Social and cultural history Books

Book Synopsis*Non-Fiction Book of the Year 2024, Irish Book Awards**A Daily Telegraph Book of the Year* ''This is a history shaken by intimacy - a brave and rigorously humane book'' Seán HewittHow far would you go for the missing?When Clair Wills was in her twenties, she discovered she had a cousin she had never met. Born in a Mother and Baby Home in 1950s Ireland, Mary grew up in an institution not far from the farm where Clair spent happy childhood summers. Yet she was never told of her existence.How could a whole family - a whole country - abandon unmarried mothers and their children, erasing them from history?To discover the missing pieces of her family''s story, Clair searched across archives and nations, in a journey that would take her from the 1890s to the 1980s, from West Cork to rural Suffolk and Massachusetts, from absent fathers to the grief of a lost child.There are some experiences that do not want to be remembered. What began as an effort to piece together the facts became an act of decoding the most unreliable of evidence - stories, secrets, silences. The result is a moving, exquisitely told story of the secrets families keep, and the violence carried out in their name.Trade ReviewIn its account of one family's history of silence and secrecy, Clair Wills has written a compelling book which demonstrates the uncanny universality of even the most personal stories. Attending to the ways that the past ruptures and grows through the present, this is a history shaken by intimacy - a brave and rigorously humane book. -- Seán HewittIf the past is a mass of tangled wool, Clair Wills frees a long strand and knits it into clarity, line by line, inviting the reader to see the complexity of the pattern she reveals. Written with elegance and erudition, Missing Persons is an extraordinary, moving achievement. -- Doireann Ní GhríofaClair Wills retrieves from time’s abyss a speculative history of universal import. This is a penetrating and affecting study, essential reading for anyone who seeks to understand the profound contradictions, the secrets and lies that define post-famine Ireland. -- Paul LynchClair Wills has written a book of unusual subtlety and power. Part memoir and social history, part familial detective story, it's a work that lays bare the strength and terrible frailty of the bonds that are supposed to bind us together. A superb work of narrative nonfiction. -- Francisco GarciaA deeply absorbing account, related with compassion in elegant prose, of how a family's past becomes embedded in its present. -- Danielle McLaughlinThis is a brilliant, poignant, discomforting book but one that has the beauty of honesty and the ultimate restorative kindness that truth-telling offers. It is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the complex typology and legacy of family secrets. -- Katherine O’DonnellIn this powerful memoir, Wills manages to excavate the truth about silence. Her vision as a historian reaches for the central question, why and how Irish people kept such dark secrets. How a nation of storytellers became so good at keeping violence concealed from themselves. How the information was kept, manipulated, disremembered under layers of talk into a vast store of collective forgetting. This is not only the story of Ireland in the past, but who we all are and what we have become. -- Hugo HamiltonMissing Persons is as close to perfect as a memoir can be; the richness of its subject honed to a poised and discerning brevity, written in unexpectedly lambent prose. It is the sum of the author’s life: both the family history she carries with and within her, but also the four decades of research and analysis that have been her intellectual existence. Only she could have written it, but it will speak to and about the lives of many. -- Lucy Scholes * Financial Times *She is deft at unpicking lies, evasions and gaps in the record, grasping that these things have political as well as private meaning… an act of fairly radical reframing. -- Olivia Laing * The Guardian *An expertly crafted work, at once vigorous and subtle, which manages its effects and conserves its revelations with all the skill of a master novelist. -- John Banville * The Observer *Always compelling and deeply moving… an unforgettable account, in microcosm, of the world of Catholic Ireland in the 20th Century: the incarceration of the so-called sinful and the emigration of others, leaving a fragmented country of secrets, enigmas and buried guilt. -- Ysenda Maxtone Graham * Mail on Sunday *The stories she uncovers are remarkable: touching, tragic and terribly human… Her book, written with care, wit and vulnerability, shows that ordinary tragedies deserve our anger and attention. -- Laura Hackett * The Sunday Times *An affecting and enraging book, part memoir, part national history, about Wills’s attempt to uncover the truth about her family and the hundreds of others like it. -- Pippa Bailey * New Statesman *Not just a vivid, compelling account of Clair’s family and ancestry, but an intriguing snapshot of Ireland’s social history … rigorously researched .. empathetic. * The Irish Independent *

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Book SynopsisThe story of the Gothic, from early architecture and literature to the modern horror genre, illustrated by the beautiful, the macabre and the strange.Trade Review'Wonderful. A book as vivid, strange and rich as its topic' - China Miéville'A compelling read' - On Magazine'Roger Luckhurst sets forth an extensive, macabre taxonomy of the protean genre and its hallmark “pleasant shivers,” dark tendrils grasping through time and space to ensnare gloomy castles, suburban shopping malls and even the most desolate — though maybe not quite unoccupied — reaches of the cosmos … Luckhurst manages to balance granular detail … with liveliness and charm' - The New York Times'A lavish publication of more than 350 arresting images that sparkle with colour much as the pages of text bristle with dark pull-quotes … Luckhurst’s prose is irresistible … No one will come away from this book without a reinvigorated sense of gothic forms and possibilities in the twenty-first century' - The Times Literary Supplement'This book is a must-have … The book’s scope is impressive, extending out to a number of iconic films, the writing is beautiful and the illustrations lavish … A delightfully comprehensive resource' - Teach Secondary'Illuminating and wide-ranging … there’s a freshness and concision to the text which is allied to a distillation of decades of research … An erudite overview, a visual pleasure' - Fortean TimesTable of ContentsIntroduction I. Architecture & Form The Pointed Arch • Ruins • Fragment • Labyrinth • The House II. The Lie of the Land The Country & The City • Village • Forest • Wilderness • Edgelands III. The Gothic Compass North • South • East • West • Planetary & Cosmic Horror IV. Monsters Scale • Splices • The Tentacle • Formless • Us Further Reading

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Book SynopsisThe rediscovered classic: an unforgettable memoir by a trailblazing black woman in post-war London, introduced by Bernardine Evaristo ('I dare anyone to read it and not come away shocked, moved and entertained.')Benjamin Zephaniah: 'A must-read. Her life makes you laugh. Her life makes you cry. Get to know her.'Jacqueline Wilson: 'A superb but shocking memoir about a brilliant teacher, imaginative, resilient and inspiring.'Steve McQueen: 'Gilroy blazed a path that empowered generations of Black British educators.'Diana Evans: 'Important, enlightening and very entertaining, full of real-life drama ... Inspirational.'David Lammy: 'This empowering tale of courage, resistance, and triumph is a breath of fresh air.'Alex Wheatle: 'A pioneer in many fields and wonderful example for all of us ... Essential reading.'Christie Watson: 'A beautiful memoir of one wTrade Review'A must-read. Her life makes you laugh. Her life makes you cry. Get to know her.' - Benjamin Zephaniah'A superb but shocking memoir about a brilliant teacher, imaginative, resilient and inspiring.' - Jacqueline Wilson'Gilroy blazed a path that empowered generations of Black British educators.' - Steve McQueen'Important, enlightening and very entertaining, full of real-life drama ... Inspirational.' - Diana Evans'This empowering tale of courage, resistance, and triumph is a breath of fresh air.' - David Lammy'A pioneer in many fields and wonderful example for all of us ... Essential reading.' - Alex Wheatle'A beautiful memoir of one woman's strength and dignity against the odds.' - Christie Watson

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Book SynopsisThis book describes the development of local history in England from its origins in the Middle Ages to its practise in the early twenty-first century. It looks also at how local history is related to archaeology, landscape, and family history.Trade Review"There is no other text that provides such a comprehensive discussion of how and why local history has evolved from the preserve of the 'amateur', the antiquarian and evening classes into its current position of growth and the academic credibility. It raises important questions about the definition, the content and the practice of local history." Dr Christopher French, University of KingstonTable of ContentsList of illustrationsAbbreviationsAcknowledgementsPrefaceI IntroductionIIThe origins of local historyThe chorographic traditionWilliam CamdenChristopher SaxtonCounty historiesDugdale and ThorotonNatural historyIII Antiquaries at large: the eighteenth and nineteenth centuriesTopographical studiesArchaeologyCounty historiesCollaborative county historiesIV The parish and the townParish historiesTown histories of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuriesTown histories of the eighteenth centuryTown histories of the nineteenth centuryV Local history marginalisedClubs and societiesArchaeologyProfessional historyNational historyVI Local History and national History, 1880-1945The study of the villageEconomic history, local history and adult educationThe Victoria County HistoryRecord publishingVII W.G. Hoskins and the founding of modern local historyThe Annales SchoolW.G. HoskinsThe Making of the English LandscapePost-war developmentsLocal history and the parishThe Midland PeasantFarming regionsRegions without boundariesVIII New Approaches: the region and the communityCounties and parishesMicrohistoryRegionsPaysSettlementRegional flexibilityRegions and industrialising societyCultural identityPost-modernismIX New Approaches: family history, towns, landscape and other specialismsFamily historyUrban historyLandscape historyVernacular architectureIndustrial archaeologyOral testimonyPlace-namesHeritageX The sources revolutionThe National ArchivesCounty archive officesLocal studies librariesThe familyThe landThe houseSource materials and the VCHXI Local history todayDefining local historyUnderstanding past communitiesTrainingGuidebooksGroup researchGood local historyIssues, geographies and time periodsXII ConclusionBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisThe Sunday Times bestsellerTrade Review‘A magical book. I have read it twice now. I love the richness of Katherine Swift's prose; the flashes of her family's story that are scattered through the deliciously written text; the gorgeous detail. The Morville Hours is the most beautiful book I have read in years' * Nigel Slater *‘An intriguing, magical story of a place, a person and her plants' * Anna Pavord, author of The Naming of Names *‘A truly remarkable book that is both intimate and universal. We are left with a renewed sense of what it is to be human, and of how we make our place in a world that is intricate, unpredictable and filled with quotidian mysteries' * Daily Telegraph *‘This is gardening writing at its best. Swift's prose brings the garden alive in all its details, scents and meaning ... Evocative, heartfelt and magical' * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisDr Janina Ramirez is a Sunday Times bestselling author, an Oxford lecturer, BBC broadcaster and researcher. She has presented and written over 30 hours of BBC history documentaries and series on TV and radio, and written seven books for children and adults.Trade ReviewWhat a wonderful book this is. Like the interlace stonework on an Anglo-Saxon cross, Janina Ramirez's themes are interwoven with a consummate skill. * Tom Holland *Ramirez blasts a powerful spotlight into the so-called Dark Ages and reveals a vibrant world, awash with colour and character. * Dan Snow *A wonderful book * Simon Schama *Entertaining ... carefully composed * Observer *Those who were recast as saints achieved a superhuman status, their real lives often obscured by hagiographies rich with legends of miracle-working from beyond the grave. Janina Ramirez's book portrays them historically – as living, breathing personalities within the world they knew, the places we have inherited. Her enthusiasm and instinct for relevance should welcome a broad new audience to medieval Church history. * Jonathan Foyle *What a wonderful book this is. Like the interlace stonework on an Anglo-Saxon cross, Janina Ramirez's themes are interwoven with a consummate skill. * Tom Holland *Ramirez blasts a powerful spotlight into the so-called Dark Ages and reveals a vibrant world, awash with colour and character. * Dan Snow *A wonderful book * Simon Schama *Entertaining ... carefully composed * Observer *Those who were recast as saints achieved a superhuman status, their real lives often obscured by hagiographies rich with legends of miracle-working from beyond the grave. Janina Ramirez's book portrays them historically – as living, breathing personalities within the world they knew, the places we have inherited. Her enthusiasm and instinct for relevance should welcome a broad new audience to medieval Church history. * Jonathan Foyle *What a wonderful book this is. Like the interlace stonework on an Anglo-Saxon cross, Janina Ramirez's themes are interwoven with a consummate skill. * Tom Holland *Ramirez blasts a powerful spotlight into the so-called Dark Ages and reveals a vibrant world, awash with colour and character. * Dan Snow *A wonderful book * Simon Schama *Entertaining ... carefully composed * Observer *Those who were recast as saints achieved a superhuman status, their real lives often obscured by hagiographies rich with legends of miracle-working from beyond the grave. Janina Ramirez's book portrays them historically – as living, breathing personalities within the world they knew, the places we have inherited. Her enthusiasm and instinct for relevance should welcome a broad new audience to medieval Church history. * Jonathan Foyle *

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Book SynopsisThe internationally bestselling author says if we can save the salmon, we can save the worldTrade Review‘Mark Kurlansky’s book is an epic, environmental tragedy, with the salmon at its centre as the abused hero… one of the great strengths of Kurlanksy’s book is the way he links the fish’s plight to so many major environmental concerns… Kurlanksy is at his best when illuminating the lives of people who have been disregarded in the name of progress.’ * Spectator *‘What Kurlansky did for Cod, he now does for Salmon — a book not just for fishermen, but for everyone who cares about our world. A blistering account of “civilised” man’s blind obsession with bending Nature and its resources to his will.’ -- Geoffrey Palmer OBE‘It is a beautiful book, spangled throughout with stunning color photographs of a lovely fish, of pristine streams and landscapes. It’s a coffee-table book shrunk to shelf-size, but the images are pertinent and illuminating, and there is nothing throwaway about the text that surrounds them or about the recipes for salmon dishes from all over the world and past centuries.’ * Wall Street Journal *‘Few fish can be as iconic as the salmon… Kurlansky’s Salmon perfectly illustrates this… Kurlansky leaps into subjects such as hatcheries, salmon’s life-cycle and the impact humans have on this very special fish. It’s a varied book that any angler and naturalist will thoroughly enjoy.’ * BBC Wildlife *‘More than an environmental book about overfishing, the text includes a comprehensive natural and cultural history about how the salmon impacts the world… A fascinating mosaic of history and science… The real beauty of the book is in its subtle transformation of a species often thought of in terms of food into one that needs to be considered with care and even championed.’ -- Foreword Reviews‘[A] handsomely illustrated work of natural history and environmental advocacy... In championing a critically important part of the natural world, Kurlansky sounds an urgent alarm that commands our attention.’ * Kirkus *‘If there was ever a totem species for the planet, it’s the noble salmon – back and forth between ocean and stream, between salt and fresh water, these creatures have nurtured our imagination as surely as our bodies. This book does them justice!’ -- Bill McKibben‘[Kurlansky’s] beautifully written book explores the natural history of this remarkable fish – whose ancestors were alive at the same time as the dinosaurs – as well as the role it has played in human history.’ -- Guardian‘Mark Kurlansky takes us on a journey from the 16th century to the present day, encompassing history, politics and biology, and visiting hatcheries and fisheries to investigate the fascinating yet harrowing life cycle of this iconic species. The message is clear: if we can save the salmon, we can save the world.’ -- Coast Book of the Month

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Book SynopsisThe history of the Adams family of potters is a most remarkable one. Tracing their ancestry back to the reign of Edward I, they can legitimately claim to be in at the birth of Staffordshire's great potting history.Table of ContentsChapter 1 Early Adams Ancestors (1299-1563) Chapter 2 Hulton Abbey and the Dissolution (1223-1536) Chapter 3 Butterpots, Tygs and Quagmires (17th & 18th Century) Chapter 4 The Mysterious Dutchmen of Bradwell (1688-1700) Chapter 5 Adams of Longcroft, Brick House and Cobridge Hall (1563-1869) Chapter 6 Adams of Greengates (1746-1821) Chapter 7 Adams of Bagnall & Fenton Hall (1600-1829) Chapter 8 Adams of Greenfield - William Adams IV (1798-1865) Chapter 9 Dawn of the Twentieth Century - William Adams V of Greenfield and Wolstanton (1833-1952) Chapter 10 The Last of the Adams Master Potters (1909-1966)

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Book SynopsisRecent years have seen a re-examination of Britain's imperialist past, with changes to how its citizens understand, study and scrutinize its history.In Britain''s Contested History, eminent historian Bernard Porter explores the most contested aspects of British history from 1800 to the present day. Examining issues such as Brexit, recent reassessments of Winston Churchill's historical record, the so-called ''culture wars'' and Britain's uncomfortable reckoning with its imperial past, the book reconsiders what it means to be a patriot in Britain.Trade Review[Contains] many eye-opening factoids … Fascinating. -- Christopher Bray * The Tablet *This is an intelligent, thoughtful and well-written book that will keep the reader engaged as it explores the complexities of the British past and its difficult relationship with contemporary politics and politicians. Porter's argument that dumbed-down history is part and parcel of dumbed-down politics should serve as a salutary warning whenever a politician or media pundit claims that 'History shows us this'. Because History actually shows us many different things, none of which are simple and straight forward. * Richard Finlay, Professor of Scottish History at the University of Strathclyde, UK *Amounting to an engrossing and intensely-engaged meditation on the ways in which Britain and its multiple histories have given birth to a tide of highly varied patriotic currents, Bernard Porter’s latest book is characteristically smart, keenly probing and briskly readable. Its lesson ? The full meaning of patriotism is not to be understood by simply relighting the lamps of a self-congratulatory national past. * Bill Nasson, Emeritus Professor in History, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa *An enjoyable retelling of Britain's 'island story' from a historian of Britain and its sense of itself. Essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the ways that history, and what it might mean to be British in the early 21st century, has been appropriated by the populist, nationalist right. * Lucy Noakes, Rab Butler Chair in Modern History, University of Essex, UK *Table of ContentsPreface 1. Britains 2. 1800-1945 3. Empire 4. Politics 5. 1946-2016 6. Culture 7. Europeans 8. Brexit 9. History 10. Patriotisms Select Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThe British monarchy has been through turbulent times of late. Rocked by scandal and strife, and without it seems a clear plan for the future following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, we have been left wondering: what happens next?Nothing seems certain. Will the monarchy survive with its continuing echoes of an Imperial past? Will young people - disenchanted with the political status quo - find the ritual and practice of the monarchy quite so mesmerising as previous generations have done? What might a republican Britain look like?Ed Owens argues that the monarchy must embrace reform and transform itself radically. No more private jets while preaching about the importance of the environment; no more secrecy obscuring royal influence in high places; and no more hangers on enjoying grace-and-favour homes. A major slimming down is essential. And it''s time the family archives were opened.All these issues will have a direct effect on the common good of theTrade ReviewA lucid, clear-sighted, and highly readable analysis of the British monarchy's self-inflicted crisis. * Richard Toye, author of Age of Hope: Labour, 1945, and the Birth of Modern Britain. *With the clarity of expertise, Owens sets out an agenda to give the Crown an energetic role in the 21st century. * Kirkus Reviews *[Ed Owens] thoroughly and expertly examines the past and present of the British monarchy… Highly recommended and though-provoking, with practical and well-informed ideas. * Library Journal *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Crown and country in crisis Part One Ceremony, Spectacle and Tradition 1 Is it still something to be proud of? 2 Consecrated obstruction 3 The seasonable addition of nice and pretty events 4 An alien and uninspiring court? 5 The bride waves, the crowd cheers 6 The new Elizabethans 7 The glamour of backwardness Part Two Duty, Service and Philanthropy 8 Devoted to your service 9 Benevolence sweetens authority 10 A living power for good 11 The heavy burden of responsibility 12 Come on Margaret! 13 A new Jerusalem? 14 The Queen had no choice 15I t’s all part of minding deeply about this country Part Three Family, Celebrity and Scandal 16 The press creates … the press destroys 17 A family on the throne 18 The royal soap opera 19 Killing the monarchy? 20 Annus horribilis 21 Never complain, never explain 22 Don’t make my final years a misery Part Four Nation, Democracy and the Constitution 23 No more good chaps 24 Democratic monarchy 25 One who reigns but does not rule? 26 To be invisible is to be forgotten 27 The spirit of generous compromise 28 The good of the country 29 The perfect constitutional monarch? 30 Queen’s consent Conclusion Acknowledgements Bibliography Index

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With rolling green hills and extensive woodlands, it’s easy to see why the Chiltern Hills are one of the most beautiful and well visited of all England’s natural wonders. Crossing five counties and covering 833 square kilometres, the Hills are home to a huge variety of habitats including chalk grasslands, scrub, river valleys, commons and farmland. This book will take the reader on a journey of the Chilterns, from its earliest settlers to today’s enthusiastic trekkers, exploring how the Hills have been shaped by their occupants and, in turn, how the Hills have shaped them. Exquisitely illustrated and expertly researched, A Journey Through The Chiltern Hills is a must-read for anyone interested in this beautiful and breathtaking area.

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Book Synopsis‘An incisive, inspiring and vitally illuminating account of a city which changed the ancient world and which deserves to be remembered by the modern. A masterful book written by a master historian.’ – Bettany Hughes, bestselling author of Istanbul and Helen of Troy Continuously inhabited for five millennia, and at one point the most powerful city in Ancient Greece, Thebes has been overshadowed by its better-known rivals, Athens and Sparta. According to myth, the city was founded when Kadmos sowed dragon’s teeth into the ground and warriors sprang forth, ready not only to build the fledgling city but to defend it from all-comers. It was Hercules’ birthplace and the home of the Sphinx, whose riddle Oedipus solved, winning the Theban crown and the king’s widow in marriage, little knowing that the widow was his mother, Jocasta. The city’s history is every bit as rich as its mythic origins, from siding with the Persian invaders when their emperor, Xerxes, set out to conquer Aegean Greece, to siding with Sparta – like Thebes an oligarchy – to defeat Pericles’ democratic Athens, to being utterly destroyed on the orders of Alexander the Great. In Thebes: The Forgotten City of Ancient Greece, the acclaimed classical historian Paul Cartledge brings the city vividly to life, and argues that it is central to our understanding of the ancient Greeks’ achievements – whether politically or culturally – and thus to our own culture and civilization.Trade ReviewPaul Cartledge has done it again - he has shone a light on a crucial epicentre of ancient Greek affairs that so often gets overshadowed by the might of Athens. He does it with assured scholarship, a clear and engaging style, and more than a hint of humour. Thebes is lucky to have Cartledge as its champion! -- Michael Scott'The Forgotten City', as Cambridge professor Paul Cartledge calls it in his engaging new history, nonetheless was of enormous political and cultural importance . . . One of the many strengths of Cartledge’s book is the way it illustrates how hearsay, history and myth combined to form the basis of Theban culture . . . Cartledge’s great achievement is to solve the riddle of why Thebes disappeared and put the ancient city back on the map. -- Daisy Dunn * Literary Review *Cartledge, matching his unrivalled command of the complex, fragmentary and often contradictory sources to his talents as a storyteller, traces the arc of the Theban story as well as anyone is likely to do. -- Tom Holland * Spectator *Will delight anyone that is interested in ancient Greece and the Classical world more generally. An outstanding work by a scholar of justifiable world renown. -- Mark Merrony * Antiquus *Paul Cartledge’s gripping new book reconstructs an ancient city that was once the near equal of Athens and Sparta, but left behind no Thucydides to tell its story . . . Cartledge’s Thebes has let me see a familiar subject, ancient Greece, in a fundamentally new way. -- Rana Mitter * History Today *Excellent . . . rich and detailed * London Review of Books *An incisive, inspiring and vitally illuminating account of a city which changed the ancient world and which deserves to be remembered by the modern. A masterful book written by a master historian. -- Bettany Hughes, bestselling author of Istanbul and Helen of Troy.The great value of this book is that is enables us to see the Thebans not through the eyes of their enemies, but as they themselves would have wished to me seen. -- Tom Holland * BBC History 'Books of the year' *Cartledge deserves full credit for his spirited and readable attempt to put Thebes back on the map. -- Peter Thonemann * TLS *Thebes has all but slipped from cultural consciousness. Or so it had. In this new book, Paul Cartledge, the former AG Leventis professor of Greek culture at the University of Cambridge, with his usual charm and erudition, fights to 'rescue it, permanently, from oblivion'. -- Catherine Nixey * BBC History Magazine *

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Book SynopsisCovering American transgender history from the mid-twentieth century to today, Transgender History takes a chronological approach to the subject of transgender history, with each chapter covering major movements, writings, and events. Chapters cover the transsexual and transvestite communities in the years following World War II; trans radicalism and social change, which spanned from 1966 with the publication of The Transsexual Phenomenon, and lasted through the early 1970s; the mid-'70s to 1990-the era of identity politics and the changes witnessed in trans circles through these years; and the gender issues witnessed through the '90s and '00s.Transgender History includes informative sidebars highlighting quotes from major texts and speeches in transgender history and brief biographies of key players, plus excerpts from transgender memoirs and discussion of treatments of transgenderism in popular culture.

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Book SynopsisIn the later 19th century, French-Canadian Roman Catholic immigrants from Quebec were deemed a threat to the United States, potential terrorists in service of the Pope. Books and newspapers floated the conspiracy theory that the immigrants seeking work in New England's burgeoning textile industry were actually plotting to annex parts of the United States to a newly independent Quebec. Vermette’s groundbreaking study sets this neglected and poignant tale in the broader context of North American history. He traces individuals and families, from the textile barons who created a new industry to the poor farmers and laborers of Quebec who crowded into the mills in the post-Civil War period. Vermette discusses the murky reception these cross-border immigrants met in the USA, including dehumanizing conditions in mill towns and early-20th-century campaigns led by the Ku Klux Klan and the Eugenics movement. Vermette also discusses what occurred when the textile industry moved to the Deep South and brings the story of emigrants up to the present day. Vermette shows how this little-known episode in U.S. history prefigures events as recent as yesterday’s news. His well documented narrative touches on the issues of cross-border immigration; the Nativists fear of the Other; the rise and fall of manufacturing in the U.S.; and the construction of race and ethnicity.Trade ReviewReaders interested in Canadian and American immigration history will appreciate the depth of Vermette’s research and the fascinating story he tells." —Publishers Weekly"David Vermette’s A Distinct Alien Race is an important study that goes well beyond just recounting an economic and social history of New England and Quebec. Vermette, an excellent and engaging writer/researcher, exposes an area of the past that has been somewhat dismissed and even discounted by both American and Quebec/Acadian historians who study the enormous French-speaking Canadian emigration from Quebec and the Maritimes to the textile industries of Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and New York from the 1840s to the 1930s." —Sandra Stock, Quebec Heritage News"Meticulously researched and overflowing with facts, yet so well written that it’s difficult to put down, the book tells a story few Americans are aware of." —Emilie Noelle Provost, The Bean Magazine

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Book Synopsis'I needed to get to the stopping places, so I needed to get on the road. It was the road where I might at last find out where I belonged.'Damian Le Bas grew up surrounded by Gypsy history. His great-grandmother would tell him stories of her childhood in the ancient Romani language; the places they worked, the ways they lived, the superstitions and lores of their people. In a bid to better understand his heritage, Damian sets out on a journey to discover the stopping places – the old encampment sites known only to Travellers. Through winter frosts and summer dawns, from horse fairs to Gypsy churches, Damian lives on the road, somewhere between the romanticised Gypsies of old, and their much-maligned descendants of today.‘A beautiful writer who seems born to tell this fascinating story’ Amy LiptrotWinner of the Somerset Maugham AwardShortlisted for the Edward Stanford Travel Writing AwardLonglisted for the Wainwright Prize Trade ReviewTender and intensely lyrical ... the prose is pure delight. The author breathes life into everything he sees ... To read The Stopping Places is to better understand the curious history of the Roma and how they have survived into 21st-century Britain -- Jackie Annesley * The Sunday Times *A beautiful writer who seems born to tell this fascinating story. It's brilliantly researched, avoiding stereotype and explaining misconceptions, while showing what is vital and special about modern traveller culture -- Amy LiptrotA fine prose style, vividly conjuring the smell of a hop pillow, the whinnying of a horse fair and the ‘wet-look hairstyles’ of the men, as well as the dead cold of a wagon in winter... An element of memoir clings to this excellent account of folk most of us don’t understand... The end of the book hints at redemption, as Le Bas comes to terms with the conflicts of his dual world. But he is too good a writer to make a meal of it -- Sara Wheeler * The Spectator *An insight into the hidden world and culture of travelling people, written with delicacy and affection -- Ken LoachBeautifully written and deeply affecting… While this is a beautiful, important book about Gypsy culture, it’s also a moving exploration of what it means to belong -- Clover Stroud * Daily Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE TELEGRAPH SPORTS BOOK AWARD FOR GENERAL OUTSTANDING SPORTS WRITING A captivating account of the Nazi Olympics – told through the voices and stories of those who were there.'Compelling, suspenseful and beautifully done' Anna Funder, author of STASILANDFor sixteen days in the summer of 1936, the world’s attention turned to the German capital as it hosted the Olympic Games. Seen through the eyes of a cast of characters – Nazi leaders and foreign diplomats, athletes and journalists, nightclub owners and jazz musicians – Berlin 1936 plunges us into the high tension of this unfolding scene.Alongside the drama in the Olympic Stadium – from the triumph of Jesse Owens to the scandal when an American tourist breaks through the security and manages to kiss Hitler – Oliver Hilmes takes us behind the scenes and into the lives of ordinary Berliners: the woman with a dark secret who steps in front of a train, the transsexual waiting for the Gestapo’s knock on the door, and the Jewish boy hoping that Germany may lose in the sporting arena. During the sporting events the dictatorship was partially put on hold; here then, is a last glimpse of the vibrant and diverse life in Berlin in the 1920s and 30s that the Nazis aimed to destroy. LONGLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2018Trade ReviewEngrossing -- Matt Chilton, **Books of the Year** * Daily Telegraph *Eighty years after the events it depicts, Berlin 1936 is a small masterpiece – you actually feel like you were there… The book was originally in German, but Jefferson Chase’s translation is so perfectly judged, you’d never even notice -- Marcus Berkmann * Daily Mail, **Books of the Year** *Entertaining... A vivid collage of vignettes gleaned from diaries, police reports, snippets from newspapers, and so on. It dances from comedy to tragedy, from the ironic to the sinister, to give a picture of a darkening Germany... Hilmes has an eye for incidental detail. -- Robbie Millen * The Times *A German historian charts the Berlin Olympics day by day through a series of memorable vignettes of life under Nazism. Hilmes’ deceptively jaunty, even comic tone echoes that of the Games themselves -- Simon Kuper * Financial Times, **Books of the Year** *This book reads like a tourist guide to a city on the eve of destruction -- Gerard DeGroot * The Times, **Books of the Year** *

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Book Synopsis'A marvel of storytelling and a masterclass in the history of the book' WALL STREET JOURNALThe Renaissance in Florence conjures images of beautiful frescoes and elegant buildings - the dazzling handiwork of the city's artists and architects. But equally important were geniuses of another kind: Florence's manuscript hunters, scribes, scholars and booksellers. At a time where all books were made by hand, these people helped imagine a new and enlightened world. At the heart of this activity was a remarkable bookseller: Vespasiano da Bisticci. His books were works of art in their own right, copied by talented scribes and illuminated by the finest miniaturists. With a client list that included popes and royalty, Vespasiano became the 'king of the world's booksellers'. But by 1480 a new invention had appeared: the printed book, and Europe's most prolific merchant of knowledge faced a formidable new challenge.'A spectacular life of the book trade's Renaissance man' JOHN CAREY, SUNDAY TIMESTrade ReviewIf you want to celebrate the place that bookmaking and bookselling still have in our lives . . . immerse yourself in Ross King's rich history of Vespasiano da Bisticci, "the king of the world's booksellers," in 15th-century Florence . . . wonderful -- Simon Schama * New York Times *Excellent . . . a fascinating read . . . Though ostensibly a biography of Vespasiano, he is less the book's subject than its method: a window on to the intellectual, political and technological developments of a time in radical ferment . . . entertaining, witty and expert -- Tim Smith-Laing * Daily Telegraph *A brilliant narrative that seamlessly weaves together intellectual debate, technological exploration and the excitement of new ways of thinking about ethics, politics and human capability -- Rowan WilliamsA terrific and utterly absorbing read, full of narrative pace and remarkable breadth and depth of scholarship. It deserves to make the bestseller lists . . . I haven't enjoyed a history book as much for years -- John GuyThe Bookseller of Florence is a way of entering the world of Renaissance humanism and its fascination with the writings of the past at a time when these were still - but not for much longer - handwritten -- Charles Saumarez Smith * Oldie *

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Book SynopsisAward-winning journalist and bestselling author Martin Dillon returns to shine a light on the role of women in the Troubles, amplifying voices long silenced by the din of history.Through raw and compelling testimonies from both sides of the community, Dillon explores the overlooked perspectives of women whose lives were impacted by the brutal conflict. Some were directly involved in violence as members of paramilitary organisations. Many witnessed the ruthless murders of family members. All were profoundly and irrevocably affected by the violence and its aftermath.Former IRA volunteers, the wife of notorious UDA Commander Stevie ? Top Gun? McKeag, a survivor of the 1974 Dublin bombings and the daughter of a murdered judge share their stories among many others, their words reverberating with the intensity of their experiences.Dillon also unmasks the shadowy dealings of British intelligence and the impact of collusion on unsolved murders, exposing the layers of deception that have haunted families and communities.The Sorrow and the Loss is an eye-opening exploration of the previously unwritten history of the Troubles.

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Book SynopsisSHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR NATURE WRITING - HIGHLY COMMENDED'Remarkable' Robert Macfarlane'Beautiful' Amy Liptrot'Powerful, unflinching . . . Part hymn to nature, part Troubles memoir' GuardianKerri ní Dochartaigh was born in Derry at the very height of the Troubles. One parent was Catholic, the other Protestant. In the space of a year Kerri's family were forced out of two homes and when she was eleven a homemade petrol bomb was thrown through her bedroom window. For families like hers, terror was in the very fabric of the city.In Thin Places, Kerri explores how nature kept her sane and helped her heal, and how we are again allowing our borders to become hard and terror to creep back in. Kerri asks us to reclaim and rejoice in our landscape, and to remember that the land we fight over is much more than lines on a map.Trade ReviewA remarkable piece of writing. I don't think I've ever read a book as open-hearted as this. It resists easy pieties of nature as a healing force, but nevertheless charts a recovery which could never have been achieved without landscape, wild creatures and "thin places". It is also flocked with luminous details (moths, birds, feathers, skulls, moving water). Kerri's voice is utterly her own, rich and strange. I've folded down the corners of many pages, marking sentences and moments that glitter out at me. Wow -- ROBERT MACFARLANEDochartaigh takes great solace in nature, and much of the book is a meditation on the beautiful landscapes and flora and fauna that surround her . . . Passionate, moving and beautifully written, this is a remarkable account of trauma and ways to acknowledge and overcome it * * Sunday Times * *What was Kerri ní Dochartaigh's burden as a child - to exist in "the gaps between" the Catholic and Protestant communities in Northern Ireland - has become her gift as a writer. She is sensitive to the legacies of loss and trauma and highly attuned to the gifts of the natural world and the possibilities of place. This is a special, beautiful, many-faceted book -- AMY LIPTROTPowerful, unflinching . . . Part hymn to nature, part Troubles memoir . . . Vividly descriptive . . . Thin Places is at heart a survivor's story located in the real and brutally Darwinian world of lived experience * * Guardian, Book of the Day * *Fabulous . . . Piercingly honest, movingly heartfelt. There is so much soul and knowledge and compassion, it gave me shivers -- ELIF SHAFAK * * Guardian, Best Books of the Year * *An eloquent, moving work of politics, geography and the self. Full of wisdom and deeply engaging -- SINÉAD GLEESONThe power of place to heal trauma makes for a beautiful read . . . It contains moments of great beauty . . . It is heady, bright and difficult to pin down. It is also redemptive. The Irish word for hope, we are told, is dòchas or dòigh, which holds, within its roots, glimmers of dóighiúil, the word for giving. Ní Dochartaigh takes that hope and gives it to us all * * Big Issue * *A beautiful and harrowing book about trauma, the potential to heal and the subtle magic of the wild. Kerri ní Dochartaigh offers us a fragile kind of redemption, full of truth and solace -- KATHERINE MAYNí Dochartaigh's delight in wild things weaves a thread of light through her childhood, adulthood and the book itself . . . Acutely personal . . . Wonderfully evocative . . . This heartfelt memoir, with its message on the saving grace of nature, may speak to an even wider audience than it first imagined * * Daily Mail * *A powerful, bracing memoir that asks what happens when a child grows up in a city that isn't safe . . . This is a book that will make you see the world differently * * Irish Times * *

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Book SynopsisThroughout history we have told ourselves stories to try and make sense of our place in the universe. Richard Holloway takes us on a personal, scientific and philosophical journey to explore what he believes the answers to the biggest of questions are. He examines what we know about the universe into which we are propelled at birth and from which we are expelled at death, the stories we have told about where we come from, and the stories we tell to get through this muddling experience of life. Thought-provoking, revelatory, compassionate and playful, Stories We Tell Ourselves is a personal reckoning with life's mysteries by one of the most important and beloved thinkers of our time.Trade ReviewThis may be the book I've been searching for, desperately, throughout most of my life . . . it represents a first step toward a new form of spiritual thought . . . What Holloway does most powerfully is dismiss certainty in all its forms, political as well as religious . . . Holloway brings a message of spiritual hope for all * * Herald * *An engaging, erudite explanation of how he came to be where he now stands and is a warning against the cruel righteousness of many belief systems * * Sunday Times * *If every priest and imam, every MP and CEO, every person like you and me read this, then the world would be a better place. It is devastatingly humane. It blends science, philosophy and religion and admits the art (and artifice) in these avowedly objective forms. Erudition and empathy; I wept -- DAMIAN BARREngaging and uplifting. . . . this personal, scientific and philosophical journey to explore what might be the answers to the world's biggest questions is both playful and inspiring . . . The richness of this book challenged the short space of a review * * Daily Mail * *Thought-provoking [and] stimulating . . . a sane guide through the turbulence of the modern world, one written with humour and self-deprecating pessimism * * Independent * *There is much in this book to make you think, much to provoke argument for and against * * Scotsman * *Wise, witty and provocative . . . This is an important book, for all of us who want to understand the world and each other. You put it down refreshed * * The Tablet * *[Told] exceptionally well . . . Holloway is right to ask us to examine the story we live by to see whether it does in fact make us respond in practice to suffering. He does so with his characteristic honesty, verve and punch * * Church Times * *Praise for Waiting for the Last Bus: A wonderful, wise, compassionate and befriending piece of work -- KATHRYN MANNIX, author of With the End in MindThought-provoking, revelatory, grave and comforting. It is impossible not to be moved by it in the most profound way -- ALEXANDER McCALL SMITH

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Book Synopsis'Delightful, timely and critical' Cat Bohannon'Expertly weaves science, history and culture to illuminate the most misunderstood parts of our bodies' Dr Jennifer GunterThroughout history, religious scholars, medical men and - occasionally - women themselves, have moulded thought on what 'makes' a woman. She has been called the weaker sex, the fairer sex, the purer sex, among many other monikers. Often, she has been defined simply as 'Not A Man'. Today, we are more aware than ever of the complex relationship between our bodies and our identities. But contrary to what some may believe, what makes a woman is a question that has always been open-ended. Immaculate Forms examines all the ways in which medicine and religion have played a gatekeeping role over women's organs. It explores how the womb was seen as both the most miraculous organ in the body and as a sewer; uncovers breasts' legacies as maternal or sexual organs - or both; probes the mystery of the disappearing hymen, and asks, did the clitoris need to be discovered at all?

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Book SynopsisLONGLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER ~ NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ~ WINNER OF THE CUNDILL HISTORY PRIZE 'An astonishing account of love, resilience and survival' Sunday Times 'A remarkable book' New York Times 'An extraordinary tale through the generations' Guardian In 1850s South Carolina, Rose, an enslaved woman, faced a crisis: the imminent sale of her daughter Ashley. Thinking quickly, she packed a cotton bag with a few items. Soon after, the nine-year-old girl was separated from her mother and sold. Decades later, Ashley's granddaughter Ruth embroidered this family history on the sack in spare, haunting language. That, in itself, is a story. But it's not the whole story. How does one uncover the lives of people who, in their day, were considered property? Harvard historian Tiya Miles carefully traces these women's faint presence in archival records, and, where archives fall short, she turns to objects, art, and the environment to write a singular history of the experience of slavery, and the uncertain freedom afterward. All That She Carried gives us history as it was lived, a poignant story of resilience and love passed down against steep odds.Trade ReviewAll That She Carried stands as an astonishing account of love, resilience and survival, one that helps to plug that archival abyss * Sunday Times *All That She Carried finds a way to give voice to the wordless by using a mundane, domestic object - a cloth sack and its contents - to thread an extraordinary tale through the generations * Guardian *A remarkable book -- Jennifer Szalai * The New York Times *Deeply layered and insightful ... [a] bold reflection on American history, African American resilience, and the human capacity for love and perseverance * Washington Post *Through [Miles's] interpretation, the humble things in the sack take on ever-greater meaning, its very survival seems magical, and Rose's gift starts to feel momentous in scale -- Rebecca Onion * Slate *Deeply and lovingly researched ... a testament to the power of story, witness, and unyielding love * Atlanta Journal-Constitution *Tiya Miles is a gentle genius . . . All That She Carried is a gorgeous book and a model for how to read as well as feel the precious artifacts of Black women's lives -- Imani Perry, author of South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a NationA brilliant exercise in historical excavation and recovery ... With creativity, determination, and great insight, Miles illuminates the lives of women who suffered much, but never forgot the importance of love and family -- Annette Gordon-Reed, author of The Hemingses of MonticelloA history told with brilliance and tenderness and fearlessness -- Jill Lepore, author of These Truths: A History of the United StatesAll That She Carried is a moving literary and visual experience about love between a mother and daughter and about many women descendants down through the years. Above all it is Miles's lyrical story, written in her signature penetrating prose, about the power of objects and memory, as well as human endurance, in the history of slavery. The book is nothing short of a revelation -- David W. Blight, author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom[A] powerful history of women and slavery * The New Yorker *[A] brilliant and compassionate account * Kirkus Reviews (starred review) *[A] sparkling tale * Oprah Daily *[An] extraordinary story ... unique and unforgettable * Ms. Magazine *This absorbing, heartfelt and beautifully written book traces the story of one family through a simple cotton sack to reveal the determination of one woman, sold into slavery, to protect the next generations from harm. In researching Rose's life, Tiya Miles uncovers the - too often unheard - voices of Black female slaves; and tells of their appalling suffering and remarkable stoicism. -- Clare Hunter, Sunday Times-bestselling author of Threads of Life: A History of the World Through the Eye of a Needle and Embroidering Her TruthIt is such a small sack, made of such very rough material. Yet as Tiya Miles shows, this textile given by a mother to her child at a time of greatest peril not only holds within it the whole unforgivable history of Transatlantic slavery, it also contains the greatest thing that anything can contain: love -- Victoria Finlay, author of Fabric: The Hidden History of the Material WorldTiya Miles has crafted a powerful, poignant narrative through a single, wondrous, ordinary object. The bag that Ashley carried stands for hope in the bleakest of times and of love. History writing at its best -- Kate Strasdin, author of The Dress Diary of Mrs Anne Sykes: Secrets from a Victorian Woman's WardrobeAshley's Sack, as it is known, with its short and simple message of intergenerational love, becomes a portal through which Tiya Miles views and reimagines the inner lives of Black women. She excavates the history of Black women who face insurmountable odds and invent a language that can travel across time -- Michael Eric Dyson, author of Long Time Coming: Reckoning with Race in AmericaTiya Miles uses the tools of her trade to tend to Black people, to Black mothers and daughters, to our wounds, to collective Black love and loss. This book demonstrates Miles's signature genius in its rare balance of both rigor and care -- Brittney Cooper, author of Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her SuperpowerAll That She Carried is a masterpiece work of African American women's history that reveals what it takes to survive and even thrive. Read this book and then pass it on to someone you love -- Martha S. Jones, author of Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for AllTiya Miles has written a beautiful book about the tragic materiality of black women's lives across three generations, through slavery and freedom. This book is for anyone interested in learning about black people's centrality to American history -- Stephanie Jones-Rogers, author of They Were Her Property

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Book SynopsisAn engaging exploration of why menus matter and the stories they tell.

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Book Synopsis An ancient philosophy for attaining contentment that has a wide relevance in the modern world More than 100 quotes from leading Stoic philosophers A beautifully packaged gift made using traditional Chinese book-binding techniques

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Book SynopsisWhen the Romans came to Britain in AD 43, they brought a new style of domestic life, one that better-off Britons soon copied. This informative guide looks at how villas were built, and at the accommodation and daily life villa residents enjoyed - their living rooms and bedrooms, kitchens and baths, gardens and courtyards, furniture and food, and the servants and slaves who kept the villa running. Illustrated with site photos from Roman villas around Britain, archaeological treasures, and museum reconstructions of villa interiors, this is a fascinating look at life in Roman Britain before the Roman army left in AD 406 and the villa way of life faded into history. Includes a list of places to visit.

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Book SynopsisSarah Gristwood celebrates the legacy of Queen Elizabeth II and how her enduring popularity was tantamount to her many supporters. The twists and turns of her life follow her teenage years during the war, marrying the Duke of Edinburgh and her ascension to the throne. An internationally admired figure, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II was the most high-profile monarch in the world, who endured wide-ranging popularity. Spanning from 1926 to the end of her reign in 2022, Elizabeth: The Queen and the Crown reveals the story behind Britain's longest-reigning monarch's extraordinary life. Sarah Gristwood follows the twists and turns of Her Majesty’s life and its key turning points – including her teenage years during World War II, meeting and marrying Prince Philip of Greece, later the Duke of Edinburgh, and her accession to the throne in 1952. Split into chapters covering different periods of her life, from ‘Apprenticeship (1926–1956)’, ‘Being Queen (1956–1986)’ to ‘Change, Celebration and Commemoration (1986–2022)’, the book charts the extraordinary events in the Queen's life alongside the everyday duties of her role as monarch.

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Book SynopsisA compelling, authoritative account of the brilliant, conflicted, visionary world of Tudor EnglandTrade Review“[Wooding] writes clear, elegant, purposeful narrative. . . . Anecdote and oddity leap off every page, often slyly juxtaposed. . . . This wide-ranging and punchy book approaches Tudor history from the ground up. It’s a classic in the making.”—Dan Jones, Times (UK)“Generous, heroic history—populist rather than popular—that will shake up long-held views. . . . Tudor England is so well-cited that it’s easy to recommend to someone trying to get up to speed with current historical debates, but it’s also far from dry—liberally scattered with grisly tales and memorable digressions into everything from gardening to the theatres.”—Daniel Brooks, Daily Telegraph“Lucy Wooding offers a new perspective on the period—a treasure chest of real people enduring war, poverty, chaos and contagion. Fascinating characters are crowded into a narrative of superb dramatic pace. Do we need yet another Tudor history? Yes, apparently we do.”—Times (UK), “Best History Books of 2022”“Offers a comprehensive, authoritative, up-to-date account of the Tudor monarchs and the England they governed. Throughout it provides a sense of what it would have felt like to live through the many tumultuous changes of the period; and its combination of broad sweep and with vivid stories and snapshots will reward scholars, students and general readers alike.”—Helen Hackett, Times Literary Supplement“Dr. Wooding’s simple objective, she tells us, is to unfold the astonishing story of this era, something she achieves in an exceptionally human and beautifully written text. . . . With great clarity and engaging prose, we are offered stimulating reappraisals of each regime, all of them bristling with fresh ideas and new ways of looking at age-old areas of study. . . . It surely offers much that is new for even the most well-read Tudor specialist, but equally serves as a fresh and brilliant introduction for the newcomer.”—David Robinson, Country Life“The book is a rather rich and detailed portrait of life in England through which the personal and dynastic histories of the Tudor monarchs are woven . . . [and] a deeply human and intimate account, taking in every level of society. . . . It is a remarkable achievement.”—Mathew Lyons, Literary Review“An exceptional contribution to Tudor scholarship. It offers a fresh and nuanced perspective on the Tudor dynasty, challenging prevailing narratives and shedding light on the complexities of the era.”—Marc Daniel Rivera, KristiyaKnow“Deftly fusing social, religious and political history, Tudor England is an outstanding achievement. Drawing on the latest scholarship, Wooding reappraises the reigns of the five Tudor monarchs, as well as assessing the times in which they lived. Essential reading for students and everyone interested in this most fascinating of dynasties.”—Elizabeth Norton, author of The Lives of Tudor Women“Beautifully written . . . a deeply humane text, in which so many contemporary voices are given a sympathetic hearing, whilst also making a significant contribution to the field.”—Ian Archer, University of Oxford“Impressive and authoritative, combining narrative panache with rigorous new research to give us a new perspective on one of the most controversial and critical English dynasties. It is the reassessment we needed. . . . A treasure trove, exploring Tudor history from every angle.”—Joanne Paul, author of The House of Dudley“A brilliant sketch of political, religious and social change under the Tudor Monarchs. Wooding weaves many a striking detail into a compelling account of complex events and developments.”—George Bernard, author of Who Ruled Tudor England?

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Book SynopsisTaking readers from the rainforests of Paraguay to the streets of Tokyo, Mattern draws on historical, scientific, and cultural research to reveal how perceptions of menopause developed from prehistory to today. She goes on to introduce new ways of understanding life beyond fertility.Trade Review"Winner of the PROSE Award in History of Science, Medicine, and Technology, Association of American Publishers""A celebration of menopause as a life stage vital to our species' survival, but one that has now been trivialized as a disease to be treated. . . . A wise history of a subject that is 'deeply . . . implicated in the human condition.'" * Kirkus Reviews *"That menopause may enable a new role and stature for women is the central argument of The Slow Moon Climbs . . . . Mattern sees [menopause] as an opening-up."---Liza Mundy, The Atlantic"By historicizing menopause the syndrome and showing how the long lives of post-menopausal women may have been a crucial factor in the success of our species, Mattern offers a counternarrative to the harridans and hags of our cultural consciousness."---Anna Reser, Lady Science"By viewing [menopause] through the lenses of anthropology, evolutionary psychology, sociology, medicine and culture, Mattern describes how our understanding of this biological rite of passage has itself evolved. [The Slow Moon Climbs] is also a polemic, a plea to reject the medicalisation of menopause and its language of loss and deficiency. All of this makes it a refreshing and scholarly change from the mostly folksy, self-help offerings in this genre."---Anjana Ahuja, Financial Times"Mattern’s book . . . makes a strong argument for embracing the menopause and treating its symptoms singly rather than bundling it into this female syndrome."---Kate Spicer, The Telegraph"The Slow Moon Climbs: The Science, History and Meaning of Menopause, surely could not have been published 50 or even 20 years ago."---Anne-Marie Slaughter, Financial Times"A brilliantly wide-ranging study of the menopause across the centuries . . . Mattern’s remarkable book fits perfectly into this cultural moment."---Emma Rees, Times Higher Education"The Slow Moon Climbs is a deeply satisfying book. . . . It tells the reader that women reach their most important roles later in life. It insists that what makes women special is not their sexuality, but who they are independent of their sexuality. And it invites them to understand that the social world they chose shapes the bodies they experience. Grandmothers rule."---T. M. Luhrmann, Times Literary Supplement"The Slow Moon Climbs is much more than a history of how menopause came to be understood as ‘hormonal chaos’. It is a sustained argument about the nature of humanity and the way our societies are structured, a far-reaching account of menopause’s significance in human evolution."---Katherine Foxhall, History Today"Susan Mattern’s scholarly and interpretive skills make this remarkable book recommended reading for evolutionary and cultural anthropologists as well as other historians, philosophers, and other scientists."---Kristen Hawkes, Evolutionary Studies in Imaginative Culture

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Book SynopsisHistorically, women have been an integral part of spreading our Deen. They have contributed as mothers, wives, supporters, and defenders of our religion. This book allows the reader to take a glimpse into the lives of thirty-seven amazing women. Starting with the women from the Prophet Muhammad''s (SAW) household to female companions and pioneers of Islamic History. Women in Islamic History have had a huge impact on building nations. Many that have been through education, raising children, raising scholars or being scholars themselves. These exceptional women have helped shape the world. These women have a lot of favours upon us, the least we can do is learn about them and share their amazing lives with others so that they can also be inspired. 

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Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD SHORTLISTED FOR THE JAMES TAIT BLACK PRIZE 2020 At the dawn of the twentieth century, black women in the US were carving out new ways of living. The first generations born after emancipation, their struggle was to live as if they really were free. These women refused to labour like slaves. Wrestling with the question of freedom, they invented forms of love and solidarity outside convention and law. These were the pioneers of free love, common-law and transient marriages, queer identities, and single motherhood - all deemed scandalous, even pathological, at the dawn of the twentieth century, though they set the pattern for the world to come. In Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments, Saidiya Hartman deploys both radical scholarship and profound literary intelligence to examine the transformation of intimate life that they instigated. With visionary intensity, she conjures their worlds, their dilemmas, their defiant brilliance.Trade ReviewOne of our most brilliant contemporary thinkers ... She's a theorist and writer who actually changes what's possible in my thought patterns -- Claudia RankineInfuses the history of black women and queer radicals with incredible life and urgency. She basically invents a new genre -- Carmen Maria Machado * New Statesman *I was inspired, surprised and deeply moved....[Hartman's] mode is intimate, radical and always alive to the details. -- Leslie Jamison * New York Times Book Review *This is scholarship as art * New Inquiry *Exhilarating....A rich resurrection of a forgotten history....[Hartman's] rigor and restraint give her writing its distinctive electricity and tension....This kind of beautiful, immersive narration exists for its own sake but it also counteracts the most common depictions of black urban life from this time. -- Parul Sehgal * New York Times *Ambitious, original... a beautiful experiment in its own right, to be set beside the many attempts at living free that Hartman here chronicles with a keen sense of history, imagination, and love. * Maggie Nelson, author of The Argonauts *Wayward Lives is a startling, dazzling act of resurrection... These remarkable black women were shamed, scorned, criminalized, studied, diagnosed and then erased from history. Yet now, Hartman challenges us to see, finally, who they really were: beautiful, complex, and multidimensional-whole people - who dared to live by their own rules, somehow making a way out of no way at all. * Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow *With urgency and compassion, Hartman rescues the lives of young black women from the margins of history. Wayward Lives is a series of adventure stories that take the reader through the travails and triumphs of a multitude of black women, as they negotiate the perilous path of self-discovery at the turn of the twentieth century. In her impeccably researched new book, Hartman breathes glorious life into these true survival tales with the precision and invention of a master storyteller. * Lynn Nottage, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Sweat and Ruined *Fantastic, really amazing ... daring -- Hari KunzruWayward Lives unsorts the archive looking for the errant, the unruly, the gorgeously disarranged paths of fugitive black girls. Fleeing from respectability, the good, the right and the true, the black girls that interest Hartman are everyday revolutionaries or what she calls 'chorines, bulldaggers, aesthetical negroes, socialists, lady lovers, pansies and anarchists.' This book is a love song to the wayward, a riotous poem, a lyrical homage to the minor. It changes the way we do history, the way we constitute the political, and makes resistance newly visible in the ordinary. This book changes everything. * Jack Halberstam, author of Female Masculinity and The Queer Art of Failure *Saidiya Hartman tells a mesmerizing story with a multitude of women as its heroines, lifting up invisible black seekers within the cities of one hundred years ago to the light of memory and tribute. She uses the weapons of lyric and literature to steal 'colored women' away from the grasp of white lawmen and the clinical gaze, and along the way gives history what it lacks and wants-black women as secret agents of destiny, deep lives from the unnamed crowd, and underground sinners as the true sponsors of social change. * Edward Ball, author of Slaves in the Family *A masterpiece... The wayward lives and beautiful experiments in which Professor Hartman is interested can only be described and illuminated in wayward and experimental ways-not in analytic detachment but by joining the experiment, by engaging in its hard-won freedoms, its autonomous profligacies, its shifting directions... Hartman radically reimagines the very idea of the portrait... A truly great and groundbreaking book. * Fred Moten, professor of performance studies, New York University *Lyrical and novelistic....This passionate, poetic retrieval of women from the footnotes of history is a superb literary achievement * Publisher's Weekly *How to honour the soft liquid rigour, the sharp vast tenderness, of a writer like Saidiya Hartman? ... For those of us who turn to the archive seeking comfort, looking for old ways of looking at new things, for redress to our subjugated history - this book is a balm and a pedagogic tool. Wayward Lives is a book that wants you to live. -- Imani Robinson and Ebun Sodipo * Wasafiri *Lyrical and highly readable ... Hartman opens a window onto a form of resistance less well documented than the protests led by organised labour and civil rights campaigners * Literary Review *

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Book SynopsisOriginally published separately, Weber's 'Science as a Vocation' and 'Politics as a Vocation' stand as the classic formulations of his positions on two related subjects that go to the heart of his thought: the nature and status of science and its claims to authority; and the nature and status of political claims and the.Trade Review[Owen and Strong] beautifully weave together the historical, philosophical, academic and personal circumstances that shaped Weber's world-view and these efforts reward the reader with a nuanced and thorough understanding. . . . Students, and even established academics, will benefit tremendously from this new edition. Rating: ***** --Jeffrey Roberts, University of Kent, in Political Studies Review

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Book SynopsisRunes employ many techniques from informal scratchings to sophisticated inlaid designs on weapons, or the exquisite relief carvings of the Franks Casket. This book tells the story of runes from their mysterious origins, their development as a script, to their use and meaning in the modern world.

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Book SynopsisA visually stunning and beautifully written celebration of park life around the world. Parks are an absolutely essential part of modern life. From the author who brought you Lido, here are 50 of the world's greatest parks – but not just a list of the examples we already know. Yes, we'll tell you about those storied greats such as Central Park in New York and Phoenix Park in Dublin, but we'll also take you to the Philippines, to Australia, to provincial Britain and around the world to show you the most historic and the most interesting, the newest and most cutting-edge that mix the best of nature and architecture. We'll explore what you can find there, who goes there, why they are important, and how parks respond to their environments, including ones over a road, on old rail lines or in Berlin's former airport. Examples include: • Freeway Park, Seattle, USA: a bizarre and brilliant brutalist park over a motorway. • Ibirapuera Park, São Paulo, Brazil: this one contains amazing galleries and theatres. • Holyrood Park, Edinburgh, UK: mountains within a city. • Adelaide's parks, Australia: unique in that the entire city centre is enclosed by parks. and many, many more. Illustrated with glorious photographs throughout, this book is a fascinating record of the world's most interesting and innovative parks, and the people who use them – you'll want to visit them all.Trade Review‘Gorgeously illustrated … the captivating entries on parks in Europe, the Far East, America and Australasia will have you hungering for travel. “Skive off, say no to grafting, join everyone else in the park,” Beanland rightly advises.’ Independent ‘A timely reminder of our need for nature, wherever we are’ ELLE Decoration ‘[A] joyous celebration of our green urban havens, captured here with sumptuous photography and charming reflections on the parks featured.’ The Field 'Explores some of the world’s most spectacular parks and how city green spaces have become an essential part of public life.' Express Esther Marshall

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Book SynopsisShortlisted for the 2024 Wolfson History PrizeA Telegraph and Der Spiegel Book of the YearSueddeutsche Zeitung''s Number One Most Important Political Book of 2023Die Zeit, ZDF, Deutschlandfunk, taz Number One, Best Non-Fiction Books December 2023 and January 2024A Telegraph and Der Spiegel Book of the YearSueddeutsche Zeitung''s Number One Most Important Political Book of 2023Die Zeit, ZDF, Deutschlandfunk, taz Number One, Best Non-Fiction Books December 2023 and January 2024A groundbreaking new history of the people at the centre of Europe, from the Second World War to todayIn 1945, Germany lay in ruins, morally and materially. The German people stood condemned by history, responsible for a horrifying genocide and a war of extermination. But by 2015 Germany looked to many to be the moral voice of Europe, welcoming almost one million refugees. At the same time, it pursued a controversially rigid fiscal discipline and made energy deals with a dictator. Many people have asked how Germany descended into the darkness of the Nazis, but this book asks another vital question: how, and how far, have the Germans since reinvented themselves?Trentmann tells the dramatic story of the Germans from the middle of the Second World War, through the Cold War and the division into East and West, to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunited nation''s search for a place in the world. Their journey is marked by extraordinary moral struggles: guilt, shame and limited amends; wealth versus welfare; tolerance versus racism; compassion and complicity. Through a range of voices - German soldiers and German Jews; environmentalists and coal miners; families and churches; volunteers, migrants and populists - Trentmann paints a remarkable and surprising portrait over 80 years of the conflicted people at the centre of Europe.

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Book SynopsisFor more than two thousand years the people of St Kilda remained remote from the world. Their society was viable, utopian even; but in the nineteenth century the islands were discovered by missionaries, do-gooders and tourists, who brought with them money, disease and despotism. In 1930, the few remaining islanders were evacuated, no longer able to support themselves.An exploration of the life and death of the remote Hebridean society, Island on the Edge of the World is a moving account of human endeavour.Trade ReviewA story like a marvellous pebble, wet from the sea, strange and comic like all things out of step with time, sad as the old songs the women sang, splendidly told * * Sunday Times * *Reawakened my awe at the strangeness of our world -- WILL SELFA profound moral for our time . . . A beautiful, well-written book * * Washington Post * *A fascinating book . . . Charles Maclean is an excellent writer . . . he describes the story of St Kilda with powerful compassion -- MAGNUS MAGNUSSONAn evocative study of the island * * Scotsman * *Excellent * * Esquire * *

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Book SynopsisHow much have women''s lives really changed? In the West women still come up against the ''glass ceiling'' at work, most earning considerably less than their male counterparts. What are we to make of the now commonplace insistence that feminism deprives men of their rights and dignities? And how does one tackle the issue of female emancipation in different cultural and economic environments - in, for example, the Middle East, the Indian sub-continent, and Africa?This book provides an historical account of feminism, exploring its earliest roots as well as key issues including voting rights, the liberation of the sixties, and its relevance today. Margaret Walters touches on the difficulties and inequities that women still face more than forty years after the ''new wave'' of 1960s feminism, such as how successful women are at combining domesticity, motherhood, and work outside the house. She brings the subject completely up to date by providing an analysis of the current situation of womeTrade Review"An enjoyable read." * Rosie Blau, FT Magazine *Table of Contents1. Introduction: The rights and wrongs of women ; 2. Pioneers ; 3. Voting Rights ; 4. The Personal is the Political: Liberation in the Twentieth Century ; 5. In a New Century ; 6. Women Across the World

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewThe most innovative and influential French thinker of the contemporary era -- Sudhir Hazareesingh * Guardian *Nearly 35 years after his death, Foucault remains a vital reference point, and his History of Sexuality remains required reading ... The appearance of the fourth volume is itself the most significant event in the world of Foucault scholarship in 20 years ... Essential * Los Angeles Review of Books *

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Book SynopsisTakes the reader on an international tour of macabre and devotional architectural masterpieces in nearly 20 countries. This book brings together some of the world's most important charnel sites, ranging from the crypts of the Capuchin monasteries in Italy, to the strange tomb of a 1960s wealthy Peruvian nobleman.Trade Review'The extraordinary displays of human bones in Europe’s charnel houses may now seem utterly bewildering to us, but 'The Empire of Death' reveals fascinating insights into these misunderstood religious monuments' - Metro'Impressive and readable … an excellent memento mori for our age and a work which is the result of considerable endeavour by the author' - The Historical Association'Death can be so beautiful. That’s what comes over most powerfully in this cultural history of charnel houses ... Many of the buildings are closed to the public, making reading the book feel rather like a date with destiny' - Time Out London'Well written, richly referenced and contains some cracking quotes … the book is imbued with a timeless, classy appeal … If you’re into art, history, culture, eschatology or are just plain weird then you will be impressed by this beautiful book' - The Royal College of Pathologists BulletinTable of ContentsIntroduction: A Dialogue with Death • 1. Ars Moriendi: The Early Charnel Houses • 2. The Golden Age: Counter-Reformation Macabre • 3. The Triumph of Death: Nineteenth-Century Visions in Bone • 4. Heavenly Souls: Spiritualism and Mythology in The Bone Pile • 5. Forget Me Not: Ossuaries as Commemorative Sites • 6. Resurrecting the Dead: Conservation and Reconstruction

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Book SynopsisBestseller & Winner of the Popular Non-Fiction Irish Book Award. 'Thought-provoking, irreverent and often laugh-out-loud hilarious' Irish Independent. "Motherfoclóir" [focloir means 'dictionary' and is pronounced like a rather more vulgar English epithet] is a book based on the popular Twitter account @theirishfor. As the title suggests, Motherfoclóir takes an irreverent, pun-friendly and contemporary approach to the Irish language. The translations are expanded on and arranged into broad categories that allow interesting connections to be made, and sprinkled with anecdotes and observations about Irish and Ireland itself, as well as language in general. The author includes stories about his own relationship with Irish, and how it fits in with the most important events in his life. This is a book for all lovers of the quirks of language.Trade ReviewA completely fresh take on the Irish language * Irish Examiner *Full of familiarity, of nostalgia, of humour and warmth. The author's voice really brings the book and the language to life - he somehow manages to remove all the boring aspects, and replaces them in with rich stories, with quirks, with colour and poignancy... I'll be recommending it heartily' -- Sara Baume, author of Spill Simmer Falter Wither and A Line Made By WalkingÓ Séaghdha picked an opportune time for his grá for Gaeilge to flower among a receptive readership * Irish Examiner *A fun book on a great subject * Sunday Business Post *It's thought-provoking, irreverent and often laugh-out-loud hilarious * Irish Independent *A lot of fun if you're a bit of a nerd for etymology. It sneakily teaches you Irish in a big-hearted way * Irish Independent, Books of the Year *It takes an irreverent, pun friendly and contemporary approach to the Irish language and it's a book for all lovers of the quirks of the Irish language * Tullamore Tribune *

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Book SynopsisAn authoritative account of political and military history, art, architecture and culture, sumptuously illustrated throughout.

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Book SynopsisThe supermodel did not arrive when Twiggy first donned false eyelashes; the concept began more than 100 years previously, with a young artists' model whose face captivated a generation.Saved from the drudgery of a working-class existence by a young Pre-Raphaelite artist, Lizzie Siddal rose to become one of the most famous faces in Victorian Britain and a pivotal figure of London's artistic world, until tragically ending her young life in a laudanum-soaked suicide in 1862. In the twenty-first century, even those who do not know her name always recognise her face: she is Millais's doomed Ophelia and Rossetti's beatified Beatrice.With many parallels in the modern-day world of art and fashion, this biography takes Lizzie from the background of Dante Rossetti's life and, finally, brings her to the forefront of her own.Trade Review'A truly extraordinary achievement' -- A.N. Wilson'The life behind the model for Millais's Ophelia ... The first supermodel, Siddal remains a fascinating figure' * Tatler *'A seductive biography. The story as it gains in tragedy is irresistible' * Sunday Times *'This mesmerising biography gives life to an icon, and reads as grippingly as any rags-to-riches novel' * Mail on Sunday *'It is the stuff of opera' * Sunday Telegraph *'A heart-wrenching tale of art, addiction, adultery and loss, which transcends the decades. A fluid contemporary classic' * Skytext *

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Book SynopsisA FAMILY STORY AND THE TALE OF A NATION.Ai Weiwei - one of the world's most famous artists and activists - weaves a century-long epic tale of China through the story of his own life and that of his father, Ai Qing, the nation's most celebrated poet. 'Engrossing...a remarkable story' Sunday TimesHere, through the sweeping lens of his own and his father's life, Ai Weiwei tells an epic tale of China over the last 100 years, from the Cultural Revolution to the modern-day Chinese Communist Party.Here is the story of a childhood spent in desolate exile after his father, Ai Qing, once China's most celebrated poet, fell foul of the authorities. Here is his move to America as a young man and his return to China, his rise from unknown to art-world superstar and international rights activist. Here is his extraordinary account of how his work has been shaped by living under a totalitarian regime.It's the story of a father and a son, of exceptional creativity and passionate belief, and of how two indomitable spirits enabled the world to understand their country.'A story of inherited resilience and self-determination' Observer'A majestic and exquisitely serious masterpiece about his China... One of the great voices of our time' Andrew Solomon'Intimate, unflinching...an instant classic' Evan Osnos, author of Age of AmbitionTrade ReviewIntimate, unflinching ... an instant classic ... a glorious testament to the power of free expression -- Evan Osnos, author of Age of AmbitionThis is the rarest sort of memoir, rising above the arc of history to grasp at the limits of the soul -- Edward SnowdenAbove all a story of inherited resilience, strength of character and self-determination * Guardian *An impassioned testament to the enduring powers of art -- Michiko Kakutani, author of Ex LibrisAi Weiwei is one of the world's greatest living artists. He is a master of multiple media. His work is always thought-provoking, unpredictable and immensely personal -- Elton John

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Book Synopsis'Excellent... Mortimer's erudition is formidable' The TimesA time of exuberance, thrills, frills and unchecked bad behaviour...Ian Mortimer turns to what is arguably the most-loved period in British history - the Regency, or Georgian England.This is the age of Jane Austen and the Romantic poets; the paintings of John Constable and the gardens of Humphry Repton; Britain's military triumphs at Trafalgar and Waterloo. It was perhaps the last age of true freedom before the arrival of the stifling world of Victorian morality.And like all periods in history, it was an age of many contradictions - where Beethoven's thundering Fifth Symphony could premier in the same year that saw Jane Austen craft the delicate sensitivities of Persuasion.This is history at its most exciting, physical, visceral - the past not as something to be studied but as lived experience. This is Ian Mortimer at the height of his time-travelling prowess.'Ian Mortimer has made this kind of imaginative time travel his speciality' Daily MailTrade ReviewMortimer's accessible guidebook format brings...[Regency Britain] vividly to life * History Revealed *Ian Mortimer has made this kind of imaginative time travel his speciality. * Daily Mail *[An] excellent book... Mortimer's erudition is formidable, and he rarely writes a dull sentence * Andrew Taylor, The Times, *Book of the Week* *An entertaining and enlightening read * Choice Magazine *[Mortimer] succeeds, rather brilliantly, in making a mass of information accessible and entertaining * Kate Hubbard, Oldie *

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Book SynopsisTHE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERNow a major motion picture directed by Ridley Scott starring Matt Damon, Adam Driver and Jodie Comer.In 1386, a few days after Christmas, a massive crowd gathered at a Paris monastery to watch two men fight a duel to the death. A trial by combat to prove which man's cause was right in God's sight.The dramatic story of the knight, the squire and the lady unfolds during the tumultuous fourteenth century. A time of war, plague and anarchy, as well as of honour, chivalry, and courtly love.The notorious quarrel appears in many histories of France, but no writer has recounted it in full, until now._______________________________________________________________'Succeeds brilliantly in combining page-turning intensity with eye-opening insights' Sunday Times'Suspenseful and well written' SpectatorTrade Reviewa genuinely suspenseful and well written piece of narrative. * The Spectator *'succeeds brilliantly in combining page-turning intensity with eye-opening insights.' * Sunday Times *'Jager knows his territory well; we learn a good deal about medieval armor and weaponry, fashion and custom, the legal system and sexual ideas, court politics and religion. His skilful prose quickly ensnares readers in the web of the characters' invention, allowing no escape until very near the end- Sex, savagery, and high-level political maneuvers energize a splendid piece of popular history.' * Kirkus Reviews *'A riveting account that will satisfy general readers and historians alike.' * Publishers Weekly *'As enthralling and engrossing as any [story] about a high-profile celebrity scandal today.' * Booklist (starred) *

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Book SynopsisIn the Garden with the Totterings is a fabulous collection of Annie Tempest’s ‘Tottering-by-Gently’ cartoons around the theme of gardening, which encompasses inter-generational tensions, the differing perspectives of men and women and more. Tottering-by-Gently is a village in the fictional county of North Pimmshire, where Lord and Lady Tottering reside in the fading grandeur of their ancestral home, Tottering Hall. Annie Tempest’s cartoons are based on Lord and Lady Tottering (Dicky and Daffy) and their extended family. Her now international following proves that she touches a note of universal truth in her exquisitely detailed and beautifully executed cartoons as she gently laughs with us at the stuff of life.

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