Product Description
This imaginative history of the Britons, written in the twelfth century, contains the first appearance of many mythical figures, King Lear and King Arthur among them. It rapidly became a `bestseller' across the British Isles and Europe: over 200 manuscripts survive. Here, an authoritative version of the text is presented with a facing translation, prepared especially for the volume. It also contains a full introduction and notes. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A seminal source particularly recommended for college library world history collections
Originally written in the 1130s, "The History of the Kings of Britain" is Geoffrey of Monmouth's history of the Britons from Brutus to Cadwallader is one of the first texts to relate the travails of Lear and the legend of Arthur. Now this classic text is reprinted in its first critical edition since 1929; each two-page spread features the original Latin text on the right page and the English translation on the left page. A seventy-six page introduction, a wealth of footnotes, and an index round out this remarkable classic text. "The History of the Kings of Britain" is a seminal source particularly recommended for college library world history collections. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

Heat engines & greed made theoretical
Superb history of the emergence of Industrial Revolution in Britain, seen now in the context of the (British) Enlightenment, in the period from the Glorious Revolution onward. The Industrial Revolution was a breakthrough in technology, but it was also a set of insights, and a hard-won understanding of 'economies' in the abstract.
It is arguable that the polish put on such histories can blind us to the crude explosion of a few gimmicks, between heat engines, and greed made theoretical, but the bright side of capitalist invention and the invention of capitalism is seen in the higher key of intellectual history, and the keynote of the Enlightenment itself. It is hard to come to an understanding of these events, in part because they show a macrohistorical dynamics that is elusive, and which suggests a kind of 'Axial Age' effect where a cornucopia of effects arrive in a strange temporal mystery. The Age of Adam Smith was one of the most packed eras in world history, packed with innovations not all of them economic. Therefore the full explanation is more than the sume of it parts, and points to the context of the modern transformation as a whole.
... Read more

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History at its best--the great stories of England's modern age, distilled in Robert Lacey's inimitable style.From William and Mary to Watson and Crick, Robert Lacey's newest volume offers up the most delightful and intriguing English tales of the last few centuries. Royal families and renowned scientists, highwaymen and war heroes--the most colorful characters of modern English history are here. Samuel Johnson, Mary Wollstonecraft, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, Charles Darwin, Winston Churchill--these are but a few of the famous characters to grace the pages of volume three. Robert Lacey once again captivates with the tales of an era's most pivotal moments: the events and extraordinary characters that shaped a great nation. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

More fun than the text book!
Wish this had been the textbook in English Lit and English History. So much fun to read, and the illustrations are great!

English History Made fascinating!
English history made fascinating and definitely in the "I could not put it down" category.Great for ALL ages.

The third Volume in a Wonderful Series
This third and final volume by Robert Lacey really finishes the series.Included are tales about the famous and the not so famous.What I really like about his books are that they are stories- great quick reads about events that we may not be familiar with.

I highly recommend this book to any Anglophile, or anyone wanting to learn more about the history of the UK.

WELL WRITTEN HISTORY
The author Robert Lacey, writes "The job of the historian is to deal objectively with the available facts. But, history is in the eye of the beholder and also of the historian, who as a human being has feelings and prejudices of his own." In Volume 3, few if any of Lacey's prejudices are apparent as he demonstrates once again that he is one of the best, both as a historian and a storyteller.

Technical, economic, governmental and political advancement dominated this period. The monarchs of the period are succinctly covered including the German George I, the madness of George III, and the coming to the throne of the teenage Queen Victoria. Tomas Paine's idea "that the rights of man, which include equality and liberty, are God-given at birth, and that governments are only good when they protect them" became a part of American doctrine. Curiously, profits of the triangular slave trade helped fuel the spectacular economy of England in the eighteenth century...." England ended slave trade in 1807.

The engineering marvels of the Great Western Railway are noted. In 1842 Queen Victoria chose that railway for her first train trip. This was also a period of great labor unrest and abuse. Labor alliances were formed. The 1888 strike of the "match girls" pioneered techniques of protest still used today, helped the formation of trade unions all over the country and "provided an early grass roots triumph in the struggle for women's rights.

Coverage of the twentieth century is excellent.The World War I trench-warfare truce of 24 December 1914 occurred when both German and Allied troops stopped fighting and celebrated Christmas together. Lacey notes that "such a widespread flowering of peace and friendship had never been seen in the history of war...." In 1915.when a few Allied soldiers trapped behind lines in Belgium were helped to escape by Edith Cavell, matron in a Belgium nurses' training school, the Germans executed her. The worldwide outcry was enormous and the bitterness so great that there were no more Christmas truces. In 1914 the British used volunteers. Young friends marched to recruiting offices, to enlist in what became known as the "pals or chums" battalions. At the Somme nearly twenty thousand British soldiers were killed with another forty thousand wounded: "the greatest ever British loss in a single day of battle.

Most interesting is the account of Edward, Prince of Wales' abdication. Apparently, Edward had been thinking of giving up the throne long before his father's death. Later Edward was involved with Mrs. Simpson, an American divorcee, which was his excuse for abdicating. Brief but sympathetic comments are given Neville Chamberlain's well-meaning attempts to appease Hitler. Robert Lacey asks the rhetorical question regarding Chamberlain "And was he really so wrong to try to stop a conflict which....would claim the lives of more than fifty million people?"

The text coverage of World War II is revealing. The story of the little boats at Dunkirk is exaggerated; "it was the big ships of the Royal Navy that transported the vast majority of the soldiers home.." While Churchill lauded the RAF pilots in the Battle of Britain stating "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few", the text notes "...every fighter pilot depended on a massive and complex pyramid of support staff--radar technicians, the observer crops...." The few were supported by "many." The text's final comment on WWII notes that Winston Churchill, taking up to eight hours,wrote all his own speeches. Churchill phrases are still quoted to this day.

Finally, the text closes with a review of the 1953 discovery of DNA 1953 by Francis Crick and James Watson for which they later received a Nobel Prize

This is an easy and very enjoyable book to read. The reader need not worry about the author's objectivity.

I love Robert Lacey!
Robert Lacey has a most remarkable aptitude for relating history in an engaging manner, while still informing and educating."The Year 1000" and the first two volumes of "Great Tales" are testaments to this.Lacey also manages to make history relevant and selects figures of note.Also to his credit is his lively, entertaining writing style. ... Read more

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This major contribution to the field examines the relationship between history and national identity in Britain through over 30 essays by leading historians. With contributions from Simon Schama, Norman Davies, Eric Evans, Keith Robbins and Alan O'Day, this comprehensive volume provides cutting edge research and addresses questions such as: How has the history of Britain been "reimagined" over the past twenty-five years? What has been the role of such diverse factors as nature, the sea, multi-nationalism or gender in shaping British manhood? What can we learn about national identity from the experience of Ireland? What ways has history contributed to debates over British devolution?
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Customer Reviews (2)

A Truely Wonderful Book
I'm not sure how much I can add after the wonderful review by Mr. Nunn, except that I share many of the same views.

My mother heard an interview on National Public Radio with the author and thought I would enjoy this book.I had been looking for a book that was able to somewhat clearly and entertainingly depict some features of British culture.As a football (soccer to Americans) fan, this book was wonderful.The book intertwines British (primarily English) football history centered around the goalkeepers with some bits of British history as well as some autobiographical bits.

The analogy of the goalkeeper for the country of Great Britain is quite ingenious and helpful in understanding the kind of general attitude the British have towards the world.I don't want to spoil the fun of figuring out the British attitudes Mr. Chapman often refers to, but I will say that they are enjoyable and fun to find.

I hope you read this and find it as entertaining as I did.I'm confident it will be well worth your time.

"Goalkeeper's History" is a literary hat trick!
I've just finished an excellent book, worthy of high praise. A journey through post-war British history through the eyes of a goalie, a soccer fan, and a Londoner, "The Goalkeeper's History of Britain" byPeter Chapman is a fabulous piece of writing. It might seem an arcanesubject for many Americans, sports fans or not, but I found"Goalkeeper's History" to be a book which made sense of manyaspects of the British character I had always wondered about. A book forsports fans, Anglophiles, and modern history lovers, "Goalkeeper'sHistory" follows Peter Chapman's eyewitness account of growing up inthe postwar London borough of Islington. When the book begins, Chapmanoutlines the neighborhood of his early childhood, late 1940s and early 50sIslington, still filled with the graphic aftermath of the Blitz, wherenumerous houses survived only as piles of smashed bricks. We get to knowfamily and friends, Londoners all, survivors of war and imperial retreat.Islington comes to life through the eyes of this excitable young footballfan, who learns football and team loyalty from his Dad and Uncles. By earlyschool age, Pete had fallen in love with the stoic goalkeeper's position,the practical personification of the English spirit on the football field. We follow Chapman's childhood as world event's rage, Britain pulls backfrom empire, and popular culture spreads rapidly across the globe. He goeson to play goalie for Leyton Orient's junior team in the 1960s(sort of likeplaying minor league baseball), then leaves school and works as a travelingcarbon paper salesman in America, areporter for the Guardian and BBC inLatin America, a sports reporter for the World Cup for ITV, and eventuallyas an editor for the Financial Times. Throughout he gives us a humorous andwhimsical insight into the English character and the steadying presence ofthe goalkeeper, soccer's version of Churchill's bulldog. As a lifelongbaseball and football fan, European history buff, and Anglophile, I lovedChapman's book for the fact that it gave me a cultural perspective on hiscountry only a native could have. I've often developed sports's analogiesto make sense of Ameican history, politics, and culture, but although I'dspent more than 3 years living and working in Britain, such intuitiveunderstanding of their culture often escaped me. Chapman's book gives thereader a tool to make sense of everything from hooliganism to Thatcherismto the differences between "shotstopping and crossing". Add thisto books that will keep our "special relationship" special. "The Goalkeeper's History of Britain" is funny, thoughtful, andwritten in a fast-paced conversational tone. I imagined sharing a beer andswapping sports stories with Peter Chapman as I blitzed through his pages.As soccer continues to grow in popularity in this country, with EnglishPremier League on the Fox network every weekend, and American womendominating the World Cup, take a minute to pick up "The Goalkeeper'sHistory of Britain". It's a lovely book. Buy it, read it and savor it. ... Read more

Product Description
This illustrated volume traces the social and cultural history of Britain from the early 15th to the late 18th century. The maps and photographs focus on archaeological and historical sites held by the British National Trust and the book develops themes including wealth and status, agriculture and rural society, town and industry, population and the family, religion and education, and also spotlights particular events such as the Wars of the Roses, the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the Great Plague and Jacobitism. A full list of National Trust sites is provided to encourage readers to visit these and other properties where visual remains consolidate the investigations in the atlas itself. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Yes, and Yes
You can judge a historical atlas on two criteria:1) Is it easy to read? 2) Is it more informative than plain text?

Yes, and Yes. A truly dazzling work. Clear, concise maps with a minimum of unneded clutter make for a great curl-up-with (albeit clunky) book.

If you are interested in this period of British history, snag this book. ... Read more

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From medieval Runnymede to twentieth-century Jarrow, from King Alfred to George Orwell by way of John Lilburne and Mary Wollstonecraft, a rich and colourful thread of radicalism runs through a thousand years of British history. In this fascinating study, Edward Vallance traces a national tendency towards revolution, irreverence and reform wherever it surfaces and in all its variety. He unveils the British people who fought and died for religious freedom, universal suffrage, justice and liberty - and shows why, now more than ever, their heroic achievements must be celebrated. Beginning with Magna Carta, Vallance subjects the touchstones of British radicalism to rigorous scrutiny. He evokes the figureheads of radical action, real and mythic - Robin Hood and Captain Swing, Wat Tyler, Ned Ludd, Thomas Paine and Emmeline Pankhurst - and the popular movements that bore them. Lollards and Levellers, Diggers, Ranters and Chartists, each has its membership, principles and objectives revealed. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A solid and well-considered radical history of Britain
If one writes a book called "A Radical History of Britain" and even the Daily Mail and Sunday Express find something to like about it, one must be doing a good job. This honor goes to Edward Vallance, whose popular historical work of this title makes for an invigorating, enjoyable and above all historically reliable read. Although Vallance's intent with the book is clearly to show the extent and importance of radical movements in British history, he does not indulge in overly simplistic narratives of radicalism in which even medieval rebellions might appear as conscious working-class uprisings along Marxist lines, even in embryo. At the same time, Vallance is also not one of the grumpy type of Tory historian who attempts to downplay the classical examples of radicalism and revolt in British history as being all counterproductive or 'simply rioters' and the like. Instead, this book sets out not just an appreciation of the best known examples of radical moments in British history, from Magna Carta to the Chartists and onward, but in particular focuses on establishing the lasting effect on improving the state of the English and later British people they had. Also, the book is strong on showing how the movements themselves in their different historical periods were consciously interconnected, with each new great radical movement deliberately referring to the prior ones in terminology and commemoration.

Although the title refers to a radical history of Britain, the focus is strongly on England. Vallance begins with the Magna Carta, its real background and the mythological way in which it functions as the 'original freedom of the English', as well as the equally invented tradition of the 'Anglo-Saxon freedoms' supposedly obtained by Alfred the Great. From there on, it's on to Wat Tyler, to the 15th century revolts, the Civil War period, Thomas Paine, the British Jacobins, Chartists, and finally women's suffrage. This book differentiates itself from the standard narrative by the strong and consistent emphasis paid to the development of women's freedoms, both in terms of analysis and in terms of the proportion of the book spent on them. The author very rightly makes the slow development of the movement for women's freedom and equality the single most important cause of the book, rather than the sort of tacked-on 'sideshow' it usually becomes in the traditional left narrative. After all, the women's suffrage movement appears often as a latecomer addition to the achievements of the late 19th century electoral reformers, but in reality, it is and was much more than that. Not only are women (over) half the population, making any appeal to a 'movement of the great majority for the benefit of the great majority' an empty phrase if it does not include women's equality; but as Vallance shows, the women's political movement from the late 18th century on had itself a great influence on the development and success of other movements. It is important to show, as the author does, that the Labour Party managed to transform itself from a party still mainly dependent on the Liberals to a mass party in its own right that would obtain government mainly by the financial and political support of the WSPU and the NUWSS, which together had both much more funds and many more members than Labour did!

Vallance's narrative itself is a well-written mixture of a biographical approach to the main figures of each radical movement and a social-political context to the same. As a result, there is a relatively strong concentration on the action of individual heroes and leaders of each movement, and there will be a great many names mentioned; but it is not done in such a manner as losing track of the overall historical development. Edward Vallance is clearly a talented writer of popular history and together with a useful critical but supportive eye towards the historiography of each movement in turn, it makes for a happy combination. One can make some minor objections: the epilogue chapter in which he reflects on the meaning of the radical movements for the British today is a bit weak and seems to detract from the supportive tone of the rest of the work, and one could also point out that the focus is too strongly on English events only, with Ireland, Wales and Scotland, let alone any foreign developments, coming into the picture only insofar as they became part of an English movement. This English-only approach is so strong that even a figure like Karl Marx does not play a role in the work. But if one reads it with that in mind, something of an Englishman's patriotic radical history, it is really worth the read. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (4)

Rhymes of Muirden / History's heard in
Sorry about the title. I don't have his touch for couplets. Here are two of my favorite bits: "The arrow in the eye could be / unwarranted embroidery" (regarding Harold's death, as depicted in the Bayeaux Tapestry), "Victoria liked Disraeli best / He, shrewdly, saw she was Empressed" (made Empress of India). There's lots more. This book tickles like champagne while giving a pretty solid history lesson at the same time. I can't wait to read more from Mr. Muirden!

Guilty little pleasure
I must admit, I am not a scholar of any kind of British history.But, whenever I am between books or embarking on a two-hour plane ride, ARHoB is almost always the book that I choose to re-read.Each time that I have read Muirden's poetry, I find myself laughing at different parts, looking up various events and issues on Wikipedia, and learning something new.I would think that a 9th grade World History/Western Civ. course or even a middle-school poetry class could use the text.Fun stuff here!

Whimsical
This delightful little book is a gem!With whimsical verse, the author takes jabs at almost every major event in British history (and more than a few minor ones).If you have a basic knowledge of England's past, you'll get many of the in-jokes so thoroughly woven into the book.

Couplets of laughter.
Interested in English history or not the hugely witty use of the English Language to describe 2000 years of history in 200 pages of rhyming couplets is a magnificent achievement.Succinct, unpatriotic even accurate, the wicked sense of humour gets straight to the point of the most serious events. Well I lied a bit , a little knowledge of English history does help the humour along. ... Read more

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This is a spine-tingling guide that reveals the horrors of Britain's history, from torture and martyrdom to murder and execution. The book features gruesome deaths including details of rituals, live burials and witch burnings and where they took place. Jack the Ripper, Burke and Hare, Edward V and Dr Crippen - all murderous characters of Britain's history - are to be found here. Divided into six regional chapters, including London and Edinburgh, each includes an alphabeticl listing of sites. There are regional openers detailing the history of each area and events are recorded alphabetically including: martyrdom, murders, battles, hangings, punishments and trials by ordeal. ... Read more

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These pieces of cloth and metal symbolize the daring, bravery, suffering and loss of men who flew in deadly aerial battles for democratic freedom. Eagles Recalled, Pilot and Aircrew Wings of Canada, Great Britain and The British Commonwealth 1913-1945 has ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A well researched and illustrated book
This is a well researched and illustrated book.A very worthy study of Canadian and other Commonwealth aircrew insignia.The author obviously has a wide experience in researching and collecting in the subject and thecoverage of particularly Canadian insignia is excellent.As an Australian,I found the treatment of Australian aircrew badges is very good as heconsulted appropriate Australian museum authorities. The only criticisms Ihave are minor.In dealing with naval aircrew insignia, the author givesthe impression of not understanding the rather complex British wartimetreatment of 'temporary' naval personnel - they were enrolled in the NavalVolunteer Reserve, with different rank lacing on uniforms to regularofficers e.g. 'wavy' stripes as opposed to straight stripes on the uniformsleeve.As almost all Commwealth navy aircrew were temporaries, they worethe wavy stripes.Although illustrations of these appear in the book, thisexplanation is not given. The other, more humorous (hardly a criticism) isthe illustration of first world war Royal Naval Air Service FlightLieutenant E. Stoneman on page 45, in his uniform, together with a lady wholooks very much like his mother (or a close relative as facial features aresimilar).She, of course is dressed in female attire of the time.Ourever exact author specifically identifies the Lieutenant as the personstanding on the left of the photograph! As I said, very minor criticisms. A very good book on the subject ... Read more

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This title examines in great detail the arrival of jazz in Britain, the influence of American musicians, the big-band era and then the advent of bop, the Musicians' Union ban, the development of jazz journalism and specialist clubs and the fascinating cloak and dagger plots culminating in the defiance of the Musicians' Union ban on the appearance of American musicians in Britain. It features conscientiously researched and related with trenchant and pithy humour. ... Read more

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This is an illustrated history of Britain from prehistoric times to the present day. The book analyzes the major political and military events in British history, and where appropriate, looks at these within a wider, international context. It also describes everyday life for men and women from different levels of society in different ages: the kind of work they did, family life, etc. Emphasis is also placed on cultural, intellectual, scientific and economic developments. Major developments within Scotland, Ireland and Wales and the relations between these countries and England are also discussed. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A good clear basis for History study
Easy to read, simple and clear, this will give you a good general background of Britain history. It deals with all periods from first inhabitants to the 20th century (organized simply in chronological order), and emphasis the major facts and events. I strongly recommend it as a base for futher researches.

An excellent, all-round history
An Illustrated History of Britain is a harmonious mixture of major events, sovereigns, the average person's lot, and international influences, as well as giving a fair coverage of the changes occurring in Ireland and Scotland.

Not being an especially big book for a country's entire history - 188 pages - it manages by covering many events simply and essentially. This makes it a good book for high school and university introductory courses, but also for the person who wants a condensed coverage, a rapid familiarization. For that kind of an approach the book is excellent.

Gary Judgeauthor of The Timeline History of the English Language ... Read more

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Britain never had the kind of revolution experienced by France in 1789, but it did come close. In the mid-1770s the country was intoxicated by a great surge of political energy. Re-discovering England's wildernesses, the intellectuals of the "Romantic generation" also discovered the plight of the common man, turning Nature into a revolutionary force. This power of the cult of nature enabled two things - to make man see and explore Britain in a way unimaginable a generation before, and to pit democrat cosmopolitans against patriots. From the politics of wildness, "A History of Britain" moves to the Victorian era and its question of how to create a better world in the face of upheaval. As the Victorian era began, the massive advance of technology and industrialisation was rapidly reshaping both the landscape and the social structure of the whole country. To a much greater extent than ever before women would take a centre stage role in shaping society. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

educational and entertaining
This audiobook is definitely worth it. Simon Schama is a great writer while Timothy West does a great job reading thetext. Definitely worth my time and money!

The furnace of British history
After introducing a great sweep of ancient and Medieval history in part 1, Schama tightens the timescale to look at the key wars of the 17th and 18th Centuries that forged and defined the British state. Timothy West reads the stories, and in his sonorous British (well, English) tones he spins a narrative through individual portraits (the signiature Schama style) of the key figures of the period: Charles I, Cromwell, Pepys, Wren, Bonnie Prince Charlie. Schama meshes in the themes of religious upheaval, political reform and revolution and social changes of architecture (the section on St Pauls is excellent) and reform in the 18th Century - vignettes such as Thomas Coram and the foundling hospital.

The narrative style mixed with literature gets under the skin of the period excellently. For example one can almost feel like one is in the London tavern with Tobias Smolett after the smiting of the Jacobite cause at Culloden as he reflects on how Britain can call itself a nation now.

The best of the 3 part CD adaptation of Schama's book.

Over-rated and very conventional
Schama presents Britain's history through a series of portraits - Wordsworth, Churchill, Orwell - like a stroll through the gallery of a stately home.

He calls Britain 'the nation that had been born from imperial wars and sustained by imperial profits', as if the British people had not created Britain in their own land by their own efforts. This explains why he spends so much time on the empire, run by just tens of thousands of expatriates, and so little on the industrial civilisation built by tens of millions that made Britain the workshop of the world.

Yet his chapters on the Empire are useful. He quotes Charles Trevelyan of the treasury, who said that the Irish famine of 1845-49 was "the judgement of God on an indolent and unself-reliant people, and as God had sent the calamity to teach the Irish a lesson, that calamity must not be too much mitigated."

But the ruling class learnt nothing from this. In 1860 two million Indian people died of famine, in 1866, 800,000, in 1877-8, seven million. "the Government decline to import rice ... If the market favours, imported rice will find its way into Pooree without government interference which can only do harm." The Lancet wrote that India's excess deaths from famine and disease were more than 19 million in the 1890s. Between 1901 and 1905, three million people died of bubonic plague and another three million died of cholera. The British-run Indian government spent just 4% of its revenues on public works like irrigation, and 35% on the army and police.

Schama notes that the empire was built on selling drugs. In 1851, 40% of India's exports were opium. As late as 1900-10, opium profits yielded a sixth of the Indian government's revenues.

However, Schama's comments on foreign affairs in the last century are obtuse. He writes that Churchill was 'prophetic or optimistic' on Ireland, the Middle East and the blockade of Germany - it would be nice to know which. He thinks that Churchill's 'diagnosis of what had happened in Russia in October 1917 was exactly right'. Schama repeats the old slur that Spain's communists were 'more interested in hunting down heretics like the anarchists than in taking on General Franco's fascists'. He ludicrously calls the USA's 1953 coup against Iran a 'defensive' response to Iran's nationalisation of its oil industry.

But he makes a few shrewd comments, writing, "immigrant labour was exploited to drive down wages." He notes that the Conservative politician Harold Macmillan in 1938 proposed abolishing the Stock Exchange. And he concludes, "what post-imperial Britain has going for it is precisely its resistance to the chilly white purism of Euro-nationalism."
... Read more

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History, Historians, and Conservatism in Britain and America examines the subjects, motives, and personal and intellectual origins of conservative historians who were also successful public intellectuals. In their search for a persuasive and wide appeal, conservatives depended until at least the 1960s upon history and historians to provide conservative concepts with authority and authenticity. Beginning with the Great War in Britain and the Second World War in America, conservative historians participated actively and influentially in debates about the heart, soul, and especially the mind of conservatism. Particular emphasis is placed on four historians in Britain--F. J. C. Hearnshaw, Keith Feiling, Arthur Bryant, and Herbert Butterfield--and three in America-Daniel Boorstin, Peter Viereck, and Russell Kirk-who developed conservative responses to unprecedented and threatening events both at home and abroad. These historians shared basic assumptions about human nature and society, but their subjects, interpretations, conclusions, and prescriptions were independent and idiosyncratic. Uniquely close to powerful political figures, each historian also spoke directly to a large public, which bought their books, read their contributions to newspapers and journals, listened to them on the radio, and watched them on television.

Provocative and compelling, Reba Soffer's pioneering study provides a comprehensive explanation of the content, context, and consequences of conservative ideas that became dominant in Britain and remained marginal in America until the Reagan ascendancy. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (2)

A well-researched review of brewing history
I added this book to my Amazon wish list because it looked somewhat interesting... I then bought it when I was given Amazon gift vouchers for my birthday and I've now almost finished reading it. I am so glad I did because it is way more than "somewhat interesting"! It is a very well-researched and easy to read review of the history of brewing.

Even though I thought I knew most things about beer and brewing (and I've even written a book about beer myself - The Home Brewer's Recipe Database), I learned several new (to me) facts from reading this book. If asked, I'd have assumed that "Burton Ale" was a strong pale ale such as Inde Coope Burton Ale but this book shows that I'd have been wrong. Not only is Burton Ale a stronger, darker brew than any pale ale but I've actually drank several examples of the style and thoroughly enjoyed them!

Martyn also dispels some often-repeated myths about the origins of Porter, IPA and other styles. This is very refreshing (pun intended). It is perhaps not surprising that many changes in brewing practice were driven by changes in government tax legislation.

The chapter on use of herbs in brewing is fascinating - I never realised how many of the weeds growing my garden contained hallucinogens! These probably added to the experience of drinking ales brewing using them during history. Brewers probably didn't stop brewing with herbs because of any issues with beer quality - it was because it was banned by the government. Hops were taxed, herbs weren't.

Although this book is focussed on British brewing history, there are some connection with other country's beers. Commercial examples of some styles have survived outside the UK even when they have become extinct in the parent country.

This book has been a huge inspiration for brewing my own beers with a better informed knowledge of the history of brewing that allows me to not only develop new recipes but also a story behind the recipe. I'm sure that this is going to become one of the most useful books in my brewing library and I'll refer to it frequently while thinking up recipe designs. I'm sure that this book will be of interest to anyone interested in beer and its history, even if they aren't a brewer. Highly recommended.

Gift for Beer Lover
This was a gift so I can't comment on the book myself (though the reader, who is a beer expert and had asked for it, was very happy with it). Arrived quickly and in perfect condition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The Great Famine and Beyond: Irish Migrants in Britain in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
got this sent to friend in the states to bring over to Scotland for me as he was lying here. Was imperative that it got to time to him to bring over. I arrived in plenty of time and he as able to bring over.
Book in very good condition and great to have to add to my collection on the great famine in Ireland, which affected my family personally.

Would Recommend this company ... Read more