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London Labour and the London Poor originated in a series of newspaper articles written by the great journalist Henry Mayhew…
between 1849 and 1850. A dozen years later, it had grown into the fullest picture we have of labouring people in the world's greatest city in the nineteenth century: a four volume account of the hopes, customs, grievances and habits of the working-classes that allows them to tell their own stories. Combining practicality with compassion, Mayhew worked unencumbered by political theory and strove solely to report on the lives of the London poor, their occupations and trades. This selection shows how well he succeeded. From costermongers to ex-convicts, from chimney-sweeps to vagrants, the underprivileged of London are uniquely brought to life - their plight expressed through a startling blend of first person accounts, Mayhew's perceptions, and sharp statistics.London in the Twentieth Century: A City and Its People
By Jerry White. 2001
Jerry White's London in the Twentieth Century, Winner of the Wolfson Prize, is a masterful account of the city’s most…
tumultuous century by its leading expert.In 1901 no other city matched London in size, wealth and grandeur. Yet it was also a city where poverty and disease were rife. For its inhabitants, such contradictions and diversity were the defining experience of the next century of dazzling change.In the worlds of work and popular culture, politics and crime, through war, immigration and sexual revolution, Jerry White’s richly detailed and captivating history shows how the city shaped their lives and how it in turn was shaped by them.The Long Patrol: The British in Germany Since 1945
By Roy Bainton. 2003
When the Allies occupied Germany at the end of the Second World War, there were two million men present to…
witness the devastating end of the Third Reich. Few of them could have imagined just how long this occupation was going to last - right up to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and well into its aftermath. Today some 17,000 British troops remain in Germany. But over the past four and a half decades, tens of thousands of British men and women have alived and worked in British Zone as members of the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) some for relatively short periods, many for much longer. Long enough, though, for the experience to have a profound effect on their lives and on their attitudes.THE LONG PATROL reveals what life has been like in the British Zone for those men and women and their families. As the post war worlds of Britain and Germany had little in common, they had to find their own identity, often suspended between the two. And what did the Germans make of the British? How did they react when whole streets, sometimes whole districts, were requisitioned and occupied? What were the psychological effects of a foreign army taking over the barracks of what had been, until so recently, the homes of the warriors of the 1,000 Year Reich? Eventually the British became more and more insulated against the culture around them, building their own camps, their own cinemas. In major centres like Berlin they lived a seperate life whilst all around them Germany got on with the massive task of reconstruction. In the background there lurked the ever-present spectre of a possible Third World War. Based largely on interviews and information culled from personal diaries and letters. THE LONG PATROL is primarily an oral history of the British in Germany. It also analyses and interprets experiences in an attempt to begin to make sense of an unusual, and still significant, part of British history in the twentieth century. Funny, tragic, bizarre and poignant in equal parts, THE LONG PATROL is an important contribution to the social history of post-war Britain and GermA Local Habitation: Life and Times, Volume One 1918-40
By Richard Hoggart. 1988
Richard Hoggart's book, The Uses of Literary, established his reputation as a uniquely sensitive and observant chronicler of English working-class…
life. In this vivid first volume of autobiography he describes his origins in that milieu. Orphaned at an early age, Hoggart grew up in a working-class district of Leeds, in an intimate world of terraced back-to-backs, visits from the local Board of Guardians, clothing checks and potted-meat sandwiches. With affectionate insight he recreates the family circle - a loving grandmother, one domineering and on gentle aunt, and a bibulous, melancholy uncle - and recalls his early schooling, the friends he made and the mentors he admired. Hard-working and articulate, Hoggart did well enough at grammar school to go on to Leeds University. This volume ends as, having earned a higher degree and travelled in Nazi Germany, he prepares to leave Yorkshire, via the Army, for the world beyond. Wry, compassionate, exact, A Local Habitation is a classic recreation of working-class England between the wars.The Life and Death of Mary Wollstonecraft
By Claire Tomalin. 1992
The Life and Death of Mary Wollstonecraft is the acclaimed bestselling biography by Claire TomalinWinner of the Whitbread First Book…
PrizeWitty, courageous and unconventional, Mary Wollstonecraft was one of the most controversial figures of her day. She published A Vindication of the Rights of Women; travelled to revolutionary France and lived through the Terror and the destruction of the incipient French feminist movement; produced an illegitimate daughter; and married William Godwin before dying in childbed at the age of thirty-eight. Often embattled and bitterly disappointed, she never gave up her radical ideas or her belief that courage and honesty would triumph over convention.'Tomalin is a most intelligent and sympathetic biographer, aware of her impetuous subject's many failings, yet with the perception to present her greatness fairly. She writes well and wittily' Daily Telegraph'A vivid evocation not only of what Mary went through but also of how women lived in the second part of the eighteenth century. Most of all, however, Tomalin makes Mary Wollstonecraft unforgettable' Evening StandardFrom the acclaimed author of Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self, Charles Dickens: A Life and The Invisible Woman, this celebrated biography is the definitive account of Mary Wollstonecraft's life.Claire Tomalin is the award-winning author of eight highly acclaimed biographies, including: The Life and Death of Mary Wollstonecraft; Shelley and His World; Katherine Mansfield: A Secret Life; The Invisible Woman: The Story of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens; Mrs Jordan's Profession; Jane Austen: A Life; Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self; Thomas Hardy: The Time-Torn Man and, most recently, Charles Dickens: A Life. A former literary editor of the New Statesman and the Sunday Times, she is married to the playwright and novelist Michael Frayn.A remarkable collection of 'Covid Chronicles' -- stories from lockdown sent in from listeners to BBC Radio 4 -- making…
a deeply moving people's history of the pandemic. On 23 March 2020, as the deadly virus spread around the world, the UK went into lockdown. In the following weeks and months, it became clear that in many ways we were all in this together, but the illness and the long period of isolation would hit people in entirely different ways.When BBC Radio 4's PM Programme launched the 'Covid Chronicles' series, listeners from across the country - and beyond - began sending in their lockdown stories to be aired on the show. The results are astonishing: moving, profound, funny, powerful and an invaluable record of our collective experiences. Ranging from the everyday (the thrill of booking a food delivery) to the momentous (a wedding on Zoom), we hear about birth and death, loneliness and loss, community and kindness, as well as remarkable stories from those working in the NHS on the front line.This book is a collection of some of these Chronicles, written in the midst of one of the most unexpected and intense moments in our history. Together they give us an unforgettable portrait of ordinary people caught in extraordinary times, with all the humour and tragedy and uncertainty we've been through. 'It's inspiring that so many people have shared their stories - some everyday, some life-changing, but all very human. This is a wonderful collection of experiences, to record and remember this devastating year' Christie Watson, bestselling author of The Language of KindnessA modern take on a classical icon: this &“luminous book&” (Susan Orlean, New York Times bestselling author of The Library…
Book) tells the story of when, where, and how Chopin composed his most famous work, uncovering many surprises along the way and showing how his innovative music still animates and thrives in our culture centuries later.In this widely-praised book, Annik LaFarge presents a very different Frédéric Chopin from the melancholy, sickly, Romantic figure that has predominated for so long. The artist she discovered is, instead, a purely independent—and endlessly relevant—spirit: an innovator who created a new musical language; an autodidact who became a spiritually generous, trailblazing teacher; a stalwart patriot during a time of revolution, pandemic, and exile.One of America&’s foremost pianists, Jeremy Denk, wrote in TheNew York Times: &“It is almost impossible for me to imagine a world in which [Chopin&’s &“Funeral March&”] is both fresh and tragic, where its death is real. LaFarge&’s charming and loving new book attempts to recover this world…This book took me into many unexpected corners…For a book about death, it&’s bursting with life and lively research.&”In this &“entertaining dual music history and memoir&” (Publishers Weekly), a &“seamless blend of the musical and literary verve&” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) LaFarge &“brilliantly traces the footsteps of Chopin&’s life&” (Scott Yoo, host of PBS Now Hear This) during the three years, 1837–1840, when he composed the now-iconic Funeral March, using its composition story to illuminate the key themes of Chopin&’s life.As part of her research into Chopin&’s world, then and now, LaFarge visited piano makers, monuments, churches, and archives; she talked to scholars, jazz musicians, video game makers, music teachers, theater directors, and of course dozens of pianists. She has given us, says pianist, author, and New York Times columnist Michael Kimmelman, &“a tour-de-force and journey of the soul.&”It is an engrossing, &“impeccably researched&” (Library Journal) work of musical discovery and an artful portrayal of a man whose work and life continue to inspire artists and cultural innovators in astonishing ways.An acclaimed companion website, WhyChopin, presents links to each piece of music mentioned in the book, organized by chapter, along with photos, resources, and more.“This ambitious undertaking is concerned with the melodramatic form in theatre and film and its impact on French political culture.”…
—H-France ReviewIn France, both political culture and theatrical performances have drawn upon melodrama. This “melodramatic thread” helped weave the country’s political life as it moved from monarchy to democracy. By examining the relationship between public ceremonies and theatrical performance, James R. Lehning sheds light on democratization in modern France. He explores the extent to which the dramatic forms were present in the public performance of political power. By concentrating on the Republic and the Revolution and on theatrical performance, Lehning affirms the importance of examining the performative aspects of French political culture for understanding the political differences that have marked France in the years since 1789.“In this thoroughly researched and persuasive book, Lehning provides a fascinating reading of public performances in modern France . . . This is an important contribution to the study of French culture and the democratization process . . . Essential.” —Choice“Lehning’s application of the themes of melodrama to French political culture offers new insights into French history. His style is lively, clear, and highly readable.” —Venita Datta, Wellesley College“The analyses in this book make a real contribution to debates about the ways in which art, particularly popular art, and politics interact; how politics itself is theatrical in the French case; and the role of ritual in politics and the function of politics as ritual and ceremony.” —John Gaffney, Aston UniversityThe Everything Irish History & Heritage Book: From Brian Boru and St. Patrick to Sinn Fein and the Troubles, All You Need to Know about the Emerald Isle (The Everything Books)
By Amy Hackney Blackwell, Ryan Hackney. 2004
There's more to being Irish than kissing a Blarney Stone!Few places on earth match Ireland's romantic attraction and historical legacy.…
Every year, millions of visitors flock to the ancient sites and burgeoning cities of this enchanted island to immerse themselves in its rich literary, musical, and political heritage.The Everything Irish History & Heritage Book introduces readers to the people, places, and events that have shaped the past and given rise to the unique culture of the Irish people. From the Iron Age to the economic renaissance, this comprehensive account familiarizes readers with Ireland's history and acquaints them with the climate, food, language, and sports that make it truly unique.Features exhaustive coverage of:Celtic mythology and ancient folkloreThe Irish literary tradition--from The Book of Kells to UlyssesThe potato famine and the Great HungerThe Irish in America and the immigration experienceThe Troubles and the road to peaceReligion and family life Packed with historical information and cultural insights, The Everything Irish History & Heritage Book is a must-read for anyone interested in the magic and mystery of the Emerald Isle.Why Do People Kiss the Blarney Stone?: . . . And 176 Other Fascinating Irish Trivia Questions
By Ryan Hackney, Amy Hackney Blackwell. 2013
Fáilte!Brew yourself a cuppa and settle in to discover...Why Do People Kiss the Blarney Stone? It's the closest you can…
feel to the Emerald Isle without boarding a plane! You'll tickle your noggin with spirited questions, including:How did a white bull start a war? What is Brian Boru's connection to Guinness? Why was 1847 known as Black '47? Where does peat come from? What's so special about the Book of Kells?This terrific little tome provides the answers to those questions and many more. With information on Irish history, mythology, and culture, you'll be able to go on and on about anything and everything about The Old Sod.Zouave Theaters: Transnational Military Fashion and Performance
By Carol E. Harrison, Thomas J. Brown. 2024
In this compelling new study, Carol E. Harrison and Thomas J. Brown chart the rise and fall of the Zouave…
uniform, the nineteenth century’s most important military fashion fad for men and women on both sides of the Atlantic. Originating in French colonial Algeria, the uniform was characterized by an open, collarless jacket, baggy trousers, and a fez. As Harrison and Brown demonstrate, the Zouaves embraced ethnic, racial, and gender crossing, liberating themselves from the strictures of bourgeois society. Some served as soldiers in Papal Rome, the United States, the British West Indies, and Brazil, while others acted in theatrical performances that combined drag and drill. Zouave Theaters analyzes the interaction of the stage and the military, and reveals that the Zouave persona influenced visual artists from painters and photographers to illustrators and filmmakers.The graves are walking: The great famine and the saga of the irish people
By John Kelly. 2012
It started in 1845 and lasted six years. Before it was over, more than one million men, women, and children…
starved to death and another million fled the country. Measured in terms of mortality, the Great Irish Potato Famine was one of the worst disasters in the nineteenth century-it claimed twice as many lives as the American Civil War. A perfect storm of bacterial infection, political greed, and religious intolerance sparked this catastrophe. But even more extraordinary than its scope were its political underpinnings, and The Graves Are Walking provides fresh material and analysis on the role that nineteenth-century evangelical Protestantism played in shaping British policies and on Britain's attempt to use the famine to reshape Irish society and character.Perhaps most important, this is ultimately a story of triumph over perceived destiny: for fifty million Americans of Irish heritage, the saga of a broken people fleeing crushing starvation and remaking themselves in a new land is an inspiring story of exoneration.Based on extensive research and written with novelistic flair, The Graves Are Walking draws a portrait that is both intimate and panoramic, that captures the drama of individual lives caught up in an unimaginable tragedy, while imparting a new understanding of the famine's causes and consequencesNormal women: Nine hundred years of making history
By Philippa Gregory. 2024
"Lively, timely and gloriously energetic. Each page bursts with life, and every chapter swirls with personalities left out of traditional…
narratives of Britain's past. Philippa Gregory has produced something rare and wonderful: a genuinely new history of [Britain], with women at its beating heart." —Dan Jones, New York Times bestselling author of The Plantagenets "Stunning. . . . Full of surprises. . . . A brilliant, essential read." —The Independent (UK) The #1 New York Times bestselling historical novelist delivers her magnum opus—a landmark work of feminist nonfiction that radically redefines our understanding of the extraordinary roles ordinary women played throughout British history and "should be included in every history lesson" (Glamour UK) Did you know that there are more penises than women in the Bayeux Tapestry? That the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 was started and propelled by women who were protesting a tax on women? Or that celebrated naturalist Charles Darwin believed not just that women were naturally inferior to men, but that they'd evolve to become ever more inferior? These are just a few of the startling findings you will learn from reading Philippa Gregory's Normal Women. In this ambitious and groundbreaking book, she tells the story of England over 900 years, for the very first time placing women—some fifty per cent of the population—center stage. Using research skills honed in her work as one of our foremost historical novelists, Gregory trawled through court records, newspapers, and journals to find highwaywomen and beggars, murderers and brides, housewives and pirates, female husbands and hermits. The "normal women" you will meet in these pages went to war, ploughed the fields, campaigned, wrote, and loved. They rode in jousts, flew Spitfires, issued their own currency, and built ships, corn mills and houses. They committed crimes or treason, worshipped many gods, cooked and nursed, invented things, and rioted. A lot. A landmark work of scholarship and storytelling, Normal Women chronicles centuries of social and cultural change—from 1066 to modern times—powered by the determination, persistence, and effectiveness of womenThe Myths, Legends, and Lore of Ireland: 101 Things You Didn't Know About the Emerald Isle
By Ryan Hackney, Amy Hackney Blackwell. 2011
More than 20 million Americans claim some sort of Irish heritage. But how much do you really know about this…
amazing country? Forget about shamrocks, leprechauns, and all that blarney--this book is a concise and authoritative guide that dispels the myths and tells the true stories of the Irish. Highlights include:Who St. Patrick really wasThe story behind "Sunday Bloody Sunday"Scandals in the Irish churchComing to America and the real gangs of New York The spooky truth behind changelings, leprechauns, and fairiesComplete with an Irish language primer and pronunciation guide, this book is an informative pot of gold for everyone who loves the Irish!How to Be Danish: A Journey to the Cultural Heart of Denmark
By Patrick Kingsley. 2012
Part reportage, part travelogue, this is a fascinating introduction to contemporary Danish culture for anyone who wants to know more…
about the happiest nation in the world.Denmark is the country of the moment. The motherland of Borgen and The Killing, it&’s the runaway champion of Eurovision, and home to Noma, the world&’s most eccentric restaurant.But though we wear their sweaters and read their thrillers, how much do we really know about the Danes themselves? Part reportage, part travelogue, How to be Danish fills in the gaps – an introduction to contemporary Danish culture that spans politics, television, food, architecture and design. Welcome to the happiest country in the world.The Long Game: Inside Sinn Féin
By Aoife Moore. 2023
Inside the rise of the political party, once subordinate to the IRA, that is on the brink of taking power…
in Ireland Sinn Féin, long widely-regarded as the political wing of the Provisional IRA, is the most popular political party in both Northern Ireland and the Republic. A movement once synonymous with a paramilitary campaign is on the brink of taking real power through purely democratic means. But if Sinn Féin has mastered the art of electoral politics, it remains strangely opaque. Who really runs the party? How is it funded? And what can we expect of it as a party of government?Aoife Moore, Irish Journalist of the Year 2021. explores these and other burning questions in The Long Game. Drawing on exclusive interviews with current and former members of Sinn Féin, she builds up a picture of a party undergoing a profound, and still incomplete, transformation. She looks at the key individuals and moments that put the party on its present course, and she explores tensions within the party and the wider republican movement.Packed with revelatory details, The Long Game is a groundbreaking telling of contemporary Ireland's biggest and most elusive political story.A Chance to Fight Hitler: A Canadian Volunteer in the Spanish Civil War
By David Goutor. 2018
In late 1936, as Franco’s armies stormed toward Madrid, Stalin famously termed the defence of Spain “the common cause of…
all advanced and progressive mankind.” As a German emigrant to Winnipeg, Hans Ibing recognized the importance of the Spanish Civil War to the struggle against worldwide fascism in a way that most people in Canada did not—joining the International Brigades in their fight to defend the Spanish Republic was his “chance to fight Hitler.” Drawing on interviews, Ibing’s personal papers, and archival material, David Goutor recounts the powerful story of an ordinary man’s response to extraordinary times.Now in its third edition, The Age of Reformation has been fully updated and extended, offering a comprehensive study of…
the relationships between religion, politics, and social change in the sixteenth century.The book charts the new challenges and crises facing the English, Scottish, and Irish states in the early modern age as they contended with the spread of Protestantism and a powerful Tudor monarchy. Constructing a clear narrative of the events and actors of this era of reformations, both political and religious, the book provides an accessible entry point for studying a period of upheaval and transformation, synthesising key research and drawing unexpected connections. Each chapter of the third edition has been revised, with additions including expanded treatments of popular politics, the implementation of the Reformation in the parishes, and England’s global expansion and the Tudor roots of the ‘British empire’.Accompanied by new maps and drawing on the latest research, this book is essential reading for all students of religion, reformation, and politics in early modern British history.Eyewitness Viking (DK Eyewitness)
By Dk. 2024
This is a spectacular and informative guide to the daring adventurers of the Viking Age. Superb color photographs of Viking…
ships and swords, clothes and shields, memorial stones and beautiful brooches offer a unique view into the lives of the Norse people and their outstanding achievements.Liberty Equality Fashion: The Women Who Styled the French Revolution
By Anne Higonnet. 2024
Three women led a fashion revolution and turned themselves into international style celebrities. Joséphine Bonaparte, future Empress of France; Térézia…
Tallien, the most beautiful woman in Europe; and Juliette Récamier, muse of intellectuals, had nothing left to lose. After surviving incarceration and forced incestuous marriage during the worst violence of the French Revolution of 1789, they dared sartorial revolt. Together, Joséphine and Térézia shed the underwear cages and massive, rigid garments that women had been obliged to wear for centuries. They slipped into light, mobile dresses, cropped their hair short, wrapped themselves in shawls, and championed the handbag. Juliette made the new style stand for individual liberty. The erotic audacity of these fashion revolutionaries conquered Europe, starting with Napoleon. Everywhere a fashion magazine could reach, women imitated the news coming from Paris. It was the fastest and most total change in clothing history. Two centuries ahead of its time, it was rolled back after only a decade by misogynist rumors of obscene extravagance. New evidence allows the real fashion revolution to be told. This is a story for our time: of a revolution that demanded universal human rights, of self-creation, of women empowering each other, and of transcendent glamor