Book Reviews

Offa: King of the Mercians, by Rory Naismith

A worthy re-evaluation of the reign of Offa, showing through varied evidence how his power shaped Mercia’s dominance and early English state formation.

Paul Bernardi

Devils in the Details: On Location with Folk Tales in England’s Forgotten County, by Rory Waterman

An examination of Lincolnshire's folklore, tracing how legends like Yallery Brown and the Lincoln Imp have evolved over time through storytelling, embellishment, and cultural memory

Benjamin Peel

Shadow of a Queen, by Peter Tonkin

Robert Poley returns amid the intrigue surrounding Mary, Queen of Scots’s captivity in another of Peter Tonkin's depiction of plots and political tension in Elizabethan England.

Steven Veerapen

Athens and Sparta: The Rivalry that Shaped Ancient Greece, by Adrian Goldsworthy

An ambitious and successful account demonstrating how unlikely alliance and antagonism, rooted in identity and ambition, led to the Peloponnesian War.

Zeb Baker-Smith

FEATURED

No More Napoleons: How Britain Managed Europe from Waterloo to World War One, by Andrew Lambert

As debate intensifies over Britain’s role in world security, Andrew Lambert offers a timely reassessment of the country’s 19th-century grand strategy.

TUDOR LATEST

Shadow of a Queen, by Peter Tonkin

Robert Poley returns amid the intrigue surrounding Mary, Queen of Scots’s captivity in another of Peter Tonkin's depiction of plots and political tension in Elizabethan England.

WW2 LATEST

Queen High, by C.J. Carey

An alternate reality where Wallis Simpson is queen is a compulsive literary thriller.

EDITOR’S CHOICE

Behind Caesar’s Back: Rumor, Gossip, and the Making of the Roman Emperors, by Caillan Davenport

Modern-day understanding of the Roman world was frequently shaped by public perception and talk of the emperors played a role in influencing that history.