Social and cultural history Books

19377 products


  • The Real Pink Panther

    Pen & Sword Books Ltd The Real Pink Panther

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisThe Pink Panther series is one of the most enduring and financially successful franchises in movie history, beginning with 1963's The Pink Panther, which introduced audiences to the iconic Inspector Clouseau, unforgettably played by Peter Sellers. Drawing on previously unseen material and exclusive' interviews with stars of the films and crew members, along with friends and colleagues of Peter Sellers, Robert Sellers presents, for the very first time, the untold story and some of the secrets behind the Pink Panther films. The original Pink Panther movie proved popular enough to spawn eight sequels. The films also inspired a popular animated TV series based on the pink panther cartoon character that appeared in the film's credit sequences. There were also spin-off toys, games, clothes, even breakfast cereal. In the 2000s, comedy legend Steve Martin twice stepped into the role of Inspector Clouseau. But behind the laughs, there was madness and darkness, and at the series' heart was

    2 in stock

    £21.25

  • An Historical Map of Ipswich

    The Historic Towns Trust An Historical Map of Ipswich

    5 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    5 in stock

    £12.00

  • Pageant

    Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Pageant

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisFocusing on examples from medieval theatre, women's suffrage campaigns, and the 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony, this is the first book to offer a critical overview of pageant as a dramatic form. By enacting highly selective historical episodes, pageants manipulate audiences' sense of the past. Through iconic music, affecting images, and vernacular forms, pageants express and, in turn, shape religious, civic, or political allegiances. Freely appropriating elements of history plays, patriotic celebrations, opera, and film, pageants create spectacles of sensory overload. Impressive recent scholarship recognizes pageants as public history, but this is the first authoritative account of the origins, characteristics, and techniques of pageants as a theatrical idiom. Performed in sporting arenas, the open air, or purpose-built theatres, these paratheatrical events express identity through what Erika Fischer-Lichte calls the re-theatricalization of theatre. Pageants are intimately connected wTable of ContentsList of Illustrations Series Preface Introduction: Ritual and religious origins of pageants Chapter 1: Pageants in the Middle Ages Chapter 2: Pageants and Power in the Twentieth Century Chapter 3: Pageants and the the Invention of Tradition Notes References Index

    2 in stock

    £13.59

  • MassObservation

    Bloomsbury Publishing PLC MassObservation

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisThis book reproduces the original 1937 founding pamphlet of Mass-Observation the compelling social research project that ran for decades in the mid-20th century with expert commentary throughout. It also features brand new supporting essays by and informative interviews with prominent scholars of Mass-Observation which reflect on the organisation, its origins and its influence on multiple academic disciplines, including history, sociology and anthropology. An introductory essay by the editor synthesizes the arguments of this material, as well as contributing vital historical context and suggestions for ways in which other disciplines might benefit from the use of Mass-Observation approaches and archival material. There is also a chronology of Mass-Observation, its publications and major figures associated with it. Mass-Observation offers an unparalleled wealth of insights into the lived experiences of Britons in the 20th century and this volume provides the best introduction to itTrade ReviewFor both newcomers and long-time enthusiasts of MO, this book provides insight into the original, ambitious intentions of the founders, useful commentaries on their achievement and its value across disciplines, as well as fascinating interviews with three people whose careers and lives have been closely entwined with the project. * Jill Kirby, Senior Lecturer, University of Sussex, UK *The original Mass-Observation pamphlet from 1937 sets out the philosophy and methods for a pioneering approach to ‘the anthropology of ourselves’ that has had a profound influence on historians, social scientists and cultural studies scholars. Its reissue here, skilfully edited and authoritatively contextualized by Jennifer Purcell and her collaborators, is both welcome and timely. * Brian Lewis, Professor of History, McGill University, Montreal, Canada *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations List of Contributors Chronology Introduction, Jennifer J. Purcell 1. ‘The Observation by Everyone of Everyone’: The Project of Mass-Observation in 1937, Ben Highmore 2. Mass-Observation, Charles Madge and Tom Harrisson 3. Uncivilising Sociology: How Mass Observation can free the discipline, Rachel Hurdley 4. Voices from the Archive, Jennifer J. Purcell Bibliography Index

    2 in stock

    £48.75

  • Burgerz

    Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Burgerz

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisHurled words. Thrown objects. Dodged burgers.A burger was thrown at Travis Alabanza on Waterloo Bridge in 2016. From this experience they have created a poetic, passionate performance piece based around the ''burger'': the texture, and taste of being trans.Their experiences include verbal abuse, ostracisation and being thrown out of a Top Shop changing room. The piece also explores the black trans experience.

    2 in stock

    £11.99

  • A Cultural History of Theatre in the Early Modern

    Bloomsbury Publishing PLC A Cultural History of Theatre in the Early Modern

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisRobert Henke is Professor of Drama and Comparative Literature, and Director of Undergraduate Studies at the Washington University, St. Louis, USA.Trade ReviewNot since the Cambridge History of American Theatre (1998–2000) has a multiauthored theatre history been as anticipated as Bloomsbury’s A Cultural History of Theatre… Having read all six volumes (1,636 pages), I can testify to the magnitude of their accomplishment. A Cultural History of Theatre is a profound reconsideration of how we understand theatre, its myriad social contexts, and the cultural work it accomplishes… the product of intellectual labor and creativity, and its accomplishments are many. A landmark work in theatre and social history, it illuminates theatre through the lens of culture, and culture through the lens of theatre. * Theatre Survey *All six volumes are aesthetically attractive, with well-chosen cover illustrations in color and numerous halftones throughout. Page layouts with wide margins, good paper, subtitles, generous bibliographies, notes, and index all add to the appeal. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals; general readers. * CHOICE *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Notes on Contributors Series Preface Editor’s Acknowledgements Introduction: Culture, Cultural History and Early Modern Theatre Robert Henke, Washington University, USA 1 Institutional Frameworks: Mapping Theatrical Resources Tom Bishop,University of Auckland, New Zealand and Robert Henke, Washington University, USA 2. Social Functions: Audience Participation, Efficacious Entertainment Erika T. Lin, The City University of New York, USA 3. Sexuality and Gender: The Early Modern Theatrical Body Eric Nicholson, Syracuse University in Florence, Italy 4. The Environment of Theatre: Urbanization and Theatre Building in Early Modern Europe Karen Newman, Brown University, USA 5. Circulation: Aristocratic, Commercial, Religious and Artistic Networks Pavel Drábek, University of Hull, UK 6. Interpretations: Antitheatrical Thinking and the Rise of 'Theatre' Stefan Hulfeld, University of Vienna, Austria 7. Communities of Production: Lives in and out of the Theatre William N. West, Northwestern University, USA 8. Repertoire and Genre: Culture and Society Friedemann Kreuder, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany 9. Technologies of Performance: From Mystery Plays to the Italian Order Blair Hoxby, Stanford, USA 10 Knowledge Transmission: Theatre at the Crossroads of Concept, Medium and Practice Ellen MacKay, Indidana University, USA Notes Bibliography Index

    2 in stock

    £25.64

  • A Cultural History of Theatre in the Age of

    Bloomsbury Publishing PLC A Cultural History of Theatre in the Age of

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisMechele Leon is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Theatre at the University of Kansas, USA.Trade ReviewThis volume is full of information about the extratextual and performative aspects of theater and will be of interest to theater and drama scholars. * Lessing Yearbook *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Notes on Contributors Series Preface Editor's Acknowledgments Introduction: Theatre and the Enlightenment Matrix Mechele Leon, University of Kansas, USA 1 Institutional Frameworks: The State, the Market, and the People in the Age of Enlightenment John O'Brien, University of Virginia, USA 2 Social Functions: Audiences and Authority David Worrall, Nottingham Trent University, UK 3 Sexuality and Gender: Changing Identities Helen E. M. Brooks, University of Kent, UK 4 The Environment of Theatre: Power, Resistance and Commerce Mechele Leon, University of Kansas, USA 5 Circulation: Emergent Modalities of Intercultural Performance Mita Choudhury, Purdue Northwest, USA 6 Interpretations: From Theatrephobia to a Theatrical 'Science of Man' Logan J. Connors, University of Miami, USA 7 Communities of Production: Eighteenth-Century Acting Companies Deborah C. Payne, American University, USA 8 Repertoire and Genres: Cultural Logics and the Trick of Theatrical Longevity Lisa A. Freeman, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA 9 Technologies of Performance: Architecture, Scenery, Light Pannill Camp, Washington University, USA 10 Knowledge Transmission: Theatrical Intelligence and the Intelligence of Theatre Daniel O'Quinn, University of Guelph, Canada Notes Bibliography Index

    2 in stock

    £25.64

  • Sexuality in Premodern Europe

    Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Sexuality in Premodern Europe

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisHow did sexual relationships work before, in and outside of marriage in the pre-modern era? What problems did contraception and sexually transmitted diseases pose? How did people deal with prostitution and pornography back then? What were the possibilities for same-sex and queer desire and practice? Using numerous examples and sources from across the continent, Sexuality in Premodern Europe shows that even in earlier centuries, sexual life had an elementary significance for the coexistence of couples and communities. It was just as decisive for how individuals saw themselves and others as it was for maintaining the social, economic and political order.Franz X. Eder interestingly emphasises the socio-historical view of sexuality, offering an apt foil for the cultural perspective which is so prevalent in the field. In this book, sexual behaviour is understood and thought about as social practice. From this vantage point, Eder deals with the function of the sexual in upbringing andTable of ContentsList of Illustrations Preface 1. Introduction 2. Reign of the Phallus: Greek Antiquity 3. Infamia and Pudicitia: Roman Antiquity 4. How the ‘Evil’ Thorn Pierced the Flesh: Judaism and Early Christianity 5. Contradictory Sexual Worlds in the Middle Ages 6. Reformation and Discipline: 15th to 17th Century 7. Coda Bibliography Index

    2 in stock

    £27.54

  • The Saucer and the Swastika

    Amberley Publishing The Saucer and the Swastika

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisRevealing the bizarre truth behind the myth of a Nazi space fleet. If only the war had lasted another six months, then Hitler would have won â because his scientists stood upon the very brink of inventing flying saucers.

    2 in stock

    £17.00

  • Lost Country Houses of Nottinghamshire

    Amberley Publishing Lost Country Houses of Nottinghamshire

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisA fascinating description of the lost country houses of Nottinghamshire, will be of interest to all those who live in the county or know it well.

    1 in stock

    £14.39

  • English Culture

    Amberley Publishing English Culture

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisJeremy Black turns his trenchant eye to the development of English culture since the eighteenth century - how does it reflect political and social conditions of the time? Here, Black looks at this question while offering an important and original account of English history.

    2 in stock

    £19.54

  • County Flags of England Scotland and Wales

    Amberley Publishing County Flags of England Scotland and Wales

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisThe counties of Caernarfonshire, Middlesex, Banffshire, and Westmorland all still exist, despite continual local government reorganisations. Why does the county flag of Caernarfonshire feature three golden eagles?

    2 in stock

    £14.39

  • Quirky Gloucester

    Amberley Publishing Quirky Gloucester

    2 in stock

    2 in stock

    £14.39

  • Strange Ways to Die in History

    Pen & Sword Books Ltd Strange Ways to Die in History

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisDeath comes for us all in the end. But it does not always come in a way you might expect. Throughout history there have been people who have suffered extraordinary, unusual, and downright weird demises. In Strange Ways to Die in History you will find out about the true stories behind unlikely stories of bizarre accidents, assassinations, and misadventures. Did a playwright really die from a tortoise being dropped on his head by an eagle? Why did an English vicar end up being eaten by lions? And what are the chances of fatality from falling into a toilet?Looking at the lives that came before the deaths reveals some of histories most fascinating individuals. Some of those examined are well known. Some are remembered only for the odd way they departed this life. Some have been forgotten entirely. Sometimes how a person dies, and how history has recorded the event, can tell us a lot about society and how we remember.This book uncovers eye-witnesses to the deaths described and contemporary

    1 in stock

    £18.70

  • Life Before the War

    Pen & Sword Books Ltd Life Before the War

    2 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    2 in stock

    £20.90

  • The Creators of Winnie the Pooh

    Pen & Sword Books Ltd The Creators of Winnie the Pooh

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisIn 1962, children's writer Roger Lancelyn Green coined the phrase The Golden Age of Children's Books'. A. A. Milne's two Winnie-the-Pooh books, published in 1926 and 1928, which were so beautifully illustrated by artist and book illustrator E. H. Shepard, fall into this category.Milne was clearly motivated to compose his Winnie-the-Pooh stories in order to entertain his young son. However, Christopher Robin came to resent the fact that his father had used his real first names as the names of Pooh's owner in the books.Was there a deeper reason why Milne created Winnie-the-Pooh? Possibly yes. The author had served as a soldier in the First World War, and by creating Pooh and his Hundred Acre Wood', he had created a world into which he could withdraw whenever he chose, and thereby mitigate the post-traumatic stress disorder which all military combatants suffer, to a greater or lesser degree. The same applied to Shepard, who also served in that conflict.Having been given the Pooh books as

    2 in stock

    £19.00

  • The Silence of the Stands

    Bloomsbury Publishing PLC The Silence of the Stands

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisLONGLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023SHORTLISTED FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 2023 - FOOTBALL BOOK OF THE YEARPowerful and poignant' Henry Winter Empathetic and poignant the game's answer to A Journal of the Plague Year' Harry Pearson The Durham City midfielder wore the resigned look of a man trying to find a jar of harissa in Farmfoods. Up front for Jarrow, a centre-forward darted around frenetically, as if chasing a kite during a hurricane...' When football disappeared in March 2020, writer and broadcaster Daniel Gray used its absence to reflect on everything the game meant to him. That bred a pledge: whenever and wherever fans were allowed to return, he would be there. The Silence of the Stands is the result of that pledge: a joyous travelogue documenting a precarious season, in which behind-closed-doors matches and travel restrictions combined to make trips to Kendal and Workington seem impossibly exotic.OfferinTrade ReviewWhen society locked down, football played on without fans. A powerful and poignant look at life behind closed doors. * Henry Winter *Joy is at the heart of Gray's writing; his delight in the little things, humble settings and small human dramas involved in the game. From the dark of Covid, this breezy and bright love letter to football was produced. Smile. Enjoy. -- Jonathan Northcroft * Sunday Times *A vivid, funny reminder of what was the weirdest time ever to be a football fan. Empathetic and poignant, it's the game's answer to A Journal of the Plague Year. -- Harry PearsonGray is a master of observing and amplifying the things we love about football but wonder if anyone else even notices * The Times *Gray writes like Lowry paints. Superb * BBC Radio *Gray is an endearing and authentic football observer, and this book reaffirms the meaning and importance of football in so many ways. -- Ian Aspinall * Late Tackle magazine *A joyous travelogue documenting a rocky season…offering a poignant peak at a surreal age and a slab of social history…moving, heartfelt and surprising uplifting. * Four Four Two *His peerless eye for the game’s endless little oddities and charms is used to chronicle his own return to the terraces after the forced exile of lockdown. No-one else writes with such obvious appreciation and warmth for the game. * The Scottish Times *We’re spoiled that the writer engaged with this task is Daniel Gray, who navigated complicated lockdown rules to produce this poetic account of football while the fans were locked out. * Scotland on Sunday *Covid could not stop football but it could stop fans from attending a game. It is a time that deserves to be recorded. It has found its peerless chronicler in Daniel Gray. * The Daily Mail *A joyous travelogue documenting a precarious season…moving, heartfelt and surprisingly uplifting * When Saturday Comes *Table of ContentsIntroduction – Jarrow 3 v 1 Durham City 1 Middlesbrough 1 v 1 Bournemouth 2 Lancaster City 1 v 2 Basford United 3 Workington 2 v 0 Mossley 4 Kendal Town 0 v 3 Tadcaster Albion 5 Southport 1 v 1 Alfreton Town 6 Cowdenbeath 2 v 0 Brechin City 7 Raith Rovers 3 v 1 Dundee 8 Rothbury 5 v 1 Forest Hall 9 Billingham Synthonia 0 v 2 West Auckland Town Epilogue Selected bibliography Acknowledgements

    2 in stock

    £12.34

  • Lighting Can Strike Twice

    Little, Brown Book Group Lighting Can Strike Twice

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £14.70

  • Double Lives

    Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Double Lives

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisSHORTLISTED FOR THE WOLFSON HISTORY PRIZE 2021Shortlisted for the PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize 2021Longlisted for the HWA Non-Fiction Crown 2021''Fabulous'' - The Times''A milestone in women''s history'' - Observer''Groundbreaking ... a fascinating read'' - HeraldIn Britain today, three-quarters of mothers are in employment and paid work is an unremarkable feature of women's lives after childbirth. Yet a century ago, working mothers were in the minority, excluded altogether from many occupations, whilst their wage-earning was widely perceived as a social ill. In Double Lives, Helen McCarthy accounts for this remarkable transformation and the momentous consequences it has had for Britain. Recovering the everyday worlds of working mothers, this groundbreaking history forces us not only to re-evaluate the past, but to ask anew how current attitudes towards mothers in the workplace have developed and how far we have to go. ''ImTrade ReviewA fabulous new cultural history of working motherhood over the past 180 years … It is truly Big History and Helen McCarthy has rightly made mothers’ feelings and desires her central theme ... McCarthy, measured but sympathetic, has done for working mothers what the historian David Kynaston did for the 1950s -- Melanie Reid * The Times *“There are no typical lives,” Helen McCarthy writes in her impressive and nuanced study. Each is unique. But the best history writing, like hers, shows how representative the individual life is … McCarthy’s is an economic and social history, but she also wants to give “shade and texture” to what has been thought and said about working mothers. In this she succeeds magnificently -- Alison Light * Guardian *Helen McCarthy does a brilliant job of tracking the way attitudes to combining work and motherhood in the UK have changed from the nineteenth century to the present -- Vicky Pryce * Literary Review *Groundbreaking … A fascinating read * Herald *Impeccably referenced … For anyone interested not just in female employment, but in the labour market generally, it will be a valuable resource … McCarthy’s impressive mining of contemporary sources brings one face to face with grinding toil, inadequate diets, and terror of illness -- Alison Wolf * Financial Times *This is an important book … Double Lives is a forceful reminder that attitudes to working mothers change abruptly and that politics, not nature, will decide the future of female employment -- Sarah Ditum * Spectator *Authoritative in scope and calmly judged, but with an ear for voices and an eye for detail, Double Lives is the history we have long wanted of a subject still freighted with emotion and misunderstanding -- David KynastonCarefully researched, stylishly written and highly entertaining. The story is rich with female pioneers. McCarthy’s “women of the world” stand as a reminder that, for many women, ours is a world which has not yet been won -- Praise for 'Women of the World' * Sunday Telegraph *Vivid and engaging. Complexities come out beautifully in the lives recovered in this book -- Praise for 'Women of the World' * Guardian *As McCarthy eloquently argues in this important book full of brilliant vignettes, fighting to the top is usually harder for a woman -- Praise for 'Women of the World' * Independent *

    1 in stock

    £11.69

  • Sexuality in Greek and Roman Culture

    John Wiley and Sons Ltd Sexuality in Greek and Roman Culture

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisThis agenda-setting text has been fully revised in its second edition, with coverage extended into the Christian era. It remains the most comprehensive and engaging introduction to the sexual cultures of ancient Greece and Rome.Table of ContentsList of Illustrations and Maps xi Preface to the Second Edition xiii Preface to the First Edition xv Acknowledgments xviii Abbreviations xix Chronological Charts xxvii Maps xxxii Introduction: Why Ancient Sexuality? Issues and Approaches 1 Thinking about Sexuality 3 Sex Changes 4 Checking the Right Box 8 Davidson and his Critics 12 The Language and Ethos of Boy-love 13 Foul Mouths 19 Conclusion 23 Discussion Prompts 24 Notes 24 References 25 Further Reading 27 1 The Homeric Age: Epic Sexuality 29 The Golden Goddess 30 Dynamics of Desire 35 The Baneful Race of Women 37 Love under Siege 40 Receptions of Helen 43 The Beguilement of Zeus 45 Alternatives to Penelope 46 Achilles in the Closet? 51 Conclusion 53 Discussion Prompts 54 Notes 55 References 55 Further Reading 57 2 The Archaic Age: Symposium and Initiation 58 When the Cups are Placed 59 Fields of Erotic Dreams 62 Singing as a Man … 67 … and Singing as a Woman 71 Boys into Men 74 Girls into Women 84 Sappho on the Lips of Men 89 Conclusion 91 Discussion Prompts 92 Notes 93 References 96 Further Reading 99 3 Late Archaic Athens: More than Meets the Eye 101 Out of Etruria 102 Lines of Sight 106 Birds of a Different Feather 108 Flirtation at the Gym 109 Party Girls 118 In the Boudoir 127 Bride of Quietness 129 Conclusion 131 Discussion Prompts 133 Notes 134 References 136 Further Reading 138 4 Classical Athens: The Politics of Sex 139 More Equal than Others 141 Pederasty and Class 146 Interview with the Kinaidos 154 In the Grandest Families 161 What the Neighbors Might Think 166 Criminal Proceedings 167 His and Hers (or His) 170 Conclusion 176 Discussion Prompts 177 Notes 177 References 179 Further Reading 182 5 The Early Hellenistic Period: Turning Inwards 184 Court Intrigues 188 Who Is Buried in Philip’s Tomb? 192 Medicine and the Sexes 194 From Croton to Crete 198 Safe Sex 203 Athenian Idol 208 Conclusion 214 Discussion Prompts 215 Notes 215 References 217 Further Reading 220 6 The Later Hellenistic Period: The Feminine Mystique 221 Disrobing Aphrodite 222 Hellenes in Egypt 226 Love among the Pyramids 230 New Gods for Old 236 To Colchis and Back 238 Desiring Women – and their Detractors 241 Conclusion 245 Discussion Prompts 247 Notes 247 References 249 Further Reading 252 7 Early Rome: A Tale of Three Cultures 253 The Pecking Order 256 Imported Vices 259 Bringing Women under Control 261 Butchery for Fun 269 What a Piece of Work is a Man! 270 Conclusion 274 Discussion Prompts 274 Notes 275 References 277 Further Reading 279 8 Republican and Augustan Rome: The Soft Embrace of Venus 280 Only Joking 282 Young Men(?) in Love 286 Sulpicia unveils Herself 291 Mother of All Empires 293 Domestic Visibility 303 Going too Far 306 Conclusion 309 Discussion Prompts 310 Notes 311 References 312 Further Reading 314 9 Elites in the Empire: Self and Others 315 Risky Business 317 Boys named Sue 322 Them 324 Roads to Romance 329 Rock-star Rhetoric 329 ‘Greek Love’ under Rome 334 Roads to Nowhere 338 Conclusion 344 Discussion Prompts 345 Notes 345 References 347 Further Reading 349 10 The Imperial Populace: Toward Salvation? 350 The 99% 353 Gravestones and Walls 355 In the Eye of the Beholder 361 The Warren Cup 368 “O Isis und Osiris …” 370 Christian Continence 377 Things Fall Apart 380 Conclusion 383 Discussion Prompts 385 Notes 386 References 389 Further Reading 392 Afterword: The Use of Antiquity 393 Glossary of Terms 398 Index 411

    2 in stock

    £38.95

  • Shepherds Huts  Living Vans

    Amberley Publishing Shepherds Huts Living Vans

    3 in stock

    Book SynopsisThe first book on this increasingly popular, superbly adaptable mobile rooms. Includes 140 full-colour images with informative captions to guide both the interested reader and shepherds' hut renovator.Trade Review'This book is a celebration of shepherds' huts ... It is a reminder of a time when our lives were intrinsically linked with our environment, something these quirky little dwellings are giving back to us again' KATE HUMBLE, BBC presenter and proud owner of a shepherd's hut

    3 in stock

    £17.09

  • Amberley Publishing Arts and Crafts Tiles William de Morgan

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisWilliam de Morgan is one of the greatest names of the Arts & Crafts movement of the late nineteenth century. This is the perfect introduction to his iconic tiles.

    1 in stock

    £14.39

  • Pastimes and Pleasures in the Time of Jane Austen

    Amberley Publishing Pastimes and Pleasures in the Time of Jane Austen

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisA lavishly illustrated and engaging look at the social activities, games and hobbies during the Regency period in the time of Jane Austen.

    2 in stock

    £14.39

  • A Mind at Play

    Amberley Publishing A Mind at Play

    7 in stock

    Book SynopsisA prize-winning biography of one of the foremost intellects of the twentieth century: Claude Shannon, the neglected architect of the Information Age.Trade Review‘A long overdue, insightful and humane portrait of this eccentric and towering genius.’ -- Walter Isaacson, bestselling author of STEVE JOBs‘A welcome and inspiring account of a largely unsung hero - unsung because, the authors suggest, he accomplished something so fundamental that it’s difficult to imagine a world without it.' -- Kirkus Reviews‘An exceptionally elegant and authoritative portrait… Sonni and Goodman’s elucidations of Claude Shannon’s theories are gems of conciseness and clarity.' -- Sylvia Nasar, author of the bestselling A BEAUTIFUL MIND, winner of the National Books Critics Award

    7 in stock

    £17.09

  • Stained Glass

    Amberley Publishing Stained Glass

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisBritainâs churches, great houses and civic buildings are treasure houses, adorned with a collection of vivid stained glass that is the envy of the world. This is the perfect introduction to this too-often overlooked art form.

    1 in stock

    £8.54

  • Amberley Publishing Common and Uncommon Scents

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisA sensory journey though time, interpreting social (and political) history through the scents used by people from the Ancient Egyptians to Coco Chanel.

    2 in stock

    £19.54

  • Lawnmowers

    Amberley Publishing Lawnmowers

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisExplore a lavishly illustrated history on lawnmowers from one of Britain's leading lawnmower authorities.

    2 in stock

    £14.39

  • Pride

    Union Square & Co. Pride

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisThese thoughtfully selected quotations have been taken from throughout history, and from a variety of voices, celebrating everything the LGBTQIA+ community has achieved. Containing words of courage, hope, and pride, they focus on inclusivity and remind us that love is one of the world's greatest powers.

    2 in stock

    £10.44

  • Hells Half Acre

    Simon & Schuster Ltd Hells Half Acre

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisA suspense filled tale of murder on the American frontier—shedding new light on a family of serial killers in Kansas, whose horrifying crimes gripped the attention of a nation still reeling from war.'A carefully researched and horribly compelling examination of unimaginable evil intruding upon everyday life' The ObserverIn 1873 the people of Labette County, Kansas made a grisly discovery. Buried by a trailside cabin beneath an orchard of young apple trees were the remains of countless bodies. Below the cabin itself was a cellar stained with blood. The Benders, the family of four who once resided on the property were nowhere to be found. The discovery sent the local community and national newspapers into a frenzy that continued for decades, sparking an epic manhunt for the Benders. The idea that a family of seemingly respectable homesteaders—one among the thousands relocating farther west in se

    1 in stock

    £15.29

  • Elizabethan Society

    Little, Brown Book Group Elizabethan Society

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisThe reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603) marked a golden age in English history. There was a musical and literary renaissance, most famously and enduringly in the form of the plays of Shakespeare (2016 marks the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare''s death), and it was a period of international expansion and naval triumph over the Spanish. It was also a period of internal peace following the violent upheaval of the Protestant reformation. Wilson skilfully interweaves the personal histories of a representative selection of twenty or so figures - including Nicholas Bacon, the Statesman; Bess of Hardwick, the Landowner; Thomas Gresham, ''the Financier''; John Caius, ''the Doctor''; John Norreys, ''the Soldier''; and Nicholas Jennings, ''the Professional Criminal'' - with the major themes of the period to create a vivid and compelling account of life in England in the late sixteenth century. This is emphatically not yet another book about what everyday life was like dTrade ReviewPraise for In the Lion’s Court: One of the most useful and stimulating books about our most important dynasty. -- Antonia Fraser * Sunday Times *Praise for Hans Holbein: This should become the standard work on the subject . . . the most accurate and vivid portrayal to date. -- Alison Weir * Literary Review *All the King’s Women: Derek Wilson tells the story . . . with an effectiveness that few other biographies have matched. * Daily Telegraph *Praise for the author: Well constructed, bags of atmosphere and an exciting denouement to keep you on the edge of your seat. * Daily Mail *

    2 in stock

    £11.39

  • Feminism for Women

    Little, Brown Book Group Feminism for Women

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis''Timely, necessary and important'' J.K. Rowling''[This book is] guaranteed to remind us what we have still to fight for. I can''t think of a single person who wouldn''t benefit from reading it'' Observer''Bindel is a rock star of second-wave feminism . . . an important, courageous book'' The Times''Bindel delivers a robust call to arms in every chapter . . . this book could not be timelier . . . As a young feminist who has finally seen the light, I consider it essential reading'' The CriticFeminism is a quest for the liberation of women from patriarchy. Feminism strives for a world in which women are not oppressed. Feminism prioritises exposing and ending male violence towards women and girls.This is Julie Bindel''s feminism, a definition born of 40 years at the front line of the feminist movement. Why then, she asks, is feminism the only social justice movement in Trade ReviewBindel is a rock star of second-wave feminism . . . an important, courageous book -- Melanie Reid * The Times *Bindel . . . has written a Ronseal book, one that functions as a kind of primer for all matters pertaining to thecurrent state of feminism . . . bracing to read, and inspiriting . . . Bindel speaks - in a voice that is resolute, undaunted after all these years . . . and if her text doesn't come with easy solutions to our problems, it is nevertheless guaranteed to remind us what we have still to fight for. I can't think of a single person who wouldn't benefit from reading it -- Rachel Cooke * Observer *An impassioned manifesto -- Kathleen Stock * The Spectator *How are young women today meant to know what sort of feminist we need to be to achieve women's liberation? Julie Bindel is here to tell us how to do it properly . . . Bindel delivers a robust call to arms in every chapter . . . this book could not be timelier as the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic on women's lives become more stark . . . Feminism for Women should deliver hope to those who feel lost . . . Feminism for Women is a considered deconstruction of some of the myths pervading the modern feminist movement, and how, by going back to the basics, it can be fixed. As a young feminist who has finally seen the light, I consider it essential reading -- Olivia Hartley * The Critic *Promises to breathe life back into the movement . . . a righteous expression of solidarity with women, by women, for women. Bindel writes with compelling fury about issues like intimate partner violence, corrupt police who make it fraught and difficult for women to report rape, the systems set up to privilege abusers over victims -- Kat Rosenfield * Unherd *Bindel makes a call to reset the feminist movement and resist the normalisation of sexual violence * Guardian *Timely, necessary and important * J.K. Rowling *Enlightening, infuriating and hopeful. Julie Bindel hits all the relevant points when it comes to feminism and what it means * Martina Navratilova *Julie Bindel - one of the bravest, smartest journalists and campaigners out there - draws on a fearless lifetime on the front line of feminism and offers a refreshing, sometimes provocative, wake-up call for women of all ages * Samira Ahmed *A sharply argued, deftly written examination of where feminism is at in 2021 - and where feminists should go next * Selina Todd *Whoever gave away feminism, look out, because Julie Bindel wants it back * Cordelia Fine *Bindel's campaigning to end male violence is the rallying call men need to join the fight * David Challen *Feminism for Women needs to come with a very large trigger warning: 'this book may change your mind'. Written for young feminists, it should be read by everyone. Bindel has rescued the story of radical feminism from airless conference halls and impenetrable Gender Studies courses specialising in erasing feminists and our histories * Gita Sahgal *I disagree with Bindel on some issues but God, she's my kind of feminist . . . She is fearless. I love her * Ian Martin *

    1 in stock

    £15.29

  • Conspiracy

    Headline Publishing Group Conspiracy

    2 in stock

    Book Synopsis''Uproarious . . . [Phillips and Elledge] pair the abundant good humour of this book with a warning about the corrosive effects of conspiracy theories'' The TimesFrom the Satanic Panic to the anti-vaxx movement, the moon landing to Pizzagate, it''s always been human nature to believe we''re being lied to by the powers that be (and sometimes, to be fair, we absolutely are).But while it can be fun to indulge in a bit of Deep State banter on the group chat, recent times have shown us that some of these theories have taken on a life of their own - and in our dogged quest for the truth, it appears we might actually be doing it some damage.In Conspiracy, Tom Phillips and Jonn Elledge take us on a fascinating, insightful and often hilarious journey through conspiracy theories old and new, to try and answer a vital question for our times: how can we learn to log off the QAnon message boards, and start trusting hard evidence again?PraisTrade ReviewFor Tom Phillips and HUMANS:In dark times, it's reassuring to learn that we've always been a bunch of clueless f*cking nitwits -- Stuart Heritage * Don't Be a Dick, Pete *A light-touch history of moments when humans have got it spectacularly wrong... Both readable and entertaining * Telegraph *If you find yourself looking at the news and wondering how humanity has got so many things wrong, over and over again, this book is a very funny answer to just that question' -- Mark Watson, comedian

    2 in stock

    £9.99

  • Watling Street

    Orion Publishing Co Watling Street

    3 in stock

    Book SynopsisA journey along one of Britain''s oldest roads, from Dover to Anglesey, in search of the hidden history that makes us who we are today.''A bravura piece of writing - Bill Bryson on acid'' Tom HollandWinding its way from the White Cliffs of Dover to the Druid groves of Anglesey, the ancient road of Watling Street has gone by many different names. It is a road of witches and ghosts, of queens and highwaymen, of history and myth, of Bletchley Park codebreakers, Chaucer, Boudicca, Dickens and James Bond. But Watling Street is not just the story of a route across our island. It is an acutely observed exploration of Britain and who we are today, told with wit and an unerring eye for the curious and surprising.Trade Review'In Watling Street, an exploration of modern Britain and what it means to be British today, Higgs offers a more nuanced understanding of the national psyche . . . a book for our times' -- Ian Thomson * Observer *'Mischievous and iconoclastic . . . [Higgs's] is a systematising imagination, able to harness disparate elements and find the patterns that animate them; that he does so in a more socially inclusive manner than many enriches his theories enormously' -- Melissa Harrison * Financial Times *'A new vision of England . . . full of magic, mystery and bits of William Blake' -- Ian Samson * Times Literary Supplement *'A bravura piece of writing - Bill Bryson on acid' -- Tom Holland'It has been said by the old magicians that Watling Street was created in a single night. Or revealed to us between sleeping and waking - a potentiality that is always there but which we have to learn to read. John Higgs does just that: a bright necklace of recoveries and collisions and remarkable witnesses. A tale-telling pilgrim to entertain and inform as we jolt along the way' -- Iain Sinclair'A humorous and thoughtful guide' -- Huston Gilmore * Daily Express *'Myths combine with staggeringly fascinating facts, while Higgs' take on our national imagination and the nature of history is refreshingly original . . . [A] mad, but brilliant, odyssey' -- Rebecca Armstrong * I Paper *'Watling Street is unusual, original and strangely beautiful. It's full of wonderful stories about this remarkable road, expertly brought to life by Higgs. And even though it's a travel book, it has more to say about the current climate than most political books' -- Jamie Bartlett, author of Radicals'On a long drive like this, your companion matters as much as the route, of course - and Higgs is an entertaining one, garrulous but disinclined to hector' -- Tom Sutcliffe * Mail on Sunday Event *A very interesting book . . . great fun and many surprises. One of its glories is that you feel you are in the company of a real person - this is somebody talking to you on a walk, and that's a great feature -- Alexander McCall Smith, BBC Radio 4's A Good Read'A truly fascinating book . . . from one of the best writers on cultural history we have''In these divisive times, when British identity is so much discussed, Watling Street is a rich and relevant work, making a compelling case that our truest heritage is simply the spirituality of the land and the vast, vibrant patchwork of our individual stories' * The Lady *'One of those books where you constantly find yourself underlining pithy quotes, it's a compelling study of the origins of our national identity, at a time when it's becoming more complex than ever' * The Bookseller *'A fascinating, erudite and esoteric portrait of Britain . . . Cliche-free and engrossing, this is a wonderful book' * New European *'Juggling wit and wisdom, [Higgs] brings a lively twist to a thoroughly British story' * Choice *'Wry and thought-provoking. Higgs expresses a history that is not simply that of kings or victors, but of the British people who have shaped the Britain we know' * Who Do You Think You Are? magazine *'The range of reference in this book makes for an inspiring read, and anyone with an interest in British history or identity will find something to learn, and something to think about' * Your Family History *'In the same way that Watling Street slices through the UK, Higgs's trademark crystal clarity of thought slices through this country's nationalistic hysteria. We owe it to ourselves to join him on this vital and endlessly insightful journey''It is an ambitious attempt to find a grassroots British identity that eschews the political, and one that ultimately succeeds' * Big Issue in the North *'One of the best books I've ever read . . . addictively illuminating in these turbulent times''It's erudite, funny, philosophical, often wildly esoteric and packed with factual asides . . . Above all Watling Street provokes a new and exciting discourse on national pride and identity. You can hear the singing of our ancestors in a chorus of shared heritage whose melody is steeped in the land' * New European *'[A] delightful and inventive contemplation of the way history has shaped Britain, and vice versa' * Geographical *'Fascinating stuff' * History Revealed *A timely look at national identity and how it forges the world around us. * WANDERLUST *

    3 in stock

    £9.49

  • The Real Lolita

    Orion Publishing Co The Real Lolita

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisVladimir Nabokov''s Lolita is one of the most beloved and notorious novels of all time. And yet, very few of its readers know that the subject of the novel was inspired by a real-life case: the 1948 abduction of eleven-year-old Sally Horner. Weaving together suspenseful crime narrative, cultural and social history, and literary investigation, The Real Lolita restores Sally Horner to her rightful place in the lore of the novel''s creation. Drawing upon extensive investigations, legal documents, public records, and interviews with remaining relatives, Sarah Weinman casts a new light on the dark inspiration for a modern classic.Trade ReviewSarah Weinman's captivating, heart-rending The Real Lolita offers both nuanced and compassionate true-crime reportage and revelatory cultural and literary history. It will, quite simply, change the way you think about Lolita and 'Lolitas' forever -- Megan AbbottThe Real Lolita is a tour de force of literary detective work. Not only does it shed new light on the terrifying true saga that influenced Nabokov's masterpiece, it restores the forgotten victim to our consciousness -- David GrannCompassionate and necessary, Sarah Weinman's The Real Lolita is more than a true-crime achievement. It's a literary rescue mission, bringing to life the tragic real-life case that forms the dark heart of Nabokov's classic. You'll never read Lolita the same way again -- Robert KolkerSarah Weinman delivers a thoroughly riveting and heartbreaking narrative that weaves the very best of true crime writing with the darker elements of literary inspiration -- Gilbert KingThe Real Lolita is the corrective we never knew we needed, a lively, engrossing work of scholarship that does not diminish Nabokov, but gently insists that we not indulge his trickster ways. Sally Horner matters and, thanks to Sarah Weinman, she and Dolores Haze will be forever linked. Groundbreaking work, a new genre unto itself -- Laura LippmanA riveting blend of true crime, historical investigation, and literary analysis, Sarah Weinman adds another dimension to this already complicated context * Buzzfeed *With The Real Lolita, Sarah Weinman might be said to have invented a completely new genre . . . Weinman is at her absolute best when playing detective and piecing together this tragic tale in all its sordid detail . . . the book contains twists and near misses and bit-part players, everything you might expect from a true-crime story, startlingly and simply told -- Ian Sansom * Literary Review *Riveting . . . Scrupulously researched . . . Nearly 70 years after Sally Horner's death, Weinman's dark and compulsively readable book will make readers aware of the absence of a nearly forgotten girl's voice in discussions of one of the great works of American literature * Los Angeles Times *Superb . . . By combing through court documents and newspaper accounts and interviewing surviving friends and family members, Weinman has evocatively reconstructed Sally [Horner]'s nightmare, as well as the sexual mores of mid-twentieth-century America * Irish Independent *Utterly engrossing . . . Weinman dazzles the reader with the recreation of this time period . . . As we read through this mesmerizing book, Weinman's obsession becomes the reader's obsession. . . We develop boundless compassion for this once little girl, along with a deep empathy and sorrow for the story of her life * Los Angeles Review of Books *Weinman's gripping work of true crime challenges a culture that privileges artistic genius over a child's life * Huffington Post *A sensitive look at the troubling crime that influenced Vladimir Nabokov's most notorious book; Weinman writes with insight and empathy about both the famous author and the now-forgotten girl whose story intrigued him * Boston Globe *In this stunning work of investigative journalism, Sarah Weinman resurrects the Horner case and uncovers its deep connection to Lolita * Refinery29 *Superb . . . [Weinman] has now become something of a literary detective herself, conducting an investigation into the case she says inspired Lolita . . . Weinman assembles a substantial array of evidence . . . Weinman has compassionately given Sally Horner pride of place once more in her own life, a life that was first brutally warped by Frank La Salle, and then appropriated by one of the most brilliant writers of the 20th century * Washington Post *

    1 in stock

    £10.44

  • 1939 The Last Season

    Orion Publishing Co 1939 The Last Season

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisA wonderful portrait of British upper-class life in the Season of 1939 - the last before the Second World War.The Season of 1939 brought all those ''in Society'' to London. The young debutante daughters of the upper classes were presented to the King and Queen to mark their acceptance into the new adult world of their parents. They sparkled their way through a succession of balls and parties and sporting events.The Season brought together influential people not only from Society but also from Government at the various events of the social calendar. Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain chaperoned his debutante niece to weekend house parties; Lord Halifax, the Foreign Secretary, lunched with the Headmaster of Eton; Cabinet Ministers encountered foreign Ambassadors at balls in the houses of the great hostesses. As the hot summer drew on, the newspapers filled with ever more ominous reports of the relentless progress towards war. There was nothing to do but wait - aTrade ReviewDe Courcy's fascinating narrative switches between domestic concerns, ranging from country-house fare to patent medicines, and the approach of would-be gatecrashers across the channel * THE INDEPENDENT *A fascinating window on the frivolous social but grave political world of Britain in the Second World War... The illustrations are delightful * THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH *

    2 in stock

    £10.44

  • Racial Melancholia Racial Dissociation

    Duke University Press Racial Melancholia Racial Dissociation

    Book SynopsisIn Racial Melancholia, Racial Dissociation critic David L. Eng and psychotherapist Shinhee Han draw on case histories from the mid-1990s to the present to explore the social and psychic predicaments of Asian American young adults from Generation X to Generation Y. Combining critical race theory with several strands of psychoanalytic thought, they develop the concepts of racial melancholia and racial dissociation to investigate changing processes of loss associated with immigration, displacement, diaspora, and assimilation. These case studies of first- and second-generation Asian Americans deal with a range of difficulties, from depression, suicide, and the politics of coming out to broader issues of the model minority stereotype, transnational adoption, parachute children, colorblind discourses in the United States, and the rise of Asia under globalization. Throughout, Eng and Han link psychoanalysis to larger structural and historical phenomena, illuminating how the study of psychic processes of individuals can inform investigations of race, sexuality, and immigration while creating a more sustained conversation about the social lives of Asian Americans and Asians in the diaspora.Trade Review"Intentionally answering the call for interdisciplinary scholarship, this innovative work will be valuable for clinicians as well as scholars of race. Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals." -- J. deGuzman * Choice *"One of the most striking aspects of Eng and Han’s book is the relative ease with which it toggles back and forth between psychoanalytic case studies of people in various stages of suffering and characters in novels who were created to embody themes of beauty and triumph, suffering and fracture. . . . There’s a power in being able to recognize our struggles as the result of paradoxes we live within rather than seeing them as purely private failings. It’s a step toward imagining lives that we might be the authors of, with endings that we write ourselves." -- Hua Hsu * The New Yorker *"Accessibly written and powerfully argued, Racial Melancholia, Racial Dissociation is an excellent resource for any scholar thinking about race and psychoanalysis and, specifically, who are thinking critically about the use of psychoanalytic paradigms like mourning, loss, melancholia, infantile development, reparation, or transitional objects in relation to questions of the lived experiences of racial oppression." -- Christopher Bennett * Journal of Critical Race Inquiry *"Eng and Han—a literature professor and a psychotherapist, respectively—demonstrate how to understand the entanglements of history, culture, and psychoanalysis for Asian Americans. . . . This is an unusual social justice project, for it imagines a collective politics that is grounded in the intimate—and highly individualized—work of therapeutic repair." -- Amy R. Wong * Public Books *“Eng and Han’s work provides a critical vocabulary for articulating the slippery and insidious ways multicultural violence operates in the contemporary era.... Eng and Han contribute an invaluable perspective on Asian Americans’ racial and psychic processes that will be of interest to scholars across disciplines....” -- Corinne Mitsuye Sugino * Journal of Asian American Studies *Table of ContentsPreface vii Introduction: The History of the (Racial) Subject and the Subject of (Racial) History 1 Part I: Racial Melancholia 1. Racial Melancholia: Model Minorities, Depression, and Suicide 33 2. Desegregating Love: Transnational Adoption, Racial Reparation, and Racial Transnational Objects 66 Part II. Racial Dissociation 3. Racial Dissociation: Parachute Children and Psychic Nowhere 101 4. (Gay) Panic Attack: Coming Out in a Colorblind Age 141 Epilogue 174 Notes 181 Bibliography 203 Index 213

    £18.89

  • Hawaii Is My Haven

    Duke University Press Hawaii Is My Haven

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisNitasha Tamar Sharma maps the context and contours of Black life in Hawai?i, showing how despite the presence of anti-Black racism, the state's Black residents consider it to be their haven from racism.Trade Review“Highlighting the place of Hawai‘i as a site for analyzing the most pressing cultural, political, and economic currents facing our world, Nitasha Tamar Sharma provides a unique and nuanced view into the complex flows of Islander life while creating new spaces for Black and multiracial voices that are all too frequently silenced. This much-needed work makes an important contribution to theorizing race and indigeneity together in American studies, ethnic studies, African American studies, and Native and Indigenous studies.” -- Ty P. Kawika Tengan, author of * Native Men Remade: Gender and Nation in Contemporary Hawai‘i *“This is an elegantly written, trenchantly argued, and persuasively rendered ethnography of African Americans in Hawai‘i. It is simultaneously a landmark pointing the way to how the United States itself may evolve in the twenty-first century as it comes to resemble, racially and ethnically, the vibrant fiftieth state.” -- Gerald Horne, author of * The White Pacific: U.S. Imperialism and Black Slavery in the South Seas After the Civil War *"Hawaiʻi Is My Haven is an ambitious and original work of scholarship. By focusing on an oft-overlooked demographic, it creates a fuller, more accurate picture of Hawaii’s history." -- Eric Stinton * Honolulu Civil Beat *"This book will be of interest to scholars of Pacific settlement histories, transnational and ethnocultural identities, colonialism, and indigenous activism. For those teaching Pacific studies courses, this volume adds a new dimension to Hawaiian histories of migration, settler colonization, and multiculturalism, as well as current alignments in social justice movements." -- Michelle Ladwig Williams * Pacific Affairs *"This is an interesting and important work for scholars in the fields [of Native and Indigenous studies, mixed-race studies, African American studies, American studies, and ethnic studies.] But for Hawaiian scholars and/or activists invested in a more pono future for Hawai‘i, this book is required reading." -- Bryan Kamaoli Kuwada * Native American and Indigenous Studies *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments xi Introduction: Hawaiʻi Is My Haven 1 1. Over Two Centuries: The History of Black People in Hawaiʻi 37 2. "Saltwater Negroes": Black Locals, Multiracialism, and Expansive Blackness 71 3. "Less Pressure": Black Transplants, Settler Colonialism, and a Racial Lens 120 4. Racism in Paradise: AntiBlack Racism and Resistance in Hawaiʻi 166 5. Embodying Kuleana: Negotiating Black and Native Positionality in Hawaiʻi 217 Conclusion: Identity↔Politics↔Knowledge 261 Notes 279 Bibliography 305 Index 331

    2 in stock

    £20.39

  • First Women of Hollywood

    Globe Pequot First Women of Hollywood

    2 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    2 in stock

    £22.50

  • Korea: A History

    Stanford University Press Korea: A History

    Book SynopsisWhile popular trends, cuisine, and long-standing political tension have made Korea familiar in some ways to a vast English-speaking world, its recorded history of some two millennia remains unfamiliar to most. Korea: A History addresses general readers, providing an up-to-date, accessible overview of Korean history from antiquity to the present. Eugene Y. Park draws on original-language sources and the up-to-date synthesis of East Asian and Western-language scholarship to provide an insightful account. This book expands still-limited English-language discussions on pre-modern Korea, offering rigorous and compelling analyses of Korea's modernization while discussing daily life, ethnic minorities, LGBTQ history, and North Korean history not always included in Korea surveys. Overall, Park is able to break new ground on questions and debates that have been central to the field of Korean studies since its inception.Trade Review"This long-awaited book demonstrates the author's broad expertise, and incorporates recent discoveries of Korean history. Strongly recommended both for readers interested in an introduction to Korean history and for specialists who want to update their knowledge."—Yumi Moon, Stanford University"This book offers a sweeping yet detailed overview of the Korean past. Park's periodization (classical, post-classical, early modern, and late modern) is an innovative interpretation and succeeds in making the Korean narrative relevant to comparative world history."—James B. Lewis, University of Oxford"With discussions on numerous aspects of cultural and economic history—including religion, education, gender, architecture, food, and popular culture—this comprehensive but accessible book is a welcome corrective to earlier work that tended to focus on institutional, intellectual, and political history of Korea as a 'tributary state' in the sinocentric order."—Ross King, University of British Columbia"Korea... is full of details and the writing flows and provides a sweeping overview of Korea from prehistoric times to the modern era, enabling readers to understand and appreciate Korea as a civilization in its own right with admirable cultural, economic and political achievements, rather than as an obscure entity nestled between and fought over by bigger neighbors."—Hilton Yip, Asian Review of Books"Park is one of the few experts in premodern Korean history in the West, and he gives the long premodern past the attention it fully deserves.... The writing is accessible, and the book is an excellent reference for lay readers, college students, and professional historians. Highly recommended."—M. J. Wert, CHOICE"Korea: A History is another essential interdisciplinary work not only for the Korean Studies community but also for wider audiences, transferring a clear-cut and detailed account of the peninsula's history. It is an excellent historical textbook about Korea's political, economic, and social background from its own unique historiographical point of view."—Gabor Sebo, Pacific Affairs"Park has succeeded in writing an innovative and informative overview of Korean history. He has done so by drawing from 'original-language sources and the up-to-date synthesis of East Asian and Western-language scholarship.'"—Jaymin Kim, Acta Koreana

    £26.99

  • The Paradoxes of Ignorance in Early Modern

    Stanford University Press The Paradoxes of Ignorance in Early Modern

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisIn the early modern period, ignorance was commonly perceived as a sin, a flaw, a defect, and even a threat to religion and the social order. Yet praises of ignorance were also expressed in the same context. Reclaiming the long-lasting legacy of medieval doctrines of ignorance and taking a comparative perspective, Sandrine Parageau tells the history of the apparently counter-intuitive moral, cognitive and epistemological virtues attributed to ignorance in the long seventeenth century (1580s-1700) in England and in France. With close textual analysis of hitherto neglected sources and a reassessment of canonical philosophical works by Montaigne, Bacon, Descartes, Locke, and others, Parageau specifically examines the role of ignorance in the production of knowledge, identifying three common virtues of ignorance as a mode of wisdom, a principle of knowledge, and an epistemological instrument, in philosophical and theological works. How could an essentially negative notion be turned into something profitable and even desirable? Taken in the context of Renaissance humanism, the Reformation and the "Scientific Revolution"—which all called for a redefinition and reaffirmation of knowledge—ignorance, Parageau finds, was not dismissed in the early modern quest for renewed ways of thinking and knowing. On the contrary, it was assimilated into the philosophical and scientific discourses of the time. The rehabilitation of ignorance emerged as a paradoxical cornerstone of the nascent modern science.Trade Review"Parageau has assembled a rich set of texts, and she reads them with care and nuance, establishing 'ignorance' as a key word in early modern Europe."—Paula Findlen, Stanford University"Was a heightened appreciation of ignorance crucial to the new science of the seventeenth century? That is Parageau's insightful claim, based on new attention to the legacy of medieval negative theology among other sources."—Ann Blair, Harvard University"This is a wonderful history of the humans who went deepest into understanding that we cannot always understand. Philosophy, religion, and science wouldn't have progressed as it has without them. Perhaps we should take time, with Rumsfeld and with Locke, to consider the known unknowns."—Michael M. Rosen, Washington Examiner"Bacon, Boyle, Gassendi, Descartes, Locke, Baxter, and Bunyan, among others, provide multiple examples of paradoxical nuance for Parageau to explicate, which she does gallantly and persuasively.... Recommended."—S. Young, CHOICE"Parageau... contributes a valuable work to our understanding of how English and French theologians and philosophers developed and refashioned ignorance and its many meanings.... A comparison of the two countries' intellectual histories of ignorance is much needed, and her book identifies and illuminates the debates about ignorance that echoed across the Channel."—Catherine Abou-Nemeh, H-AlbionTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. Fortunes of Docta ignorantia in Early Modern England and France 2. English Experimental Philosophy and Doctrines of Ignorance 3. Ignorance and the Internal Light 4. Ignorance, Inspiration, and Religious Knowledge 5. Fictions of Ignorance 6. Ignorance and Chance Discovery 7. John Locke's Anthropology of Ignorance Conclusion

    2 in stock

    £60.75

  • A World Beneath the Sands: Adventurers and

    Pan Macmillan A World Beneath the Sands: Adventurers and

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis'It is a story full of drama, with the Nile, the pyramids and the Valley of the Kings as backdrop. That A World Beneath the Sands is also a subtle and stimulating study of the paradoxes of 19th-century colonialism is a bonus indeed.' – Tom Holland, GuardianWhat could be more exciting, more exotic or more intrepid than digging in the sands of Egypt in the hope of discovering golden treasures from the age of the pharaohs? Our fascination with ancient Egypt goes back to the ancient Greeks. But the heyday of Egyptology was undoubtedly the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This golden age of scholarship and adventure is neatly book-ended by two epoch-making events: Champollion's decipherment of hieroglyphics in 1822 and the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb by Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon a hundred years later.In A World Beneath the Sands, the acclaimed Egyptologist Toby Wilkinson tells the riveting stories of the men and women whose obsession with Egypt's ancient civilisation drove them to uncover its secrets. Champollion, Carter and Carnarvon are here, but so too are their lesser-known contemporaries, such as the Prussian scholar Karl Richard Lepsius, the Frenchman Auguste Mariette and the British aristocrat Lucie Duff-Gordon. Their work – and those of others like them – helped to enrich and transform our understanding of the Nile Valley and its people, and left a lasting impression on Egypt, too. Travellers and treasure-hunters, ethnographers and epigraphers, antiquarians and archaeologists: whatever their motives, whatever their methods, all understood that in pursuing Egyptology they were part of a greater endeavour – to reveal a lost world, buried for centuries beneath the sands.Trade ReviewIt would be hard to overstate the excellence of Wilkinson's storytelling – and I was surprisingly distraught to think that there can never be a sequel. -- A. S. H. Smyth * Spectator *The definitive account of the golden age of Egyptology * Waterstone’s Best Books of the Year *It is a story full of drama, with the Nile, the pyramids and the Valley of the Kings as backdrop. That A World Beneath the Sands is also a subtle and stimulating study of the paradoxes of 19th-century colonialism is a bonus indeed. -- Tom Holland * Guardian *Fascinating . . . A World Beneath the Sands is more than a saga of foreigners in the desert – it also follows Egypt on its rocky path to the 20th century. * Economist *The story that strings these wonderful characters together is the steady professionalisation of Egyptology — the shift, as Wilkinson puts it, from 'scoundrels to scholars'. -- James McConnachie * Sunday Times *A gripping tale . . . excellent * Financial Times *The debate over the decolonization of Egyptology and the repatriation of artefacts has only just started. Wilkinson's elegantly written book provides a sound background and a useful biography that will allow readers to understand and participate in that debate. -- Joyce Tyldesley * BBC History Magazine *A fascinating story. -- Paul Zimansky * TLS *Riveting . . . Wilkinson is a consummate historian . . . He has mastered the facts with painstaking research and allowed them to speak for themselves. Rarely do the facts speak this clearly. * New York Times *Dramatic, detailed and eccentric-packed . . . as Toby Wilkinson shows, the discovery of lost monuments, grave goods and mummified corpses also stimulated the emergence of their true inheritors, the modern Egyptian nation. * Wall Street Journal *Vividly detailed * New Yorker *A superbly readable, magnificently entertaining, profoundly thoughtful and scholarly history of the bizarre and determined characters who burrowed into Egypt in comparatively recent history - and who all too often made away with their finds. You will want to read chunks of it aloud to anyone who happens to be around. -- Sue Gaisford * Tablet 'Books of the Year' *Wilkinson marshals a wealth of detail into a cohesive and entertaining narrative . . . an essential portrait * Publishers Weekly *Few can bring us ancient Egypt with such dynamism as Toby Wilkinson. In A World Beneath the Sands, he has excelled himself in bringing to life the intriguing and swashbuckling story of Egypt’s discovery. He shows us how much what we seek from the past has always told us about ourselves. -- Professor Michael Scott, author of Ancient Worlds: An Epic History of East and West and presenter of the BBC documentary series Ancient Invisible Cities: Cairo, Athens, Istanbul

    1 in stock

    £12.34

  • Innovation: The History of England Volume VI

    Pan Macmillan Innovation: The History of England Volume VI

    2 in stock

    Book Synopsis‘Ackroyd makes history accessible to the layman’ – Ian Thomson, Independent Innovation brings Peter Ackroyd’s History of England to a triumphant close. In it, Ackroyd takes readers from the end of the Boer War and the accession of Edward VII to the end of the twentieth century, when his great-granddaughter Elizabeth II had been on the throne for almost five decades. A century of enormous change, encompassing two world wars, four monarchs (Edward VII, George V, George VI and the Queen), the decline of the aristocracy and the rise of the Labour Party, women’s suffrage, the birth of the NHS, the march of suburbia and the clearance of the slums. It was a period that saw the work of the Bloomsbury Group and T. S. Eliot, of Kingsley Amis and Philip Larkin, of the end of the post-war slump to the technicolour explosion of the 1960s, to free love and punk rock and from Thatcher to Blair. A vividly readable, richly peopled tour de force, it is Peter Ackroyd writing at his considerable best.Trade ReviewAckroyd makes history accessible to the layman -- Ian Thomson * Independent *Ackroyd’s prose is, as usual, sublime. -- Gerard DeGroot * The Times *

    2 in stock

    £15.29

  • Cooking Up a Revolution: Food Not Bombs, Homes

    Manchester University Press Cooking Up a Revolution: Food Not Bombs, Homes

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisDuring the late 1980s and early 1990s the city of San Francisco waged a war against the homeless. Over 1,000 arrests and citations where handed out by the police to activists for simply distributing free food in public parks. Why would a liberal city arrest activists helping the homeless? In exploring this question, the book treats the conflict between the city and activists as a unique opportunity to examine the contested nature of homelessness and public space while developing an anarchist alternative to liberal urban politics that is rooted in mutual aid, solidarity, and anti-capitalism. In addition to exploring theoretical and political issues related to gentrification, broken-windows policing, and anti-homeless laws, this book provides activists, students and scholars, examples of how anarchist homeless activists in San Francisco resisted these processes.This book is relevant to United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 2, Zero hunger.Trade Review'Cooking up a revolution is an inspiring David and Goliath story that details the significance of remaining true to your values when standing up to overwhelming state violence. Parson’s well researched book should be read by anyone interested in seeking lasting social change. This book taught me a great deal and I was there.'Keith McHenry, Co-founder of Food Not Bombs'Sean Parson mines the history of San Francisco Food Not Bombs to theorize a politics of the city. He kicks over the table of orthodox urbanism and proposes one rooted in solidarity, equity and mutual aid. Thoroughly researched and precisely argued, this book belongs on the same shelf as the works of David Harvey, Saskia Sassen and Neil Smith.'James Tracy, Author of Dispatches Against Displacement: Field Notes from the San Francisco Housing Wars‘What does one do in a country where it’s illegal to dumpster dive for discarded food but perfectly legal to throw out food while millions go hungry, or where it’s illegal to live in parks or abandoned buildings while gentrification pushes more people to the brink of homelessness? Using applied political theory and exploring the radical politics of the historically dubbed lumpen proletariat, Parson (Northern Arizona Univ.) outlines the anarchist politics of Food Not Bombs and Homes Not Jails in San Francisco from 1988 to 1995. For FNB and HNJ, a combination of state policies and dehumanizing capitalism, not mental illness, caused homelessness. Through direct action working with homeless populations in mutual aid and solidarity rather than charity, activists confronted the city’s neoliberal politics in a time of growing homelessness and rapid gentrification of the Bay Area. By engaging with the homeless by providing free food, squatting, and demonstrating, FNB and HNJ politicized these victims of neoliberalism to “create temporary autonomous zones where we are able to foreshadow the world we want to see.” Parson’s sympathetic account is a welcome critique of neoliberal America, when issues like gentrification again are making cities more unlivable for marginalized people.’K. R. Shaffer, Penn State University, Berks College, Choice Vol. 56, No. 12 (August 2019) -- .Table of Contents1 Turning statistics into people: From sick talk to the politics of solidarity2 What dumpstered soup tells us about violence, charity, and politics3 Parks, permits, and riot police: Understanding the politics of public space occupations and negotiated management policing between the city of San Francisco and Food Not Bombs4 The war against the homeless: Frank Jordan, broken windows, and anti-homeless politics in San Francisco5 The Homeless fight back: The politics of homeless resistance6 Bolt cutters and the politics of expropriation: Homes Not Jails, urban squatting, and gentrification7 Towards an anarchist “Right to the City”Coda: Theses on homelessness, public space, and urban resistanceBibliography

    2 in stock

    £63.75

  • Conserving Health in Early Modern Culture: Bodies

    Manchester University Press Conserving Health in Early Modern Culture: Bodies

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisDid early modern people care about their health? And what did it mean to lead a healthy life in Italy and England? Through a range of textual evidence, images and material artefacts Conserving health in early modern culture documents the profound impact which ideas about healthy living had on daily practices as well as on intellectual life and the material world in this period. In both countries staying healthy was understood as depending on the careful management of the six ‘Non-Naturals’: the air one breathed, food and drink, excretions, sleep, exercise and repose, and the ‘passions of the soul’. To a close scrutiny, however, models of prevention differed considerably in Italy and England, reflecting country-specific cultural, political and medical contexts and different confessional backgrounds.The following two chapters are available open access on a CC-BY-NC-ND license here: http://www.oapen.org/search?identifier=6331803 'Ordering the infant': caring for newborns in early modern England - Leah Astbury4 'She sleeps well and eats an egg': convalescent care in early modern England - Hannah NewtonTrade Review‘This volume represents a significant contribution to the burgeoning discussion of the non-naturals and to the comparative history of early modern European health care that will hopefully inspire further comparisons of other European examples.’Jennifer Evans, University of Hertfordshire, Social History of Medicine Vol. 32, No. 1History of emotions -- .Table of ContentsIntroductionConserving health: the Non-Naturals in early modern culture and society – Sandra CavalloPart I: A comparative perspective on preventive literature1 Regimens, authors and readers: Italy and England compared – Sandra Cavallo and Tessa StoreyPart II: The Non-Naturals and the vulnerable body 2 ‘What to expect when you’re always expecting’: frequent childbirth and female health in late Renaissance Italy – Caroline Castiglione3 ‘Ordering the infant’: caring for newborns in early modern England – Leah Astbury (available open access) 4 ‘She sleeps well and eats an egg’: convalescent care in early modern England – Hannah Newton (available open access)Part III: Airs and places5 Neapolitan airs: health advice and medical culture on the edge of a volcano – Maria Conforti6 The afterlife of the Non-Naturals in early eighteenth-century Hippocratism: from the healthy individual to a healthy population – Maria Pia DonatoPart IV: Spiritual health and bodily health7 Sleep-piety and healthy sleep in early modern English households – Sasha Handley8 English and Italian health advice: Protestant and Catholic bodies – Tessa StoreyPart V: Spaces, paintings and objects: performing and portraying health9 Chasing ‘good air’ and viewing beautiful perspectives: painting and health preservation in seventeenth-century Rome – Frances Gage10 Hot drinking practices in the late-Renaissance Italian household: a case-study around an enigmatic pouring vessel – Marta AjmarIndex

    2 in stock

    £76.50

  • Disability and the Victorians: Attitudes,

    Manchester University Press Disability and the Victorians: Attitudes,

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisDisability and the Victorians brings together in one collection a range of topics, perspectives and experiences from the Victorian era that present a unique overview of the development and impact of attitudes and interventions towards those with impairments during this time. The collection also considers how the legacies of these actions can be seen to have continued throughout the twentieth century right up to the present day. Subjects addressed include deafness, blindness, language delay, substance dependency, imperialism and the representation of disabled characters in popular fiction. These varied topics illustrate how common themes can be found in how Victorian philanthropists and administrators responded to those under their care. Often character, morality and the chance to be restored to productivity and usefulness overrode medical need and this both influenced and reflected wider societal views of impairment and inability.Trade Review'Disability and the Victorians: Attitudes, Interventions, Legacies is a very timely work. In the midst of a global pandemic that has left many people newly impaired, there is an increased need for scholarship that provides frameworks for coming to terms with disability as a sociocultural phenomenon and a lived identity. [...] Disability and the Victorians makes an important contribution to the history of medicine and attitudes toward disability in Victorian Britain and beyond and provides a useful resource for scholars of nineteenth-century Britain.'Joyce L. Huff, Journal of British Studies Disability and the Victorians certainly fulfils its editors’ desire to generate debate and spur further research: its contents encourage critical reflection on disabled people’s experiences in the present day, thus enabling us to see how monumentally important the task of exploring the history of disability is.Caitlin Doley (University of York), British Association for Victorian Studies -- .Table of ContentsForeword – Karen Sayer Introduction – Iain Hutchison, Martin Atherton and Jaipreet VirdiPart I: Attitudes1 Restoration to usefulness: Victorian middle-class attitudes towards the healthcare of the working poor – Amy W Farnbach Pearson2 Imperial lives – confronting the legacies of empire, disability and the Victorians – Esme Cleall3 Disabling the author in Mid-Victorian realist fiction: case studies of George Eliot and Harriet Martineau – Deborah M FratzPart II: Interventions4 Medicalising deafness in Victorian London: the Royal Ear Hospital, 1816-1916 – Jaipreet Virdi5 Drunkenness, degeneration, and disability in England – Joanne Woiak6 Victorian medical awareness of childhood language disabilities – Paula Hellal and Marjorie Lorch7 ‘Happiness and usefulness increased”: Consuming ability in the antebellum artificial limb market – Caroline LieffersPart III: Legacies8 The disabled child in an industrial metropolis: Glasgow’s children’s hospital, Scottish convalescent homes ‘in the country’, and east park home for infirm children – Iain Hutchison9 The panopticon: Towards an intimate history of special schools for the blind – Fred Reid10 Allowed to be idle: Perpetuating Victorian attitudes to deafness and employability in United Kingdom social policy – Martin AthertonIndex

    2 in stock

    £21.00

  • Implementing a Global Health Programme

    Manchester University Press Implementing a Global Health Programme

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisThis book explores the topical issue of implementing a global vaccination programme. Focusing on smallpox, it explores why despite overwhelming challenges it succeeded in Nepal. Placing the country and people's perspectives at the centre, it offers an alternative to the top-down and centre-led standard narrative of the global smallpox programme. -- .

    2 in stock

    £76.50

  • The Rise of Devils

    Manchester University Press The Rise of Devils

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisA vivid account of the rise of terrorism in the late nineteenth century and the hysterical media response it provoked -- .

    2 in stock

    £11.99

  • England

    Bloomsbury Publishing PLC England

    4 in stock

    Book SynopsisChallenging, forensic, compelling'' SATHNAM SANGHERAPure centrist erotica. A myth-busting chronicle of bad-tempered, Brexit-riven England'' SUNDAY TIMESWonderfully evocative. Too honest, too nuanced and too deep for any party manifesto'' MATTHEW PARRISAfter an election where people voted for a politics that our new Prime Minister describes as ''treading more lightly on people's lives'', this must-read book charts a gentler course for a country that has suffered the ructions of profound change in recent decades.Some politicians will still talk of restoring an English birthright of liberty and the swashbuckling self-confidence to rule the waves. Others yearn for the old-fashioned morality which they claim once civilised a savage world or want to look inwards to a story of an enchanted island that can stand alone and isolated against the world. But England, by Tom Baldwin, the bestselling biographer of Keir Starmer, and Marc Stears, an influential think tank head, unravels the myths that have distorted ideas of this country and provided ammunition for culture warriors from both left and right. Instead of vainly promising to solve everything all at once, Baldwin and Stears provide clues for how a humbler, less grandiose, set of ideas rooted in real lives can help fix some of the things that have gone so badly wrong in recent years. They travel from muddy fields in the Home Counties to the ports of Plymouth and Hull. They visit the old industrial heartland of Wolverhampton, spend weekends in the worn-down seaside resort of Blackpool, then gaze up the gleaming towers of modernity on the edge of London and the dreaming spires of Oxford. Along the way, they speak with many different people who tell stories of England, including politicians Nigel Farage and David Lammy, campaigner Chrisann Jarrett, playwright James Graham and scientist Sarah Gilbert. What emerges is a startlingly fresh and vivid picture of an old country that belongs to everyone, or at least, to no one in particular.

    4 in stock

    £10.44

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