History Books

Book SynopsisIn the early centuries AD, the small region of Gandhara (centred on what is now northern Pakistan) produced an extraordinary tradition of Buddhist art which eventually had an immense influence across Asia. Mainly produced to adorn monasteries and shrines, Gandharan sculptures celebrate the Buddha himself, the stories of his life and the many sacred characters of the Buddhist cosmos. Since this imagery was rediscovered in the nineteenth century, one of its most fascinating and puzzling aspects is the extent to which it draws on the conventions of Greek and Roman art, which originated thousands of kilometres to the west.Inspired by the Gandhara Connections project at Oxford University's Classical Art Research Centre, this book offers an introduction to Gandharan art and the mystery of its relationship with the Graeco-Roman world of the Mediterranean. It presents an accessible explanation of the ancient and modern contexts of Gandharan art, the state of scholarship on the subject, and guidance for further, in-depth study.

Read more less

Book SynopsisA fascinating collection of 138 black-and-white photographs, 1874- 1965, and two maps portraying various scenes reflecting the changing face of Penarth and the surrounding area over a period of almost a century, with an introduction to the life and work of period-photographer Francis Frith.

Read more less

Book SynopsisHow much do you know about Scottish history?We all know bits of it. This book by the authors of Scottish History: Strange but True sets out to show how these ‘bits’ fit together – how the characters and events of Scottish history made the country of Scotland.We do not ponder ‘WHY?’ we demand ‘HOW?’How was Scotland founded by refugees?How did the Vikings make Scotland happen?How did King David save Scotland AND give it away?How did Robert the Bruce forget Scottish history?How did a King of Scots declare war on Scotland?How did the Jacobites win every round, yet get smashed in the final – twice?How did Scotland embrace kilts and tartan after it banned them?Trade Review"Very entertaining and full of interesting historical nuggets" * Scottish Field magazine *

Read more less

Book SynopsisSamuel Smiles published Lives of the Engineers in 1862. The noted biographer presented his engineers as heroic progress makers who conquered nature and overcame impossible obstacles to drive the Industrial Revolution forward, but included twisted and often fabricated accounts in his work.In Ten Engineers Who Made Britain Great, Anthony Burton seeks to correct this narrative by offering nuanced portraits of some of the best-known engineers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Burton investigates the common themes that run between the stories of John Metcalf, James Brindley, John Smeaton, William Jessop, Thomas Telford, James Watt, Richard Trevithick, George and Robert Stephenson, and Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and also explores how each of these men learned from one another.

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn Hitler’s Foreign Executioners, Heinrich Himmler’s secret master plan for Europe is revealed: an SS empire that would have no place for either the Nazi Party or Adolf Hitler. His astonishingly ambitious plan depended on the recruitment of tens of thousands of ‘Germanic’ peoples from every corner of Europe, and even parts of Asia, to build an ‘SS Europa’. This revised and fully updated book, researched in archives all over Europe and using first-hand testimony, exposes Europe’s dirty secret: nearly half a million Europeans and more than a million Soviet citizens enlisted in the armed forces of the Third Reich to fight a deadly crusade against a mythic foe, Jewish Bolshevism.Even today, some apologists claim that these foreign SS volunteers were merely soldiers ‘like any other’ and fought a decent war against Stalin’s Red Army. Historian Christopher Hale demonstrates conclusively that these surprisingly common views are mistaken. By taking part in Himmler’s murderous master plan, these foreign executioners hoped to prove that they were worthy of joining his future ‘SS Europa’. But as the Reich collapsed in 1944, Himmler’s monstrous scheme led to bitter confrontations with Hitler – and to the downfall of the man once known as ‘loyal Heinrich’.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisDurham Cathedral was completed nearly 900 years ago, after 40 years of construction. Inevitably it has suffered from the effects of time: physical erosion, from the weather and increasing pollution on stone that was never of the best quality, and cultural erosion, the impact of secular and religious changes – not least the depredations of clerics, improvers, and administrators. Nevertheless, it remains: the stones speak and provide the story of themselves. Building Durham Cathedral explores this magnificent structure by questioning its architectural plans and stonework. As there have been minimal additions we catch sight of it as the Norman builders intended. Remarkably, a few early documents and the stonework itself allow us to glimpse its beginnings and some of the personalities involved. Questions remain, but there may even be a clue to the identity of its original master mason.Trade Review“Explores this magnificent structure by examining its architectural plans and stonework, revealing surprising insights into one of Britain’s best-loved cathedrals." * Methodist Recorder *

Read more less

Book SynopsisAt a time when everything is constantly changing, it can be comforting to look back. British Passenger Liners in Colour is just that: a look back at a time when the British-flag passenger fleet spanned the world from Southampton to South America.Using glorious full-colour images, many previously unseen, acclaimed maritime historian William H. Miller embarks on a voyage through a golden era of ocean liners. From Anchor Line to the Union-Castle Line, RMS Aquitania *to MS *Vistafjord, they all return to the high seas in this beautiful book, one for all ocean-liner enthusiasts to enjoy. Shipping Co, Orient Line, P&O and Shaw Savill Line.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisBright, attractive and well-connected, in any other family the Churchill sisters – Diana, Sarah, Marigold and Mary – would have shone. But they were not in any other family, they were Churchills and neither they nor anyone else could ever forget it. From their father – ‘the greatest Englishman’ – to their brother, golden boy Randolph, to their eccentric and exciting cousins, the Mitford Girls, they were surrounded by a clan of larger-than-life characters which often saw them overlooked. Marigold died when she was very young but her three sisters lived lives full of passion, drama and tragedy …Diana, intense and diffident; Sarah, glamorous and stubborn; Mary, dependable yet determined – each so different but each imbued with a sense of responsibility toward each other and their country. Far from being cosseted debutantes, these women were eyewitnesses at some of the most important events in world history, including at the Second World War Conferences of Tehran, Yalta and Potsdam. Yet The Churchill Girls is not a story set on the battlefields or in Parliament; it is an intimate saga that sheds light on the complex dynamics of family set against the backdrop of the tumultuous twentieth century.Accomplished biographer Rachel Trethewey draws on unpublished family letters from the Churchill archives to bring Winston and Clementine’s daughters out of the shadows and tell their remarkable stories for the first time.

Read more less

Book Synopsis“A fascinating and intimate portrait of a garden over time … Reading is like being given a rusty key to a beautiful secret garden." - Ben Dark, Author of The GroveHidden away behind high stone walls in the centre of London is Lambeth Palace Garden, a 10-acre site that has been continuously cultivated for more than a thousand years.Join Head Gardener Nick Stewart Smith as he unlocks the gates and invites us to wander through a secret garden where nature is at the heart of everything and where a thoughtful approach to gardening creates a haven for all sorts of native wildlife, allowing nature to flourish in the midst of one of the world’s busiest cities.The Thousand Year Old Garden is a comforting meditation through the seasons on the act of renewal, hope, gardening, and our place in nature.Trade Review“It is a fascinating read and best of all, with appetite whetted, the reader can arrange to visit the garden which opens to the public through the National Garden Scheme.” * Country Life magazine *“A unique insight into a special place, written with tenderness and passion by a gardener with a real eye for detail” * Countryside magazine *Steward Smith professes not to be a writer but his easy, conversational style married with an extraordinary eye for horticultural, historical and even personal detail belies this. * The Field magazine *Readers will have their interest piqued by this captivating work, and can visit the garden to see for themselves (though Lambeth Palace itself is closed for refurbishment) * The Field magazine *His book is like the contented conversation between two people sharing a bench: ruminative, tangential, full of wisdom. * Church Times *A most charming and original story of a gardener and his garden -- Roy LancasterA wonderful grasp of the natural world, and the delicate balance between the cultivated and the wildlings, and the gardener's role in bringing out the best of both -- Roy Lancaster

Read more less

Book Synopsis'Theirs was a pre-urban world in the glow of its last sunset, without a care or doubt, in which it seemed as if nothing could ever come to harm. Here was their version of that ideal world that has haunted the dreamer, rebel and pastoral poet for centuries.'Between 1850 and 1939 such well-known writers as Rudyard Kipling, Virginia Woolf and Richard Jefferies came to Sussex, a county already home to the likes of Wilfrid Blunt, Hilaire Belloc and others. The result was an explosion of literary creativity which rejected modernity and the London scene, and instead developed writing imbued with a sense of nature and landscape.In this, his last book, Peter Brandon (1927–2011) has drawn on his vast knowledge of the Sussex landscape to show how such writers, seeking a foil to London, were inspired by their surroundings and found peace and a tranquillity which existed in few other places.

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn the early hours of Thursday, 8 August 1963, sixteen masked men ambushed the Glasgow–Euston mail train at Sears Crossing in Buckinghamshire.Making off with a record haul of £2.6 million, the robbers received approximately £150,000 each (over £2 million in today’s money). While twelve of the robbers were jailed over the next five years, four were never brought to justice – they evaded arrest and thirty-year prison sentences, and lived out the rest of their lives in freedom. In stark contrast to the likes of Ronnie Biggs, Buster Edwards and Bruce Reynolds, they became neither household names nor tabloid celebrities.Who were these men? How did they escape detection for so long? And how, almost sixty years later, are their names still not common knowledge? In No Case to Answer, Andrew Cook gathers and examines decades of evidence and lays it out end to end. It’s time for you to draw your own conclusions.

Read more less

Book SynopsisHenry V is regarded as the great English hero. Lionised in his own day for his victory at Agincourt, his piety and his rigorous application of justice, he was elevated by Shakespeare into a champion of English nationalism for all future generations. But what was he really like? Does he deserve to be thought of as 'the greatest man who ever ruled England?'In Ian Mortimer's groundbreaking book, he portrays Henry in the pivotal year of his reign. Recording the dramatic events of 1415, he offers the fullest, most precise and least romanticised view we have of Henry and what he did. The result is not only a fascinating reappraisal of Henry; it brings to the fore many unpalatable truths which biographers and military historians have largely ignored. At the centre of the book is the campaign which culminated in the battle of Agincourt: a slaughter ground designed not to advance England's interests directly but to demonstrate God's approval of Henry's royal authority on both sides of the Channel.Trade ReviewIan Mortimer's 1415: Henry V's Year of Glory is compelling, exuberant and erudite - combining the vivid drama of medieval character and battle with the vigour of revisionist history -- Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of Young StalinMortimer creates a new and convincing likeness of medieval England's most iconic king -- Nick Rennison * Sunday Times *Mortimer writes biographical history with formidable energy and panache... This is the most illuminating exploration of the reality of fifteenth-century life that I have ever read * Independent *Ian Mortimer... has virtually single-handedly put medieval history back in the hands of ordinary readers, combining scrupulous research with a wonderfully iconoclastic approach to storytelling -- Dominic Sandbrook * Daily Telegraph *Bold...new and unexpected -- Anne Wroe * The Economist *

Read more less

Book Synopsis‘This is a great tale, and what’s more, it’s beautifully told.’ – Simon BarnesFrom Sathasivam to Sangakkara, Murali to Malinga, Sri Lanka can lay claim to some of the world’s most remarkable cricketers – larger-than-life characters who thumbed convention and played the game their own way. This is the land of pint-sized, swashbuckling batsmen, on-the-fly innovators and contorted, cryptic spinners. More so than anywhere else in the world, Sri Lankan cricket has an identity: cricket is Sri Lanka, and Sri Lanka is cricket.We all know the story of the 1996 World Cup: how a team of unfancied amateurs rose from obscurity and changed the way the game was played. Yet the lore of Sri Lankan cricket stretches back much further, from early matches between colonists and locals, and Ashes-bound ships bringing in cricket’s biggest stars, to the more recent triumphs and tragedies that stem from cash flowing freely into the game. An Island’s Eleven tells this story in full for the first time, focusing on the characters and moments that have shaped the game forever.Trade ReviewNicholas Brookes has filled a gap in cricket literature. This wonderful book, based on compendious research, tells the great story of Sri Lankan cricket, how it began in schools and colleges and emerged to become one of the great forces in world cricket. It is more than a cricket book: it is also indispensable for understanding Sri Lanka itself. This book should be in the library of every serious cricket lover. It has been written with real passion and understanding. A great debut from a serious sports historian. -- Peter OborneThis is a great tale, and what’s more, it’s beautifully told. -- Simon Barnes

Read more less

Book SynopsisDid You Know? In medieval times, Cheshire was a County Palatine with its own independent parliament. The village of Willaston hosts the annual World Worm Charming Championships. With 86,000 ponds, Cheshire claims to be the pond capital of Europe. Cheshire cheese is the oldest named cheese in England. The Little Book of Cheshire is a fast-paced, fact-packed compendium of the sort of frivolous, fantastic or simply strange information no one will want to be without. Here we find out about the most unusual crimes and punishments, eccentric inhabitants, famous sons and daughters and hundreds of other facts, plus some authentically bizarre bits of historical trivia.This is an ideal book to have by your bedside or to while away the hours on a long train journey. And if you like to take part in pub quizzes – or set them – then you will find this book a veritable treasure trove of useful information.

Read more less

Book SynopsisDid You Know? Overlooking Ballymena, Slemish Mountain was believed to be the first home of St Patrick in Ireland. His footprint is said to be indented in a stone close to Skerry churchyard. The ‘sport’ of rat racing thrived on the shores of Lough Neagh in the 1960s, with the annual championships taking place in Norman Wilson’s bar in the main street of Crumlin. In January 1998, a 16-year-old Glengormley schoolgirl became one of the youngest National Lottery millionaires when she picked up £1,055,101 for choosing the six winning numbers. The Little Book of Antrim is a compendium of fascinating, obscure, strange and entertaining facts about County Antrim. Here you will find out about Antrim’s people and places, its business and industry, its spectacular coasts and glens and its proud sporting heritage. Across quaint villages and bustling towns, this book takes the reader on a journey through County Antrim and its vibrant past.A reliable reference book and a quirky guide, this can be dipped into time and again to reveal something new about the people, the heritage and the secrets of this ancient county.

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn the autumn of 1502 three giants of the Renaissance period - Cesare Borgia, Leonardo da Vinci and Niccolò Machiavelli - set out on one of the most treacherous military campaigns of the period. Cesare Borgia was a ferocious military leader whose name was synonymous with brutality and whose reputation was marred with the suspicion of incest. Niccolò Machiavelli was a witty and subversive intellectual, more suited to the silken diplomacy of royal courts than the sodden encampments of a military campaign. And Leonardo da Vinci was a visionary master and the most talented military engineer in Italy. What led him to work for the monstrous Borgia? And what attracted him to the cunning Machiavelli?In his extraordinary new book acclaimed historian Paul Strathern ingeniously focuses on this improbable collusion of three iconic figures of the Italian Renaissance to unite three mighty strands of the period - war, politics and art. As each man's life unfolds, so does the Italian Renaissance.Trade ReviewA brilliant snapshot of Renaissance Italy... a triumph * Sunday Telegraph *This is popular history at its narrative best... rich in colour, character and consequence * The Times *This is a portrait of a fascinating trio, and an insight into the apparent paradox of why such turbulent times produced such an outpouring of human sentiment almost unparalleled in the history of the West -- Edward King * Sunday Times *The story he has to tell is exciting and revealing...and the narrative has a natural arc, beginning in hope and fear and climaxing in deceit and bloodshed * Guardian *Strathern deftly interweaves the narratives of his three main characters and successfully evokes their odyssey... he has a sensitive ear for memorable phrases and a keen eye for striking detail -- Thomas Wright * Independent on Sunday *

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn 1912, Rash Behari Bose made his dramatic entrance into India's anti-colonial freedom movement when he orchestrated a bomb attack against the British Viceroy during a public procession in Delhi. Forced to flee his homeland, Bose settled in Japan, becoming the most influential Indian in Tokyo and earning the affectionate title 'Sensei' among Japanese youth, military personnel and far-right ultranationalists. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, Bose remained a perpetual thorn in the side of the British Empire as he built and maintained a global network of anti-colonialists, radicals, smugglers and intellectuals. After siding with Imperial Japan against his British adversaries during the Second World War, Bose died in 1945--just two years before India gained its independence. A complex, controversial and often contradictory figure, Bose has been described as a committed democrat, an authoritarian, an advocate of religious harmony, a Hindu chauvinist, an anti-Communist, a political pragmatist, an idealist, a Japanese collaborator, an anti-racist, a cultural conservative, a Pan-Asianist, an Indian nationalist, and much more besides. Drawing on extensive archival research in India, Japan and the UK, this refreshing new biography brings to life the largely forgotten story of one of twentieth-century Asia's most daring revolutionaries.Trade Review'Relocates Rash Behari Bose’s place in modern Indian history.' -- The Times of India'An intriguing account of a forgotten but significant figure in the annals of anticolonialism.' -- Priyamvada Gopal, author of 'Insurgent Empire''Rash Behari Bose is a key figure among Indian "expatriate patriots", and, like many of his contemporaries, defies easy political categorisation. Well-written, fast-paced, and filled with remarkable events, "Fugitive of Empire" is a compelling story.' -- Carolien Stolte, Assistant Professor, University of Leiden, and author of 'The League Against Imperialism''McQuade's meticulously researched biography of Rash Behari Bose reveals the multifaceted nature of anti-colonialism in the first half of the twentieth century. An original and captivating read, connecting waves of revolutionary movements, it fills a major gap in global historiography.' -- Ole Birk Laursen, Researcher, Lund University, and author of 'Anarchy or Chaos: M. P. T. Acharya and the Indian Struggle for Freedom''McQuade's evocative account of Rash Behari Bose reads like a novel, taking us through some of the most dramatic moments of India's struggle for independence and revealing the global dimensions of anti-colonialism during the first half of the twentieth century.' -- Kim A. Wagner, Professor of Global and Imperial History, Queen Mary, University of London, and author of 'The Skull of Alum Bheg' and 'Amritsar 1919'

Read more less

Book SynopsisA comprehensive study of every aspect of chivalry and chivalric culture. Chivalry lay at the heart of elite society in the Middle Ages, but it is a nebulous concept which defies an easy definition. More than just a code of ethical behaviour, it shaped literary tastes, art and manners, as well as social hierarchies, political events and religious practices; its impact is everywhere. This work aims to provide an accessible and holistic survey of the subject. Its chapters, by leading experts in the field, cover a wide range of areas: the tournament, arms and armour, the chivalric society's organisation in peace and war, its literature and its landscape. They also consider the gendered nature of chivalry, its propensity for violence, and its post-medieval decline and reinvention in the early modern and modern periods. It will be invaluable to the student and the scholar of chivalry alike. ROBERT W. JONES is a Visiting Scholar in History, Franklin and Marshall College; PETER COSS is Emeritus Professor of Medieval History, Cardiff University Contributors: Richard Barber, Joanna Bellis, Matthew Bennett, Sam Claussen, Peter Coss, Oliver Creighton, David Green, Robert W. Jones, Megan G. Leitch, Ralph Moffat, Helen J. Nicholson, Clare Simmons, David Simpkin, Peter Sposato, Louise J. Wilkinson, Matthew WoodcockTrade ReviewA Companion to Chivalry is an elegant, well-considered volume that is of interest to both students and specialists, [...] it is a must-have for university libraries. * NOTTINGHAM MEDIEVAL STUDIES *A Companion to Chivalry provides a masterful summary of half a century of scholarship on medieval chivalry, and will undoubtedly prove a useful reference point for graduate students, whilst clarifying for specialists the current state of the existing scholarship, as well as new avenues worth exploring in the future. * THE MEDIEVAL REVIEW *Overall this is a superb collection, a suitable companion to Keen's 1984 masterpiece, Chivalry. It usefully updates and expands Keen's work, highlighting subsequent scholarship and serving as a roadmap for students and scholars interested in chivalric ideas. * H-NET *En conclusion, A Companion to Chivalry - qui aurait pu s'intituler A Companion to Chivalries, compte tenu de la multiplicité des démarches - remplit sa mission. Cet ouvrage trouvera sa place entre les mains des étudiants comme des spécialistes, d'autant plus que l'objet-livre lui-même, en couleurs sur papier glacé, est d'une facture admirable. * SOCIAL HISTORY / HISTOIRE SOCIALE *Table of ContentsIntroduction - Robert W. Jones The Origins and Diffusion of Chivalry - Peter Coss The Organisation of Chivalric Society - David Simpkin The Secular Orders: Chivalry in the Service of the State - David Green The Military Orders - Helen J. Nicholson Marshalling the Chivalric Elite for War - Robert W. Jones Chivalric Violence - Samuel A. Claussen and Peter Sposato Chivalry in the Tournament and Pas d'Armes - Richard Barber Heraldry and Heralds - Robert W. Jones Arms and Armour - Ralph Moffat Constructing Chivalric Landscapes: Aristocratic Spaces Between Image and Reality - Oliver H. Creighton Gendered Chivalry - Louise J. Wilkinson Chivalric Literature - Joanna Bellis and Megan G. Leitch Manuals of Warfare and Chivalry - Matthew Bennett The End of Chivalry? Survivals and Revivals of the Tudor Age - Matthew Woodcock Chivalric Medievalism - Clare A Simmons Bibliography

Read more less

Book SynopsisFor at least two and a half millennia, the figure of Orpheus has haunted humanity. Half-man, half-god, musician, magician, theologian, poet and lover, his story never leaves us. He may be myth, but his lyre still sounds, entrancing everything that hears it: animals, trees, water, stones, and men.In this extraordinary work Ann Wroe goes in search of Orpheus, from the forests where he walked and the mountains where he worshipped to the artefacts, texts and philosophies built up round him. She traces the man, and the power he represents, through the myriad versions of a fantastical life: his birth in Thrace, his studies in Egypt, his voyage with the Argonauts to fetch the Golden Fleece, his love for Eurydice and journey to Hades, and his terrible death. We see him tantalising Cicero and Plato, and breathing new music into Gluck and Monteverdi; occupying the mind of Jung and the surreal dreams of Cocteau; scandalising the Fathers of the early Church, and filling Rilke with poems like a whirlwind. He emerges as not simply another mythical figure but the force of creation itself, singing the song of light out of darkness and life out of death.Trade ReviewThis insightful and visionary study, treading a perfect line between imagination and scholarship, is as readable and necessary as a fine novel. Ted Hughes, another mythographer, would have loved it * Independent *Ann Wroe has an acute eye for pastoral detail...and takes a novelist's care in exploring character and evoking atmosphere... [Orpheus] will leave you dancing * New Statesman *This is a most remarkable book... most rewarding... [a book] that will surely enhance Ann Wroe's already considerable reputation * Irish Times *Orpheus: The Song of Life is a book of wonders, learned, playful and passionate...For all her studies, her wide reading, her historical dilligence, Wroe's method is instinctive, as she searches for inspirations and connections across the millennia -- John Banville * Guardian *Curious... there are moments of sublime writing * Scotland on Sunday *

Read more less

Book SynopsisA clear and accessibly written guide to the medieval cloth-making trade in England. Cloth-making became England's leading industry in the late Middle Ages; clothiers co-ordinated its different stages, in some cases carrying out the processes themselves, and found markets for their finished cloth, selling to merchants, drapers and other traders. While many clothiers were of only modest status or "jacks of all trades", a handful of individuals amassed huge fortunes through the trade, becoming the multi-millionaires of their day. This book offers the first recent survey of this hugely important and significant trade and its practitioners, examining the whole range of clothiers across different areas of England, and exploring their impact within the industry andin their wider communities. Alongside the mechanics of the trade, it considers clothiers as entrepreneurs and early capitalists, employing workers and even establishing early factories; it also looks at their family backgrounds and their roles as patrons of church rebuilding and charitable activities. It is completed with extracts from clothiers' wills and a gazetteer of places to visit, making the book invaluable to academics, students, and local historians alike.Trade ReviewThe amount of evidence presented in this book is staggering. Almost every page contains lucid examples drawn from an array of sources. The book is also immaculately written, with a richness of narrative sure to be appreciated by historians as well as the precision of argument valued by the more economically inclined. What it offers is a one-stop shop for a trade central to the medieval economy. * ECONOMIC HISTORY REVIEW *[A] very welcome...informed, informative and up-to-date study...This is an excellent book, not only for those interested in clothiers, but also for anyone interested in the broad development of English textile history. * TEXTILE HISTORY *The book is accessible to a wide range of readers. A glossary is provided for those less familiar with cloth making, while detailed appendices will interest experts. A gazetteer of surviving buildings can be used by local historians. * ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW *Not only eminently readable but also well-researched. * THE RICARDIAN *[E]minently accessible . . . The work is a valuable read for any historian of material culture, or anyone looking to see how one industry functioned during the politically turbulent times of the Hundred Years War, the War of the Roses, and the reigns of the early Tudors. * COMITATUS *Anyone seeking a wide-ranging and well-informed historical account of late medieval English cloth-making will find it here. * MEDIEVAL ARCHAEOLOGY *An excellent start to this new series on medieval workers [and] a very worthwhile project.that will be of particular interest to economic and social historians and students, as well as those interested in regional and local history. * JOURNAL OF BRITISH STUDIES *It is surprising that we have had to wait so long for someone to tackle the clothiers . . . but it was worth the wait. John Lee has soaked up all the relevant literature, plus added his own discoveries from wills, chancery documents, and regional archives, to produce a readable, thorough, and wide-ranging survey. * MEDIEVAL CLOTHING & TEXTILES *The Medieval Clothier is an excellent first volume in Boydell's new series Working in the Middle Ages. . . . [It] is a highly successful book that provides an interesting, compelling and at all times authoritative survey of one of the most important trades in late medieval England, making it a must read for students and scholars alike. * EH.NET *The book may be aimed primarily at medievalists with interests in economic history, particularly in trade and taxation, and at those who study the history of entrepreneurship and social history, but the general reader will also be delighted by this appealing, beautifully organized book. * BUSINESS HISTORY REVIEW *Lee's book is an excellent example of clear and accessible research and synthesis and informs a key aspect of the debate on the role of small towns in early modern Europe. * URBAN HISTORY *Provides an interesting, accessible and well-referenced survey. * ESSEX JOURNAL *A very useful account...[It] can be recommended as an up to date introduction to the cloth trade in mediaeval England and is another impressive addition to the Boydell catalogue. * EAST YORKSHIRE LOCAL HISTORY SOCIETY *Lee's careful and thorough analysis based upon contemporary sources reveals the lasting impact a single profession can exert over national and related regional economies. Illustrations and useful definitions clarify terms for those unfamiliar with textiles and their processing. This volume represents a significant contribution to late medieval economic, industrial, social, and material culture studies. -- Karin J. Bohleke * SIXTEENTH CENTURY JOURNAL *Table of ContentsIntroduction Making cloth Marketing cloth Identifying Clothiers Clothiers and government Clothiers in society Famous clothiers Conclusion Appendix 1: Cloths taxed by county Appendix 2: Cloths taxed by locality Appendix 3: Cloth types, as defined by statute in 1552 Appendix 4: Will of Thomas Paycocke of Coggeshall Appendix 5: Will of Thomas Spring III of Lavenham Appendix 6: Will of John Smallwood the elder alias John Winchecombe I of Newbury Appendix 7: Will of William Stumpe of Malmesbury Gazetteer of surviving buildings Glossary Bibliography

Read more less

Book SynopsisAn investigation into the mysterious Frisians, drawing together evidence from linguistic, textual and archaeological sources. From as early as the first century AD, learned Romans knew of more than one group of people living in north-western Europe beyond their Empire's Gallic provinces whose names contained the element that gives us modern "Frisian". These were apparently Celtic-speaking peoples, but that population was probably completely replaced in the course of the convulsions that Europe underwent during the fourth and fifth centuries. While the importance of linguistically Germanic Frisians as neighbours of the Anglo-Saxons, Franks, Saxons and Danes in the centuries immediately following the fall of the Roman Empire in the West is widely recognized, these folk themselves remain enigmatic, the details of their culture and organization unfamiliar to many. The Frisian population and their lands, including all the coastal communities of the North sea region and their connections with the Baltic shores, form the focal point of this volume, though viewed often through comparison with, or even through the eyes of, their neighbours. The essays present the most up-to-date discoveries, research and interpretation, combining and integrating linguistic, textual and archaeological evidence; they follow the story of the various Frisians through from the Roman Period to the next great period of disruption and change introduced by the Viking Scandinavians. Contributors: Elzbieta Adamczyk, Iris Aufderhaar, Pieterjan Deckers, Menno Dijkstra, John Hines, Nelleke Ijssennagger, Hauke Jöns, Egge Knol, Jan de Koning, Johan Nicolay, Han Nijdam, Tim Pestell, Peter Schrijver, Arjen Versloot, Gaby Waxenberger, Christiane Zimmermann.Trade ReviewA fine collection of learned work spanning history, historical linguistics, legal history, archaeology, runology and palaeography...The editors should be commended for bringing together such an excellent array of scholarship. * ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL *With this well-curated work, Hines and IJssennagger have opened a door to further comparative and cross-disciplinary investigations of the Frisians. * ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW *This lavishly illustrated volume is more than a state of the art. New methods and new theories are presented here, in a happy ensemble of various disciplines. * EARLY MEDIEVAL EUROPE *Offers an excellent foundation for research. * GERMAN HISTORICAL INSTITUTE BULLETIN *There is much to recommend in this rich collection of essays. By shedding new critical light on the problems and complexities associated with `Anglo-Frisian' identity and its place within the wider maritime North Sea world, it will certainly fulfil its stated aspiration to stimulate a new generation of research and thinking. * HISTORY *The editors point out in the preface that studies on Frisia can sometimes be overspecialized and constrained. This volume is certainly broad in scope, and several papers offer new insights or new interdisciplinary connections. * SPECULUM *Makes a valuable contribution to this history of the North Sea region, especially the relationship between Anglo-Saxon England and its near continental neighbours. * CURRENT WORLD ARCHAEOLOGY *The scholarship on display in this volume is of the highest quality, but attention must also be given to the book itself, which is one of the most beautiful I have ever had the joy of holding. * SEHEPUNKTE *The volume is to be praised for its interdisciplinarity: while some papers fit cleanly into archaeology, history, or linguistics, most draw on material from several disciplines to examine a question that is beyond the scope of any one. It is well-edited and amply illustrated. * THE MEDIEVAL REVIEW *Table of ContentsIntroduction: The Frisians - who, when, where, why? - John Hines and 1. Paleogeography and people: historical Frisians in an archaeological light - Nelleke IJssennagger-van der Pluijm and Egge Knol 2. The Anglo-Frisian question - John Hines Frisian between the Roman and the Early Medieval Period: language contact, Celts and Romans - Peter Schrijver 3. 'All quiet on the Western Front'? The western Netherlands and the 'North Sea Culture' in the Migration Period - Jan de Koning 4. Power and identity in the southern North Sea area: the Migration and Merovingian Periods - Johan Nicolay 5. How 'English' is the Early Frisian Runic Corpus? The evidence of sounds and forms - Gaby Waxenberger 6. Geography and Dialects of Old Saxon: River basin communication networks and the distributional patterns of North Sea Germanic features in Old Saxon - Arjen Verlsoot 7. Geography and Dialects of Old Saxon: River basin communication networks and the distributional patterns of North Sea Germanic features in Old Saxon - Elzbieta Adamczyk 8. Between Sievern and Gudendorf: enclosed sites in the north-western Elbe-Weser triangle and their significance in respect of society, communication and migration during the Roman Iron Age and Migration Period - Iris Aufderhaar 9. Cultural convergence in a maritime context: language and material culture as parallel phenomena in the Early-medieval southern North Sea region - Pieterjan Deckers 10. The kingdom of East Anglia, Frisia and Continental connections c. 600 900 - Tim Pestell 11. A comparison of the injury tariffs in the early Kentish and the Frisian law codes - Han Nijdam 12. Cultural contacts between the western Baltic, the North Sea region, and Scandinavia: attributing runic finds to runic traditions and corpora of the Early Viking Age - Hauke Jöns 13. Cultural contacts between the western Baltic, the North Sea region, and Scandinavia: attributing runic finds to runic traditions and corpora of the Early Viking Age - Christiane Zimmermann

Read more less

Book Synopsis'Puts Cavendish back into the literary history books where she belongs' Kate Mosse 'Scholarly, articulate, and never less than fascinating' Alice Loxton A biography of the remarkable, and in her time scandalous, seventeenth-century writer Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle. ‘My ambition is not only to be Empress, but Authoress of a whole world.’ Margaret Cavendish, then Lucas, was born in 1623 to a wealthy family. In 1644, as England descended into civil war, she joined the court of the formidable Queen Henrietta Maria at Oxford, before following the court into exile in France. It was there that she met her much older lifelong partner, William Cavendish, Marquess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Cavendish was a revolutionary writer. At a time when literature was dominated by men, she wrote passionately on gender, science and philosophy, defied convention by publishing under her own name, and advocated for women in work that predates the feminist movement. In 1666, she published The Blazing World, a brilliant, trail-blazing proto-novel thought to be one of the earliest works of science fiction. But her legacy divides opinion. And history has largely forgotten her. In Pure Wit, Francesca Peacock shines a spotlight on the fascinating, pioneering, yet often complex and controversial life of Margaret Cavendish.Trade ReviewIt’s a gripping read, wonderfully researched and puts Cavendish back into the literary history books where she belongs. I loved it. * Kate Mosse *Fascinating * William Boyd *Well-written, well-researched, interesting and peppy. * The Observer *5 STARS... Margaret Cavendish was a woman out of time. This blazing biography does her proud * The Telegraph *[An] erudite and entertaining book * The Spectator *Scholarly, articulate, and never less than fascinating, this is a sensational debut. * Alice Loxton *[A] sparky celebration of a remarkable woman * Financial Times *Pure Wit is thorough and scholarly * Literary Review *A stellar debut. Francesca Peacock is as bold, bright and witty as her subject. Margaret Cavendish sears through every page and so does her blazing world. * Jessie Childs *This is historical biography as it should be written: intelligent and nuanced, witty and thoroughly riveting. * Lucasta Miller *A fascinating book on a fascinating woman, who was not the “crazy duchess” of hostile legend, but a daring feminist pioneer. * Penelope Corfield *Francesca Peacock adroitly recounts Cavendish’s ordeals as a monarchist under Cromwell, her years in exile in Paris, her supportive marriage, her ennoblement and fame. * New Statesman *[Peacock's] enjoyable book is enriched by accounts of other women who lived remarkably in those remarkable times. * The Times *Perceptive and nuanced. A blazing account of a blazing woman. * Holly Kyte *

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis is the tale of a devastating pandemic, of lives cut painfully short – it’s also a love story. Derek, a distinguished designer, and J, a pioneering entrepreneur and creator of Heaven, the iconic gay dance club, met and fell in love more than 40 years ago. In the early 1980s their friends began to get sick and die – AIDS had arrived in their lives. When they got tested, J received what was then a death sentence: he was HIV Positive. While the onset of AIDS strengthened stigma and fear globally, they confronted their crisis with courage, humour and an indomitable resolve to survive. J’s battle lasted six long years. Turning to spiritual reflection, yoga, nature – and always to love – Derek describes a transformation of the spirit, how compassion and empathy rose phoenix-like from the flames of sickness and death, and how he and J founded the charity Aids Ark, which has helped to save more than 1,000 HIV Positive lives. This is a story of joy and triumph, of facing universal challenges, of the great rewards that come from giving back. Derek speaks for a generation who lived through a global health crisis that many at the time refused even to acknowledge. His is a powerful story chronicling this extraordinary era.Trade Review"This book is both a history and an inspiration." - Matthew Parris"Incredibly vivid, moving, and compelling." - Lord Chris Smith"This is a powerful book, at once a love letter, a well-informed history of the AIDS epidemic, and the life-story of a beautiful young man in London, moving happily through the early days of gay liberation into a time of widespread anguish and despair." - Del Kolve, Professor of English Literature UCLA, CA, USA"Poignant and heart-touching." - Linda-Gail Bekker, Professor of Medicine, President International AIDS Society 2016–2018, Co-Founder of the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre and Health Foundation, Cape Town, South Africa."Tells a story of living life to the full and giving back so much. Derek's passion for life comes through on every page." - Iain Anderson, Executive Chairman of Cicero/amo & Stonewall Ambassador"A moving and heartfelt account of two incredible people who are at once fighters, survivors and givers. . . .Running alongside the romantic and heart-warming storyline is a vivid recollection and reflection on important facets of the LGBTQIA+ and HIV epidemic experience, a history that is recorded and honestly told, lest we forget."—Varsity

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn this book Steven J Zaloga offers a fascinating comparison of the combat performance of the two most important tanks involved in the crucial fighting of 1944, the Sherman and the Panther. Examining the design and development of both tanks, Zaloga notes the obvious superiority that the Panther had over the Sherman and how the highly engineered German tank was eventually beaten back, not necessarily by the improvements made to the Sherman, but rather by the superior numbers of tanks that the Allies were able to put into the field.Putting the reader into the heart of this battle between quality and quantity Zaloga examines the tactical intricacies of the battles between these two rivals. Using a compelling account of the ferocious fighting in the Ardennes region to explain the successes and failures of each tank he also highlights the fact that a tank can only be as good as its crew, weighing up the impact of low morale, high cost and mediocre crew training on the Panthers su

Read more less

Book SynopsisHaving worked on projects around the world, strengthening and restoring historically significant structures from Windsor Castle to the parliament buildings in Canada, Peter James brings insight to the structural engineering of ancient Egypt. After fourteen years working on the historic buildings and temples of Egypt, and most recently the world's oldest pyramid, he now presents some of the more common theories surrounding the `collapsing' pyramid - along with new and innovative projections on the construction of the pyramids and the restoration of some of Cairo's most monumental structures from the brink of ruin. The decoding of historic construction from a builder's perspective is examined and explained - often contrary to many existing theories - and the book provides a new outlook on long-held assumptions, to embrace modern theories in a bid to preserve the past.Trade Review"A history of the pyramids and the technical innovation that has gone into saving them is a fascinating combination that should interest all of us involved in building conservation. . . . This book presents an extra dimension and interest, which again is a fascinating tale."--John Edwards, University of Wales Trinity Saint David

Read more less

Book SynopsisAfter outlining conventional accounts of Wales in the High Middle Ages, this book moves to more radical approaches to its subject. Rather than discussing the emergence of the March of Wales from the usual perspective of the ‘intrusive’ marcher lords, for instance, it is considered from a Welsh standpoint explaining the lure of the March to Welsh princes and its contribution to the fall of the native principality of Wales. Analysis of the achievements of the princes of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries focuses on the paradoxical process by which increasingly sophisticated political structures and a changing political culture supported an autonomous native principality, but also facilitated eventual assimilation of much of Wales into an English ‘empire’. The Edwardian conquest is examined and it is argued that, alongside the resultant hardship and oppression suffered by many, the rising class of Welsh administrators and community leaders who were essential to the governance of Wales enjoyed an age of opportunity. This is a book that introduces the reader to the celebrated and the less well-known men and women who shaped medieval Wales.Trade Review`David Stephenson's latest book is a bold commentary on historians' writings about the political and "socio-political" history of medieval Wales over the past fifty years. A deliberate challenge to traditional interpretations, it is supported, as befits an accomplished historian of Gwynedd and Powys, by a depth of scholarship reflected in annotations and bibliographies that amount to a quarter of the book.' - Emeritus Professor Ralph A. Griffiths, Swansea University ; `This is an invaluable contribution to the historiography of medieval Wales. Stephenson successfully challenges the enduring paradigm of the Gwynedd-led evolution of one Wales, and paints a more complex, multi-dimensional picture. An essential read for scholars and students of medieval Welsh history!' Dr Emma Cavell, Swansea UniversityTable of ContentsAcknowledgements Abbreviations Maps Genealogical tables Introduction CHAPTER 1- An outline survey of Welsh political history, c.1050–1332 CHAPTER 2 - The Age of the Princes: shifting political cultures and structures CHAPTER 3 - The other Wales: the March CHAPTER 4 - The limits to princely power CHAPTER 5 - New ascendancies Envoi Notes Select bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis is the first study of the early formative years of one of Wales’s most important cultural organisations – Sianel Pedwar Cymru (S4C). The volume chronicles the decisions and activities of the channel during its trial period between 1981–5. Through a detailed study of minutes, correspondence and interviews with individuals who were key to the channel’s development during its early years, it chronicles the many challenges, successes and failures which faced the S4C Authority and its staff as they aimed to create a Welsh-language television service that would meet the desires and needs of the audience in Wales. S4C is no ordinary channel, and no other period in its history portrays this more effectively than the trial period given to it at the beginning of the 1980s.Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Acronyms Acknowledgements Introduction Chapter 1: The campaign for a Welsh TV channel Chapter 2 : The early days of the Welsh Fourth Channel Authority Chapter 3 : First Broadcasts and Audience Response Chapter 4 : Financial initiatives – securing fair terms and expanding to new areas Chapter 5: Reviewing the Channel – Opinion Polls and the Home Office Review Conclusion Appendix Bibliography

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis is the first general history of early modern Wales for more than a generation. The book assimilates new scholarship and deploys a wealth of original archival research to present a fresh picture of Wales under the Tudor and Stuart monarchs. It adopts novel perspectives on concepts of Welsh identity and allegiance to examine epochal events, such as the union of England and Wales under Henry VIII; the Reformation and the Break with Rome; and the British Civil Wars and Glorious Revolution. It argues that Welsh experiences during this period can best be captured through widespread attachments to a shared history and language, and to ideas of Britishness and monarchy. The volume looks beyond high politics to examine the rich tapestry of early modern Welsh life, considering concepts of gender and women's experiences; the role of language and cultural change; and expressions of Welsh identity beyond the principality’s borders.Table of ContentsChapter 1: Locating Early Modern Wales Chapter 2: ‘They Value Themselves Much upon their Antiquity’: History, Myth and Identity Chapter 3: ‘Awake Now Thou Lovely Wales!’: The Reformation and its Legacies Chapter 4: Alternative Visions: Catholicism, Puritanism and Dissent Chapter 5: ‘The Communion of One Tongue’: Language and Society Chapter 6: ‘A Prince of our Own Natural Country and Name’: Welshness, Britishness and Monarchy Chapter 7: Politics, Officeholding and Participation Chapter 8: Women and Gender in Early Modern Wales Chapter 9: ‘A Brittain by Nation Born’: Welsh Diasporas

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe two attempts by Khubilai Khan, the Mongol Emperor of China, to invade Japan in 1274 and 1281 represent unique events in the history of both countries. It pitted the samurai of Japan against the fierce warriors of the steppes who had conquered half the known world.The Mongol conquest of Korea left them with a considerable quantity of maritime resources, which enabled them to thin seriously for the first time about crossing the Tsushima strait between Korea and Japan with an army of invasion. The first invasion, which began with savage raiding on the islands of Tsushima and Iki, made a landfall at Hakata Bay and forced the samurai defenders back inland. Luckily for the Japanese defenders, a storm scattered the Mongol invasion fleet, leading them to abandon this attempt. In the intervening years the Japanese made defensive preparation, and the Mongol increased their fleet and army, so that the second invasion involved one of the largest seaborne expeditions in world

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe perfect Mother's Day gift - a compulsive collection of the world's most entertaining, inspiring and powerful letters with mothers at their heart, curated by the founder of the global phenomenon lettersofnote.comIn Letters of Note: Mothers, Shaun Usher gathers together exceptional missives by and to mothers, celebrating the joy and grief, humour and frustration, wisdom and sacrifice the role brings to both parent and child. Includes letters by:Caitlin Moran, Sylvia Plath,Martin Luther King Jr., George Bernard Shaw,E.B. White, Laura Dern, Louisa May Alcott,Edna St. Vincent Millay, Bette Davis,Richard Wagner, Martha Gellhorn& many moreTrade ReviewThe letters range from the famous to the quietly heroic. None is more poignant than that written in 1950 by the Czech socialist politician Milada Horáková to her sixteen-year-old daughter. Horáková had been arrested and sentenced to death for treason, and the letter was written the night before her execution. Heartbreaking * * Observer * *Praise for Shaun Usher: Another mailbag stuffed with funny, heartbreaking and passionate letters . . . engaging, eclectic, geekily and gleefully enthusiastic and laugh-out-loud funny * * The Times * *Shaun Usher's More Letters of Note mines the archives for more gems of the epistolary arts * * Guardian * *Funny, tragic, brilliantly incisive, historic, lyrical, romantic and studiedly offensive, this stupendous compendium of letters ancient and modern is my book of the year. You will never tire of it' -- STEPHEN FRYFrom the genuinely funny: Marge Simpson duelling with First Lady Barbara Bush to the truly heart-breaking: Julius and Ethel Rosenberg's last goodbye to their children before execution. Usher's book is unlike anything else you have read. After all, where else can you find out why Norman Mailer refused money to his father, or how Janis Joplin felt before breaking America? Exactly * * GQ * *Funny, shocking and poignant, More Letters of Note must be one of the most entertaining books of the year * * Financial Times * *Some of the letters will make you laugh, other heartbreaking examples will make you cry * * Independent * *Reading through them is addictive, like dipping into a bag of variously tempting assorted candies, knowing that the next one will always bring surprise and pleasure. Usher has an evident knack for selecting letters that land with the force of a good short story, with personalities and dramatic arcs emerging swiftly, from just a page or two. Many of the writers are famous people, caught in a moment of accessibility and rawness or off-the-cuff virtuosity * * New Yorker * *A gloriously presented compilation * * Financial Times * *The literary equivalent of a box of chocolates - bite-sized and pure addictive pleasure . . . The result is beautifully produced, with photographs and colour facsimiles of much of the correspondence. A gorgeous Christmas present * * Sunday Times * *

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn this book the award-winning Belfast journalist and author reflects on a long career of reporting on the main events in Northern Ireland over the past sixty years and on the aftermath of conflictsin the developing world including Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Vietnam and Rwanda. He covered theworst of the Troubles from the beginning in 1968-69 and reported on some of the most disturbing atrocities such as Bloody Sunday, the Kingsmills Massacre and the no-warning IRA explosion at the EnniskillenCenotaph on Remembrance Sunday. Hehas seen religion at its worst and its best, and he observes how the Christian faith has sustained so many people in times of great suffering and distress, and how the mis- practice of this faith has led to division, misunderstanding and hostility.The author also reflects on his experience of reporting on well-knownfigures in Northern Ireland ranging from Gordon and

Read more less

Book SynopsisA contemporary overview and critical analysis of the Kurds quest for national identity and statehood from the end of the Ottoman Empire to the modern day.

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn The Story of India, Michael Wood weaves a spellbinding narrative out of the 10,000-year history of the subcontinent. Home today to more than a fifth of the world's population, India gave birth to the oldest and most influential civilization on Earth, to four world religions, and to the world's largest democracy.Now, as India bids to become a global economic giant, Michael sets out on an epic journey across this vibrant country to trace the roots of India's present in the incredible riches of her past. The Story of India is a magical mixture of history and travelogue, and an unforgettable portrait of India - past, present and future.Trade ReviewAn entertaining history of one of the world's most fascinating places * Daily Telegraph on the hardback edition *A marvellously vivid portrait of India's 10,000-year-old cultural and religious history...Gorgeously illustrated and intelligently written, this is both an erudite and entertaining history * Sunday Telegraph on the hardback edition *This is a beautifully illustrated cultural history, a traveller's tale and a compelling and readable guide to the rise and rise of a civilization * The Good Book Guide on the hardback edition *Michael Wood is the maker of some of the best television documentaries ever made on history and archaeology. * Times Literary Supplement *

Read more less

Book SynopsisFrom long lost paintings to ephemeral sculptures; from whimsical performances to iconic public murals; and from independent films to landmark design objects, the surprising and provocative contents of Moving Focus, India have been provided by a varied group of experts. A first of its kind, this book invited 54 artists, curators, historians and writers to each create a list of five works of art, made at any time since 1900, by artists living in India or identifying as part of its diaspora. With over 250 individual nominations, including artists whose works have been exhibited at venues as various as Houghton Hall (Anish Kapoor, 2020), the Asia Society Museum, New York (MF Husain, 2019) and the Piramal Museum of Art, Mumbai (SH Raza, 2018), the exercise produced thrilling and unexpected choices across many mediums. Drawing from a wide range of private and public collections, the selections reveal the diversity and inclusiveness of today’s art scene: an art scene that has embraced the progressive changes evident in society at large. In addition to these lists, the book includes reflections on collecting, curating and canon-formation from a range of important voices, by way of a roundtable discussion and a series of essays. Spread over two volumes and marked by an innovative and fresh design sensibility, whether you are familiar with modern and contemporary art from the subcontinent or looking for an introduction, Moving Focus, India contains a wealth of information. Lavishly illustrated with over 1,000 archival and freshly commissioned photographs, this book is an important and timely addition to the global art discourse and a key source of reference. Nominated artists include Ramkinkar Baij, Chittaprosad, VS Gaitonde, Amrita Sher Gil, Rummana Hussain, Bhupen Khakhar, Nasreen Mohamedi, Benode Behari Mukherjee, Meera Mukherjee, Mrinalini Mukherjee, Gieve Patel, Sudhir Patwardhan, Nilima Sheikh, Jangarh Singh Shyam, KG Subramanyan, Vivan Sundaram, Zarina and many more.

Read more less

Book SynopsisUnveils the complex sex lives of libertine women in eighteenth-century London.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThere was life before the fall.1989 was a year of astonishing and rapid change: the fall of the Berlin Wall marked the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and an end to an entire way of life for millions of people behind the Iron Curtain. Bloc Life collects first hand testimony of the people who lived in East Germany, Czechoslovakia and Romania during the Cold War era, and reveals a rich tapestry of experience that goes beyond the headlines of spies and surveillance, secret police and political corruption. In fact, many of the people remember their lives under communism as 'perfectly ordinary' and even hanker for the 'security' that it offered.From political leaders, athletes and pop stars, to cooks, miners and cosmonauts, the stories collected in Bloc Life evoke the moods, preoccupations and experiences of a world that vanished almost overnight.Trade ReviewThe stories are by turns harrowing, miraculous and utterly compelling * The Sunday Times *This is a powerful and moving book evoking a way of life that seems long gone and far away, but was endured by millions of people less than 20 years ago, and just a few hundred miles away * The Mail on Sunday *

Read more less

Book SynopsisExplores the history and symbolism of griffins across cultures, folklore, magic and art.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe tale of a notorious 1911 London gunfight, the Siege of Sidney Street', and its consequences.

Read more less

Book SynopsisA new account of urban Victorian life told through the dubious day-to-day of London's police courts. Nether World presents a rich, often humorous glimpse into everyday life in Victorian London through a revealing account of nineteenth-century police courts. People of all classes brought complaints to this court about those who had hurt, abused, or stolen from them - drunks, pickpockets, wife-beaters, and fraudsters - who were each in their turn judged by magistrates wielding broad summary powers. Delving into underexamined court records and the pages of a fast-developing newspaper industry, Drew D. Gray offers a fresh description of a vibrant, ever-changing metropolis and considers ongoing issues such as poverty, homelessness, violence, substance abuse, prostitution and - of course - crime.

Read more less

Book SynopsisA sweeping journey through the ebbs and flows of Pakistan's history.

Read more less

Book Synopsis'This book will delight any historian. It's a superb gazetteer of 120 centres of ancient civilization' (Daily Telegraph)From Alexandria to York, this unique illustrated guide allows us to see the great centres of classical civilization afresh. The key feature of Cities of the Classical World is 120 specially drawn maps tracing each city's thoroughfares and defences, monuments and places of worship. Every map is to the same scale, allowing readers for the first time to appreciate visually the relative sizes of Babylon and Paris, London and Constantinople. There is also a clear, incisive commentary on each city's development, strategic importance, rulers and ordinary inhabitants. This compelling and elegant atlas opens a new window on to the ancient world, and will transform the way we see it.Trade ReviewColin McEvedy was a polymath. If you wanted to know something, Google had failed you and the British Library seemed too far away, the obvious move was to ask McEvedy * Independent *A beautifully produced and completely wacky testimony to the life and scholarship of a passionate private historian * The Times Higher Education Supplement *

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis collection seeks to explore alternative definitions of bounded identities, facilitating new approaches to spatial and architectural forms. Taking as its starting point the emergence of a new sense of ‘boundary’ emerged from the post-19th century dissolution of large, heterogeneous empires into a mosaic of nation-states in the Islamic world. This new sense of boundaries has not only determined the ways in which we imagine and construct the idea of modern citizenship, but also redefines relationships between the nation, citizenship, cities and architecture. It brings critical perspectives to our understanding of the interrelation between the accumulated flows and the evolving concepts of boundary in predominantly Muslim societies and within the global Muslim diaspora. Essays in this book seeks to investigate how architecture mediates the creation and deployment of boundaries and boundedness that have been devised to define, enable, obstruct, accumulate and/or control flows able to disrupt bounded territories or identities. More generally, the book explores how architecture might be considered as a means to understand the relationship between flows and boundaries and its implication of defining modern self. The essays in this volume collectively address how the construction of self is primarily a spatial event and operated within the crucial nexus of power-knowledge-space. Contributors investigate how architecture mediates the creation and deployment of boundaries and boundedness, how architecture might be considered as a means to understand the relationship between flows and boundaries and its implications for how we define the modern self. Part of the Critical Studies in Architecture of the Middle East series. Table of ContentsList of Figures vii Acknowledgements xiii Introduction: Confining Contingency 1 Farhan Karim Chapter 1. Housing Others: Design and Identity in a Bedouin Village 21 Noam Shoked Chapter 2. Building for the Lost Lands: Ottoman Architects in Mandatory Palestine and the Case of Hassan Bey Mosque 51 Müjde Dila Gümüs¸ Chapter 3. The First Aussie Mosques: Mediating Boundaries despite the ‘White Australia’ Policy 77 Katharine Bartsch, Md. Mizanur Rashid, and Peter Scriver Chapter 4. Architecture of Exclusion: The Savujbulagh-i Mukri Garrison, Border-Making, and the Transformation of the Ottoman-Qajar Frontier 111 Nader Sayadi Chapter 5. Staging Baghdad as a Problem of Development 139 Huma Gupta Chapter 6. Tehran’s Decentralization Project and the Emergence of Modern Socio-Spatial Boundaries 167 Elmira Jafari and Carola Hein Chapter 7. Reconstructing the Muslim Self in Diaspora: Socio-Spatial Practices in Urban European Mosques 193 Elisabeth Becker Chapter 8. The Search for the Mosque of Florence: A Space of Negotiated Identities 219 Hanan Kataw Chapter 9. The Rome Mosque and Islamic Center: A Case of Diasporic Architecture in the Globalized Mediterranean 237 Theodore Van Loan and Eva-Maria Troelenberg Chapter 10. One House of Worship with Many Rooves: Imposing Architecture to Mediate Sunni, Alevi, and Gülenist Islam in Turkey 253 Angela Andersen Chapter 11. Architectural Modes of Collective Identity: The Case of Hizbullah’s ‘Mleeta Tourist Landmark of the Resistance’ in South Lebanon 277 Heike Delitz and Stefan Maneval Chapter 12. The Bangladesh Liberation War Museum and the Inconclusivity of Architecture 309 Anooradha Iyer Siddiqi Contributor Biographies 353 Index 359

Read more less

Book SynopsisNewly available in paperback, this edition is an important volume of international significance, drawing together contributions from some of the leading scholars in the field and edited by a team headed by the acclaimed historian David Richardson. The book sets Liverpool in the wider context of transatlantic slavery and addresses issues in the scholarship of transatlantic slavery, including African agency and trade experience. Emphasis is placed on the human characteristics and impacts of transatlantic slavery. It also opens up new areas of debate on Liverpool’s participation in the slave trade and helps to frame the research agenda for the future.Trade ReviewAnyone seeking a clear, balanced and thoughtful presentation of the issues surrounding one of the most shameful episodes of human history could not do better than to arm themselves with a copy of this absorbing and well-edited book. * Urban History Journal *Undoubtedly of use to anyone who has more than a passing interest in the role the African slave trade played in developing one of the Atlantic World’s most prominent ports. * Journal of African History *This book is an important addition to the rapidly growing literature on the Atlantic slave trade. * American Historical Review *The volume is recommended to researchers and students interested in better understanding Liverpool's place in the history of British slavery and the slave trade. * The Journal of African American History *.. anyone seeking a clear, balanced and thoughtful presentation of the issues surrounding one of the most shameful episodes of human history could not do better than to arm themselves with a copy of this absorbing and well-edited book. * Urban History Volume 35/3 *What Liverpool and Transatlantic Slavery offers is a close, careful and highly quantitative analysis of the multiple factors that contributed to Liverpool's ascendancy in turn shaped attitudes and aspirations both abroad and at home. * International Journal of African Historical Studies, Volume 41, Number 2 *This is a book of substance that offers both new insights and information, and which, at its best, contextualizes the city in its regional and its global context. As such, it enriches our understanding both of Liverpool's and Britain's involvement in the transatlantic slave system. * H-Net Reviews *Liverpool and the Transatlantic Slave Trade will be undoubtedly of use to anyone who has more than a passing interest in the role the African slave trade played in developing one of the Atlantic World's most prominent ports. * African History, Volume 49 *The essays in this volume stem from a 2005 conference on Liverpool and slavery held at the Merseyside Maritime Museum. The resulting collection often essays seeks to provide a current understanding of the relationship between Liverpool and slavery in the eighteenth century by building upon, and revising, the 1976 collection of essays, Liverpool, the African Slave Trade, and Abolition, edited by Roger Anstey and Paul Hair. The biggest difference between these two collections of essays can be found in their titles as we see an evolution from the African Slave Trade to transatlantic slavery. It is this Atlanticization of Liverpool's participation in the slave trade that marks the divergence between the two volumes and that brings focus, and some tension, to the present volume. By viewing Liverpool's participation in an Atlantic context, the reader gains a fuller understanding of the larger consequences of this within Liverpool and its hinterland, West Africa and the Americas. In its attempt to explore the role of Liverpool in transatlantic slavery this work succeeds while demonstrating how the rise of Atlantic history as a field of inquiry has changed the questions being asked and the research being conducted on the eighteenth century. Within this volume are essays that build upon the traditional approach to the subject. These essays seek to explain why, after 1740, Liverpool came to dominate the British slave trade, the role that human capital, captains and crews, played in this, and, through several essays, a better understanding of the connections and consequences of Liverpool's participation in the slave trade upon the city and the region. The regional approach of several essays i\1ustrates the factors that contributed to Liverpool's continued growth and the importance of the slave trade in integrating this regional economy. These included the geographic advantages of Liverpool, such as its ability to acquire goods from Ho\1and critical for the slave trade, its relationship with not only the sea but also its hinterland, the availability of experienced captains and crews and a wi\1ingness of Liverpool slave traders to work to open new markets, both in West Africa and, as one essay shows, the Chesapeake, and to adapt to the customs and systems of the West African trading environment. This regional approach is then supplemented by three essays that take the co\1ection in a more Atlantic direction as they provide insight into the role of trust and credit in creating successful coastal transactions in West Africa, the growing stress on African ethnicities within studies of slavery, and the role of minor, rather than major, disembarkation points within Liverpool's se\1ing of slaves in the Americas. The final two essays, while strong in various ways, do not fit in as we\1 with the others. They do, in their examination of the Sierra Leone Company and abolition within Liverpool, mark an end to Liverpool's relationship to transatlantic slavery yet they do not bring any finality to the larger themes and issues developed within the work. The essays in the co\1ection provide a broad overview of the subject with some having a strong maritime focus and others not. What the essays do provide is a thorough introduction to the causes and consequences of Liverpool's participation in Transatlantic slavery. The essays by Kenneth Morgan, Stephen D. Behrendt, Melinda Elder, David Pope and Jane Longmore provide the reader with a clear and insightful understanding of the reasons why Liverpool became involved in the slave trade, the organization of Liverpool's slave trade and the consequences, both positive and negative, upon Liverpool and its environs. The other essays, by Paul E. Lovejoy and David Richardson, Lorena S. Walsh, Trevor Burnard, Suzanne Schwartz and Brian Howman, illustrate the larger Atlantic consequences of Liverpool's participation in transatlantic slavery. Read together, the essays provide the reader with an introduction to the ways in which historians are exploring Liverpool's role in transatlantic slavery. * Internatioanl Journal of Maritime History, Volume XXIII, no. 1 *Table of Contents Foreword DAVID FLEMING Advisory Committee and Curators Foreword to First Edition SIR PETER MOORES Introduction ANTHONY TIBBLES The Rise of the Atlantic Empires DAVID RICHARDSON Human Cargoes: Enslavement and the Middle Passage EDWARD REYNOLDS ‘Guineamen’: Some Technical Aspects of Slave Ships M. K. STAMMERS African Resistance to Enslavement STEPHEN SMALL AND JAMES WALVIN Caribbean Slave Society ALISSANDRA CUMMINS Women in Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade JENNIFER LYLE MORGAN Liverpool and the English Slave Trade DAVID RICHARDSON Oil not Slaves: Liverpool and West Africa after 1807 ANTHONYTIBBLES Black People in Britain JAMES WALVIN British Abolitionism 1787–1838 JAMES WALVIN The Impact of the Slave Trade on the Societies of West and Central Africa PATRICK MANNING An African View of Transatlantic Slavery and the Role of Oral Testimony in Creating a New Legacy MARY E. MODUPE KOLAWOLE Racist Ideologies STEPHEN SMALL On the Meaning and History of Slavery PRESTON KING The General Legacy of the Atlantic Slave Trade STEPHEN SMALL The Challenge of Remembering Slavery LONNIE G. BUNCH Interpreting Transatlantic Slavery: The Role of Museums ANTHONY TIBBLES Catalogue Select Bibliography Photographic Credits Index

Read more less