The past is never dead, it isn’t even past
John Brewer’s historically rich Volcanic: Vesuvius in the Age of Revolution takes readers on a fascinating journey through the history of Mount Vesuvius. Brewer carefully plots the changing attitudes towards Naples and Mount Vesuvius through the lens of the Sublime...
What inspired your latest novel The Case of the Wandering Corpse The murder that introduces Gask and Rait had its genesis in 1864, after Franz Muller - a German tailor - was publicly hanged for the murder of Thomas Briggs. This was the first murder on a British train....
Crime in Victorian London One of the settings for my new novel, The Jaggard Case, is Clerkenwell - the scene of the arrest of Oliver Twist for pickpocketing. Clerkenwell was famous not only for its jewellery and watchmaking industries, but also its criminality and...
Within the pages of my latest book, set in the gritty backdrop of 1860s Melbourne, The Case of the Wandering Corpse, a thrilling tale unfolds as my protagonists Findo Gask and Erroll Rait confront an elusive organization known as Die Broederskap (The Broederbond)....
Yet another film on Napoleon and, inevitably it seems, yet more myths are added to the old. As Simon Schama nicely observed, Ridley Scott and his ilk are not content with ‘just making films about Napoleon so much as climbing into his saddle, beguiled by the siren song...
Paul, your book was published 15 years ago to great acclaim. Why did you write it, after all it’s the only book you’ve written on the Napoleonic period. First and foremost I wrote Napoleon in Egypt because it was such an gripping story - one which included everything...
It’s a safe bet to suppose that while you’ll know of The Four Feathers and its essential storyline – after all, it’s been adapted for film six times – you probably won’t be able to name its author. In fact you’re almost certainly more likely to know that the most...
There was a point, early on in Napoleon, when Marie Antoinette is taken out to be executed in front of the mob, that I realised I should relax, not quibble over inaccuracies, and simply enjoy the show. The camera cuts to a man in the crowd, and that man is Napoleon...
Six of the Best: Books on Napoleon With Ridley Scott’s new movie, Napoleon, out soon and starring Joaquin Phoenix as Bonaparte and Vanessa Kirby as Josephine, much discussion has been prompted over its historical accuracy. If your interest is peaked then you must...
Books of 2023 from Aspects of HistoryAlan Bardos Author of The Dardanelles ConspiracyMy book of the year is SAS Forged in Hell. The next instalment of Damien Lewis’ WW II odyssey with the men of 1 SAS, as they become the ‘tip of the spear’ in the invasion of Sicily...
