Social and cultural history Books

Book SynopsisRight-wing populism has been on the rise in Europe and elsewhere. Germanys foremost populist party is called Alternative for Germany (AfD). Founded in 2013 and entering Germanys federal parliament in 2017, the AfD increasingly moved towards right-wing extremism. Today, the party is Germanys most successful nationalistic party. Following the populist playbook, the AfD started off with a simple neoliberal and anti-Europe message, but soon moved towards the extreme right. By 2017 the AfDs ultra-nationalistic wing had successfully outmanoeuvred the partys moderate and neoliberal leader Frauke Petry. Written from the standpoint of openness, pluralism, liberalism and democracy, this book examines the AfDs rise to fame, its successes, and the partys ideological links dating back to German Nazism of the 1930s. The author illuminates the partys ideological and institutional links to present-day Neo-Nazis; its close associations to the right-wing street movement Pegida; the recruitment of right-wing extremists and former Neo-Nazis into its parliamentarian ranks; its xenophobic, anti-Muslim, racist and anti-Semitic ideologies; and its relationship to the neo-fascist Identity Movement. A historical overview positions the AfD within Germanys political landscape. The work engages with the make-up of AfD voters and electoral successes; the partys relationship to anti-Semitism; and its dreams of re-establishing a mythical Aryan Volksgemeinschaft. Close attention is paid to the AfDs demagogic and nationalistic leader, Bjoern Hoecke, as well as the partys admiration for the radical right of neighbouring Austria. A final chapter examines the fascist character of the AfD as measured against Umberto Ecos fourteen elements of Ur-Fascism. Three questions are posed: Will the AfD lead to the end of German democracy? Is Germany moving towards another Third Reich? Is there another Hitler in the making?

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewLike so much of the best recent scholarship, The Dead March incorporates the work of Mexican historians and anthropologists in a story that involves far more than military strategy, diplomatic maneuvering, and American political intrigue. At its core, The Dead March is a social and cultural history of the Mexican and American armies and the societies that produced them, particularly their assumptions about race, masculinity, and religion…A book studded with arresting insights and convincing observations. -- James Oakes * New York Review of Books *Guardino’s narratives of military engagements are captivating…His close attention to the human tragedy of the ‘dead march’ offers a model of how students of military history might investigate such conflicts in the future. -- Jocelyn Olcott * American Historical Review *Superb…The Dead March is a remarkable achievement, by far the best general account of the war now available. It is critical, insightful, and rooted in a wealth of archival sources; it brings far more of the Mexican experience than any other work not specifically focused on Mexico; and it clearly demonstrates the social and cultural dynamics that shaped Mexican and American politics and military force. -- Samuel J. Watson * Journal of American History *A superb account of events leading up to the war on both sides and to the war itself. -- Barbara A. Tenenbaum * The Americas *The Dead March builds a wonderful, sustained case for the deep similarities between the two countries, their struggles, and the circumstances of their fighting men. The material on both armies is superb. We are given marvelously lucid, textured, and probing explanations for why and how men came to serve in these armies; how they were viewed by their countrymen and women; what they experienced on march and in camp. The narrative of particular battles and confrontations is engrossing and illuminating. And the military history is surrounded by smart, compelling, analytic sections on a host of important topics. This book sets the new standard for histories of the war that cost Mexico half its national territory. -- Brian DeLay, author of War of a Thousand Deserts: Indian Raids and the U.S.–Mexican WarGuardino breaks new ground and offers novel information about the day-to-day reality of the war. By featuring the lived experience of the soldiers and ordinary people who took part in the conflagration, Guardino gives us a more realistic view of Mexico and the United States in the middle of the nineteenth century, correcting widely held but ultimately unwarranted assumptions about vast political and military discrepancies between the two nations. In short, this book constitutes the most insightful and balanced treatment of the war that I know of. -- Andrés Reséndez, author of The Other Slavery: The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in AmericaThe history of a war of expansion and empire that reverberates today in talk of border walls and deportation. Viewed through a retrospective lens, the American invasion of Mexico in 1846, an act of single-sided aggression, has eerie parallels with later incursions in Vietnam and Iraq. For one thing, all were adventures that enjoyed public support at first but that lost backing as time wore on. It was also precipitated, writes Guardino in this vigorous, readable account, by an American president who ‘had to hide crucial information and engage in intense partisan maneuvering to start the war.’…In a narrative that blends set-piece accounts of battle, profiles of individual combatants, and wide-ranging explorations of larger issues, Guardino examines the inevitability of American victory, which proved Pyrrhic. Some of our received wisdom about the conflict, he argues, does not hold up…The Mexican-American War is too little studied today. Guardino’s swift-moving, broad-ranging history is a welcome remedy. * Kirkus Reviews *By examining the motivations and viewpoints of fighters on both sides, Guardino presents a balanced and deeper understanding of the war, challenging readers to determine why and how America triumphed and the long-term ramifications for both countries…Extremely well-researched and highly readable. * Publishers Weekly *The U.S. war with Mexico (1846–48), an often overlooked part of American history, had a huge impact on the development of both countries. Guardino presents the story of the war through the eyes of common soldiers in Mexican and American armies… Guardino presents a balanced and deeper understanding of the war, challenging readers to determine why and how America triumphed and the long-term ramifications for both countries. -- Michael C. Miller * Library Journal *Presents a comprehensive and exciting New Military History that portrays the conflict from the point of view of ordinary people on both sides…This excellent work, suitable for U.S. and Mexican scholars, students, and wider readers, resets our evaluation of the US–Mexican War. The Dead March reveals a North America more similar and sisterly than historians have generally shown. -- Stephen Neufeld * Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies *A masterful telling of the Mexican-American War…[It] is written in such a way that it will be appealing to all readers. Scholars will benefit from Peter Guardino’s immense expertise in both U.S. and Mexican history and from the book’s complex interwoven arguments concerning issues of race, religion, and gender. -- Maria Angela Diaz * Journal of the Civil War Era *Both thought-provoking and highly engaging. Drawing heavily from the letters, journals, and memoirs of participants, this social history humanizes the combatants and promotes a deeper understanding of the common soldier and civilian than perhaps any other previous work. -- Michael Scott Van Wagenen * Hispanic American Historical Review *Guardino’s work offers much more than a general survey of the Mexican-American War. By delving into how the war’s participants reacted to social issues and how these issues influenced the outcome of the war, The Dead March provides scholars with a unique perspective on the war as experienced by common soldiers and civilians. Guardino’s discussion of the Mexican perspective of the war yields a nice addition to a field that is largely dominated by works that examine the war from an American perspective. -- Brady L. Holley * Journal of Military History *

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Book SynopsisA Choice Outstanding Academic Title, 2008 A Cultural History of Animals in the Medieval Age investigates the changing roles of animals in medieval culture, economy and society in the period 1000 to 1400. The period saw significant changes in scientific and philosophical approaches to animals as well as their representation in art. Animals were omnipresent in medieval everyday life. They had enormous importance for medieval agriculture and trade and were also hunted for food and used in popular entertainments. At the same time, animals were kept as pets and used to display their owner's status, whilst medieval religion attributed complex symbolic meanings to animals. A Cultural History of Animals in the Medieval Age presents an overview of the period and continues with essays on the position of animals in contemporary symbolism, hunting, domestication, sports and entertainment, science, philosophy, and art.Trade ReviewThe Cultural History of Animals presents an innovative and compelling introduction to current scholarship about the historical relationships between people and other animals. * Harriet Ritvo, Arthur J. Conner Professor of History, M.I.T. *An innovative and ambitious project that synthesizes knowledge of animals as living creatures and their symbolic representations... an invaluable contribution to our understanding... A combination of surprise and entertainment with serious research gives these volumes a place in the best tradition of accessible science. * Bernd Hüppauf, New York University for H-Soz-u-Kult *High quality editing, clear writing, and abundant visual illustrations ... These volumes will be basic to future scholarship dealing with animals and society. Essential. * Choice *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Animals in the Middle AgesBrigitte Resl, University of Liverpool 1. Animals in Medieval Folklore and ReligionSophie Page, University College London 2. Medieval HuntingAn Smets, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, and Baudouin van den Abeele, Université Catholique de Louvain 3. DomesticationEsther Pascua, University of St. Andrews 4. Animals in Medieval Sports, Entertainments, and MenageriesLisa Kiser, Ohio State University 5. Animals in Medieval SciencePieter Beullens, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven 6. Philosophical BeliefsPieter De Leemans, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, and Matthew Klemm, John Hopkins University 7. Animals in Art in the Middle AgesBrigitte Resl, University of Liverpool Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisNancy Fraser's major new book traces the feminist movement's evolution since the 1970s and anticipates a new-radical and egalitarian-phase of feminist thought and action.During the ferment of the New Left, "Second Wave" feminism emerged as a struggle for women's liberation and took its place alongside other radical movements that were questioning core features of capitalist society. But feminism's subsequent immersion in identity politics coincided with a decline in its utopian energies and the rise of neoliberalism. Now, foreseeing a revival in the movement, Fraser argues for a reinvigorated feminist radicalism able to address the global economic crisis. Feminism can be a force working in concert with other egalitarian movements in the struggle to bring the economy under democratic control, while building on the visionary potential of the earlier waves of women's liberation. This powerful new account is set to become a landmark of feminist thought.Trade ReviewNancy Fraser is among the very few thinkers in the tradition of critical theory who are capable of redeeming its legacy in the twenty-first century. -- Axel HonnethFor more than a decade, Nancy Fraser's thought has helped to reframe the agenda of critical theory. -- Etienne BalibarNancy Fraser challenges us to reactivate the audacious spirit of second-wave feminism. Analyzing an imaginary aimed at eradicating exploitation as well as subjugation, she offers a rousing conclusion as to how we might mobilize feminism's best energies against the perils of the neoliberal present. -- Lynne SegalNancy Fraser is one of the most creative social philosophers and critical theorists of her generation. -- Cornel WestFortunes of Feminism goes a long way in bringing together Fraser's substantial body of work on redistribution and recognition . Scholars interested in these themes will find this invaluable - or at least they should. -- Gwendolyn Beetham * THES *Fraser asks: What became of feminism in the wake of the neoliberal turn?.This book is required reading for feminists of all persuasions, and for a broader audience of left readers who want to get an overview of feminist political and philosophical debates.[Fraser] helps us think about the crucial question of where the women's movements in all of their varieties are going. Equally crucially, she helps us to ask what the relationship of such movements is, should be, or could be, to the left broadly defined, in an era in which war and austerity threaten all of the modest social justice gains of the Golden Age. -- Hester Eisenstein * Science and Society *

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Finalist for the Mavis Gallant Award for Non-Fiction, Quebec Writers’ Federation""The Closet is a major accomplishment that promises to be the definitive word on its subject."---Beth Kowaleski Wallace, Eighteenth-Century Studies"Bobker’s study succeeds in illuminating a fascinating topic with a wealth of detail pulled from various disciplines. . . it also shows the way monographs may go beyond a reconstruction of the past to include examining what this version of the past means for the present."---Rachel Ramsey, Eighteenth-Century Fiction"Providing a careful look at 18th-century historical and fictional texts, Bobker expands contemporary and commonplace ideas of the closet, its early use, and how it was initially developed. . . . Recommended." * Choice Reviews *"[This book] is a kind of cabinet of curiosities in itself, a curated collection to delight, educate and intrigue the reader and including in its wide scope both architectural and social history, queer theory and classic English literature."---Sue Nicholson, pepysdiary.com"Smart, enjoyable, and ground-breaking."---Mary Peace, ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640-1830

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Book SynopsisWilliam Henry Fox Talbot, the English inventor of photography, created around 15,000 photographs in the nineteenth century, most of them attempts to produce compelling scientific documents or pictorial records of the world around him. However, among those that have survived are also prints in which an image has been obscured, obliterated or simply failed to register. Borrowing its intriguing title from a poem written by Talbot, this book features twenty-four of these prints, his most experimental photographs. Originally intended as test prints or creative exercises, all that remains on these shaped pieces of photographic paper are chemical stains or imprinted patterns or shapes. Offered to the reader as enigmatic physical artefacts, these failed or ruined photographs are here reanimated as objects of beauty, mystery and promise, as artworks that speak of photography’s most fundamental attributes and potentials. An accompanying essay illustrated with comparative images places these photographs in a broad historical context leading up to the present, revealing what relevance Talbot’s experiments have to contemporary concepts of the art of photography.Table of ContentsContents Acknowledgments Plates Introduction Notes Further Reading Picture Credits Index

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Book SynopsisThe Forbes 100, the Fortune 500, Bloomberg's Billionaire Index...the list of rich lists is endless. Here instead are the stories of The Other Hundred - those people who aren't among the world's rich, but whose lives should be celebrated. Chosen by a world-renowned judging panel of Stephen Wilkes ,Richard Hsu, and Ruth Eichhorn, the 100 stunning photographs that comprise The Other Hundred provide glimpses into the lives of real people and their struggles, triumphs, hopes and dreams.

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Book SynopsisThere are few customs as quintessentially English as afternoon tea. From being the preserve of the privileged classes, to the universally enjoyed and infinitely varied occasion that it is today, afternoon tea is loved and appreciated all over the world. In Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee year, it seems fitting that a tradition which was popularised by a previous queen of England and a duchess should be celebrated with the publication of a wonderful new book on the subject. In 'Please pass the scones: a social history of English afternoon tea', social historian and author Gillian Perry takes us on a highly entertaining whistle-stop tour, enhanced by many luscious illustrations to make you salivate, and to bring forth your own wonderful memories. The book covers many aspects of the afternoon tea story, including its origins, etiquette, dress codes, and the rise and fall of once essential tea table features such as the slop bowl and the paper doily. The precise elements that make up an afternoon tea may vary – fine crockery, silver spoons, a traditional three-tiered cake stand or a thoroughly modern alternative, delicate sandwiches, party themes, miniature sweets, fizz. But there are two things that cannot be omitted: a steaming pot of the flavoursome liquid that all the delicious edible treats pivot around, and a fresh, scrumptious scone. How do you make the optimum cup of tea? What height should the perfect filled scone be, and is it jam or cream first? What is the tea-related origin of the expression ‘the dregs of society’? Why were tea gowns frowned upon in Victorian society? Gillian Perry answers these and hundreds of other questions in a story that involves smuggling and scandal as much as refinement and high society. Her style is readable, amusing and informative, in this beautifully produced, unique book that will be a perfect gift for someone special in Platinum Jubilee year.

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Book Synopsis'Prepare to laugh, sob and dance: this lively history of Indian cinema is imprinted with the memories of a life-long cinephile.' The Telegraph'A gem of a book and a must for film lovers everywhere' Abir Mukherjee'My biggest recommendation of the year. Sunny Singh's honouring of story and history shine through powerfully - an exquisitely enjoyable read' Nikita GillLike all Indians, Sunny Singh was born and brought up in a country of film fanatics. She and her friends waited impatiently for the latest releases, listened to the songs on radio and wore clothes inspired by those seen on screen. They learned about India and the world, determined their enemies and friends, and chose their moralities thanks to films.A Bollywood State of Mind is a personal, intellectual and emotional journey which crosses five continents and 50 years of modern Indian history and cinema and explores why Bollywood means so much to so many across the globe. Sunny describes how this exceptional cinema retains its hold on the national imagination, how Bollywood has enhanced India's global standing in the 21st century, and how its characteristics endure despite the social and political changes.Ranging over history, aesthetic theory and politics, A Bollywood State of Mind explores encounters with Bollywood in the market places of Dakar and Marrakesh, in the nightclubs of New York, Barcelona and Mexico City, and in the ruins of Egypt's Valley of the Kings, Petra and beyond. It shows how the pioneers and heroes of Bollywood cut across national, linguistic and cultural lines not only in India but in far reaches of Somalia, Peru, Malaysia and Russia.Trade Review'Bright, brilliant and beautifully researched, this glorious book is my biggest recommendation of the year. Sunny Singh's honouring of story and history shine through powerfully - an exquisitely enjoyable read!' -- Nikita Gill'Singh's book is an unrivalled celebration of Bollywood films...the nostalgia unfurled the sepia vignettes of memory from a distant almost forgotten past into the glittering joy of the present day' -- Shobna Gulati'Part history, part personal reminiscence, A Bollywood State of Mind is a thoughtful, magical journey through the annals of the world's largest, most spectacular and most vivacious film industry. A gem of a book and a must for film lovers everywhere' -- Abir Mukherjee'A masterful memoir, Singh's love story with Bollywood is one told with precision, authority and panache, capturing the all-singing, all-dancing joy and wonder of Indian cinema' -- Monisha Rajesh'A deeply personal, deeply political dive into one of the most popular forms of entertainment today. Part memoir, part film criticism, part cultural excavation, Singh writes with passion, clarity and introspection' -- Nikesh Shukla'This is a gorgeous, perfect, mini-blockbuster of a book that tells story upon story within story of India's beloved Hindi cinema and all those who make and love it, in India and wherever they - we! because I count myself among its lovers - have travelled all over the world. Part personal and family memoir, part social history of modern India and its neighbours and diasporas, part expert (but never, ever stuffy) analysis of how India's classic dramatic storytelling aesthetics have morphed into modern cinema, part close explanation of the cinematic techniques makers use to entrance and enfold their audiences - Sunny Singh's genre-defying book gets to the essential emotional heart - the rasa - of Bollywood cinema. I loved this joyful, wonderful book with my whole heart.' -- Dr. Katherine Schofield

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Book SynopsisNAMED A TOP BOOK OF 2024 BY AMAZON AND WASHINGTON POSTThe Survivors of the Clotilda, a comprehensive account of one of the most important parts of American history, is a triumph.?Booklist (starred review)A welcome history of defiance and survival.?Kirkus ReviewsJoining the ranks of Rebecca Skloot?s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and Zora Neale Hurston?s rediscovered classic Barracoon, an immersive and revelatory history of the Clotilda, the last slave ship to land on US soil, told through the stories of its survivors?the last documented survivors of any slave ship?whose lives diverged and intersected in profound ways.The Clotilda, the last slave ship to land on American soil, docked in Mobile Bay, Alabama, in July 1860?more than half a century after the passage of a federal law banning the importation of captive Africans, and nine months before the beginning of the Civil War. The last of its survivors lived well into the twentieth century. They were the last witnesses to the final act of a terrible and significant period in world history.In this epic work, Dr. Hannah Durkin tells the stories of the Clotilda?s 110 captives, drawing on her intensive archival, historical, and sociological research. The Survivors of the Clotilda follows their lives from their kidnappings in what is modern-day Nigeria through a terrifying 45-day journey across the Middle Passage; from the subsequent sale of the ship?s 103 surviving children and young people into slavery across Alabama to the dawn of the Civil Rights movement in Selma; from the foundation of an all-Black African Town (later Africatown) in Northern Mobile?an inspiration for writers of the Harlem Renaissance, including Zora Neale Hurston?to the foundation of the quilting community of Gee?s Bend?a Black artistic circle whose cultural influence remains enormous.An astonishing, deeply compelling tapestry of history, biography, and social commentary, The Survivors of the Clotilda is a tour de force that deepens our knowledge and understanding of the Black experience and of America and its tragic past.The Survivors of the Clotilda includes 30 artworks and photographs.

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Book SynopsisThe history of leisure time, from the earliest societies to the work-from-home eraFree time, one of life's most precious things, often feels unfulfilling. But why? And how did leisure activities transition from strolling in the park for hours to doomscrolling on social media for thirty minutes?Today, despite the promise of modern industrialization, many people experience both a scarcity of free time and a disappointment in it. Free Time offers a broad historical explanation of why our affluent society does not afford more time away from work and why that time is often unsatisfying. Gary S. Cross explores the cultural, social, economic, and political history, especially of the past 250 years to understand the roots of our conceptions of free time and its use. By the end of the nineteenth century, a common expectation was that industrial innovations would lead to a progressive reduction of work time and a subsequent rise in free time devoted to self-developmeTrade ReviewA sweeping and thought-provoking evaluation of the history of how people use leisure time, and why these ways often fall short in the present day. -- Peter N. Stearns, author of Time in World HistoryFree Time sheds light on why so many of us feel our free time is unfulfilling (let alone, scarce). Cross is a truly innovative scholar with remarkable range, and an admirably clear writer who is able to present complex ideas in an accessible way; he deftly addresses issues that are intimately connected to each other but are all too often treated separately. -- Susan Matt, co-author of Bored, Lonely, Angry, Stupid: Changing Feelings about Technology, from the Telegraph to TwitterA gifted stylist, a master researcher, Gary Cross is the leading authority on the most lasting and influential -ism of the twentieth century: consumerism. No one has written with such insight into the origins, evolution, nature, meaning, and appeal of consumer culture. Written in an engaging and highly accessible style, and addressing a topic of widespread public concern with an intellectual seriousness that is missing in works of pop psychology and sociology, Free Time is rich and highly original. -- Steven Mintz, author of New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice The Prime of Life: A History of Modern AdulthoodIn 1962 Herbert Marcuse wrote that technology “threatens . . . the reversal of the relation between free time and working time . . . [making likely] the possibility of working time becoming marginal . . . . The result would be a radical transvaluation of values . . . . Advanced industrial society is in permanent mobilization against this possibility.” Free Time is a magnificent account of that “mobilization.” His is one of the best and most thorough explanations of why the shorter hours process ended during the 20th century after a century of progress, and why the accompanying expectation of what Walt Whitman called “higher progress” has been nearly forgotten. -- Benjamin Hunnicutt, author of Free Time: The Forgotten American Dream

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Book SynopsisSara Safransky explores how Detroit’s recent classification of over one-third of the city’s land as vacant or abandoned represents conflicting and complex understandings of property, foregrounding how the making of—and challenges to—modern property regimes have shaped urban policy and politics.Trade Review“By asking ‘What comes after property?’ Sara Safransky opens up a captivating and incisive mix of political economy and urban geography to think with and against dominant discourses on Detroit’s decline. The result is a refreshing take on the entanglements of property, race, and urban politics that adeptly weaves ethnographic and archival research with political theory and global struggles for freedom into a rich analysis that makes The City after Property essential reading for scholars of racial capitalism and urban change.” -- Kate Derickson, Associate Professor of Geography, University of MinnesotaTable of ContentsAbbreviations ix Acknowledgments xi Prologue xv 1. Unbuilding a City 3 2. On Our Own Ground 23 3. Stealing Home 57 4. White Picket Fences 85 5. Accounting for Unpayable Debt 103 6. Conjuring Terra Nullius 123 7. Political Ecologies of Austerity 149 8. The Garden Is a Weapon in the War 169 Epilogue. Reconstructing the World 197 Notes 201 Bibliography 259 Index 291

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Book SynopsisFrom young princess to internationally revered head of state, Queen Elizabeth has always fascinated and intrigued. This fully updated second edition celebrates and remembers the glorious reign of Britain’s longest-serving and much cherished monarch.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"[A] thoughtful, thought-provoking study."---Martin Filler, New York Times Book Review"To read this stimulating book is to meet an erudite scholar who has thought a great deal about the subject, and is willing to entertain, as well as inform, to patiently explain, as well as to make pronouncements."---Witold Rybczynski, New York Review of Books

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Book SynopsisGames make up a huge part of childhood, and memories of specific games stay with us throughout our lives. They form an integral part of growing up and stimulate imagination and creativity. From hide and seek to complex card and board games, street games that require no equipment to elaborate rainy day amusements, we all have experience of entertaining ourselves as children.In this fascinating trip down memory lane Caroline Goodfellow explores the history of childhood games and how they have changed throughout the ages. From ancient board games to childhood pastimes of the Middle Ages through to the street games of the 1950s and ’60s and the experiences of children in the current decade, she delves into the differences between games over time and region.Bound to awaken pleasant memories, Games of Childhood Past transports the reader to another time, providing a nostalgic look at how we played.

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Book SynopsisFor those who lived through wartime Christmases, the celebrations during those years had an especially poignant flavour. This unique anthology recreates those times of heartache and brief moments of pleasurable escape and happiness.Share with wartime veterans and their families memories of Christmas under fire; read about the gift of a pig for POWs’ dinner from the Japanese emperor and how Glenn Miller’s disappearance almost ruined the AEF Christmas show; enjoy ENSA veterans’ anecdotes of Christmas concerts in the most awkward situations.From Christmas on the Russian Front, on board ship in heaving seas and a soldier’s experiences in Egypt, ‘It ain’t arf hot’ pantomimes and the Archbishop of York’s Christmas message in 1940, to an account of life in the Warsaw ghetto, here is a collection of what made Christmas special during the years of the Second World War. Illustrated throughout, A Wartime Christmas showcases the hope, warmth and colour that the occasion inspired during those bleak times.

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

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Book SynopsisThe first history of childhood in Tudor EnglandTrade Review“Tudor Children is social history at its best. . . . By connecting with our own history as children, Orme invites us to embrace a new way of engaging with the past.”—Joanne Paul, Times (UK)“Tudor Children is the first general study of the subject. It is crisp and factual and, with lots of enlivening illustration (prints, portraiture and pages of illuminated manuscript), beautiful to regard. . . . Mr. Orme has . . . done a yeoman’s job here of sleuthing out the details of childhood from an epoch that doesn’t seem to have been terribly interested in recording them.”—Meghan Cox Gurdon, Wall Street Journal“Lavishly illustrated and beautifully produced by Yale for a non-specialist audience, it was the product of 50 years’ research, drawing on Orme’s many earlier books.”—Ian Sansom, The Telegraph“As Nicholas Orme shows in this elegant and hugely enjoyable book, once Tudor youngsters stepped out of the frame and into real life, they could be as cheeky and inappropriate as their modern counterparts.”—Kathryn Hughes, Sunday Times“That sense of the ordinary seized by strangeness—or, conversely, of strangeness punctured by recognition—captures exactly the experience of Tudor Children. . . . Encountering his subjects feels like time traveling in a double sense: they are versions of ourselves five hundred years ago and yesterday. Telling their stories takes enterprise, imagination, and tact—a capacity for hovering on the verge of childhood, looking as closely, sympathetically, and unsentimentally as possible without disturbing the scene. Orme does it beautifully, and he allows us to join him at it.”—Catherine Nicholson, New York Review of Books“Orme paints a vivid picture of every aspect of 16th-century children’s lives.”—Ian Sansom, The Telegraph, Summer reading list“Nicholas Orme’s book sets a precedent: historians overlook children to their own loss.”—Anna Parker, Times Literary Supplement“I loved this book for its pin-sharp glimpses of what really went on in the daily lives and minds of children.”—Ysenda Maxtone Graham, Daily Mail“The latest work by one of the most original and perceptive historians of English life writing today. [Orme’s] earlier books on childhood and education broke new ground and this one continues the tradition.”—Jonathan Sumption, The Spectator“The content [is] endlessly eye-opening . . . precise and colourful details . . . rich and compelling study.”—David Robinson, Country Life“Generalities regarding Tudor children are problematic: a child’s life chiefly depended on their status. . . . Yet Orme paints an intriguing world in flux.”—Bess Twiston Davies, The Tablet“Tudor Children is that rare thing: a book that will delight specialists and generalists in equal measure.”—Elizabeth Goldring, Literary Review“Orme’s is the first—and much overdue—survey of the period. His succinct and readable style and far-reaching scope will make the book an obvious choice for future undergraduate reading lists.”—Gabriel Bynge, Church Times“A captivating and visually stunning account, embellished with beautiful illustrations that enhance the reader’s understanding of the subject matter.”—Marc Daniel Rivera, KristiyaKnow“An endlessly fascinating and impeccably researched exploration of what it was like for children of all ages and backgrounds to grow up in sixteenth century England. This brilliant book provides the missing piece of the Tudor jigsaw.”—Tracy Borman, author of The Private Lives of the Tudors“Lavishly illustrated, this book is a joy to dip into or fully read. Professor Orme draws on a wide range of written and visual sources to give us vivid and varied descriptions of children’s lives from their birth to early deaths or adulthood.”—Susan Doran, author of Elizabeth I and Her Circle“This book offers the first modern compendium, from a wide range of primary sources and scholarly literature, of sixteenth-century English childhood. Delightfully illustrated and written in very readable style, the book gives a vivid sense of children’s experience. It shows that we gain a much richer understanding of Tudor society if we include its children.”—Glenn Richardson, author of The Field of Cloth of Gold“Wonderfully compelling, Nicholas Orme provides the first comprehensive account of Tudor childhood. Tudor Children is filled with fascinating examples from all levels of society and disproves, once and for all, any notion that childhood did not exist in the sixteenth century.”—Elizabeth Norton, author of The Lives of Tudor Women“A fascinating, detailed insight into Tudor childhood, full of pathos. Glimpsed at play and prayer, among family and avoiding peril, these children’s lives speak vibrantly across the years. Orme’s extensive research brings their distant lives closer in a rich and fulfilling study.”—Amy Licence, author of Anne Boleyn

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Book SynopsisThe present study is the first monograph dedicated to Jonathan Swift's sermons. As critics have noted, the sermons are the least examined area within (the) least examined area of Swift studies (Weinbrot 2008). While Swift's own disparaging comment on his homilies (the idlest trifling stuff that ever was writ) might partly account for this critical disaffection, we suggest that his sermons may be fruitfully apprehended with a new approach of Swift as preacher of his homiletic language, as well as his use of language at large. This study presents a radically new perspective on the sermons, demonstrating that linguistic pragmatics reveals that they are characterised by a silent rhetoric, which complexifies the vision of the sermons as characterised by narrow and shallow orthodoxy (Nokes, 1985, p. 278). While this study leans toward the textual, the theory of language which underpins it is inclusive and makes it possible to reconcile text and context. Consequently, the overall approach is

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Book SynopsisHistories you can trust.Imagine the planet, as if from an immense distance of time and space, as a galactic observer might see itwith the kind of objectivity that we, who are enmeshed in our history, cant attain.The Oxford History of the World encompasses the whole span of human history. It brings together some of the world''s leading historians, under the expert guidance of Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, to tell the 200,000-year story of our world, from the emergence of homo sapiens through to the twenty-first century: the environmental convulsions; the interplay of ideas (good and bad); the cultural phases and exchanges; the collisions and collaborations in politics; the successions of states and empires; the unlocking of energy; the evolutions of economies; the contacts, conflicts, and contagions that have all contributed to making the world we now inhabit.Trade ReviewWhen a renowned academic publisher such as Oxford University Press gathers well-known (mainly British and American) historians to write a history of the whole world, one can expect a cross between the highest condition, light and metaphorical language and opulent visualization - and this is exactly what this volume delivers. * Matthias Middell, Comparativ *To say that The Oxford History Of The World is a monumental undertaking is something of an understatement. In just over 400 pages some of the world's most noted historians come together to tell the story of human history, from its first breath to the modern age ... The result is a triumph ... As accessible as it is well-researched, it really is a joy to read and will satisfy anyone who wants to delve deeper into the history of the world. * All About History *Extraordinary ... [A] beautiful book, with accessible essays of such originality * Richard Drayton, Times Literary Supplement *Some books are admirable because of their sheer scope and ambition, and this overview of the entirety of the human story fits firmly within that category. * History Revealed *A handy compendium of some of the major moments and periods of transformation in human history, set in a global context. * Lucia Marchini, Minerva *Condensing the story of humanity's 200,000 year tenure on Earth into 450 pages could be an act of hubris or the result of orderly - yet imaginative - minds making connections across centuries and continents. The Oxford History of the World is more the latter... a pleasure to read with many thought-provoking passages. * David Luhrssen, Shepherd Express *Are you intellectually curious, but very busy? Would you have liked to understand the biggest questions about the history of the last 200,000 years, but you don't have the time required to read 97 different fat books to tell you the answers? Are you looking for just one book that will summarize it all? Then this is your book! It's exciting, up-to-date, and well-written. You'll love it! * Jared Diamond, Professor of Geography at UCLA and Pulitzer-Prize-winning author of Guns, Germs, and Steel and The World Until Yesterday *Felipe Fernández-Armesto and his gifted team have produced the world history for our times, ecologically oriented, written from multiple standpoints and informed by systematic comparison. * Peter Burke, Professor Emeritus of Cultural History, University of Cambridge *A truly remarkable book. * Richard Lofthouse, Quad Magazine *Brilliant and provocative * Art Eyewitness *Table of ContentsPart I: Children of the Ice 1: Clive Gamble: Humanity From the Ice: The Emergence and Spread of an Adaptive Species 2: Felipe Fernández-Armesto: The Mind in the Ice: Art and Thought before Agriculture Part II: Of Mud and Metal 3: Martin Jones: Into a Warming World 4: Felipe Fernández-Armesto: The Farmers' Empires: Climax and Crises in Agrarian States and Cities Part III: The Oscillations of Empires 5: John Brooke: Material Life: Bronze Age Crisis to the Black Death 6: David Northrup: Intellectual Traditions: Philosophy, Science, Religion, and the Arts, 500 BCE - 1350 CE 7: Ian Morris: Growth: Social and Political Organizations, 1000 BC-AD 1350 Part IV: The Climatic Reversal 8: David Northrup: A Converging World: Economic and Ecological Encounters, 1350-1815 9: Manuel Lucena-Giraldo: Renaissances, Reformations, and Mental Revolutions: Intellect and Arts in the Early Modern World 10: Anjana Singh: Connected by Emotions and Experiences: Monarchs, Merchants, Mercenaries, and Migrants in the Early Modern World Part V: The Great Acceleration 11: David Christian: The Anthropocene Epoch: The Background to Two Transformative Centuries 12: Paolo Luca Bernardini: The Modern World and Its Demons: Ideology and After in Arts, Letters and Thought, 1815-2008 13: Jeremy Black: Politics and Society in the Kaleidoscope of Change: Relationships, Institutions, and Conflicts from the Beginnings of Western Hegemony to the American Supremacy

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Book SynopsisEvaporating Suns explores myths from the Arabian Gulf through contemporary art. Based on the concept that the mythical and the factual are like two sides of the same coin, the catalogue accompanying the exhibition shows that myths do not simply convey fictions, but that they are instead capable of presenting truth much more vividly than statistics and facts ever could. The publication showcases the work of 13 contemporary artists from the Arabian peninsula, who explore the folklore and popular myths of their homelands, and use cynicism, satire and fiction to build their universes and rewrite the parallel history of their contemporary societies. Completed by essays by authors from the region, myths are being seen as an opportunity to offer a new approach to negotiate current issues such as the environment, gender, and social structures of power.

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewBrilliantly conceived and beautifully written, Dark Agoras fundamentally alters our understanding of Black Philadelphia. Documenting how Black migrants cultivated the spiritual, cultural, and social world around them, Roane reveals the city to be an epicenter of insurgent collectivity and unceasing defiance, challenging long held narratives about Black urbanity and pathology. Dark Agoras peels back the layers of the City of Brotherly Love to show how Black Philadelphians transgressed and transformed their social-spatial order from slavery to the present. It fundamentally reshapes how we should think about Black urban life, culture, and liberation. -- Ashley Farmer, author of Remaking Black Power: How Black Women Transformed an EraJ. T. Roane brilliantly theorizes Black sociality, sensibility, and spirituality in historical conjuncture. Roane uses archival and critical resources beautifully, situating this work firmly in the Black studies tradition while simultaneously making exciting new interventions. Most of all, Dark Agoras is a stunning story of insurgent world making that will have a significant impact on the world of ideas. -- Imani Perry, author of South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a NationRoane models a new and potentially transformative scholarly practice, one that builds upon and extends the work of earlier theorists, sociologists, historians, and others to give name and meaning to the spatial and social formations Black peoples created and sustained in late-nineteenth and twentieth century settings (especially the Chesapeake region and the city of Philadelphia). Dark Agoras is the work of a critically brilliant and creative thinker and writer: one whose work is sure to provoke, instigate, and initiate new and exciting conversations, and in so doing help guide the direction of Black Studies scholarship for years to come. -- Farah Jasmine Griffin, William B. Ransford Professor of English and Comparative Literature and African American Studies, Columbia UniversityDark Agoras is both a theory of Black plotting and an insurgent plot in its own right. Marked by theoretical boldness and prodigious archival research, J. T. Roane has produced a work that reflects the depth of possibility in Black study. Roane elucidates histories and landscapes of Black queer urbanism with rigor, creativity, and political acuteness. For readers invested in abolition, gender, sexuality, racial capitalism, and Black living otherwise, Dark Agoras is a capacious, incisive, and indispensable text. -- Sarah Haley, author of No Mercy Here: Gender, Punishment, and the Making of Jim Crow ModernityDark Agoras takes what we think we know, grounding this in a keen analysis of Philadelphia (PA) and territories of rural enslavement, and turns it on its head. It is a bracing intellectual exercise to read this book and then to ponder its profound implications for our commonly held but limited understanding of Black urban life. * Journal of the American Planning Association *Dark Agoras is a powerful and compelling work that shines a great deal of light on the deeply intertwined nature of Black migration, placemaking, and resistance. Roane’s book is a serious and lyrical contribution to an ongoing discourse. * Los Angeles Review of Books *This is an engaging and readable critique of urban planning, racialization, and class-based oppressions. Accessible to a wide range of readers, from undergraduates to the thoughtful public, Roane offers a fresh and inspiring celebration of Black urbanism and world-making. * Journal of Urban Affairs *

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Book SynopsisOrdering Customs explores how Renaissance Venetians sought to make sense of human difference in a period characterized by increasing global contact and a rapid acceleration of the circulation of information. Venice was at the center of both these developments. The book traces the emergence of a distinctive tradition of ethnographic writing that served as the basis for defining religious and cultural difference in new ways. Taylor draws on a trove of unpublished sources—diplomatic correspondence, court records, diaries, and inventories—to show that the study of customs, rituals, and ways of life not only became central in how Venetians sought to apprehend other peoples, but also had a very real impact at the level of policy, shaping how the Venetian state governed minority populations in the city and its empire. In contrast with the familiar image of ethnography as the product of overseas imperial and missionary encounters, the book points to a more complicated set of origins. Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Abbreviations Introduction 1 The Study of Customs 2 Ambassadors as Ethnographers 3 Ethnography and the Venetian State 4 Reading Ethnography in Early Modern Venice 5 Ethnography, the City, and the Place of Religious Minorities Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER 'Madness, though ostensibly the story of Crownsville, is really about the continued lack of understanding, treatment and care of the mental health of a people, Black people, who need it most' New York TimesIn the tradition of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, a page-turning 93-year history of Crownsville Hospital, one of the United States' last segregated asylums.On a cold day in March of 1911, officials marched twelve Black men into the heart of a forest in Maryland. Under the supervision of a doctor, the men were forced to clear the land, pour cement, lay bricks and harvest tobacco. When construction finished, they became the first twelve patients of the state's Hospital for the Negro Insane. In Madness, Peabody and Emmy award-winning journalist Antonia Hylton tells the 93-year-old history of Crownsville Hospital. She blends the intimate tale

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Book SynopsisA Sunday Times Book of the Week and Top 10 Bestseller A Waterstones Travel Book of the Year A Spectator Book of the YearTrade Review‘Maconie is a funny, astute writer, alert to the absurd.’ Sunday Times Book of the Week ‘Observant and witty.’ The Times ‘The deceptive lightness and accessibility of Maconie’s writing lead us gently though what is actually a deep dive into this most mysterious of peoples.’ Jonathan Coe, The Guardian 'Chatty and cheerful.' Graham Robb Spectator Books of the Year ‘Thoughtful and characteristically entertaining.’ Waterstones Books of the Year ‘Maconie catches the exhausted national mood beautifully.’ New Statesman ‘Takes the temperature of the English at this point in time.’ Hugo Rifkind ‘This might be Maconie’s best book yet. … What a treat to read such a clear-eyed but warm-hearted evocation of the country.’ Daily Express Praise for Stuart Maconie… ‘As funny as Bryson and as wise as Orwell.’ The Observer ‘The best thing to come out of Wigan since the A58 to Bolton.’ Peter Kay ‘A fine writer: sharp, funny, tender and thoughtful.’ The Spectator ‘A funny, lyrical writer who prefers to persuade rather than browbeat.’ Mail on Sunday ‘Maconie's engaging, conversational prose is full of telling detail, jokes and deft quotation.’ The Telegraph

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Book SynopsisShortlisted by the North American Society for Sport History for its 2022 Anthologies Award From gladiatorial combat to knightly tournaments and from hunting to games and gambling, sport has been central to human culture. A Cultural History of Sport presents the first extensive history from classical antiquity to today, covering all forms and aspects of sport. Chapter titles are identical across each of the volumes. This gives the choice of reading about a specific period in one of the volumes, or following a theme across history by reading the relevant chapter in each of the six. The themes (and chapter titles) are: The Purpose of Sport; Sporting Time and Sporting Space; Products, Training and Technology; Rules and Order; Conflict and Accommodation; Inclusion, Exclusion and Segregation; Minds, Bodies and Identities; Representation. The six volumes cover: 1 Antiquity (800 BCE to 600 CE); 2 Medieval Age (600 to 1450); 3 Renaissance (1450

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

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Book SynopsisThis book traces the surprising social history of China’s spoken standard, from its creation as the national language of the early Republic in 1913 to its journey into postwar Taiwan to its reconfiguration as the common language of the People’s Republic after 1949.Trade ReviewThe Sounds of Mandarin is the definitive study of the modern Chinese quest for a unified spoken language. Janet Y. Chen transports readers into the meeting rooms where linguistic models were debated and the classrooms, movie theaters, and military units where the national language was taught. She captures the elusiveness of crafting a single national standard and the challenge of making it a living language. -- Robert Culp, author of The Power of Print in Modern China: Intellectuals and Industrial Publishing from the End of Empire to Maoist State SocialismThis absorbing narrative traces efforts to establish a common spoken language across China’s national expanse. Ingenious reformers, determined state authorities, and beleaguered teachers were no match for China’s cacophonous soundscape. Placing spoken language at the heart of historical explanation, The Sounds of Mandarin is by turns hilarious and sobering. -- Gail Hershatter, University of California, Santa CruzIn prose that is as clear as it is elegant, Chen’s book introduces the myriad actors—reformists, linguists, educators, and state officials—who negotiated the social stakes, political implications, and pedagogical processes of making the Chinese nation speak, utter, sing, and chant in unity. This is a wonderful read by a masterful historian. -- Eugenia Lean, author of Vernacular Industrialism in China: Local Innovation and Translated Technologies in the Making of a Cosmetics Empire, 1900-1940For years, scholars mostly assumed that we knew the roughly parallel stories of ‘linguistic unification,’ both on the Chinese mainland and in Taiwan: a slow but inexorable triumph of standardization pushed by strong states armed with new technologies. Janet Y. Chen’s exciting book shows us something radically different: stop-start cycles of intense campaigns; powerful, multivalent resistance; changing, politically fraught standards; and divergent outcomes. -- Kenneth Pomeranz, author of The Great Divergence: China, Europe, and the Making of the Modern World EconomyIn The Sounds of Mandarin, Chen explores the complex process by which Chinese nation-builders struggled to define and promulgate a shared national language, to enable the state to talk to its citizens and its citizens to talk to one another. The result is a surprising and fascinating window into the politics of modernizing China. -- Michael Szonyi, professor of history and former director of the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, Harvard UniversityA valuable addition to the growing scholarship on Chinese languages and scripts. * China Quarterly *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsNotes on Language and TransliterationIntroduction1. Dueling Sounds and Contending Tones2. In Search of Standard Mandarin3. The National Language in Exile4. Taiwan Babel5. The Common Language of New ChinaEpilogueNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisRituals of Death covers the ways in which society has handled death from prehistoric times to now.

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