Peter Ross

Step into the kitchens, streets and chop houses of Georgian London – one day, one city, countless appetites. From dawn until past midnight, Londoners dined at taverns, coaching inns, oyster rooms, confectioners, coffee shops, chocolate houses, soup shops and dining rooms. For the poor, the streets bustled with vendors offering early versions of fast food: hot green peas, baked potatoes, suet puddings, curds and whey, rice milk, gingerbread, pastry ‘pigs,’ and the now-forgotten saloop, a warming drink made from orchid roots. After dark, sex workers and their clients indulged in a glass of jelly, then considered an aphrodisiac, as a precursor to a visit to the brothel. As the empire expanded, culinary influences poured in: London’s first Indian takeaway appeared in 1773, while the East End became home to Jewish fried fish, Italian boloney and German sausages. Through the course of a single day, this book takes readers on a journey through breakfast, lunch, dinner and supper in Georgian London, drawing on contemporary archives to follow hungry citizens from all walks of life as they navigate the city’s diverse food landscape. It reveals not only culinary pleasures and horrors, but also the social challenges and daily struggles that shaped life in the capital.

*A RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK, FINANCIAL TIMES BEST BOOKS OF 2025, SCOTSMAN BOOKS OF 2025, COUNTRY LIFE BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2025*'Packed with anecdote and colour, it's a surprisingly touching portrait of the countries' - Financial Times, Best Books of 2025'An insightful and engaging reflection on the appeal of the ancient' - The Times'I'm a card-carrying admirer of Peter Ross' - Robert MacfarlaneThe prehistoric sites of Britain and Ireland are places of wonder and wondering. Who made these structures? What did they mean to them? And what do they mean to us no? uthor of the bestseller Steeple Chasing and prize-winning A Tomb With A View, Peter Ross journeys from midwinter at Stonehenge to midsummer at Sycamore Gap. Along the way he encounters bog bodies in Dublin, a wooden goddess in Edinburgh and a chalk giant in Dorset. He asks what it is like to live within the great stone circle at Avebury, what rituals occurred in an Anglesey tomb and what draws volunteers to care for the Uffington White Horse. These objects and structures speak of the long human story. They offer the comfort of recognition and the pleasure of mystery. There is something about ancient places that fills a hollow in our souls. Upon A White Horse is a celebration of landscape and people - and all that is beautiful, strange and old. 'Ross scores highly on his intuitive interpretations of places and his non-judgemental observations of human nature; he is empathetic, but can stand back' - Country Life'Ross is a wonderfully evocative writer, deftly capturing a sense of place and history, while bringing a deep humanity to his subject' - Guardian

The prehistoric sites of Britain and Ireland are places of wonder and wondering. Who made these structures? What did they mean to them? And what do they mean to us now?Bestselling author Peter Ross journeys from midwinter at Stonehenge to midsummer at Sycamore Gap. Along the way he encounters bog bodies in Dublin, a wooden goddess in Edinburgh and a chalk giant in Dorset. He asks what it is like to live within the great stone circle at Avebury, what rituals occurred in an Anglesey tomb and what draws volunteers to care for the Uffington White Horse.These objects and structures speak of the long human story. They offer the comfort of recognition and the pleasure of mystery. There is something about ancient places that fills a hollow in our souls.Upon A White Horse is a celebration of landscape and people - and all that is beautiful, strange and old.PRAISE FOR STEEPLE CHASING:''A delicious treat'' - Financial Times''A charming odyssey'' - The Times''Lovely, lyrical, whimsical, elegiac'' - TLS''Engaging'' - New Statesman''A wonderful book'' - Daily Telegraph

Jako by se politická kariéra Adolfa Hitlera před tím, než se roku 1933 definitivně chopil moci, odvíjela podle dvou úplně odlišných scénářů. V tom prvním, který by popisoval léta 1919 až 1923, to byl nacionalistický idealista, blouznivec, snící o novém Německu, jež vznikne revolucí. Revolucí, kterou sám vyvolá a povede. Ve druhém období, v letech 1925 až 1933, se Hitler proměnil v pragmatika jdoucího za mocí s využitím všech prostředků parlamentní demokracie, jíž se rozhodl zakroutit krkem… Co se změnilo? Tou změnou byl rok 1924, který strávil neúspěšný revolucionář po porážce své revoluce, svého „pivního puče“ ve vězení. Byl to rok, který dostal Hitler „darem“. Rok, kdy měl čas přemýšlet, plánovat, rok, během něhož napsal svůj politický manifest Mein Kampf. Byl to rok, který stvořil Hitlera, jak ho známe dnes…