The past is never dead, it isn’t even past
Harry Sidebottom has written an invaluable work for scholars and storytellers alike. Those Who Are About To Die is a masterclass in how to both educate and entertain the reader simultaneously. Although the overall narrative deals with one day in the life of a Roman...
Whether you are interested in being introduced to British history, or you are familiar with it, Willie, Willie, Harry, Stee, will prove to be a find. Borne out of a successful podcast of the same name, Charlie Higson has written a book which entertains and educates in...
There is something fitting in the idea of a photographer spy. Both espionage and photography require close attention to detail, an awareness of perspective, and an ability to manipulate reality. Sometimes, usefully, the activities overlap. Perhaps the most influential...
On 28 June 1914, a collection of Bosnian terrorists gathered in Sarajevo to target the heir to the Austro-Hungarian empire, Franz Ferdinand. It was a chaotic operation, with the first go not even attempted. A later grenade missed the Archduke’s motorcar and instead...
In George Orwell: Life and Legacy, Robert Colls provides a sharp and very lively examination of the man born Eric Arthur Blair, exploring how a "lower upper middle class" Etonian transformed into the world’s defining political writer of the twentieth century. Colls...
We used to joke at Staff College when the command appointments for exercises were being handed out that at least we couldn’t be asked to command the rear guard on Napoleon’s 1812 retreat from Moscow. Of all the military operations in history, it is hard to think of...
“Her efforts did not produce definitive change or unqualified success, but in helping to shape the events of a pivotal century, she left legible traces of a consequential life.” With typical precision, Bruce Chilton ends Berenice: Queen in Roman Judaea. Throughout...
80 years ago, one of the great courtroom dramas of the 20th century took place in Germany: the Nuremberg trials of the top Nazi leaders. But while the whole world was focusing on events in the court room, a second, less well-known drama was also taking place in their...
In Carausius and Allectus, John Pitts sets out to bring the world of Roman Britain to life through a narrative that is clearly grounded in a strong interest in the period. The novel draws on real historical figures and events, using them as a framework for a story...
This is the story of the Jewish children who fled to America and France on the eve of WW2, thus avoiding incarceration or death in the Holocaust. Based around oral and written testimonies, Who Will Rescue Us? traces the efforts of networks of relief workers and aid...
