamer, Director of the Institute of Historical Research, London'Pet Revolution chronicles the increasing integration of pets into British life in fresh and fascinating detail. It shows how the definition of 'pet' narrowed over the last two centuries, as pet ownership spread through all social classes and the status of non-human animals evolved. The broad range of sources and engaging illustrations document the intense commitment that pets (or animal companions, as they are sometimes termed currently) inspired in their humans.' — Harriet Ritvo, Arthur J. Conner Emeritus Professor of History, MIT

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Book SynopsisA critical biography of one of the most celebrated prose stylists in early modern English.This book provides an overview of the life and work of the scandalous Renaissance writer Thomas Nashe (1567–c.1600), whose writings led to the closure of theaters and widespread book bans. Famous for his scurrilous novel, The Unfortunate Traveller (1594), Nashe also played a central role in early English theater, collaborating with Ben Jonson, Christopher Marlowe, and William Shakespeare. Through religious controversies, pornographic poetry, and the bubonic plague, Andrew Hadfield traces the uproarious history of this celebrated English writer. 'Thomas Nashe was a bright, fierce light in Elizabethan literature, whose work was banned by the church authorities. From secretly circulated pornography to the herrings of East Anglia, and from Puritan propaganda to the first English novel, Nashe is always productive and provocative. Andrew Hadfield’s lucid new life opens up these funny, savage, deeply topical works for a new readership, emphasizing their range, verve, and specificity. Hadfield’s skill is in contextualizing without overshadowing the literary brio of the writing, and in recovering the Nashe whom all his contemporaries — including Shakespeare — wanted to emulate.' — Emma Smith, Hertford College, Oxford (UK)

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

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Book SynopsisThis book explores how, far from being limited to deviation from known pathways or desirable plans of action, wandering is an abundant source of meaning, as intimately involved in the history of our universe as it will be in the future of our planet. In ancient Australian Aboriginal cosmology, in works about the origins of democracy and surviving disasters in ancient Greece, in Eurasian steppe nomadic culture, in the lifeways of the Rom, in the movements of today’s refugees and in our attempts to preserve spaces of untracked online freedom, wandering is the means by which creativity and skills of adaptation are preserved in the interests of ongoing life. Astray is an enthralling look at belonging, and at notions of alienation and hope.

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Book SynopsisThis is a new history of the region known as Kyivan Rus', a state in eastern and northern Europe from the late ninth to the mid-sixteenth century that encompassed a variety of polities and peoples, including Lithuanian, Polish, Ottoman and others. This account for the first time focuses on the history of the region via families, which allows the discussion of a wider region and a larger group of people than has been possible before. The book examines the development of Rus, Lithuania, Muscovy and Tver, and their relations and interconnections with the Mongols, Byzantines and many other peoples. This readable yet thoroughly scholarly book will appeal to anyone with an interest in the history of eastern Europe, a region that is crucial in world politics today.Trade Review'Twenty-five years ago, Donald Ostrowski helped to alter conventional views of the Mongol influence on Russia. Now, with his collaborator Christian Raffensperger, he offers a novel interpretation of early Rus history, focusing on families rather than dynasties. Ostrowski and Raffensperger reveal the roles of these families in Rus history from about the tenth through the sixteenth centuries. The families not only dominated political life but also had dramatic influences on the economy, art, culture, and religion. This well-written and jargon-free work will be attractive for the general reader and will serve as an important source for scholars.' - Morris Rossabi, Associate Adjunct Professor, Columbia University

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Book SynopsisCountry houses have come to be regarded as quintessentially English, not only in terms of their architectural style but because they appear to embody national values of continuity and insularity. The histories of country houses and England, however, have featured episodes of violence and disruption, so how did country houses come to represent one version of English history, when in reality they reflect its full range of contradictions and complexities? This book explores the evolution of the country house, beginning with the violent impact of the Reformation and Civil War and showing how the political events of the eighteenth century, which culminated in the reaction against the French Revolution, led to country houses being recast as symbols of England’s political stability.Table of ContentsIntroduction: Englishness and the Country House 1 Violence and the Country House, I: The Reformation 2 Violence and the Country House, II: The Civil War 3 Reflections on the Non-Revolution in England 4 No Such Thing as a British Country House 5 The Empire Does Not Strike Back 6 Fog in Channel Conclusion Appendices References Further Reading Acknowledgements Photo Acknowledgements Index

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Book SynopsisDuring the 1890s, British women for the first time began to leave their family homes to seek work, accommodation, and financial and sexual freedom. Decadent Women is an account of some of these women who wrote for the innovative art and literary journal The Yellow Book. For the first time, based on original research, Jad Adams describes the lives and work of these vibrant and passionate women, from well-connected and fashionable aristocrats to the desperately poor. He narrates the challenges they faced in a literary marketplace, and within a society that overwhelmingly favoured men, showing how they were pioneers of a new style, living lives of lurid adventure and romance, as well as experiencing poverty, squalor, disease and unwanted pregnancy.Trade Review'Part literary history, part social history, and entirely delightful, Decadent Women: Yellow Book Lives is a detailed, diverting, and accessible study of all the women who contributed to the groundbreaking fin-de-siecle magazine, showing how it made their careers even as they made it the bible of British decadence.' - David Weir, Professor Emeritus of Comparative Literature, The Cooper Union, New York; 'An elegant and compelling study that will be essential reading for all those interested in The Yellow Book and the New Woman.' - Kate Hext, Associate Professor of Decadent Literature and the Arts, University of Exeter; 'Through superb storytelling . . . this is a book that reflects impressive scholarship and research, but that wears its scholarship lightly. It draws upon a wide range of biographical materials, both published and unpublished, including archives and letters, while also featuring, along the way, some illuminating close readings of texts by the featured women authors . . . I couldn't put it down!' - Margaret D. Stetz, Mae and Robert Carter Professor of Women's Studies and Professor of Humanities, University of Delaware; 'This delightful and engaging book unfolds a much-needed account of the women connected to the Yellow Book and more widely the English fin de siecle. The author brings vividly to life this radical and experimental world, from which women, as so often, have been effaced, the importance of their contribution at best not recognized. Decadent Women provides a valuable corrective and an important addition to our picture of this 'decadent' world.' - Elizabeth Wilson, author of Bohemians: The Glamorous Outcasts and Unfolding the PastTable of ContentsPart One: Fin de Siecle 1 The Launch 2 Gabriela's Deceptions 3 The Forerunner 4 Yellow Book Types 5 'Hast thou slain the Yallerbock?' 6 Office Wars 7 A Paris Mystery 8 Mabel's Urge for Fame 9 Netta Syrett and the Flat of Girls 10 Menie Muriel Dowie's Celebrity 11 Evelyn Sharp and the Last Volume Part Two: Commence de Siecle 12 Family Battles 13 Charlotte Mew: Love Rebuffed 14 Ella D'Arcy: 'Not dead yet' 15 Netta Syrett's Drama Curtailed 16 Mabel's War 17 Unresting Dragonfly 18 George Egerton: 'This life is dry rot' 19 Suffragette Warrior 20 The Ship with Black Sails Appendix: List of All Women Writers for the Yellow Book References Select Bibliography Acknowledgements Photo Acknowledgements Index

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

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Book SynopsisMaps go far beyond just showing us where things are located. All Mapped Out is an exploration of how maps impact our lives on social and cultural levels. This book takes you on a journey through the fascinating history of maps, from ancient cave paintings and stone carvings to the digital interfaces we rely on today. But it’s not just about the maps themselves; it’s about the people behind them. Discover how maps have affected societies, influenced politics and economies, impacted the environment, and even shaped our sense of personal identity. Mike Duggan uncovers the incredible power of maps to shape the world and the knowledge we consume. This is a unique and eye-opening perspective on the significance of maps in our daily lives.

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Book Synopsis"Sixteenth-century Spain was small, poor, disunited and sparsely populated. Yet the Spaniards and their allies built the largest empire the world had ever seen. How did they achieve this? Felipe Fernández-Armesto and Manuel Lucena Giraldo argue that Spain’s engineers were critical to this venture. The Spanish invested in infrastructure to the advantage of local power brokers, enhancing the abilities of incumbent elites to grow wealthy on trade, and widening the arc of Spanish influence. Bringing to life stories of engineers, prospectors, soldiers and priests, the authors paint a vivid portrait of Spanish America in the age of conquest. This is a dazzling new history of the Spanish Empire, and a new understanding of empire itself, as a venture marked as much by collaboration as oppression."

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Book SynopsisEvery Wrong Direction recreates and dissects the bitter education of Dan Burt, an American emigré who never found a home in America. It begins in the row homes of Jewish immigrants and working-class Italians on the mean streets of 1950s South Philadelphia. Every Wrong Direction follows the author from the rough, working-class childhood that groomed him to be a butcher or charter boat captain, through America, Britain, and Saudi Arabia as student, lawyer, spy, culture warrior, and expatriate, ending with a photo of his college rooms at St John's College, Cambridge. Between this beginning and end, through a Philadelphia commuter college, to Cambridge, then Yale Law School, across the working to upper classes, three countries, and seven cities over forty three years, it maps his pursuit of, realisation, disillusionment with, and abandonment of America and the American Dream.Trade Review'Dan Burt is a fine poet, and this memoir has all the sensitivity and vigilance you might expect from a writer with such a background. But his prose also has a robustness and documentary power that continually startles and engages.' - Sir Andrew Motion

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Book SynopsisAll That Is Solid Melts into Air is widely acclaimed as one of the greatest books on modernity. A kaleidoscopic journey into the experience of modernization, it captures the dizzying social changes that swept up and transformed the lives of millions of people. Berman delves into the aesthetic and intellectual controversies of art, literature, and architecture: from the writing of Goethe, Marx and Dostoevsky to the Paris of Baudelaire and Haussmann, the Petersburg of the Tsarist builders and Pushkin, and the New York of devastated wastelands and creative artists.Trade ReviewA bubbling cauldron of ideas. * New Statesman *A wonderful book ... generous, exuberant and dazzling. -- John Leonard * New York Times *Berman lights up every text he examines. * Newsweek *The imaginative range, intellectual force and infectious generosity of this book are what place it incontestably in the gallery of canonical texts. -- Mica Nava * Times Higher Education Supplement *

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Book SynopsisThe end is in sight but the fight is long: the epic and terrifying conclusion to the greatest conflict in historyGoing into 1944, the Allies knew the tide was turning in their favour. But they still faced a monumental task to get to victory.From the beaches of Normandy on D-Day to those of the Pacific stormed by American marines, from the air drops at Arnhem and the Battle of the Bulge to the final dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, from the sacking of Berlin to the delicate peace that followed, this is a gripping and impeccably researched account of two years that forever changed the world.Filled with both the grand sweep of history, and small, unforgettable details and stories of ordinary soldiers, this is military writing of the very highest calibre, perfect for fans of Jonathan Dimbleby and Ben Macintyre.

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Book SynopsisLand of spectacular landscapes, rich history and fabulous legends.With its jaw-dropping beauty, magnificent architecture, superb art and culture, and friendly, hospitable people, Scotland is consistently ranked as one of the world's best-loved destinations.Packed full of fabulous facts, as well as wise and witty quotes from famous Scots, The Little Book of Scotland captures the nation at its glorious best. Covering everything from sparkling lochs and brooding castles to spellbinding legends and famous sons and daughters – not to mention tartan, haggis and whisky – it's a wonderful celebration of this vibrant, extraordinary land.'This is a city of shifting light, of changing skies, of sudden vistas. A city so beautiful it breaks the heart again and again.' - Alexander McCall Smith, on Edinburgh'There are two seasons in Scotland: June and winter.' - Billy ConnollyThe Edinburgh International Festival is one of the largest performing arts festivals in the world. It attracts over 300,000 people annually.Scotland has more than 790 islands, 94 of which are inhabited. One of its most famous and spectacular is the enchanting Isle of Skye. It is the second-biggest island, though it has more sheep than people.Scotland's national dish is the much-loved haggis. It is made with the heart, liver and lungs of a sheep, which are boiled in the animal's stomach.Table of ContentsScotland the Brave • Famous Sons and Daughters • Magnificent Sights and Scenes • Fabulous Art and Culture • Tartan, Haggis and Whisky • Secret Scotland.

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Book SynopsisIreland has given the world so many wonderful things – Liam Neeson, of course, and loads of other stuff. Yes, Ireland is perhaps the most magical and mysterious nation on earth. No one would dare disagree – them would be fighting words. Ireland is the spiritual home – and actual residence – of a wealth of infamous and adored authors, artists, and icons and an island full of ancient Celtic mysticism and traditions.Beloved by the millions who visit each year, Ireland never disappoints. With its traditional Irish music, scenic coastline and a limitless supply of Guinness, The Little Book of Ireland is the perfect companion, overflowing with craic and facts, stats and wisecracks, and a little bit of local lingo thrown in for good measure. In a nutshell: This tiny tome is Ireland triple-distilled and fits perfectly inside the palm of your hand. There's only one thing left to do - Sláinte!'Love is never defeated, and I could add, the history of Ireland proves it.' - Pope John Paul IISean's Bar, in Athlone, is the oldest pub in Ireland. It's also widely believed that it's the oldest pub in the world – dating back to 900 AD. Fancy a pint?Table of ContentsLand of Ire: History, origins, and evolution of the island nation • The Black Stuff: Famous Irish inventions and places • The Craic: Facts about all the fun to be had in Ireland and popular culture • Delira and Excira: Classic quotes from TV, music, film, literature about Ireland's language and culture • Ancient History: Legends and Myths • Icons: Famous Irish people and their works.

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Book SynopsisSHORTLISTED FOR THE PEN HESSELL-TILTMAN PRIZE*****'There have been many books written about the events of Bloody Sunday, however, none has wrenched the reader as violently back to those CS gas-choked streets, dumping them right in the heart of the screaming, running, shooting and crying, as Julieann Campbell's On Bloody Sunday. A powerful chronicle of one of the darkest episodes of modern times.' - Sunday Times'Powerful and moving ... The strength of this important new book lies in the artistry the author brings to the tasks of portraying both the community upon which the massacre was perpetrated, and the individuals within it.' - Irish Times'Meticulous.... On Bloody Sunday possesses a veracity and cumulative power that sets it apart from previous accounts' - Observer'A momentous chronicle, timely and vital, which highlights that the burden of change rests, as always, upon the shoulders of those who suffered and yet, have nurtured the desire that lessons be learned.' - Michael Mansfield QC, who represented a number of families during the Bloody Sunday Inquiry.'It is a vital record of the time, the city, and its people, and more impressive still it does so almost entirely in their own words, their heartbreak, their anger, their resilience, their humour. Julieann Campbell has given their voices, so long silenced, the dignity they deserve. It is a staggering achievement.' - Séamas O'Reilly'It's a wonderful book. The technique used - multiple voices speaking directly to us - is very simple but it has a profound effect. It puts us into the middle of the chaos of Bloody Sunday and keeps us there throughout the grief and anger that follow. A wonderful, wonderful book.' - Jimmy McGovern, BAFTA winning screenwriter, creator of 'Sunday' (2002)In January 1972, a peaceful civil rights march in Northern Ireland ended in bloodshed. Troops from Britain's 1st Battalion Parachute Regiment opened fire on marchers, leaving 13 dead and 15 wounded. Seven of those killed were teenage boys. The day became known as 'Bloody Sunday'.The events occurred in broad daylight and in the full glare of the press. Within hours, the British military informed the world that they had won an 'IRA gun battle'. This became the official narrative for decades until a family-led campaign instigated one of the most complex inquiries in history. In 2010, the victims of Bloody Sunday were fully exonerated when Lord Saville found that the majority of the victims were either shot in the back as they ran away or were helping someone in need. The report made headlines all over the world. While many buried the trauma of that day, historian and campaigner Juliann Campbell - whose teenage uncle was the first to be killed that day - felt the need to keep recording these interviews, and collecting rare and unpublished accounts, aware of just how precious they were. Fifty years on, in this book, survivors, relatives, eyewitnesses and politicians, shine a light on the events of Bloody Sunday, together, for the first time.As they tell their stories, the tension, confusion and anger build with an awful power. ON BLOODY SUNDAY unfolds before us an extraordinary human drama, as we experience one of the darkest moments in modern history - and witness the true human cost of conflict.Trade ReviewRaw, meticulous and deeply personal, On Bloody Sunday is a remarkable act of public memory. The book gathers hundreds of different voices in testimony and reflection, retelling the unresolved story of the massacre of unarmed civilians in 1972. In doing so, it expands the possibilities of oral history as a resource for truth and justice. -- Dan HicksThrough multiple voices, Campbell puts us in the thick of history and humanity in this chronicle that throbs with grief, anger and frustration. It also frames the legacy of that tragic day in the context of the greater historical picture, how the people of Derry's efforts to get justice lay down a benchmark for similar campaigns across the world to this day. -- Donal O'Donoghue * RTE *Bloody Sunday was a pivotal moment in Irish history. Julieann Campbell places it perfectly in its time and place. The dominant notes are of anger and grief, and admiration for the indomitable spirit of the families and other campaigners who strove against daunting odds to vindicate the memory of the murdered. -- Eamonn McCann, journalist, author and Irish civil rights leaderA momentous chronicle, timely and vital, which highlights that the burden of change rests, as always, upon the shoulders of those who suffered and yet, have nurtured the desire that lessons be learned. -- Michael Mansfield QC, who represented a number of families during the Bloody Sunday InquiryThe technique used - multiple voices speaking directly to us - is very simple but it has a profound effect. It puts us into the middle of the chaos of Bloody Sunday and keeps us there throughout the grief and anger that follow. A wonderful, wonderful book. -- Jimmy McGovern, BAFTA-winning screenwriterSo many people - judges, politicians, generals, journalists - have had their say on Bloody Sunday. his book allows the voices of the people of Derry to be heard. Their accounts are exciting, tragic, infuriating, but, above all, authentic. The fear, anger and grief leap off the pages. -- Anne Cadwallader, journalist and authorHeartbreaking, poignant, powerful. -- Joe Duffy, broadcaster and authorThis was a day like no other in my lifetime ... a day that affected the lives of countless thousands on this Island. -- Christy Moore, Irish folk songwriter and musicianPowerful and moving ... The strength of this important new book lies in the artistry the author brings to the tasks of portraying both the community upon which the massacre was perpetrated, and the individuals within it... Campbell takes the voices of marchers, leaders, family members, doctors, priests and others and works her material like a woman knitting an Aran jumper, using a complicated pattern to create something that looks in the end simply beautiful. The book is animated by nothing less than love. The people of Derry are Campbells's people. She is from one of the Bloody Sunday families - her uncle, Jackie Duddy, was the first of the 12 people who were murdered that day. He was just 17. -- Susan Mckay * Irish Times *

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Book SynopsisA volume that evaluates the fragile and heroic history of ''Y Cylch Catholig'', the society that promotes Catholic worship through the medium of Welsh, from its origins until the present day. Many entertaining stories about the ''Cylch'' is relayed, together with individual chapters discussing events and contributions by current members.

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Book SynopsisThis new edition of ''Hands Off Wales'' addresses the campaign of militant activism which Wales witnessed between 1963 and 1969, showing that it was fuelled by both the contentious flooding of Cwm Tryweryn and the failure of Plaid Cymru to prevent the valley''s drowning via constitutional means.

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Book SynopsisA fascinating, bilingual multi-author book which shares the amazing story of the 7-mile petition organised by women from Wales to be sent to America on the other side of the world. This popular and authoritative volume also contains pictures. The true story of women from every background who challenged authority. Here is a heart-warming story about vision and determination.

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Book SynopsisA comprehensive account of the part played by Wales in WWII and the conflict''s impact on every area of the country and all involved: civilians, factory workers, children (those evacuated to and those from Wales), national and regional politicians, soldiers, pacifists, writers, film-makers and artists.

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