Social and cultural history Books

Book SynopsisTrade ReviewSelected for Choice's 2019 Outstanding Academic Titles ListWinner of the Ray Allen Billington Prize, sponsored Organization of American Historians "Jeffrey Ostler's Surviving Genocide covers a full century and a huge swath of territory but is never less than comprehensive. This is benchmark history at its best."—John Mack Faragher, Yale University"Surviving Genocide provides a panoramic survey of American-Indian relations and takes a hard look at U.S. policies that were predicated, one way or another, on the removal of Native people; at the same time, it offers important testimony on the resilience of Native people who refused to disappear."—Colin G. Calloway, author of The Indian World of George Washington“Stunning in its depth of research and scope of learning, Surviving Genocide brings a new level of sophistication to the study of the United States' 'Indian wars,' revealing the genocidal impulse at the core of the conflicts as well as the Native ingenuity that prevented an even more profound loss of life and land.”—Karl Jacoby, author of Shadows at Dawn: A Borderlands Massacre and the Violence of History“A landmark book essential to understanding American history, Surviving Genocide is an act of courage. Ostler’s brilliant concept of reconstructing 'an Indigenous consciousness of genocide' is significant for its insight into how American Indians understood, discussed, and resisted genocidal threats to their families, communities, and nations. His modern vocabulary of 'atrocities' and 'killing fields' is not for political effect but appropriate to the brutal reality of Indian policy in American history.”—Brenda Child, Northrop Professor of American Studies, University of Minnesota

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review“Brilliant and sobering.”—Paul Kennedy, Wall Street Journal"Snowden . . . examines the ways in which disease outbreaks have shaped politics, crushed revolutions, and entrenched racial and economic discrimination. . . . Gigantic in scope, stretching across centuries and continents, Snowden’s account seeks to explain, too, the ways in which social structures have allowed diseases to flourish."—Isaac Chotiner, New Yorker“[A] necessary and persuasive book…In an updated introduction to his book, Snowden traces a comparable arrogance in our own leaders, who have allowed global inequalities to foster the illusion that infectious diseases, old and new, are a thing of the past.”—Tim Adams, The Guardian"Frank Snowden’s book presents a comprehensive historical perspective on societies' vulnerabilities to pandemics. The author presents these not as random events but rather endogenous: "Every society produces its own specific vulnerabilities". Pandemics help us understand societies' structures and their political priorities. A well-written, highly entertaining and relevant book."—Milton Hayek, Financial Times ‘Readers' Best Books’ “[A] wide-ranging study”—Laura Spinney, Nature"Covering roughly a millennium on about 550 pages is no small task…very readable"—Christoph Gradmann, The Lancet“This book shows us horrors and positive results of the past, from greater suffering and inequality to the creation of the World Health Organisation and Doctors Without Borders.”—Gloria Steinem, The Week“This wide-ranging book…argues that [epidemics] have been central to the development of our world, and continue to pose a significant threat to its survival. Such a grim reminder could hardly be more timely.”—Christopher Kissane, Irish Times Weekend“Epidemics and Society offers space for discussion and interdisciplinary perspectives that allow the reader to grasp the role played by infectious diseases in shaping human societies in all its complexity.”—Baptiste Baylac‐Paouly, Metascience“The worst demographic disaster of the twentieth century, is mentioned, but not analysed, in Snowden’s splendidly readable book, originally given as lectures to his undergraduate class at Yale. If the inter-disciplinary lectures were as clear and provocative with ideas as the book, they were fortunate students indeed.”—David Killingray, Family & Community History"Essential reading for anyone who is concerned about society’s preparedness to meet new microbial challenges and who appreciates the importance of history to develop effective and efficient responses."—Socrates Litsios, author of The Tomorrow of Malaria“A superb synthesis of a complex and important topic. Snowden brings to the subject a wealth of previous research on disease and brilliantly integrates his work into more general historical concerns. A major achievement.”—William Bynum, author of A Little History of Science"Professor Snowden provides an authoritative and very readable historical account of several of the major the major infectious diseases epidemics that have afflicted mankind with a focus on their impact on society."—Brian Greenwood, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine"In an era of rapidly emerging diseases, Epidemics and Society reminds us that in framing epidemics we are also, always, refiguring human life and fate in relation to ecology and society."—Warwick Anderson, author of Colonial Pathologies: American Tropical Medicine, Race, and Hygiene in the Philippines“A distinctive and very useful contribution to the public understanding of disease."—Mark Harrison, author of Contagion: How Commerce Has Spread Disease and Director, Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine

Read more less

Book SynopsisAn introduction to the complex relationship between African Americans and the African continent What is an African American and how does this identity relate to the African continent? Rising immigration levels, globalization, and the United States' first African American president have all sparked new dialogue around the question. This book provides an introduction to the relationship between African Americans and Africa from the era of slavery to the present, mapping several overlapping diasporas. The diversity of African American identities through relationships with region, ethnicity, slavery, and immigration are all examined to investigate questions fundamental to the study of African American history and culture.Trade Review“Blyden has filled a gap in the scholarship on the relationship between African Americans and Africa by offering a synthetic narrative that contextualizes African American history firmly within the history of the African Diaspora.”—Jeannette Eileen Jones, University of Nebraska–Lincoln“Nemata Blyden has mined the relationship between African Americans and Africa to produce an impressive volume that covers African American connections with Africa from the era of the slave trade to the present.”—Robert R. Edgar, Howard University“African Americans and Africa examines perceptions of Africa based in the reality of experience and construction through propaganda and stereotypes.”—Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe story of the diverse communities of Eastern Europe’s borderlands in the centuries prior to World War IITrade Review“Bartov’s focus on Buczacz both personalizes this story and allows him to think in intimate ways about how the past might have gone differently. His fixation on the town in this project is profound.”—Kate Brown, Times Literary Supplement“[A]n erudite, highly readable book.”—Anna Wylegała, H-Soz Kult“This remarkable and moving book tells, on the basis of first-person accounts, the story of the emergence, development and destruction of the multi-ethnic and multi-confessional world of East Galicia. It is essential reading for all those interested in inter-ethnic conflict and in the way nationalism has come to dominate the modern world.”—Antony Polonsky, Brandeis University“A powerful and moving evocation of Jewish life and history in Galicia. The narrative elegantly intertwines history, legend, literature, and personal reminiscences, together with Bartov’s powerful observations. It is a poignant commemoration of an erased civilization—the annihilated Jewish communities of the East European borderlands.”—Saul Friedlander, author of Franz Kafka: The Poet of Shame and Guilt“A deeply personal, learned and literary coda to Bartov’s studies of Buczacz. Beautifully written and steeped in stories from Galician borderlands and Eretz Israel—a masterful achievement.”—Jan T. Gross, Princeton University“The world of Galician Jewry is, as Omer Bartov states, ‘irretrievably lost.’ Yet his book is more than an elegy. A work of erudition and personal revelation, it brings the diverse voices of the Galitzianers back to life.”—John-Paul Himka, University of Alberta

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe first telling of the unknown story of America’s two-hundred-year history as a slave-trading nationTrade Review“A work of impressive breadth, deep research, and evenhanded analysis.”—James Oakes, New York Review of Books“An authoritative historical account of American involvement in the slave trade. . . . A brutal but compelling read.”—The Tablet“This book will for many years to come be the only comprehensive and integrated overview of U.S. involvement in the North American–based slave trade from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries.”—David Eltis, coauthor of Atlas of the Transatlantic Slave Trade“This is one of the best syntheses of the history of the U.S. slave trade ever written. A book that offers not only a great historical narrative of a long-term process but also dives into specific themes in new ways.”—Leonardo Marques, Universidade Federal Fluminense

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review“In this major contribution to the history of the Holocaust, Clifford has written a highly original, deeply moving and perceptive study of the way child survivors struggled to come to terms with their personal tragedies.”—Saul David, Sunday Telegraph“A painful history. . . . Combining analysis of survivors’ testimonies recorded over the years, documents from the archives of organizations that came into contact with these children, and oral histories Clifford herself collected, the book shows how many of these survivors struggled with the act of making sense of their lives—even the lucky ones, who didn’t witness violence, and whose material needs were well met during the period of conflict and persecution. Clifford calls the work ‘fundamentally a book about the history of living after, and living with, a childhood marked by chaos.’”—Rebecca Onion, Slate“Rebecca Clifford’s remarkable book records the experiences of these children — now grandparents themselves — for whom survival was only a precursor to the challenges of peacetime…Courage and resilience shine through this timely history.”—Jane Shilling, Daily Mail“A finalist for the Cundill History Prize, [Clifford’s] book is based on the stories of 100 child survivors of the Holocaust, born between 1935 and 1944. The book, also shortlisted for Britain’s Wolfson History Prize, examines historical trauma and its sizable impact.”—Globe and Mail, (Best Books of 2021)“Clifford leads readers through this history of pain and incomprehension with the utmost sensitivity.”—Christopher Moore, Literary Review of Canada“[An] extraordinary book . . . original. . . . Any study of the Holocaust immediately raises questions of memory, of remembrance, of testimony—but what of those who simply don’t remember? Clifford explores how this led to a neglect or misunderstanding of child survivors in the world of Holocaust studies.”—Michael O’Loughlin, Irish Times Weekend“[A]n extraordinary book on children’s lives after the Holocaust. . . . There is, inevitably, heartbreak on almost every page of this book, as Dr. Clifford patiently pieces together what happened to the children.”—Jenni Frazer, Jewish Chronicle“Outstanding. . . . For those who wish to get beyond the witness testimonies, or especially the increasing number of fictional accounts of Holocaust story, this book is essential.”—Bruce Thompson, Methodist RecorderFinalist for the Cundill History Prize sponsored by McGill UniversityWinner of the 2021 Scholarship Award, sponsored by the Canadian Jewish Literary AwardsShortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize 2021Honorary mention in the 2021 British and Irish Association for Jewish Studies Book Prize“Really impressive, beautifully written, judicious and thoughtful. I have no doubt Survivors will be a major milestone in the history of the Holocaust and its legacy.”—Mark Roseman, author of The Villa, the Lake, the Meeting“A wonderful piece of writing, its power and intelligence so delicately crafted, a truly significant contribution to our understanding of the consequences over time of the interplay between trauma, memory and identity.”—Philippe Sands, author of East West Street and The Ratline“A comprehensive and highly readable examination of the experiences of child Holocaust survivors by an historian sensitive to the many variables that determined their survival during the Second World War and after. Drawing on her own interviews with child survivors, other people’s interviews, interviews with care workers, foster parents and mental health professionals, as well as archival documents, Professor Clifford ably navigates through this complex history and historiography with skill and great nuance.”—Helen Epstein, author of The Long Half-Lives of Love and Trauma“In this moving and beautifully written book, Rebecca Clifford has produced one of the best analyses of child Holocaust survivors to appear to date. Subverting commonplace assumptions about children yet remaining ethically attuned to their needs, suffering and hopes, Survivors is a book which demands our attention.”—Dan Stone, author of Liberation of the Camps

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review“A thrilling account of the capital during its most dramatic and important era” “Vivid and engrossing...Lincoln is adept at spotting eloquent details that stick in the mind.”—John Carey, The Sunday Times“Lincoln...not only takes us through the maze of this magnificently chaotic city, but skilfully interweaves the political convulsions that dogged it through the 17th century.”—Ben Wilson, The Times “Brings much engaging detail about London life...The great virtue of Margarette Lincoln’s new book is to show us a world in flux, and what we recognise as a sort of modernity coming into being.”—Ian Bostridge, Financial Times“Margarette Lincoln has a curator’s gift for selecting all the right details for a thoroughly absorbing account.”—Tony Barber, Financial Times ‘Best Books of 2021: History’“Here are charted the national events and personalities...researched in great depth...to indicate commercial ambition, expansion, and hardship and particularly the untold stories of ordinary Londoners showing how the nation emerged from a turbulent century.”—Paul Ridgway, Seagull of the Indian Maritime Foundation“Draws on a vast array of sources to explore how Londoners were affected by national events and changes in attitudes”—Caroline Sanderson, The Bookseller“A satisfying, lively book, befitting a fascinating subject. For anyone wishing to understand London in this vital, formative period of its history - or even just wishing to see how a growing early modern city ticked - this is a great place to start. A vivid portrayal of a vibrant city.”—Jonathan Healey, BBC History Magazine“Lincoln's colourful canvas is both a chronicle and an ever-shifting panorama — a vivid portrayal of a metropolis in the grip of alarming, bewildering and constant change [that] skilfully steers her narrative through such political squalls without losing sight of the background.”—Nigel Jones, Spectator “A hugely enjoyable read...[Lincoln’s] extended account of London in the chaotic last days of James II’s reign is the best I have read, capturing perfectly the uncertainty on the streets.”—Adrian Tinniswood, Literary Review “The book opens with Elizabeth I’s funeral procession in 1603 and ends with the foundation of the Bank of England in 1694...Lincoln skilfully intertwines such grand events with the lives of everyday Londoners: the gossip, the markets, the filth, the shops, the crime, the joyful jostling chaos of life in seventeenth century London.”—Travels Through Time“This well-researched, brilliantly-written and anecdotally-entertaining book does full justice to its own subtitle.”—Mike Paterson, London Historians“Margarette Lincoln, whose previous books have been about seafaring, has chosen the right moment for this new departure.”—The Oldie“Stands head and shoulders above the rest…Lively and arresting…[Lincoln] is as confident in handling the royal ceremonials of political transition...as she is with London's thriving coffee-house culture, and its turbulent maritime community.”—Ian W. Archer, Times Literary Supplement"With her curator's eye, Lincoln assembles the colourful details of everyday life to form a compelling narrative of how Londoners continued to live, adapt and struggle underneath the drama of public events." — Miranda Malins, History Today“London and the 17th Century must undoubtedly be considered the new definitive introduction and overview of the subject . . . It is a book that nobody with an interest in the history of London can do without.”—Joe Saunders, The Local Historian“[London and the Seventeenth Century] presents the reader with a vibrant and elegant overview of the transformation of the city into a global metropolis. Lincoln has deftly woven together social, political, and nautical histories into a compelling new narrative.”—Jasmine Kilburn-Toppin, Journal of British Studies"A fascinating journey round the best city in the world during the most turbulent period in its long history. Terrorism, war, plague, fire and revolution – they all have their place in an exciting story told with verve and wit."—Adrian Tinniswood, author of The Long Weekend“Lincoln has the keenest possible eye for the character of the key players, the court as well as the populace, for the process of historical change and for London’s street-life, the docks and palace ceremony, coffee houses, gardens and shops. She makes the whole look and feel of the period come alive.”—Charles Saumarez Smith, author of East London “London in the 17th century was visited by apocalyptic events: plague, fire and war. Yet it survived all these, emerging as one of the greatest cities of the Western world. In this lively account, Lincoln shows us how the transformation was possible.”—Margaret Willes, author of The Curious World of Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn

Read more less

Book SynopsisHow Freud’s concept of the super-ego can help us to understand the harsh cultural climate of the digital ageTrade Review“Edmundson . . . is an engaging writer, whether he is describing Freud as heroic ideal, football, reading, teaching or . . . the politics of his students. His tone is friendly yet incisive, more conversational than academic. . . . Insightful.”—Michael Roth, Washington Post“In this timely, persuasive, and utterly compelling new book, Edmundson reveals the ingenious subtlety of self‑sabotage. The sheer wit and good humour of Edmundson’s writing make this a unique and indispensable work of cultural criticism.”—Adam Phillips, author of The Cure for Psychoanalysis and On Getting Better“Reading The Age of Guilt saved me years on the couch and made this cultural-political moment of super-ego warriors and their enthralled supplicants far more comprehensible. The urge to punish and be punished becomes the key to most human mysteries and miseries in this scandalously well-written and perversely funny intercession.”—Laura Kipnis, author of Love in the Time of Contagion: A Diagnosis“The Age of Guilt is exactly the book we need right now. Mark Edmundson explains how the superego, that huge roadblock to happiness, keeps getting bigger and more punishing in the internet age—and he even suggests some ways to make ourselves happier and less superego-driven. Whether or not you’re familiar with Freud, you will benefit from Edmundson’s sage advice.”—David Mikics, author of Stanley Kubrick: American Filmmaker

Read more less

Book SynopsisAn investigation into the evolution of the seven-day week and how our attachment to its rhythms influences how we liveTrade Review“[Henkin] scours American literature, diaries, periodicals, menus and other ephemera from as far back as the seventeenth century to unearth fascinating evidence of the stickiness of the seven-day cycle.”—Melissa Holbrook Pierson, Wall Street Journal“[Henkin’s] new book shows how the week came to rule the world.”—The Economist“Henkin makes clear that there is no obvious reason for the existence of the week, much less for its omnipresence in modern societies.”—Anthony Grafton, London Review of Books“This book grounds a great historical fact—the persistence of the seven-day week—in intimate histories of the consciousness of time in the past. Proust would be pleased. So will the general readers.”—Thomas Laqueur, author of The Work of the Dead“Given today’s high-wattage lifestyle, the week, among other traditional temporal rhythms, stands endangered as a barrier against the banality of quotidian life. The implications of Henkin’s powerful insights are bracing.”—A. Roger Ekirch, author of At Day’s Close: Night in Times Past“David Henkin works wizardry in the archives to give us the surprising story behind the week’s rhythms. Preachers, workers, brides and school children have all felt the beat of the week. Henkin reminds us what we miss when our weekly rhythms are lost in a plague year or battered by a timeless internet.”—Ann Fabian, author of The Skull Collectors

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe personal account of one man's groundbreaking project to sleep overnight in the countless oft-overlooked former slave dwellings that still stand across the country, the fascinating history behind those sites, and how he has used the experiences to shed light on larger issues of race in America.

Read more less

Book SynopsisHeads: A Biography of Psychedelic America uncovers a hidden history of the biggest psychedelic distribution and belief system the world has ever known. Through a collection of fast-paced interlocking narratives, it animates the tale of an alternate America and its wide-eyed citizens: the LSD-slinging graffiti writers of Central Park, the Dead-loving AI scientists of Stanford, utopian Whole Earth homesteaders, black market chemists, government-wanted Anonymous hackers, rogue explorers, East Village bluegrass pickers, spiritual seekers, Internet pioneers, entrepreneurs, pranksters, pioneering DJs, and a nation of Deadheads.WFMU DJ and veteran music writer Jesse Jarnow draws on extensive new firsthand accounts from many never-before-interviewed subjects and a wealth of deep archival research to create a comic-book-colored and panoramic American landscape, taking readers for a guided tour of the hippie highway filled with lit-up explorers, peak trips, big busts, and scenic vistas, from Vermont to the Pacific Northwest, from the old world head capitals of San Francisco and New York to the geodesic dome-dotted valleys of Colorado and New Mexico. And with the psychedelic research moving into the mainstream for the first time in decades, Heads also recounts the story of the quiet entheogenic revolution that for years has been brewing resiliently in the Dead''s Technicolor shadow.Featuring over four dozen images, many never before seen--including pop artist Keith Haring''s first publicly sold work--Heads weaves one of the 20th and 21st centuries'' most misunderstood subcultures into the fabric of the nation''s history. Written for anyone who wondered what happened to the heads after the Acid Tests, through the ''70s, during the Drug War, and on to the psychedelic present, Heads collects the essential history of how LSD, Deadheads, tie-dye, and the occasional bad trip have become familiar features of the American experience.

Read more less

Book SynopsisFor over 100 years, at least one concentration camp has existed somewhere on Earth. First used as battlefield strategy, camps have evolved with each passing decade, in the scope of their effects and the savage practicality with which governments have employed them. Even in the twenty-first century, as we continue to reckon with the magnitude and horror of the Holocaust, history tells us we have broken our own solemn promise of never again.In this harrowing work based on archival records and interviews during travel to four continents, Andrea Pitzer reveals for the first time the chronological and geopolitical history of concentration camps. Beginning with 1890s Cuba, she pinpoints concentration camps around the world and across decades. From the Philippines and Southern Africa in the early twentieth century to the Soviet Gulag and detention camps in China and North Korea during the Cold War, camp systems have been used as tools for civilian relocation and political repressio

Read more less

Book SynopsisDouglas Smith is an internationally recognized expert in Russian history. He is the author of numerous articles and critically acclaimed books, including Rasputin: The Biography, and The Pearl: A True Tale of Forbidden Love in Catherine the Great's Russia. He lives in Seattle with his wife and two children.

Read more less

Book SynopsisSimon Winder is the author of The Man Who Saved Britain and the Sunday Times Top Ten Bestseller Germania. He works in publishing and lives in Wandsworth Town.Trade ReviewOne of the oddest books I have ever read . . . a very funny writer, as well as an incisive one * Evening Standard *A superb book -- Andrew Roberts * Wall Street Journal *Witty and intelligent * Financial Times *A splenetic turn of phrase that’s read-aloud funny * Independent on Sunday *Almost insanely entertaining * Daily Telegraph *A more entertaining tour of 007, and the period associations that get sucked into Winder’s great comic intelligence, is hard to imagine * London Review of Books *Diversions for the general reader and delights for the Bond enthusiast * Sunday Times *A delightfully quirky, immediately engaging book * Scotland on Sunday *An entertaining romp through the literary and cinematic heartland of James Bond country * Sunday Times *A hilarious blend of cultural history, biography and memoir * Guardian *

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe Black Peoples of America is an essential and unique Key Stage 3 resource for teaching and learning about the issues and events that characterise the history of Black peoples from Slavery up to the struggle for Civil Rights and life in modern America. It never lets go of the period''s story, providing innovative and exciting opportunities to examine the Big Picture and Investigate particular topics. This foundation edition has been written for use with lower attainers and promotes literacy as well as knowledge and understanding. Discover how at least 12 million Black people were taken as slaves from Africa to America in the three hundred years after 1532 (and why at least two million died during the sea journey); how one slave hid in a box, ''posted'' himself to freedom in the North and afterwards was know as Henry ''Box'' Brown; and how Black people who volunteered to fight against slavery in 1861 were turned away because it was thought to be a ''White Man''s War''!Trade ReviewI would not hesitate to recommend this to anyone as a very competent aid to the classroom practitioner. * SATH *Table of Contents : 1. Slavery comes to the Americas : 2. Life on the American Plantations : 3. The end of slavery in the Americas : 4. The birth of the Civil Rights Movement : 5. Challenges to segregation 1951-65 : 6. From the 1960s to the new millenium

Read more less

Book Synopsis* Classic essays on the history of radical protest.Trade ReviewQuite billiant...because he assembles his arguments with knowledge ranging across both countries and centuries, they have a rare potency * Scotsman *Eric Hobsbawn has become informally enthroned as Britain's leading historian...ge combines a novelist's narrative power with an unrivalled command of detail and source -- Neal Ascherson * Observer *Demonstrating that it is possible to be both erudite and accessible, he turns his attention to the "uncommon people" of the 18th and 19th centuries... [Hobsbawm] provides a brilliant deconstruction of the popular idea that revolution and sexual freedom are intrinsically connected. * SUNDAY TIMES *Dump-if you have any- your preconceptions about Marxist history and buy this book. * OBSERVER *One of the outstanding historians of our age * Independent on Sunday *

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe story of the fight to gain the vote for women is about much more than a peripheral if picturesque skirmish around the introduction of universal suffrage. It is an explosive story of social and sexual revolutionary upheaval, and one which has not yet ended. The movement for women''s suffrage in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries prefigured to a startling extent the controversies which rage today around the role of women. Far from the stereotype of a uniform body of women chaining themselves to railings, the early feminist movement was riven by virulent arguments over women''s role in society, the balance to be struck between self-fulfilment and their duties to family and children, and their relationship with men.Melanie Phillips'' brilliant book tells the story of the fight for women''s suffrage in a way which sets the high drama of those events in the context of the moral and intellectual ferment that characterised it.Trade ReviewA gripping and rather magnificent new book * THE TIMES *A richly detailed history. * DAILY TELEGRAPH *This highly enjoyable history gives an excellent sense of the vivid feuds, ideological divides and disputes which fractured the enlivened the progressive Victorian feminist movement * SUNDAY TELEGRAPH *[A book] shot through with Phillip s' customary clariy... [she] shows beautifully that the vote was really symbolic of a far wider range of issues on which women were struggling to find a public voice * EVENING STANDARD *

Read more less

Book SynopsisRecent years have seen a remarkable growth of interest in revolution and social upheaval. This collection of essays by distinguished historian and long-standing Marxist Eric Hobsbawm is a commentary and critical retrospective on the revolutionary movements and ideas that dominated the twentieth century, and which remain of crucial contemporary relevance. The essays here explore a broad range of related topics including the history of communism, the influence of marxism, insurrection, military coups and guerrilla warfare, and the role of intellectuals. This updated edition presents new thoughts on anti-communist polemics and the Spanish Civil War.Written with clarity and masterly assurance, Eric Hobsbawm''s essays are indispensable for a true understanding both of twentieth-century history and of the pattern of events today.Trade ReviewThis is a highly readable, lucid and well-written book from which any student of contemporary revolutions can derive a great deal of profit * NEW STATESMAN *This is an unusually rewarding book; almost every item bears witness to Professor Hobsbawm's sharp intelligence and felicitous style * TLS *This is an extraordinarily clear-sighted and accessible work of hindsight. * INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY *

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe first instalment of Rebel Takes, On the Future of Food explores global legacies of ownership of and access to food in the past and present - and how we can reconstruct this relationship.

Read more less

Book SynopsisSilent Teachers considers for the first time the influence of Ottoman scholarly practices and reference tools on oriental learning in early modern Europe. Telling the story of oriental studies through the annotations, study notes, and correspondence of European scholars, it demonstrates the central but often overlooked role that Turkish-language manuscripts played in the achievements of early orientalists. Dispersing the myths and misunderstandings found in previous scholarship, this book offers a fresh history of Turkish studies in Europe and new insights into how Renaissance intellectuals studied Arabic and Persian through contemporaneous Turkish sources.This story hardly has any dull moments: the reader will encounter many larger-than-life figures, including an armchair expert who turned his alleged captivity under the Ottomans into bestselling books; a drunken dragoman who preferred enjoying the fruits of the vine to his duties at the Sublime Porte; and a curmudgTable of ContentsIntroduction / Chapter One: Earliest printed books on Turkey: Georgievits and Postel on the Turkish language / Chapter Two: The advent of scholarly books on Turkey: Leunclavius’ Ottoman Annals and History, Crusius' Greece under Turkish Rule with Scaliger's Annotations / Chapter Three: First printed grammars of Turkish: Megiser and Du Ryer / Chapter Four: Oriental studies in Leiden: The manuscript Turkish dictionaries of Deusing and Golius / Chapter Five: A fine library: Golius and his Turkish books / Conclusions

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis book is a ground-breaking exploration of everyday life as experienced through the lens of Black British cultural history and creative practice, through a multiplicity of voices and writing styles.The structure of Black Everyday Lives, Material Culture and Narrative examines life through a personal study of the family home room by room, object by object as a portal through which to examine the intricacies and nuances of daily considerations of African heritage people living in Britain in the modern era (post-1950). Using Small Anthropology methodology, this book foregrounds the experiences of Black British lives by bringing the threads of history and culture into the relevancy of the present day and demonstrates how the personal sphere directly links to wider public and political concerns.This book will be of interest to a wide range of disciplines, including Black studies, anthropology, cultural studies, history, visual culture, photography, media communiTrade Review"This is the only book that I’ve ever read that manages to capture how we really lived from day to day back in the day. It’s a book like no other. Many of us have been waiting for a book like this. Ras Shawn-Naphtali has given the world a book that is intelligent, accessible, cultural, and lyrical, but true. This is a great contribution to the documentation of our history. This book did so much for me. It made me consider our struggles, our aspirations, and the art in our lives." – Professor Benjamin Zephaniah"Sobers uses his inclusive Small Anthropology creatively and incisively to show being and becoming of Black materiality in the home that speaks to us subjectively, intergenerationally, and cross culturally." – Dr Michael McMillan"Shawn-Naphtali Sobers presents an essential body of work and a must read primer for anyone interested in the significance of visual ethnography, anthropology, sociology, or interdisciplinary and mixed methodology. Shawn unapologetically renders the power of narrative, objects, and memory enmeshed within the realities of Black culture and history, transporting us into a state of consciousness that is indeed not burdened." – Dr Sireita MullingsTable of Contents1. Front Door / Hallway signs 2. (Living Room) – Photo Wall 3. (Living Room) – Television 4. (Living Room) – Sewing Machine 5. (Living Room) – Armchair (fiction) 6. (Front Room) – Radiogram 7. (Front Room) – The Last Supper 8. (Front Room) – Souvenirs and Ornaments 9. (Kitchen) – Dutch Pot 10. (Kitchen) – Rice 11. (Bathroom) – Afro-comb 12. (Bathroom) – Sickle Cell Medication 13. (Parent Bedroom) – Suitcase / Grip – Part 1 14. (Teenage Bedroom) – Stuff (photo essay) 15. (‘Sent-for child’s’ Bedroom) – Suitcase / Grip – Part 2 16. (Garden) – Soil (part fiction) 17. – Conclusion

Read more less

Book SynopsisArchiving Cultures defines and models the concept of cultural archives, focusing on how diverse communities express and record their heritage and collective memory and why and how these often-intangible expressions are archival records. Analysis of oral traditions, memory texts and performance arts demonstrate their relevance as records of their communities.Key features of this book include definitions of cultural heritage and archival heritage with an emphasis on intangible cultural heritage. Aspects of cultural heritage such as oral traditions, performance arts, memory texts and collective memory are placed within the context of records and archives. It presents strategies for reconciling intangible and tangible cultural expressions with traditional archival theory and practice and offers both analog and digital models for constructing cultural archives through examples and vignettes.The audience includes archivists and other information workers who challeng

Read more less

Book SynopsisMedieval Scandinavia went through momentous changes. Regional power centres merged and gave birth to the three strong kingdoms of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. At the end of the Middle Ages, they together formed the enormous Kalmar Union comprising almost all lands around the North Atlantic and the Baltic Sea. In the Middle Ages, Scandinavia became part of a common Europe, yet preserved its own distinct cultural markers. Scandinavia in the Middle Ages 900â1550 covers the entire Middle Ages into an engaging narrative. The book gives a chronological overview of political, ecclesiastical, cultural, and economic developments. It integrates to this narrative climatic changes, energy crises, devastating epidemies, family life and livelihood, arts, education, technology and literature, and much else. The book shows how different groups had an important role in shaping society: kings and peasants, pious priests, nuns and crusaders, merchants, and students, without forgetting Table of Contents1. Coming of the Kingdoms / 2. Coming of Christ / 3. Tilling the Land – The Local Economy / 4. Cultural Tradition and Transition / 5. Dominion over the Seas / 6. Consolidation of the Church / 7. Economic Growth and Fall – Urbanisation and Agrarian Crisis / 8. Cultural Universalism / 9. Rise and Fall of the Kalmar Union / 10. Fall of the Church / 11. Economic Expansion – The International Market Economy / 12. A Revolution in Communication

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis volume explores the panic that is a central affective register of our current international order. Fears of Somali pirates, Gypsy kidnappers, African warlords, Ebola, Mexican meth, pimps, coyotes, gangs, climate refugees and more, structure the dark side of a metropolitan unconscious. These are terrors over things that (might) cross borders, threatening the sanctity of territoriality and capital. Inspired by scholarship challenging panics around human and sex trafficking, the contributors to this volume develop the umbrella category of the global moral panic. Embracing the challenge of grasping a phenomenon not previously regarded as cohering, they consider panics provoked by travel, passage, transgression; panics over bodies that move. Like panics over trafficking, the episodes narrated here ride and feed a field of common sense regarding crime, rights, and state power. Their logics of victims and villains nourish notions of the centrality of punishment, drawing from anTable of ContentsAcknowledgementsList of Figures and CaptionsList of ContributorsIntroduction, Micol SeigelPart I. The Coloniality of PanicChapter 1: Privateers and Public Ends: Piracy as Global Moral Panic- Jatin DuaChapter 2: Moral Panic versus Moral Blindness: Responses to Children’s Militarization in Uganda and the US- Michelle Moyd, Frances M. Clarke, and Rebecca Jo PlantChapter 3: Ebola: Keywords- Adia BentonChapter 4: A Panicky Atmosphere: On the Coloniality of Climate Change- Alex ChambersChapter 5: The Panic over Human Smuggling: From the Nineteenth Century Coolie Trade to Today’s Migrants- Elliott YoungPart II. Too Mobile: Panic at the BordersChapter 6: Rescuing the Blonde Angel: The Global Captivity Narrative and the Panic of 2013- Susan LepselterChapter 7: The Everywhere Drug War: Narcoterror and the Global Flows of the Methamphetamine Imaginary- Travis Linnemann and Kyra MartinezChapter 8: Black Bodies, Wrong Places: Rolezinho, Moral Panic, and Racialized Male Subjects in Brazil- Osmundo PinhoChapter 9: Circulating Sin: Sailors and Benevolence in Early Nineteenth-Century New York- Dana LoganChapter 10: Transnational Securityscapes: Central American (Immigrant) Youth and the ‘Military Option’- Elana Zilberg,Part III. Resisting Rescue: Sex/WorkChapter 11: Stop the Woman, Save the State: Policing, Order, and the Black Woman’s Body- Rudo MudiwaChapter 12: Modern-Day Slavery: The Analogy Problem in Human Trafficking Reform- Julietta HuaChapter 13: Saving Love: Compassion, Desire, Violence, and Deceit in Late Capitalism- Courtney MitchelChapter 14: And Still We Rise’: Moral Panics, Dark Sousveillance, and Politics Otherwise in the New New Orleans- Laura McTighe

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe SÄáƒkhyayoga institution of KÄpil Maáh is a religious organisation with a small tradition of followers which emerged in the last decade of the nineteenth century and the first decades of the twentieth century in Bengal in India around the renunciant and yogin HariharÄnanda Äraáya. This tradition developed during the same period in which modern yoga was born and forms a chapter in the expansion of yoga traditions in modern Hinduism.The book analyses the yoga teaching of HariharÄnanda Äraáya (1869-1947) and the KÄpil Maáh tradition, its origin, history and contemporary manifestations, and this traditionâs connection to the expansion of yoga and the YogasÅtra in modern Hinduism. The SÄáƒkhyayoga of the KÄpil Maáh tradition is based on the PÄtaÃjalayogaÅÄstra, on a number of texts in Sanskrit and Bengali written by their gurus, and on the lifestyle of the renunciant yogin living isolated in a cave. The book investigates HariharÄnanda Äraáyaâs connection to pre-modern yTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. Sāṃkhya, Yoga and Sāṃkhyayoga 2. Encounters with a living Sāṃkhyayoga tradition 3. Kapila as the originator of Yoga 4. The rebirth of Yoga and the emergence of the bhadralok yogin 5. Gurus, book printing and the Sāṃkhyayoga lineage 6. Textual tradition of the Kāpil Math institution 7. Sāṃkhyayoga meditation instructions of the Kāpil Maṭh tradition 8. Monastic life and recitation of Sanskrit stotras 9. The material religion of Sāṃkhyayoga 10. The Kāpil Maṭh tradition and modern scholarship on Yoga Conclusion

Read more less

Book SynopsisOriginally published in 1953, The Birth of Christianity analyses the development of Christian doctrine and the establishment of the Church.The book traces the history of the formation of the Church as a new religious society and considers its development both in the realm of thought as well as on a social level, in both emotional life and moral action. It explores how the Christian faith first found expression in society through a variety of forms that were gradually assimilated into one system of doctrine, and examines both how Christian theology and dogma were formed, and how the Church developed its constitution. The Birth of Christianity will appeal to those with an interest in the history of religion, the history of Christianity, theology, and the philosophy of religion. Table of ContentsIntroduction; Part One: The Creation of a New Object of Religious Devotion; 1: The Birth of the Belief in the Resurrection of Jesus; 2: The Birth of the Faith in the Resurrection; Part Two: The Failure of Christianity to Develop in the Framework of Judaism; 1: The Church at Jerusalem up to A.D. 44; 2: The Church in Jerusalem after A.D. 44; 3: Apostolic Christianity after A.D. 44; Part Three: The Development of Christianity within the Framework of Hellenism. The Beginnings of Christian Doctrine; 1: Stephen and the Hellenists of Jerusalem; 2: The Church at Antioch; 3: The Apostle Paul and Paulinism; Part Four: The Stabilisation of Christianity and the Formation of its Doctrine; 1: Towards Stabilisation; 2: The Conflict Between Jewish and Gentile Christianity; 3: Deuteropaulinism; 4: The Epistle to the Hebrews; 5: The Johanne Theology; 6: Christianity as an Ethical Religion in the Epistle of James and the Didache; 7: The Pre-Catholicism of Clement of Rome; 8: Heresies; 9: Towards Early Catholicism; Part Five: The Reactions Provoked by the Preaching of the Gospel; 1: The Problem; 2: The Reactions of Palestinian Judaism to the Preaching of the Gospel; 3: The Reactions of the Jews in the Diaspora and the First Interventions of Rome Prompted by Them; 4: Christianity and the Roman Empire; 5: How Christianity Reacted to Persecution; Appendix

Read more less

Book SynopsisNow in its fifth edition, The Italian City Republics illustrates how, from the eleventh century onwards, many Italian towns achieved independence as political entities, unhindered by any centralising power. Until the fourteenth century, when the regimes of individual tyrants' took over in most towns, these communes were the scene of a precocious, and very well-documented, experiment in republican self-government.In this new edition, Trevor Dean has expanded the book's treatment of women and gender, the early history of the communes and the lives of non-élites. Focusing on the typical medium-sized towns rather than the better-known cities, the authors draw on a rich variety of contemporary material, both documentary and literary, to portray the world of the communes, illustrating the patriotism and public spirit as well as the equally characteristic factional strife which was to tear them apart. Discussion of the artistic and social lives of the inhabitants showsTable of Contents1. The legacy of power 2. The population 3. Government 4. Town and country 5. External relations 6. Civic spirit and the visual arts 7. Internal divisions 8. The failure of the republics 9. The historiography of the city-republics

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe Comintern and the Global South: Global Designs/Local Encounters studies the relations and productive tensions between the Third International, intellectual histories of racial justice and anti-imperialism, as well as other forms of internationalism. Building on extant institutional histories of the Third International, it moves in new directions by focusing on the points of intersection  often conflictual and short-lived  with anti-imperialist, anti-racist, and nationalist organizing, making the Third International a site of encounter between a global political project and more local and regional contexts. Due to the broad range of geographic and linguistic expertise of the contributors, this book traces routes of exchange that are often elided in existing studies of the Third International. The chapters address how actors from Global South contexts shaped key debates on, for example, the role of Black, Indigenous, and migrant labor, the Islamic question, and Table of ContentsPart One: Global Designs: The Comintern ImaginaryIntroduction: The Comintern and the Global South: Global Designs/Local Encounters 1: Within and Against the World Market: The Marxian Laboratory of Internationalism 2: Before Baku: The Second International and the Debate on Colonialism (1900-1920) 3: Communism and the Colour-Line: Reflections on Black BolshevismPart Two: Local Encounters: Confluences and Conflicts4: Via Kabul: Muhajirs turned Early Communists from India (1915-1923)5: Pandurang Khankhoje in Mexico: Communism, Anti-imperialism, and Radical Agrarianism in a Post-revolutionary Setting6: An Atlantic Revolutionary Brotherhood: Radical Networks, Local Realities, and the Challenges to the Comintern's Global Domain in the Caribbean Basin, 1920-1935 7: Pan-Islamism, South Asia, and Communist Internationalism8: The Spanish Civil War Seen from the Far East: The Case of the Chinese Anarcho-communist Writer Ba Jin and the League of Left-wing WritersIndex

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis book provides an accessible introduction to a wide range of concerns that have preoccupied historians over time. Global in scope, it explores historical perspectives not only from historiography itself but from related areas such as literature, sociology, geography and anthropology which have entered into productive dialogues with history.Clearly written and accessible, this third edition is fully revised with an updated structure and new areas of historical enquiry and themes added, including the history of emotions, video history and global pandemics. In all of this, the authors have attempted to think beyond the boundaries of the West and consider varied approaches to history. They do so by engaging with theoretical perspectives and methodologies that have provided the foundation for good historical practice. The authors analyse how historians can improve their skills by learning about the discipline of historiography, that is, how historians go about the task Table of ContentsPart 1: Philosophies 1. From the ancients to the Christians 2. From the Middle Ages to the Early Modern 3. Enlightenment and Romanticism 4. The English Tradition 5. The North American Tradition 6. Histories of Revolutions; Revolutionary histories 7. Postmodernism and Postcolonialism Part 2: Varieties 8. Political History 9. Economic History 10. Social History 11. Cultural History 12. Feminism, Gender and Queer History 13. Public History 14. Visual History 15. Global history 16. Environmental history Part 3: Interdisciplinarities 17. Archaeology 18. Anthropology 19. Literature 20. Geography Part 4: Methods 21. Proof and the problem of objectivity 22. Ordering of time 23. Archives in a Digital World 24. Oral History

Read more less

Book SynopsisA Polish musician, a Jewish conductor, a secret choir and the rescue of a trove of music from the Sachsenhausen concentration campTrade Review"Sing, Memory is a moving story of courage and determination amid overwhelming loss, all the more powerful for its heartbreaking sense of what might have been." -- The Economist

Read more less

Book SynopsisAn illuminating history of the banjo, revealing its origins at the crossroads of slavery, religion and musicTrade Review"For the very first time, a reader’s version of a few of the earliest written observations of the instrument are on full display in the thoughtful and masterful writing of this book. This book is not only made for the banjo enthusiast but it opens a new window into 17th, 18th and 19th century world history on the ground level by those who lived it and observed the strange new cultural connections brought by a brutal plantation system.[...] Kristina Gaddy’s observations lead the reader back into the 21st century to contend and reanalyze the crooked road of America’s musical past." -- Dom Flemons, the American songster and Grammy Award–winning musician"Beguiling… [Gaddy] weaves her story together from sources including paintings, diaries and letters, and tells it chronologically. In a less daring writer’s hands, this might have become a slog, but Ms. Gaddy successfully blends archival skills with imagination." -- The Economist

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe hidden history of the pocket calculator—a device that ushered in modern mathematics, helped build the atomic bomb and went with us to the moon—and the mathematicians, designers and inventors who brought it to lifeTrade Review"The book provides a breezy mathematical history tour through the development of number systems, slide rules, mechanical calculators and microchips. " -- Jeffrey M. Perkel - Nature"Houston's sprightly history aims to give the calculator the recognition it deserves as a stepping stone to the digital era... He makes a convincing case, in sum, for the significance of the calculator. " -- The Economist"Houston's narrative is full of oddballs, many of them brilliant..." -- Alexander Nazaryan - The New York Times Book Review"Starting from the seemingly simple task of recounting the history of the pocket calculator, Keith Houston unfolds a complex and fascinating history of numeracy, the evolution of technology, and the human desire to push our capabilities ever further. Deep," -- Cal Newport, The New York Times bestselling author of Digital Minimalism and A World Without Email"Everywhere and nowhere at once’ is how Keith Houston describes the pocket calculator, a machine that is so intimately intertwined with human history that it is impossible to imagine our lives deprived of its influence. In Empire of the Sum, Houston takes us on a journey that spans centuries and reaches across the universe, always coming back to humanity’s craving for calculating machines in all their diverse forms. I dare you to reach the end of this book and not be irresistibly charmed by both the pocket calculator and Houston’s witty, gregarious prose." -- Natalia Holt, The New York Times bestselling author of Rise of the Rocket Girls"[An] enlightening history" -- Pablo Scheffer - The Times Literary Supplement

Read more less

Book SynopsisA fascinating look at four of the most spectacular cities in human history—and why they were all abandoned.Trade Review"Newitz dispels myths, evokes fascinating stories, and makes us think hard about our own urban future." -- Charles Mann"Newitz always sees to the heart of complex systems and breaks them down with poetic ferocity." -- NK Jemisin

Read more less

Book SynopsisStudying from the Mycenean to the late Hellenistic period, this work includes new articles by twenty-seven specialists of ancient Greece, and presents an examination of the Greek cultures of mainland Greece, Asia Minor, Egypt and Italy.With the chapters sharing the theme of social history, this fascinating book focuses on women, the poor, and the slaves â all traditionally seen as beyond the margins of powerand includes the study of figures who were on the literal margins of the Greek world.Bringing to the forefront the research into areas previously thought of as marginal, Anton Powell sheds new light on vital topics and authors who are central to the study of Greek culture. Platoâs reforms are illuminated through a consideration of his impatient and revolutionary attitude to women, and Powell also examines how the most potent symbol of central Greek history â the Parthenon â can be understood as a political symbol when viewed with the knowledge of the cosmeticTrade Review`Anton Powell's innovative and ambitious collection of 27 articles.' - Times Higher Eduction`Anton Powell's innovative and ambitious collection of 27 articles.' - Times Higher Eduction'The scope of the ideas in this impressive collection (originally published in hardback in 1995) is impossible to cover in a brief summary. Suffice to say that The Greek World will make an interesting addition to the classicist's bookshelf.' - Anglo-Hellenic ReviewTable of ContentsRobin Osborne, University of Oxford; Alan Griffiths, University College, London; Rosalind Thomas, Royal Holloway College; J.R.Morgan, University College, Swansea; Philip de Souza, Strawberry Hill College; Helen King, University of Reading; Anton Powell, University of Cardiff; Kathryn Lomas, University of Newcastle; Andrew Erskine, University College, Dublin; Nigel Spivey, University of Cambridge; A.M.Bowie, University of Oxford; Robert Parker, University of Oxford, Edward Hussey, University of Oxford, T.H.Irwin, Cornell University, NY, T.J.Saunders, University of Newcastle

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis was the first book which globally surveyed the impact of the Second World War on schooling. It offers fascinating comparisons of the impact of total war, both in terms of physical disruption and its effects on the ideology of schooling. By analysing the effects on the education systems of each of the participant nations the contributors throw new light on the responses made in different parts of the globe to the challenge of world-wide conflict. Table of ContentsEducation in England during World War II, Roy Lowe; schooling for little soldiers - German education in World War II, Geoffrey Giles; Soviet schools in the great patriotic war, John Dunstan; schooling Uncle Sam's children - education in the USA, 1941-45, Ronald D. Cohen; education in wartime Japan, 1937-45, Richard Rubinger; Italian education during World War II - remnants of failed Fascist education, seeds of the new schools, Richard J. Wolff; war and educational reconstruction in Belgium, France and the Netherlands, 1940-47, Guy Neave; education as resistance - the Polish experience of schooling during the war, Jozef Krasuski; war and peace - the effects of World War II on Hungarian education, Attila Horvath; the impact of World War II on education in Britain's colonial empire, Clive Whitehead; World War II and the secondary school curriculum - a comparative study of the USA and Australia, Andrew Spaull; the Scottish school system, educational reform and World War II, John Lloyd; "Our dear Channel Islands" - a survey of education in Jersey during the German occupation, 1940-45, Janet Likeman; re-education - remedial training in democratic modes of thought and behaviour - the re-education scheme of the British military government in the administrative district of Cologne (1946), Hans Jurgen Apel.

Read more less

Book SynopsisOriginally published in 1987, Out of the Cage brings vividly to life the experiences of working women from all social groups in the two World Wars.Telling a fascinating story, the authors emphasise what the women themselves have had to say, in diaries, memoirs, letters and recorded interviews about the call up, their personal reactions to war, their feelings about pay and the company at work, the effects of war on their health, their relations with men and their home lives; they speak too about how demobilisation affected them, and how they spent the years between two World Wars.Table of ContentsPreface 1. Introduction Part 1: The First World War 2. Women Before 1914 3. Dilution; Women in "Men’s Jobs" 4. War Work 5. Health and Welfare 6. Domestic Life 7. Demobilisation 1918-20 Part 2: The Second World War 8. Women Between the Wars 9. Call Up 10. Dilution Again 11. On the Job 12. Love, Sex and Marriage 13. Health and Welfare 14. Double Burden 15. Demobilisation 1945-50 16. Conclusion

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn Uniting the Kingdom? a group of the most distinguished historians from Britain and Ireland assemble to consider the question of British identity spanning the period from the Middle Ages to the present. Traditional chronological and regional frontiers are broken down as medievalists, early modernists and modernists debate the key issues of the British state: the conflicting historiographies, the nature of political tensions and the themes of expansion and contraction. This outstanding collection of essays forms an illuminating introduction to the most up-to-date thinking about the problems of British histories and identities.Trade Review'A stimulating collection of essays.' - Nothern History`A fascinating, provocative and very timely book, Uniting the Kingdom? raises questions which are of relevance to us all, even if the answers implied may not be entirely to anybody's liking.' - The Scotsman`Excellent collection of essays.' - Alain de Botton, Independent on SundayTable of ContentsPart I Prologue 1 Introduction: The enigma of British History 2 British History as a ‘new subject’: Politics, perspectives and prospects Part II Medieval foundations 3 The United Kingdom of England: The Anglo-Saxon achievement 4 Foundations of a disunited kingdom 5 Overlordship and reaction, c. 1200–c. 1450 6 Scottish foundations: Thirteenth-century perspectives Late medieval contributions Part III Building the early modern state 7 The High Road from Scotland: Stewarts and Tudors in the mid-sixteenth century, One king, two kingdoms, 8 Composite monarchies in early modern Europe: The British and Irish example 9 Irish, Scottish and Welsh responses to centralisation, c. 1530–c. 1640: A comparative perspective 10 Three kingdoms and one commonwealth? The enigma of mid-seventeenth-century Britain and Ireland Part IV The age of Union 11 Varieties of Britishness: Ireland, Scotland and Wales in the Hanoverian state 12 A nation defined by Empire, 1755–1776 13 Englishness and Britishness: National identities, c. 1790–c. 1870 14 An imperial and multinational polity: The ‘scene from the centre’, 1832–1922 15 Letting go: The Conservative Party and the end of the Union with Ireland Part V Epilogue 16 How united is the modern United Kingdom? 17 Conclusion: Contingency, identity, sovereignty

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn the 1960s and 1970s, an energetic new social movement emerged among Mexican Americans. Fighting for civil rights and celebrating a distinct ethnic identity, the Chicano Movement had a lasting impact on the United States, from desegregation to bilingual education.Rethinking the Chicano Movement provides an astute and accessible introduction to this vital grassroots movement. Bringing together different fields of research, this comprehensive yet concise narrative considers the Chicano Movement as a national, not just regional, phenomenon, and places it alongside the other important social movements of the era. Rodriguez details the many different facets of the Chicano movement, including college campuses, third-party politics, media, and art, and traces the development and impact of one of the most important post-WWII social movements in the United States.Trade Review"With Rethinking the Chicano Movement, Marc Simon Rodriguez has artfully placed El Movimiento into its rightful place in American civil rights history. Rethinking is a critical addition to the undergraduate classroom, a significant reinterpretation of the movement’s legacy, and an exceptional read for anyone interested in Mexican American and civil rights history. This book is a must read."—Michael Innis-Jiménez, author of Steel Barrio: Mexican Migration to South Chicago, 1915-1940"This book offers a compelling narrative of the Chicano movement, bringing to light its broad history, successes and limitations, as well as much new information on the struggle. Rethinking the Chicano Movement is a tremendously ambitious and important work."—Brian D. Behnken, author of Fighting Their Own Battles: Mexican Americans, African Americans, and the Struggle for Civil Rights in Texas"Rodriguez has written an interesting and fresh interpretation of the Chicano movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. It is an exciting book combining dramatic chapters with an insightful and balanced analysis. Historians will welcome this superbly rendered synthesis. It is ideally suited for students seeking to understand the social ferment that surrounded the Chicano struggle for equality and justice."—Zaragosa Vargas, author of Crucible of Struggle: A History of Mexican America from Colonial Times to the PresentTable of ContentsIntroduction: Mexican Americanism and the Long Chicano MovementChapter 1: A Growing Militancy: The Farm Workers in California and Political Activism in TexasChapter 2: The New Urban Politics: Chicanos and The War on PovertyChapter 3: Youth and the Campus: Chicano Students and Chicano EducationChapter 4: News and the Movement: Newspapers and Ideas in the Chicano MovementChapter 5: Art and the Movement: Chicano Murals and Community SpaceConclusion: Rethinking to Move ForwardBibliography

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisA fascinating portrait of gay men and women throughout time whose lives have influenced society at large, as well as what we recognize as todayâs varied gay culture. This book gives a voice to more than eighty people from every major continent and from all walks of life. It includes poets and philosophers, rulers and spies, activists and artists. Alongside such celebrated figures as Michelangelo, Frederick the Great and Harvey Milk are lesser-known but no less surprising individuals: Dong Xian and the Chinese emperor Ai, whose passion flourished in the 1st century BC; the unfortunate Robert De PÃronne, first to be burned at the stake for sodomy; Katharine Philips, writing proto-lesbian poetry in seventeenth-century England; and 'Aimee' and 'Jaguar', whose love defied the death camps of wartime Germany. With many striking illustrations, Gay Life Stories will entertain, give pause for thought, and ultimately celebrate the diversity of human history.Trade Review'Prose portraits, images and paintings that surprise, move and intrigue … ultimately uplifting' - Guardian'A colourful compendium of same-sex love through the ages' - Independent'An upbeat and inspirational take on the heroes and heroines from history who have pushed a same sex love agenda' - Gay Times'Engaging … a beautiful book, and a welcome addition to what some call “gay studies” and others simply see as a celebration of human sexuality in all its diversity' - Time OutTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. Ancient Ancestors 2. Saints and Sinners 3. Renaissance Men and Women 4. Love and Sex in the Enlightenment 5. Founding Fathers and Mothers 6. The Fin-de-Siècle and Belle Epoque 7. Modern Women 8. Entanglements of Sex and Politics 9. Visions of Male Beauty 10. Love in the Levant 11. Japonisme 12. Activists 13. International Lives

Read more less

Book SynopsisExplores the meaning of mental illness through the successive incarnations of the institution that defined it: the madhouse, designed to segregate its inmates from society; the lunatic asylum, which intended to restore the reason of sufferers by humane treatment; and the mental hospital, which reduced their conditions to diseases of the brain.Trade Review'A fascinating tour d’horizon' - Guardian'Fascinating and lavishly illustrated' - Wall Street Journal'Superb…the text exhibits all the lucidity you could wish for when struggling to apprehend this most disturbing and problematic of subjects' - Will Self, The London Review of Books'Immaculately researched … essential reading' - The PsychologistTable of ContentsIntroduction • 1. The Madhouse 1676–1815 • 2. The Lunatic Asylum 1815–1930 3. The Mental Hospital 1930 and beyond • Epilogue

Read more less

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

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisMatt Cook explores the relationship between London and homosexuality in the period 1885 to 1914. Cook combines discussion of London's homosexual subculture and various major and minor scandals with a detailed examination of representations in the press, in science and in literature.Trade ReviewReview of the hardback: 'The book draws on literary scholarship as well as lesbian, gay or queer theory. It deploys urban geography as easily as the new social history. Cook does not have to prove the value of the topic. He can deploy it to bring to life a moment of history on the cusp of radical change.' The Times Higher Education SupplementFrom the hardback review: '… despite taking a very broad interdisciplinary approach to its subject, finds its main strength in providing and examining just this wealth of neglected details, often bringing them to bear on quite well-known events in an extremely illuminating way. … an essential sourcebook for any student of the homosexual culture of this period, whether studying the arts, the sciences, or politics.' MLRTable of ContentsIllustrations; Tables; Acknowledgments; Abbreviations; Note on terminology; Introduction; 1. London and the cities of the plain; 2. The grossly indecent city; 3. The inverted city; 4. The decadent city; 5. The Hellenic city; Epilogue: public spaces/private lives.

Read more less

Book SynopsisJamaica used to be the source of much of Britain''s wealth, a tropical paradise for the planters, a Babylonian exile for the Africans shipped to the Caribbean. It became independent in 1962.Jamaica is now a country in despair. It has become a cockpit of gang warfare, drug crime and poverty. Haunted by the legacy of imperialism, its social and racial divisions seem entrenched. Its extraordinary musical tradition and physical beauty are shadowed by casual murder, police brutality and political corruption.Ian Thomson shows a side of Jamaica that tourists rarely see.He met ordinary Jamaicans in their homes and workplaces; and his encounters with the white elite, who still own most of Jamaica''s businesses and newspapers, are unforgettable. Thomson brings alive the country''s unique racial and ethnic mix; the all-pervading influence of the USA; and the increasing disillusionment felt by its people, who can''t rely on the state for their most basic security. At the heart o

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn 1964, Mary Whitehouse launched a campaign to fight what she called the ''propaganda of disbelief, doubt and dirt'' being poured into homes through the nation''s radio and television sets. Whitehouse, senior mistress at a Shropshire secondary school, became the unlikely figurehead of a mass movement for censorship: the National Viewers'' and Listeners'' Association, now Mediawatch-uk.For almost forty years, she kept up the fight against the programme makers, politicians, pop stars and playwrights who she felt were dragging British culture into a sewer of blasphemy and obscenity. From Doctor Who (''Teatime brutality for tots'') to Dennis Potter (whose mother sued her for libel and won) to the Beatles - whose Magical Mystery Tour escaped her intervention by the skin of its psychedelic teeth - the list of Mary Whitehouse''s targets will read to some like a nostalgic roll of honour.Caricatured while she lived as a figure of middle-brow reaction, Mary Whitehouse was held in contempt by the country''s intellectual elite. But were some of the dangers she warned of more real than they imagined? Ben Thompson''s selection of material from her extraordinary archive shows Mary Whitehouse''s legacy in a startling new light. From her exquisitely testy exchanges with successive BBC Directors General, to the anguished screeds penned by her television and radio vigilantes, these letters reveal a complex and combative individual, whose anxieties about culture and morality are often eerily relevant to the age of the internet. ''A fantastic read . . . I can''t recommend it highly enough.'' Lauren Laverne, BBC Radio 6 Music

Read more less

Book SynopsisFor thousands of years, humans have built walls and assaulted them, admired walls and reviled them. Great Walls have appeared on nearly every continent, accompanying the rise of cities, nations, and empires. In Walls, David Frye uncovers a story that is more than just bricks and stone: he reveals the startling link between what we build and how we live, who we are and how we came to be. It is nothing less than the story of civilization.

Read more less