Social and cultural history Books

Book SynopsisOur lives are more mediated than ever before. Adults in economically advanced countries spend, on average, over eight hours per day interacting with the media. The news and entertainment industries are being transformed by the shift to digital platforms. But how much is really changing in terms of what shapes media content? What are the impacts on our public and imaginative life? And is the Internet a democratising tool of social protest, or of state and commercial manipulation?Drawing on decades of research to examine these and other questions, Understanding Media interrogates claims about the Internet, explores how representations in TV and film may influence perceptions of self, and traces overarching trends while attending to crucial local context, from the United States to China, Norway to Malaysia, and Brazil to Britain. Understanding Media is an accessible and essential guide to the world''s most influential force - the contemporary

Read more less

Book SynopsisLONGLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZEA NEW YORKER BEST BOOKS OF 2025A TIMES & SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEARA NEW STATESMAN BOOK OF THE YEARA SPECTATOR BOOK OF THE YEARONE OF THE CONVERSATION''S 5 BEST NON-FICTION BOOKS OF 2024A NEW YORK TIMES ''21 NONFICTION BOOKS TO READ THIS SPRING'' PICK''A truly radical book; radical in subject, radical in form. For the most tragic reasons, it could not feel more immediate; and yet it''s a fluid, fast-paced, hugely enjoyable and engaging read.'' - Andrew Marr''Unforgettable... Non fiction will be different as a result.'' - Jonathan Freedland''This is an extraordinarily original way of writing memoir, history and truth. An enthralling book and a wonderful new writer.'' - Laura Cumming''So fascinating, so enjoyable, and beautifully told through diaries, memoirs, speeches and newspapers.'' - Simon Sebag Montefiore''a remarkable book.'' - Robert MacfarlaneOn June 7th 1907, a ship packed with Russian Jews sets sail not to Jerusalem or New York, as many on board have dreamt, but to Texas. The man who persuades the passengers to go is David Jochelmann, Rachel Cockerell''s great-grandfather. It marks the beginning of the Galveston Movement, a forgotten moment in history when 10,000 Jews fled to Texas in the lead-up to WWI.The charismatic leader of the movement is Jochelmann''s closest friend, Israel Zangwill, whose novels have made him famous across Europe and America. As Eastern Europe becomes infected by anti-Semitic violence, Zangwill embarks on a desperate search across the continents for a temporary homeland: from Australia to Canada, Angola to Antarctica. He reluctantly settles on Galveston, Texas. He fears the Jewish people will be absorbed into the great American melting pot, but there is no other hope.In a highly inventive style, Cockerell uses exclusively source material to capture history as it unfolds, weaving together letters, diaries, memoirs, newspaper articles and interviews into a vivid account of those who were there. Melting Point follows Zangwill and the Jochelmann family through two world wars, to London, New York and Jerusalem - as their lives intertwine with some of the most memorable figures of the twentieth century, and each chooses whether to cling to their history or melt into their new surroundings. It is a story that asks what it means to belong, and what can be salvaged from the past.

Read more less

Book SynopsisExam board: EdexcelLevel: A-levelSubject: History First teaching: September 2015First exams: Summer 2016Target success in Edexcel AS/A-level History with this proven formula for effective, structured revision. Key content coverage is combined with exam preparation activities and exam-style questions to create a revision guide that students can rely on to review, strengthen and test their knowledge.- Enables students to plan and manage a successful revision programme using the topic-by-topic planner- Consolidates knowledge with clear and focused content coverage, organised into easy-to-revise chunks- Encourages active revision by closely combining historical content with related activities- Helps students build, practise and enhance their exam skills as they progress through activities set at three different levels- Improves exam technique through exam-style questions with sample answers and commentary from expert authors and teachers- Boosts historical knowledge with a useful glossary and timeline

Read more less

Book Synopsis'A moving microhistory of working-class girlhood' BBC History MagazineIt is 1937 in a northern mill-town and a class of twelve- and thirteen-year-old girls are writing about their lives, their world, and the things that matter to them. They tell of cobbled streets and crowded homes; the Coronation festivities and holidays to Blackpool; laughter and fun alongside poverty and hardship. They are destined for the cotton mill but they dream of being film stars. Class of '37 uses the writing of these young girls, as collected by the research organisation Mass Observation, to rediscover this lost world, transporting readers back in time to a smoky industrial town in an era before the introduction of a Welfare State, where once again the clouds of war were beginning to gather. Woven within this rich, authentic history are the twists and turns of the girls' lives from childhood to beyond, from their happiest times to the most heart-breaking of their sorrows. A compelling social history, this intimate reconstruction of working-class life in 1930s Britain is a haunting and emotional account of a bygone age.

Read more less

Book Synopsis'This forensic study of the Renaissance banking dynasty conjures up a world of art, literature, philosophy – and brutality' Telegraph 'Likely to become the standard work of reference on the members of the family that dominated Florence' TLS 'A lucid and beautifully illustrated family history' The Times Wealthy bankers, wise politicians, patrons of the arts, glittering dukes... so runs the traditional telling of the story of the Medici, the family that ruled Florence for two hundred years and inspired the birth of the Italian Renaissance. In this definitive account of their rise and fall, Mary Hollingsworth argues that the idea that the Medici were wise rulers and enlightened fathers of the Renaissance is a fiction. In truth, she says, the Medici were as devious and immoral as the Borgias – tyrants loathed in the city they illegally made their own and which they beggared in their lust for power.Trade ReviewThis forensic study of the Renaissance banking dynasty conjures up a world of art, literature, philosophy – and brutality * Telegraph, Book of the Year *Likely to become the standard work of reference on the members of the family that dominated Florence * TLS *A lucid and beautifully illustrated family history * The Times, Book of the Week *A beautifully illustrated and scholarly survey of five centuries of the Medici family * Literary Review *A vital acquisition for anyone who studies the Renaissance and seeks the true role of the Medici in the history of Florence * Kirkus *An excellent study of the Medici... A careful, understated book... [It] is never short on drama' * Telegraph *Drawing on impeccable documentary research [this] is a lively and accessible new account of the House of Medici * Country Life *A well-illustrated history of the rise and fall of the House of Medici * The Times *The Medici family dominated political and cultural life in Florence for three centuries, but the received wisdom, that they were beneficent, enlightened rulers, is challenged by Renaissance scholar Mary Hollingsworth in this engrossing, fully illustrated account * Choice Magazine *

Read more less

Book SynopsisCelebrates 50 years of LGBTQ rights in Ireland with a collection of lesser-known stories of the movement''s evolution through 14 pivotal moments.Marking fifty years of the founding of an LGBTQ rights movement in Ireland, Reeling in the Queers explores the lesser-known stories of the fight for LGBTQ rights since 1974, beyond decriminalisation and Marriage Equality. From 1990s boy bands to the AIDS priest, Fr Bernárd Lynch, from the Belfast Lesbian Line to proud parenting, from the earliest Pride events to the last days of Alternative Miss Ireland, fourteen distinct moments map the changing social and cultural landscape of Ireland.These stories, from across the island of Ireland ? and further afield ? celebrate a strong community and its allies, and speak across the generations. Together, they tell a new story of the gains, losses, devastation and community rising from the ashes of defeat. It is a hugely enjoyable and insightful read for both those who lived through this movement and for those who enjoy its benefits today.Drawing from oral history as well as archives, Reeling in the Queers brings even more to life the great big queer tapestry in Ireland. Queer history in Ireland is Irish history and acknowledging and celebrating the light and the dark of it protects all of our futures as much as our pasts.

Read more less

Book SynopsisEtta Lemon: The Woman Who Saved the Birds is the story of a pioneering conservationist who led the campaign against the slaughter of wild birds for extravagantly feathered hats and coaxed the world to care for birds.Trade Review'Boase has done a superb job of linking her personalities, and painting vivid pictures of their life struggles and fighting techniques. This book is an unputdownable account of a forgotten campaign, and of a group of women who have been hidden from history for too long.' * Women's History Review *'A fascinating book...packed with interesting facts. A great read for all people' * Birdwatching Magazine *Table of ContentsPrologue viiPart 1 – Feathers 1 Alice Battershall 2 Inspector Lakeman 3 97 Lever Street 4 Women Undercover 5 ‘Crewe Factory Girl’ 6 The SkylarkPart 2 – Birds 7 Young Etta 8 Young Emmeline 9 The Train Carriage 10 Of Bird-Wearing Age 11 The Tea Party 12 Emily Williamson 13 A Very Ambitious Title 14 Flight 15 Impracticable Dreamers 16 Courting the Men 17 Winifred, Duchess of Portland 18 The Crème de la CrèmePart 3 – Hats 19 Dying to Get Out 20 The Millinery Detectives 21 Queen Alix 22 ‘Egret’ Bennett 23 Deeds Not Words 24 The Frontal Attack 25 Mrs Pattinson 26 The Countess Fabbricotti 27 Royal Approval 28 The ‘Suffragette’Part 4 – Votes 29 Onto the Street 30 The Antis 31 The Feminine Arts 32 The Advice of Men 33 Maternal Weakness 34 Peak Rage 35 The Feeding Tube 36 Dumb CreationPart 5 – Power 37 At War 38 The Ballot Box 39 But What Do Women Care? 40 Etta and Emmeline: Two Portraits 41 The Coup Epilogue Notes Select Bibliography Acknowledgements Index Picture Credits

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisA revelatory uncovering of a vanished agricultural way of life by bestselling nature writer Sally Coulthard. 'A gem of a book' Country Smallholding 'Engaging and filled with gentle humour and fascinating facts' Get History 'Shows us the beauty and rich history of everyday things' Country Walking Magazine Across the foldyard from Sally Coulthard's North Yorkshire farmhouse, stands an old stone barn. When she discovered a set of witches' marks on one of its internal walls, she began to wonder about the lives of the people who had once lived and worked there. Both the intimate story of a building and its hinterland, and a wider social history, The Barn explores a hidden corner of rural Britain that has witnessed remarkable changes. From the eighteenth-century Enclosures to the Second World War, the fortunes of the Barn have been blown, like a leaf in a gale, by the unstoppable forces of new agriculture and industry. Seismic shifts in almost every area of society were all played out here in miniature – against a backdrop of scattered limestone villages and the softly rolling Howardian Hills.Trade ReviewSally Coulthard's beautiful books have shown us the beauty and rich history of everyday things like sheep, bees, hedgehogs, flowers and snow – and now, the humble barn * Country Walking Magazine *A gem of a book... Not only richly informed about the troubles and tribulations of past lives lived in the shadow of the barn, but of the unstoppable forces of agriculture during a long-gone seismic period of British history -- Country Smallholding[Coulthard] works outwards from small observations and detailed research to create a web of stories, images and ideas about rural history, ancient and modern... This is a history of the 'ordinary' people, peppered with surprising facts and personalised tales * Richmondshire Today *Readable, fascinating... A very human history, focusing on the people whose lives changed over several centuries as times and technology changed around them * Shedworking *Engaging and filled with the gentle humour and fascinating facts that are an integral part of Coulthard's written style * Get History *A thoroughly interesting read * Gazette and Herald *The Dalesman's Recommended Read for February 2022 * The Dalesman *The bestselling author of The Bee Bible uncovers the fascinating history of a North Yorkshire barn from the Enclosures of the eighteenth century to the present day in a masterwork of research and non-fiction storytelling * Waterstones *An affectionate celebration of the enduring charm of rural North Yorkshire and a lost agricultural way of life * Country Living *Author and smallholder Sally Coulthard tracks the history of the ancient stone barn that stands across from her Yorkshire farmhouse and, in turn, the history of the farm, those that have tended it and the country at large across two and a half centuries * Neptune Home *

Read more less

Book SynopsisRick Broadbent has written for The Times for 20 years and authored and ghost-written 12 books. He has been shortlisted for the William Hill Prize three times and has won a British Sports Book award. His books have included a biography of Emil Zatopek, a Czech Olympic hero and political activist, and That Near-Death Thing, about the most dangerous motorcycle race in the world. Rick was born in Leeds and now lives in Dorset.

Read more less

Book SynopsisJourney through the unique beauty of Scotland, with 100+ stunning photographs of the magical places and hidden gems.For centuries people have been beguiled and inspired by the imposing cloud-scattered mountains and tranquil lochs of Scotland''s landscape. Aside from its breath-taking beauty, this country is steeped in a rich and violent history, alongside tales of fearless giants and mischievous fairies.In Unseen Scotland, photographer and travel guide Bryan Millar Walker takes us on an adventure through the rugged landscapes, hidden castle ruins and captivating folklore of his home country. Filled with atmospheric photography of Scotland''s most beautiful places, the book is divided into 4 sections including:- West Coast: walk among giants, drive winding roads and reflect by the remote cottages of Glencoe and beyond- Hebrides: explore the white sands and turquoise waters of world-class beaches, and nearby remot

Read more less

Book SynopsisFrom the bestselling author of Everything Bad is Good For You, Steven Johnson''s The Ghost Map vividly recreates Victorian London to show how huge populations live together, how cities can kill - and how they can save us. Steven Johnson is one of today''s most exciting writers about popular culture, urban living and new technology. In The Ghost Map he tells the story of the terrifying cholera epidemic that engulfed London in 1854, and the two unlikely heroes - anesthetist Doctor John Snow and affable clergyman Reverend Henry Whitehead - who defeated the disease through a combination of local knowledge, scientific research and map-making. In telling their extraordinary story, Steven Johnson also explores a whole world of ideas and connections, from urban terror to microbes, ecosystems to the Great Stink, cultural phenomena to street life. ''A wonderful book''  Mail on Sunday ''A thumping page-turne

Read more less

Book Synopsis''A breeze of a read, makes you see our male-manufactured world a little differently'' Matt Haig''GRAYSON PERRY FOR KING AND QUEEN OF ENGLAND. Imagine how BRILLIANT our country would look if he was'' Caitlin MoranGrayson Perry has been thinking about masculinity - what it is, how it operates, why little boys are thought to be made of slugs and snails - since he was a boy. Now, in this funny and necessary book, he turns round to look at men with a clear eye and ask, what sort of men would make the world a better place, for everyone?What would happen if we rethought the old, macho, outdated version of manhood, and embraced a different idea of what makes a man? Apart from giving up the coronary-inducing stress of always being ''right'' and the vast new wardrobe options, the real benefit might be that a newly fitted masculinity will allow men to have better relationships - and that''s happiness, right?Grayson Perry admits he''s not immune from the stereotypes himself - as the psychoanalysts say, ''if you spot it, you''ve got it'' - and his thoughts on everything from power to physical appearance, from emotions to a brand new Manifesto for Men, are shot through with honesty, tenderness and the belief that, for everyone to benefit, upgrading masculinity has to be something men decide to do themselves. They have nothing to lose but their hang-ups.Trade ReviewAn eloquent and witty tour guide through the fun house that is masculinity ... He's just the man for the job -- Dwight Garner, Books of the Times * The New York Times *A funny, engaging, and at times penetrating trek through the tricky landscape of contemporary masculinity ... [Perry is] a cultural luminary -- Jason Heller * NPR *Pithy and insightful ... The Descent of Man fits into the tradition of the 18th-century treatise, a plea for a new, enlightened social order in the manner of Mary Wollstonecraft or William Hazlitt -- Sophie Gilbert, * The Atlantic *A joy to read -- William Leith * Financial Times *[Perry] is thoroughly engaging and charismatic ... His personality shines through -- Clive Davis * The Times *GRAYSON PERRY FOR KING AND QUEEN OF ENGLAND. Imagine how BRILLIANT our country would look if he was. -- Caitlin MoranThoughtful, clearly written and a joy to read * Evening Standard *A fabulous book -- Victoria HislopWith its non-macho slender girth and personal, engaging approach, [The Descent of Man] is a breeze of a read, and one that makes you see our male-manufactured world a little differently ... Grayson Perry has written the very book I wanted to write -- Matt Haig * Guardian *

Read more less

Book Synopsis'Compelling... A real pleasure to read.' - BBC History MagazineIn 1621, fifty-six English women crossed the Atlantic in response to the Virginia Company of London's call for maids 'young and uncorrupt' to make wives for the planters of its new colony in Virginia.While the women travelled of their own accord, the company was in effect selling them at a profit for a bride price of 150 lbs of tobacco for each woman sold. The rewards would flow to investors in the near-bankrupt company. But what did the women want from the enterprise? Why did they agree to make the perilous crossing to a wild and dangerous land, where six out of seven European settlers died within their first few years? And what happened to them in the end?Trade ReviewI love this kind of historical writing, with the stitching showing... Engaged and thoughtful, she has given her women an existence they would recognise. -- Lucy Moore * Literary Review *An evocative and painstakingly researched account of these early female settlers, who have lacked a voice, an identity, even a name, until now. From 400 years ago, they step from these pages and speak to us. -- Hilary Davies * The Tablet, 'Books of the Year' *Compelling... A real pleasure to read. * BBC History Magazine *With extraordinary scholarship and painstaking use of contemporary texts Potter succeeds in her professed task of bearing witness to the lives of young women unknown to history... Full of sensational material... * Times Literary Supplement *Potter tells the story using a rich range of sources - pamphlets, ballads, sermons - and travels to flesh out gaps... She writes well and hauntingly, of women "penned like chickens in the gloom", of their shock on arrival at a tiny, dilapidated Virginian town thousands of miles from the English capital. * The Times *

Read more less

Book Synopsis"It is all free fighting here. Even some of the windows do not open, so it is useless to cry for help. Dampness and misery, violence and wrong, have left their handwriting in perfectly legible characters on the walls."(Manchester Guardian, 1870.)Step into the Victorian underworld of Angel Meadow, the vilest and most dangerous slum of the Industrial Revolution. In the shadow of the world's first cotton mill, 30,000 souls trapped by poverty are fighting for survival as the British Empire is built upon their backs.Thieves and prostitutes keep company with rats in overcrowded lodging houses and deep cellars on the banks of a black river, the Irk. Gangs of 'scuttlers' stalk the streets in pointed, brass-tripped clogs. Those who evade their clutches are hunted down by cholera, typhoid and tuberculosis. Lawless drinking dens and a cold slab in the dead house provide the only relief from this filthy and frightening world.In this shocking book, journalist Dean Kirby takes readers on a hair-raising journey through the alleyways, gin palaces and underground vaults of this nineteenth century Manchester slum, which was considered so diabolical it was re-christened 'hell upon earth' by Friedrich Engels. Enter Angel Meadow if you dare...Trade Review"Dean Kirby manages to provide visual imagery that is vivid and it is chilling. The sense of sadness which waves through you as you read this book knowing that this is not fiction is heavily felt. As is sympathy for the Victorian people, families and children who lived and died in these conditions within one of the most prosperous cities in England. If you are interested in British history, it's criminal past and the Victorian era this will be a satisfying and educational read."--Crime Traveller

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisIs your heart fluttering in anticipation? Is your stomach tight with nerves? Are you falling in love? Feeling a bit miffed? Are you curious (perhaps about this book)? Do you have the heebie-jeebies? Are you antsy with iktsuarpok? Or giddy with dépaysement? The Book of Human Emotions is a gleeful, thoughtful collection of 156 feelings, both rare and familiar. Each has its own story, and reveals the strange forces which shape our rich and varied internal worlds. In reading it, you'll discover feelings you never knew you had (like basorexia, the sudden urge to kiss someone), uncover the secret histories of boredom and confidence, and gain unexpected insights into why we feel the way we do. Published in partnership with the Wellcome Collection. Wellcome Collection is a free museum and library that aims to challenge how we think and feel about health. Inspired by the medical objects and curiosities collected by Henry Wellcome, it connects science, medicine, life and art. Wellcome Collection exhibitions, events and books explore a diverse range of subjects, including consciousness, forensic medicine, emotions, sexology, identity and death. Wellcome Collection is part of Wellcome, a global charitable foundation that exists to improve health for everyone by helping great ideas to thrive, funding over 14,000 researchers and projects in more than 70 countries. wellcomecollection.orgTrade Review[Watt Smith] treats each emotion with the expertise of a wine taster, showing how it is formed from a mixture of many other emotions -- Craig Brown * Mail on Sunday *So riveting are these miniature essays exploring 156 emotions that if anyone interrupts your reading, you'll probably feel irritated ... Educative, entertaining. * Observer *Delightful * Prima *A brilliant book -- Róisín Ingle * Irish Times *Witty, informative, undogmatic and thought-provoking, this wonderful book should convince us that emotions are never just neural events. -- Jane O'Grady * Times Higher Education *

Read more less

Book Synopsis''Barthes'' purpose is to tear away masks and demystify the signs, signals and symbols of the language of mass culture'' The TimesIn this magnificent and often surprising collection of essays Barthes explores the myths of mass culture. Taking subjects as diverse as wrestling, films, plastic and cars, Barthes elegantly deciphers the symbols and signs embedded deep in familiar aspects of modern life, unmasking the hidden ideologies and meanings which implicitly affect our thought and behaviour. This early classic of semiotics from one of France''s greatest thinkers may irrevocably change the way you view the world around you.Trade ReviewBarthes is an intellectual star, one of the very small group of maîtres à penser, such as Sartre, Levi-Strauss and Foucault... I readily proclaim that Mythologies is a kind of masterpiece, a fascinating book, the meaning of which sticks in the mind and can lend itself to all sorts of applications * Observer *Essays on the codings that command our daily life (from hair-styles in the film of Julius Caesar through glossy photos of gourmet cooking, to the cult of foam in detergents)...Mythologies has penetrating gusto -- Christopher Ricks * Sunday Times *Semiology is the study of the signs and signals, the symbols, gestures and messages through which western society sustains, sells, identifies and yet obscures itself by painting or powdering over its raddled, whore-like visage... Barthes' purpose is to tear away masks and demystify the signs, signals and symbols of the language of mass culture -- Dennis Potter * The Times *All about the most ordinary things. He knew how to connect Racine and beach holidays, Freud and the anticipation of a lover's phone call. Like so many modern artists, he saw the deeper themes running through supposedly banal things. -- Alain de Botton * Daily Express *

Read more less

Book SynopsisPeter Ackroyd is an award-winning historian, biographer, novelist, poet and broadcaster. He is the author of the acclaimed non-fiction bestsellers London: The Biography, Thames: Sacred River and London Under; biographies of figures including Charles Dickens, William Blake, Charlie Chaplin and Alfred Hitchcock; and a multi-volume history of England. He has won the Whitbread Biography Award, the Royal Society of Literature's William Heinemann Award, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, the Guardian Fiction Prize, the Somerset Maugham Award and the South Bank Prize for Literature. He holds a CBE for services to literature.Trade ReviewAfter his mammoth, shamanic aria London: the Biography, the remarkable writer Peter Ackroyd has produced a nimble, uproarious pocket history of sex in his beloved metropolis -- Alasdair Lees * Independent *Ackroyd has an encyclopaedic knowledge of London, and a poet's instinct for its strange, mesmerising drives and urges ... Queer City contains something to alarm or fascinate on every page -- Craig Brown * The Mail on Sunday *Droll, provocative and crammed to busting with startling facts -- Simon Callow * The Guardian *If there was a prize for the most evocative or salacious chapter headings, then Peter Ackroyd's new book, Queer City, would be the undisputed victor. They capture the rudery and naughtiness, although not the erudition of this entertaining history of the 'queer' experience in London -- Robbie Millen * The Times *Succinct, perceptive and robust -- Rupert Christiansen * Daily Telegraph *

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis lavishly illustrated book examines the enormous palace of the premier peers of Scotland, and thehundredsof outstanding works of art acquired by twelveDukesover300years.In 1882, Hamilton Palace stood grandly to thesouthof Glasgow. Home to the Dukes of Hamiltonsince the sixteenth century, its magnificent wallscontainedtreasures to rival theBritishRoyal Collection.Yet by1920, tens of thousands of items had been auctioned off, and the awe-inspiring building was about to be demolished.Today, many of thegreatesttreasures of Hamilton Palace are on display in museums and collections all over the world, includingthe National Gallery in London,the Metropolitan Museum of Art,New York,and the National Museum of Scotlandin Edinburgh.This is the story of Scotland's lost treasurehouse the definitive book on the subject.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis is the first comprehensive history of goth music and culture. John Robb explores the origins and legacy of this enduring scene, which has its roots in the post-punk era.Drawing on his own experience as a musician and journalist, Robb covers the style, the music and the clubs that spawned goth culture, alongside political and social conditions. Reaching back further into history, he examines key events and movements that frame the ideas of goth, from the fall of Rome to Lord Byron and the Romantic poets, European folk tales, Gothic art and the occult. Finally, he considers the current mainstream goth of Instagram influencers, film, literature and music.The art of darkness features interviews with Andrew Eldritch, Killing Joke, Bauhaus, The Cult, The Banshees, The Damned, Einstürzende Neubauten, Johnny Marr, Trent Reznor, Adam Ant, Laibach, The Cure, Nick Cave and many more. It offers a first-hand account of being there at the gigs and clubs that made the scene happen.Trade ReviewOne of Resident Music's Books of the Year 2023‘Magisterial’The Times‘A treat’Uncut‘This exhaustive book shows why the dark side is not dead and buried.’Mojo‘Gloriously knowledgeable and inclusive, rich with words like crystalline, lysergic, spectral, and stuffed with stories about the bands who changed your life as a teenager.’Irish Independent‘A feast for fans of the subculture’Hot Press'John Robb brilliantly illuminates the realm of imagination and dark beauty. Enter the other side of love. The kingdom of goth is within you.'Johnny Marr'An encyclopaedia of excitement - thanks to this book goth is undead.'Chris Packham'John Robb has written the definitive book on a scene that demands to be celebrated. Fascinating, thoughtful, surprising and freakishly detailed.'Grace Dent‘John Robb is an inexhaustible fact finding music sleuth, a sturdy writer and trustworthy guide’Henry Rollins'I could not stop reading about the birth, death and ghost of goth as it poured out of this extensively researched panorama of goth music and culture. Connect the dots, do that dance… while wearing black, of course.’Kid Congo'This is a glorious book, exploring Gothic from its historical roots to the cliches, caricatures and catcalling of the present age. The music, dance and fashion are sumptuously brought to life, but more than that, Robb manages to take us into the psyche, fantasies and imaginations of a plethora of fascinating goths. The go-to book on all things goth.'Janina Ramirez, author of Femina -- .Table of ContentsIntroduction1 Floorshow: a night out at the heart of 1980s goth2 The fall of Rome3 Deep in the forest: Europe’s Gothic history4 'Mad, bad and dangerous to know': the Romantics and the Gothic imagination5 Euro visions6 The devil has the best tunes7 Paint it black: the dark heart of the psychedelic sixties8 All the children are insane, or people are strange: the (un)holy trinity: The Doors/Velvets/Stooges9 Wham bam thank you glam: the dark side of glam rock10 Proto post-punk11 The punk wars12 'What was once unhealthily fresh is now a clean old hat': post-punk to a very Public Image13 Spellbound: Siouxsie and the Banshees14 Feel the pain: The Damned15 Ridicule is nothing to be scared of: Adam Ant16 New dawn fades: Manchester and Joy Division17 'The wreckers of western civilisation...': industrial music18 'I must fight this sickness... find a cure': The Cure19 The naughty north and the sexy south20 All we ever wanted was everything: Bauhaus21 Lord of chaos: a dark and beautiful playground: Killing Joke22 Release the bats! Nick Cave23 'I am not avant-garde I am a deserter': Blixa Bargeld, Einstürzende Neubauten and the reinvention of Berlin24 Voodoo idols: the ballad of Lux and Ivy25 First, last and always: how post-punk Leeds created goth and The Sisters of Mercy26 Vagabonds Bradford: New Model Army and Joolz27 Flowers in the forest: Southern Death Cult28 Wanted dead or alive: how Liverpool opened the doors to a new (North) West Coast sound29 Do you believe in the westworld? Theatre of Hate30 A new form of beauty: Virgin Prunes, Dublin: how Lypton Village changed a nation31 'Good poetry can still resonate louder than a thousand guns': Rammstein for grown-ups: Laibach32 At the gates of silent memory: Field of the Nephilim33 Darklands: how the dark energy infected indie34 'We sing to the gods to be free': American Gothic and the dark art of the American dream35 Trans Europe Express36 In the flat field, suburbs and satellite towns: the second coming of goth37 Apocalypse now! Goth's end daysIndex

Read more less

Book Synopsis''Shamelessly engaging, effortlessly scholarly, utterly refreshing''Thomas Keneally, author of Schindler''s Ark''A small treasure''New York Times ''This sweepingly confident overview is more entertainingly told than any previous account''Sunday TelegraphIreland played the central role in maintaining European culture when the dark ages settled on Europe in the fifth century: as Rome was sacked by Visigoths and its empire collapsed, Ireland became ''the isle of saints and scholars'' that enabled the classical and religious heritage to be saved.In his compelling and entertaining narrative, Thomas Cahill tells the story of how Irish monks and scrines copied the mauscripts of both pagan and Christian writers, including Homer and Aristotle, while libraries on the continent were lost forever. Bringing the past and its characters to life, Cahill captures the sensibility of the unsung Irish who relaunched civilisation.Trade ReviewHOW THE IRISH SAVED CIVILISATION is a shamelessly engaging, effortlessly scholarly, utterly refreshing history of the origins of the Irish soul and its huge contribution to Western culture ... For its portrait of St Patrick alone, it will resonate in the memory. * Thomas Keneally *Lyrical, playful, penetrating and serious ... an entirely engaging, delectable voyage into the distant past, a small treasure * Richard Bernstein in the New York Times *This sweepingly confident overview is more entertainingly told than any previous account ... An elegant book * P.J. Kavanagh in the Sunday Telegraph *

Read more less

Book SynopsisA TLS AND GQ BOOK OF THE YEARWINNER OF A SOMERSET MAUGHAM AWARDFINALIST FOR THE ORWELL PRIZESAnnouncing the arrival of a major new talent, an astonishing work of social history which captures Black gay Britain as never before.''A fascinating, lively and illuminating social history . . . remarkable.''BERNARDINE EVARISTO, TLS (Books of the Year)''Extraordinary.'' SHON FAYE''Groundbreaking.'' GUARDIAN''Beautifully woven.'' i NEWS''Gorgeous, gossipy.'' EVENING STANDARD''A rich, vital story.'' FRIEZE''A triumph.'' GAY TIMES***In this landmark work, Jason Okundaye meets an elder generation of Black gay men and finds a spirited community full of courage, charisma and good humour, hungry to tell its past of nightlife, resistance, political fights, loss, gossip, sex, romance and vulgarity. Through their conversations he seeks to reconcile the Black and gay narratives of Britain, narratives frequently cleaved as distinct and unrelated.Tracing these men's journeys and arrivals to South London through the seventies, eighties and nineties from the present day, Okundaye relays their stories with rare compassion, listening as they share intimate memories and reflect upon their lives. They endured and fought against the peak of the AIDS epidemic, built social groups and threw underground parties; they went to war with institutions (and with each other) and created meaning within a society which was often indifferent to their existence.Revolutionary Acts renders a singular portrait of Britain from the perspective of those buffeted by the winds of marginalisation and discrimination. It is a portrait marked by resilience and self-determination, inspired by the love and beauty Black men have found in each other.***A sparkling book that is all the more remarkable for being the author''s first. Okundaye is an outstanding guide to what it means to be black and gay in Britain, providing a perspective to the last four decades that is as revelatory as it is important.'PETER FRANKOPAN''In this seminal book Okundaye gives us juicy dialogue, tears and laughter, and vivid landscapes of memory.'MENDEZ, author of Rainbow MilkThis groundbreaking debut tells the stories of seven radicals who were among the first out Black gay men in Britain . . . Okundaye's research and interviews completely recast key moments in Black British history . . . We should be grateful that he has managed to capture a vital moment that at so many points could have been lost for ever.'LANRE BAKARE, GUARDIAN

Read more less

Book SynopsisViviana Durante is considered to be one of the greatest, most dramatic ballerinas of her generation. Born in Rome, she became The Royal Ballet's youngest principal dancer at 21 and was also principal ballerina with American Ballet Theatre, Teatro alla Scala, and Japan's K-Ballet. Viviana holds a Diploma of Dance Teaching from The Royal Ballet School and a Diploma in Dance Teaching and Learning from Trinity College, London. She coaches and teaches internationally.Trade ReviewA heavy kaleidoscopic tome, a beautifully produced coffee table book [...] Ballet: The Definitive Illustrated Story is a welcome addition to any balletomane's library. * British Theatre Guide *If you are looking for a present for a ballet lover, it is an excellent buy, lots of lovely photographs, accessible language and published at a very reasonable price. Dancelovers could happily curl up and browse this well-presented book that offers such aneclectic choice of material. * Seeingdance.com *A luxurious and substantial book - it needs its own table where it can be left open and adored. * The Lady *For balletomanes of all ages, this hefty, richly illustrated book traces the history of 'a dance executed by the human soul', as Pushkin expressed it, from its beginnings in the court of Henri II and Catherine de' Medici in 16th-century France, to the present day. From romantic and classical to modern ballet, here is everything you could want to know, with profiles of the greats, dancers, ballets and more. * Saga Magazine *

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis book sensitively tells the powerful history of Black hair foryounger readers.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe American South is a distinctive place with a dramatic history, and has significance beyond its regional context in the twenty first century. The American South: A Very Short Introduction explores the history of the South as a cultural crossroads, a meeting place between western Europe and West Africa. The South''s beginnings illuminate the expansion of Europe into the New World, creating a colonial slave society that distinguished it from other parts of the United States but fostered commonalities with other colonial societies. The Civil War and civil rights movement transformed the South in differing ways and remain a part of a vibrant and contested public memory. More recently, the South''s pronounced traditionalism in customs and values was in tension with the forces of modernization that slowly forced change in the twentieth century. Southerners'' creative responses to these experiences have made the American South well known around the world in literature, film, music, and cuisine. Charles Reagan Wilson argues for the significance of creativity in the South, emerging from the diversity of peoples, cultures, and experiences that the regional context fostered. The South has now become the new center of immigration, adding to the complexity of the region''s cultural, social, economic, and political life. In this book, the burdens and tragedies of southern history are placed beside the creative achievements that have come out of the region, producing a portrait of a complex American place.Trade ReviewWilson's account, at 126 pages of text, encompasses a lifetime of knowledge in the subject. * William A. Link, University of Florida , The Journal of Southern History *This is a deftly woven history of the region, spanning from when indigenous southerners shaped the region to when Black activists orchestrated the removal of Confederate monuments from city centers. Charles Reagan Wilson has captured the driving foundational tensions of regionalism — whiteness and otherness, urbanity and rurality, religiosity and secularism — that have long animated our national consciousness. The South remains a mirror and creation of the nation, and Wilson's portrait of America's reflection over time is a precise invitation to look anew at who we have been, who we are, and who we might want to be in a more unified future. * Zandria F. Robinson, author of This Ain't Chicago: Race, Class, and Regional Identity in the Post-Soul South *Table of ContentsIntroduction Chapter 1: Beginnings to 1830 Chapter 2: Civil War Era Chapter 3: Tradition and Modernization Chapter 4: Transformation of Southern Society, 1940-1970 Chapter 5: Contemporary South Chapter 6: Literature Chapter 7: Music Chapter 8: Foodways References Further Reading Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisAn 'entertaining and enlightening' deep dive into the alcohol-soaked origins of civilization—and the evolutionary roots of humanity's appetite for intoxication (Daniel E. Lieberman, author of Exercised).While plenty of entertaining books have been written about the history of alcohol and other intoxicants, none have offered a comprehensive, convincing answer to the basic question of why humans want to get high in the first place.Drunk elegantly cuts through the tangle of urban legends and anecdotal impressions that surround our notions of intoxication to provide the first rigorous, scientifically-grounded explanation for our love of alcohol. Drawing on evidence from archaeology, history, cognitive neuroscience, psychopharmacology, social psychology, literature, and genetics, Drunk shows that our taste for chemical intoxicants is not an evolutionary mistake, as we are so often told. In fact, intoxication helps solve a number of distinctively human challenges: enhancing creativity, alleviating stress, building trust, and pulling off the miracle of getting fiercely tribal primates to cooperate with strangers. Our desire to get drunk, along with the individual and social benefits provided by drunkenness, played a crucial role in sparking the rise of the first large-scale societies. We would not have civilization without intoxication.From marauding Vikings and bacchanalian orgies to sex-starved fruit flies, blind cave fish, and problem-solving crows, Drunk is packed with fascinating case studies and engaging science, as well as practical takeaways for individuals and communities. The result is a captivating and long overdue investigation into humanity's oldest indulgence—one that explains not only why we want to get drunk, but also how it might actually be good for us to tie one on now and then. 

Read more less

Book SynopsisNew essays exploring Jewish cultural trends of the past two decades, interspersed with choice material from the Jewish Renaissance magazine archiveTrade Review"To celebrate the anniversary, JR has published a stimulating book containing some of its most distinctive articles from past issues linked by five essays on various aspects of what its editor Rebecca Taylor and former publisher and now trustee David Benmayer term in their introduction “the new Jewish culture wave”.

Read more less

Book SynopsisA love letter to the pioneers of solidarity and coalition, Shoulder to Shoulder by author and journalist Jake Hall sheds light on the astounding untold lives of marginalised activists across the world.

Read more less

Book SynopsisWith a hundred haikus, each accompanied by a wonderful full-page illustration and enlightening commentary, this book is perfect for those looking for a more poetic exploration of the Roman Empire.Trade Review‘Anyone seeking a truly original take on the Roman Empire will find much to enjoy here.’ -- World-Archaeology.com

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe words Caesarean Section, are powerful. They conjure up strong emotions. For some, feelings of doubt, shame and judgement. For others a sense of safety, relief, validation and reassurance. But they are rarely spoken of in the ecstatic tones with which we celebrate so-called natural, or vaginal birth. They are rarely called beautiful, or associated with an innate sense of feminine power. Can Caesarean birth also be magical? Mystical? Awe-inspiring? Knotting its way through history, culture, folklore and human experience throughout the world, Thread seeks to reframe the Caesarean Section on its journey through myth, magic and medicine.Journalist Hannah Marsh blends the medical with the mystical, charting the development of a now common procedure, once a dance between life and death: a last-ditch attempt to save a child whose mother lay dead or dying. Weaving in the arc of her own experience, a journalists insatiable curiosity, and the stories of women, contemporary, historical and mythical, who endured, sacrificed and drove developments, Thread is an unflinching but compassionate examination of a procedure that nowadays remains both pedestrian and miraculous.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis first biography of the Kettle's Yard artists reveals the life of a visionary who helped shape twentieth-century British art and explores a thrilling moment in the history of modernism'The beautiful, revelatory biography we have been waiting for. I loved it'EDMUND DE WAAL'This book is the legacy Jim Ede might have wished for'OBSERVERThe lives of Jim Ede and the Kettle's Yard artists represent a thrilling tipping point in twentieth-century modernism: a new guard, a new way of making and seeing, and a new way of living with art. The artists Ben and Winifred Nicholson, Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Alfred Wallis and Henri Gaudier-Brzeska were not a set like the Bloomsbury Set or Ravilious and his friends. But Jim Ede recognised in each of the artists he championed something common and kindred, some quality of light and life and line.Jim Ede is the figure who unites them. His vision continues to influence the way we understand art and modern living. He was a man of extraordinary energies: a collector, dealer, fixer, critic and, above all, friend to artists. For Ede, works of art were friends and art could be found wherever you looked - in a pebble, feather or seedhead. Art lived and a life without art, beauty, friendship and creativity was a life not worth living. Art was not for galleries alone and it certainly wasn't only for the rich. At Kettle's Yard in Cambridge, he opened his home and his collection to all comers. He showed generations of visitors that learning to look could be a whole new way of life.Trade ReviewThe beautiful, revelatory biography of Jim Ede and Kettle's Yard that we have been waiting for. I loved it -- Edmund de WaalFreeman's attention falls on each particular of Ede's life and turns it over like a polished pebble in a jacket pocket. Along with his gallery, this book is the legacy he might have wished for * Observer *Gorgeously written * The Times, *Books of the Year* *If ever the spirit of a gallery is captured within hard covers, it is Kettle's Yard, Cambridge, in this beautiful, original biography of its founder... Freeman's writing has Ede's flair, grace and insight * Financial Times, *Best Books of 2023* *An impassioned biography * The Times, *Top 50 Non-Fiction Books* *An excellent biography of Jim Ede. Reading Laura Freeman's luminous study of the curator and collector, I can't help but picture the gallery and house he built - the haven of Kettle's Yard in Cambridge * Daily Telegraph *Freeman has done a wonderful job here in conveying with absolute precision why Ede mattered and what made him different from his Bloomsbury contemporaries * Sunday Times *A thorough and entertaining biography... Excellently paced * The Times *Meticulously researched, sympathetically told, the book is infused with the spirit of Kettle's Yard * i *Ways of Life is a portable Kettle's Yard, an entrancing book of immense and curious beauty -- Ruth Scurr, author of Fatal Purity

Read more less

Book SynopsisFrom royalty to peasantry, every age has its bad eggs, those who break all the rules and rub everyone up the wrong way. But their niggling, anti-social and irritating ways not only tell us about what upset people, but also what mattered to them, how their society functioned and what kind of world they lived in. In this brilliantly nitty-gritty exploration of real life in the Tudor and Stuart age, you will discover:– how to choose the perfect insult, whether it be draggletail, varlet, flap, saucy fellow strumpet, ninny-hammer or stinkard– why quoting Shakespeare was very poor form – why flashing the inside of your hat could repulse someone– the best way to mock accents, preachers, soldiers and pretty much everything else besides Ruth Goodman draws upon advice books and manuals, court cases and sermons, drama and imagery to outline bad behaviour from the gauche to the galling, the subtle to the outrageous. It is a celebration of drunkards, scolds, harridans and cross dressers in a time when calling a man a fool could get someone killed, and cursing wasn’t just rude, it worked!‘Ruth is the queen of living history – long may she reign!’ Lucy Worsley

Read more less

Book SynopsisA funny and fascinating introduction to some of history's most forward thinking women, their stories and what we can learn from them.

Read more less

Book SynopsisBackstabbing, stalking, and illicit love - this is the Brontës, but not as you knew them

Read more less

Book SynopsisAs winter comes and the hours of darkness overtake the light, we seek out warmth, good food, and good company. But beneath the jollity and bright enchantment of the festive season, there lurks a darker mood - one that has found expression over the centuries in a host of strange and unsettling traditions and lore. Here, Sarah Clegg takes us on a journey through midwinter to explore the lesser-known Christmas traditions, from English mummers plays and Austrian Krampus runs, to modern pagan rituals at Stonehenge and the night in Finland when a young girl is crowned with candles as St Lucy - a martyred Christian girl who also appears as a witch leading a procession of the dead. At wassails and hoodenings and winter gatherings, attended by ghastly, grinning horses, snatching monsters and mysterious visitors, we discover how these traditions originated and how they changed through the centuries, and we ask ourselves: if we can't keep the darkness entirely at bay, might it be fun to let a l

Read more less

Book SynopsisOriginally published in France between 1876 and 1888, Auguste Racinet’s Le Costume Historique was in its day the most wide-ranging and incisive study of clothing ever attempted. Covering the world history of costume, dress, and style from antiquity through to the end of the 19th century, the six volume work remains completely unique in its scope and detail. This TASCHEN reprint presents Racinet’s exquisitely precise color illustrations, as well as his delightful descriptions and often witty commentary. Spanning everything from ancient Etruscan attire to French women’s couture, material is arranged according to Racinet’s original plan by culture and subject. As expansive in its reach as it is passionate in its research and attention to detail, Racinet's Costume History is an invaluable reference for students, designers, artists, illustrators, and historians; and a rich source of inspiration for anyone with an interest in clothing and style.Trade Review“…an accessible, elaborate visual history of all the weird, uncomfortable clothes people thought looked good, from massive, powdered wigs to feathered war helmets. Contemporary artists, designers, illustrators, and historians will find no shortage of inspiration in its pages.” * Hyperallergic.com *“Some books just scream out to be bought; this is one of them.” * Vogue.com *

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn this ground-breaking work, Paul Gilroy proposes that the modern black experience can not be defined solely as African, American, Carribean or British alone, but can only be understand as a Black Atlantic culture that transcends ethnicity or nationality. This culture is thorough modern and, often, overlooked but can deeply enriches our understanding of what it means to be modern.This condition comes out of historical transoceanic experience, established first with the slave trade but later seen in the development of a transatlantic culture. And Gilroy takes us on a tour of the music that, for centuries, has transmitted racial messages and feeling around the world, from the Jubilee Singers in the nineteenth century to Jimi Hendrix to rap. He also explores this internationalism as it is manifested in black writing from the "double consciousness" of W. E. B. Du Bois to the "double vision" of Richard Wright to the compelling voice of Toni Morrison. As a consequence, Black Atlantic charts the formation of a nationalism, if not a nation, within this shared, disasporic culture.Trade ReviewPaul Gilroy is one the most incisive thinkers of his generation...One can only hope that his voice travels far and wide. * Independent *In debates in recent years around questions of race, nation and culture, Paul Gilroy has stood out as an independent, unorthodox and (often for that very reason) exciting new voice. * Times Higher Educational Supplement *Whilst others scarcely put a toe in the water, in The Black Atlantic Gilroy goes in deep and returns with riches. * Guardian *At that moment, in US scholarship, the emphasis was still on minimising the role of the Atlantic slave trade and slavery in the making of capitalism. So to have the Black Atlantic argue so powerfully for its constitutive role in the making of modernity was really important. -- Saidiya HartmanIt was in this book that Gilroy laid out his concept of the 'black Atlantic', the idea that black culture is essentially a hybrid, a product of centuries of exchange, slavery and movement across the Atlantic. Exploring everything from the lives and work of African American philosophers such as WEB Du Bios, to black popular music, Gilroy demonstrates that black culture is both 'local' and 'global', and cannot be constrained within any single national culture. It flows across the black Atlantic of the book's title. The influence of Gilroy's work can be felt not only in modern scholarship but even in the work of the visual artist John Akomfrah. -- David OlusogaThe Black Atlantic, still his most influential work, used the writings of enslaved people and their descendants to demonstrate their centrality to the making of the modern world. * Guardian *He's the foremost intellectual in the United Kingdom: not an if, not a but, not a maybe -- Steve McQueen

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe Bible observes that God made humanity for a while a little lower than the angels'. If humans are that close to angels, does the difference lie in human sexuality and what we do with it? Much of the political contention and division in societies across the world centres on sexual topics, and one-third of the global population is Christian in background or outlook. In a single lifetime, Christianity or historically Christian societies have witnessed one of the most extraordinary about-turns in attitudes to sex and gender in human history. There have followed revolutions in the place of women in society, a new place for same-sex love amid the spectrum of human emotions and a public exploration of gender and trans identity. For many the new situation has brought exciting liberation for others, fury and fear.This book seeks to calm fears and encourage understanding through telling a 3000-year-long tale of Christians encountering sex, gender and the family, with noises off from their sacred texts. The message of Lower than the Angels is simple, necessary and timely: to pay attention to the sheer glorious complexity and contradictions in the history of Christianity. The reader can decide from the story told here whether there is a single Christian theology of sex, or many contending voices in a symphony that is not at all complete. Oxford's Emeritus Professor of the History of the Church introduces an epic of ordinary and extraordinary Christians trying to make sense of themselves and of humanity's deepest desires, fears and hopes.

Read more less

Book SynopsisA beautifully illustrated introduction to mudlarking which tells the incredible, forgotten history of London through objects found on the foreshore of the River Thames. Often seen combing the shoreline of the River Thames at low tide, groups of archaeology enthusiasts known as ‘mudlarks’ continue a tradition that dates back to the eighteenth century. Over the years they have found a vast array of historical artefacts providing glimpses into the city’s past. Objects lost or discarded centuries ago – from ancient river offerings such as the Battersea Shield and Waterloo Helmet, to seventeenth-century trade tokens and even medals for bravery – have been discovered in the river. This book explores a fascinating assortment of finds from prehistoric to modern times, which collectively tell the rich and illustrious story of London and its inhabitants - illustrated with and array of photographs taken of the items in situ in the mud and gravel of the Thames estuary, at the same time both gritty and glimmering.Trade ReviewA bite-sized and accessible social history with a clear reverence for the mudlarks who have helped to paint a more intimate picture of the city’s past. * Apollo Magazine *Organized chronologically, the book is packed with over 150 color photos of the historical artifacts found by London mudlarks. These objects recovered from the river tell the story of London and its inhabitants over the past 2,000 years, each adding a new perspective to the history of London. It's a beautiful visual history of London, and a fun read. * Beachcombing Magazine *Thames Mudlarking gives a great insight into the vast range of everyday items that can be recovered from the Thames foreshore. From Stone Age to Victorian, Londoners have lost or discarded a fascinating array of artefacts. Modern day erosion now threatens their survival. The book relates how ordinary people can get 'hands on' with history in the muddy bed of the Thames. * Ian Smith, Chair of The Society of Thames Mudlarks *"Good things come in small packages," as is often said, and with this book, they certainly do! No 'history lovers' bookshelf should be without it. Veritably crammed with facts and quality illustrations which take the reader through an exciting experience of 'time travel' via artefacts discovered in and alongside one of the most famous cities and rivers in the world. * Julian Evan-Hart, Editor, Treasure Hunting Magazine *I've stopped searching... this new book is indeed a treasure. Anyone who loves a bit of history, a good story and not afraid to get muddy, this book is for you! * Jeannine Saba, Editor, The Covent Gardener Magazine *This is a book that informs, inspires and – most importantly -- makes you want to train your eyes to see the treasures that lie below your feet. Reading this book will make you breathless to begin your exploration. It also teaches how to treasure hunt responsibly and reminds that what you find you share. * Dan Cruickshank *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Mudlarking Megalodons, Woolly Rhinos and Flint Tools Rituals and Votive Offerings Vanity and Sex Zoomorphic Art and Viking Attacks Pilgrims, Knights and Betrayal Opulence and Witchcraft War, Fire and Love Death and Decadence Empire and Invention Keep Calm and Carry On Eternal River Liquid History Places to Visit Further Reading Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe first major biography of Oscar Wilde in thirty years, and the most complete telling of his life and times to date. NOMINATED FOR THE WOLFSON HISTORY PRIZE 2019 'The Book of the Year, perhaps of the decade' TLS 'Simply the best modern biography of Wilde... A terrific achievement' Evening Standard 'Page-turning... Vivid and desperately moving. However much you think you know Wilde, this book will absorb and entertain you' The Sunday TimesBooks of the Year Oscar Wilde's life – like his wit – was alive with paradox. He was both an early exponent and a victim of 'celebrity culture': famous for being famous, he was lauded and ridiculed in equal measure. His achievements were frequently downplayed, his successes resented. He had a genius for comedy but strove to write tragedies. He was an unabashed snob who nevertheless delighted in exposing the faults of society. He affected a dandified disdain but was prone to great acts of kindness. Although happily married, he became a passionate lover of men and – at the very peak of his success – brought disaster upon himself. He disparaged authority, yet went to the law to defend his love for Lord Alfred Douglas. Having delighted in fashionable throngs, Wilde died almost alone. Above all, his flamboyant refusal to conform to the social and sexual orthodoxies of his day make him a hero and an inspiration to all who seek to challenge convention. Matthew Sturgis draws on a wealth of new material and fresh research, bringing alive the distinctive mood and characters of the fin de siècle in the richest and most compelling portrait of Wilde to date.Trade ReviewThis page-turning life of Oscar Wilde is vivid and desperately moving. However much you think you know Wilde, this book will absorb and entertain you * Sunday Times *Wonderfully exciting... Sturgis's great achievement is to take on board his great flurry of contradictions' * Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday, 5* review *Matthew Sturgis uses new letters and a libel trial transcript to give a fuller picture of Oscar Wilde's dazzling rise and tragic fall... He is a tremendous orchestrator of material, fastidious, unhurried, indefatigable' * Observer *A perfectly diligent book, and tells new readers all they possibly need to know about Wilde and his world * The Times *Authoritative, magnificently researched * Spectator *Oscar Wilde is more fashionable than ever, and his demise still makes for a gripping read... Sturgis's account is fuller and in some ways more reliable [than Richard Ellmann's biography]... Sturgis's account of the hearing at the Old Bailey is as gripping as it is grim' * Guardian *[Sturgis's biography] is the first major attempt since that of Richard Ellman some 30 years ago, and it's much better... This is simply the best modern biography of Wilde... A terrific achievement' * Evening Standard *The Book of the Year, perhaps of the decade... Captures the wit, the love-ability, the dramatic genius, the insane self-destructiveness, the originality of Wilde... [Sturgis] is the greatest chronicler of the 1890s we have ever had' * TLS, Books of the Year *Astute in its judgements and offers a sharp and detailed grasp of the period and an appreciation of Wilde's ambiguities * Irish Times, Books of the Year, Colm Tóibín *Like Churchill, Oscar Wilde [...] is one of those people who never seem to stop inspiring outstanding biographies, and Oscar: A Life by Matthew Sturgis is one of the best, as well as the latest, of a long line * Sunday Telegraph. *A first rate biography * Sunday Express, Books of the Year *This book provides not only a comprehensive record of [Wilde's] activities, friendships and financial affairs, but also a powerful sense of what it was actually like to know him... This is undoubtedly the most comprehensive, reliable and clear-sighted study of Wilde ever likely to be written' * Dublin Sunday Business Post *This excellent biography offers a deeper, more rounded picture of the writer's life, his rise to stardom, his fall and tragic final days... At once entertaining and scholarly. The man himself would be proud' * The Lady *Sturgis' attention to decadence allows readers to view Wilde's post-prison years in a new light... [An] insightful biography' * Volupte *Very solid and complete biography * The Dutch Review of Books *A great read * Edge Media Network *

Read more less

Book Synopsis''A landmark piece of non-fiction'' Janet Maslin, The New York TimesFrom the winner of the Pulitzer Prize, this is one of the great untold stories of American history: the migration of black citizens who fled the south and went north in search of a better life From 1915 to 1970, an exodus of almost six million people would change the face of America. With stunning historical detail, Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Isabel Wilkerson gives us this definitive, vividly dramatic account of how these journeys unfolded. Based on interviews with more than a thousand people, and access to new data and official records, The Warmth of Other Suns tells the story of America''s Great Migration through the lives of three unique individuals: Ida Mae Gladney, who in 1937 left sharecropping and prejudice in Mississippi for Chicago, where she achieved quiet blue-collar success and, in old age, voted for Barack Obama when he ran for an Illinois Senate seat; sharp and quick-tempered George Starling, who in 1945 fled Florida for Harlem, where he endangered his job fighting for civil rights, saw his family fall, and finally found peace in God; and Robert Foster, who left Louisiana in 1953 to pursue a medical career, the personal physician to Ray Charles as part of a glitteringly successful medical career.Wilkerson brilliantly captures their first treacherous and exhausting cross-country journeys, as well as how they changed their new homes forever.''You will never forget these people'' Gay Talese''A brilliant and stirring epic'' John Stauffer, Wall Street Journal ''The mass migration of African Americans out of the US south forever changed the country''s cultural fabric - and Wilkerson''s history of this period is full of sacrifice and hope ... a long overdue account'' Lettecha Johnson, Guardian''A deeply affecting, finely crafted and heroic book. . . .Wilkerson has taken on one of the most important demographic upheavals of the past century and told it through the lives of three people ... lyrical and tragic'' Jill Lepore, New YorkerTrade ReviewA narrative epic rigorous enough to impress all but the crankiest of scholars, yet so immensely readable as to land the author a future place on Oprah's couch. -- David Oshinsky, The New York Times Book ReviewTold in a voice that echoes the magic cadences of Toni Morrison or the folk wisdom of Zora Neale Hurston's collected oral histories, Wilkerson's book pulls not just the expanse of the migration into focus but its overall impact on politics, literature, music, sports -- in the nation and the world. -- Lynell George * Los Angeles Times *Scholarly but very readable, this book, for all its rigor, is so absorbing, it should come with a caveat: Pick it up only when you can lose yourself entirely. * O, The Oprah Magazine *Profound, necessary and an absolute delight to read. -- Toni MorrisonIsabel Wilkerson's The Warmth of Other Suns is an American masterpiece, a stupendous literary success that channels the social sciences as iconic biography in order to tell a vast story of a people's reinvention of itself and of a nation--the first complete history of the Great Black Migration from start to finish, north, east, west. -- David Levering LewisNot since Alex Haley's Roots has there been a history of equal literary quality where the writing surmounts the rhythmic soul of fiction, where the writer's voice sings a song of redemptive glory as true as Faulkner's southern cantatas. -- The San Francisco Examiner[A] sweeping history of the Great Migration... The Warmth of Other Suns builds upon such purely academic works to make the migrant experience both accessible and emotionally compelling. -- NPR.orgOne of the most lyrical and important books of the season -- David Shribman * Boston Globe *A seminal work of narrative nonfiction. . . . You will never forget these people. -- Gay TaleseA landmark piece of nonfiction...sure to hold many surprises for readers of any race or experience...A mesmerizing book that warrants comparison to The Promised Land, Nicholas Lemann's study of the Great Migration's early phase, and Common Ground, J. Anthony Lukas's great, close-range look at racial strife in Boston...[Wilkerson's] closeness with, and profound affection for, her subjects reflect her deep immersion in their stories and allow the reader to share that connection. -- Janet Maslin * The New York Times *The Warmth of Other Suns is a brilliant and stirring epic, the first book to cover the full half-century of the Great Migration... Wilkerson combines impressive research...with great narrative and literary power. Ms. Wilkerson does for the Great Migration what John Steinbeck did for the Okies in his fiction masterpiece, The Grapes of Wrath; she humanizes history, giving it emotional and psychological depth -- John Stauffer * Wall Street Journal *[A] deeply affecting, finely crafted and heroic book...Wilkerson has taken on one of the most important demographic upheavals of the past century-a phenomenon whose dimensions and significance have eluded many a scholar-and told it through the lives of three people no one has ever heard of...This is narrative nonfiction, lyrical and tragic and fatalist. The story exposes; the story moves; the story ends. What Wilkerson urges, finally, isn't argument at all; it's compassion. Hush, and listen. -- Jill Lepore * The New Yorker *[An] extraordinary and evocative work. * The Washington Post *Mesmerizing... * Chicago Tribune *[An] indelible and compulsively readable portrait of race, class, and politics in 20th-century America. History is rarely distilled so finely. Grade: A * Entertainment Weekly *An astonishing work...Isabel Wilkerson delivers!... With the precision of a surgeon, Wilkerson illuminates the stories of bold, faceless African-Americans who transformed cities and industries with their hard work and determination to provide their children with better lives. * Essence *Isabel Wilkerson's majestic The Warmth of Other Suns shows that not everyone bloomed, but the migrants-Wilkerson prefers to think of them as domestic immigrants-remade the entire country, North and South. It's a monumental job of writing and reporting that lives up to its subtitle: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration. * USA Today *[A] sweeping history of the Great Migration... The Warmth of Other Suns builds upon such purely academic works to make the migrant experience both accessible and emotionally. * NPR.org *The Warmth of Other Suns is a beautifully written, in-depth analysis of what Wilkerson calls 'one of the most underreported stories of the 20th century'...A masterpiece that sheds light on a significant development in our nation's history. * The San Jose Mercury News *The Warmth of Other Suns is a beautifully written book that, once begun, is nearly impossible to put aside. It is an unforgettable combination of tragedy and inspiration, and gripping subject matter and characters in a writing style that grabs the reader on Page 1 and never let's go.... Woven into the tapestry of [three individuals] lives, in prose that is sweet to savor, Wilkerson tells the larger story, the general situation of life in the South for blacks...If you read one only one book about history this year, read this. If you read only one book about African Americans this year, read this. If you read only one book this year, read this. * The Free Lance Star, Fredericksburg, Va. *A truly auspicious debut...The author deftly intersperses [her characters'] stories with short vignettes about other individuals and consistently provides the bigger picture without interrupting the flow of the narrative...Wilkerson's focus on the personal aspect lends her book a markedly different, more accessible tone. Her powerful storytelling style, as well, gives this decades-spanning history a welcome novelistic flavor. An impressive take on the Great Migration. -- Kirkus * Starred Review *[A] magnificent, extensively researched study of the great migration...The drama, poignancy, and romance of a classic immigrant saga pervade this book, hold the reader in its grasp, and resonate long after the reading is done. -- Publishers Weekly * Starred Review *Not since Alex Haley's Roots has there been a history of equal literary quality where the writing surmounts the rhythmic soul of fiction, where the writer's voice sings a song of redemptive glory as true as Faulkner's southern cantatas. * The San Francisco Examiner *The Warmth of Other Suns is a sweeping and yet deeply personal tale of America's hidden 20th century history - the long and difficult trek of Southern blacks to the northern and western cities. This is an epic for all Americans who want to understand the making of our modern nation. -- Tom BrokawWith compelling prose and considered analysis, Isabel Wilkerson has given us a landmark portrait of one of the most significant yet little-noted shifts in American history: the migration of African-Americans from the Jim Crow South to the cities of the North and West. It is a complicated tale, with an infinity of implications for questions of race, power, politics, religion, and class-implications that are unfolding even now. This book will be long remembered, and savored. -- Jon MeachamIsabel Wilkerson's The Warmth of Other Suns is an American masterpiece, a stupendous literary success that channels the social sciences as iconic biography in order to tell a vast story of a people's reinvention of itself and of a nation-the first complete history of the Great Black Migration from start to finish, north, east, west. -- David Levering LewisIsabel Wilkerson's book is a masterful narrative of the rich wisdom and deep courage of a great people. Don't miss it! -- Cornel WestA landmark piece of non-fiction * The New York Times *A briliant and stirring epic * Wall Street Journal *The mass migration of African Americans out of the US south forever changed the country's cultural fabric - and Wilkerson's history of this period is full of sacrifice and hope ...a long overdue account * Guardian *A deeply affecting, finely crafted and heroic book. . . .Wilkerson has taken on one of the most important demographic upheavals of the past century and told it through the lives of three people ... lyrical and tragic -- Jill Lepore * New Yorker *Not since Alex Haley's Roots has there been a history of equal literary quality where the writing surmounts the rhythmic soul of fiction, where the writer's voice sings a song of redemptive glory as true as Faulkner's southern cantatas. * San Francisco Examiner *

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn the state of Texas American football is a religion. And nowhere is more fanatical about its football than the small town of Odessa. There, every Friday night from September to November, a bunch of seventeen-year-old kids play their hearts out for the honour of their high school. In front of 20,000 people. In 1988 H.G. Bissinger spent a season in Odessa discovering just what makes a town pin its hopes on eleven boys on a football field. He lived with the students, coaches and townspeople who dedicate their lives to their team, sharing their joys and triumphs, their pains, injuries and bitter disappointments. He returned with a compassionate but hard-eyed story of a town riven by money, race and class, where a high school can spend more on medical supplies for its athletic program than on its English department. Friday Night Lights is one of the best books about sport ever written. It is the story of how dreams and reality collide, at once glorious and immensTrade ReviewSuperb and disturbing - More than a sports book, it's a search for the America of ordinary people. * Newsday *A remarkable book, fascinating from start to finish, full of surprises. * David Halberstam *Friday Night Lights offers a biting indictment of the sports craziness that grips ... most of American society, while at the same time providing a moving evocation of its powerful allure. * New York Times Book Review *Just about everything you could ask for in a sports book * New York Times *

Read more less