Social and cultural history Books

Book SynopsisA wonderful overview of tactical development in European football' Matthew Syed, The TimesA fascinating assessment of football in 2019' ObserverAn insightful, comprehensive and always entertaining appreciation of how European football has developed over the last three decades by the author of the much heralded The Mixer. Continental football has always cast a spell over the imagination. From the attacking flair of Real Madrid of the 50s to the defensive brilliance of the Italians in the 60s and onto the total football of the Dutch in the 70s, the European leagues have been where the game has most evolved and taken its biggest steps forward. And over the last three decades, since the rebranding of the Champions League in 1992, that pattern has continued unabated, with each major European footballing nation playing its part in how the game's tactics have developed.From the intelligent use of space displayed by the phenomenal Ajax team of the early 90s, to the dominance of the highly straTrade Review Praise for Zonal Marking ‘An excellent recent history of European football’ New Yorker ‘A wonderful overview of tactical development in European football.’ Matthew Syed, The Times ‘A fascinating assessment of football in 2019.’ Observer ‘Cox, a tactics obsessive, largely ignores the soap opera of football to explain what actually happens on the field. In this book, speckled with well-told anecdotes, he traces the tactical development of the game over the last 30 years.’ Simon Kuper, Financial Times ’Revelatory stories, lucid tactics and wry anecdotes combine… The secret weapon of Cox’s readability is the use of telling quotes from those who actually play the game.’ When Saturday Comes ‘An entertaining and brilliantly researched look at football tactics.’ FourFourTwo Praise for The Mixer ‘Thanks to his meticulous research and his focus on strategy, Mr Cox finds a fresh perspective on a story that football fans will think they already knew.’ The Economist ‘The Mixer, by Michael Cox is a very unusual football writer in that he specialises in the game as it’s actually played, rather than the gossip or folklore around it. The Mixer is a tactical history of the English Premier League, with telling anecdotes on every page. It’s deeply informed and a pleasure to read.’ Financial Times ‘Intelligently written. Impressively researched. Fascinatingly addictive. Michael Cox is like a cartographer, remapping the landscape of the Premier League so we see the contours of it afresh. That’s some feat.’ Duncan Hamilton, two-time winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year

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Book SynopsisThe history of humankind has always been marked by natural catastrophes, migrations, discoveries, revolutions, and wars. But there have also been speeches that marked an era; instilling hope in crucial moments, reawakening the collective conscience of a population—or of all humanity. In homes throughout the world, millions of people watched these speeches on television or listened to them on the radio, fascinated by the charismatic words, by the moral integrity, by the tireless passion and sacrifice of the orators, by those who dedicated their entire existence to the causes they believed in. The thirty-eight speeches featured in this book were delivered over a period that ranges from immediately following World War II to today, and the authors include politicians and brilliant orators, as well as scientists, a writer, a missionary, a businesswoman, a talk-show host, and a young girl. From Charles de Gaulle’s announcement of the end of World War II in 1945, Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” in 1963 and Stephen Hawking’s 2022 speech at his 60th birthday symposium, to Ursula von der Leyen’s State of the Union address in 2022, Speeches That Changed Our Times invites you to read these masterpieces of oratory without restraining the emotions they provoke, in the hope that learning from the past will help build a better world for the present and the future.

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Book Synopsis'A remarkable and deeply moving book' Henry Marsh, bestselling author of Do No Harm'A breathtaking, extraordinary work of non-fiction' Times Literary SupplementOn 11 March 2011, a massive earthquake sent a 120-foot-high tsunami smashing into the coast of north-east Japan. It was Japan's greatest single loss of life since the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.Richard Lloyd Parry, an award-winning foreign correspondent, lived through the earthquake in Tokyo, and spent six years reporting from the epicentre. Learning about the lives of those affected through their own personal accounts, he paints a rich picture of the impact the tsunami had on day to day Japanese life.Heart-breaking and hopeful, this intimate account of a tragedy unveils the unique nuances of Japanese culture, the tsunami's impact on Japan's stunning and majestic landscape and the psychology of its people.Ghosts of the Tsunami is an award-winning classic of literary non-fiction. It tells the moving, evocative story of how a nation faced an unimaginable catastrophe and rebuilt to look towards the future.**WINNER OF THE RATHBONES FOLIO PRIZE**Trade ReviewThe definitive book on the quake which killed more than 15,000 people and led to the Fukushima nuclear disaster. * Mail Online *Every time I think of it, I’m filled with wonderment... This book is a future classic of disaster journalism, up there with John Hersey’s Hiroshima. -- Rachel Cooke * Observer *Mr Lloyd Parry offers a voice to the grieving who, too often, found it hard to be heard. It is a thoughtful lesson to all societies whose first reaction in the face of adversity is to shut down inquiry and cover up the facts. You will not read a finer work of narrative non-fiction this year. * Economist *A stunning book from the man who has a strong claim to be the most compelling non-fiction writer in the world. -- Johann HariA book of absolute, harrowing truth and beauty. I'd give up four of my novels to have written this book. -- Jim Crace * Guardian *A breathtaking, extraordinary work… Parry writes with great fluency and timing, like a novelist alternating cadences and withholding information from the reader so as to create moments of tension and surprise. And there is something of the folklorist in the way he discusses the tradition of ghost stories in places such as Tohoku and Sendai. -- Gavin Jacobson * Times Literary Supplement *Compassionate and piercing... giving it the character of a finely conceived crime fiction or a psychological drama… Tragic, engrossing. -- Eri Hotta * Guardian *Parry, a journalist and long-time Tokyo resident, is able to draw something meaningful, even lovely, from the well of misery… Overall, the strength of the book lies in its stories, its observations and its language… The language is daring throughout. -- David Pilling * Financial Times *Ghosts of the Tsunami is alert to the social and political ramifications and transfixed by the spectral quality of the post-disaster landscape… These twin streams – one universal, the other intensely particular – come together in the mystery that is at this book’s core… Some of his most fascinating chapters take in the disaster’s psychological aftermath… It is full of stories of human endeavor, of individual and collective triumph over well-nigh insuperable odds… As well as being full of ghosts, Lloyd Parry’s A-grade reportage is also full of metaphors. -- D. J. Taylor * The Times *A remarkable and deeply moving book – describing in plain and perfect prose the almost unimaginable devastation and tragedy of the Japanese tsunami. -- Henry MarshGhosts of the Tsunami is enthralling and deeply moving, fully conveying and involving the reader in the sheer horror and tragedy of all that happened yet with such beauty, honesty and sincerity. Richard Lloyd Parry has returned the trust and done justice to the victims and their families a hundredfold. -- David PeaceWhen Lloyd Parry wrote Ghosts of the Tsunami, he was seeking “the gift of imagination… the paradoxical capacity to feel tragedy on the surface of the skin, in all its cruelty and dread, but also to understand it… with calm and penetration”. It is to his great credit that, once he attained this gift, he so generously shared it with us here. -- Yo Zushi * New Statesman *Ghosts of the Tsunami is a deeply moving and powerfully intimate work about the enduring strength of community and family in the face of unimaginable destruction and loss. This is a haunting, beautiful, and unforgettable book. -- Héctor Tobar, author of DEEP DOWN DARKA well-researched, polyphonic narrative of what happened on the day 133-ft waves swept in — and how the story continued long after the news cameras left… Lloyd Parry offers a rare glimpse into the history and culture of a region where entire villages were wiped out… By gaining the trust of those on the ground, the author has created an unrivalled account of how Tohoku grieved, and is still grieving. -- Emily Finch * Prospect *The character sketches are colourful; the chapters end on cliffhangers. Lloyd Parry’s prose is fast-flowing, occasionally stopped short by a blunt sentence… His treatment evokes John Hersey’s Hiroshima, published a year after the dropping of the bomb… He has done a fine job of fashioning a focused story, and some powerful arguments, from the tsunami’s wreckage. But his book gives vivid expression to what should be obvious: there is nothing neat or aesthetic about a natural disaster like this. -- Alex Dudok de Wit * Daily Telegraph *Extraordinary… Lloyd Parry writes movingly about the emotional chasm that now separates the parents who saved their children and those who assumed the authorities knew best… God isn’t very popular in the West these days, so it’s striking to read a book written in civilized, elegant prose that doesn’t rip apart Buddhist priests and Christian pastors at the first mention. -- John Sweeney * Literary Review *Ghosts of the Tsunami is a brilliant chronicle of one of the modern world's worst disasters, but it's also a necessary act of witness. The stories Parry tells are wrenching, and he refuses to mitigate the enormity of the tsunami with false optimism or saccharine feel-good anecdotes. Above all, it's a beautiful meditation on grief. * NPR *Parry studs the story with gems of language and detail... The result is a spellbinding book that is well worth contemplating in an era marked by climate change and natural disaster. -- Kathleen Rooney * Chicago Tribune *Parry spoke to the parents and friends of the children and staff involved, and his relating of first-hand accounts of the tragedy is almost unbearable to read at times… Not an easy read, but a rewarding one all the same. -- Doug Johnstone * Big Issue *The human cost of the deadly Japanese tsunami is examined in this powerful and absorbing work that exposes the emotional trauma the mountain of water left in its wake… Parry, who has worked in Japan for years, documents with great closeness and insight the impact of such staggering loss on people living in a society not noted for its emotionality. -- David Wilcock * Belfast Telegraph Morning *His central narrative swirls around the black hole formed in those 45 critical minutes between quake and tsunami. He knows that its awful gravity may pull some readers in, and push others away. -- Stephen Phelan * Herald Scotland *Natural disaster is given a jarringly human constitution in Ghosts Of The Tsunami… This is "literary non-fiction", full of gilded language and sensations as Parry recounts the scene he was met with when he travelled up the coast of Japan to where the giant waves had hit. A transcendental reading experience. -- Hilary A White * Irish Independent *Ghosts of the Tsunami deals mainly with the aftermath of the tragedy – days, weeks and months in which parents continued doggedly looking in the mud for their children, knowing full well that there was no chance of finding them alive. Their testimonies are unbearably moving. -- Craig Brown * Mail on Sunday *This is a haunting account of Okawa’s loss and it is almost unbearably sad. Parry rarely speaks of his own reactions but he is the most compassionate of writers, allowing the voices of those he encounters to be heard… Exceptional. * Lady *Powerful and absorbing. * i *A sobering and compelling narrative of calamity. * Kirkus *This is a piercing look at the communities ravaged by the tsunami -- Eri Hotta * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisThis beautifully written, informative study is a portrait, a history and a superb guide book, capturing fully the seductive beauty and the many layered past of the Eternal City. It covers 3,000 years of history from the city's quasi-mythical origins, through the Etruscan kings, the opulent glory of classical Rome, the decadence and decay of the Middle Ages and the beauty and corruption of the Renaissance, to its time at the heart of Mussolini's fascist Italy. Exploring the city's streets and buildings, peopled with popes, gladiators, emperors, noblemen and peasants, this volume details the turbulent and dramatic history of Rome in all its depravity and grandeur.Table of ContentsPart 1: myths, monarchs and republicans; imperial Rome; bread and circuses; catacombs and Christians; infamy and anarchy; saints, tyrants and anti-popes; "the refuge of all the nations"; Renaissance and decadence; patrons and parasites; the sack of Rome. Part 2: recovery and reform; Bernini and the Baroque; il settecento; Napoleonic interlude; the Risorgimento and the Roman question; royal Rome; Roma fascista; epilogue - the eternal city. Part 3: notes on topography, buildings and works of art.

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Book SynopsisNow a major TV seriesA masterpiece that reads like a thriller' Time OutA gripping and probing account of the biggest criminal manhunt in British history.It is over 40 years since Peter Sutcliffe was convicted of murdering 13 women and attacking 7 more. Still, he remains a killer of almost mythical proportions; his surviving victims, and their families, forever attached to his infamy.Michael Bilton's acclaimed account is a powerful indictment of the calamitous investigation that logged over 2 million man-hours of police work the biggest criminal manhunt in British history. With exclusive access to the detectives involved, the pathologist's archives and declassified documents, this account reads like the most gripping of thrillers.Trade Review‘A masterpiece that reads like a thriller.’ Time Out ‘There is unlikely to be a more cmprehensive or carefully researched account of the case. To read ‘Wicked Beyond Belief’ is to have a sense of being physically present at the day-to-day investigation, experiencing the frustrations, the stress and the public outrage at its lack of success as the years passed and murder followed.’ P.D.James, Mail on Sunday ‘Bilton knows more about the Ripper case than anyone living.’ Blake Morrison, Guardian

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Book SynopsisAt the darkest moment of the year, when the nights seem endless and the days very short, comes that most joyful of festivals. Christmas is a truly magical season, bringing families and friends together to share the much-loved customs and traditions that over the centuries have come to surround this heart-warming and deeply symbolic occasion. Each family has their own personal traditions, and ways they celebrate the special day. Yet underneath the tinsel, fairy lights and wrapping paper are many long-standing traditions that we all know and love. Why do we drag a fir tree inside our house and decorate it? How long Santa has been delivering gifts to good children? What would Christmas be like without mince pies? We owe a lot to the Victorians. They transformed the way Britain celebrated Christmas in the 19th century and we continue with their traditions today. In 1848 a British confectioner by the name of Tom Smith came up with the idea of wrapping sweets inside a package that snapped when pulled apart. It was the Victorians that really centred Christmas round the family, with the eating of a Christmas dinner together, giving gifts and playing games. All these things have become central to a British Christmas Day.

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Book SynopsisNo metropolis has been more loved or more hated. To its official boosters, "Los Angeles brings it all together." To detractors, LA is a sunlit mortuary where "you can rot without feeling it." To Mike Davis, the author of this fiercely elegant and wide-ranging work of social history, Los Angeles is both utopia and dystopia, a place where the last Joshua trees are being plowed under to make room for model communities in the desert, where the rich have hired their own police to fend off street gangs, as well as armed Beirut militias.In City of Quartz, Davis reconstructs LA's shadow history and dissects its ethereal economy. He tells us who has the power and how they hold on to it. He gives us a city of Dickensian extremes, Pynchonesque conspiracies, and a desperation straight out of Nathaniel West - a city in which we may glimpse our own future mirrored with terrifying clarity.Trade ReviewAbsolutely fascinating. -- William GibsonFew books shed as much light on their subjects as this opinionated and original excavation of Los Angeles from the mythical debris of its past and future. * San Francisco Examiner *A history as fascinating as it is instructive. -- Peter Ackroyd * The Times *As central to the L.A. canon as anything that Carey McWilliams wrote in the forties or Joan Didion wrote in the seventies. -- Dana Goodyear * New Yorker *Angelenos, now is the time to lean into Mike Davis's apocalyptic, passionate, radical rants on the sprawling, gorgeous mess that is Los Angeles. -- Stephanie Danler, author of Stray and SweetbitterCity of Quartz deserves to be emancipated from its parochial legacy...[It is] a working theory of global cities writ large, with as much to teach us about multiculturalism as it does racial apartheid in Los Angeles. -- David Helps * Los Angeles Review of Books *A wildly original analysis of the city on the threshold of the new millennium, the book synthesized knowledge about Los Angeles's history, politics, culture, architecture, policing, immigration, and more, painting a dark picture that embodied a kind of American urban dystopia on steroids after the nightmare of Reaganism and the "developers' millennium." -- Micah Uetricht * The Nation *Dazzling * Counterfire *

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Book SynopsisA BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEKWhen the First World War broke out, the suffragettes suspended their campaigning and joined the war effort. For pioneering suffragette doctors (and life partners) Flora Murray and Louisa Garrett Anderson that meant moving to France, where they set up two small military hospitals amidst fierce opposition. Yet their medical and organisational skills were so impressive that in 1915 Flora and Louisa were asked by the War Ministry to return to London and establish a new military hospital in a vast and derelict old workhouse in Covent Garden's Endell Street. That they did, creating a 573-bed hospital staffed from top to bottom by female surgeons, doctors and nurses, and developing entirely new techniques to deal with the horrific mortar and gas injuries suffered by British soldiers. Receiving 26,000 wounded men over the next four years, Flora and Louisa created such a caring atmosphere that soldiers begged to be sent to Endell Street. And then, following the end of the war and the Spanish Flu outbreak, the hospital was closed and Flora, Louisa and their staff were once again sidelined in the medical profession.The story of Endell Street provides both a keyhole view into the horrors and thrills of wartime London and a long-overdue tribute to the brilliance and bravery of an extraordinary group of women.Trade ReviewThis is the best book I've read about the First World War since Vera Brittain's Testament of Youth...With her impressively focused research and eye for human detail, Wendy Moore has produced an unforgettable microcosm...this fascinating book is a microcosm of early 20th-century Britain at its very best - and its very worst. -- Ysenda Maxtone Graham * The Times *Rarely is a book so important, so timely...vividly and meticulously written, Endell Street is a masterpiece to stretcher straight into a major film studio...[an] unmissable, thrilling read. -- Philippa Stockley * Evening Standard *Fascinating, carefully researched... Moore is superb at describing the medical advances that resulted in seven research papers by Endell Street doctors being published in The Lancet, among the first ever by women. * Guardian *Moore has scoured archives and diaries to produce a meticulously researched history of this extraordinary institution.... By writing this splendid book, Moore has ensured that the efforts of these pioneering women will never be forgotten. * Literary Review *Meticulously researched, written with élan and wit, Moore's account comes at just the right time... [it] reminds us that people can rise to an occasion, that the biggest advances - for medicine, for humanity - can come during the toughest times, as a result of the toughest times. It reminds us that great courage and great ingenuity are possible even when the world feels very dark. * New York Times *Informative, compelling and poignant, Endell Street is a forgotten story superbly told. * Times Literary Supplement *An absorbing and powerful narrative...Moore has an eye for detail that brings her story to life. * Wall Street Journal *Endell Street is an absolute delight. Wendy Moore has performed an incredible feat of historical detective work, and the result is a gripping account of courage and determination in the face of death. It is impossible not to love the suffragette surgeons as they fought for the wounded abroad and for women's rights at home. -- Amanda ForemanHow can a spectacular story like Endell Street just disappear? Luckily for us, it fell into the hands of one of our finest biographers. Wendy Moore's rich storyteller's voice has brought back the lives and achievements of these brave and brilliant women. -- Andrea Wulf, author of THE INVENTION OF NATUREThe story of the extraordinary women who ran the 'Suffragettes' Hospital' is visceral, timely, urgent and spellbinding. Wendy Moore's book is utterly involving and deeply thought-provoking, and all I can do is urge you to read it. -- Helen CastorFew authors write as colourfully and compellingly about the past as Wendy Moore. In her deft hands, the horrors of the First World War and the heroic efforts of the suffragette surgeons are conjured back to life. Meticulously researched and beautifully executed, Endell Street is an important book that shows Moore to be the masterful storyteller that she is. -- Lindsey Fitzharris, author of THE BUTCHERING ARTEndell Street is an extraordinary story, and beautifully told. -- Anita AnandTable of Contents1: A Good Feeling 2: A Sort of Holiday 3: Sunshine and Sweetness 4: Good God! Women! 5: Serfs and Slaves 6: Almost Manless 7: Pioneers, O Pioneers! 8: The March of the Women 9: Darkest Before Dawn 10: Full of Ghosts 11: The Soft Long Sleep

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Book SynopsisA provocative and compelling illustrated cultural history of the worldâs oldest profession that recovers the stories of those who sold sex for a living.Trade Review'Lavishly illustrated … full of interesting nuggets' - Sunday Times'The range of Lister’s scholarship is impressive ... a fascinating book about a subject too often swept under the rug. It’s also very beautiful, magnificently designed and packed with hundreds of superb photos ... packs a powerful bite' - The Times'An engrossing exploration of individual lives and societies’ approaches to sex work across the centuries … [Lister] showcases incredible stories of agency and freedom while also recognising social stigmatisation and hardship' - Dr Fern Riddell, BBC History Magazine'Engaging, readable and written with humour, compassion and sensitivity' - Catherine Curzon, All About History'Fascinating' - Daily Mail'A beautiful volume, magnificently designed and packed with superb photos – a coffee-table book that packs a powerful punch' - The Times, History Books of the Year 2021Table of ContentsIntroduction, Tales from Gropecunt Lane Chapter 1: In Service of the Gods, Sex in the Ancient World Chapter 2: Toads and She-Wolves, Selling Sex in the Classical World Chapter 3: The Geese that Laid the Golden Egg, Sex Work in Medieval London Chapter 4: The Honest Courtesans, Selling Sex in Renaissance Europe Chapter 5: The Pleasures of the Moon, The Floating World of Edo Japan Chapter 6: Molly Houses and Mary-Anns, Men Selling Sex in Regency Britain Chapter 7: Master of the Plum Blossoms, Sex in the Qing Dynasty Chapter 8: The Great Social Evil, Prostitution in the 19th Century Chapter 9: Soiled Doves and Jailbirds, Sex for Sale in the Land of the Free Chapter 10: Maisons de Tolérance, Sex and the Belle Époque Chapter 11: The Prophylactic Dictatorships, Sex in Wartime Conclusion, The Fight Back

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Book SynopsisAn inspirational call to arms' DAILY MAILThis book is so sensible, so substantially researched, so briskly written, so clear in its arguments, that one wishes Baroness Cavendish was still whispering into the prime ministerial ear' THE TIMESA thoughtful handbook to help societies age gracefully' FINANCIAL TIMESThis bold, visionary book is a wake-up call to governments. It is a wake-up call to us all' SUNDAY TIMESFrom award-winning journalist, Camilla Cavendish, comes a profound analysis of one of the biggest challenges facing the human population today.The world is undergoing a dramatic demographic shift. By 2020, for the first time in history, the number of people aged 65 and over will outnumber children aged five and under. But our systems are lagging woefully behind this new reality. In Extra Time, Camilla Cavendish embarks on a journey to understand how different countries are responding to these unprecedented challenges.Travelling across the world in a carefully researched and deepTrade Review ‘Extra Time should perhaps be called “About Time” because it is a long overdue and brilliant counterpoint to all those pervasive arguments that our ageing societies will be poorer and sadder. Growing old, as individuals and nations, need not mean growing frailer and duller. Camilla Cavendish has written an empowering and important manifesto for how an older society can be a better society.’ ROBERT PESTON ‘In this remarkable and frequently optimistic book Camilla Cavendish sets out what is part warning and part redefinition of what it is to live longer. Her statistics and her observations of how different rich and poor will age are breathtaking. But it is above all her bravery in challenging our very notions of ageing that makes this a must read book for all those struggling to understand the enormity of change that longer life now brings.’ EMILY MAITLIS ‘Extra Time by Camilla Cavendish is an optimistic, uplifting and practical book about the huge potential for humans to live not just longer lives, but more fulfilling lives. An inspiring and essential read.’ ARIANNA HUFFINGTON, FOUNDER & CEO, THRIVE ‘A brilliant analysis of how to live longer better’ SIMON JENKINS ‘As deeply inspirational as it is informative. If you want to know how to live a long, vibrant life, Extra Time is a must read’ DR DAVID SINCLAIR ‘Demographic change is the most neglected shaper of our future. Camilla Cavendish has written the most interesting, perceptive and iconoclastic guide to its many implications. This is a truly important book’ LAWRENCE SUMMERS, President Emeritus and Charles W. Eliot University Professor of Harvard University

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Book SynopsisLa Marr Jurelle Bruce ponders the presence of “madness” in black literature, music, and performance since the early twentieth century, showing how artist ranging from Kendrick Lamar and Lauryn Hill to Nina Simone and Dave Chappelle activate madness as content, form, aesthetic, strategy, philosophy, and energy in an enduring black radical tradition.Trade Review“This lyrical and profound tour de force explores the intersection of race and derailment, or ‘madness as methodology.’ We know that the traumatic discordance of slavery's enduring legacy manifests as both private sorrow and public health emergency. Yet that unyielding stress is sometimes also the forge of a radical black creativity vividly exceeding the shapeshifting states of un-Reason into which raced and nonnormative bodies are too relentlessly imagined and compressed. La Marr Jurelle Bruce has given a gift in this powerful recontextualization of black creative ‘madness’ as liberatory demand for expressive life—to wit, an aesthetic practice by which, ultimately, ‘what is stolen is returned, and what is unwritten is at last inscribed.’” -- Patricia J. Williams, columnist for "Diary of a Mad Law Professor" in The Nation"The sheer range of academic discourses that Bruce engages—from disability studies and psychoanalysis to affect theory and black studies—is impressive enough. What Bruce does within their intersections, however, is create a kind of poetics of black madness—a way of looking that is itself a way a making; or maybe it’s the converse—a way of making that is itself a way of looking. . . I can’t predict the future, but it’s so obvious to me that scholars will long be grateful for Bruce’s expansive imagination and the careful attention paid to radical black creativity in this wildly astute and socially and emotionally conscious work." -- Dawn Lundy Martin * 4Columns *"Bruce’s deft and thoughtful touch invites readers to dream loudly among a compendium of radical Black artists that few others would think about collectively. With subjects that range from early-twentieth-century jazz cornet player Buddy Bolden to contemporary rapper and composer Lauryn Hill (and many in between), Bruce’s archive reflects the mindful mayhem at the center of his methodology. . . . Bruce’s work closes with [this] imperative direction: 'Now let go.' But letting go of a book that feels both so present and so prescient may prove impossible." -- Omari Weekes * Bookforum *"In La Marr Jurelle Bruce’s How to Go Mad Without Losing Your Mind, we find ourselves in a dance with the mad. . . . [The] book is an analysis of praxis, a snap, a click, a break, an opening, a closing, the middle, the beyond, the here, the now, the then, and the there." -- Michael Cordov * E3W Review of Books *"A paradigm-shaping book for future scholarship around mental difference. Bruce’s book not only helps announce the emergence of [mad studies] but significantly advances the analytic, cultural, historical, and theoretical sophistication of mad scholarship...As a result, How to Go Mad is a must-read for those of us engaged in the intersectional politics and scholarship of difference." -- Bradley E. Lewis * Journal of Medical Humanities *"Bruce articulates understandings of madness that encompass the lived experiences of Black, queer, and disabled people, putting forth a 'mad methodology' that capsizes dominant notions of social, political, economic normalcy, and ethics, and invites, for me, a new possibility of Afrofuturistic imagining. . . . [A] dynamic critical analysis of madcrazyBlackness that spans genre, medium, and epoch." -- Victoria R. Collins * Electric Literature *"This melodic volume explores relationships between the surreal, impossible conditions (and conditions of impossibility) experienced by Black people and our radical, imaginative 'mad Black creativity.' Showing us 'lessons [we can] learn from those who make homeland in wasteland' as blueprints for freedom dreaming, Bruce picks apart the self-obscuring cultural and political forces that shape understandings of madness to disempower, disenfranchise, and control Black life and Being...It is ratchet. It is unruly. It is gorgeous." -- Kia Darling-Hammond * Nonprofit Quarterly *"With a Walt Whitman-style expansiveness, Bruce wraps his arms around a multitude of creative genres and Black artists and then pulls us into his project of 'radical compassion' with mad subjects. Bruce’s writing is both critical and compelling, analytical and yet intimate. . . . How to Go Mad without Losing Your Mind invites readers to sit with madness for a while, to explore its radical liberatory potential, and to become mad methodologists with radical compassion. Hold tight. Let go. And let this book take you there.” -- Elizabeth Donaldson * Disability Studies Quarterly *"How to Go Mad is a love story, a potent reflection on a few of the many Black creative minds who have innovated art forms and fashioned the trajectory of history, while having their 'sanity' called into question by normative, white, anti-Black, anti-Mad audiences and institutions." -- Liz Miller * Lateral *“How to Go Mad will undoubtedly influence conversations in black studies, science and technology studies, disability studies, and other fields. It is a lyrical, nuanced model of how radical care produces new approaches beyond the rehearsal of pathology.” -- Jacob Hood * Catalyst *"If we imagine Black studies to be a space of creativity where Black scholars break from disciplinary strictures and form, then this text is an exemplary practice...The writing is evocative and accessible for any of us who have felt searing rage and those whose waking hours are haunted by madness." -- Hugo ka Canham * The Black Scholar *"One cannot read this work without also assembling its madness with the mad blue notes of Buddy Bolden, the crazy blues of Bessie Smith, the 'good at' madness of Ntozake Shange’s Hyacinthe, the maddening black genius of Ms. Lauryn Hill, the unruly madness of Kanye West, or the 'mad real world' of Dave Chappelle. Bruce is not simply using these creative artists as case studies of madness dipped in black, but is presenting a terrain where the expanse of madness and blackness can only be read together—in this push and push, the fracture of Reason is revealed." -- Dana Francisco Miranda * Blog of the APA *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix 1. Mad Is a Place 1 2. "He Blew His Brains Out through the Trumpet": Buddy Bolden and the Impossible Sound of Madness 36 Interlude. "No Wiggles in the Dark of Her Soul": Black Madness, Metaphor, and "Murder!" 71 3. The Blood-Stained Bed 79 4. A Portrait of the Artist as a Mad Black Woman 110 5. "The People inside My Head, Too": Ms. Lauryn Hill Sings Truth to Power in the Key of Madness 139 6. The Joker's Wild but That Nigga's Crazy: Dave Chappelle Laughs until It Hurts 172 7. Songs in Madtime: Black Music, Madness, and Metaphysical Syncopation 201 Afterword. The Nutty Professor (A Confession) 231 Notes 239 Bibliography 303 Index 333

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Book Synopsis‘Majestic, ambitious’ Literary Review ____________________________________ We are endlessly fascinated by the French. We are fascinated by their way of life, their creativity and sophistication, and even their insistence that they are exceptional. But how did France become the country it is today, and what really sets it apart? Historian Peter Watson sets out to answer these questions in this dazzling history of France, taking us from the seventeenth century to the present day through the nation’s most influential thinkers. He opens the doors to the Renaissance salons that brought together poets, philosophers and scientists, and tells the forgotten stories of the extraordinary women who ran these institutions, fostering a culture of stylish intellectualism unmatched anywhere else in the world. It’Trade Review‘Majestic, ambitious . . . [Peter Watson] deserves admiration for the grace and agility with which he interlinks the development of a vigorous cultural identity and the seismic shifts of French national history, continually lurching between triumph and disaster. Impressive enough in its scope, authority and sprightliness to leave us wondering whether a French writer could have managed the task quite as deftly’ * Literary Review *‘An encyclopaedic celebration of French intellectuals refusing to give up on universal principles . . . while remaining slim, bringing up well-behaved children and falling in love at every opportunity’ * The Times *‘He unfurls his intellectual history in the form of vivid biographies . . . [an] engaging movement through time towards France’s recent reckonings with extremism, exceptionalism and empire . . . perceptive’ * TLS *'A love for France radiates from this book' * Financial Times *

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Book SynopsisFrom clay tablets to the printing press. From the pencil to the internet. From the Epic of Gilgamesh to Harry Potter. This is the true story of literature -- of how great texts and technologies have shaped cultures and civilizations and altered human history. The inventions of paper, the printing press and the world wide web are usually considered the major influences on the way we share stories. Less well known is the influence of Greek generals, Japanese court ladies, Spanish adventurers, Malian singers and American astronauts, and yet all of them played a crucial role in shaping and spreading literature as we know it today. The Written World tells the captivating story of the development of literature, where stories intersect with writing technologies like clay, stone, parchment, paper, printing presses and computers. Central to the development of religions, political movements and even nations, texts spread useful truths and frightening disinformation, and have the power to change lives. Through vivid storytelling and across a huge sweep of time, The Written World offers a new and enticing perspective on human history.

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Book Synopsis1856. Eighteen-year-old chemistry student William Perkin's experiment has gone horribly wrong. But the deep brown sludge his botched project has produced has an unexpected power: the power to dye everything it touches a brilliant purple. Perkin has discovered mauve, the world's first synthetic dye, bridging a gap between pure chemistry and industry which will change the world forever.From the fetching ribbons tying back the hair of every fashionable head in London to the laboratories in which scientists developed modern vaccines against cancer and malaria, Simon Garfield tells the story of how the colour purple became a sensation.Trade ReviewA book about science which also happens to be a miniature work of art * * Daily Telegraph * *Intriguing and elegant * * Guardian * *Thoroughly researched and beautifully written * * New Scientist * *By bringing Perkin into the open and documenting his life and work, Garfield has done a service to history * * Chicago Tribune * *Simon Garfield's history of the synthetic dye industry mixes chemistry and social history into quite a colourful tale * * Observer * *A one-man Blue Peter team for intelligent adults, a great British explainer * * Observer * *Witty, erudite and entertaining * * Esquire * *Garfield has a talent for being sparked to life by esoteric enthusiasm and charming readers with his delight * * The Times * *A sort of museum between hard covers . . . as good as pop history gets * * Sunday Express * *Simon Garfield has made his name as an author who can spin fascinating narratives out of subjects that seem, on the face of it, narrow to the point of being dull * * Financial Times * *

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Book SynopsisWhile pre-modern Europe is often seen as having an 'enchanted' or 'magical' worldview, the full implications of such labels remain inconsistently explored. Witchcraft, demonology, and debates over pious practices have provided the main avenues for treating those themes, but integrating them with other activities and ideas seen as forming an enchanted Europe has proven to be a much more difficult task. This collection offers one method of demystifying this world of everyday magic. Integrating case studies and more theoretical responses to the magical and preternatural, the authors here demonstrate that what we think of as extraordinary was often accepted as legitimate, if unusual, occurrences or practices. In their treatment of and attitudes towards spirit-assisted treasure-hunting, magical recipes, trials for sanctity, and visits by guardian angels, early modern Europeans showed more acceptance of and comfort with the extraordinary than modern scholars frequently acknowledge. Even witc

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Book SynopsisA lively diary chronicling the ups and downs of running a grocery shop in a Yorkshire town during the rationing years of the Second World War Kathleen Hey spent the war years helping her sister and brother-in-law run a grocery shop in the Yorkshire town of Dewsbury. From July 1941 to July 1946 she kept a diary for the Mass-Observation project, recording the thoughts and concerns of the people who used the shop. What makes Kathleen's account such a vivid and compelling read is the immediacy of her writing. People were pulling together on the surface ('Bert has painted the V-sign on the shop door…', she writes) but there are plenty of tensions underneath. The shortage of food and the extreme difficulty of obtaining it is a constant thread, which dominates conversation in the town, more so even than the danger of bombardment and the war itself. Sometimes events take a comic turn.

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Book SynopsisAntoinette Burton argues that gender history is hiding in plain sight, at work everywhere we look.This volume introduces the field of gender history--its origins, development, reception, recalibrations, and frictions. It offers a set of working definitions of gender as a descriptive category and as a category of historical analysis, tracing the emergence, usage, and applicability of these entwined subjects across a range of times and places since the 1970s.Inevitably political, gender history has taken aim at the broader field of historical narrative by asking who counts as a historical subject, what difference gender makes, and how attention to it subverts reigning assumptions of what power, culture, economics, and identity have been in the past--and what they are today. The book explores how gender analysis has changed interpretations of the histories of slavery, capitalism, migration, and empire. As a field, gender history has been extraordinarily influential in shaping several generations of scholars and students. The fact that its early emphasis on the relationship between masculinity and femininity was part of a larger set of challenges to universal history by poststructuralism, postmodernism, and postcolonialism positions it at the heart of some of the most fractious intellectual debates of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. And, as part of the movement toward gender equality that is key to modern western progress, gender history has been caught up in the culture wars that continue to shape post-global society. What is intriguing and ultimately defining about gender history is the way that the centrality of gender, so important for revealing how identity is structured in and through regimes of power, has been unable to hold its own over the half century of the field''s own history. The practice of gender history has always run up against the forces of race, class, and sexuality that challenge the singularity of gender itself as an explanatory category of historical analysis. That powerful, unruly tension is at the heart of this Very Short Introduction.

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Book SynopsisEggs or Anarchy is one of the great, British stories of the Second World War yet to be told in full. It reveals the heroic tale of how Lord Woolton, Minister for Food, really fed Britain. As a nation at war, with supply routes under attack from the Axis powers and resources scarce, it was Woolton's job to fulfil his promise to the British people, and Prime Minister Winston Churchill in particular, that there would be food on the shelves each week. Persuading the public to not resort to the black market and to manage on the very limited ration was one thing, but Woolton had to fulfil his side of the bargain and maintain supplies in time of crisis. A grammar school-educated genius, he was a fish out of water in Churchill's cabinet and the PM himself doubted Woolton would survive due to the unstinting criticism he faced from colleagues, the press and public.   This is the story of how he battled to save his own career while using every trick in his entrepreneuriaTrade Review‘William writes with irresistible wit and energy . . . A compelling portrait of one of the unsung, enigmatic heroes of the Second World War’ -- Michel Roux OBE‘The battles of the Second World War have been pored over in minute detail; not so the battles waged on the Kitchen Front. The food writer William Sitwell’s account of Lord Woolton, the man in charge of the Ministry of Food during the war, is an entertaining corrective to this.’ * The Times *‘Eggs or Anarchy is as much a beguiling study of social mobility as it is a hard war memoir … there is much to enjoy – with barely a powdered egg in sight – in this biography of the man who was responsible for arguably the healthiest national diet of all time’ -- Sinclair McKay * Sunday Telegraph *‘Eggs or Anarchy meticulously completes the backstory of the war. In this absorbing book Sitwell proves Woolton’s genuine intentions, absolves him for his tough line and also presents a portrait of a man whose style and approach to problems is still highly instructive. It is often said that generally the British were never healthier than in the war years. How we need a Woolton now’ -- Rose Prince * The Spectator *‘Fascinating biography’ -- Andrew Marr * Radio 4 Start the Week *‘A wonderful account of how Lord Woolton, Minster for Food, managed to keep Britain fed during World War Two… a riveting read full of delicious historical details about how one unassuming man battled against all odds to keep bellies full and morale high despite the dreaded food rationing. Excuse the pun, but I could have eaten this book up with a spoon’ * Red Magazine *

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Book SynopsisThis groundbreaking investigation into the lives of London's underclass was undertaken by Henry Mayhew in the 1850s. His interviews with street traders, beggars, and thieves results in a work as vivid as a Victorian novel. This new selection includes original illustrations and an illluminating introduction and notes.Trade ReviewReview from previous edition Robert Douglas-Fairhurst has a strong sense of the contradictory forces at work in Mayhew's writing, which he compares successively to a peep show, a collection of dramatic monologues and an early work of sociology...this selection is still as long as a fair-sized novel, with helpful notes and a springy, suggestive introduction that captures the energy and variety of Mayhew's world. * John Bowen, TLS 17/12/2010 *Should be required reading not just for lovers of Dickens, but for anyone who wishes to understand how our nineteenth century truly was. * Simon Heffer, Telegraph 14/01/2011 *superb new edition * Ian Thomson, Evening Standard 02/12/2010 *superb introduction * Michael Dirda, Washington Post 26/01/2011 *some of the best descriptive writing in the English language * Roy Hattersley, New Statesman 18/10/2010 *

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Book SynopsisLetters to the Midwife is a wonderful collection of correspondence received by Jennifer Worth, offering a fascinating glimpse into a long-lost world.Along with readers' responses and personal histories, it is filled with all sorts of heart-warming gems. There are stories from other midwives, lorry drivers, even a seamstress, all with tales to tell.Containing previously unpublished material describing her time spent in Paris and some journal entries, this is also a portrait of Jennifer herself, complete with a moving introduction by her family about the woman they knew and loved.Trade ReviewFans of the four Call the Midwife books that inspired the TV series will treasure this collection of letters to and from the author, Jennifer Worth, who passed away in 2011. Her tales of life in 1950s East End London inspired others to share their experiences of nursing at the time, along with responses from people from all walks of life. Perhaps most moving are the notes from Sister Jocelyn (known as Sister Julienne in the books), offering words of wisdom. * WOMAN *Jennifer Worth, author of the bestselling Call the Midwife, sadly passed away in May 2011 following a short illness. Her books have gained a great deal of popularity in recent years with their mixture of warmth, sadness and humour based on her experiences working as a midwife in the East End of London. Letters to the Midwife features some of the treasured letters received by Worth from former work colleagues and fans of her books. The resulting book is a rich testament to a life lived fully and to a very special lady whose memories have managed to inspire and touch so many * www.thebookbag.co.uk *

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Book SynopsisFresh, exciting and vividly readable, this is popular history at its very best.Our understanding of world history is changing, as new discoveries are made on all the continents and old prejudices are being challenged. In this truly global journey, political journalist Andrew Marr revisits some of the traditional epic stories, from classical Greece and Rome to the rise of Napoleon, but surrounds them with less familiar material, from Peru to the Ukraine, China to the Caribbean. He looks at cultures that have failed and vanished, as well as the origins of today’s superpowers, and finds surprising echoes and parallels across vast distances and epochs. A History of the World is a book about the great change-makers of history and their times, people such as Cleopatra, Genghis Khan, Galileo and Mao, but it is also a book about us. For ‘the better we understand how rulers lose touch with reality, or why revolutions produce dictators more often thanTable of ContentsAcknowledgements - i: Acknowledgements Introduction - ii: Introduction Chapter - 1: Out of the Heat, Towards the Ice Chapter - 2: The Case for War Chapter - 3: The Sword and the Word Chapter - 4: Beyond the Muddy Melting Pot Chapter - 5: The World Blows Open Chapter - 6: Dreams of Freedom Chapter - 7: Capitalism and its Enemies Chapter - 8: 1918-2012: Our Times Section - iii: Notes Section - iv: Bibliography Index - v: Index Acknowledgements - vi: Picture Acknowledgements

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Book SynopsisAcknowledged as a masterpiece of materialist criticism, this book delves into the complex ways economic reality shapes the imagination. Surveying two hundred years of history and English literature – from George Eliot to George Orwell – Williams provides insights into the social and economic forces that have shaped British culture and society. Provocative and revolutionary in its day, this work overturned conventional thinking about the development of a common British mentality.Trade ReviewHe was the foremost political thinker of his generation in Britain who in his most formidable books, Culture And Society, The Long Revolution and The Country And The Town, redrew the map of our cultural history, and elsewhere made heroic interventions in the main political debates of his time * Guardian *For those who read English in the '60s, it was common to revere Williams as both a rock of integrity and a pathfinder for new ways of seeing culture, communication, class and democracy * Independent *Brave, intelligent, and disciplined...a most impressive work -- C. P. SnowPenetrating, lucid, objective, and also honestly engaged...the best reasoned plea that I have read for a common culture -- Angus WilsonBrilliantly intelligent...a good critic and also an original thinker -- Stuart Hampshire

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Book SynopsisBrings out the 'dark side' of gin - the lesser-known version of gin's history, as well as the tales of sinister, sad or criminal behaviour.

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Book SynopsisAward-winning historian Joanne M. Ferraro's The Renaissance and the Wider World skillfully surveys the economic, political, social, and cultural history of Europe for the period between 1250 and 1600. The book examines how the Renaissance manifested itself through developments in the high culture of art, architecture, philosophy, science, technology, and education, as well as material culture in the form of worldly goods and consumption patterns. Ferraro expertly shows how Renaissance high culture began in 13th-century Italy, with important ancient and medieval legacies and cultural infusions from China, North Africa, and Islam and, from the 16th century, the Ottomans and the Americas; she also examines some of the ways in which this Renaissance then impacted the rest of Europe, the Americas, and the Ottoman Empire during the 15th and 16th centuries. Vital and innovative themes that permeate the text's discussions of science, art, architecture, philosophy, andTrade ReviewA compelling reconceptualization of the Renaissance in Italy as not insular but part of an expansive transnational network. Ferraro, an historian well versed in scholarly debates, poses and answers new questions with original findings and ground-breaking information. A marvelous achievement and indispensable reading for students, scholars and a broad audience! * Margaret F. Rosenthal, Professor of Italian, University of Southern California, USA *Ferraro’s Renaissance deftly introduces the great artists and thinkers of this period. But, at the same time, her text – with its attention to women, workers, and global interactions – offers the most inclusive portrait we have yet of this transformative period. In short, this a major work of humanistic scholarship * John Jeffries Martin, Professor of History, Duke University, USA *This groundbreaking book presents the major cultural developments of the Italian Renaissance in an expansive context, both chronologically (beginning with its origins in classical antiquity) and spatially (in a global setting that reaches beyond the Italian peninsula). * Patricia Fortini Brown, Professor Emerita of Art & Archaeology, Princeton University, USA *Well-written and thoughtfully organized, this textbook on Renaissance Italy provides a lively synthesis of cutting-edge recent scholarship on the period and returns it to its deserved place at the center of the Western tradition and world history as well. Ferraro at her best and a text that students will read with excitement and enthusiasm. * Professor Guido Ruggiero, Emeritus, University of Miami, USA *Table of ContentsList of Figures List of Maps List of Boxes Acknowledgements Introduction: The Invention of the Renaissance 1. Foundations: The Ancient and Medieval Legacies 2. Urban Revitalization and Political Organization: 1000-1350 3. Spheres of Culture: 1000-1375 4. Daily Life and Modes of Socialization 5. Fifteenth-Century Politics 6. Humanism and the Circulation of Knowledge 7. Fifteenth Century Art and Its Patrons 8. A Shifting World: Italy in the Sixteenth Century 9. Sixteenth-Century Cultural and Intellectual Life 10. Worldly Connections: the Renaissance Exchange Glossary Index

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Book SynopsisShortlisted for the Theatre Book Prize; former prime minister John Major takes a remarkable journey into his own unconventional family past to tell the story of the British music hall.John Major shares memories of his performer father Tom and then shines the spotlight on the story of the music hall itself, from its Victorian heyday to its demise.In this fond look back at characters such as Marie Lloyd, Little Tich and Vesta Tilley, these faded stars take their place in the limelight once more.Packed with colourful anecdotes, My Old Man' is a warm-hearted account of a golden and bygone age.Trade Review‘An uncommon book about one of the most extraordinary, vital and creative chapters in British theatrical history admiration … Major also nobly honours his parents and the life they lived. The affection is palpable and anything but pious. In short, he gets it’ Simon Callow, Guardian ‘Affectionate, charming and unexpectedly lively … Major paints a vivid picture … to read this richly enjoyable book is to be given a glimpse into a lost world’ Mail on Sunday ‘Entertaining and well-paced … My Old Man is a powerful and affecting tribute’ Daily Express ‘His deep affection for his parents inspires his finest writing…fascinating … My Old Man is an entertaining and intriguing potted history, full of quirky details about this quintessentially English phenomenon’ Independent ‘Entertaining, fascinating and written with love….the admiration that John feels for his father is palpable on every page’ Sunday Express

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Book SynopsisThe way Robert Peal describes Georgian England, you'd be mad not to want to live there yourself' GUARDIANAnne Bonny and Mary Read, pirate queens of the CaribbeanTipu Sultan, the Indian ruler who kept the British at bayOlaudah Equiano, the former slave whose story shocked the worldMary Wollstonecraft, the feminist who fought for women's rightsLadies of Llangollen, the lovers who built paradise in a Welsh valleyMad, bad and dangerous to know' is how Lord Byron, the poet who drank wine from a monk's skull and slept with his half-sister, was described by one of his many lovers. But mad, bad and dangerous' serves as a good description for the entire Georgian period: often neglected, the hundred or so years between the coronation of George I in 1714 and the death of George IV in 1830 were years when the modern world was formed, and changes came thick and fast.Across this century, new foods pineapples, coffee and pepper suddenly became available in the shops. Fashion exploded into a riot of colour, frilly shirts and wigs. Gin was drunk like it was water. Demands for women's rights were heard, and it became possible to question the existence of God without fear of prompt execution.These exciting new developments came, of course, from the expanding British Empire. Britain's wealth and its sudden access to chocolate, chillies and spices, was entirely bound up with the conquest of overseas territories and the miserable suffering of enslaved workers.This is the backdrop to Robert Peal's new book, which introduces the Georgian era through the diverse lives of twelve magnificent if not moral' people who defined it.Trade Review‘The way Robert Peal describes Georgian England, you’d be mad not to want to live there yourself … He does make us think about the extraordinary breadth of experience on show in a period that tends to get written off in popular history … Peal has a sharp awareness of the best scholarly work on the subject and where to find it … An excellent entry point’KATHRYN HUGHES, GUARDIAN ‘[A] lively portrait of 12 notable Georgians … This book will keep you awake. Steering clear of pompous, soporific vocabulary … There are some good life stories here, gutsily told’DAILY MAIL ‘Peal brings the era to vivid, outrageous life, writing chattily, with a scattering of slang that wouldn’t have made the Georgians turn a hair’CAMDEN NEW JOURNAL ‘This is a form of history book that I very, very much enjoy … A really good, fun, interesting read. It’s very accessible. It’s very irreverent and witty, laughing at the madness of the Georgian period … I would definitely recommend it’BOOKS AND THINGS ‘I wish Robert Peal had been around when I did A-level history … I feel that Peal would have inspired me to achieve grade A stardom. The sheer energy and enthusiasm he brings to his subject is thrilling … Meet the Georgians uncovered in a wild and witty romp through the long 18th century’JANE AUSTEN’S REGENCY WORLD ‘Really interesting … I learnt some interesting facts I didn't already know, and enjoyed the way the author told the stories of their lives. I would recommend, and hope the author considers writing more like this, but set in other eras also’NETGALLEY REVIEWER, 5/5 STARS ‘A most enjoyable, witty and let's not forget educational read! I think this book can be a great way to attract teens to history. But it is definitely not only a read for teens … I would love to see this made into a series(patiently waiting for 'Meet the Victorians' to be made a reality)’NETGALLEY REVIEWER, 4/5 STARS

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Book SynopsisCurry tells the story of an array of familiar Indian dishes and the people who invented, discovered, cooked and ate them. Curry is vivid, entertaining and delicious.Fascinating and meticulously researchedlayers historical fact with mouth-watering dinner table gossip' Meera Syal, The TimesThis imaginative book tells the history of India and its rulers through their food. It follows the story of curry as it spread from the courts of Delhi to the balti houses of Birmingham.Curry is the product of India''s long history of invasion. In the wake of the Mughal conquerors, an army of cooks brought Persian recipes to northern India; in the south, Portugese spice merchants introduced vinegar marinades and the chillies they had recently discovered in the New World; the British soon followed, with their passion for roast meat accompanied by cauliflowers and beans. When these new ingredients were mixed with native spices, they produced tTrade ReviewMarvellous and well-illustrated...based on exhaustive research and full of intriguing nuggets of information -- Chandak Sengoopta * Independent *A beautifully balanced book, melding historical fact with modern anecdotes... It's the definitive history of curry * Mail on Sunday *Fascinating and meticulously researched... layers historical fact with mouth-watering dinner table gossip of maharajah's epicurean excesses -- Meera Syal * The Times *Original and highly entertaining * Daily Mail *

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Book SynopsisThe Pity of It All is a passionate and poignant history of German Jews, tracing the journey of a people and their culture from the mid eighteenth century to the eve of the Third Reich.As it is usually told, the story of the Jews in Germany starts at the end, overshadowed by their tragic demise in Hitler''s Reich. Now, in this important work of historical restoration, the acclaimed historian and social critic Amos Elon takes us back to the beginning, chronicling a 150-year period of achievement and integration that at its peak produced a golden age second only to the Renaissance.

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Book SynopsisTravelling on horseback through southern England in the early 19th century, William Cobbett provides evocative and accurate descriptions of the countryside, colourful accounts of his encounters with labourers, and indignant outbursts at the encroaching cities and the sufferings of the exploited poor. Ian Dyck''s new edition places these lively accounts of rural life in the context of Cobbett''s political and social beliefs and reveals the volume as his platform for rural radical reform.

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Book Synopsis''Roderick Floud''s ground-breaking study of the history, money, places and personalities involved in British gardens over the past 350 years gives fascinating insight into why gardening is part of this country''s soul.'' Michael Heseltine, Deputy Prime Minister (1996-1997)''Thousands of books have been written about the history of British gardens but Roderick Floud, one of Britain''s most distinguished economic historians, asks new and important questions: how much did gardens cost to build and maintain, and where did the money come from? Superbly researched, it is full of information which will surprise both economists and gardeners. The book is fun as well as edifying: Floud shows us gardens grand and humble, and introduces us gardeners, plantsmen and technologies in wonderful varieties.'' Jane Humphries, Centennial Professor, London School of EconomicsAt least since the seventeenth century, most of the English population have been unable to stop making, improving and dreaming of gardens. Yet in all the thousands of books about them, this is the first to address seriously the question of how much gardens and gardening have cost, and to work out the place of gardens in the economic, as well as the horticultural, life of the nation. It is a new kind of gardening history.Beginning with the Restoration of Charles II in 1660, Roderick Floud describes the role of the monarchy and central and local government in creating gardens, as well as that of the (generally aristocratic or plutocratic) builders of the great gardens of Stuart, Georgian and Victorian England. He considers the designers of these gardens as both artists and businessmen - often earning enormous sums by modern standards, matched by the nurserymen and plant collectors who supplied their plants. He uncovers the lives and rewards of working gardeners, the domestic gardens that came with the growth of suburbs and the impact of gardening on technical developments from man-made lakes to central heating.AN ECONOMIC HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH GARDEN shows the extraordinary commitment of money as well as time that the English have made to gardens and gardening over three and a half centuries. It reveals the connections of our gardens to the re-establishment of the English monarchy, the national debt, transport during the Industrial Revolution, the new industries of steam, glass and iron, and the built environment that is now all around us. It is a fresh perspective on the history of England and will open the eyes of gardeners - and garden visitors - to an unexpected dimension of what they do.Trade ReviewA fascinating history of gardening reveals our expensive passion for all things green... This is the first economic history of the English garden and frankly it's almost shocking that no one has looked into it until now... There is a mind-boggling amount of detail in this book ... Floud is a clear writer and excels at providing context and keeping the whole enterprise grounded. -- Ann Treneman * The Times *We have social histories of the English garden, art histories of the big ones and plant histories of what went where. We seldom have a financial history. Floud has set out to write one, applying his head for statistics to this under-cultivated field... an invaluable checklist ... Floud's bigger point is that gardening is and has been a big element of the total economy. ... Amazing. Floud casts his net wide. -- Robin Lane Fox * Financial Times *This is a very different kind of gardening book. It's not about design or horticultural techniques, but is a history, - the first of its kind, the author claims - of the economics of gardening, financial excess and all, from Charles II to today ... extraordinarily interesting. Floud impresses on us the sheer scale of what we're dealing with here... his book is full of fascinating detail - about everything from working-class gardens, kitchen gardens and nurseries, to the astonishing cost of some rare plants and their shrinking value over time. -- Andrew Holgate * Sunday Times *This is one of the most important books on garden history in the last half century and, for anyone serious about the subject, it is a Must Buy. -- Richard Mawrey * Historic Gardens Newsletter *a new kind of garden history ... Filled with fascinating and often surprising details -- P D Smith * Guardian *this is an immensely engaging book. The figures Floud presents, while abundant and obviously carefully uncovered, are so remarkable ... Floud's economic approach may seem an oblique means of interpreting [a landscape] but, trust me, it is surprisingly rewarding -- Robert Leigh-Pemberton * Daily Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisA DAILY TELEGRAPH BOOK OF THE YEAR 2022''There is unlikely to be a fuller or more informative history of Birmingham than Vinen''s'' Jonathan Coe, Financial Times''Vinen has written a history of Birmingham, but it is also a theory of Birmingham. And also, perhaps, a theory of England. I buy it'' Daily TelegraphFor over a century, Birmingham has been the second largest town in England. In his richly enjoyable new book Richard Vinen captures the drama of a small village that grew to become the quintessential city of the twentieth century: a place of mass production and full employment that began in the 1930s, but which came to a cataclysmic halt in the 1980s. Birmingham has also been a magnet for migration, drawing in people from Wales, Ireland, India, Pakistan and the Caribbean. Indeed, much of British history can be explained, in large measure, with reference to Birmingham.Vinen roots his sweeping story in the experience of individuals. This is a book about figures everyone has heard of, from J. R. R. Tolkien to Duran Duran, and also about those that everyone ought to have heard of. It captures the ways in which hundreds of thousands of people - from the Welsh miners who poured into the car factories in the 1930s to the young women who danced to reggae in the basement of Rebecca''s nightclub in the 1980s - were caught up in the convulsions of social change.Birmingham is not a pretty place, and its history does not always make for comfortable reading. But modern Britain does not make sense without it.Trade ReviewVinen's biography of the city is a spirited attempt at uncovering the mystery of how Birmingham, in his view, has managed for so long to stand at the centre of Britain's modern industrial, economic, political and cultural history without anyone noticing... This absorbing book shows us how we did it. -- Lynsey Hanley * Observer *Richard Vinen's new history of his native city explains everything ... Vinen has written a history of Birmingham, but it is also a theory of Birmingham. And also, perhaps, a theory of England. I buy it. -- Matthew Sweet * Daily Telegraph *[A] sweeping history ... There's a much better story to be told [about Birmingham] - and it's revealed between the covers of this book. -- Pete Paphides * The Times *A superb retort to [the] slings and arrows of derision ... Birmingham's very mutability ... is the key to its survival. -- Stuart Jeffries * Spectator *Absorbing ... There is unlikely to be a fuller or more informative history of Birmingham than Vinen's. -- Jonathan Coe * Financial Times *Birmingham's ordinariness has prevented us from seeing what is extraordinary in its history. Brummies shaped our everyday world ... Vinen's book provides a template for how we might level up the way we write about England's northern and Midland cities. -- Robert Colls * Literary Review *Second City makes the case that Brum is, for all its amorphousness, England's second city, and rightly pays tribute to Joe Chamberlain for transforming it through his progressive policies in the 1870s. -- Simon Heffer * Daily Telegraph Books of 2022 *A key text for understanding our times ... Highly recommended, truly thought provoking. -- Ruth Barbour * Open History *PRAISE FOR NATIONAL SERVICE: Written with compassion and insight, Vinen's book brilliantly recreates the atmosphere of postwar Britain. -- Tony Barber * Financial Times Books of the Year *I can't recall ever having read so unexpectedly fascinating a book... every single page has something of great interest on it. -- Nicholas Lezard * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisA chilling, truly authoritative anthology of real-life accounts of witches, from medieval Europe through colonial AmericaFrom a manual for witch hunters written by King James himself in 1597, to court documents from the Salem witch trials of 1692, to newspaper coverage of a woman stoned to death on the streets of Philadelphia while the Continental Congress met, The Penguin Book of Witches is a treasury of historical accounts of accused witches that sheds light on the reality behind the legends. Bringing to life stories like that of Eunice Cole, tried for attacking a teenage girl with a rock and buried with a stake through her heart; Jane Jacobs, a Bostonian so often accused of witchcraft that she took her tormentors to court on charges of slander; and Increase Mather, an exorcism-performing minister famed for his knowledge of witches, this volume provides a unique tour through the darkest history of English and North American witchcraft.Trade ReviewThis comprehensive collection of carefully selected documents and published primary materials, coupled with judicious and informative introductions, will help modern readers understand the seemingly inexplicable and persistent popular phenomenon of belief in witchcraft from the seventeenth century into more modern times -- Mary Beth Norton (author of In the Devil's Snare)Fascinating and insightful. With her usual skill, Katherine Howe navigates the winding path leading to Salem's hysteria and beyond. A must-read for anyone who wants to know not only what happened but also how and why -- Brunonia Barry (author of The Lace Reader)

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Book SynopsisThis extraordinary re-creation of the life of a medieval Italian merchant, Francesco di Marco Datini, is one of the greatest historical portraits written in the twentieth century.Drawing on an astonishing cache of letters unearthed centuries after Datini''s death, it reveals to us a shrewd, enterprising, anxious man, as he makes deals, furnishes his sumptuous house, buys silks for his outspoken young wife and broods on his legacy. It is an unequalled source of knowledge about the texture of daily life in the small, earthy, violent, striving world of fourteenth-century Tuscany.''Datini has now probably become most intimately accessible figure of the later Middle Ages ... brilliant and intricate'' The Times''As a picture of Tuscany before the dawn of the Renaissance it is a complement to The Decameron'' Sunday TimesTrade ReviewFrancesco di Marco Datini, the fourteenth-century Tuscan merchant who forms the subject of Origo's brilliant study, has now probably become the most intimately accessible figures of the later Middle Ages ... paints, in brilliant and intricate detail, a picture of Italian domestic life on the eve of the Renaissance * The Times *As a picture of the daily round in Tuscany before the dawn of the Renaissance it is a complement to The Decameron * Sunday Times *

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Book Synopsis''No brief survey can do justice to the richness, complexity and detail of Foucault''s discussion'' New York Review of BooksThe second volume of Michel Foucault''s pioneering analysis of the changing nature of desire explores how sexuality was perceived in classical Greek culture.From the stranger byways of Greek medicine (with its advice on the healthiest season for sex, as well as exercise and diet) to the role of women, The Use of Pleasure is full of extraordinary insights into the differences - and the continuities - between the Ancient, Christian and Modern worlds, showing how sex became a moral issue in the west. ''Required reading for those who cling to stereotyped ideas about our difference from the Greeks in terms of pagan license versus Christian austerity'' Los Angeles Times Book ReviewTrade ReviewNo brief survey can do justice to the richness, complexity, and detail of Foucault's discussion ... subtle and penetrating * New York Review of Books *'A man of the same era and Gilles Deleuze, Jacques Lacan, Louis Althusser, Jacques Lacan, Louis Althusser, Jacques Derrida and Jean Baudrillard, he was, in his writings and his life, the most accessible of them all, as well as the most beguiling' -- Richard Gott * Guardian *Always provocative, needling, disconcerting * Washington Times *

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Book SynopsisDescribes author's boyhood in the Philippines, his voyage to America, and his years of hardship and despair as an itinerant laborer following the harvest trail in the rural West.Trade Review"America came to him in a public ward in the Los Angeles County Hospital while around him men died gasping for their last bit of air, and he learned that while America could be cruel it could also be immeasurably kind. . . . For Carlos Bulosan no lifetime could be long enough in which to explain to America that no man could destroy his faith in it again. He wanted to contribute something toward the final fulfillment of America. So he wrote this book that holds the bitterness of his own blood." -- Carlos P. Romulo * New York Times *"Bulosan’s gripping memoir-novel of a young Filipino immigrant long ago secured its place in Asian American literature. . . . An outstanding introductory essay extends the historical discussion (and in some ways brings it full circle) in this third edition. . . . [Bulosan’s] call to action resonates with the same urgency today as it did seven decades ago." -- Greg Lewis * Pacific Northwest Quarterly *"To resist the call to heartlessness, let’s heed the call to idealism expressed by Bulosan in America Is in the Heart." -- Tyron Beason * Seattle Times *

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Book SynopsisA history of modern Jewish literature that explores our enduring attachment to the book as an objectTrade ReviewFinalist for the 2023 Jordan Schnitzer Book Award, sponsored by AJS“A bold, often surprising, and luminous study that enhances our perception.”—Ranen Omer-Sherman, University of Louisville“Original and finely instructive, this work leads us to see something new and illuminating about the very modality of literature.”—Robert Alter, author of The Art of Biblical Narrative“Whether reading the poignant details of memory books and graphic novels or analyzing small magazines and visual images in modern Jewish literature, Barbara Mann offers insight into the ways publications work as cultural objects in this vivid contribution to the material history of literature.”—Johanna Drucker, author of Iliazd: A Meta-Biography of a Modernist“At once erudite, evocative, and intellectually exciting, this extraordinary book incites us to think in new ways about materiality and literature. This beautifully written and infinitely rewarding book resists a quick reading, demanding careful attentiveness from the first word to the last.”—Leora Auslander, University of Chicago

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Book SynopsisA vibrant history of the castle in England, from the early Middle Ages to the present dayTrade Review“Fascinating . . . eyewitness accounts from behind the gates of fortresses from the seventh century to now bring these imposing buildings to life.”—Maev Kennedy, Art Newspaper“Through the work of figures including Gawain Poet, Walter Scott, Evelyn Waugh, and P.G. Wodehouse, Goodall draws both on first-hand accounts and feats of imagination to build a picture of the castle’s place in our history and national consciousness.”—This England“Explores not only the merlons and crenels, knights and damsels, towers and dungeons, but why these still resonate with us as much as they still do today.”—Hereward Corbett, Cotswold Life“Ranges from focused vignettes of moments in the life of real castles to wider discursions on social and architectural history through the prism of fictional ones. . . . New discoveries, such as the use of cathedrals for military purposes during ‘the Anarchy’ in twelfth-century England, are delightful surprises.”—Historic House“No one knows castles better than John Goodall. . . . The book is well-written: expert but always intelligible; conversational but never condescending.”—Marc Morris, BBC History Magazine“John Goodall, has followed his majestic survey, The English Castle (Yale, 2011), in . . . a surprising and brilliant way. . . . A magpie reader will also find much to delight: swooping in, then out clutching a single gem or nugget. Equally, should you be planning a weekend jaunt—and here the portable size is a boon—the related entry will help to bring your chosen ancient abode to life.”—Jacqueline Riding, Country Life“This lively, literary book illuminates each of these facets by drawing on the accounts of people who were there at the time, and also sets out to explain why castles continue to exert such a pull on our imagination today, in the 21st century.”—BBC History Revealed“[Goodall] is persuasive that different histories, real or imagined, have been projected onto these buildings across the centuries. This insightful, engaging book allows us to better understand these complex buildings, now and in the future.”—James Sewry, Times Literary Supplement“Looking at castles from the medieval period to Civil War engagements, right up to modern manifestations in Harry Potter, this book is well-researched and complemented by 352 fascinating illustrations.”—Countryside“This new book by John Goodall is a fascinating and unusual take on the castles of England in that it shows the reader inside and beyond the usual descriptions of these massive buildings and fortifications.”—Sandra Callard, On: Yorkshire Magazine“A masterful and erudite companion of the neglected heroes of British architecture.”—Simon Jenkins, author of A Short History of England“It is a pleasure to find John Goodall moving on from his masterpiece, The English Castle, to this evocative account of all that life in them has inspired.”—Mark Girouard, author of Life in the English Country House“Hugely powerful, this captivating triumph redefines the castle narrative. A comprehensive history, with tales from above crenelations and down dungeons—through which Goodall’s architectural expertise and passion ooze. Like the fortifications brought to life on every page, this is a landmark work, as equally ambitious as it is expertly researched.”—Emma J. Wells, author of Pilgrim Routes of the British Isles‘Nobody is better qualified than John Goodall to chart the history of the castle across more than a thousand years. Using chronicles, letters, accounts, poems, and material culture, he reveals through the eyes of contemporaries the castle’s changing form and place in Britain’s landscape, and in its history and culture. The Castle is a tour de force of architectural history.’—Sophie Thérèse Ambler, author of The Song of Simon de Montfort ‘The Castle is the first of its kind in its wide-sweeping ambitious chronology presented in an accessible and exciting way. John Goodall uses historical evidence in conjunction with images, architecture, and literary texts to masterfully take the reader on a journey from the earliest origins of the castle to the modern magical castle of Hogwarts and beyond. This book is a must for anyone interested in over 1000 years of castle history in Britain.’—Audrey Thorstad, author of The Culture of Castles in Tudor England and Wales

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Book SynopsisHow objects associated with the American, French, and Haitian revolutions drew diverse people throughout the Atlantic world into debates over revolutionary idealsTrade Review“By excavating the power of material objects and visual images to express the fervor and fear of the revolutionary era, Ashli White brings us closer to more fully embodied, more fully human, figures.”—Richard Rabinowitz, author of Objects of Love and Regret: A Brooklyn Story“In this important, innovative book, Ashli White moves nimbly between North America, Europe, and the Caribbean to capture the richness and complexity of material culture in the Age of Revolutions.”—Michael Kwass, Johns Hopkins University“Envisioning revolution as the turning of a wheel—a cycling and circulating material thing—rather than as a new beginning offers fresh insights into how times of massive transformation can encompass enduring ways of life. White’s vivid and deeply researched account of the Atlantic Age of Revolutions takes its shape from the contested meanings of objects made, disseminated, and used in ways that show how even the most successful revolts against empires could still leave people firmly within their orbit.”—Vincent Brown, author of Tacky’s Revolt: The Story of an Atlantic Slave War“By focusing not on inspirational texts but on the circulation of the material culture of everyday life, Ashli White’s exciting and deeply-researched study makes the Age of Revolutions look all the more intriguing.”—Colin Jones, author of The Great Nation: France from Louis XV to Napoleon

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Book SynopsisTHE YEAR 1000 is a vivid evocation of how English people lived a thousand years ago - no spinach, sugar or Caesarean operations in which the mother had any chance of survival, but a world that knew brain surgeons, property developers and, yes, even the occasional gossip columnist. In the spirit of modern investigative journalism, Lacey and Danziger interviewed the leading historians and archaeologists in their field. In the year 1000 the changing seasons shaped a life that was, by our standards, both soothingly quiet and frighteningly hazardous - and if you survived, you could expect to grow to just about the same height and stature as anyone living today. This exuberant and informative book concludes as the shadow of the millennium descends across England and Christendom, with prophets of doom invoking the spectre of the Anti-Christ. Here comes the abacus - the medieval calculating machine - along with bewildering new concepts like infinity and zero. These are portents of the futTrade ReviewThoroughly enjoyable ... a superb insight into life as it was lived a thousand years ago INDEPENDENT A brilliant little book, well-written, knowledgeable, insightful, accessible, a model of how popular social history should be written GLASGOW HERALD A series of deftly-turned vignettes of what it was like to live in England at the turn of the last millennium ... a quirky and engaging book SUNDAY TELEGRAPH A beautiful window on past history. My book of the year Simon Schama

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Book SynopsisOne of the Best Nonfiction Books of 2022,Kirkus Reviews A righteous indictment of racism and misogyny.Publishers WeeklyA powerful account of violence against Black women and girls in the United States and their fight for liberation. Echoing the energy of Nina Simone's searing protest song that inspired the title,this bookis a call to action in our collective journey toward just futures. America, Goddamexplores the combined forceof anti-Blackness, misogyny, patriarchy, and capitalism in the lives of Black women and girls in the United States today. Through personal accounts and hard-hitting analysis, Black feminist historian Treva B. Lindsey starkly assesses the forms and legacies of violence against Black women and girls, as well as their demands for justice for themselves and their communities. Combining history, theory, and memoir,America, Goddamrenders visible the gender dynamics of anti-Black violence. Black women and girls occupy a unique status of vulnerability to harm anTrade Review"A searing investigation of the violent oppression experienced by Black women and girls in America. . . . Required reading for all Americans." * Kirkus Reviews *"In this fiery debut, Lindsey . . . decries historical and contemporary injustices against Black women in America. Interweaving her own harrowing experiences with astute cultural and political analysis, Lindsey sheds light on how police mistreatment, medical racism, poverty, intracommunal violence, and other social ills place Black women in a condition of 'unlivable living.'. . . Carefully researched and sharply argued, this is a righteous indictment of racism and misogyny." * Publishers Weekly *"This book quickly creates space for the reader to ponder and grow without feeling ashamed of their starting point in the discussion. . . . The debate and exchange between the reader and the author does not call for a change in beliefs, unless desired by the reader, but a realization of the alternative harsh reality that exists for Black girls and women." * Ethnic and Racial Studies *Table of ContentsIntroduction. Goddam, Goddam, Goddam 1 Say Her Name: Policing Is Violence 2 The Caged Bird Sings: The Criminal Punishment System 3 Up against the Wind: Intracommunal Violence 4 Violability Is a Preexisting Condition: Dying in the Medical Industrial Complex 5 Unlivable: The Deadly Consequences of Poverty 6 They Say I'm Hopeless 7 We Were Not Meant to Survive Epilogue. A Letter to Ma'Khia Bryant Acknowledgments Notes Selected Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisFor two hundred years after William Shakespeare''s death, no one thought to argue that somebody else had written his plays. Since then dozens of rival candidates - including The Earl of Oxford, Sir Francis Bacon and Christopher Marlowe - have been proposed as their true author. Contested Will unravels the mystery of when and why so many people began to question whether Shakespeare wrote the plays (among them such leading writers and artists as Sigmund Freud, Henry James, Mark Twain, Helen Keller, Orson Welles, and Sir Derek Jacobi)Shakespeare scholar James Shapiro''s fascinating search for the source of this controversy retraces a path strewn with fabricated documents, calls for trials, false claimants, concealed identity, bald-faced deception and a failure to grasp what could not be imagined. If Contested Will does not end the authorship question once and for all, it will nonetheless irrevocably change the nature of the debate by confronting what''s re

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Book SynopsisFrom the bestselling author of The English comes Empire, Jeremy Paxman''s history of the British Empire accompanied by a flagship 5-part BBC TV series, for readers of Simon Schama and Andrew Marr.The influence of the British Empire is everywhere, from the very existence of the United Kingdom to the ethnic composition of our cities. It affects everything, from Prime Ministers'' decisions to send troops to war to the adventurers we admire. From the sports we think we''re good at to the architecture of our buildings; the way we travel to the way we trade; the hopeless losers we will on, and the food we hunger for, the empire is never very far away.In this acute and witty analysis, Jeremy Paxman goes to the very heart of empire. As he describes the selection process for colonial officers (''intended to weed out the cad, the feeble and the too clever'') the importance of sport, the sweating domestic life of the colonial officer''s wife (''the challenge with

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Book SynopsisThe Standard of Ur is one of the most famous objects to be discovered from ancient Mesopotamia. It was un earthed in a tomb in 1927 by Leonard Woolley during his archaeological excavations of the Royal Cemetery' of Ur located in present - day Iraq. This beautifully illustrated short introduction tells the story of discovery and significance of this splendid object.

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