When one thinks of D-Day, June 6th 1944, the first images that spring to mind are of brave soldiers disembarking landing craft and rushing onto the beaches to face the machine-guns of the defending Germans. Films, such as Saving Private Ryan and The Longest Day have...
Yale University Press
Nick Hewitt on Normandy: The Sailors’ Story
Nick Hewitt, many congratulations on Normandy: The Sailor’s Story. Why did you want to write it? Thank you! I’ve been studying the naval history of D-Day and the wider Normandy campaign for most of my career, ever since I started working aboard HMS Belfast as a baby...
NATO: From the Cold War to Ukraine, by Sten Rynning
At a time when the UK is at war by proxy – providing intelligence, weapons and training to Ukraine – and relying on Article Five of the NATO treaty for our own security, this is a most timely book. The author, Sten Renning, is a Danish professor who has been a student...
Sten Rynning on NATO
NATO was established in 1949, very much as a bulwark against the Eastern Bloc. Does it still have relevance today? Yes, NATO remains the alliance through which the United States upholds the vision of a Europe “whole and free.” America’s power of extended deterrence...
NATO’s Greatest Achievement
NATO’s Greatest Achievement Readers may rightly wonder why NATO, so pre-eminent as Europe’s security foundation, is so timid in its response to Russia’s war on Ukraine. To fully grasp this, we need to look back to NATO’s perhaps greatest achievement, namely its...
The History of England’s Cathedrals, by Nicholas Orme
If we set aside social and economic institutions like the family and work, cathedrals (along with bishops and dioceses) are the oldest organisations to function in England, with records of continuous activity going back to about the year 600. Nicholas Orme is...
After the Nazis, by Michael H. Kater
Michael H. Kater’s After The Nazis is a tremendous study into life and culture in West Germany after World War II up until German Reunification. Throughout the book, Kater sheds light on a side of West Germany’s history that is often overshadowed by its geopolitical...
Volcanic, by John Brewer
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...
Murder In The Cathedral
On Tuesday afternoon, 29 December 1170, Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, was hustled by his staff from his palace into his cathedral. There had been an angry exchange between him and four knights from the court of Henry II in France. Frustrated by the presence...
Templars, by Steve Tibble
The historic role and place of the Templars in European history is interwoven with legend and indeed, as Steve Tibble has demonstrated in this very closely argued work, it has attracted any number of misrepresentations and false trails. This book offers us discussion...