Changes

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Alison Weir, Kate Williams, Sarah Gristwood and Tracy BormanJacqueline Rose|title=The Ring and the Crown: A History of Royal Weddings 1066-2011Women in Dark Times

|genre=HistoryBiography|summary=The Ring and the Crown is a look at almost a thousand years of royal weddings, at how they've changed and how, in many ways, they've remained the same. Generally the weddings are of kings, queens or heirs to the throne but sometimes there's a glimpse The world of how the minor royals have managed their nuptials. The book unconscious is lavishly illustrated and is probably as un-put-downable as anything which is basically a history book.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0091943779</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Shrabani Basu|title=Victoria and Abdul: The True Story of the Queen's Closest Confidant|rating=4.5|genre=History|summary=Abdul Karim was a 24-year-old assistant clerk at Agra Jail when he was granted not the opportunity antagonist of a lifetime – to leave Indiapolitical life, travel to England and find employment as personal attendant to the great Empress herselfbut its steadfast companion, Queen Victoria. Within a year of her employing him and his introducing her to the delights of curry, she promoted him. He would no longer be a mere servant, and henceforth he was now her teacher and clerk, hidden place or Munshi, with responsibility for instructing her in Indian affairs and the Urdu language. To the dismay and ill-concealed anger of nearly all her family and household, he suddenly became one of the most conspicuous figures in the royal entourage.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0752458531</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Keith Hopkins and Mary Beard|title=The Colosseum|rating=4.5|genre=History|summary=The Colosseum is the most famous and instantly recognisable monument to have survived from the classical world. Most readily associated with the gladiatorial games and contests between the Christians and the lions so beloved by imperial Rome, it originally held over 50,000 spectators, a number now completely dwarfed by the four million or more visitors who come each year.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846684706</amazonuk>}}backdrop where any true revolution must begin…''

{{newreview|author=Richard Jenkyns|title=Westminster Abbey: A Thousand Years of National Pageantry|rating=4.5|genre=History|summary=Few if any buildings Women in Britain personify Dark Times is Jacqueline Rose's homage to courageous women throughout history, particularly women of the 21st, 20th and are steeped in so much19th centuries. Her historical and political backdrop is, thus, as Westminster Abbey. As the author says in his introductionexpansive, yet she navigates it is the most complex church in the world in terms of not only history but also functions with intelligence and memories, perhaps the most complex building of any kind. In this compact paperback history, an updated edition of acknowledgment that feminism's lengthy mission is a hardback first published in 2004testament to its successes, he tells the story very readably from and not its foundation by Edward failures: ''the Confessor in the 11th century to the preparations for the wedding ongoing force of Kate Middleton and Prince William in 2011feminism''.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1846685346</amazonuk>1804271713

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Alan TitchmarshMary McCarthy|title=When I Was A NipperMemories of a Catholic Girlhood

|genre=HistoryAutobiography|summary=ThereMary McCarthy describes herself as an ''s something about Alan Titchmarsh that you canamateur architect't help liking. He's got a wry sense of humour, seems unfailingly positive and, best obsessively digging into the past to piece together the broken mosaic of all, was born in my home town of Ilkleyher life. You really can't get much better than that, now can you? She attributes her 'When I Was A Nipper' is a look not just at his life burning interest in the fifties (although there past''is'' a lot about him) but about to her orphanhood, as she lacked any second-hand memories from her parents, who died in the way that things were then1918 flu epidemic. ThereThis memoir chronicles her early years, beginning with her orphanhood in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she lived under the harsh guardianship of her late father's an unspoken question about what we can learn from how we lived then Irish Catholic parents and her abusive Uncle Myers and how we can apply this Aunt Margaret. Later, she moved to our lives today. It's pure nostalgia only lightly seasoned Seattle to live with her maternal grandparents—her grandmother being Jewish and her grandfather Presbyterian—who provided her with the reality a different kind of outside privies and harsh working conditionsupbringing.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>184990152X</amazonuk>1804271659

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Rodric Braithwaite1785633457|title=AfgantsyCharging Around: The Russians in Afghanistan, 1979-89Exploring the Edges of England by Electric Car|author=Clive Wilkinson|rating=45|genre=HistoryTravel|summary=In 1979, the Soviet Union decided to move into Afghanistan, and special forces killed the Afghan president. What was initially planned as Clive Wilkinson has a fairly modest expedition which would see them stabilise the government, train up the army and police, and then withdraw within history of travelling by unconventional means with a year, turned into a war lasting nearly a decade which left both preference for slow travel. As he neared his eightieth birthday the Russian army and the Afghan civilians counting idea of exploring the cost edges of the intervention and with their lives changed foreverEngland in an electric car was not totally outrageous. What went wrongIn fact, and why has Afghanistan proved such it should be a difficult place pleasant holiday for foreign powers – ranging from the British in the 19th centuryClive and his wife, to the Russians in this bookJoan, to the current armies engaged in the country – to get any sort of footholdshouldn't it?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846680549</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Stephanie WilliamsB09BLBP3P8|title=Running the ShowNeville Chamberlain's War: Governors of the British Empire 1857How Great Britain Opposed Hitler, 1939-19121940|author=Frederic Seager

|summary=For some, Received wisdom and simplified narrative often lead to misconceptions about history. One such is the scrubbing from the glory days popular imagination of the British Empire were the closing years early days of World War II from 1939-40, known as the Victorian era ''Phoney War''. We remember Neville Chamberlain appeasing Hitler, war breaking out, and Churchill coming in to save the 19th centuryday. Government ministers Very little time is spent on this period in Londoncultural reflections and yet, and doubtless Queen Victoria herselfas Frederic Seager argues in this book, would glance at a map it was of the world and bask vital significance in reflected glory at the generous expanses of land coloured red, 'the empire where the sun never sets', to use how the old clichéwar played out.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0670918040</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Duff Hart-Davis3756228711|title=CDC: The War That Never Washappy years with a spectacular IT 'Phenomena'|author=Hans Bodmer

|summary=In the 1960's, an Egyptian general with delusions of grandeur is trying to conquer the Arab world, starting with Yemen. The new Imam, having previously disobeyed the general's orders to assassinate his own father, has fled to the hills. The British are wary history of getting officially involved so turn to more subtle channels. Jim Johnson, an underwriter at Lloyd's who claims to have been arrested for attempted murder at the tender age development of IT could fill books of 8 when he attacked an Italian maid abusing a cat, is the man asked to run a secret operationseveral hundred pages. His response? 'I've nothing particular to do in the next few days. I might have a go.' Putting together a team of mercenaries, he sends them to Yemen to fight what will become, as the subtitle of the book states, Britain's most secret battle.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846058252</amazonuk>}}

{{newreview|author=Adrian Tinniswood|title=Pirates Of Barbary: Corsairs, Conquests and Captivity in the 17th-Century Mediterranean|rating=5|genre=History|summary=In the early 17th century the North African coast was a particularly dangerous place to sail near due Author Hans Bodmer is quite right about that. He has chosen to tell us about the prevalence short, but explosive, history of pirates there ready to plunder the cargo of shipsControl Data Company, CDC, for whom he worked. In this truly captivating account author Adrian Tinnisworth looks at these corsairs – focusing on Englishmen such as John WardIt's a fascinating tale, who became so renowned that plays about him told in a mixture of technological summary and Dutchman Simon Danseker managed to outsellKing Lear!|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099523868</amazonuk>wry anecdote.

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Charles EmmersonJeremy Dronfield and David Ziggy Greene|title=The Future History of the Arctic: How climate, resources and geopolitics are reshaping the north, Fritz and why it matters to the worldKurt

|genre=HistoryConfident Readers|summary=Charles Emmerson examines We start with the past history pair of Arctic explorationbrothers Fritz and Kurt, economic exploitation and development and their muckers, doing things any Jewish lad in 1930s Vienna would want to do – kicking things around the policies of governments of countries which include Arctic territory (and others)empty market place, with helping the aim of understanding neighbours, being dutiful when it comes to the present synagogue choir and predicting at a vocational school. Kurt has to make sure the lamps are turned on at their very Orthodox neighbours' each Friday night – the future betterSabbath preventing them for using anything nearly as mechanical and workmanlike as a light switch. He explains But this is the apparently contradictory title in some detail in time just before the Introduction. While history Austrian leader is about going to cave to Hitler's will, and instead of having a national vote to keep the pastNazis out, invite them in with open arms. ''ideas about Kristallnacht'' happened in Vienna just as much as in Germany, as did all the future have changed over time'round-ups of Jews. Also These in their turn leave the younger Kurt at home with his mother and sisters anxious to hear word of an evacuation to Britain or the US, while Fritz and his father are, unknown initially to each other, packed off on the future of same train to Buchenwald and the Arctic will be shaped by its historystone quarry there. And us wondering how the titular event for the adult variant of all this could come about…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0099523531</amazonuk>024156574X

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Alex ButterworthJohn Henry Phillips|title=The World That Never Was: A True Story of Dreamers, Schemers, Anarchists and Secret AgentsSearch|rating=4.5

|summary=In deciding Archaeology cannot be child's play, when you're scraping in the dirt looking to write about political upheaval across Europefind what you can find, including Russia, Alex Butterworth has chosen often knowing there should be something there but not always confident what. Archaeology must be a massive topic for this entertaining fair bit harder when you set out to find some specific thing. This book. So massiveis a case of the latter, in fact, that when I tried reading it without first looking through as our author promises to locate the pen pictures at the start topic of the main players I was quickly completely losttitular search. My mistake And he really hasn't made it easy for himself – the shortsearch area is a wide one, sharpthe target might not exist any more – oh, pen picturesand it's underwater, when he cannot dive. Latching on to a particular D-Day veteran through helping the heroic old man's visit back to France, our author has promised to find the landing craft that delivered him to Normandy, which cover sixteen pages and detail all 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 major anarchists and secret agents are completely invaluable and helped my reading vast majority of the book enormouslywhom perished.Who else would make such promises to someone in their nineties?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0099551926</amazonuk>1472146182

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Giles MiltonB09F4CTKJR|title=Wolfram: The Boy Who Went To WarFlights for Freedom|author= Steven Burgauer

|genre=BiographyHistorical Fiction|summary=Giles MiltonIt's daughter was set the task later stages of designing an heraldic shield which represented World War I and the most important elements of her family's historyUnited States has just entered the conflict. Aware that one of her grandparents Petrol Petronus is German she included a young American who has signed up and joined the only German symbol which she knew: a Swastika17 Aero Squadron. It This company was this incident, which was an awkward mixture of funny and disquieting which brought about 'Wolfram: The Boy Who Went To War'. It's the story of Giles' father-first US Aero Squadron to be trained in-lawCanada, Wolfram Aïchele, who was nine years old when Hitler came the first to be attached to power the RAF and who found himself caught up in a situation which was none of his making and didn't accord with his own beliefs. He was a man who wanted the first to be a sculptor or sent into the skies to paintfight the Germans in active combat. But before that can happen, Petrol has to master flying the notoriously difficult but he was forced to become a soldiermajestic Sopwith Camel.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0340837888</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Dudley Green0578761718|title=Patrick Bronte: Father The Inspiring History of Geniusa Special Relationship|author=Nancy Carver

|summary=There have been many biographies about Charlotte Brontë and her siblingsThe church of St Mary Aldermanbuy had existed in the City of London from at least 1181, but very little about their fatherwhen it was first mentioned in records. Sadly, the original church was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666. It is tempting to speculate whether he would be quite so deserving of one if he had not been was rebuilt in Portland stone from a design by Sir Christopher Wren soon after the fire and then survived for centuries until World War II, when it was again ruined by bombs during the Blitz. But that wasn't the father end of such its story: after a famous family. Yet Dudley Greenphenomenal fundraising effort, a retired Classics teacherthe stones from the church's walls were transported to Fulton, has demonstrated here that he did lead an interesting life himselfMissouri. Born in rural Ireland in 1777There, he spent his early years there before arriving in England in 1802 and settled in Yorkshire seven years laterthe grounds of Westminster College, where he remained the rest of his dayschurch was rebuilt and today serves as a memorial to Winston Churchill.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0752454455</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Edward B Barbier1784385166|title=Scarcity and FrontiersThe Third Reich in 100 Objects: How Economies Have Developed Through Natural Resource ExploitationA Material History of Nazi Germany|author=Roger Moorhouse

|summary=Scarcity and Frontiers What is an ambitious, fascinating book the first image that examines how comes to mind when you think of the Third Reich? Hitler? A swastika? The Nazi salute? The gate to a concentration camp? None of these are comfortable images but they are emblematic of the worldThird Reich's economies have developed by exploiting natural resourcesfascist regime in all its iniquity. But some objects and images from that time may be less familiar to you. Throughout historyIn this short volume, states have responded Roger Moorhouse has attempted to natural resource scarcity by developing new frontiersillustrate the period of the Third Reich through one hundred of its material artefacts. }}{{Frontpage|author=Lun Zhang, hence the Adrien Gombeaud, Ameziane and Edward Gauvin (translator)|title=Tiananmen 1989: Our Shattered Hopes|rating=4. The book begins 5|genre=Graphic Novels|summary=I never really followed the events of Tiananmen Square with much attention when it was playing out – someone in the development second half of their teens has other priorities, you know. I certainly didn't know of agriculture along the banks weeks of protests and hunger strikes from the students before the Nile massacre and runs right through to the present daybirth of the Tank Man image, I didn't know how the area had long been a venue for political protest, finally questioning whether we are entering and I didn't know more than a spit about the people involved on either side. This book is practically flawless in giving a new era general browser's context for the whole season of natural resource scarcityprotests back in 1989.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0521701651</amazonuk>1684056993

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=John Ashdown-Hill0648684806|title=Clara Colby: The Last Days of Richard IIIInternational Suffragist|author=John Holliday

|genre=HistoryBiography|summary=The controversy surrounding King Richard III has meant path of Clara Dorothy Bewick's life was probably determined when her family emigrated to the USA. At the time she was 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 there have been far more biographies about him than on any other pre-Tudor monarchshe received a good education, some extremely partisan both in exonerating him and out of school. She was the crimes laid at his dooronly child in the household and her childhood was glorious. By contrast, some (a minorityher family had become pioneer farmers in the mid-west of the United States and life was hard, it seems) more than keen as Clara was to find out when she and her grandparents eventually went to endorse join the Shakespearean portrait of family. Clara would only know her mother for a fiend few months: she was married for fifteen years, had ten pregnancies, seven surviving children and died in human shapechildbirth not long after Clara arrived. As the eldest girl, a heavy burden would fall on Clara and others steering Wisconsin was a middle courserude awakening.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0752454048</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Helen Rappaport1783784350|title=EkaterinburgThis Golden Fleece: The Last Days of the RomanovsA Journey Through Britain's Knitted History|author=Esther Rutter

|summary=It was December and Esther Rutter was stuck in her office job, writing to people she'd never met and preparing spreadsheets. The city of Ekaterinburg job frustrated her and even her knitting did not soothe her mind. January was once regarded as imperial Russia's gateway going to be a time for making changes and she decided that she would travel the east. In 1918 it became symbolic with one length and breadth of the most savage executionsBritish Isles with occasional forays abroad, or might one say liquidations, ever recorded in discovering and telling the story of wool's history – and how it had made and changed the coldlandscape. She'd grown up on a sheep farm in Suffolk -blooded annihilation of '' a free-range child on the former Tsar Nicholas IIfarm'' - and learned to spin, his wife Alexandra, their children, the last remaining servants who had stayed with them knit and weave from her mother and her mother's friend. This was in captivity, and their pet dogsher blood.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099520095</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Paul Farley and Michael Symmons Roberts1789017977|title=Edgelands|rating=4.5|genre=History|summary=Around the middle of the last century Ronnie and earlier, books about the English countryside seemed very much in vogue. H.V. MortonHilda's 'In Search of England' and associated titles spring readily to mind, but there were Romance: Towards a wealth of others, by authors who seemed intent on discovering the land for themselves, sometimes anxious to document it before it was gone.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0224089021</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewNew Life after World War II|author=Jonathan Clark|title=A World By Itself: A History of the British IslesWendy Williams

|summary=As one who has always felt most at ease with Ronnie Williams was the standard chronological approach son of Thomas Henry Williams (known as Harry) and Ethel Wall. There's some doubt as to historywhether or not they were ever married or even Harry's birthdate: he claimed to have been born in 1863, driven by events but he was already many years older than Ethel and major personalities, I found the close-on 700 pages of this volume fairly demanding reading in placeshe might well have shaved a few years off his age. It is divided into six parts, each by For a different contributor with while the editor himself writing family was quite well-to-do but disaster struck in the fourth. Each part is divided into Material Cultures, followed by essays on topics (not for all sections) on Religious Cultures; Religion, Nationalism 1929 Depression and Identity; and Political and National Culturesfive-year-old Ronnie had to adjust to a very different lifestyle. What we have, therefore, is an overview of events One thing he did inherit from each period, more thorough in some instances than others, his father was his need to be well-turned-out and a certain amount of theorizing on the general social, political and even artistic backgroundthis would stay with him throughout his life. A straightforward history through He joined the ages – it is notarmy at eighteen in 1942.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0712664963</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Peter Hart1980891117|title=GallipoliG Engleheart Pinxit 1805: A year in the life of George Engleheart|author=John Webley

|genre=HistoryArt|summary=Early in 1915 the Allied Powers attempted to seize the Dardanelles, capture Constantinople and eliminate Turkey, who had joined the Central Powers, from the First World War. The campaign ended in failure and retreat, yet for many years it was portrayed as a brilliant strategy undermined by bad luck and incompetent commanders. This painstakingly-researched account shows that this George Engleheart was not the case. It was more a matter one of a wild scheme which was poorly planned and doomed from the start, compounding the Allies' problems by diverting large numbers leading portrait miniaturists of troops from attacking Germans on the Western FrontGeorgian London, 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 by a career lasting from the soldiers', yet ultimately 'a futile and costly sideshow for all 1770s to the combatantsRegency era.' It He was a huge drain on Allied military resourcesalso one of the most prolific, involving painting nearly half a million troops, with the British Empire losing about 2055,000 – 115,000 killed, wounded or missing and 90,000 evacuated sick – while miniatures altogether (over twenty of them being of King George III). Throughout most of that time he carefully recorded the French lost 47,000names of each of his clients, and the Turkish over 251,000subsequently transcribed them into what is referred to as his fee book.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846681596</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Patrick Dillon and P J Lynch1789016304|title=The Story War and Love: A family's testament of Britainanguish, endurance and devotion in occupied Amsterdam|author=Melanie Martin

|genre=Children's Non-FictionHistory|summary=Author Patrick Dillon has put together a clear, well-written Melanie Martin read about what happened to Dutch Jews in occupied Amsterdam during World War II and beautifully concise story of Britainwas entranced by what she discovered, summing up the history particularly in ''The Diary of Britain Ann Frank'' but then realised that her own family's stories were equally fascinating. A hundred and Ireland in a little over 320 pages. Significant events, ranging seven thousand Jews were deported from the Norman Conquest to city during the South Sea Bubblewar years, but only five thousand survived and groups of people ranging from highwaymen Martin could not understand how this could be allowed to the Romantic poets, are each dealt happen in a country with in between 1 and 3 pages written in Dillon's chatty, easy liberal values who were resistant to read styleGerman occupation. There are also maps, including Most people believed that the occupation could never happen: even those of who thought that the D-Day landings and Germans might reach the Civil War battles, a timeline for each major period (Middle Agescity were convinced that they would soon be pushed back, 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 that the Elder: Man of War|rating=3.5|genre=Biography|summary=William Pitt Amsterdammers would never allow what happened to escalate in the Elderway that it did, 1st Earl of Chatham, and Prime Minister from 1766 to 1768, has come down to us through the ages but initial protests melted away 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 1756-63organisers became more circumspect. During the It'year s an atrocity on a vast scale but made up 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 tens of historians – much thousands of the creditindividual tragedies.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1845951433</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Tony Judt1908745819|title=The Memory ChaletSurfacing|author=Kathleen Jamie

|genre=AutobiographyHistory|summary=In 2008 the historian Tony Judt was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosisSometimes when people suggest that you read a certain book, they tell you ''this one has your name on it''. Mostly we take them at their word, or not, a degenerative disorder but rarely do we ask them why they thought so unless it turns out that eventually results in complete paralysis for we didn't like the suffererbook. Unable That's a rare experience. People who are sensitive to jot down ideas as they came to himhearing a book calling your name, Judt had to rely on his memory to hold them until he had the chance to dictate his words to somebody elserarely get it wrong. His memoryIn this case, which I was already good, became exceptionaltold why. The progress blurb speaks of the disorder left Judt unable to moveauthor considering ''an older, but no mental deterioration or lack less tethered sense of sensation occurred, which he describes as herself.'' Older. Less tethered. That's not a mixed blessingbad description of where I am. He had Add to endure whole nights lying in that my love of the same positionnatural world, unable to roll over or even to scratch an itchof those aspects of the poetic and lyrical that are about style not form, and substance most of all, a prisoner in his own bodyabout connection. To preserve his sanity during these tortuous nights he focussed Of course, this book had my name on events from his own past, linking then with other events and ideas it had never occurred to him were connected. It was during these reveries that the essays in The Memory Chalet were not only conceived, but also developed in their entiretywritten for me. It would have found its way to me eventually. I am pleased to have it fall onto my path so quickly.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0434020966</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Adrian Johns0857058320|title=Death of a Pirate: British Radio Lord Of All the Dead|author=Javier Cercas and the Making of the Information AgeAnne McLean (translator)

|summary=If you are inclined ''Lord Of All the Dead'' is a journey to take your cues from the weekly reviews, as the witty poet Gavin Ewart once expressed the matter, you will doubtless find currently articles as varied as; Russell Brand predicting the imminent decline of uncover the BBC, various interpretations of liberalism author's lost ancestor's life and how these struggle death. Cercas is searching for expression the meaning behind his great uncle's death in Coalition Government policythe Spanish Civil War. There are concerns too about the legislation governing the internet and references back to the Sixties battles betweenManuel Mena, on the one handCercas' great uncle, is the unbridled self-expression of figure who looms large over the free market and, 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 other, the virtues of self-restraint in such matters as the re-examination centre of the Lady Chatterley trial, now fifty years ago. An unusual and quite intriguing this book, Death of is whether it is possible for his great uncle to be a Pirate, about the development of intellectual property and piracy in radio touches on all these contemporary concerns in a dramatic way. It combines hero whilst having fought for the history of modern broadcasting with a crime story and consequent trialwrong side.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0393068609</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Mary Beard0008294011|title=PompeiiHow to Lose a Country: The Life of a Roman Town7 Steps from Democracy to Dictatorship|author=Ece Temelkuran

|summary=The introduction does not spare the reader of the horror of A little while ago a volcanic (Vesuvius) eruption friend asked me if I thought that we were living through what in years to come would be discussed by A level history students when faced with the year 79 CE. As question ''Discuss the local residents literally ran for their lives clutching what they could easily carry ' factors which led to... '' I agreed that she was right and wasn't certain whether it was a deadly, burning combination of gases, volcanic debris and molten rock travelling at huge speed ...good or bad thing that we didn't know what all 'this' leaves the reader with an horrific mental imagewas leading to. All I think now that last minute panicking was in vainI do know. No We are in danger of losing democracy and whilst it's a flawed system I can't think of a better one could survive such an onslaught. Nature at her very worst indeed, particularly as the 'benevolent dictator' is as rare as hen's teeth.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846684714</amazonuk>

 [[Category:History]]{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Simon Garfield1788037812|title=Just My TypeThe Fraternity of the Estranged: A Book About Fonts|rating=4.5|genre=Humour|summary=A quality typeface is a bit like a good referee at a football match The Fight for Homosexual Rights in that you only really notice them if something has gone wrong. A referee is there to facilitate the players on the pitchEngland, 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>}} {{newreview1891-1908|author=Simone de Beauvoir|title=The Second SexBrian Anderson|rating=45

|summary=This book was first published Originally passed in France 1885, the 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 1908, three books on the nature of homosexuality appeared. They were written by two homosexual men: Edward Carpenter and John Addington Symonds, as well as the heterosexual Havelock Ellis. Exploring the late 1940s margins of society and studying homosexuality was an instant success. Much praise is heaped upon it as we see from common on the back cover; European Continent, but barely talked about in the UK, so the publications of these men were hugely significant – contributing to the line which resonates with mescientific understanding of homosexuality, is simply 'The Second Sex is required reading and beginning the struggle for anyone who believes in recognition and equality.' I happily put my hand up for that one, speaking, as it happens leading to the milestone legalisation of same- as a 'second sex' individualrelationships in 1967. It struck me that wouldn't it be interesting to also have a male reviewer give this book his thorough and undivided attention?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>009949938X</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Natalie Haynes1910593508|title=The Ancient Guide to Modern LifeApollo|author=Matt Fitch, Chris Baker and Mike Collins|rating=45

|summary=Haynes starts with This incredible graphic novel is a love letter to the Moon landings and the positive statement that we shouldn't throw 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 ancient history straight this, the authors take a few narrative shortcuts knowing that we can fill in the bin, so to speakblanks. We should instead embrace it. It has lots These shortcuts are the only downside to tell us if only we would listen. Chapter 1 entitled ''Old World Order'' certainly grabbed my attention with the line ..book. If you'Can politicians really make ve ever read a positive difference to our lives ...' In 2010 when the role comic book adaptation of politicians is at an all-time low in the eyes of the voters, this is an excellent question to kick off a film you will be familiar with. We zoom right back in time and explore how the Athenians lived. Apparently they were rather forward-thinking slight feeling that there are scenes missing 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 dialogue has been trimmed. This is a graphic novel that history teaches us we could offer our politicians a hefty pay cut easily have been three times as long and still get plenty of perfectly competent candidates.' My inner voice 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 thoughtfelt too short.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846683238</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Patricia Malcolmson and Robert Malcolmson (Editors)1786331047|title=Nella Last in The Race to Save the 1950sRomanovs: The Further Diaries of Housewife, 49Truth Behind the Secret Plans to Rescue Russia's Imperial Family|author=Helen Rappaport|rating=45

|summary=Nella Last wrote a regular diary The basic facts about the deaths of Nicholas and Alexandra, some of which were deliberately obscured at the time for twenty-seven yearsvarious reasons, have long since been established. Two previous volumes, also edited by Patricia For the last few months of their lives in Russia the former Tsar and Robert MalcolmsonTsarina, deal with the Second World War their children and immediate [[Nella Last's Peace: The Post-war Diaries of Housewife 49 by Patricia Malcolmson (Editor)few remaining servants were held in increasingly squalid, Robert Malcolmson (Editor)|post-War years]]humiliating captivity. Now this third book starts with selections To prevent them from 1950 being rescued, in July 1918 the revolutionary regime had them all shot and covers four years of social change as Britain moves into bayoneted to death in circumstances which, once the reign of Elizabeth IInews was confirmed beyond all doubt, horrified their relatives in Europe.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846683505</amazonuk>

{{newreview|author=Kwame Anthony Appiah|title=The Honor Code: How Moral Revolutions Happen|rating=3.5|genre=History|summary=In the Preface, Appiah believes that morality is an extremely important area of our lives as we live them today. He goes Move on by saying that it's all very well thinking about morality - our morals - our own code of living - but it's the ultimate action which truly matters. Well, I would certainly agree with that. And as Appiah digs deeper into his subject, he tells his readers that he was struck by similarities between, for example, ''the collapse of the duel, the abandonment of footbinding, the end of Atlantic slavery.'' In the following chapters he debates the issues of those three major areas of morality. They were, in short, moral issues on a very large scale.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0393071626</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Robert Temple|title=Egyptian Dawn: Exposing the Real Truth Behind Ancient Egypt|rating=3.5|genre=History|summary=This is latest book from Robert Temple in which he documents new theories on the Ancient Egyptians. There are some startling claims in the book, not least regarding the Pharaoh who built the Great Pyramid and the proposal that there were in fact two Egyptian civilisations that existed alongside each other in different parts of Egypt. If the author is correct in all of his assertions then it would certainly point to the location of amazing new archaeological discoveries and shine a new perspective on how we view the Ancient Egyptians and the Pyramids.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>071268414X</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Roy Vickery|title=Garlands, Conkers and Mother-Die: British and Irish Plant-Lore|rating=5|genre=History|summary=For many centuries, plants have not only had practical uses as food, remedies, textiles and dyes, but have also symbolic and folkloric meaning in many different cultures. The term ''plant-lore'' has been coined to describe the profusion of the customs and beliefs associated with plants, and this book gathers together many of the plant-lore traditions of Britain [[Newest Home and Ireland.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1441101950</amazonuk>}}Family Reviews]]