'There Ain't no Black in the Union Jack': The Cultural Politics of Race and Nation


Paul Gilroy - 1987
    Exploring the relationships among race, class, and nation as they have evolved over the past twenty years, he highlights racist attitudes that transcend the left-right political divide. He challenges current sociological approaches to racism as well as the ethnocentric bias of British cultural studies. "Gilroy demonstrates effectively that cultural traditions are not static, but develop, grow and indeed mutate, as they influence and are influenced by the other changing traditions around them."—David Edgar, Listener Review of Books. "A fascinating analysis of the discourses that have accompanied black settlement in Britain. . . . An important addition to the stock of critical works on race and culture."—David Okuefuna, Chicago Tribune

The Personal Life of Queen Victoria


Sarah A. Southall Tooley - 2015
     First published in 1897 to coincide with Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, Tooley illustrates the woman behind the crown and empire. The writer moves seamlessly through the Queen’s life from her lonely childhood, to her intrepid early years as an unmarried queen, through the heady days of betrothal, the loving years of marriage and finally to her heart-wrenching life as a widow. Her home and court life are explored with anecdotes from those close to the Queen, creating a rare glimpse into the monarch’s personal tastes and characteristics. Praise for The Personal Life of Queen Victoria “The volume should meet the wishes of a large public in these days of diamond jubilees.” — Times. “The writer has been at great pains to collect her material, some of which is from new sources, and she has utilised the information to good purpose. Her style, which is clear and flowing, renders her book easy reading.” — Globe. “Altogether a very attractive personal biography.” — Pall Mall Gazette. “Mrs. Tooley, in addition to the ordinary sources of information, has been favoured with many special anecdotes and particulars of incidents in the Queen’s career. This gives her book a distinct value. It is very pleasantly written.” — Westminster Gazette. “In dealing with the personal side of the Queen’s life, as distinct from that aspect of it which has to do with Her Majesty’s public career, Mrs. Tooley has been enabled, apparently by persons moving in Court circles, to add largely to the store of pleasant anecdotes and incidents.” — Scotsman. “Written with fine taste and delicate reserve, the biography presents the Queen in such a manner as to enhance the affection with which all her subjects regard her..” — Independent. “An important addition to the many biographies that have been written about Her Majesty … Mrs. Tooley has accomplished her task in a manner which holds the reader’s attention from beginning to end.” — Queen.

Warrior Training - the making of an Australian SAS Soldier


Keith Fennell - 2009
    

The Queen: History In An Hour


Sinead Fitzgibbon - 2012
    Read a succinct account of the life and reign of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in just one hour.Elizabeth II is the longest lived and, after Queen Victoria, second longest reigning monarch of the United Kingdom. From her coronation in 1953 to her Diamond Jubilee in 2012, Queen Elizabeth II has stood on the world stage as the figurehead for Britain.THE QUEEN: HISTORY IN AN HOUR tells the story of the Queen Elizabeth II’s life and long reign, her royal duties, service during the Second World War, public perception and the transformation of the British Empire into the Commonwealth of Nations under her rule. Essential reading for Royalists and Republicans alike.Love your history? Find out about the world with History in an Hour…

Scotland Yard's Ghost Squad: The Secret Weapon Against Post-War Crime


Dick Kirby - 2011
    It was the age of austerity and criminal opportunity. Thieves broke into warehouses, hijacked trucks and ransacked rail yards to feed the black market; others stole, recycled or forged ration coupons. Scotland Yard was 6,000 men under strength but something dramatic had to be done and it was.Four of the Yards best informed detectives were summoned to form the Special Duties Squad and were told: Go out into the underworld. Gather your informants. Do whatever is necessary to ensure that the gangs are smashed up. We will never ask you to divulge your sources of information. But remember you must succeed.They did. Divisional Detective Inspector Jack Capstick, a brilliant thief-taker and informant runner, Detective Inspector Henry Clark, who knew the south London villains as few other detectives did and in addition, possessed a punch like the kick of a mule, and Detective Sergeants Matt Brinnand and John Gosling, who topped the Flying Squad wartime arrests, both individually and collectively. In under four years they arrested 789 criminals, solved 1,506 cases and recovered stolen property valued at 250,000 or 10 million by todays standards, with the aid of their informants, undercover officers and their own, unsurpassed ability.The Special Duties Squad was a one-off. How the four officers accomplished their task is divulged in this thrilling book, using hitherto unseen official documents and conversations from people who were there.

The Historical Novel


György Lukács - 1937
    "Concentrating primarily on the 19th century, Lukacs offers brilliant reflections on Scott, Hugo, Tolstoy, and Flaubert, the methods of creating a feeling of historical reality, the tradition of epic, the use of the past by the rising bourgeoisie, the negative influence of naturalism, and the place of overt ideology." Washington Post Book World

High Art Lite: The Rise and Fall of Young British Art


Julian Stallabrass - 2000
    High Art Lite provides a sustained analysis of the phenomenal success of YBA, young British artists obsessed with commerce, mass media and the cult of personality Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin, Jake and Dinos Chapman, Marcus Harvey, Sarah Lucas, among others. In this fully revised and expanded edition, Julian Stallabrass explores how YBA lost its critical immunity in the new millennium, and looks at the ways in which figures such as Hirst, Emin, Wearing and Landy have altered their work in recent years.

Althorp: The Story of an English House


Charles Spencer - 1998
    As a teenager Diana's first encounter with Prince Charles was at a weekend party at Althorp, and there are memorable snapshots of the young Diana practicing ballet on the balustrades and dancing in the marble entrance hall. Some 20 years later she would be buried on a private island on Althorp's grounds.This lively and literate history guides us through Althorp -- from the lease of the lands in 1486, to the follies, foibles, and individual tastes of an aristocratic family, to the conversion of the stable block, a Palladian structure that has been called "the finest piece of architecture at Althorp", into a memorial to Diana.Althorp is open to the public only two months a year, with a limited number of visitors. This book -- superbly illustrated with full color photographs -- provides both a fascinating social history and an armchair tour for readers unable to visit Althorp.

Blue Remembered Hills


Dennis Potter - 1971
    In a woods, a field and a barn, they play, fight, fantasize and swagger. Their aggressions, fears, hostilities and rivalries are a microcosm of adult interaction. Easy going Willie tags along as burly Peter bullies Raymond and is challenged by fair minded Paul. Plain Audrey is overshadowed by Angela's prettiness and wreaks her anger on the boys. All of them gang up on the terrified "Donald Duck" who, abused by his mother and ridiculed by his peers, plays a dangerous game of pyromania with tragic results.

Princes at War: The Bitter Battle Inside Britain's Royal Family in the Darkest Days of WWII


Deborah Cadbury - 2015
    The fate of the country rested in the hands of George V's sorely unequipped sons: Edward VIII abandoned his throne to marry divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson; Prince Henry preferred the sporting life of a country squire; the glamorous and hedonistic Prince George, Duke of Kent, was considered a wild card; and stammering George VI felt himself woefully unprepared for the demanding role of King. As Hitler's Third Reich tore up the boundaries of Europe and Britain braced itself for war, the new king struggled to manage internal divisions within the royal family. Drawing on many new sources including from the Royal Archives, Princes at War goes behind the palace doors to tell the thrilling drama of Britain at war.

Fighting the Flying Circus


Eddie Rickenbacker - 1919
    The 94th ended the war in France with the highest number of air victories of any American squadron. Captain Rickenbacker later belonged to an association of pilots and Great War air veterans who, in the years immediately following the Second World War, invited many of the new "young" aces from the Pacific and European theaters for informal lectures. These men never lost their keen interest in aviation.

The Discarded Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature


C.S. Lewis - 1964
    Lewis' The Discarded Image paints a lucid picture of the medieval world view, as historical and cultural background to the literature of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. It describes the image discarded by later ages as the medieval synthesis itself, the whole organization of their theology, science and history into a single, complex, harmonious mental model of the universe. This, Lewis' last book, was hailed as the final memorial to the work of a great scholar and teacher and a wise and noble mind.

Whigs and Hunters: The Origin of the Black Act


E.P. Thompson - 1975
    

Brew Britannia: The Strange Rebirth of British Beer


Jessica Boak - 2014
    By 1960 this number had dwindled to 358 and, with the “Big Six” increasingly dominant, the prospects for British beer looked weak, yellow and fizzy. In 2012, however, UK breweries topped 1,000 for the first time since the Great Depression. Moreover, they are now producing and exporting more varied and inventive ale than ever before. Across the country, evidence of this national brewing renaissance is easy to find: the Campaign for Real Ale has more members than the Conservative Party; beer festivals proliferate with every passing month; the Camden Brewery and Meantime have become international brands, producing acclaimed lagers and IPAs; the ultra-fashionable BrewDog dispenses shots of strange 40%-proof liquids to hipster media types; and cyberspace plays host to hundreds of thousands of beer enthusiasts, all debating and virtually savoring the merits of New Zealand hops, or the latest chocolate stout. The Strange Rebirth of British Beer will tell the story of this remarkable reversal. Following a disparate group of Trotskyite hacks, eccentric City bankers, hippie “micro brewers” and a lot of men in pubs, the writers behind the acclaimed Boak & Bailey blog promise to reveal how punter power pulled the British pint back from the brink.

The Leveller Revolution


John Rees - 2016
    In this thrilling narrative, John Rees brings to life the men—including John Lilburne, Rich-ard Overton, Thomas Rainsborough—and women who ensured victory at war, and brought England to the edge of radical repub-licanism.From the raucous streets of London and the clattering printers’ workshops that stoked the uprising, to the rank and file of the New Model Army and the furious Putney debates where the levellers argued with Oliver Cromwell for the future of English democracy, this story reasserts the revolutionary nature of the 1642–48 wars, and the role of ordinary people in this pivotal moment in history.The legacy of the Levellers can be seen in the modern struggles for freedom and democracy across the world.