The past is never dead, it isn’t even past
Early in Richard Cohen’s excellent Making History he quotes his distinguished predecessor, the late John Burrow: ‘Almost all historians … have some characteristic weakness … It is often the source of their most interesting writing’. Cohen’s weaknesses are for story,...
Your book opens with the Battle of Fontenoy in 1745 when the British, despite superiority of firepower, were defeated by Saxe’s use of the terrain and positioning of his forces. The use of topography by senior officers would seem to be rather an obvious ‘innovation’ –...
Books of 2021 from Aspects of HistoryTimothy Ashby Author of Elizabethan Secret AgentAt the top of my favourites list of recent historical books is Leanda de Lisle´s Henrietta Maria. Although non-fiction, the book reads like a historical novel, with fascinating...
How the Redcoat Learnt the Art of War By May 1779, the American Revolutionary War had transformed from a regional civil conflict into a global war, and Britain faced French aggression in the West Indies and India. The British government was forced to redistribute its...
Richmond and Molyneux Prizefighting began as a sport in Britain in 1719, when James Figg (1684–1734) became widely recognised as the first English bare-knuckle boxing champion. A cruel and unforgiving sport, a test of mental and physical endurance, fights would not...
Suzette D. Harrison uses her fiction to re-write the stories we think we know about history, and My Name is Ona Judge is no exception. This is Suzette D. Harrison’s twelfth book, and is based on the true story of one of George and Martha Washington’s slaves: Ona Judge...
George Washington - Commander-in-Chief As he entered Philadelphia on May 9, 1775, to attend the American colonies’ Second Continental Congress, Washington brought his Virginia militia uniform and six copies of the British Army’s standard drill manual to help him train...
On Wednesday 14th September, and again for the funeral, we saw the Queen’s Company, 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards form the Bearer Party, in a highly emotive scene as the monarch was carried into Westminster Hall to lie in state, to the sound of Psalm 139 sung by the...
Suzette D Harrison, many congratulations on your new novel, My Name Is Ona Judge. It’s based on the experience of Ona Judge, enslaved to the Washington family. How did you find out about her? I’ve a passion for African American History, so much so that my...
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” For many, these are perhaps the most famous, easily...
