The History Book Club discussion
BRITISH HISTORY
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INTRODUCTION
message 51:
by
Jill
(new)
Dec 15, 2011 01:29PM
Will do, Geevee.
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Here is a book that may interest some readers here; "There Was A Soldier:First-hand Accounts of the Scottish Soldier at War from 1707 to the Present Day" by Angus Konstam.
by Angus Konstam
Hmmmmm....looks like another good one, AR. Where do you find all these goodies?????
By accident :) I work in the city and there are a few good book shops close by so whenever I sneak out for a coffee and I duck in for a quick look, I nearly always find something to buy!
There is this book Jill that may also interest you:
by Tim NewarkDescription:
'Highlanders have long been among the most feared soldiers in the world and Tim Newark's book admirably tells their stirring tale. A great read!' Bernard Cornwell On the fields of Waterloo, the deserts of Sudan, the Plains of Abraham and the mountains of Dargai, the trenches of Flanders and the jungles of Burma – the great Highland regiments made their mark. The brave kilted troops with their pipes and drums were legendary, whether leading the charge into the thick of battle or standing fast, the last to leave or fall, fighting against the odds. Acclaimed historian Tim Newark tells the story of the Highlanders through the words of the soldiers themselves, from diaries, letters and journals uncovered from archives in Scotland and around the world. At the Battle of Quebec in 1759, only a few years after their defeat at Culloden, the 78th Highlanders faced down the French guns and turned the battle. At Waterloo, Highlanders memorably fought alongside the Scots Greys against Napoleon’s feared Old Guard. In the Crimea, the thin red line stood firm against the charging Russian Hussars and saved the day at Balaclava. Yet the story is also one of betrayal. At Quebec, General Wolfe remarked that, despite the Highlanders’ courage, it was ‘no great mischief if they fall’. At Dunkirk in May 1940, the 51st Regiment was left to defend the SOE evacuation at St Valery; though following D-Day the Highlanders were at the forefront of the fighting through France. It is all history: over the last decade the historic regiments have been dismantled, despite widespread protest.
Reviews:
“Highlanders have long been among the most feared soldiers in the world and Tim Newark's book admirably tells their stirring tale. A great read!” - Bernard Cornwell
“Full of colour and fascinating anecdotes ... Highlander is a fine piece of military history that is popular in the very best sense - erudite but highly accessible.” - Prof. Gary Sheffield, Military Illustrated
“A fine book.” - Andrew Roberts, Evening Standard
“ A good read.” - Soldier Magazine
“An excellent book, written with vigour and passion.” - Highland Press and Journal
Geevee....well, I didn't particularly like
byFergus Linnane....so I traded it in for this one which starts out quite a bit better:
by Donald Thomas and it is more to my liking. Cannot find the book you mentioned so I will have to be content with this one.
Who isn't fascinated by Robin Hood?....stealing from the rich and giving to the poor....or did he and was he a real person? This book uncovers the origins and the many truths within the story. Set in a nation torn aprt by oppression, the hooded man was a symbol of liberty in the face of tyranny, challenging the authority of the despotic Sheriff of Nottingham.
by Nigel Cawthorne
Geevee.....see my message#58 on a book that I got at the library about the London underworld. Well, I didn't like it very well either....so much minutiae that it really slowed down the narrative....and it didn't really go into a lot of explanation of the social and economic reasons for the increased crime rate in Britain after the war. Oh well, I will continue to look for the one that you recommended first.
by Donald Thomas
For those who enjoy British military history, this new book which is due out in a few months may interest you, it does me!
by Victoria SchofieldDescription:
As the oldest of the Highland regiments and the most decorated regiment in the British Army, the Black Watch has an enviable roster of battle honours and a mystique born of repeated heroic service in the service of king, queen and country. In the trenches of World War I, awestruck German troops dubbed its ferociously courageous, kilt-wearing soldiers 'the ladies from hell'. In deference to the occasions on which it has fought alongside the Americans, the Black Watch does not recognize its own Revolutionary War battle honours. This is the proud regiment of such diverse, even maverick, individuals as Lord Wavell, Ian Fleming and Eric Newby. Originating as a group of fighting men raised to keep 'watch' over the Anglo-Scottish border, formed into a regiment in 1739 and named for the dark tartan of its soldiers' kilts, the Black Watch has fought in almost every major conflict of nation and empire between 1745 and the present day. Victoria Schofield skilfully weaves the multiple strands of this story into an epic narrative of a heroic body of officers and men over two-and-a-half centuries of history. In her sure hands, the story of the Black Watch is no arid recitation of campaigns, dates and battle honours, but becomes a compelling and richly rewarding account of the development and vicissitudes of a remarkable institution - a modern-day chanson de geste recording and celebrating the deeds of a regiment that has played a unique role in British history. Volume 1 traces the story of the Black Watch from its early 18th-century beginnings to the eve of the Anglo-Boer War at the end of the 19th century.
Mod
Hey, hey, hey.....that's the book for me. On to my TBR list. Thanks, AR
My pleasure, I ended up ordering a copy!
I just got this book from an internet seller. It had been recommended here but I couldn't find it anywhere..........now I have it and can't wait to start on it.The Last Dance 1936, the Year Our Lives Changed by Denys Blakeway No photos available.)
Jill wrote: "I just got this book from an internet seller. It had been recommended here but I couldn't find it anywhere..........now I have it and can't wait to start on it.[book:The Last Dance 1936, the Year..."
I hope it's good, enjoy :)
For anyone interested Helen Castors 'She Wolves' is being serialised on BBC 4 starting tonight at 21.00hrs should be available on iplayer.
byHelen Castor
I've got the book to read at some stage but I'd love to see the BBC show, hopefully it will hit Australia's shores sometime soon.
If you love London like I do, this book is for you. This book with more than 500 photographs, reveals Elizabethan, Georgian, and Victorian London before the major redevelopment of the city throughout the 20th century. It is a true door to the past of one of the greatest cities in the world.
by Philip Davies
The aristocracy.....it means rule by the best...and for 900 years the British aristocracy considered itself ideally qualified to rule others, make laws, and guide the nation. Although it is fashionable in modern times to scoff at that class, this book shows how the aristocracy's infatuation with classical art has forged England's heritage, how its love of sport has shaped the nation's pastimes and values and how its scandals have entertained its public.
by Lawrence James
Here is another book on the aristocracy which concentrates on the daughters in the powerful Lenox family.The Aristocrats
by
Stella TillyardSynopsis
The Lennox Sisters--great-granddaughters of a king, daughters of a cabinet minister, and wives of politicians and peers--lived lives of real public significance, but the private texture of their family-centered world mattered to them and they shared their experiences with each other in countless letters. From this hitherto unknown archive, Stella Tillyard has constructed a group biography of privileged eighteenth-century women who, she shows, have much to tell us about our own time.
One of the most interesting figures in pre-WWII Britain.....although it appears that the author is somewhat of an apologist for Mosley and his fascist beliefs. You make the decision.Black Shirt: Sir Oswald Mosley and the British-Fascism
by Stephen DorrilSynopsis
Hated and adored, trusted and feared, respected and scorned - public opinion has never been indifferent to Sir Oswald Mosley. A brilliant politician, Mosley turned his back on conventional party politics to found, in 1932, the British Union of Fascists.
Over the intervening years, many have worked hard to guard Mosley's reputation but Blackshirt casts new light on the man. It reveals the true nature of his relationship with the Nazis, and challenges the prevailing view of his descent into anti-Semitism. With ground-breaking research, Stephen Dorril uncovers an extraordinary set of characters and behind-the-scenes friends and colleagues who supported Mosley-the crooks, swindlers, political and royal figures, secret agents, Nazi spies, lovers and 'crackpots'-and who helped to create the most infamous politician of the twentieth century.
Sounds like an interesting book recommendation, Amhc. But don't forget the book citations (book cover, author's photo if available, and author's link). The book you mentioned should look like this:
by Ronald Hutton
It is tough to pigeonhole where this book recommendation should be placed....it is British history as reflected in the lives of England's most celebrated poets and it seems appropriate here.Young Romantics
by Daisy HaySynopsis
Written by an Oxford fellow, this book tells the story of the interlinked live of the young English Romantic poets of the early 19th century, celebrating their extreme youth and yearning for friendship as well as their individuality and political radicalism. The book focuses on the network of writers who gathered around Percy Bysshe Shelley and the campaigning journalist Leigh Hunt, including such literary lights as Lord Byron, John Keats, Mary Shelley, and Charles and Mary Lamb. Interesting and recommended.
An in-depth look at the relationship between Great Britain and the United States.Old World, New World: The Story of Britain and America
by Kathleen BurkSynopsis
America's close bond with Great Britain seems inevitable, given our shared language and heritage. But the author shows the close international relationship was forged relatively recently, preceded by several centuries of hostility and conflict that began soon after the first English colony was established on the newly discovered continent. She tells the story from each side, beginning with the English exploration of the New World and takes us up to the present alliances in the Middle East.
Mod
The fascinating and mostly scandalous lives of the Curzon sisters, daughters of Lord Curzon, Viceroy of India.TheViceroy's Daughters
by Anne de CourcySynopsis
Based on unpublished letters and diaries, "The Viceroy's Daughters" is a riveting portrait of three spirited and wilful women who were born at the height of British upper-class wealth and privilege. The oldest, Irene, never married but pursued her passion for foxes, alcohol, and married men. The middle, Cimmie, was a Labour Party activist turned Fascist. And Baba, the youngest and most beautiful, possessed an appetite for adultery that was as dangerous as it was outrageous.
As the sisters dance, dine, and romance their way through England's most hallowed halls, we get an intimate look at a country clinging to its history in the midst of war and rapid change. We obtain fresh perspectives on such personalities as the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Oswald Mosley, Nancy Astor and the Cliveden Set, and Lord Halifax. And we discover a world of women, impeccably bred and unabashedly wilful, whose passion and spirit were endlessly fascinating.
I love the British Regency period as well although I have not read the Holme book yet but have read the others.BTW, you are doing a great job with the citations, but for a cleaner post, please place all citations at the end of the post. It makes for easier reference.
by
Antonia Fraser
by James ChambersPrinny's Daughter A Life of Princess Charlotte of Wales by Thea Holme
Mod
by Gareth Rubin (no photo)Synopsis:
In 1914, a train pulled into a provincial British railway station. The porter, a curious chap, asked the regiment of soldiers where they were from. "Ross-shire," one called down, but the porter heard "Russia." And so began a rumor that led to Germany losing World War I. Often the history we learn at school is only half the story. We hear of heroic deeds and visionary leaders, but we never hear about the people who turned up late for court and thereby changed the law, or who stood in the wrong queue at university and accidentally won a Nobel Prize. The Great Cat Massacre: A History of Britain in 100 Mistakes demonstrates that the nation is as much a product of error as design. Through chapters on religion, law, culture, war, science, and politics, it reveals such things as how an edict from Pope Gregory IX helped spread the Black Death, how the sister of cricketer John Willes invented overarm bowling, and how, had a letter not been lost, Disraeli might never have become prime minister. This book is history told through human failings, schoolboy errors, bad luck, and extraordinary consequences; a history of mishearing, misdiagnosis, and misinterpretation—a history that you won’t find in the textbooks.
Jerome wrote: "The Great Cat Massacre: A History of Britain in 100 Mistakes by Gareth Rubin (no photo)Synopsis..."
I haven't read that book yet but I don't think that's a serious book as the alleged bull by Gregory IX seems to be a later forgery by a 20th century historian and not a real one.
Mod
Release date: October 21, 2014
Rebellion: The History of England from James I to the Glorious Revolution
by
Peter AckroydSynopsis:
Peter Ackroyd has been praised as one of the greatest living chroniclers of Britain and its people. In Rebellion, he continues his dazzling account of England’s history, beginning the progress south of the Scottish king, James VI, who on the death of Elizabeth I became the first Stuart king of England, and ending with the deposition and flight into exile of his grandson, James II.
The Stuart dynasty brought together the two nations of England and Scotland into one realm, albeit a realm still marked by political divisions that echo to this day. More importantly, perhaps, the Stuart era was marked by the cruel depredations of civil war, and the killing of a king. Shrewd and opinionated, James I was eloquent on matters as diverse as theology, witchcraft, and the abuses of tobacco, but his attitude to the English parliament sowed the seeds of the division that would split the country during the reign of his hapless heir, Charles I. Ackroyd offers a brilliant, warts-and-all portrayal of Charles’s nemesis, Oliver Cromwell, Parliament’s great military leader and England’s only dictator, who began his career as a political liberator but ended it as much of a despot as "that man of blood," the king he executed.
England’s turbulent seventeenth century is vividly laid out before us, but so too is the cultural and social life of the period, notable for its extraordinarily rich literature, including Shakespeare’s late masterpieces, Jacobean tragedy, the poetry of John Donne and Milton and Thomas Hobbes’s great philosophical treatise, Leviathan. Rebellion also gives us a very real sense of the lives of ordinary English men and women, lived out against a backdrop of constant disruption and uncertainty.
In eight days the Scots will go to the polls to vote on Scottish independence from England. Visit the link below as PM David Cameron begs the Scots "not to tear the family apart."http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/10/world/e...
The Crimean War continues to fascinate me.....a war fought over nothing, nothing gained, thousands of deaths for nothing. The book concentrates on the total incompetency of those in charge, Lords Lucan, Cardigan, and Raglan. Reading it will make you shake your head in disbelief that this could even happen although the Charge of the Light Brigade has been come down through history as a glorious myth instead of a useless slaughter.The Reason Why: The Story of the Fatal Charge of the Light Brigade
by Cecil Woodham-Smith(no photo)Synopsis:
This history puts paid to any misconceptions that one might have about the suicidal charge at Balaclava. The charge has been memorialized in poem and film but here is the real story and it reads like exciting fiction. Through their ineptitude, Lords Cardigan and Lucan sacrificed the men under their command as cannon fodder for the Russian guns and over the years it has somehow become glorious. The author does not gloss over the reasons for the assignment of these incompetent commanders or their childish in-fighting for power with its tragic results.
The history of the River Thames is fascinating and this book attempts to cover it all. (As an aside,most non-Britishers usually mispronounce the river's name.)The Thames
by Jonathan Schneer (no photo)Synopsis:
The Thames, England’s greatest river—for centuries an aid to trade, a stalwart of national defense, a stage for some of England’s greatest historical events, an inspiration to some of England’s best poets and artists, a challenge to engineers. Yet while there is a constancy in the history of the river, there is also change. The Thames charts the diverse meanings of the river over the course of millennia, from prehistoric to modern times.
From the elephants on the bank of the prehistoric river to Caesar’s expeditionary force; from King Alfred’s battleships to the signing of Magna Carta; from the river’s role in both the coronation and execution of Anne Boleyn to seventeenth-century frost fairs and the first performance of Handel’s ‘Water Music’; from Turner’s view of the river as arcadia through its bombardment during the Blitz, The Thames provides an intimate portrait of the waterway at the heart of English history.
Blending elegant prose with historical detail, this exceptional book superbly brings to life the river Winston Churchill once vividly described as “a golden thread in the national tapestry.”
The white cliffs of Dover, a true symbol of the beauty of the British Isles.
The White Cliffs of Dover are cliffs which form part of the English coastline facing the Strait of Dover and France. The cliffs are part of the North Downs formation. The cliff face, which reaches up to 350 feet (110 m), owes its striking façade to its composition of chalk accentuated by streaks of black flint. The cliffs spread east and west from the town of Dover in the county of Kent, an ancient and still important English port.
The cliffs have great symbolic value in Britain because they face towards Continental Europe across the narrowest part of the English Channel, where invasions have historically threatened and against which the cliffs form a symbolic guard. Because crossing at Dover was the primary route to the continent before the advent of air travel, the white line of cliffs also formed the first or last sight of England for travelers.
The cliffs are located along the coastline of England between approximately 51°06′N 1°14′E and 51°12′N 1°24′E. The White Cliffs are at one end of the Kent Downs designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
During the summer of 1940, reporters gathered at Shakespeare Cliff to watch aerial dogfights between German and British aircraft during the Battle of Britain. It marks the point where Great Britain most closely approaches continental Europe. On a clear day, the cliffs are easily visible from the French coast.
In 1999 a sustainable National Trust visitor centre was built in the area. The Gateway building was designed by van Heyningen and Haward Architects and houses a restaurant, an information centre on the work of the National Trust, and details of local archaeology, history and landscape.
(Source: Wikipedia)
Mod
Release date: September 10, 2015
The Seven Ages of Britain: From the Coming of the Romans to the Third Millenium
by Hywell Williams (no photo)Synopsis:
Hywel Williams tells the British story in its chronological, political and geographical entirety, from the Roman invasion of Britannia in the first century AD to the fast-changing, multi-ethnic Britain of the second decade of the third millennium, and from the building of Hadrian's Wall to the Scottish independence referendum of 2014.
Narrated in lucid and richly informative prose, and amplified by sixty capsule biographies of Great Britons from Bede to Brunel and from Dickens to Darwin, The Seven Ages of Britain is a sweeping and enthralling but intellectually serious journey across two millennia of British history. It is the perfect popular introduction to the key events and turning-points of our nation's past. As such it belongs on the bookshelf of any reader with a curiosity about our island's story.
Queen Elizabeth Becomes Longest British Reigning Monarch
She wanted no fuss so it is business as usual for Elizabeth II, who becomes the longest reigning monarch in 1,000 years of British history at 5.30pm on Wednesday.
As she adds yet another historic milestone to those amassed during 63 years and 216 days on the throne, overtaking Queen Victoria, Her Majesty will board a steam train in Edinburgh to officially open the £294m Scottish Borders Railway.
Accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh and the Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, she will mark the occasion by travelling the 36-mile route from Waverley station to Tweedbank, before retiring to Balmoral, where she is enjoying her annual summer sojourn in the Highlands.
At exactly what time Her Majesty out-reigns her great-great grandmother is not precise, due to the uncertainty of the timing of the death of her father, George VI, who died in his sleep. But Buckingham Palace has estimated, to be absolutely safe, she will pass Victoria’s 23,226 days, 16 hours and 23 minutes at around 5.30pm. That calculation assumes George VI’s death was around 1am, and factors in extra leap days in the reigns of “Elizabeth the Steadfast”, as she has been described, and the Queen Empress.
Victoria recorded the day she broke George III’s record, on 23 September 1896, in her diary, writing: “Today is the day on which I have reigned longer, by a day, than any English sovereign”. Church bells rang and bonfires blazed from hilltops in celebration.
Queen Victoria's record reign
There will be no bonfires on Wednesday, however. Palace aides have reminded the press of the sensitivity of the occasion given it owes much to the premature death, at the age of 56, of the Queen’s father. “While she acknowledges it as an historic moment, it’s also for her not a moment she would personally celebrate, which is why she has been keen to convey business as usual and no fuss,” said one.
While the Queen spends the day in Scotland, south of the border there are plans to mark the occasion. The Gloriana, the multimillion pound barge that led her Thames diamond jubilee pageant, will join a flotilla procession down the river at midday. Historic vessels including the Havengore, which carried Sir Winston Churchill’s body at his funeral, will set off from Tower Bridge, sounding their horns in tribute.
A four-gun salute will be sounded as they pass HMS Belfast, with the Massey Shaw fireboat shooting jets of water into the air. Arriving at the Houses of Parliament 45 minutes later, they will end with a fanfare and three cheers for the Queen.
The only living monarch to out-reign the Queen is Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who is two years younger but has reigned for six years longer. However she beats him, and all other contenders, on one matter. According to Guinness World Records, she holds the world record for most currencies featuring the same individual.
(Source: The Guardian)
Although this book is dated, it provides a look at the young Prince Charles, who certainly was a different person from the one we know now. Interesting look at the changes that occurred over the years.Prince Charles: The Future King
by Graham Fisher(no photo)Synopsis:
Carefully Shielded from Publicity, Prince Charles of England is not well known or understood by the public. Here, in the first full portrait of the young man born and educated to be the King of England, Charles emerges as a warm and friendly person, very conscious of the great heritage , yet full of youthful high spirits.
England wasn't quite the staid place that we thought it was during the inter-war years!The Age of Illusion: England in the Twenties and Thirties
by Ronald Blythe (no photo)Synopsis
Between the two world wars, England abounded with astonishing, colorful personalities, and this critical period comes enjoyably alive as forgotten scandals, sensational crimes, and almost unbelievable capers come to light once again. Among the figures discussed are Joynson-Hicks (who tried to clean up London's morals even as he defended the massacre of hundreds of Indians at Amritsar), T. E. Lawrence, Amy Johnson, and others.
Carnaby Street in London was the fashion center of the world in the 1960s. This is the story of how it all began.The King of Carnaby Street: A Life of John Stephen
by Jeremy Reed (no photo)Synopsis:
In 1956 John Stephen took a lease on the newly available 5 Carnaby Street—he was to remark later, "If I hadn't had a very understanding landlord, that would have been the end of me. But he led me around the corner to Carnaby Street, showed me a shop and suggested I got to work right away." Before long John Stephen had three shops on Carnaby Street and was starting to be a cult name. In the process he revolutionised the design of men's shops and, much like Mary Quant at Bazaar, he established the prototypical boutique aesthetic that was to be copied by an entire generation of fashion retailers. Stephen's fame was assured when he attracted high-profile customers, the pop stars Billy Fury, Cliff Richard, Barry Gibb and Dusty Springfield's brother Tom, who searched the racks for gloves and hipsters and the latest colours in giraffe-necked tab-collar shirts. John Stephen set up in clothes at the right time in the right place, for a generation waiting for his liberally colourful designs.
This appears to be a non-biased look at the King who abdicated for "the woman I love".Edward VIII
by Frances Donaldson (no photo)Synopsis:
EDWARD VIII was heralded as the definitive biography of the ex-King and awarded the prestigious Wolfson Prize when it was first published in 1974. Since then no book on the subject has come close to Frances Donaldson's in scholarship or detachment and this re-issue also features the extra material added to the text in 1986.
The Wall: Rome's Greatest Frontier
by Alistair Moffat (no photo)Synopsis:
Very readable book for the interested general reader about the construction of Hadrian's Wall in Britain (in what is now northern England - Cumbria and Northumberland), including general background about the Roman invasion of Britain, the reasons why Hadrian's Wall was built, its change of use over the 350 years of the Roman occupation of Britain and then what happened when the Romans withdrew. Includes a useful final chapter about sites to visit now on and around the Wall (written in 2008).
Good recommendation, Carlton. Thanks so much.
I didn't know there were any!!!!The Manners and Protocol of Drinking in British Pubs
by Clive Bennett (no photo)Synopsis:
If you are a visitor to the U.K. or would like to feel more confident when using British pubs then this publication is for you. A lighthearted look at using the pub with mates or the other half.
The story of the man who has walked three paces behind his wife for over 60 years.The Duke: Portrait of Prince Phillip
by
Tim HealdSynopsis:
THE DUKE is the biography of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, husband of Queen Elizabeth II, a celebrity in his own right and yet an enigma still, even after 60 years in the public eye. What is he really like? Bombastic, autocratic, say his critics. Colourful, stimulating, say his admirers. Tim Heald was given a unique opportunity to find out for himself. Not for twenty years had a biographer been allowed such access to talk to Prince Philip and watch him at work - still very much a man in a hurry, still speaking and questioning on an astonishing variety of subjects and treading the most impossible tightrope between the breezy informality which he first introduced to the royal family and the parade-ground traditions which he has had to accept. And members of the royal family - among them the Queen Mother, Princes Margaret, Princess Anne and his only surviving sister, Princess Sophie - also share with Heald their thoughts on the man who started life as Philip of Greece, one of a royal family who were deposed and exiled while he was still an infant. Many other witnesses reveal for the first time the Prince Philip they know. His early days in exile, at schools in France, in England and in Germany - where he had first-hand experience of the 'unpleasant habits' of the Nazis, and then in Scotland at the newly founded Gordonstoun. His service with distinction in the Royal Navy during World War Two. His engagement in 1947 to Princess Elizabeth, twenty-one-year-old daughter of King George VI. As TIm Heald observes, Prince Philip swiftly emerged as very much his own man, winning over one or two doubters within the Court who might have preferred a home-grown aristocrat as husband to the future Queen. Written with the co-operation of Buckingham Palace, THE DUKE is a brilliantly informed portrait of a life that has been independent of, but fully supportive to the Queen.
Here are some of the books about British history that I've read this year so far: Servants: A Downstairs History of Britain from the Nineteenth-Century to Modern
by
Lucy LethbridgeSynopsis:
The vividly told lives of British servants and the upper crust they served.
From the immense staff running a lavish Edwardian estate and the lonely maid-of-all-work cooking in a cramped middle-class house to the poor child doing chores in a slightly less poor household, servants were essential to the British way of life. They were hired not only for their skills but also to demonstrate the social standing of their employers—even as they were required to tread softly and blend into the background. More than simply the laboring class serving the upper crust—as popular culture would have us believe—they were a diverse group that shaped and witnessed major changes in the modern home, family, and social order.
Spanning over a hundred years, Lucy Lethbridge⎯in this “best type of history” (Literary Review)⎯brings to life through letters and diaries the voices of countless men and women who have been largely ignored by the historical record. She also interviews former and current servants for their recollections of this waning profession.
At the fore are the experiences of young girls who slept in damp corners of basements, kitchen maids who were required to stir eggs until the yolks were perfectly centered, and cleaners who had to scrub floors on their hands and knees despite the wide availability of vacuum cleaners. We also meet a lord who solved his inability to open a window by throwing a brick through it and Winston Churchill’s butler who did not think Churchill would know how to dress on his own.
A compassionate and discerning exploration of the complex relationship between the server, the served, and the world they lived in, Servants opens a window onto British society from the Edwardian period to the present.
Witches, a tale of Scandal, Sorcery and Seduction
by Tracy Borman(no photo)Synopsis:
September 1613.
In Belvoir Castle, the heir of one of England’s great noble families falls suddenly and dangerously ill. His body is ‘tormented’ with violent convulsions. Within a few short weeks he will suffer an excruciating death. Soon the whole family will be stricken with the same terrifying symptoms. The second son, the last male of the line, will not survive.
It is said witches are to blame. And so the Earl of Rutland’s sons will not be the last to die.
Witches traces the dramatic events which unfolded at one of England’s oldest and most spectacular castles four hundred years ago. The case is among those which constitute the European witch craze of the 15th-18th centuries, when suspected witches were burned, hanged, or tortured by the thousand. Like those other cases, it is a tale of superstition, the darkest limits of the human imagination and, ultimately, injustice – a reminder of how paranoia and hysteria can create an environment in which nonconformism spells death. But as Tracy Borman reveals here, it is not quite typical. The most powerful and Machiavellian figure of the Jacobean court had a vested interest in events at Belvoir.He would mastermind a conspiracy that has remained hidden for centuries.
The Thames torso murders
by
M.J. TrowSynopsis:
Dismembered corpses are discovered scattered along the banks of the river Thames, a calculating clinical multiple murderer is on the loose, and the London police have no inkling of the killer s identity and, more than a century later, they still don t. In this, M.J. Trow s latest reinvestigation of a bizarre and brutal serial killing, he delves deep into the appalling facts of the case, into the futile police investigations, and into the dark history of late Victorian London.The incredible criminal career of the Thames torso murderer has gripped readers and historians ever since he committed his crimes in the 1870s and 1880s. The case poses as many questions as the even more notorious killings of Jack the Ripper. How, over a period of fifteen years, did the Thames murderer get away with a succession of monstrous and sensational misdeeds? And what sort of perverted character was he, why did he take such risks, why did he kill again and again?
Mod
Mod
by
Tom BowerSynopsis:
‘The pampered, petulant, self-pitying Prince. A devastating book by Britain’s top investigative author’ Daily Mail ‘Explosive new book delves inside the bizarre, ultra luxury world of Prince Charles’ Sun
Best-selling author Tom Bower reveals the power, passion and defiance of Prince Charles.
Few heirs to the throne have suffered as much humiliation as Prince Charles. Despite his hard work and genuine concern for the disadvantaged, he has struggled to overcome his unpopularity. After Diana’s death, his approval rating crashed to 4% and has been only rescued by his marriage to Camilla. Nevertheless, just one third of Britons now support him to be the next king.
Many still fear that his accession to the throne will cause a constitutional crisis. That mistrust climaxed in the aftermath of the trial of Paul Burrell, Diana’s butler, acquitted after the Queen’s sensational ‘recollection’. In unearthing many secrets surrounding that and many other dramas, Bower’s book, relying on the testimony from over 120 people employed or welcomed into the inner sanctum of Clarence House, reveals a royal household rife with intrigue and misconduct. The result is a book which uniquely will probe into the character and court of the Charles that no one, until now, has seen.
Mod
by Nadine Akkerman (no photo)Synopsis:
It would be easy for the modern reader to conclude that women had no place in the world of early modern espionage, with a few seventeenth-century women spies identified and then relegated to the footnotes of history. If even the espionage carried out by Susan Hyde, sister of Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, during the turbulent decades of civil strife in Britain can escape the historiographer's gaze, then how many more like her lurk in the archives?
Nadine Akkerman's search for an answer to this question has led to the writing of Invisible Agents, the very first study to analyse the role of early modern women spies, demonstrating that the allegedly-male world of the spy was more than merely infiltrated by women. This compelling and ground-breaking contribution to the history of espionage details a series of case studies in which women--from playwright to postmistress, from lady-in-waiting to laundry woman--acted as spies, sourcing and passing on confidential information on account of political and religious convictions or to obtain money or power.
The struggle of the She-Intelligencers to construct credibility in their own time is mirrored in their invisibility in modern historiography. Akkerman has immersed herself in archives, libraries, and private collections, transcribing hundreds of letters, breaking cipher codes and their keys, studying invisible inks, and interpreting riddles, acting as a modern-day Spymistress to unearth plots and conspiracies that have long remained hidden by history.
Mod
Let’s talk about your next book, which is about female spies. It’s called Invisible Agents: Women and Espionage in Seventeenth Century Britain and it’s by Nadine Akkerman.
I read this as much out of duty as pleasure because this is my period, the mid-seventeenth century, the Civil Wars, the Protectorate.
I probably would say this, but this is one of the most important periods in English and indeed British history and it’s not very well known by the wider public. I’ve wondered why that’s the case because it has such extraordinary characters.
A theory I’ve always had is that one of the reasons why the mid-seventeenth century is not popular among readers is the absence of women in major roles.
In Tudor times, with Henry VIII, you have Anne Boleyn, Catherine of Aragon, Mary and Elizabeth.
There are prominent female figures, whereas during the seventeenth century, with Charles and Cromwell, men dominate. There’s an absence of strong women, at least to the layperson.
What Nadine Akkerman does is concentrate on these invisible women. That’s why it’s such a good title—because women are so invisible in this period in the public sphere. Men literally couldn’t imagine that women were capable of being spies or intelligencers.
There are some great stories in the book. There’s one about Alexandrine, Countess of Taxis. She has a house in Brussels, and a Stuart agent who’s there is having his letters intercepted. He talks to her and says something like, ‘Who is doing this? It couldn’t be you, because of your honesty, your dignity and your sex. You just wouldn’t be capable of doing it.’
But Alexandrine has this commercial network and she’ll sell this stuff to the highest bidder. She’ll sell to Catholics; she’ll sell to Protestants. She has no real loyalty to anyone. It’s very amusing. It’s a classic lesson in what so many historians have overlooked—which is not just what historians have overlooked, it’s what people at the time overlooked as well.
This world is a little bit like the world of Thomas Cromwell.
It’s quite fragmented. It’s a place where you can step through the cracks. There are some great details in the book about spying in general.
We’ve tended to concentrate in the popular imagination on spies in the Elizabethan world, but in the period of the Civil Wars, there’s some great stuff. The book talks about Oxford, which is Charles’s capital at the time.
The parliamentarians would put little pieces of paper in holes and they’d be picked up by ‘gardeners’, brought back and left in a ditch just outside the city where they’d be picked up. The book is very good on tiny, fascinating details, and also at conveying the high stakes. Being a spy was incredibly dangerous.
There’s one particularly gruelling episode recounted by Akkerman which begins with a man called Anthony Hinton. Hinton is a member of the Sealed Knot, a clandestine organization—largely incompetent, it should be said—that tries to build a network of resistance to Cromwellian rule and the Protectorate.
It’s not very good at this: many of its people are louche, drunken or just not very able figures. Anthony Hinton is arrested for carrying correspondence from Susan Hyde, who is quite highly placed within the circle.
Eventually, at the Restoration, her brother, Sir Edward Hyde, becomes the chief minister of Charles II. She’s investigated and although it’s claimed that there’s no torture during the Cromwellian period—which I think is right—it’s nevertheless a very brutal episode. She is stripped; she’s interrogated; she has an almost complete mental breakdown. She’s left catatonic. It’s an appalling experience, and she dies a week later.
Although one of the things she points out is that women quite often get off scot-free because nobody can believe that they are spies.
Yes, it’s safer than it is for the men. The example with Susan Hyde is atypical in terms of brutality towards a female spy. Coming back to the title, ‘invisible agents,’ it simply wasn’t thought that women were capable of doing this, though they were at it all the time.
It’s quite a scholarly work. Perhaps more could have been done to give it a narrative thrust, but it’s so revelatory in terms of scholarship that it’s worth persisting. Maybe now this groundbreaking work has been done, others will carry on.
You were saying this is your period, and people aren’t generally that familiar with it. If somebody were looking for a popular history or introduction to it, what would you recommend?
There’s a small book by Blair Worden called The English Civil Wars which is quite good.
But if you just concentrate on the Civil Wars, you don’t see how we got there and you don’t see what the consequences are.
So the best book if you really want to understand this period, I would say, is probably by Austin Woolrych. It’s called Britain in Revolution.
It’s a well-written, really brilliant overview of the whole period. It explains how it began. It’s a very good chronological narrative of the war. You also get the idea of the Cromwellian Settlement and the problems there were and why the Restoration happened.
It’s also quite good on the idea of ‘revolution’ because it has two meanings, really. We tend to think of it in the modern sense: a revolution being a break with the past. Whereas to the seventeenth-century mind, a revolution was a restoration. It is literally the revolution of a wheel.
“We tend to think of ‘revolution’ in the modern sense: a revolution being a break with the past. Whereas to the seventeenth-century mind, a revolution was a restoration.”
So is it a revolution that happens when Cromwell comes to power? It’s very difficult to argue that it’s a revolution in the modern sense—like the French Revolution—because it’s so imbued with religion.
Or is it a revolution when Charles II comes back? I suppose you do have a turning of the wheel, but it’s never quite the same again. The king never has the power that Charles I was trying to find in his personal rule.
The other thing that is misunderstood about the Civil Wars is that we tend to view Charles as the reactionary and Parliament as the radical, progressive force.
Actually, I think it’s the other way round. It’s Charles who’s trying to build something new, because he’s seen European absolutism and wants to build that kind of absolute monarchy in England. That was a modern thing.
It’s the Parliamentarians who want to return to what they constantly call ‘the ancient constitution’; the Levellers want to get rid of ‘the Norman yoke.’ It’s much more ambiguous than we tend to think, from our twenty-first-century perspective.
Source: Five Books
Mod
Thank you,
Lorna, Assisting Moderator (T) - Civil Rights and Supreme Court
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