Social and cultural history Books

Book SynopsisDiary of a Muslim Nobody attempts to reach out to society as a whole, regardless of affiliations and the social constructs of the labels we place ourselves in, with the intention to reach out to the commonality of the human experience. Interweaving between personal reflections of the human experience and commentary of global issues with touches of affection & humour through his relationship with his parents, Reaz attempts to demonstrate the multiplicity of experiences as we live our everyday lives. "I have always been very aware of the power of language and the potential of its impact upon our own selves as individuals, our relationships and interactions and indeed our perceptions. Perhaps the intrinsic relationship between our language and humankind may be best understood when we consider letters, by themselves, important in their own entity and when placed together becoming even more powerful to become words - giving them substance and meaning. In this instance, human beings may be aligned to letters - each important within our right and when we recognise our own value, we are then able to understand this in context to our relationship to one another. In that moment we are able to have the most profound and positive of impact in our own lives and in the lives of others around us." As featured by: BBC LONDON, British Muslim Magazine, I am HipHop Magazine & Asian Image.

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Book Synopsis"From the age of thirteen I wandered abroad and at twenty-one I decided to take a little trip across France dressed as a man..." Maria ter Meetelen tells the story of her capture by Barbary pirates and twelve years as a slave at Meknes in Morocco. Straightforward and with no literary pretensions, her voice comes down the centuries, robust, clear, personal and often surprising: "I do not complain at having been so far across the world, nor of my twelve years of slavery, nor of the suffering the Turks caused me, I can rise above that. But the spitefulnessand derision that my husband and I suffered from our fellow-countrymen cannot be forgotten, and is impossible for me to set it down here in writing."

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Book SynopsisA nuanced re-evaluation of the ways in which gender affected the use of physical space in early modern England. Space was not simply a passive backdrop to a social system that had structural origins elsewhere; it was vitally important for marking out and maintaining the hierarchy that sustained social and gender order in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England. Gender had a considerable influence on its use and organization; status and gender were displayed physically and spatially every moment of the day, from a person's place at table to the bed on which he orshe slept, in places of work and recreation, in dress, gesture and modes of address. Space was also the basis for the formation of gender identities which were constantly contested and restructured, as this book shows. Examining in turn domestic, social and sacred spaces and the spatial division of labour in gender construction, the author demonstrates how these could shift, and with them the position and power of women. She shows that the ideologicalassumption that all women are subject to all men is flawed, and exposes the limitations of interpretations which rely on the model and binary opposition of public/private, male/female, to describe gender relations and their changes across the period, thus offering a much more complex and picture than has hitherto been perceived. The book will be essential reading not just for historians of the family and of women, but for all those studying early modern social history. AMANDA FLATHER is a lecturer in the Department of History at the University of Essex.Trade Review[A] fine book [.] offering a closely focused and nuanced examination of the practice of patriarchy in a range of arenas in seventeenth-century England. A rich and subtle work of gender analysis and a lovely illustration of what can be garnered from the incidental detail of court depositions to flesh out the dynamics of early modern social interaction. * ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW *

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Book SynopsisAnalyzing the context in which thirty years of war and revolution wracked the European continent, this title emphasizes the backwardness of the European economies and their political subjugation by aristocratic elites and their allies.

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Book SynopsisThe old cottages of Britain are amongst the country's best-loved treasures. Threatened on all sides - whether by the dilapidation of woodworm and dry-rot or the schemes of planners and developers - they are fiercely protected by all those who live in (or simply dream of living in) a country cottage. Yet few have any idea about what life in a cottage was really like both within and outside our living memory."The Truth About Cottages" is a small classic - in the words of the "Sunday Times", 'required reading for cottage addicts; true scholarship, engrossing history and a real eye-opener for romantics.' It tells the remarkable story of cottage life since the seventeenth century, often using the words of the people who built the cottages or lived in them. For example, there is the instance of the horse that shared a nineteenth-century, single-room cottage with its twelve human inhabitants, as well as the documented tribulations of rural labourers and barefoot urban dwellers alike, whose homes were as unsanitary and cold as they were picturesque. The book goes further, to provide an informative illustrated guide to the fifty main types of cottage, dating from the fifteenth century. It remains the ideal companion for explorers of these gems.

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Book SynopsisShaping the minds of the future generation was pivotal to the Nazi regime in order to ensure the continuing success of the Third Reich. Through the curriculum, the elite schools and youth groups, the Third Reich waged a war for the minds of the young. Hitler understood the importance of education in creating self-identity, inculcating national pride, promoting 'racial purity' and building loyalty. The author examines how Nazism took shape in the classroom via school textbook policy, physical education and lessons on Nationalist Socialist heroes and anti-Semitism. Offering a compelling new analysis of Nazi educational policy, this book brings to the forefront an often-overlooked aspect of the Third Reich.Trade ReviewEducation in Nazi Germany provides this re-evaluation of childhood and education during the Third Reich and brings together, for the first time for an English reading audience, a complete text on the educational structure and pursuits of the Third Reich...Pine is methodical and extensive in her approach, covering everything from textbooks to classrooms, to propaganda songs to youth groups, all while drawing the reader's attention to the unsubtle changes imposed by the Nazi system on classrooms in the expanding Germany...Pine minutely examines the particulars of each aspect of the curriculum: mathematics, physics, physical education, history, and more...overall Education in Nazi Germany presents a refreshingly new thesis, at least for an English language audience, and fills a known void in ?ird Reich historiography -- Prudence Mann, Melbourne University * Melbourne Historical Journal *Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Glossary of Abbreviations and Terms Introduction 1. The Historical Context 2. Nazi Education Policy 3. The Curriculum and School Textbooks 4. The Nazi Elite Schools 5. The Hitler Youth 6. The League of German Girls Conclusion Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThis book can be purchased by customers in the US or Canada from the University of California Press.Sensory History introduces a topic that is rapidly becoming of enormous interest to historians--incorporating the senses into our understanding of the past.The book defines 'sensory history,' stresses the importance of historicizing the senses, and considers each sense chapter by chapter. The author concludes by pondering future directions of the field.Drawing on examples from across the globe throughout time, Sensory History includes examinations of visual culture in Victorian Britain and South America, sound in nineteenth-century Australia and France, gender politics and touch in Early Modern Europe and among Native Americans, "race" and olfaction in the United States and scent in ancient Christianity, and the role of taste in shaping national identity in modern China and Early America. By attending carefully to the social history of the senses, Sensory History also reconsiders the value of paradigmatic explanatory models linking print, vision, and modernity and evaluates their relevance to the study of sensory history.Sensory History will be a key text for an emerging field.Trade Review'This book is an excellent introduction to a distinctive style of inquiry and a trustworthy guide to what is now a fast-emerging field of study.'THE'Mark M. Smith has a good record of communicating his research to a broad constituency within and beyond the academy ... This will be required reading for anyone addressing sensory history.'Penelope Gouk, Manchester University'In this inspiring book, Mark M. Smith blows the dust off the documents and monuments historians normally concentrate on in their efforts to reconstruct the past, and breathes new life into the sounds and textures, scents and sights that have shaped the consciousness of historical actors from antiquity to the present. Sensory History thus makes for sensational reading, and at the same time offers a critical take on the burgeoning literature in this dynamic new field of inquiry. Smith's history of the sensate is destined to precipitate a revolution in our understanding of the sensibilities that underpinned theTable of ContentsIntroduction: Making Sense Of History 1. Seeing 2. Hearing 3. Smelling 4. Tasting 5. Touching Conclusion: Futures Of Senses Past Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisFrom nomads' tents to poodle skirts, from car parts to Christmas tree ornaments, felt is one of the world's oldest and most understated textiles. Felt has developed simultaneously in multiple cultures, and often its origins are lost. However, far from having been supplanted by new fabrics, not only has felt retained its traditional uses among peoples around the world, but it has also seen a revival of popularity among today's hand feltmakers, craftspeople and fashion designers. This book follows the journey of felt through time, space, and purpose by pulling into focus a series of snapshots of different felting traditions. Beautifully illustrated, Felt covers the wide-ranging history and development of this most unassuming but ubiquitous of fabrics from the earliest archaeological evidence in the mountains of Siberia to the groundbreaking works of contemporary fiber arts and sculptors.Trade ReviewIt is pleasing to find a book on felt that is not about crafting quick results, but instead describes a deceptively complex and sophisticated substance, multi-cultured yet culturally specific. THETable of ContentsAcknowledgements Introduction Chapter 1 - The History of Felt Chapter 2 - The Making of Felt Chapter 3 - Felt in Central Asia Chapter 4 - Felt in the Middle East, Turkey and Hungary Chapter 5 - Felt in Europe Chapter 6 - Felt in Western Art Chapter 7 - Felt Everywhere Chapter 8 - The Meanings of Felt Bibliography

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Book SynopsisSir James Fergusson used to maintain that for anyone lucky enough to live in the Girvan valley the only joy of travel must be the pleasure of coming home. That deep affection, made so plain in the first chapter, written in 1938, was no doubt magnified by five years' absence during the war, and later by his twenty years as Keeper of the Records of Scotland, when he necessarily spent four days and nights of most weeks in Edinburgh. This anthology, mainly culled from Lowland Lairds, "The White Hind" and "The Man Behind Macbeth", brings together those essays which deal more or less directly with the Girvan valley - the parts of it, at any rate, which demanded an historian's attention or awoke his curiosity. It is in no sense a full story of the valley: the principal estates lying on or near the river, like their people, make their appearance simply as the narratives dictate - Trochrague, Penkill, Killochan, Bargany, Dalquharran, Kilkerran, Kirkbride, Blairquhan. 'Fugitive pieces' include an Ayrshire wine-merchant's letter book, which, like the study of the plague in 'Ayr', deserves its tenuous place in a book about the valley if only because, to all who lived nearby, wine shipped into the port of 'Ayr' was of as critical interest as the pestilence - at a time when whisky was seldom drunk outside the Highlands and smugglers supplied brandy at overwhelmingly competitive prices. Sir James Fergusson of Kilkerran 8th Bart, LLD FRSE, 1904-1973, was Keeper of the Records of Scotland 1949-69, Lord Lieutenant of Ayrshire, a member of the Royal Commission on Historic Manuscripts, a trustee of the Scottish National Galleries, Chairman of the Burns Monument Trust, and others.

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Book SynopsisAlthough Gaelic no longer resounds through the Lennox and Mentieth as it once did, this volume demonstrates that its rich heritage of literature and folklore deserves to be rediscovered and reclaimed by new generations. Gaelic was once spoken by its earls and chieftains, farmers and fishermen, into the twentieth century. This book presents some of the songs, stories and traditions which recapture the timeless brilliance of the Gaelic heroic age in the area. Dr Michael Newton has brought together the legends of the early Christian saints, tales of the supernatural, panegyric verse of professional poets, clans sagas of the Colquhouns, MacGregors, and MacFarlanes, Jacobite songs, elegies, local calendar customs, and other remnants of folklore and folklife. Patient and dedicated research has enabled this wealth of material to be accessible for the first time to students, scholars, and all enthusiasts of the history and culture of the Lennox and Menteith, bringing back to life an ancient inheritance worth celebrating.Trade Review'... an excellent (bilingual) publication [which] provides material not readily available anywhere else [and] supports a better understanding of a local Gaelic identity.' Ruairidh Maclean

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Book SynopsisThis account of William Kirkpatrick of Malaga reveals for the first time a remarkable man only occasionally mentioned in the numerous biographies of his famous granddaughter, the Empress Eugenie. As United States Consul in Malaga between 1800 and 1817, William Kirkpatrick was a strong advocate of the US Navy's role in combating the Barbary Corsairs. His Consular work, business enterprises and extensive European and American connections are explored using new sources. These show that the Kirkpatricks of Dumfriesshire who settled in Spain in the 1730s were an enterprising family of international merchants. Allied with similar families from across Europe, the Kirkpatricks revolutionised trade and industry in southern Spain and even had a hand in introducing grapevines to Australia. The Kirkpatrick family received wide attention when Eugenie, aided by her mother the formidable Maria Manuela, Countess de Montijo, made a spectacular marriage to Napoleon III and became Empress Regent of France, a confidante of Queen Victoria, and an iconic figure in 19th Century Europe.After a wide-ranging business career in Africa, Colin Carlin now lives in Bath where he is associated with a leading contemporary art gallery.Trade Review'This is a meticulously researched book based on an exhaustive search of Spanish and American archives (as evident in the extensive end notes and bibliography) that is to be warmly recommended to both the general reader and academic alike. In many ways it showcases what a substantial contribution to our knowledge of the Scots Diaspora can be unearthed by a determined amateur family historian. Dr Eric J. Graham, SUR in English, 2012

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Book SynopsisA meticulous account, compiled over six summers, of the route through the Debatable Lands, following the border eventually agreed between two nations of Scotland and England whose local warlords had for centuries sought to dispute, and then to acquire, the ownership of land. This reprint is of the Second Edition, originally published in 1926.

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Book SynopsisThe House of Argyll acquired its Kintyre lands in 1607 and sold them in 1956. During that period, the Campbells exerted a powerful influence in Kintyre, through politics, religion, and agrarian reform. The core of this book is the 5th Duke of Argyll's estate instructions to his Kintyre chamberlain, or manager, from 1785 to 1805. Through these annual directions, and the chamberlain's responses, emerge the complex workings of a West Highland estate. Kintyre historian Angus Martin has taken the late Eric R. Cregeen's hitherto unpublished transcript of the instructions and illuminated them with a lengthy series of commentaries, explaining agricultural practices, social customs and cultural nuances, and providing biographical sketches of the chief personalities of the time. The study is informatively introduced by both Cregeen and Martin, enhanced by 72 illustrations, ranging from eighteenth century portraits to present-day photographs, contains a reproduction of George Langlands' celebrated 1801 map of Kintyre, and is fully furnished with references, notes and index.Trade Review'Angus Martin, taking up where Eric Cregeen left off, ... provides commentaries [containing] both factual information and informed rumination of a sort bearing witness to the many years Martin has spent studying, and thinking about, Kintyre. Taken together with the original texts at this book's core, they add up to a fine publication.' James Hunter, Emeritus Professor of History, University of the Highlands and Islands in the Scottish Historical Review.

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Book SynopsisFor 20 years, since 1991, historian and poet Angus Martin has been documenting in the Kintyre Magazine his observations and experiences while walking the hills and shores of his native Kintyre. This volume - an eclectic mix of natural history, history, archaeology, folklore, and much else, ranging from snippets to mini-essays - comprises a selection of 'By Hill and Shore' from the past 40 issues, plus supplementary articles and some 90 illustrations, mostly his own photographs taken during the past 30 years. Rich in its evocation of places, people, and creatures great and small, this anthology should provide lasting enjoyment to all readers, at home and abroad, with a passion for 'lovely, long Kintyre'.Table of ContentsIllustrations xvii Introduction xxi 1991 1 Otters 1 Mink 3 Foxes 4 Moles 6 Crossbills 7 Sparrowhawks 8 Peregrine Falcons 8 Red Grouse 9 'Wee Donald Ban' 9 'Skye John' 10 Atlantic Winkles 10 Wild Goats 12 Blaeberries 12 Horse Mushrooms 15 Mushrooms in Local Tradition 16 Hedgehogs 16 1992 19 Mermaid's Purses 19 Peat-cutting 21 Cladach: A Peat-Cutting Term 26 An Encounter with Old Nick 26 Giant Puffballs 28 Ben Gullion Trail Opened 30 Mail Delivery to Innean Mor 31 Basking Sharks 34 A Conger Eel 35 Tree-Creeper 35 Oysters 36 1993 38 Scallops 38 Wild Goats 40 Sarah Finds a Flint Arrowhead 40 Tropical Beans 41 Blaeberry-gathering with an Austrian 42 Bringing Worms to the Surface 44 'Back o' the Trinch' 44 Gleneadardacrock 45 Slow-Worms 45 Sand and Limpets 47 To Largiebaan Caves 47 Stalactites and Stalagmites 50 Hooded Crows 50 1994 52 A Rooks' Nest 52 A Spring Outing to the Lochs 52 Encounters at the Inneans 53 Mink 55 1995 57 Cockles and Mussels 57 Peat-cutting and a Laggan Moss Spade 58 Prehistoric Artefacts from Peat 59 Archaeological Finds at Erradil 60 The Anchor of the Madelaine Ann 64 Bramblers 66 Sloes 66 Largiebaan 68 Visit to Borgadale 69 A Winter's Day on Ben Gullion 71 A White Christmas 71 1996 72 Sunset from Bluebell Hill 72 Erradil and MacKays 72 Achadhdubh 76 Triangulation Pillars 78 Risso's Dolphins 80 'Shellisters' and 'Sheggans' 82 The Rat Stane 84 Grey Mullet 86 Wing-beats 86 'Kanejachs' 86 Witch-Hares, Brown Hares and White Hares 88 Tall Tales 90 Roe Deer 90 Glenrea 91 1997 93 Innean Dunain 93 Low-flying Jets 95 Quartz Rock 95 A Dying Lumpsucker 96 Rushes 96 Eggar Moth Cocoons 97 An Evening on Auchenhoan Hill 99 Mushroom-gathering 100 1998 101 Oitir as a place-name 101 Razor-fish 104 Saint Kieran's Cave 105 Alastair Responds 105 Trapped at Saint Kieran's Cave 107 Blue Tits 109 To the Inneans 109 A Herring Gull Eel-Fishing 110 Wild Strawberries 112 An Astonishing Downpour 112 A Further Deluge 113 Our Caravan is Destroyed 114 1999 115 Moonlight and Pri

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Book SynopsisThis social history of the 'ordinary' people of the south-western peninsula of Argyll, in Western Scotland, has become a classic since its original publication in 1984. It is reprinted here with a new Introduction by the author, a native of Kintyre who knows its geography intimately. The greater part of the book is based on original research from a wide range of sources, from nineteenth century registers of the poor to material passed on through the oral tradition. It traces the evolution of the extraordinarily mixed stock of Kintyre from the Gaelic settlement in the fifth century AD through the subsequent settlements of the Lowlanders and Irish, and explores the nature of these diverse cultural legacies. The darker aspects of social history - epidemic diseases, sanitary and housing conditions and destitution - are also explored, and the sinister activities of grave-robbers in nineteenth century Kintyre are substantiated for the first time. There is also information on Irish immigrant families, the anglicisation of native surnames and surviving Gaelic elements in the local dialect.

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Book SynopsisUntil now much of the early history of ice hockey in Scotland has been neglected or forgotten - metaphorically frozen in time, lying buried under the ice. Here, for the first time, is a comprehensive and social history of both the Club and International game in the country from the late 19th century up to 1940. It aims to restore Scottish ice hockey to its right and proper place, representing a pioneering nation in the early development and organisation of this great world-wide sport. The bulk of the book is dedicated to the eleven seasons of competition in the Scottish League in the inter-war period, where a number of themes - including the transition from amateurism to semi-professionalism and the home-based player vs the imported player controversies - are fully explored. A definitive records section has also been included. As the story unfolds, it becomes clear that the debt owed to ice hockey missionaries from the Land of the Maple Leaf cannot be overstated. Ice hockey represents a unique link in the long and happy social relationship which has always existed between the people of Scotland and Canada, and to which this book can be viewed as a minor contribution.

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Book SynopsisWhile reflecting the style and character of its predecessor, 'A Summer in Kintyre', this new book is rich in differences. The narrative begins in April 2014 and ends in September, but real time is irrelevant, as the author dips frequently into history and prehistory, evoking people and events associated with the places he visits by bicycle and on foot. Artists, poets, musicians, cave-dwellers, convicts, winkle-pickers, travelling tinsmiths, shipwrecked sailors, saints, school friends, fishermen, shepherds, farmers and fellow-ramblers share the pages with flowers, butterflies, birds, otters, whales, adders, and much else. A close engagement with places, people and nature is ever-present and, using the journals he has kept since his teens, the author is able to recreate his early adventures in the outdoors. Besides familiar haunts in South Kintyre (Learside, Ben Gullion, Inneans, and Largiebaan), he visits Barr Glen, Ballochroy Glen and Lussa, and explores their history. Illustrated with 50 images, the result will inform and delight any reader with an interest in one of Scotland's most fascinating yet least appreciated areas.Trade Review'Wind-swept, rain-lashed - but often sun-kissed - Kintyre, through Angus Martin's eyes, is a garment permanently worn in its newest gloss, an ever-changing spectacle to be enjoyed.', John McCallum, Campbeltown Courier, June 2015; '... A welcome addition is the inclusion of map references for the places mentioned in the chapters. With an O.S. Landranger or Explorer map of Kintyre, readers can locate these places described in the book and perhaps set out on their own voyages of discovery. As the book progresses, the reader becomes aware of how much Angus values the memories and views of others. Fishermen and 'wilk'-gatherers, walkers and cyclists, shepherds and farmers, all appear in this travelling tale and all add their own weft to the warp that Angus has established. By the end of the book, the reader will have become a part of the intriguing tapestry that is this land of Kintyre.' Kintyre Magazine, Autumn 2015; '[These] latest offerings are an absorbing, idiosyncratic excursion into travel writing. Travel for Angus, in his own inimitable way, means cycling and walking through South Kintyre, with the occasional foray into more northern areas such as Ballachroy and Barr Glen. ... Whilst the narrative begins in April 2014 and ends in September, sequential time proves largely irrelevant, as he is always dipping into his own personal past, the past of friends and acquaintances he meets and the deeper past of the folk who fascinate him.' Ed Tyler, Kist Magazine.

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Book SynopsisPoet and historian Angus Martin was born in Campbeltown in 1952 and has lived there all his life. In this, his thirty-seventh book, he has employed his intimate knowledge of the history and families of his native community to produce the definitive account of the distillers, distilleries and related trades and industries which transformed a small West Highland fishing town into the whisky-making capital of the world. Exhaustive research in neglected sources has resulted a study with unprecedented detail and insight.Trade Review[I] .. can't think of a better historian to tell the story of [this] regional whisky, and no one has done it at this level of detail.' Frank Winter, Whisky-Botschafter

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Book SynopsisThe ancient churches and cathedrals of England's towns and countryside are among the glories of our national heritage. Yet how were our ancestors able to construct these often substantial edifices without the benefit of modern techniques? How did the medieval masons plan, design and oversee their construction? What methods of construction were used by the medieval carpenters to realise the magnificent roofs and ceilings we see today? In this unique guide, Geoffrey R. Sharpe brings forty years experience of caring for historic buildings to show us how, from the original planning and preparation to the final construction and decoration. In a final chapter the author shows the reader how to assess the history and development of a church from the constructional and architectural clues contained within its features. The result is a work that adds a whole new dimension to our understanding of English church building and architecture.Table of ContentsIntroduction PART 1 : The Construction of Churches Use of limes and cements; Concrete;Foundations;Wall construction;Masonry classifications;Building Stones; Dressing and working stone; Re-use of old stone; Coade stone; The structural use of buttresses; The medieval mason; Stone stairs and steps; stone windows;vaulting; arches; Pillars, piers and columns; Pilasters and responds; Capitals, bases and plinths; Floors; Church towers; Spires and steeples; Gables; Plasterwork; Metalwork; Historic carpentry;Roof construction; Roof coverings; Doors; Structural use of iron; Making and use of stained glass PART 2: Church Architecture The greater churches; Smaller churches and chapels; Saxon churches; Norman churches; Transition to Gothic; Great English cathedrals; Development of the Gothic style; Early English; Decorated; Perpendicular; Features of the building fabric which aid analysis; Porches and vestibules; Arcading; Anchorite cell; Columns, capitals, bases, Piers; Doorways; Windows; Mouldings and ornament;Tracery and foils; Parapets; Cornice; Corbel; Corbel table; Crockets; Regional characteristics of parish churches; Effect of the Renaissance on church design PART 3: Church Interiors Bede roll; Vestry; Sacristy; Lairstal; Crypts; Heart burials; Church fixtures and fittings; Pulpitum; Rood screen;Rood loftChancel screen; Parclose screen; Tower screen; Balacchino; Reredos;Triptych; Retable; Gradine; PiscinaLocker; Aumbry; Dole cupboard; Ambo; Reading desk; Sounding board; Church lighting and heating; Church monuments and memorials; Tomb chests; Table tombs;Tester-tombs; Dresser tomb; Wall monuments; Wall tablets; Cartouche; Brass plates' Tide dials;Almonry:Signs and symbols; Church bells PART 4: Investigating the Development of a Church Index

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Book SynopsisThe Lang Toun of Kirkcaldy has had its fair share of life's problems. From 1244 to the present day, there have been events which stand out from the ordinary. Some are the stuff of history. Others are very personal - perhaps, to those not involved - quite unimportant. But taken together they illustrate a community with a common resilience to adversity, ready to face an uncertain future with confidence and faith. Kirkcaldy resident David Potter has found the best of those moments - one for each calendar day of the year - and brought them together, to prompt memories of triumphs and failures, of tragedies and joy.

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Book SynopsisNorth of Kirkcaldy, lucky are those - from Levenmouth through the East Neuk to the Tay - who can count East Fife as their Club. It is, by some standards, a very young team, founded some 20 years after Raith Rovers, and a good 30 years after senior football had begun to take off. The first Scotland International was played in 1872, and the first Scottish Cup final took place in 1874, yet East Fife didn’t kick their first football until 1903. The other teams got off to a good start, but East Fife caught up. They played in Methil at Bayview, from where in 1927 the team reached the Scottish Cup Final and, in 1938, won the trophy, all while in the Second Division. After the Second World War came three great League Cup triumphs in 1947/48, 1949/50 and 1953/54, before teams like Celtic and Hearts had even appeared in a final. In 1998, the club moved to a new ground, much closer to the sea, and sometimes called New Bayview. The story of these achievements includes tales of players – famous and less well-known – and of managers, supporters, referees, chairmen, directors and club officials. There are over 100 photographs of players, teams, strips, and crowds. Plus a full Index of names, clubs, grounds, competitions, newspapers, sponsors and spiders. In the words of the author: `Every East Fife supporter would love to see the great days come back. It does not look, at the moment, all that likely, it has to be said, but then who am I to say that?’

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Book SynopsisAlex McKinven's passion for football has been life-long - first as a player and then as a manager - and that passion shines through in this book, the first comprehensive history of the game in Campbeltown, which documents the evolution of local football from the late 19th century to the present day. The local narrative is adeptly interwoven with national and international developments in the game. The local teams are all here - Academicals, Hearts, Glenside, Kintyre, Pupils, United, and dozens more - along with a huge cast of players, including the greatest exponents of the game Campbeltown ever produced, Neil McBain and Peter Pursell, both capped for Scotland, Peter's brother Bob, Jamie Brown and John Durnin, and a string of others who played professionally both in England and in Scotland. And an Italian internationalist, Giovanni Moscardini, earns a chapter to himself, thanks to two seasons as a Pupils player in the mid-1920s.Outstanding matches in the history of the local game - cup-ties and league clashes, some attracting spectators in their thousands - have been reconstructed from newspaper reports to present a series of vivid, tension-filled commentaries redolent of vanished loyalties. This book, which is enhanced by a fascinating collection of photographs spanning more than a century, will entertain and inform not only fans of 'the beautiful game' in Alex's native Kintyre, but also worldwide.

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