Social and cultural history Books

Book SynopsisThe finest book ever written about England and the English' Stuart MaconieJ. B. Priestley is one of our literary icons of the 20th Century and it is time that we all became re-acquainted with his genius.' Dame Judi DenchThree years before George Orwell made his expedition to the far and frozen North in The Road to Wigan Pier, celebrated writer and broadcaster JB Priestley cast his net wider, in a book subtitled a Rambling but Truthful Account of What One Man Saw and Heard and Felt and Thought During a Journey Through England During the Autumn of the Year 1933.' Appearing first in 1934, it was a huge and immediate success. Today, it still stands as a timeless classic: warm-hearted, intensely patriotic and profound.An account of his journey through England from Southampton to the Black Country, to the North East and Newcastle, to Norwich and home English Journey is funny and tender. But it is also a forensic reading of a changing England and a call to arms as passionate as anything in Trade Review'A vastly talented and exceptionally versatile and wise writer.' Iris Murdoch 'Priestley was volcanic, fertile … and never dull.' Anthony Burgess ‘Priestley never wrote better than in these pages. They remain required reading for all of us.’ Dame Margaret Drabble ‘A marvellous writer.’ David Hockney ‘English Journey is one of the great travelogues of English literature. A work of bracing televisual intensity.’ Graham Robb, author of The Debatable Land ‘We all know his plays, now is the time to be re-introduced to his novels.’ Timothy West ‘He belongs in a great English realist tradition that includes Bennett and Galsworthy.’ Michael Billington ‘An important book that has a literary importance and social value that far exceeds the time it was written.’ Dame Beryl Bainbridge ‘Written in the elegant, simple language which was an essential part of Priestley’s brilliance. It is, in consequence, a masterpiece.’ Roy Hattersley

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Book SynopsisJune Goulding worked as a midwife in a 'home' for unmarried mothers in 1951. She is the mother of seven children and lives in Cork. The Light in the Window is her first book.Trade Review"'I promised that I would one day write a book and tell the world about the home for unmarried mothers. I have at last kept my promise.'"

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Book SynopsisPeople, not abstract ideas, make history, and nowhere is this more revealed than in A. N. Wilson''s superb portrait of the Victorians, in which hundreds of different lives have been pieced together to tell a story - one which is still unfinished in our own day. The ''global village'' is a Victorian village and many of the ideas we take for granted, for good or ill, originated with these extraordinary, self-confident people. What really animated their spirit, and how did they remake the world in their view? In an entertaining and often dramatic narrative, A. N. Wilson shows us remarkable people in the very act of creating the Victorian age.Trade ReviewThe best single-volume work on the Victorian age yet written -- Andrew Roberts * Evening Standard *Huge, entertaining volume of popular history * Sunday Times *A wonderful book * Sunday Telegraph *A masterpiece of popular history -- Frank McLynn * Independent *Wilson is incapable of writing a dull sentence... This is the history of a vanished world brought to vibrant life -- Beryl Bainbridge * Observer *

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Book Synopsis**AS FEATURED ON HOAXED PODCAST**This definitive book delves into why so many people are ready to believe in conspiracy theories, and the damage it can cause.Voodoo Histories entertainingly demolishes the absurd and sinister conspiracy theories of the last 100 years, such as:Did Neil Armstrong really set foot on the moon?Was the United States government responsible for the 11 September attacks?Should we doubt the accidental nature of Princess Diana''s death?David Aaronovitch reveals not only why people are so ready to believe in these stories but also the dangers of this credulity.''This book leaves us in no doubt that arriving at the truth is a vital matter - at times a matter of life and death'' Financial Times.Trade ReviewA handbook to be cherished by anyone who would rather have the unvarnished truth * Daily Mail *Superbly researched, wittily written and eminently sane -- Andrew Roberts * Literary Review *Gloriously readable * Independent *Dazzling debunkery * Scotland on Sunday *This book leaves us in no doubt that arriving at the truth is a vital matter - at times a matter of life and death -- John Lloyd * Financial Times *

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Book SynopsisT. R. Fehrenbach was born in San Benito, Texas, in 1925 and graduated from Princeton University in 1947. He has been a contributor to many publications, including Esquire, The Atlantic, The Saturday Evening Post, and The New Republic. He is the author of the best-selling Lone Star: A History of Texas and the Texans and Fire and Blood: A History of Mexico, among other works. He lives in San Antonio, Texas, with his wife, Lillian.Trade ReviewFor a complete history of the Comanches, this book probably has no equal -- Dee Brown, author of Bury My Heart at Wounded KneeFehrenbach is a highly interpretive and original writer, whose work rests on solid scholarship. His book ranges grandly across the disciplines from folklore to anthropology to history * Southwestern Historical Quarterly *Marvellous * New York Times *A compelling account...Vivid, poignant and authoritative * The Herald *This is a very good book. Like virtually all good books about the American Indian, it tells a tragic story, but unlike many of them, it tells it well. The author has mastered an extensive and complex subject: he is flexible, well-organized, and sensitive -- Larry McMurtry

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Book SynopsisAndrea Wulf trained as a design historian at the Royal College of Art and is the co-author (with Emma Gieben-Gamal) of This Other Eden and The Brother Gardeners, which was longlisted for the Samuel Johnson Award. She has written and reviewed for The Sunday Times, the Financial Times, The Garden, The Architects' Journal and the TLS.Trade ReviewEXCELLENT... Wulf writes enthrallingly. Wonderfully illuminating and readable * Daily Telegraph *ENGROSSING... excellent ... fascinating... a timely and passionate book * Guardian *SUPERB...this book will fascinate anyone interested in gardening, agriculture or American history. * Mail on Sunday *WONDERFULLY ENGAGING... Her knack for description is marvelous * Times Literary Supplement *A GREAT ACHIEVEMENT... Excellent [and] riveting * Country Life *

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Book SynopsisSimon Heffer''s new book forms an ambitious exploration of the making of the Victorian age and the Victorian mind.Britain in the 1840s was a country wracked by poverty, unrest and uncertainty, where there were attempts to assassinate the Queen and her prime minister, and the ruling class lived in fear of riot and revolution. By the 1880s it was a confident nation of progress and prosperity, transformed not just by industrialisation but by new attitudes to politics, education, women and the working class. That it should have changed so radically was very largely the work of an astonishingly dynamic and high-minded group of people politicians and philanthropists, writers and thinkers who in a matter of decades fundamentally remade the country, its institutions and its mindset, and laid the foundations for modern society. It traces the evolution of British democracy and shows how early laissez-faire attitudes to the lot of the less fortunate turned into campaigns to improve their lives and prospects. It analyses the birth of new attitudes to education, religion and science. And it shows how even such aesthetic issues as taste in architecture were swept in to broader debates about the direction that the country should take. In the process, Simon Heffer looks at the lives and deeds of major politicians, from the devout and principled Gladstone to the unscrupulous Disraeli; at the intellectual arguments that raged among writers and thinkers such as Matthew Arnold, Thomas Carlyle, and Samuel Butler; and at the ''great projects'' of the age, from the Great Exhibition to the Albert Memorial. Drawing heavily on previously unpublished documents, he offers a superbly nuanced insight into life in an extraordinary era, populated by extraordinary people and how our forebears' pursuit of perfection gave birth to modern Britain.Trade ReviewHeffer has written a stunning overview of the great and the good – and the not-so-good – of Victorian society and of the changes which a largely benevolent capitalism brought about. * Sarah Bradford, The Literary Review *High Minds is worthy to the task: serious, scholarly, grand and determined...an excellent guide to the aesthetics of the age. * Tristram Hunt, New Statesman *[I]t is really a whole bookshelf of books. If you want a succinct volume on the Clarendon Commission and the debates on education, there is a not-so-slim volume embedded here. There is another on the desperate case of the formidable Caroline Norton and the battle to give women rights...another on the great philanthropists; another on crime and punishment; another (wonderfully detailed and compelling) on the Great Exhibition and the foundation of Albertopolis; another on the sewers; a terrific essay on the struggle between Gothic and Italianate architecture; and of course plenty of politics...This is a great sweeping, confident book, demonstrating the self-same energy and passion as do the Victorian heroes Heffer celebrates. It is a magnificent achievement. * William Waldegrave, The Times *[A] stimulating and thoroughly enjoyable book...[Heffer] is sometimes tendentious but never unreasonable, writes notably well and provides an admirable introduction to a period of history which many of us will think that we know quite well but have never considered from this point of view before. * Philip Ziegler, The Spectator *High Minds is partly social history, partly a history of ideas. It is the personalities involved that contribute such liveliness to this assured and magisterial narrative. * Matthew Dennison, The Sunday Telegraph *

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Book Synopsis*According to the Trussell Trust, food bank use between April and Sept 2018 was up 13% on the same period in 2017.* *Every year in the UK 18 million tonnes of food end up in landfill.*Why is this the case and what can we do about it?The relationship between food and cities is fundamental to our everyday lives. Food shapes cities and through them it moulds us - along with the countryside that feeds us. Yet few of us are conscious of the process and we rarely stop to wonder how food reaches our plates.Hungry City examines the way in which modern food production has damaged the balance of human existence, and reveals that we have yet to resolve a centuries-old dilemma - one which holds the key to a host of current problems, from obesity and the inexorable rise of the supermarkets, to the destruction of the natural world.Original, inspiring and written with infectious enthusiasm and belief, Hungry City illuminates an issue that is fundamental to us all.Trade ReviewExuberant, provocative... her desire that we understand better and think more about our food, how much we waste, how much energy it consumes and how we dispose of it... It is - in the real sense of the word - vital -- David Aaronovitch * The Times *Hungry City is a sinister real-life sequel to Animal Farm with the plot turned upside down by time in ways even George Orwell could not have foreseen * Observer *Lively, wide-ranging, endlessly inquisitive... Hungry City is a smorgasbord of a book: dip into it and you will emerge with something fascinating * Independent *Absolutely crammed with eye-opening facts and figures, a hugely readable account of the part we individually play in a global problem. Highly Recommended * Publishing News *She can précis her specialist sources briskly, and her own direct research (e.g. a mega kitchen for cooking ready meals) is lively -- Vera Rule * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisThe past is a foreign country: this is your guidebook.If you could travel back in time, the period from 1660 to 1700 would make one of the most exciting destinations in history. It is the age of Samuel Pepys and the Great Fire of London; bawdy comedy and the libertine court of Charles II; Christopher Wren in architecture, Henry Purcell in music and Isaac Newton in science - the civil wars are over and a magnificent new era has begun.But what would it really be like to live in Restoration Britain? Where would you stay and what would you eat? What would you wear and where would you do your shopping? The third volume in the series of Ian Mortimer''s bestselling Time Traveller''s Guides answers the crucial questions that a prospective traveller to seventeenth-century Britain would ask.People''s lives are changing rapidly - from a world of superstition and religious explanation to rationalism and scientific calculation. In many respects the period sees the Trade ReviewIan Mortimer is among the best: a conjuror who is always bright, engaging and well-informed… Any tour of late 17th-century Britain is guaranteed to be exhilarating. And with Mortimer in charge, one always travels first class * Mail on Sunday *Ian Mortimer is a historical truffle hound… The Time Traveller’s Guide to Restoration Britain is just such fun to read… Mortimer writes with real freshness and enthusiasm,... His book is a delightful read. * Sunday Times *This entertaining tourist guide brings the late 17th century alive…The latest Time Traveller’s Guide will entertain and inform anyone with an interest in this extraordinary period * The Times *Thoroughly entertaining… It is crammed with insights, facts and enjoyable anecdotes, which create a sense of the experience of living in Britain between 1660 and 1700… This is a compelling book and one of considerable erudition… This is the book that will provide the most richly colourful account of Britain in this period * History Today *Everything you wanted to know about these fair isles between 1660 and 1700... Exciting times. * Sunday Express *

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Book SynopsisIn the terrible aftermath of the moorland battle of Culloden, the Highlanders suffered at the hands of their own clan chiefs. Following his magnificent reconstruction of Culloden, John Prebble recounts how the Highlanders were deserted and then betrayed into famine and poverty. While their chiefs grew rich on meat and wool, the people died of cholera and starvation or, evicted from the glens to make way for sheep, were forced to emigrate to foreign lands. Mr Prebble tells a terrible story excellently. There is little need to search further to explain so much of the sadness and emptiness of the northern Highlands today' The Times.

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Book SynopsisTakes readers month-by-month, day-by-day, through the festivities of English life. This book explains how the festivities originated, what they mean and when they occur.

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Book Synopsis''Astonishing ... enjoy its riches slowly, and savour every generous, erudite and undogmatic page'' Boyd Tonkin, Financial Times''We English men have wits,'' wrote the clergyman Ralph Lever in 1573, and, ''we have also framed unto ourselves a language.''Witcraft is a fresh and brilliant history of how philosophy became established in English. It presents a new form of philosophical storytelling and challenges what Jonathan Rée calls the ''condescending smugness'' of traditional histories of philosophy. Rée tells the story of philosophy as it was lived and practised, embedded in its time and place, by men and women from many walks of life, engaged with the debates and culture of their age. And, by focusing on the rich history of works in English, including translations, he shows them to be quite as colourful, diverse, inventive and cosmopolitan as their continental counterparts.Witcraft offers new and compelling intellectual portraits not only of celebrated British and American philosophers, such as Hume, Emerson, Mill and James, but also of the remarkable philosophical work of literary authors, such as William Hazlitt and George Eliot, as well as a carnival of overlooked characters - priests and poets, teachers, servants and crofters, thinking for themselves and reaching their own conclusions about religion, politics, art and everything else.The book adopts a novel structure, examining its subject at fifty-year intervals from the sixteenth century to the twentieth. Researched over decades and illuminated by quotations from extensive archival material, it is a book full of stories and personalities as well as ideas, and shows philosophy springing from the life around it. Witcraft overturns the established orthodoxies of the history of philosophy, and celebrates the diversity, vitality and inventiveness of philosophical thought.Trade ReviewRée spans a vast ocean of ideas. He introduces us to their shapers and breakers, and gently captains us in 50-year stretches across the seas of English-language thought with astonishing skill as both map-maker and way-finder ... enjoy its riches slowly, and savour every generous, erudite and undogmatic page -- Boyd Tonkin * Financial Times *Rée's book may well be the most fun we've ever had with anglophone philosophy -- Stuart Jeffries * Spectator *Dead philosophers, and indeed dead philosophies, here feel alive, and integrated with the rest of history -- Nakul Krishna * Daily Telegraph *Witcraft is the story of philosophy in English told in a new way, narrated with relish and considerable wit -- Jonathan Egid * Times Literary Supplement *

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Book SynopsisFifty years since first publication, E. P. Thompson''s revolutionary account of working-class culture and ideals is published in Penguin Modern Classics, with a new introduction by historian Michael KennyThis classic and imaginative account of working-class society in its formative years, 1780 to 1832, revolutionized our understanding of English social history. E. P. Thompson shows how the working class took part in its own making and re-creates the whole-life experience of people who suffered loss of status and freedom, who underwent degradation, and who yet created a cultured and political consciousness of great vitality.Reviews:''A dazzling vindication of the lives and aspirations of the then - and now once again - neglected culture of working-class England'' Martin Kettle, Observer''Superbly readable . . . a moving account of the culture of the self-taught in an age of social and intellectual deprivation'' Asa Briggs, Financial Times''Thompson''s work combines passion and intellect, the gifts of the poet, the narrator and the analyst'' E. J. Hobsbawm, Independent''An event not merely in the writing of English history but in the politics of our century'' Michael Foot, Times Literary Supplement''The greatest of our socialist historians'' Terry Eagleton, New StatesmanAbout the author:E. P. Thompson was born in 1924 and read history at Corpus Christi, Cambridge, graduating in 1946. An academic, writer and acclaimed historian, his first major work was a biography of William Morris. The Making of the English Working Class was instantly recognized as a classic on its publication in 1963 and secured his position as one of the leading social historians of his time. Thompson was also an active campaigner and key figure in the ending of the Cold War. He died in 1993, survived by his wife and two sons.Trade ReviewThompson's work combines passion and intellect, the gifts of the poet, the narrator and the analyst -- Eric Hobsbawm * Independent *A dazzling vindication of the lives and aspirations of the then - and now once again - neglected culture of working-class England -- Martin Kettle * Observer *Superbly readable . . . a moving account of the culture of the self-taught in an age of social and intellectual deprivation -- Asa Briggs * Financial Times *An event not merely in the writing of English history but in the politics of our century -- Michael Foot * Times Literary Supplement *The greatest of our socialist historians -- Terry Eagleton * New Statesman *

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Book Synopsis''The most ingenious, informative, inimitable, individual, innovative, insightful, inspiring, instructive, intelligible, intoxicating, intricate guide to the great city that I have ever seen. Bravo!'' Philip Pullman''A glorious and delightful compendium and guide to London from Above, Below and all the in-betweens'' Neil GaimanCuriocity is a London book unlike any other. Its 26 chapters weave together facts, myths, stories, riddles, essays, diagrams, illustrations and itineraries to explore every aspect of life in the capital. At the heart of each chapter is a hand-drawn map, charting everything from thecity''s islands and underground spaces, to its erogenous zones and dystopian futures. Taking you from Atlas to Zones, via Congestion, Folkmoot, Pearls and Xenophilia, Curiocity will transform the way you see London.''The greatest book about London published in modern times ... an illuminated manuscript for the 21st century city'' Trade ReviewThe most ingenious, insightful, inspiring, intoxicating, and simply interesting guide to the great city that I have ever seen -- Philip PullmanRemarkable ... a nerdy Londoner's paradise ... an exquisite 450-page cross between an encyclopaedia and an artwork * Evening Standard *The greatest book about London published in modern times ... an illuminated manuscript for the 21st century city * Londonist *London's bookshops and libraries are filled with printed guides to the city but few (if any) are as comprehensive as Curiocity * Creative Review *An endlessly fascinating guide to London ... an eccentric lexical juggernaut ... I doubt that anything of such crazy magnitude will be attempted again in a hurry * Evening Standard *A glorious and delightful compendium and guide to London from Above, Below and all the in-betweens -- Neil GaimanHere is something different [...] composed of fresh flashes of insight [...] constructed as a cabinet of curiosities, the literary equivalent of Sir John Soane's Museum in Lincoln's Inn Fields. The work [the authors] have put into it is formidable, the collaboration they have won from contributors, illustrators and publishers quite breathtaking. * Times Literary Supplement *The authors' delight in London trivia is infectious * Guardian *A great walk for the senses -- Iain SinclairUtterly extraordinary -- Tom HollandA glorious treasure trove * Esquire *A beautifully produced miscellany of fascinating facts about London. Wonderful illustrations are added to intriguing nuggets of information on a huge range of subjects from street cries to earthstars. An object of beauty in itself * The Oldie *Reimagines the 'guidebook' in the same way that Peter Ackroyd's London: the Biography reinvented historical writing about the capital. And just as Ackroyd set a benchmark, every new guide to London will now be viewed with reference to Curiocity. [...] However well you think you know London, you will discover something new on virtually every page, and the things you know well will be seen completely differently. Highly recommended * The London Society *Beautifully illustrated, quirky and irreverent -- Danny DorlingIncredibly clever and gorgeous. It's like a London treasure hunt - an unexpected explorers' map of a city I've lived in all my life and thought I knew -- Bidisha

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Book SynopsisThe most fatal virus known to science, rabies-a disease that spreads avidly from animals to humans-kills nearly one hundred percent of its victims once the infection takes root in the brain. In this critically acclaimed exploration, journalist Bill Wasik and veterinarian Monica Murphy chart four thousand years of the history, science, and cultural mythology of rabies. From Greek myths to zombie flicks, from the laboratory heroics of Louis Pasteur to the contemporary search for a lifesaving treatment, Rabid is a fresh and often wildly entertaining look at one of humankind''s oldest and most fearsome foes.A searing narrative.-The New York TimesIn this keen and exceptionally well-written book, rife with surprises, narrative suspense and a steady flow of expansive insights, ''the world''s most diabolical virus'' conquers the unsuspecting reader''s imaginative nervous system. . . . A smart, unsettling, and strangely stirring piece of work.-San Francisco ChronicleFascinating. . . . Wasik and Murphy chronicle more than two millennia of myths and discoveries about rabies and the animals that transmit it, including dogs, bats and raccoons.-The Wall Street JournalTrade Review“A searing narrative.”—The New York Times “In this keen and exceptionally well-written book, rife with surprises, narrative suspense and a steady flow of expansive insights, ‘the world’s most diabolical virus’ conquers the unsuspecting reader’s imaginative nervous system. . . . A smart, unsettling, and strangely stirring piece of work.”—San Francisco Chronicle “Fascinating. . . . Wasik and Murphy chronicle more than two millennia of myths and discoveries about rabies and the animals that transmit it, including dogs, bats and raccoons.”—The Wall Street Journal “Rabid delivers the drama of Louis Pasteur’s courageous work developing the rabies vaccine at the same time it details the disease’s place in our cultural history, taking us from Homer to the Bronte sisters to Zora Neale Hurston to Richard Matheson. . . . All along the book’s prose and pace shine—the book is as fast as the virus is slow.”—The Seattle Times “A very readable, fascinating account of a terrifying disease….Wasik and Murphy grippingly trace the cultural history of the disease. . . . Rabid reminds us that the disease is a chilling, persistent reminder of our own animal connections, and of the simple fact that humans don’t call all of the shots.”—The Boston Globe “Compelling. . . . Murphy and Wasik give life, context and understanding to the terrifying disease. Like the virus itself, this fascinating book moves quickly, exploring both the marginalized status and deadly nature of the virus. And as the authors trace the influence of rabies through history, Rabid becomes nearly impossible to put down.”—New Scientist “An elegant exploration of the science behind one of the most horrible way to die.”—Chris Anderson, author of The Long Tail “This book is not for the squeamish. Yet those who are fascinated by how viruses attack the body, by the history of vaccination and by physicians’ efforts to save the most desperately ill patients will want to read it. There is also a happy ending: scientists are working to harness rabies as a potent drug delivery vehicle.”—Scientific American “[Wasik and Murphy] offer an in-depth look at a disease so insidious that it even turns our best friends—dogs—against us. The pair convincingly link the history of rabies…with the history of man’s fear of nature and the unknown, and our own latent capacity for beastliness.”—The Daily Beast “Thrilling, smart, and devilishly entertaining, Rabid is one of those books that changes your sense of history—and reminds us how much our human story has been shaped by the viruses that live among us.”—Steven Johnson, author of The Ghost Map “Rabies has always been as much metaphor as disease, making it an excellent subject for cultural history. . . . As Wasik and Murphy document . . . the horror of rabies has been with us since the beginning of human civilization.”—Bookforum “Funny and spry. . . . It’s a rare pleasure to read a nonfiction book by authors who research like academics but write like journalists.”—Alice Gregory, n+1 “Readable, fascinating, informative, and occasionally gruesome, this is highly recommended for anyone interested in medical history or the cultural history of disease.”—Library Journal (starred review) “Take Bill Wasik, one of our most perceptive journalistic storytellers, have him join forces with Monica Murphy, scholar of public health, and you end up with this erudite, true-life creep show of a book. It turns out that the rabies virus is a good bit more fascinating and at least as frightening as any of those blood-thirsty monsters that have stalked our fairy tales, multiplexes, and dreams.”—Donovan Hohn, author of Moby Duck “Ambitious and smart.”—Publisher’s Weekly “Terrible virus, fascinating history in Rabid.”—NPR “As entertaining as they are on rabies in culture, the authors also eruditely report on medicine and public health issues through history, from ancient Assyria to Bali to Manhattan in the last five years, showing that while the disease may be contained, it may never be fully conquered. Surprisingly fun reading about a fascinating malady.”—Kirkus Reviews “The ultimate weird dad book.”—Very Short List “The rabies virus is a microscopic particle of genes and proteins. And yet it has cast a fearful shadow over all of human history. Bill Wasik and Monica Murphy have produced an eerily elegant meditation on disease and madness, dogs and vampires. It's as infectious as its subject.”—Carl Zimmer, NPR contributor and author of Parasite Rex “A fun read, rivaling a Stephen King novel for page-turning thrills.”—The Awl

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Book SynopsisSavage and bloodthirsty, or civilized and peaceable? The Celts have long been a subject of enormous fascination, speculation, and misunderstanding. From the ancient Romans to the present day, their real nature has been obscured by a tangled web of preconceived ideas and stereotypes. Barry Cunliffe seeks to reveal this fascinating people for the first time, using an impressive range of evidence, and exploring subjects such as trade, migration, and the evolution of Celtic traditions. Along the way, he exposes the way in which society''s needs have shaped our visions of the Celts, and examines such colourful characters as St Patrick, Cú Chulainn, and Boudica.ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

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Book SynopsisIn their pursuit of social justice, revolutionaries have taken on the assembled might of monarchies, empires, and dictatorships. They have often, though not always, sparked cataclysmic violence, and have at times won miraculous victories, though at other times suffered devastating defeat.This Very Short Introduction illuminates the revolutionaries, their strategies, their successes and failures, and the ways in which revolutions continue to dominate world events and the popular imagination. Starting with the city-states of ancient Greece and Rome, Jack Goldstone traces the development of revolutions through the Renaissance and Reformation, the Enlightenment and liberal constitutional revolutions such as in America, and their opposite--the communist revolutions of the 20th century. He shows how revolutions overturned dictators in Nicaragua and Iran and brought the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, and examines the new wave of non-violent color revolutions--the Philippines'' Yellow Revolution, Ukraine''s Orange Revolution--and the Arab Uprisings of 2011-12 that rocked the Middle East.In this new edition, Goldstone also sheds light on the major theories of revolution, exploring the causes of revolutionary waves, the role of revolutionary leaders, the strategies and processes of revolutionary change, and the intersection between revolutions and shifting patterns of global power. Further, he explores the role social media and nonviolence play in modern revolutions. Finally, he examines the reasons for diverse revolutionary outcomes, from democracy to civil war and authoritarian rule, and the likely future of revolution in years to come.Table of ContentsList of illustrations Acknowledgments Chapter 1: What is a revolution? Chapter 2: What causes revolutions? Chapter 3: Revolutionary processes, leadership, and outcomes Chapter 4: Revolutions in the ancient world Chapter 5: Revolutions in the Renaissance and Reformation Chapter 6: Constitutional revolutions: America, France, Europe (1830 and 1848), and Meiji Japan Chapter 7: Communist revolutions: Russia, China, and Cuba Chapter 8: Revolutions against dictators: Mexico, Nicaragua, and Iran Chapter 9: Color revolutions: The Philippines, Eastern Europe and the USSR, and Ukraine Chapter 10: The Arab revolutions of 2011: Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Syria Chapter 11: The future of revolutions References Further reading Index

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Book SynopsisThe story of Isaac Newton's decades in London - as ambitious cosmopolitan gentleman, President of London's Royal Society, Master of the Mint, and investor in the slave trade.Trade ReviewAnyone interested in a detailed account of the later part of Newton's life, focusing on its social, political, and moral dimensions, will find this an especially illuminating book. * J W Dauben *Fara's story is full of colour... she is not just writing about Newton, she is painting a portrait of the age in which he lived, worked, schmoozed and manoeuvred... she also writes with an elegance and a wit you don't generally associate with history books. * Marcus Berkmann, Daily Mail *Science is always part of society, as Fara entertainingly shows. * BBC History Magazine *... fresh, fascinating study of his [Newton's] London career. * Andrew Robinson, Nature *... a highly unorthodox and groundbreaking book... revealing and beautifully written... * Vitali Vitaliev, E&T Magazine *Fara is a pleasingly lively historical guide... the sheer energy of the book shines through, giving readers a messier and more thornily human Newton than the cartoon renditions to which he's so often reduced. * Steve Donoghue, Christian Science Monitor *... impressively broad and multifaceted, making for an interesting, penetrating slice of history, personal and generally. * M A Orthofer, Complete Review *The rich historical background provided... is to be welcomed... this is an excellent account of Newton in London. * Brad Baxter, British Numismatic Journal *Table of ContentsList of illustrations Introduction Prologue Act I: The Theatre: Isaac Newton moves to the Metropolis 1: Living in Style 2: The Tower of London 3: Family Trees 4: The Rise and Rise of John Conduitt Act II: The Audience: Isaac Newton In London society 5: Fortune Hunters 6: The Royal Society 7: Hanover-upon-Thames Act III: The Play: Isaac Newton and English Imperialism 8: Making Money 9: Knowledge and Power 10: Going Global Epilogue Notes Bibliography

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Book SynopsisThe People''s Peace: Britain since 1945 is the first comprehensive study by a professional historian of British history from 1945 to the present day. It examines the transformation of post-war Britain from the planning enthusiasm of 1945 to the rise of New Labour. Its themes include the troubles of the British economy; public criticism of the legitimacy of the state and its instruments of authority; the co-existence of growing personal prosperity with widespread social inequality; and the debates aroused by decolonization, and Britain''s relationship to the Commonwealth, the US and Europe. Changes in cultural life, from the puritanical ''austerity'' of the 1940''s, through the ''permissiveness'' of the 1960s, to the tensions and achievements of recent years are also charted.Using a wide variety of sources, including the records of political parties and the most recently released documents from the Public Records Office, Kenneth Morgan brings the story right up to date and draws comparisons with the post-war history of other nations. This penetrating analysis by a leading twentieth-century historian will prove invaluable to anyone interested in the development of the Britain of today.Trade ReviewReview from previous edition an outstanding work: comprehensive, lucid and judicious. * Ben Pimlott, Sunday Times *Table of ContentsI. The Era of Advance, 1945-1961 1: The Facade of Unity 2: Labour's High Noon, 1945-1947 3: The Collectivist Retreat, 1948-1951 4: The Conservative Compromise, 1951-1956 5: The Zenith of One-Nation Toryism, 1957-1961 II. The Years of Retreat, 1961-1979 6: The Stagnant Society, 1961-1964 7: Labour Blown Off Course, 1964-1967 8: Years of Hard Slog, 1968-1970 9: The Heath Experiment, 1970-1974 10: Challenge to Consensus, 1974-1976 11: The Years of Discontent, 1977-1979 III. Thatcherism and its Aftermath, 1979-1998 12: The Foundations of Thatcherism, 1979-1983 13: High Noon for the New Right, 1983-1990 14: Fin de Siècle: New Labour in Power, 1990-2001 15: Millennial Perspectives, 2001 - 2008 16: From Crash to Brexit, 2008 - 20 Select Bibliography Index

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Book Synopsis''Intellectual freedom depends on material things. Poetry depends on intellectual freedom. And women have always been poor...''In these two classic essays of feminist literature, Woolf argues passionately for women''s intellectual freedom and their role in challenging the drive towards fascism and conflict. In A Room of One''s Own she explores centuries of limitations placed on women, as well as celebrating the creative achievements of the women writers who overcame these obstacles. In this first history of women''s writing, she describes the importance of education, financial independence, and equality of opportunity to creative freedom. Three Guineas was written under the threat of fascism and impending war. A radical articulation of Woolf''s pacifist politics, it investigates the causes of gender inequalities and the ways in which women''s historic outsider position make them crucial in the prevention of war. Both these works started life as talks to groups of young women, and their

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Book SynopsisA history of how, in the mid-twentieth century, we came to believe in the concept of creativity. Named a best book of 2023 by the New Yorker and a notable book of 2023 by Behavioral Scientist. Creativity is one of American society's signature values, but the idea that there is such a thing as creativityand that it can be cultivatedis surprisingly recent, entering our everyday speech in the 1950s. As Samuel W. Franklin reveals, postwar Americans created creativity, through campaigns to define and harness the power of the individual to meet the demands of American capitalism and life under the Cold War. Creativity was championed by a cluster of professionalspsychologists, engineers, and advertising peopleas a cure for the conformity and alienation they feared was stifling American ingenuity. It was touted as a force of individualism and the human spirit, a new middle-class aspiration that suited the needs of corporate America and the spirit of anticommunism. Amid increasingly rigid systems, creativity took on an air of romance; it was a more democratic quality than genius, but more rarified than mere intelligence. The term eluded clear definition, allowing all sorts of people and institutions to claim it as a solution to their problems, from corporate dullness to urban decline. Today, when creativity is constantly sought after, quantified, and maximized, Franklin's eye-opening history of the concept helps us to see what it really is, and whom it really serves. Trade Review"In Franklin’s account, creativity, the concept, popped up after the Second World War in two contexts. One was the field of psychology. Since the nineteenth century, when experimental psychology (meaning studies done with research subjects and typically in laboratory settings, rather than from an armchair) had its start, psychologists have been much given to measuring mental attributes. . . . The pages Franklin devotes to the contemporary creativity landscape are the freshest and most fun in the book." -- Louis Menand * New Yorker *"Franklin posits that 'creativity' is a concept invented in America after the Second World War, appearing primarily in two contexts: psychological research and business, each arising semi-independently, but feeding into and reinforcing each other. Humanistic psychologists—attuned to postwar anxieties about alienation and conformity—connected creativity with authenticity and self-expression. The advertising industry—the motor of consumerism—grabbed on to the term to appropriate the glamour and prestige of the artist and confer those attributes on admen and product designers. In the information age, countercultural values turned out to be entirely compatible with consumer capitalism. The difficulties that arose in defining creativity are intrinsic to the concept itself, Franklin argues, and his provocative book unpacks the history of a term whose origins are more recent than we might imagine." * New Yorker, on "Best Books of 2023" *"Where did the concept of creativity come from? And why is it valued so highly? One answer is posited by Franklin’s provocative new book. . . . Franklin cogently argues that creativity became a buzzword because it was a way to retool white-collar workers for a service economy—one that rewarded branding, research and development instead of Fordian manufacturing. . . . His book is an antidote for anyone who has sat, pen in hand, struggling to locate their 'divine muse.'" * The Economist *"As historian Franklin notes in his forthcoming book The Cult of Creativity, the concept [of creativity] gained much of its cultural currency in the mid-20th century, when executives and other leaders tried to stimulate creativity in hopes of churning out better ad spreads and new technologies. With these titans’ encouragement, Americans began to see creativity as a virtuous end in itself, buying into the promise that expanding our creative abilities could fulfill us individually and secure our collective future." * Boston Globe *"The Cult of Creativity comes at a technological turning point. The emergence of generative-AI tools has given us the option of outsourcing our brainstorming, becoming prompt engineers to idea-spitting machines. . . . In Mr. Franklin’s idealistic scenario of the future, we will redirect our energy away from producing more disruptive innovations and toward a thoughtful consideration of 'what should be produced in the first place.' World-saving ideas and technologies are still needed—whether they result from creative thinking or not—but 'the space to question the goodness of the new,' Mr. Franklin suggests, might be 'the big idea we need right now.'" * Wall Street Journal *"What Franklin leaves us with is a thought-provoking reevaluation of a celebrated societal value marbled with contradictions. All told, The Cult of Creativity is lucid, fresh and illuminating. If you need more adjectives than that, you’ll have to brainstorm them yourself." * NewCity *"Franklin challenges the notion that creativity is a trait that can be cultivated and unleashed by virtually anyone. . . . He proposes a nuanced and critical approach to the study of creativity, one that recognizes its complexity, diversity, and context-dependence. In doing so he offers a nicely written and well-researched book that casts a fresh and insightful perspective on a controversial topic. . . . Summing Up: Recommended. All readers." * CHOICE *"Franklin’s well-researched book on the young history of the word 'creativity' has simultaneously turned out to be a chronicle of the morals and values ruling post-war America – and implicitly many other Western countries. Its pleasant style and the many well-chosen quotations from the creativity literature, helped by the mildly critical tone, make for insightful and entertaining reading." * Leonardo *"As the subtitle of Franklin’s book suggests, the highly valued quality we call 'creativity'—so ubiquitous today as to seem universal and timeless—is actually quite new. Franklin tells a story of psychologists, scholars, business management 'gurus,' ad men, education policymakers, artists, and engineers who together reified creativity as immanently versatile, a trait both inherent to the individual and developable at scale. . . . It turns out the taken-for-granted virtue of creativity is yet another dubious invention of midcentury cold war and a product of academia’s collusion with industry." * Public Books *"When we let people get away with thinking that creativity is the alpha and omega of existence, or even just of the business world, we sow a garden of vices. We’ve seen corporate monsters before, but it took the cult of creativity to concoct the particular monster called Elon Musk. Franklin’s wonderful book made me understand, as never before, the forces that shaped this billionaire narcissist schmuck and not a few lesser rich schmucks as well." * The New Republic *“The Cult of Creativity is a beautifully written and well-documented account of how creativity gained the societal value it has today. Franklin reveals the powerful social construction at work behind the meaning of creativity and reminds us that such ideas have historical roots, as well as a more sinister side that should concern us all. Through engaging storylines, he builds a complex picture that is captivating to discover, piece by piece.” -- Vlad Glaveanu, author of Wonder: The Extraordinary Power of an Ordinary Experience“Celebrated and sought-after, ‘creativity’ is often presented as the magic yet ineffable elixir for fame and fortune by today’s artists, technologists, and business leaders. And yet—until Samuel Franklin’s marvelous new book—it has been little studied as a historical phenomenon. The Cult of Creativity examines how, after World War II, a fascinating ensemble of psychologists, advertising executives, and other assorted gurus attempted to explain and quantify human ingenuity. The result is an insightful and delightful exploration into how we think about technology, capitalism, and consumerism.” -- W. Patrick McCray, author of Making Art Work: How Cold War Engineers and Artists Forged a New Creative Culture“The Cult of Creativity presents an exceptionally lucid look at the various ideas, doctrines, and programs behind the concept of creativity. Through keen analysis, Franklin brings together scholarship from a range of sources to frame this powerful social and cultural critique.” -- Howard Brick, author of Transcending Capitalism: Visions of a New Society in Modern American ThoughtTable of ContentsIntroduction 1 Between the Commonplace and the Sublime 2 The Birth of Brainstorming 3 Creativity as Self-Actualization 4 Synectics at the Shoe 5 The Creative Child 6 Revolution on Madison Avenue 7 Creativity Is Dead . . . 8 From Progress to Creativity 9 Long Live Creativity Conclusion: What Is to Be Done? Acknowledgments Notes Index

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Book SynopsisRemember the wonderfully romantic book of letters by Beethoven, Byron and Napoleon that featured in the Sex and the City film? That collection never actually existed, but all of the letters referenced in the film were real; so Macmillan decided to create Love Letters of Great Men...Table of ContentsIntroduction - i: Introduction Chapter - 1: Pliny the Younger to his wife, Calpurnia Chapter - 2: King Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn Chapter - 3: William Congreve to Mrs Arabella Hunt Chapter - 4: Richard Steele to Miss Mary Scurlock Chapter - 5: George Farquhar to Anne Oldfield Chapter - 6: Alexander Pope to Martha Blount Chapter - 7: Alexander Pope to Teresa Blount Chapter - 8: Alexander Pope to Lady Mary Wortley Montagu Chapter - 9: David Hume to Madame de Boufflers Chapter - 10: Laurence Sterne to Catherine Fourmantel Chapter - 11: Laurence Sterne to Lady Percy Chapter - 12: Denis Diderot to Sophie Volland Chapter - 13: Henry Frederick, Duke of Cumberland, to Lady Grosvenor Chapter - 14: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to his wife, Constanze Chapter - 15: Lord Nelson to Lady Emma Hamilton Chapter - 16: Robert Burns to Mrs Agnes Maclehose Chapter - 17: Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller to Charlotte von Lengefeld Chapter - 18: Napoleon Bonaparte to his wife, Josephine Chapter - 19: Daniel Webster to Josephine Seaton Chapter - 20: Ludwig van Beethoven to his ‘Immortal Beloved’ Chapter - 21: William Hazlitt to Sarah Walker Chapter - 22: Lord Byron to Lady Caroline Lamb Chapter - 23: Lord Byron to the Countess Guiccioli Chapter - 24: John Keats to Fanny Brawne Chapter - 25: Honorè de Balzac to the Countess Ewelina Hanska Chapter - 26: Victor Hugo to Adèle Foucher Chapter - 27: Nathaniel Hawthorne to his wife, Sophia Chapter - 28: Benjamin Disraeli to Mary Ann Wyndham Lewis Chapter - 29: Charles Darwin to Emma Wedgwood Chapter - 30: Alfred de Musset to George Sand Chapter - 31: Robert Schumann to Clara Wieck Chapter - 32: Robert Browning to Elizabeth Barrett Chapter - 33: Gustave Flaubert to Louise Colet Chapter - 34: Gustave Flaubert to George Sand Chapter - 35: Walter Bagehot to Elizabeth Wilson Chapter - 36: Mark Twain to Olivia Langdon Chapter - 37: William F. Testerman to Miss Jane Davis Chapter - 38: Charles Stewart Parnell to Katherine O’Shea Chapter - 39: Oscar Wilde to Lord Alfred Douglas Chapter - 40: Pierre Curie to Marie Sklodovska (Marie Curie) Chapter - 41: G. K. Chesterton to Frances Blogg Chapter - 42: Captain Alfred Bland to his wife, Violet Chapter - 43: Regimental Sergeant-Major James Milne to his wife, Meg Chapter - 44: Second Lieutenant John Lindsay Rapoport to his fiancée Acknowledgements - ii: Acknowledgements

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Book SynopsisDr Hannah McCann (consultant) is a lecturer in gender studies at the University of Melbourne. Her research focuses on feminist discourse on femininity, LGBTIQ subcultures, beauty culture, and aesthetic labour. Her book Queering Femininity: Sexuality, Feminism and the Politics of Presentation was published by Routledge in 2018. Lucy Mangan (spokesperson) is a columnist, television reviewer and features writer. She is currently a columnist for Stylist magazine, a frequent writer for The Guardian, The Telegraph and other publications, and the author of five books. BOOKWORM: A Memoir of Childhood Reading, was published in February 2018 to great acclaim.

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Book SynopsisFrom the author of Guns, Germs and Steel, Jared Diamond''s Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive is a visionary study of the mysterious downfall of past civilizations.Now in a revised edition with a new afterword, Jared Diamond''s Collapse uncovers the secret behind why some societies flourish, while others founder - and what this means for our future.What happened to the people who made the forlorn long-abandoned statues of Easter Island?What happened to the architects of the crumbling Maya pyramids?Will we go the same way, our skyscrapers one day standing derelict and overgrown like the temples at Angkor Wat?Bringing together new evidence from a startling range of sources and piecing together the myriad influences, from climate to culture, that make societies self-destruct, Jared Diamond''s Collapse also shows how - unlike our ancestors - we can benefit from our knowledge of the past and learn to be sur

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Book SynopsisBlack vaudevillians and entertainers joked that T.O.B.A. stood for tough on black artists. But the Theater Owner's Booking Association (T.O.B.A.) played a foundational role in the African American entertainment industry and provided a training ground for icons like Cab Calloway, Bessie Smith, Ethel Waters, Sammy Davis Jr., the Nicholas Brothers, Count Basie, and Butterbeans and Susie. Michelle R. Scott's institutional history details T.O.B.A.'s origins and practices while telling the little-known stories of the managers, producers, performers, and audience members involved in the circuit. Looking at the organization over its eleven-year existence (19201931), Scott places T.O.B.A. against the backdrop of what entrepreneurship and business development meant in black America at the time. Scott also highlights how intellectuals debated the social, economic, and political significance of black entertainment from the early 1900s through T.O.B.A.'s decline during the Great Depression. ClearTrade Review"Clarifies the important role African American entrepreneurs played in promoting entertainment by and for Black people during a transitional period in American show business history. . . .T.O.B.A. Time is an excellent addition to [the University of Illinois Press] catalogue." --NewCity Lit"In clear and precise prose Scott chronicles the coalescence of Black vaudeville and how T.O.B.A. helped establish and nurture the initial flowering of what became the incalculably influential Black entertainment industry. Readers who enjoyed Entertaining Raceby Michael Eric Dyson and Little Devil in America by Hanif Abdurraqib will find Scott’s unique history compelling. " --Booklist"Michelle R. Scott's T.O.B.A. Time: Black Vaudeville and the Theatre Owners' Booking Association in Jazz-Age America is a scholarship of the highest order. It provides an in-depth analysis of an organization that played an important role in providing a space for entrepreneurs and talented individuals to forge an independent role for themselves in segregated America. Scott effortlessly combines the minutiae of a multifaceted activity such as vaudeville with the broader currents which were operating in America in the early decades if the twentieth century." --British Journal of Industrial Relations“Scott’s meticulously researched and exquisitely detailed account reveals the broad impact of the T. O. B. A. circuit and the complexities of its organization and operations. The discussions of individual performers--famous and obscure--and their experiences as they worked the circuit are riveting. This is a benchmark book in theater studies and the definitive account of this fascinating institution.”--Allyson Nadia Field, author of Uplift Cinema: The Emergence of African American Film & The Possibility of Black Modernity Table of ContentsPreface AcknowledgmentsIntroduction: They Called It T.O.B.A. Chapter 1. “Whistling Coons” No More: Race Uplift & the Path to T.O.B.A. Chapter 2. Hebrew, Negro, and American Owners: Black Vaudeville and Interracial ManagementChapter 3. T.O.B.A Forms: The Interracial Business Plan for a New Negro BusinessChapter 4. The Multiple Meanings of T.O.B.A: The Performers’ PerspectiveChapter 5. A Responsibility to Community: Circuit Theaters and Black Regional AudiencesChapter 6. “Trouble in Mind": The End of T.O.B.A. TimeEpilogue: T.O.B.A.’s LegacyAppendixNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisA vibrant, diverse history of Vesuvius and the Bay of Naples in the age of RomanticismTrade Review“Best of all, Volcanic succeeds by showing the enduring draw of Vesuvius. . . . This is a polyphonic chorus of different voices and stories guided by such a stylish documentarian. . . . Momentous and spellbinding.”—Caroline Eden, Financial Times “A splendid work of historical archaeology. . . . Mr. Brewer writes as a literary and art critic as well as a historian—and he writes beautifully.”—Jeffrey Collins, Wall Street Journal“An entertaining social history. . . . [Brewer’s] account rests on the rare survival of a visitors’ book from 1826–8. . . . A fascinating and complex story, reflected by the mountain, itself an icon of destruction and renewal.”—Suzi Feay, The Guardian“[An] endlessly fascinating microhistory. . . . [Brewer’s] baroque prose is perfectly apt for his romantic subjects, all of whom were obsessed with the sublime.”—Pratinav Anil, Times (UK)“Vigorous and vividly detailed . . . deep scholarship sparked by serendipity.”—Lucy Hughes-Hallett, Times Literary Supplement“Brewer offers a series of lively pen portraits, interspersed with sociological sketches and glimpses of politics, science, painting, antiquarianism and more. . . . An extremely learned and companionable guide.”—Seamus Perry, Literary ReviewListed in New Statesman’s Best Books of the Academic Presses, 2023“An absorbing study by a master historian, Volcanic chronicles our fleeting attempts to comprehend, control and shape an unmasterable force of nature.” —Jeffrey Collins, The Australian“[A] brilliant study. . . . Such humility and respect for the natural world has never felt more apt nor urgent.”—Jacqueline Riding, Country Life“Brewer’s sweeping account is an enjoyable read rich in rigorous original research, thoughtful analysis and engaging storytelling. Like those travellers scaling the slopes under the watchful eyes of Salvatore Madonna, we couldn’t hope for a better guide.”—Emily Brand, BBC History Magazine“This is an exceptional book, a master class of historical writing, imagination and insight.”—John A. Davis, author of Naples and Napoleon“Vesuvius was a dramatic natural curiosity few travellers engaged in the Grand Tour could resist. By tracing the steps of visitors, guides and naturalists, Brewer writes a fascinating history of marvel and knowledge, strong emotions and leisure.”—Pietro Corsi, author of Science and Religion“In Volcanic, John Brewer animates the Vesuvius of the Romantic era, from the tourist throngs and guides who made the volcano their business, to the movers, shakers, savants and scientists whose works and lives intersected around this grand, natural laboratory. This is a rich, entertaining and illuminating account of the cultural milieu of continental Europe’s liveliest volcano.”—David Pyle, author of Volcano: Encounters Through the Ages“In this magnetic, densely populated, account of Vesuvius, Brewer moves at ease between the intensely close-focus and the universal. The volcano, nerve-wracking yet thrilling in its unpredictability, mesmerised individuals and even mirrored political reverberations in Europe and beyond. Brewer has captured Vesuvius in its Romantic entirety: he has written a remarkable book.”—Gillian Darley, author of Vesuvius: The Most Famous Volcano in the World

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Book SynopsisThe fascinating story of America's national anthem and a search for the source of its powerful meaning today

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Book SynopsisDr Fahmida Suleman is Phyllis Bishop Curator for the Modern Middle East at the British Museum. She is the editor of Word of God, Art of Man: The Qur'an and its Creative Expressions and People of the Prophet's House: Artistic and Ritual Expressions of Shi'i Islam.Trade Review'A fascinating visual resource, full of beautiful, detailed images and lots of surprises … exciting … the text is concise and informative … It is a pleasure to learn by looking through this delightful book' - Jennifer Wearden, former curator of Islamic Textiles at the Victoria & Albert Museum'A visual feast and an eye-opening history' - History Revealed'Lives up to its title in examining “the fabric of life” across time in this vast region' - Embroidery'Richly illustrated … there is a lot to be learned about the region in this beautifully presented book' - Journal for Weavers, Spinners & Dyers'Beautifully illustrated ... this publication provides an exquisite guide through the collection' - Anthropos JournalTable of ContentsIntroduction • 1. Childhood • 2. Status and Identity • 3. Marriage and Ceremony • 4. Religion and Belief • 5. House and Homestead • 6. Politics and Conflict

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Book Synopsis''What guts. What attitude! These are the immortals I wish I'd learned about at school.''OLIVIA COLMAN Channel the feminist power of mythical goddesses in this witty, inspirational gift book. ''Wonderful.'' CERYS MATTHEWSWhether it's the Norse warrior goddess Freya breaking all the rules, the Yoruba goddess Oshun being unafraid to ask for what she's owed, or the Japanese goddess Uzume finding humour and playfulness in even the most embarrassing of situations: this fierce and fantastic tour of 25 ancient deities reclaims these feminist icons for a new generation.Why settle for mere mortal excellence when you could be living like a goddess?Divinely illustrated by Georgia Perry, You Goddess! will help you conquer today's world.

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Book SynopsisJoin Jane Peyton, the UK's first Beer Sommelier of the Year, as she distils practical advice from the incredible history of the nation's favourite beverage, spanning the earliest evidence of beer 13,000 years ago, its central role in monasteries and on naval ships, its significance in the discovery of cholera, and its enduring popularity today.

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Book SynopsisNo British social movement captured contemporary imaginations as Chartism did. This unique book is the only history to offer complete, in-depth coverage of the full chronological spread of its activities (1838-58), based throughout on detailed research. -- .Table of ContentsIllustrationsAcknowledgmentsAbbreviations1 May-September 1838: ‘I have in my hand a charter – the people’s charter’Chartist lives: Abram and Elizabeth Hanson2 October-December 1838: ‘The people are up’Chartist lives: Patrick Brewster3 January-July 1839: ‘The People’s Parliament’Chartist lives: Thomas Powel4 July-November 1839: ‘Extreme excitement and apprehension’ Chartist lives: John Watkins5 November 1839-January 1840: After NewportChartist lives: Samuel Holberry6 February 1840-December 1841: ‘The Charter and nothing less’Chartist lives: Elizabeth Neesom7 1842: ‘Toasting muffins at a volcano’Chartist lives: Richard Pilling8 1843-1846: Doldrums YearsChartist lives: Ann Dawson9 July-1846-April 1848: ‘A time to make men politicians’Chartist lives: William Cuffay10 April 1848-1852: ‘Decent revolutionaries’?11 Chartist Lives: ‘Ever present to the progressive mind’Money, prices and wages: a noteA note on sources and further readingIndex

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Book SynopsisA hands-on study skills guide that explores how film and moving image can be used as sources.Trade Review‘Using Film as a Source is a true research guide. It will succeed in familiarizing students new to the medium film with its characteristics, and can also inspire those already pursuing film studies to understand film as more than a text. Most importantly, Barber’s direct style of writing and the structure of the book can convince that the at times challenging or even intimidating project of conducting genuine research is not only manageable but also exciting.’Maraike M. Marxsen, Hamburg University, HJFRT Vol 36, No 4‘Using Film as a Source offers a concise summary for those wanting an intelligent and intelligible general introduction to the use of film as a scholarly resource, while also acting as a jumping-off point for those wanting to delve deeper.’Richard Farmer, University of East Anglia, Journal of British Cinema and Television, Volume 14 Issue 2 -- .Table of Contents1. Introduction2. Film and history 3. Film form and aesthetics 4. Film historiography 5. Formulating research questions 6. Theory and methodology 7. Resources 8. Using sources 9. Writing up your findingsBibliography Index

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Book SynopsisAn inspiring account of one of the great turning points in history

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Book SynopsisUntold stories of overseas evacuees in their own words

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Book Synopsis1922 was a year of great turbulence and upheaval. Its events reverberated throughout the rest of the twentieth century and still affect us today, 100 years later. In a sequence of vividly written sketches, Nick Rennison conjures up all the drama and diversity of an extraordinary year....Trade ReviewVivid... In this enjoyable slice of popular history, Rennison assembles a month-by-month almanac, including all the most notable moments from science, politics, art and culture * Guardian *Hugely enjoyable * Times Literary Supplement *Attempting a pithy summary of the events of any year is a difficult task, especially one as seismic as 1922. Nick Rennison has given it a go in this entertaining and thoroughly readable canter through the events of a century ago... Fascinating * Observer *This is a delightful book, and Rennison's selection is intelligent and lively. He has an eye for the significant detail and an agreeably dry tone... 1922 should please those who are well-versed in history, but it will also be a treat for those for whom the past is another country. * Scotsman *In crisp and evocative snatches, he gives monthly summaries of global events, domestic episodes, newspaper sensations, sporting triumphs and cultural acclaim during 1922... There is a moral lesson submerged in Rennison's playful selection of anecdotes. Life's tragedies bind humans together as much as hate and greed, and more tightly than love * Spectator *

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisOriginally published in 1975, Fenwomen was the first non-fiction book published by Virago. A vivid social and oral history of an isolated village in the Cambridgeshire Fens, it provides a unique portrait, spanning nearly 100 years, via the previously unheard voices of the women who lived there, of a community where there were virtually no professional or middle-class people, where intermarriage was common and a single family owned all the village land. Fenwomen was in a tradition stretching through Ronald Blythe (Akenfield) and 20 years further back to the true pioneer of English oral history, George Ewart Evans, with his publication Ask the Fellows Who Cut the Hay (1956). In an extended new introduction to this Full Circle edition, Mary Chamberlain ecalls her original intent to write a feminist Akenfield, a history from the bottom up not of great country houses and the chatelaines who ran them but of women as labourers and labourers'' wives. She describes, too, how she revisited the village and talked to some of the original women about how their lives had changed over 35 years.By any measure, this book is essential reading, but in this handsome new edition, with Justin Partyka''s eloquent, unforgettable photographic portraits of Isleham and its people, it is a joy to own - Stephanie Cross, The Lady

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Book SynopsisFor the past half century, the Indonesian military has depicted the 1965-66 killings, which resulted in the murder of approximately one million unarmed civilians, as the outcome of a spontaneous uprising. This formulation not only denied military agency behind the killings, it also denied that the killings could ever be understood as a centralised, nation-wide campaign.Using documents from the former Indonesian Intelligence Agencyâs archives in Banda Aceh this book shatters the Indonesian governmentâs official propaganda account of the mass killings and proves the militaryâs agency behind those events. This book tells the story of the 3,000 pages of top-secret documents that comprise the Indonesian genocide files. Drawing upon these orders and records, along with the previously unheard stories of 70 survivors, perpetrators, and other eyewitness of the genocide in Aceh province it reconstructs, for the first time, a detailed narrative of the killings using the militaryâs own aTrade Review"This book is a breakthrough for the study of the mass murder of 1965-66. Melvin has uncovered much new evidence and has leveraged the case-study of the province of Aceh to reveal hidden aspects of the national-level decision-making. She presents an original argument on why the mass murder should be understood as a genocide. Her book is not an ordinary contribution to the field of Indonesian history -- it is a game-changer." John Roosa, University of British Columbia, Canada"It seems impossible to overstate the significance of Jess Melvin’s monumental, heartbreaking work. Not only does she make a devastating argument that Indonesia’s mass killings constitute genocide under international law, she took a simple yet fateful step in the history of scholarship on Indonesia: she walked into a military archive and asked for their records. That nobody had done this before attests to the formidable courage it required. She analyzes thousands of pages of hitherto secret documents with patient attention to detail and unflinching moral clarity. The result transforms our understanding of Indonesian history, identity, and politics. Beautifully written, endlessly important, Jess Melvin has authored one of the great studies of genocide, anywhere. Period." Joshua Oppenheimer, Academy Award nominated director, The Act of Killing (2012) and The Look of Silence (2014), Denmark"Melvin’s book is a dramatic breakthrough in our understanding of the Indonesian killings of 1965-66. She taps new archival sources to demonstrate powerfully that the Indonesian military was deeply engaged in planning and carrying out the murder of Indonesian communists. In the process, the military manipulated domestic and international public opinion to conceal its role in political genocide." Robert Cribb, Australian National University, Australia"[A]n importance far beyond Indonesian studies...[it] revises our definition of genocide, draws conclusions about the close links between militarism and mass violence, and reminds us forcefully of the nefarious interventions of western powers at cold war turning points." The Guardian"Melvin’s astonishing discovery [from the government archive in Banda Aceh] forms the core of her groundbreaking book [...] Melvin's book will forever alter the telling of what happened next. [...] The documents Melvin uses to explain how the army planned and organized the killings shatter the official narrative that has prevailed for more than fifty years and continues to be taught to Indonesian schoolchildren today." Margaret Scott, New York Review of Books"Jess Melvin’s book provides a strong factual account of the role of the military in establishing a chain of command connecting the military leadership in Jakarta with that of the province of Aceh. [...] The depth of Melvin’s work in unravelling the military chain of command in the mass killings conducted in Aceh is a strong contribution to our understanding of the history of 1965–1966 and also very beneficial for further efforts to challenge state impunity regarding Indonesia’s violent past." Ratna Saptari, University of Leiden, Bijdragen"It is rare that a book makes a big splash in Indonesian studies, even rarer when that book is the author’s first. Jess Melvin’s The army and the Indonesian genocide: Mechanics of mass murder has made such a splash, and I have been very pleased to watch the water sluice out, pouring over the Indonesian military’s lies of the last five decades and, indeed, dampening much of the scholarship written about 1965 in the process. Melvin’s book—which draws on the military’s own records to prove that the army incited and carried out the killings and mass detentions—confirms once and for all what survivors of this violence have been saying for decades: local civilians often participated in the killings, but it was the army that drove them. Meticulous in her detailing, Melvin devotes the majority of her book to laying out the chronology of the army’s ‘eradication campaign’ against the communists." Annie Pohlman, The University of Queensland, Australia, Bijdragen"[This book] is an extraordinarily detailed exploration by author Jess Melvin who aims to defy the common understanding of the 1965 ‘anti-communist’ purge which highlights the Indonesian army’s part in the arranging the related violence in Aceh, resulting as one of the first locations revolving around a series of widespread massacres in Indonesia. The book presents a unique narrative that ventures into the dismay found within the history of the 1965 anti-communist movement in Aceh. Although other source materials mostly focus on the history of the 1965 anti-communist killings around more popular areas such as Java and Bali, this book in particular represents a limited number of research regarding the purge outside the confines of Java." Patricia Rinwigati Waagstein, Indonesia Law Review: Vol. 9: No. 1, Article 7 (2019) "Jess Melvin has written a remarkable book. Based on archives and many witness interviews, this study is a breakthrough for establishing the case for the Indonesian military’s orchestration and implementation of the 1965/66 mass killings. Due to closed archives elsewhere in Indonesia, the book focusses on Aceh province in northern Sumatra; though it is hardly far-fetched to extrapolate results of Melvin’s spectacular research to other parts of Indonesia. […] Combined with interviews with outspoken and grateful survivors, mostly proud and unfazed perpetrators and other witnesses, Melvin turns this archival treasure into a gripping and compelling narrative. […] With her archival findings, Melvin is the first scholar able to prove the latter and make a strong case that one can “reasonably extrapolate” from the Aceh case to other areas in Indonesia (303). In her final remarks, she demands justice for the survivors and their families as well as accountability and end of impunity for the perpetrators. A “process of truth-telling accompanied by an official investigation” Melvin considers as “the most realistic and practical alternative” (304) to, probably elusive, punitive justice for individual perpetrators. She is certainly right – but the powerful military, its intelligence service, and its religious and political allies in contemporary Indonesia may prevent even such from (ever?) happening." Bernd Schaefer, George Washington University, USA. The Historical Dialogues, Justice, and Memory Network, April 9, 2020.“A ground-breaking study [...]” Grace Leksana, Bijdragen, Vol. 175, No. 1 (2019), pp. 67-79"[This] is an extraordinary book that challenges accepted understandings of the 1965 anti-communist genocide in Indonesia by providing a detailed analysis of the role of the army in orchestrating the violence in the province of Aceh, the first location of the killings. Before this book, several scholars had speculated about the role of the army in the violence and given examples of army coordination and co-operation with civilian vigilantes [...] but none had been able to establish the precise role of the army. […] The Army and the Indonesian Genocide is the product of many years of detailed research and critical thinking on a very difficult topic. […] In a decade in which much new pathbreaking research about 1965 is being published, this book stands out as one of the most thoroughly documented histories of the 1965 violence. It is underpinned by meticulous empirical research. The Army and the Indonesian Genocide, will continue to contribute for years to come to multiple fields of research including broader studies of mass violence and genocide, as well as studies of the Indonesian military and the entire canon of Indonesian history." Katherine McGregor Australian Journal of Asian Law (2018)Table of ContentsIntroduction: The Indonesian Genocide Files 1. Why Genocide? 2. The Struggle for the Indonesian State 3. The Order to Annihilate, 1- 6 October 1965 4. Djuarsa’s Co-ordination Tour, 1- 11 October 1965 5. Pogrom and Public Killings, 7 October- November 1965 6. Killing to Destroy, 14 October- December 1965 7. Consolidation of the New Regime: Anti-Chinese Violence, January - August 1966, and the Purge of Aceh’s Civil Service, October 1965 – March 1967 Conclusion: Anatomy of a Genocide

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

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

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