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[[Category:New Reviews|History]] __NOTOC__ <!-- Remove -->{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Lauren ElkinJacqueline Rose|title=Flaneuse: Women Walk the City in Paris, New York, Tokyo, Venice and LondonDark Times

|genre=History Biography|summary=Lauren Elkin ''The world of the unconscious is down on suburbs: they're places not the antagonist of political life, but its steadfast companion, the hidden place or backdrop where you canany true revolution must begin…'t or shouldn't be seen walking; places where,  Women in fictionDark Times is Jacqueline Rose's homage to courageous women throughout history, particularly women who transgress boundaries are punished (thinking of everything from ''Madame Bovary'' to ''Revolutionary Road'')the 21st, 20th and 19th centuries. When she imagines to herself what the female version of that well-known Her historical figureand political backdrop is, the carefree ''flâneur''thus, might beexpansive, yet she thinks about women who freely wandered the worldnavigates it with intelligence and an acknowledgment that feminism's great cities without having lengthy mission is a testament to its successes, and not its failures: ''the more insalubrious connotation ongoing force of the word feminism'streetwalker' applied to them.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0099593378</amazonuk>1804271713

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author= Jeffrey JamesMary McCarthy|title= Ireland: The Struggle for Power: From the Dark Ages to the JacobitesMemories of a Catholic Girlhood|rating= 4.5|genre= HistoryAutobiography|summary= The Mary McCarthy describes herself as an ''amateur architect'Irish troubles' go back over many centuries. When I and doubtless many others of my generation studied History at school, obsessively digging into the Emerald Isle barely intruded on our consciousness, apart from brief references past to piece together the Battle broken mosaic of her life. She attributes her ''burning interest in the Boyne and maybe past'' to her orphanhood, as she lacked any second-hand memories from her parents, who died in the Easter Rising1918 flu epidemic. This book therefore does usmemoir chronicles her early years, beginning with her orphanhood in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she lived under the harsh guardianship of her late father's Irish Catholic parents and the countryher abusive Uncle Myers and Aunt Margaret. Later, a service in helping she moved to Seattle to fill live with her maternal grandparents—her grandmother being Jewish and her grandfather Presbyterian—who provided her with a very large gapdifferent kind of upbringing.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1445662469</amazonuk>1804271659

{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1785633457|title=Charging Around: Exploring the Edges of England by Electric Car|author= Michael HicksClive Wilkinson|rating=5|genre=Travel|summary=Clive Wilkinson has a history of travelling by unconventional means with a preference for slow travel. As he neared his eightieth birthday the idea of exploring the edges of England in an electric car was not totally outrageous. In fact, it should be a pleasant holiday for Clive and his wife, Joan, shouldn't it?}}{{Frontpage|isbn=B09BLBP3P8|title= The Family of Richard IIINeville Chamberlain's War: How Great Britain Opposed Hitler, 1939-1940|author=Frederic Seager|rating= 4.5|genre= History|summary= New titles Received wisdom and simplified narrative often lead to misconceptions about history. One such is the Yorkist dynastyscrubbing from the popular imagination of the early days of World War II from 1939-40, which ruled England for little more than two decadesknown as the ''Phoney War''. We remember Neville Chamberlain appeasing Hitler, war breaking out, continue and Churchill coming in to proliferatesave the day. Michael HicksVery little time is spent on this period in cultural reflections and yet, acknowledged as one Frederic Seager argues in this book, it was of vital significance in how the great – although never sympathetic – experts on Richard III, has contributed an interesting chronicle to the shelveswar played out.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1445660156</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Clive Pearson3756228711|title=CDC: The Second World War in 100 Factshappy years with a spectacular IT 'Phenomena'|author=Hans Bodmer

|summary=To begin at ''The history of the beginning, that development of IT could fill books of several hundred pages.'' Author Hans Bodmer is one dissembling title. 100 Facts? There are bounties galore here that quite right about that low figure belies. There are a lot moreHe has chosen to tell us about the short, but explosive, and I would attest that there will be some you aren't completely au fait with. If the Phoney War and the Battle history of the Plate are bread and butter to youControl Data Company, how about Matapan? You could well be used to reading essays about Goebbels or SpeerCDC, but Field-Marshal von Manstein? Thatfor whom he worked. It's not to say this is utterly exhaustive or complexa fascinating tale, nor confined to the trivial. Its unexpected format actually makes it one told in a mixture of the better primers for the entire WWII, before, during technological summary and afterwry anecdote.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1445653532</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= John Ashdown-HillJeremy Dronfield and David Ziggy Greene|title= The Wars of the RosesFritz and Kurt|rating= 4.5|genre= HistoryConfident Readers|summary= During my schooldaysWe start with the pair of brothers Fritz and Kurt, I always found and their muckers, doing things any Jewish lad in 1930s Vienna would want to do – kicking things around the Wars of empty market place, helping the Roses neighbours, being dutiful when it comes to the most fascinating period of English historysynagogue choir and at a vocational school. In those days we were taught that Kurt has to make sure the battles began in 1455 lamps are turned on at their very Orthodox neighbours' each Friday night – the Sabbath preventing them for using anything nearly as mechanical and ended in 1485workmanlike as a light switch. Ashdown-Hill But this is the time just before the Austrian leader is one of several modern historians whose study going to cave to Hitler's will, and instead of having a national vote to keep the subject extends these boundariesNazis out, and invite them in this volume he starts with open arms. ''Kristallnacht'' happened in Vienna just as much as in Germany, as did all the round-ups of Jews. These in their turn leave the reign younger Kurt at home with his mother and sisters anxious to hear word of Richard IIan evacuation to Britain or the US, ending late in while Fritz and his father are, unknown initially to each other, packed off on the same train to Buchenwald and the Elizabethan erastone quarry there. And us wondering how the titular event for the adult variant of all this could come about…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1445660350</amazonuk>024156574X

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Charles DrazinJohn Henry Phillips|title= Mapping the Past: A The Search for Five Brothers at the Edge of Empire|rating= 45|genre= History|summary=Archaeology cannot be child's play, when you'Mapping re scraping in the Past'' is at once dirt looking to find what you can find, often knowing there should be something there but not always confident what. Archaeology must be a personal quest into the author's family history, and an account of fair bit harder when you set out to find some of the interesting, perhaps even amazing things the Royal Engineers have achieved over the past couple of centuriesspecific thing. Drazin This book is descended from a generation case of Engineers; five brothers who all served in the Armylatter, mostly as surveyors mapping our author promises to locate the far flung parts topic of the Empiretitular search. This was despite them being both Irish and Catholic. He uncovers their pastsAnd he really hasn't made it easy for himself – the search area is a wide one, the many things they undertook target might not exist any more – oh, and how it affected them in the end. It's underwater, when he cannot dive. Latching on to a story thatparticular D-Day veteran through helping the heroic old man's uplifting and extremely sadvisit back to France, as our author has promised to find the First World War landing craft that delivered him to Normandy, and the Easter Rising in 1916 seem that he was lucky to survive when it sank from beneath him. The secondary aim is to mark erect a true watershed for his familymemorial to everyone else aboard, the vast majority of whom perished.Who else would make such promises to someone in their nineties?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0099468271</amazonuk>1472146182

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Lyndal RoperB09F4CTKJR|title= Martin Luther:Renegade and ProphetFlights for Freedom|author= Steven Burgauer|rating= 4.5|genre= HistoryHistorical Fiction|summary= Exactly five centuries ago in October 2017, Martin Luther nailed his ninety-five theses against It's the sale later stages of indulgences to World War I and the door of United States has just entered the All Saints' Church in Wittenbergconflict. The ensuing maelstrom ripped the Christian church asunder Petrol Petronus is a young American who has signed up and changed joined the course of history17 Aero Squadron. But how This company was a provincial professor the first US Aero Squadron to be trained in a cassock able Canada, the first to be attached to set the Reformation in motion, despite papal RAF and imperial authority being ranged against him? In a biography which was ten years in the making, Lyndal Roper strips away mythology first to be sent into the skies to illuminate fight the facts underneath (for startersGermans in active combat. But before that can happen, it is highly unlikely that Luther actually nailed the ninety-five theses Petrol has to master flying the door)notoriously difficult but majestic Sopwith Camel. She provides a thoughtful analysis of the forces which drove the evangelical preacher and convincingly explains his contradictions – why, after decades of monastic observance did he marry a nun and develop a love of German beer and wine? |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1784703443</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= A T Williams0578761718|title= A Passing Fury: Searching for Justice at the End The Inspiring History of World War IIa Special Relationship|author=Nancy Carver|rating= 4.5|genre= History|summary= In ''A Passing Fury,'' we follow an Orwell Prize-winning law academic's journey through Germany as he pursues The church of St Mary Aldermanbuy had existed in the legal history City of the trials waged by the BritishLondon from at least 1181, and to some extent other Allied forceswhen it was first mentioned in records. Sadly, against the original church was destroyed in the newly-fallen Nazi regimeGreat Fire of London in 1666. This is a deeply personal account, that reads very much like It was rebuilt in Portland stone from a travelogue in places. Williams is affected at every turn design by harrowingly familiar accounts of life in the concentration camp system, such as those of Sir Christopher Wren soon after the esteemed Italian writer fire and academic Primo Levithen survived for centuries until World War II, who features throughout when it was again ruined by bombs during the bookBlitz. More striking to But that wasn't the readerend of its story: after a phenomenal fundraising effort, however, are the often-forgotten atrocities Williams describes that failed stones from the church's walls were transported to make a mark on our collective memoryFulton, such as the Cap Arcona tragedyMissouri. There, in which some 7the grounds of Westminster College,000 concentration camp internees were killed in the church was rebuilt and today serves as a British air raid. Horrors such as these, which largely go unremembered, raise many questions, chief among them, was justice served? Williams pursues answers memorial to this question throughout his investigation, which is just shy of 500 pages longWinston Churchill.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099593262</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= David Grann1784385166|title= Killers of the Flower Moon|rating= 5|genre= True Crime|summary=Killers of the Flower Moon tells the story of the Osage tribe, forced to settle The Third Reich in the rocky, uninhabitable wilds 100 Objects: A Material History of Oklahoma in what would become Osage County. In an unexpected turn of fortune, prospectors struck oil, instantly catapulting the Osage into unimaginable wealth and fortune making them some of the richest people in the world. Then members of the tribe start to die, slowly at first of apparently natural causes then in increasingly violent ways. Investigation into the matter stalls and is beset by incompetence and a general lack of interest in the fate of the Osage until the FBI becomes involved and draws together a team of battle scarred, unorthodox agents led by former Texas Ranger Tom White. As pressure on White increases, from both the FBI and the increasingly angry Osage, the race to find the truth becomes increasingly difficult, with more twists and double crosses than any murder mystery.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857209027</amazonuk>}}{{newreviewNazi Germany|author=Tom Feiling|title=The Island that DisappearedRoger Moorhouse

|summary= 'The Island What is the first image that Disappeared' tells the history comes to mind when you think of the, largely now forgotten, island of Providence in the Caribbean. It is Third Reich? Hitler? A swastika? The Nazi salute? The gate to a fascinating and compelling account concentration camp? None of what might have been these are comfortable images but ultimately is they are emblematic of the story of greed, ambition Third Reich's fascist regime in all its iniquity. But some objects and human natureimages from that time may be less familiar to you. In 1630 on board the Seaflowerthis short volume, a sister ship Roger Moorhouse has attempted to illustrate the Mayflower, a small group period of English puritans sailed to the island to establish a new colonyThird Reich through one hundred of its material artefacts. }}{{Frontpage|author=Lun Zhang, Adrien Gombeaud, Ameziane and Edward Gauvin (translator)|title=Tiananmen 1989: Our Shattered Hopes|rating=4. They were convinced in their belief that 5|genre=Graphic Novels|summary=I never really followed the British Empire would rise events of Tiananmen Square with much attention when it was playing out – someone in the Central America and not in New Englandsecond half of their teens has other priorities, you know. The hopes that they carried was soon destroyed by failing crops, quarrels I certainly didn't know of the weeks of protests and rebellions and many turned to piracy hunger strikes from the students before the massacre and the plundering birth of Spanish treasure ships. Within ten years, the Spanish retaliated and invaded the islandTank Man image, wiping I didn't know how the colony out. Providence became area had long been a footnote of history until it was resettled over venue for political protest, and I didn't know more than a hundred years laterspit about the people involved on either side. The This book tells the islandis practically flawless in giving a general browser's story from its early puritan beginnings to context for the present and through its telling it provides a fascinating microcosm whole season of the world we live protests back in today1989.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1911184040</amazonuk>1684056993

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Twigs Way0648684806|title=Allotments (Britain's Heritage Series)Clara Colby: The International Suffragist|author=John Holliday

|genre=LifestyleBiography|summary=Allotments came about originally from The path of Clara Dorothy Bewick's life was probably determined when her family emigrated to the enclosure USA. At the time she was just three-years-old but because of landsome childhood ailment, primarily for sheep pastureshe wasn't allowed to sail with her parents and three brothers. Fearing Instead, she remained with her grandparents, who doted on her and saw that the enclosures would leave peasants unable to feed themselvesshe received a good education, Elizabeth I issued an act requiring all new cottages to have four acres both in and out of ground, something which has been honoured more by history than by Elizabeth's contemporariesschool. It She was the first only child in a long line of legislation with that aim the household and her childhood was glorious. By contrast, her family had become pioneer farmers in mind the mid- which largely failed west of the United States and life was hard, as Clara was to find out when she and her grandparents eventually went to achieve their aimsjoin the family. Clara would only know her mother for a few months: she was married for fifteen years, had ten pregnancies, seven surviving children and died in childbirth not long after Clara arrived. As the eldest girl, a heavy burden would fall on Clara and Wisconsin was a rude awakening.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1445665700</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Peter Rex1783784350|title= HaroldThis Golden Fleece: The King Who Fell at HastingsA Journey Through Britain's Knitted History|author=Esther Rutter|rating= 4.5

|summary= Harold is in the unenviable position for being remembered as the monarch who It was defeated December and killed Esther Rutter was stuck in the Norman conquesther office job, writing to people she'd never met and almost nothing elsepreparing spreadsheets. He does The job frustrated her and even her knitting did not even merit soothe her mind. January was going to be a passing mention in time for making changes and she decided that she would travel the length and breadth of the renowned 1930s spoof English historyBritish Isles with occasional forays abroad, discovering and telling the story of wool'1066 s history and all Thathow it had made and changed the landscape. She', which no doubt has him d grown up on a sheep farm in their category of Suffolk - '' a free-range child on the farm''Unmemorable Kings- and learned to spin, knit and weave from her mother and her mother's friend. This book is thus inevitably a history rather than a biography of someone about whom undisputed facts are rather lackingwas in her blood. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>144565721X</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Mark Zuehlke and Claude St Aubin1789017977|title=The Loxleys Ronnie and ConfederationHilda's Romance: Towards a New Life after World War II|author=Wendy Williams|rating=3.54|genre=Graphic NovelsHistory|summary=There is a huge hole in my history knowledge where North America is concerned. Slowly, from an opening of sheer ignorance, having never studied it whatsoever at school, I've got a small grip on things like Ronnie Williams was the Civil War, the foundations son of the USA Thomas Henry Williams (known as Harry) and a few other thingsEthel Wall. But that means nothing There's some doubt as far as this book is concerned, for that huge hole is Canada. No, I didnto whether or not they were ever married or even Harry't s birthdate: he claimed to have an inkling about how it was trying to unifybeen born in 1863, just as the American Civil War but he was in full pelt just across the borderalready many years older than Ethel and he might well have shaved a few years off his age. I didn't know what was there before Canada, if you see what I mean. The story does have some things in common with that of their southern neighbours – European occupancy being slowly turned into For a list of states as we know them now, slowly spreading into while the heart of the continent with the help of the railways etc; native 'Indians' being 'family was quite well-to-do but disaster struck in the way'; past trading agreements 1929 Depression and five-year-old Ronnie had to either maintain or try adjust to improve on; and so on – but of course it also had the British vs French issuea very different lifestyle. But One thing he did you know how an American President getting shot at the theatre had a bearing on the story? inherit from his father was his need to be well-turned-out and this would stay with him throughout his life. Or He joined the Irish? Like I said, a huge hole…|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0992150892</amazonuk>army at eighteen in 1942.

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Lynn Knight1980891117|title= The Button BoxG Engleheart Pinxit 1805: A year in the life of George Engleheart|author=John Webley|rating= 4.5|genre= HistoryArt|summary= Buttons are the underdogs George Engleheart was one of the clothing world: dismissed as functional elements leading portrait miniaturists of clothingGeorgian London, falling into with a career lasting from the same dustbin category with zips and shoe laces, they tend to be seen as necessary for keeping clothes on, rather than contributors to style. But Lynn Knight is set 1770s to prove that the opposite is trueRegency era. We think nothing He was also one of lacing discussions about clothing and feminism with headscarvesthe most prolific, bikinispainting nearly 5, and underweight models – and buttons deserve a place on 000 miniatures altogether (over twenty of them being of King George III). Throughout most of that time he carefully recorded the pedestal names of each of gender discussionhis clients, tooand subsequently transcribed them into what is referred to as his fee book.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099593092</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Sarah Fraser1789016304|title= The Prince Who Would Be KingWar and Love: The Life A family's testament of anguish, endurance and Death of Henry Stuartdevotion in occupied Amsterdam|author=Melanie Martin|rating= 4.5|genre= Biography History|summary= Henry StuartMelanie Martin read about what happened to Dutch Jews in occupied Amsterdam during World War II and was entranced by what she discovered, eldest child particularly in ''The Diary of King James VI Ann Frank'' but then realised that her own family's stories were equally fascinating. A hundred and Iseven thousand Jews were deported from the city during the war years, was but only five thousand survived and Martin could not the only eldest son of understand how this could be allowed to happen in a monarch country with liberal values who did not live long enough were resistant to succeed German occupation. Most people believed that the occupation could never happen: even those who thought that the Germans might reach the city were convinced that they would soon be pushed back, that the Amsterdammers would never allow what happened to escalate in the throneway that it did, but initial protests melted away as the organisers became more circumspect. The list also included Arthur (son It's an atrocity on a vast scale but made up of tens of thousands of Henry VII) and Albert Victor (Edward VII). Of the three, Henry undoubtedly showed the most promiseindividual tragedies.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007548087</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Paul Flynn1908745819|title= Good As You: From Prejudice to Pride - 30 Years of Gay BritainSurfacing|author=Kathleen Jamie|rating= 5|genre= History |summary=The last 30 years have seen Sometimes when people suggest that you read a tidal wave of change sweep the country with regards to how gay people are perceived and accepted. In 1984certain book, the pulsing electronic beats of they tell you ''Smalltown Boythis one has your name on it'' became an anthem to unite Gay Men. Mostly we take them at their word, or not, but just a month later, a virus called HIV would be identified, spreading a climate of panic and fear across rarely do we ask them why they thought so unless it turns out that we didn't like the nation, and marginalising book. That's a community rare experience. People who were already ostracised. 30 years later though, the long road are sensitive to gay equality would reach hearing a climax with the legalistion of gay marriagebook calling your name, rarely get it wrong. Journalist Paul Flynn charts this remarkable journey via the cultural milestones that affected In this change - with interviews with such protagonists as Kyliecase, Russell T Davies, Will Young, Holly Johnson and Lord Chris SmithI was told why. This is The blurb speaks of the story of Britainauthor considering ''s brothersan older, sons, cousins, fathers and husbandsless tethered sense of herself. Of public outrage and personal loss, the (not always legal) highs and desperate lows, and the final collective victory as Gay Men were finally recognised to be as Good As You'' Older. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1785032925</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Miles Russell|title= Arthur and the Kings of Britain: The Historical Truth Behind the Myths|rating= 4Less tethered.5|genre= History|summary= As the author That's not a bad description of the Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain), written in 1136, Geoffrey of Monmouth is commonly recognized as one of the first British historianswhere I am. His book told – or is supposed Add to have told - the story that my love of the British monarchy during the Dark Agesnatural world, from the arrival of those aspects of the Trojan Brutuspoetic and lyrical that are about style not form, grandson and substance most of Aeneasall, up to the seventh century AD when the Anglo-Saxons had taken control of Britainabout connection. Being virtually the only work of its kind at the timeOf course, this book had my name on it proved very influential, and became well-known throughout western Europe as one of the great works of medieval literature as the first retelling of the story of King Arthur, Lear and Cymbeline. Shakespeare It was forever in his debt with regard written for me. It would have found its way to me eventually. I am pleased to the two latterhave it fall onto my path so quickly. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1445662744</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Mark Aylwin Thomas|title= Blades of Grass|rating= 4.5|genre= Biography|summary= Any book that has me in tears at the end has been worth my time. Any book that has me hoping it will end differently to the way I know it must is worth the reading. Any book that convinces me that maybe there is still hope in the world – that for all the mistakes made thus far, still being made right now, there is a common humanity which ultimately, eventually, must do some good – that is worth the writing and the reading and the time. Blades of Grass is one such book. It's a forgotten story, an unknown story to most people. It is one that should be told – and reflected upon.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1524676969</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|authorisbn= Andrew Cook0857058320|title= The Murder of Lord Of All the Romanovs|rating= 4.5|genre= History|summary= The fate of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, his wife Alexandra and children, fuelled no end of rumour, misinformation and conspiracy theories for many years, even though the truth was known not long after the event. In the last few years, the advance of forensic science, DNA testing and the precise location of the bodies have allowed for confirmation of the exact truth and a dismissal of claims by a noted so-called surviving Grand Duchess. Even so, as Andrew Cook notes, straight after the deaths of the imperial family 'there would begin a ninety-year battle between science and superstition which is not over yet'. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1445666278</amazonuk>}}{{newreviewDead|author= Sarah Bakewell|title= At The Existentialist Café: Freedom, Being Javier Cercas and Apricot CocktailsAnne McLean (translator)

|genre= Politics and SocietyHistory|summary= You know that old saying about judging books by their cover? Ignore it! I have found that by judging ''Lord Of All the Dead'' is a book by its cover journey to uncover the author's lost ancestor's life and getting it completely wrong death. Cercas is a searching for the meaning behind his great way to find yourself committed to reading a book that youuncle'd never have picked s death in a million years and yetthe Spanish Civil War. Manuel Mena, somehowCercas' great uncle, being amazingly glad you didis the figure who looms large over the book. He died relatively young whilst fighting for Francisco Franco's forces. Cercas ruminates on why his uncle fought for this dictator. The question at the centre of this book is whether it is possible for his great uncle to be a hero whilst having fought for the wrong side.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099554887</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Helen Hollick0008294011|title= PiratesHow to Lose a Country: Truth and TaleThe 7 Steps from Democracy to Dictatorship|author=Ece Temelkuran|rating= 4.5|genre= History|summary=The eighteenth century lived A little while ago a friend asked me if I thought that we were living through what in terror of years to come would be discussed by A level history students when faced with the tramps of question ''Discuss the seas – piratesfactors which led to. Pirates have fascinated people ever since. It .'' I agreed that she was right and wasn't certain whether it was a harsh life for those who went good or bad thing that we didn'on the accountt know what all ', constantly overshadowed by the threat of death – through violence, illness, shipwreck, or the hangmanthis's noosewas leading to. The lure of gold, the excitement of the chase and the freedom I think now that life aboard a pirate ship offered were judged by some to be worth the riskI do know. Helen Hollick explores both the fiction and fact of the Golden Age We are in danger of piracy, losing democracy and there are some surprises in store for those who whilst it's a flawed system I can't think they know their Barbary Corsair from their boucanier. Everyone has heard of Captain Morgana better one, but who recognises particularly as the name of the aristocratic Frenchman Daniel Montbars? He killed so many Spaniards he was known as 'The Exterminatorbenevolent dictator'. The fictional world of pirates, represented in novels and movies, is different from realityas rare as hen's teeth. What draws readers and viewers to these notorious hyenas of the high seas? What are the facts behind the fantasy?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1445652153</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Timothy Venning1788037812|title= Kingmakers: How Power in England Was Won and Lost on the Welsh Frontier|rating= 3.5|genre= History|summary= Between the Norman conquest and the Tudor period, Britain often seemed to be on the verge of civil war. The Anglo-Welsh borders were a perpetual source Fraternity of trouble, kept at bay only by the Marcher lords appointed by the King of Estranged: The Fight for Homosexual Rights in England to guard the Welsh Marches.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1445659409</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Nigel Linge and Andy Sutton|title= The British Phonebox|rating= 4.5|genre= History |summary= The mobile phone must be one of the most used, must1891-have accessories of the modern age, the one device you cannot escape from in public. Some of us with (relatively) long memories must look back on the age when the bright red phonebox reigned supreme as a long time ago.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1445663082</amazonuk>}}{{newreview1908|author=Martin Wall|title=Warriors and Kings: The 1500-Year Battle for Celtic BritainBrian Anderson|rating= 4.5

|summary= For several centuriesOriginally passed in 1885, much of the ancient law that had made homosexual relations a crime remained in place for 82 years. But during this time, restrictions on same-sex relationships did not go unchallenged. Between 1891 and medieval history 1908, three books on the nature of Britain was one forged in war homosexuality appeared. They were written by two homosexual men: Edward Carpenter and John Addington Symonds, as well as the Celtic peoples took a stand against invasion heterosexual Havelock Ellis. Exploring the margins of society and oppression. First it studying homosexuality was common on the RomansEuropean Continent, then but barely talked about in the SaxonsUK, Vikings and Normansso the publications of these men were hugely significant – contributing to the scientific understanding of homosexuality, who threatened the unyielding and insular people. This book examines how several tenacious and heroic figures led beginning the Britons struggle for recognition and equality, leading to the Welsh against often overwhelming oddsmilestone legalisation of same-sex relationships in 1967.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1445658437</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=David Hewitt1910593508|title=JosephApollo|author=Matt Fitch, 1917Chris Baker and Mike Collins|rating=3.5

|summary=During This incredible graphic novel is a love letter to the Moon landings and the autumn passion for the subject drips off every Apollo by Matt Fitch, Chris Baker and Mike Collins. This is a story we know well and because of 1915 Edward Stanleythis, the Earl of Derby and Director General of military recruitment inaugurated authors take a few narrative shortcuts knowing that we can fill in the Derby Schemeblanks. Men of fighting age would be encouraged by door-to-door canvassers These shortcuts are the only downside to the book. If you'attest' that they would sign up for military service at ve ever read a comic book adaptation of a recruitment office within 48 hours. They would then film you will be categories according to marital status familiar with the slight feeling that there are scenes missing and be called up, with 14 days' notice, in an order in line with their household responsibilitiesthat dialogue has been trimmed. The idea was This is a sound one: married men with children only being called on if absolutely necessary. Lancastrian Joseph Blackburn chose to attest but then for him graphic novel that could easily have been three times as long and many others, unforeseen results ensuedstill felt too short.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1785898973</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=William Wright1786331047|title=A British Lion in ZululandThe Race to Save the Romanovs: The Truth Behind the Secret Plans to Rescue Russia's Imperial Family|author=Helen Rappaport

|summary= During The basic facts about the reign deaths of Queen VictoriaNicholas and Alexandra, southern Africa was a land some of opportunity. Fame and fortune was to be found which were deliberately obscured at the time for any brave soul willing to suffer the hardships and dangers the lands offeredvarious reasons, have long since been established. For the government last few months of Britain it was also their lives in Russia the source of major headaches. The balance between abundant wealth former Tsar and a native population that would not accept colonial rule created constant conflict. 'A British Lion in Zululand' is the story of the manTsarina, widely regarded, as the person who drew these conflicts with the Zulu tribe to a conclusion. Field Marshall Garnet Joseph Wolseley was a heroic their children and larger than life figure few remaining servants were held in Victorian Britain; howeverincreasingly squalid, even today his role in shaping the future of a continent is controversialhumiliating captivity. With the aid of extensive research To prevent them from a number of new sourcesbeing rescued, William Wright has defined in July 1918 the man and brought fresh insight to a neglected area of British colonial history. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1445665484</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Xu Hongci and Erling Hoh (Translator)|title= No Wall Too High|rating= 4|genre= History|summary= It was one of the greatest prison breaks of revolutionary regime had them all time, during one of the worst totalitarian tragedies of the 20th Century. Xu Hongci was an ordinary medical student when he was incarcerated under Mao's regime shot and forced bayoneted to spend years of his youth death in some of China's most brutal labour camps. Three times he tried to escape. And three times he failed. But, determined, he eventually broke freecircumstances which, travelling once the length of China, across the Gobi desert, and into Mongolia.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846044960</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Steven Burgauer|title=The Night of The Eleventh Sun|rating=4.5|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=The word 'Neanderthal' has become equated with people deemed to have a backward attitude and outlook. But what do we know of the original Neanderthals from over 200news was confirmed beyond all doubt,000 years ago? Here American author [[:Category:Steven Burgauer|Steven Burgauer]] melds the knowledge of anthropologists, archaeologists and historians with the story of Strong Arms, his family and horrified their struggle to survive relatives in a very effective, and informative way.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1419671545</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Anne Glyn-Jones|title= Morse Code Wrens of Station X|rating= 4.5|genre= History|summary= Bletchley Park is probably now the least secret of all the secret ops that went on during World War II. I for one am pleased about that: technology has moved on so far that there can't be anything that happened back then on the communications front that is worth continuing to shroud in mystery. With most of the participants either departed or at least in the departure lounge, the more recollections we can still gather the better. What remained secret far longer however, is the work of the telegraphers that served Station X: those posted to the Y-stations. There are few of them left to tell their tales, so I applaud those who finally saw fit (a) to release them from their life-long bonds of secrecy and (b) encourage them to write it down, tell us what it was really likeEurope.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1845409086</amazonuk>