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{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Alan TitchmarshJacqueline Rose|title=When I Was A NipperWomen in Dark Times

|genre=HistoryBiography|summary=There's something about Alan Titchmarsh that you can't help liking. He's got a wry sense The world of humour, seems unfailingly positive and, best of all, was born in my home town of Ilkley. You really can't get much better than that, now can you? 'When I Was A Nipper' the unconscious is a look not just at his the antagonist of political life in the fifties (although there ''is'' a lot about him) , but about its steadfast companion, the way that things were then. Therehidden place or backdrop where any true revolution must begin…'s an unspoken question about what we can learn from how we lived then and how we can apply this to our lives today. It's pure nostalgia only lightly seasoned with the reality of outside privies and harsh working conditions.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184990152X</amazonuk>}}

{{newreview|author=Rodric Braithwaite|title=Afgantsy: The Russians Women in Afghanistan, 1979-89|rating=4|genre=History|summary=In 1979Dark Times is Jacqueline Rose's homage to courageous women throughout history, particularly women of the Soviet Union decided to move into Afghanistan21st, 20th and special forces killed the Afghan president19th centuries. What was initially planned as a fairly modest expedition which would see them stabilise the governmentHer historical and political backdrop is, train up the army and policethus, and then withdraw within a yearexpansive, turned into a war lasting nearly a decade which left both the Russian army and the Afghan civilians counting the cost of the intervention and yet she navigates it with their lives changed forever. What went wrong, intelligence and why has Afghanistan proved such an acknowledgment that feminism's lengthy mission is a difficult place for foreign powers – ranging from the British in the 19th century, testament to the Russians in this bookits successes, to the current armies engaged in and not its failures: ''the country – to get any sort ongoing force of foothold?feminism''.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1846680549</amazonuk>1804271713

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Stephanie WilliamsMary McCarthy|title=Running the Show: Governors Memories of the British Empire 1857-1912|rating=4.5|genre=History|summary=For some, the glory days of the British Empire were the closing years of the Victorian era and the 19th century. Government ministers in London, and doubtless Queen Victoria herself, would glance at a map of the world and bask in reflected glory at the generous expanses of land coloured red, 'the empire where the sun never sets', to use the old cliché.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0670918040</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Duff Hart-Davis|title=The War That Never WasCatholic Girlhood

|genre=HistoryAutobiography|summary=In the 1960Mary McCarthy describes herself as an ''amateur architect''s, an Egyptian general with delusions of grandeur is trying to conquer the Arab world, starting with Yemen. The new Imam, having previously disobeyed obsessively digging into the general's orders to assassinate his own father, has fled past to piece together the hills. The British are wary broken mosaic of getting officially involved so turn to more subtle channelsher life. Jim Johnson, an underwriter at LloydShe attributes her ''s who claims to have been arrested for attempted murder at the tender age of 8 when he attacked an Italian maid abusing a cat, is burning interest in the man asked to run a secret operation. His response? past'I've nothing particular to do her orphanhood, as she lacked any second-hand memories from her parents, who died in the next few days1918 flu epidemic. I might have a go.' Putting together a team of mercenariesThis memoir chronicles her early years, beginning with her orphanhood in Minneapolis, he sends them to Yemen to fight what will becomeMinnesota, as where she lived under the subtitle harsh guardianship of the book states, Britainher late father's most secret battleIrish Catholic parents and her abusive Uncle Myers and Aunt Margaret. Later, she moved to Seattle to live with her maternal grandparents—her grandmother being Jewish and her grandfather Presbyterian—who provided her with a different kind of upbringing.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1846058252</amazonuk>1804271659

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Adrian Tinniswood1785633457|title=Pirates Of BarbaryCharging Around: Corsairs, Conquests and Captivity in Exploring the 17th-Century MediterraneanEdges of England by Electric Car|author=Clive Wilkinson

|genre=HistoryTravel|summary=In the early 17th century the North African coast was Clive Wilkinson has a history of travelling by unconventional means with a particularly dangerous place to sail near due to preference for slow travel. As he neared his eightieth birthday the prevalence idea of pirates there ready to plunder exploring the cargo edges of shipsEngland in an electric car was not totally outrageous. In this truly captivating account author Adrian Tinnisworth looks at these corsairs – focusing on Englishmen such as John Wardfact, who became so renowned that plays about him it should be a pleasant holiday for Clive and Dutchman Simon Danseker managed to outsellKing Lear!|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099523868</amazonuk>his wife, Joan, shouldn't it?

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Charles EmmersonB09BLBP3P8|title=The Future History of the ArcticNeville Chamberlain's War: How climateGreat Britain Opposed Hitler, resources and geopolitics are reshaping the north, and why it matters to the world|rating=4|genre=History|summary=Charles Emmerson examines the past history of Arctic exploration, economic exploitation and development and the policies of governments of countries which include Arctic territory (and others), with the aim of understanding the present and predicting the future better. He explains the apparently contradictory title in some detail in the Introduction. While history is about the past, 'ideas about the future have changed over time'. Also, the future of the Arctic will be shaped by its history.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099523531</amazonuk>}} {{newreview1939-1940|author=Alex Butterworth|title=The World That Never Was: A True Story of Dreamers, Schemers, Anarchists and Secret AgentsFrederic Seager

|summary=In deciding Received wisdom and simplified narrative often lead to write misconceptions about political upheaval across Europe, including Russia, Alex Butterworth has chosen a massive topic for this entertaining bookhistory. So massive, in fact, that when I tried reading it without first looking through One such is the scrubbing from the pen pictures at popular imagination of the start early days of World War II from 1939-40, known as the main players I was quickly completely lost''Phoney War''. My mistake – the short, sharpWe remember Neville Chamberlain appeasing Hitler, pen pictureswar breaking out, which cover sixteen pages and detail all Churchill coming in to save the major anarchists day. Very little time is spent on this period in cultural reflections and secret agents are completely invaluable and helped my reading yet, as Frederic Seager argues in this book, it was of vital significance in how the book enormouslywar played out.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099551926</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Giles Milton3756228711|title=WolframCDC: The Boy Who Went To War|rating=4.5|genre=Biography|summary=Giles Milton's daughter was set the task of designing an heraldic shield which represented the most important elements of her family's history. Aware that one of her grandparents is German she included the only German symbol which she knew: happy years with a Swastika. It was this incident, which was an awkward mixture of funny and disquieting which brought about 'Wolfram: The Boy Who Went To War'. Itspectacular IT 's the story of Giles' father-in-law, Wolfram Aïchele, who was nine years old when Hitler came to power and who found himself caught up in a situation which was none of his making and didnPhenomena't accord with his own beliefs. He was a man who wanted to be a sculptor or to paint, but he was forced to become a soldier.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0340837888</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Dudley Green|title=Patrick Bronte: Father of GeniusHans Bodmer|rating=4.5

|summary=There have been many biographies about Charlotte Brontë and her siblings, but very little about their father. It is tempting to speculate whether he would be quite so deserving ''The history of one if he had not been the father development of such a famous family. Yet Dudley Green, a retired Classics teacher, has demonstrated here that he did lead an interesting life himself. Born in rural Ireland in 1777, he spent his early years there before arriving in England in 1802 and settled in Yorkshire seven years later, where he remained the rest IT could fill books of his daysseveral hundred pages.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0752454455</amazonuk>}}''

{{newreview|author=Edward B Barbier|title=Scarcity and Frontiers: How Economies Have Developed Through Natural Resource Exploitation|rating=5|genre=History|summary=Scarcity and Frontiers Author Hans Bodmer is an ambitious, fascinating book quite right about that examines how . He has chosen to tell us about the world's economies have developed by exploiting natural resources. Throughout short, but explosive, historyof the Control Data Company, states have responded to natural resource scarcity by developing new frontiersCDC, hence the titlefor whom he worked. The book begins with the development of agriculture along the banks of the Nile and runs right through to the present dayIt's a fascinating tale, finally questioning whether we are entering told in a new era mixture of natural resource scarcitytechnological summary and wry anecdote.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0521701651</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=John Ashdown-HillJeremy Dronfield and David Ziggy Greene|title=The Last Days of Richard IIIFritz and Kurt

|genre=HistoryConfident Readers|summary=The controversy surrounding King Richard III We start with the pair of brothers Fritz and Kurt, and their muckers, doing things any Jewish lad in 1930s Vienna would want to do – kicking things around the empty market place, helping the neighbours, being dutiful when it comes to the synagogue choir and at a vocational school. Kurt has meant that there have been far more biographies about him than to make sure the lamps are turned on any other pre-Tudor monarchat their very Orthodox neighbours' each Friday night – the Sabbath preventing them for using anything nearly as mechanical and workmanlike as a light switch. But this is the time just before the Austrian leader is going to cave to Hitler's will, and instead of having a national vote to keep the Nazis out, some extremely partisan invite them in exonerating him 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 crimes laid younger Kurt at home with his doormother and sisters anxious to hear word of an evacuation to Britain or the US, some (a minoritywhile Fritz and his father are, it seems) more than keen unknown initially to endorse each other, packed off on the Shakespearean portrait of a fiend in human shape, same train to Buchenwald and others steering a middle coursethe stone quarry there. And us wondering how the titular event for the adult variant of all this could come about…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0752454048</amazonuk>024156574X

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Helen RappaportJohn Henry Phillips|title=Ekaterinburg: The Last Days of the RomanovsSearch

|summary=The city Archaeology cannot be child's play, when you're scraping in the dirt looking to find what you can find, often knowing there should be something there but not always confident what. Archaeology must be a fair bit harder when you set out to find some specific thing. This book is a case of Ekaterinburg was once regarded the latter, as imperial Russia's gateway our author promises to locate the topic of the easttitular search. In 1918 And he really hasn't made it became symbolic with easy for himself – the search area is a wide one of , the most savage executionstarget might not exist any more – oh, or might one say liquidationsand it's underwater, ever recorded in history – the coldwhen he cannot dive. Latching on to a particular D-blooded annihilation of Day veteran through helping the former Tsar Nicholas IIheroic old man's visit back to France, his wife Alexandraour author has promised to find the landing craft that delivered him to Normandy, their childrenand that he was lucky to survive when it sank from beneath him. The secondary aim is to erect a memorial to everyone else aboard, the last remaining servants who had stayed with them vast majority of whom perished. Who else would make such promises to someone in captivity, and their pet dogs.nineties?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0099520095</amazonuk>1472146182

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Paul Farley and Michael Symmons RobertsB09F4CTKJR|title=EdgelandsFlights for Freedom|author= Steven Burgauer

|genre=HistoryHistorical Fiction|summary=Around It's the middle later stages of World War I and the last century and earlier, books about United States has just entered the English countryside seemed very much in vogueconflict. H.V. Morton's 'In Search of England' and associated titles spring readily to mind, but there were Petrol Petronus is a wealth of others, by authors young American who seemed intent on discovering has signed up and joined the land for themselves, sometimes anxious to document it before it 17 Aero Squadron. This company was gone.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0224089021</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Jonathan Clark|title=A World By Itself: A History of the British Isles|rating=4|genre=History|summary=As one who has always felt most at ease with first US Aero Squadron to be trained in Canada, the standard chronological approach first to history, driven by events be attached to the RAF and major personalities, I found the close-on 700 pages of this volume fairly demanding reading in places. It is divided first to be sent into six parts, each by a different contributor with the editor himself writing skies to fight the fourthGermans in active combat. Each part is divided into Material CulturesBut before that can happen, followed by essays on topics (not for all sections) on Religious Cultures; Religion, Nationalism and Identity; and Political and National Cultures. What we have, therefore, is an overview of events from each period, more thorough in some instances than others, and a certain amount of theorizing on Petrol has to master flying the general social, political and even artistic backgroundnotoriously difficult but majestic Sopwith Camel. A straightforward history through the ages – it is not.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0712664963</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Peter Hart0578761718|title=GallipoliThe Inspiring History of a Special Relationship|author=Nancy Carver

|summary=Early The church of St Mary Aldermanbuy had existed in 1915 the Allied Powers attempted to seize the Dardanelles, capture Constantinople and eliminate Turkey, who had joined the Central Powers, City of London from the First World War. The campaign ended in failure and retreatat least 1181, yet for many years when it was portrayed as a brilliant strategy undermined by bad luck and incompetent commandersfirst mentioned in records. Sadly, This painstakingly-researched account shows that this the original church was not destroyed in the caseGreat Fire of London in 1666. It was more rebuilt in Portland stone from a matter of a wild scheme which was poorly planned and doomed from the start, compounding the Allies' problems by diverting large numbers of troops from attacking Germans on the Western Front, where they would arguably have been better employed. In his introduction he calls the eight-month exercise 'an epic tragedy with an incredible heroic resilience displayed design by Sir Christopher Wren soon after the soldiers', yet ultimately 'a futile fire and costly sideshow then survived for all centuries until World War II, when it was again ruined by bombs during the combatantsBlitz.But that wasn' It was a huge drain on Allied military resources, involving nearly half a million troops, with the British Empire losing about 205,000 – 115,000 killed, wounded or missing and 90,000 evacuated sick – while the French lost 47,000, and t the Turkish over 251,000.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846681596</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Patrick Dillon and P J Lynch|title=The Story end of Britain|rating=5|genre=Children's Non-Fiction|summary=Author Patrick Dillon has put together a clear, well-written and beautifully concise its story of Britain, summing up the history of Britain and Ireland in : after a little over 320 pages. Significant eventsphenomenal fundraising effort, ranging from the Norman Conquest to the South Sea Bubble, and groups of people ranging stones from highwaymen to the Romantic poets, are each dealt with in between 1 and 3 pages written in Dillonchurch's chattywalls were transported to Fulton, easy to read styleMissouri. There are also maps, including those in the grounds of Westminster College, the D-Day landings church was rebuilt and the Civil War battles, today serves as a timeline for each major period (Middle Ages, Tudors, Stuarts, Georgians, Victorians and Twentieth Century) and some gorgeous illustrations by former Kate Greenaway winner PJ Lynch.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1406311928</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Edward Pearce|title=Pitt the Elder: Man of War|rating=3.5|genre=Biography|summary=William Pitt the Elder, 1st Earl of Chatham, and Prime Minister from 1766 memorial to 1768, has come down to us through the ages as the great eighteenth century equivalent of Winston Churchill, one of the great men of the British Empire in its earlier days, and the man who led England triumphantly through the Seven Years War of 1756-63. During the 'year of victories' in 1759, Quebec was captured, the combined English and Prussian forces defeated the French at Minden, and the army won a famous victory at Quiberon Bay. For this, Pitt took – or was accorded by generations of historians – much of the credit.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1845951433</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Tony Judt1784385166|title=The Memory ChaletThird Reich in 100 Objects: A Material History of Nazi Germany|author=Roger Moorhouse

|summary=If you are inclined What is the first image that comes to take your cues from the weekly reviews, as the witty poet Gavin Ewart once expressed the matter, mind when you will doubtless find currently articles as varied as; Russell Brand predicting the imminent decline think of the BBC, various interpretations Third Reich? Hitler? A swastika? The Nazi salute? The gate to a concentration camp? None of liberalism and how these struggle for expression in Coalition Government policy. There are concerns too about the legislation governing the internet and references back to the Sixties battles between, on the one hand, the unbridled self-expression comfortable images but they are emblematic of the free market and, on the other, the virtues of self-restraint Third Reich's fascist regime in such matters as the re-examination of the Lady Chatterley trial, now fifty years agoall its iniquity. An unusual But some objects and quite intriguing bookimages from that time may be less familiar to you. In this short volume, Death of a Pirate, about Roger Moorhouse has attempted to illustrate the development period of intellectual property and piracy in radio touches on all these contemporary concerns in a dramatic way. It combines the history Third Reich through one hundred of modern broadcasting with a crime story and consequent trialits material artefacts.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0393068609</amazonuk> 

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Mary BeardLun Zhang, Adrien Gombeaud, Ameziane and Edward Gauvin (translator)|title=PompeiiTiananmen 1989: The Life of a Roman TownOur Shattered Hopes

|genre=HistoryGraphic Novels|summary=The introduction does not spare I never really followed the reader events of Tiananmen Square with much attention when it was playing out – someone in the horror second half of a volcanic (Vesuvius) eruption in the year 79 CEtheir teens has other priorities, you know. As I certainly didn't know of the local residents literally ran for their lives clutching what they could easily carry weeks of protests and hunger strikes from the students before the massacre and the birth of the Tank Man image, I didn' ... t know how the area had long been a deadly, burning combination of gasesvenue for political protest, volcanic debris and molten rock travelling at huge speed ...I didn' leaves t know more than a spit about the reader with an horrific mental imagepeople involved on either side. All that last minute panicking was This book is practically flawless in giving a general browser's context for the whole season of protests back in vain. No one could survive such an onslaught. Nature at her very worst indeed1989.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1846684714</amazonuk>1684056993

 [[Category:History]]{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Simon Garfield0648684806|title=Just My TypeClara Colby: A Book About Fonts|rating=4.5|genre=Humour|summary=A quality typeface is a bit like a good referee at a football match in that you only really notice them if something has gone wrong. A referee is there to facilitate the players on the pitch, not to be the star of the show (though watching Match of the Day these past few weeks you'd often beg to differ). So it is with typefaces. A good type helps the reader, enhances the flow and makes the viewing experience easy and simple. Well sort of.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846683017</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewThe International Suffragist|author=Simone de Beauvoir|title=The Second SexJohn Holliday

|genre=HistoryBiography|summary=This book The path of Clara Dorothy Bewick's life was probably determined when her family emigrated to the USA. At the time she was first published just three-years-old but because of some childhood ailment, she wasn't allowed to sail with her parents and three brothers. Instead, she remained with her grandparents, who doted on her and saw that she received a good education, both in France and out of school. She was the only child in the late 1940s household and her childhood was an instant successglorious. Much praise is heaped upon it as we see from By contrast, her family had become pioneer farmers in the back cover; but mid-west of the line which resonates with meUnited States and life was hard, is simply as Clara was to find out when she and her grandparents eventually went to join the family. 'The Second Sex is required reading Clara would only know her mother for anyone who believes in equality.' I happily put my hand up a few months: she was married for that onefifteen years, speakinghad ten pregnancies, as it happens - as a 'second sex' individualseven surviving children and died in childbirth not long after Clara arrived. It struck me that wouldn't it be interesting to also have As the eldest girl, a male reviewer give this book his thorough heavy burden would fall on Clara and undivided attention?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>009949938X</amazonuk>Wisconsin was a rude awakening.

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Natalie Haynes1783784350|title=The Ancient Guide to Modern LifeThis Golden Fleece: A Journey Through Britain's Knitted History|author=Esther Rutter|rating=45

|summary=Haynes starts with the positive statement that we shouldn't throw the subject of ancient history straight It was December and Esther Rutter was stuck in the binher office job, so writing to speakpeople she'd never met and preparing spreadsheets. We should instead embrace itThe job frustrated her and even her knitting did not soothe her mind. It has lots January was going to tell us if only we would listen. Chapter 1 entitled ''Old World Order'' certainly grabbed my attention with the line ... 'Can politicians really make be a positive difference to our lives ...' In 2010 when the role of politicians is at an all-time low in for making changes and she decided that she would travel the eyes length and breadth of the votersBritish Isles with occasional forays abroad, this is an excellent question to kick off with. We zoom right back in time discovering and telling the story of wool's history and explore how it had made and changed the Athenians livedlandscape. Apparently they were rather forwardShe'd grown up on a sheep farm in Suffolk -thinking and progressive people with ideas which could easily be put into use today. They also enjoyed true democracy. When Haynes was talking about politics generally I liked another sweeping statement of hers where she says ' ... that history teaches us we could offer our politicians ' a hefty pay cut free-range child on the farm'' - and learned to spin, knit and still get plenty of perfectly competent candidatesweave from her mother and her mother's friend.' My inner voice This was shouting out - make an immediate start on that one please. I won't spoil all the delicious details which led up to this attention-grabbing statement but it really is food for thoughtin her blood.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846683238</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Patricia Malcolmson and Robert Malcolmson (Editors)1789017977|title=Nella Last in the 1950sRonnie and Hilda's Romance: The Further Diaries of Housewife, 49Towards a New Life after World War II|author=Wendy Williams

|summary=Nella Last wrote Ronnie Williams was the son of Thomas Henry Williams (known as Harry) and Ethel Wall. There's some doubt as to whether or not they were ever married or even Harry's birthdate: he claimed to have been born in 1863, but he was already many years older than Ethel and he might well have shaved a regular diary for twenty-seven few yearsoff his age. Two previous volumes, also edited by Patricia and Robert Malcolmson, deal with For a while the family was quite well-to-do but disaster struck in the Second World War 1929 Depression and immediate [[Nella Last's Peace: The Postfive-war Diaries of Housewife 49 by Patricia Malcolmson (Editor), Robert Malcolmson (Editor)|postyear-War years]]old Ronnie had to adjust to a very different lifestyle. Now One thing he did inherit from his father was his need to be well-turned-out and this third book starts would stay with selections from 1950 and covers four years of social change as Britain moves into him throughout his life. He joined the reign of Elizabeth IIarmy at eighteen in 1942.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846683505</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Kwame Anthony Appiah1980891117|title=The Honor CodeG Engleheart Pinxit 1805: How Moral Revolutions HappenA year in the life of George Engleheart|author=John Webley|rating=34.5|genre=HistoryArt|summary=In George Engleheart was one of the Preface, Appiah believes that morality is an extremely important area of our lives as we live them today. He goes on by saying that it's all very well thinking about morality - our morals - our own code leading portrait miniaturists of living - but it's the ultimate action which truly matters. WellGeorgian London, I would certainly agree with thata career lasting from the 1770s to the Regency era. And as Appiah digs deeper into his subject, he tells his readers that he He was struck by similarities between, for example, ''the collapse also one of the duelmost prolific, the abandonment painting nearly 5,000 miniatures altogether (over twenty of footbinding, the end them being of Atlantic slaveryKing George III).'' In the following chapters Throughout most of that time he debates carefully recorded the issues names of those three major areas each of morality. They werehis clients, in short, moral issues on a very large scaleand subsequently transcribed them into what is referred to as his fee book.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0393071626</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Robert Temple1789016304|title=Egyptian DawnWar and Love: Exposing the Real Truth Behind Ancient EgyptA family's testament of anguish, endurance and devotion in occupied Amsterdam|author=Melanie Martin|rating=3.5

|summary=This is latest book Melanie Martin read about what happened to Dutch Jews in occupied Amsterdam during World War II and was entranced by what she discovered, particularly in ''The Diary of Ann Frank'' but then realised that her own family's stories were equally fascinating. A hundred and seven thousand Jews were deported from Robert Temple in which he documents new theories on the Ancient Egyptians. There are some startling claims in city during the bookwar years, but only five thousand survived and Martin could not least regarding understand how this could be allowed to happen in a country with liberal values who were resistant to German occupation. Most people believed that the Pharaoh occupation could never happen: even those who built thought that the Great Pyramid and Germans might reach the proposal city were convinced that there were in fact two Egyptian civilisations they would soon be pushed back, that existed alongside each other the Amsterdammers would never allow what happened to escalate in different parts of Egypt. If the author is correct in all of his assertions then way that it would certainly point to did, but initial protests melted away as the location organisers became more circumspect. It's an atrocity on a vast scale but made up of tens of thousands of amazing new archaeological discoveries and shine a new perspective on how we view the Ancient Egyptians and the Pyramidsindividual tragedies.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>071268414X</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Roy Vickery1908745819|title=Garlands, Conkers and Mother-Die: British and Irish Plant-LoreSurfacing|author=Kathleen Jamie

|summary=For many centuriesSometimes when people suggest that you read a certain book, plants have they tell you ''this one has your name on it''. Mostly we take them at their word, or not only had practical uses as food, remedies, textiles and dyes, but have also symbolic and folkloric meaning in many different culturesrarely do we ask them why they thought so unless it turns out that we didn't like the book. The term That''plant-lore'' has been coined s a rare experience. People who are sensitive to describe the profusion of the customs and beliefs associated with plantshearing a book calling your name, and rarely get it wrong. In this book gathers together many case, I was told why. The blurb speaks of the plant-lore traditions of Britain and Ireland.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1441101950</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Paul Mathieu|title=The Masters considering ''an older, less tethered sense of Manton: From Alec Taylor to George Todd|rating=4herself.5|genre=History|summary='Manton' is one Older. Less tethered. That's not a bad description of where I am. Add to that my love of the natural world, of those iconic names in horse racing: the yard on the edge aspects of the Marlborough Downs in Wiltshire poetic and lyrical that are about style not form, and currently the home substance most of trainer Brian Meehanall, about connection. But Paul Mathieu isn't looking at what's happening todayOf course, or even in the recent past; he's looking back at the men who made Manton a household this book had my name from when the yard on it. It was built in 1870 through written for me. It would have found its way to George Todd's death in 1974me eventually. The first master was Alec Taylor – generally known as 'Old Alec Taylor', who came I am pleased to Manton from Fyfield with a string of classic winners to his name. He, his son, 'Young Alec', Joe Lawson and George Todd were the great names in just over a century at the yardhave it fall onto my path so quickly.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0955389402</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Geert Mak0857058320|title=An Island in Time: The Biography of a VillageLord Of All the Dead|author=Javier Cercas and Anne McLean (translator)

|summary=In ''Lord Of All the Dead'' is a journey to uncover the mid 1990s journalist author's lost ancestor's life and author Geert Mak returned to death. Cercas is searching for the meaning behind his native Friesland and took up residence great uncle's death in the village of JorwertSpanish Civil War. His aim was to investigate the quiet revolution going on in Manuel Mena, Cercas' great uncle, is the agrarian communities not just of Holland but of figure who looms large over the whole of Europebook.  This wasn't going to be an outsiderHe died relatively young whilst fighting for Francisco Franco's viewforces. Cercas ruminates on why his uncle fought for this dictator. Mak grew up in The question at the northern Dutch province; he spoke the language; he knew the games and understood centre of this book is whether it is possible for his great uncle to be a hero whilst having fought for the people. In a very real sense Mak was going home… and finding that it scarcely existed any morewrong side.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099546868</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Ian Mortimer0008294011|title=Medieval IntrigueHow to Lose a Country: Decoding Royal ConspiraciesThe 7 Steps from Democracy to Dictatorship|author=Ece Temelkuran|rating=4.5

|summary=Over the last few A little while ago a friend asked me if I thought that we were living through what in years Dr Mortimer has established himself as one of to come would be discussed by A level history students when faced with the foremost writers of British historical biography covering question ''Discuss the 14th and early 15th centuriesfactors which led to... '' However his previous books have been quite accessible I agreed that she was right and wasn't certain whether it was a good or bad thing that we didn't know what all 'this' was leading to the general as well as the scholarly reader. This present volume is aimed more at the latter audience, assuming as it does a detailed knowledge of King Edward II and his successorsI think now that I do know. This is hinted at in his introduction, We are in which he points out that 'history is the most conservative danger of all professions, losing democracy and whilst it's a radical historian is generally branded flawed system I can't think of a maverick by better one, particularly as the mainstream'benevolent dictator' is as rare as hen's teeth.'|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847065899</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Daniel Swift1788037812|title=Bomber CountyThe Fraternity of the Estranged: The Fight for Homosexual Rights in England, 1891-1908|author=Brian Anderson|rating=45

|summary=Bomber County isOriginally passed in 1885, of course, Lincolnshire where squadrons of Beaufighters, Wellingtons, Halifaxes and Lancasters were huddled the law that had made homosexual relations a crime remained in hangars place for combined raids against enemy targets in German occupied Europe82 years. But during this time, restrictions on same-sex relationships did not go unchallenged. As Between 1891 and 1908, three books on the war progressed the targets escalatednature of homosexuality appeared. They were written by two homosexual men: Edward Carpenter and John Addington Symonds, from attacks against as well as the German Fleet, heterosexual Havelock Ellis. Exploring the industrial complex margins of society and studying homosexuality was common on the Ruhr and laterEuropean Continent, with but barely talked about in the aim of breaking enemy moraleUK, so the targets included publications of these men were hugely significant – contributing to the cities - including Hamburg, Berlinscientific understanding of homosexuality, Dresden and Cologne. Night after night, crews already warmly dressed in jerseys and thick woollen socks zipped themselves into flying suits and made their way towards beginning the enemy coast. Conditions were cramped struggle for recognition and equality, leading to the temperatures plummeted as they gained altitude flying by the light milestone legalisation of the moon to their appointed destinationssame-sex relationships in 1967.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0241144175</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Richard Tarnas1910593508|title=The Passion of the Western Mind: Understanding the Ideas That Have Shaped Our World ViewApollo|author=Matt Fitch, Chris Baker and Mike Collins

|summary=With plaudits such as 'Ten years in This incredible graphic novel is a love letter to the making' Moon landings and a 'US Bestseller'the passion for the subject drips off every Apollo by Matt Fitch, this book has serious pedigreeChris Baker and Mike Collins. It This is a serious book story we know well and because of this, the authors take a few narrative shortcuts knowing that we can fill in content also. At its very heart is the link between the disciplines of philosophy, religion and scienceblanks. Small sentence, huge implications, I'm thinking right at These shortcuts are the outset. Where only downside to begin? Well, all the chapters are usefully sub-divided into bite-sized piecesbook. So, although this If you've ever read a comic book may look daunting to some at first glance, adaptation of a film you will be familiar with the subject matter can be broken down very easilyslight feeling that there are scenes missing and that dialogue has been trimmed. Therefore, it starts with This is a section headed 'The Greek World View' and graphic novel that could easily have been three times as many might expect, covers Socrates, Plato long and Homerstill felt too short.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184595162X</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Jonathan Phillips1786331047|title=Holy WarriorsThe Race to Save the Romanovs: A Modern History of The Truth Behind the CrusadesSecret Plans to Rescue Russia's Imperial Family|author=Helen Rappaport|rating=45

|summary=In this book, drawing on a wealth The basic facts about the deaths of contemporary sources including chronicles, songs, sermons, travel diaries Nicholas and peace treatiesAlexandra, as well as the existing literature from earlier generations, Phillips explores in depth the contradictions and the diversity some of holy war, of friendships and alliances between Christians and Muslims, which were deliberately obscured at the launches of crusades against Christians, and calls time for jihads against Muslims. In doing so he has written what is not so much a general historyvarious reasons, but had vividly brought to life a rich tapestry of figures and events, while devoting equal attention in his narrative to the Christian and Islamic point of viewhave long since been established. This traces the crusading impulse from For the conquest last few months of Jerusalem their lives in Russia the First Crusadeformer Tsar and Tsarina, launched by Pope Urban II in France their children and few remaining servants were held in 1095increasingly squalid, to todayhumiliating captivity. To prevent them from being rescued, and in July 1918 the process helps us revolutionary regime had them all shot and bayoneted to understand the origins of some of the sensitivities death in circumstances which have led to many of , once the conflicts still raging news was confirmed beyond all doubt, horrified their relatives in the world todayEurope.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184595078X</amazonuk>

{{newreview|author=Martin Davidson|title=The Perfect Nazi: Uncovering My SS Grandfather's Secret Past and How Hitler Seduced a Generation|rating=4.5|genre=History|summary=Meet Martin Davidson. Now, when I start my reviews like that, normally it means he's the main character, but he's not here. He's big in the world of BBC History documentaries, and grew up in the UK, half Scottish and half German, knowing that many of his older relatives lived through the Second World War. Foremost among them was his German grandfather, Bruno Langbehn, who would have been of fighting age - in his 30s - during the Third Reich. Nothing much was ever said about Bruno's own history during the war, except for many inflammatory, rising comments by Bruno himself. It took the old man to die for the truth to be admitted by Martin's mother - their forefather was in the SS.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0670916161</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Robert Darnton|title=The Case for Books: Past, Present, and Future|rating=4|genre=History|summary=Reading a book, whether for study or relaxation, in the sitting room, in bed, Move on public transport, or almost anywhere else, has been one of everybody's favourite activities for many a long year, and not just by visitors and contributors to this site. (Therein lies a paradox, I hear you say). As Darnton points out in his introduction, the good old-fashioned book was not destroyed by newspapers (or magazines, for that matter), any more than television destroyed radio, or the internet made people abandon TV.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>158648902X</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=John Keegan|title=The American Civil War|rating=4|genre=History|summary=While before reading this book I considered myself to be vaguely familiar with the major facts about the American Civil War – the fight to liberate the slaves, the well-known battles, and the towering figures such as Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S Grant, [[Newest Home and Robert E Lee – I was keen to learn more about the war and get an in-depth view of it from a renowned historian. After finishing the book, I certainly consider myself to be far better informed on the military, and tactical, side of things, but found it a little lacking in certain other areas such as the causes and effects.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0712616101</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=David Howarth|title=We Die Alone|rating=5|genre=Biography|summary=Consider taking a five day sail in a small fishing boat the height of the North Sea from Shetland, to try and establish, train and supply some potentially vital anti-German resistance in the far, far north of occupied Norway, your homeland. Imagine the sight of heavy naval parades where you intended to land, as galling proof that your intel is ages out of date. Ponder too the fact that you get reported to the Nazis due to the most ridiculous slight of fortune. All your colleagues are dead or captured, your equipment blown up with your trawler to keep it safe from Jerry hands, half your big toe has been shot off, and you're forced to go on the run in one of Europe's last, and coldest, wildernesses. And you have no idea whatsoever quite how bad this scenario is going to get.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847678459</amazonuk>}}Family Reviews]]