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In the early 18th century, Edinburgh was a filthy backwater town synonymous with poverty and disease. Yet by century''s end, it had become the marvel of modern Europe, home to the finest minds of the day and their breathtaking innovations in architecture, politics, science, the arts, and economies - all of which continues to echo loudly today. Adam Smith penned "The Wealth of Nations". James Boswell produced "The Life of Samuel Johnson". Alongside them, pioneers such as David Hume, Robert Burns, James Hutton, and Sir Walter Scott transformed the way we understand our perceptions and feelings, sickness and health, relations between the sexes, the natural world, and the purpose of existence.James Buchan beautifully reconstructs the intimate geographic scale and boundless intellectual milieu of Enlightenment Edinburgh. With the scholarship of an historian and the elegance of a novelist, he tells the story of the triumph of this unlikely town and the men whose vision brought it into being.

The lives of the Scottish queens, both those who ruled in their own right, and also the consorts, have largely been neglected in conventional history books.One of the earliest known Scottish queens was none other than the notorious Lady MacBeth. Was she really the wicked woman depicted in Shakespeare?s famous play? Was St Margaret a demure and obedient wife? Why did Margaret Logie exercise such an influence over her husband, David II, and have we underestimated James VI?s consort, Anne of Denmark, frequently written off as a stupid and wilful woman? These are just a few of the questions addressed by Dr Marshall in her entertaining, impeccably researched book.

‘A dazzlingly inventive work of literature’ Robert Macfarlane, author of The Old Ways''A wonderful, epic braiding of history, geography and personal memoir'' James Rebanks, author of English Pastoral''Stunning...weaving an intricate tapestry of tarmac, humanity and time, as rich as the dark earth on which his many threads lie. It will stay with me.’ Raynor Winn, author of The Salt Path _____________________________________________________________________At the heart of this book is a highway. The A1; The Great North Road. A 400-mile multiplicity of ancient trackway, Roman road, pilgrim path, coach route and motorway that has run like a backbone through Britain for the last 2,000 years.In this genre-defying and profoundly personal book, Cowen follows this ghost road from beginning to end on a journey through history, place, people and time. Weaving his own histories and memories with the layered landscapes he moves through, this is the story of an age, of coming to terms with time past and time passing, and the roads that lead us to where we find ourselves.Written in kaleidoscopic prose, The North Road is an unforgettable exploration of Britain’s great highway.__________________________________________________________________________''This is an astonishing book in its scope and vitality. It’s one to relish and revisit.'' The Telegraph ''A remarkable, post-Covid, post-Brexit state of the nation literary archaeology.'' Financial Times''Stunning and utterly unique. The North Road sits in a genre of one'' Benjamin Myers, author of The Gallows Pole ''A dazzling, dogged, layered account of one road’s passage through place, time and an ordinary family’s history, The North Road truly is a trip'' Melissa Harrison, author of All Among The Barley''Thought-provoking and beautiful'' Matt Gaw, author of Under The Stars''A beautifully woven and mesmerising book'' Tom Bullough, author of Sarn Helen''Sweeping, sensitive and enduring'' Tristan Gooley, author of How To Read A Tree

David II (1329?1371), son of the hero King of Scots, Robert Bruce (1306?1329), has suffered a harsh historical press, condemned as a disastrous general, a womaniser and a sympathiser with Scotland?s ?auld enemy?, England. Bringing together evidence from Scotland, England and France, Michael Penman offers a different view: that of a child king who survived usurpation, English invasion, exile and eleven years of English captivity after defeat in battle in 1326 to emerge as a formidable ruler of Scotland. Learning from Philip VI of France and Edward III of England in turn, David became the charismatic patron of a vibrant court focused on the arts of chivalry: had he lived longer, Scotland?s political landscape and national outlook might have been very different to that which emerged under his successors, the Stewart kings.But David?s was also a reign of internal tensions fuelled by his increasingly desperate efforts to determine the royal succession, overawe great magnates like his heir presumptive, Robert the Steward, and persuade his subjects of the need for closer relations with England after sixty years of war.

Huang Chin-tao was born in 1926, when Taiwan was still part of the Japanese Empire. By the time he died in 2019, Taiwan was a bustling, high-tech democracy--and Huang had lived through every twist and turn along the way. He served as a Japanese soldier in China during World War II; joined an armed uprising against Taiwan''s Chinese Nationalist post-war government; spent twenty-four years imprisoned during the island''s decades of martial law; and finally emerged to help lead the pro-democracy movement of the 1980s in his hometown, Taichung. Drawing upon archives, memoirs, interviews and more, Anna Beth Keim tells the story of Taiwan through the journey of one extraordinary individual. From his childhood scuffling with Japanese children to his transformation into a ''democracy farmer'', Huang''s life vividly reflects contemporary Taiwanese history, and continues to inspire young Taiwanese today who are fighting to keep their home independent. Over roughly a century, the island transitioned from an imperial outpost to an authoritarian state to a democracy--one still at risk of being snuffed out by China. This story is uniquely Taiwanese, yet illuminates experiences shared by countries everywhere: of colonisation and its aftermath, and the ongoing struggle to be free.

The Forth Bridge has long been recognised as one of the finest examples of Victorian engineering on the planet and has achieved an iconic status as one of the great feats of western civilisation since its official opening in 1890. Lavishly illustrated throughout with stunning archive images, Elspeth Wills uncovers the human story behind ''the engineering marvel'': the story of the Briggers. It is a story that has never been told before - of ordinary men working on an extraordinary structure in an often hostile and dangerous environment.Recognised throughout the world as an enduring icon of Scotland, the Forth Bridge is more than just a testament to the genius of Victorian engineering, it is a monument to all those who worked to realise its vision and to the scores of lives that were lost in the process. In this groundbreaking new work, Elspeth Wills gives a voice to the forgotten heroes who helped to make the ambition of the Bridge a reality.

A landmark history of the alliance that won the war and made the peace by the Sunday Times-bestselling author of Appeasing Hitler‘An astonishing achievement. Compellingly told, immensely wide-ranging and utterly fascinating … Superb’ JAMES HOLLAND‘The best book I have ever read about the politics of the Second World War’ TIM SHIPMANAfter the fall of France in June 1940, only Britain stood between Hitler and total victory. Desperate for allies, Winston Churchill did everything he could to bring the United States into the conflict, drive the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany apart and persuade neutral countries to resist German domination.By 1942, after the German invasion of Russia and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the British-Soviet-American alliance was in place. Yet it was an improbable and incongruous coalition, divided by ideology and politics and riven with mistrust and deceit. Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin were partners in the fight to defeat Hitler, yet they were also rivals who disagreed on strategy, imperialism and the future of liberated Europe.Allies at War is a fast-paced, narrative history, based on material drawn from over a hundred archives. Using vivid, first-hand accounts and unpublished diaries, we enter the rooms where the critical decisions were made, revealing the political drama behind the military events. Ambitious and compelling, Allies at War offers a fresh perspective on the Second World War and the origins of the Cold War.''Impeccably researched, elegantly written, and compellingly argued'' THE TIMES''Terrific ... Bouverie is a historian with an exceptional command of his subject'' DAILY MAIL''A new star is born ... Powerful and well researched'' INDEPENDENT

A NEW YORK TIMES TOP-TEN BOOK OF 2024A BARACK OBAMA BOOK OF THE YEARFrom New York Times bestselling author Hampton Sides, the epic account of the most momentous voyage of the Age of Exploration, culminating in Captain James Cook''s death‘Extraordinarily compulsive and fascinating. I felt it somehow told me more about the making of the modern world than any book I had read for ages'' STEPHEN FRY, BOOKS OF THE YEAR, Observer‘An astounding tale . . . recreated in swashbuckling detail . . . Sides delivers it with narrative urgency. The cast of characters is a joy’ Sunday Times‘An enthralling account of Captain Cook’s final, fatal voyage… An excellent new book’ The Economist ‘A rollicking good read, with a tone that reminds me of David Grann’s recent tale of the 1741 Wager shipwreck . . . riveting’ Daily Telegraph''Vivid and propulsive'' New York Times---On July 12th, 1776, Captain James Cook, already lionized as the greatest explorer in British history, set off on his third voyage in HMS Resolution. Two-and-a-half years later, on a beach in Hawaii, Cook was killed – beaten and stabbed in a conflict with the indigenous population.What brought Cook to these final moments, so at odds with his reputation? Renowned for his humane leadership, dedication to science and the curiosity and respect, not judgement, with which he greeted societies that were new to him, Cook had already mapped huge swathes of the Pacific and initiated first European contact with numerous native peoples.The stated mission for his third voyage was to return a Tahitian man, Mai, who had become the toast of London high society, to his home islands. But Cook carried secret orders to venture north, to discover the fabled Northwest Passage and chart and claim lands before Britain’s imperial rivals. And Cook himself was different on his final, fatal voyage.Deeply researched and vividly told, The Wide Wide Sea is at once a ferociously-paced, epic adventure and a searching examination of the consequences of the Age of Exploration from a master storyteller.----‘Sides has written a riveting book, deeply researched, light of touch and always judicious and full-sailed about an exceptional man’s final extraordinary journey’ SPECTATOR''A wonderful, visceral yarn and an enthralling read, replete with brilliant detail'' —ROBERT MCCRUMPRAISE FOR HAMPTON SIDES''Enthralling … as gripping as any well-paced thriller but a lot more interesting because it is also true'' THE TIMES‘Stunningly vivid’ MARK BOWDEN, AUTHOR OF BLACK HAWK DOWN''Splendid in every way… a marvellous nonfiction thriller'' WALL STREET JOURNAL‘Extraordinary … meticulous research shores up a fast-paced narrative’ FINANCIAL TIMES''Viscerally dramatic … spellbinding... bold, dynamic, unusually vivid’ NEW YORK TIMES''Unforgettable…a pulse-racing epic … a masterful work of history and storytelling'' LOS ANGELES TIMES‘Reads like a first-class epic thriller'' TIME

The story of the Lindeijers, a Dutch colonial family in Indonesia, first during World War II as captives of the Japanese and then during the postwar decades when they struggled to come to terms with their wartime trauma, is unique in the pathway it traces from wartime hatred to postwar reconciliation--across generations and continents. Their story is one of four children shell-shocked by the Japanese invasion of Java, further traumatized by their father''s overseas transport as a Japanese prisoner and their mother''s internment camp death. The protagonists speak, as much as possible, for themselves through their documents. The father, in his prohibited POW diary written as unmailed letters to his family, records harsh, brutal treatment but simultaneously reveals a level of complexity among his captors that is unusual in war memoirs. The mother''s farewell letter dictated before her death eschews hatred, focusing on a way for her family to move forward. From their records, the father''s fellow American, Australian, British, Canadian and Dutch POWs add perspective--as does a Japanese camp liaison, through his camp notebook. And finally, in recorded testimony, the eldest son grapples with the trauma of his family''s imprisonments, but also Dutch oppression of Indonesia, stimulating a remarkable response in Japan and Indonesia today.

You could sum up the Italian Wars of 1494 - 1559 in one word and that is ''colorful''. This guide to wargaming the period helps you bring that spectacle to the table top. Everything you need is here to begin recreating battles in this exciting time in history.The period saw the end of the dominance over battlefield of the heavily armored mounted men at arms and the use of huge seemingly unstoppable pike blocks containing thousands of soldiers. Foot soldiers fought with pike, polearm, sword and on occasion the fearsome zweihander. Ranged warfare saw the crossbow fall out of favor and the development and increased use of gunpowder. No single arm was dominant, careful use of the combined qualities of the various troop types was therefore essential for victory.Dress for the soldiers of the time was very flamboyant consisting of bright clothing of many different colors and hats adorned with large feather plumes. Huge flags, in great numbers flew above each of the units which made a spectacular sight on the battlefield. When you transfer this to the tabletop these characteristics produce one of the most visual and instantly recognizable periods of history in the wargaming hobby.The book begins with a brief historical overview of the Italian Wars before moving on to look at the different troop types in the conflict and how they are represented on the table. The author, with a little help from some friends will then guide you through building and painting your forces. Then with the troops mustered its time to get them on the table and roll some dice, included is a guide to refighting the first battle of the wars Fornovo along with some fictitious scenarios.So why not put on a pair of stripey trousers, a flouncy shirt and a feathered hat and start gaming The Italian Wars today?

Dundee is a modern city with a long history. It became a royal burgh in the late twelfth century, but the town itself long predates this, and human settlement in the area can be traced back many hundreds of years earlier. In its eight centuries of official existence, Dundee has been a medieval burgh subjected to invasion and conflict, a thriving seaport and centre of trade, and a booming industrial town known worldwide for its ‘Jute, Jam and Journalism’. It officially became a city in 1889 and, shortly after this, began to be documented by the medium of the picture postcard.In many ways Dundee can be considered the home of the picture postcard. In the early years of the twentieth century when the craze for them was at its height, Valentines of Dundee was the world’s largest producer of postcards and their closest Scottish rival J. B. White Limited was also a local firm. Many photographs were taken for postcard production in Dundee and these images have become an invaluable historic archive for local historians. Dundee: The Postcard Collection dips into this archive and presents many rare and fascinating images of the city.

Food was as important a part of daily life in the Middle Ages, as it is today. In Wortes and All: Medieval Cooking food historian Emma Kay examines what people were eating and drinking in England from the Norman Conquest in 1066 to the 1500s. We not only discover what people were cooking and how they cooked it, but also the influences on their cuisine and sources of food, home and abroad, as society changed in this period. Alongside the history of various types of food and drink throughout the medieval period, the author has sourced recipes from Anglo-Saxon medical tomes, Scandinavian sagas and Middle Eastern cookery manuscripts to explore a varied culinary cultural dialogue. From soups, stews, salads, meat, fish, eggs and fruit to sauces, drinks and confection, this cornucopia of medieval food and drink will fascinate all of those interested in the story of cooking and eating during this complex and many-faceted era.

In 2012, the far right Golden Dawn were building a significant street presence in Greece. Over the previous decade they had grown from a tiny group of neofascist brawlers to a formidable vigilante force responsible for multiples murders, street fights and shootings. Golden Dawn became a significant parliamentary presence and used it as a platform to escalate their terror campaigns against migrants and leftist across the country. They also became an inspiration for far right groups across Europe and the Americas. Strickland first arrived in Greece in 2015 to cover the European refugee crisis, eventually moving there in 2017. With an eye for journalistic detail that recalls Orwell''s reportage in Spain, Strickland traces the antecedents of Golden Dawn to the dark years of Nazi occupation and subsequent military dictatorship and looks at the post 2008 economic crisis that emboldened the far right. You Can Kill Each Other After I Leave provides an intimate portrait of the stories of migrants and activists resisting the growth of the far-right, as well as a vivid and shrewd analysis of the evolving political landscape in Greece and Europe.

Dorset and the New Forest are beautiful areas in the south of England. The landscape encompasses coast, forests and woodland, river valleys, hills and chalk downland, heaths and farmland, and historic towns and villages. The different seasons and the changing light create ever-transforming views and new perspectives, from the height of summer, through autumn’s golden light and the sharp cold of winter, to the fresh green of spring again as the seasons move on.In Dorset and the New Forest Through the Year, photographer Nick Lucas documents the area in all weathers and seasons. This book takes a journey through the year, highlighting the beautiful landscape and colours of Dorset and the New Forest. Look through these photographs and you will quickly see the unique appeal of this special corner of the country.

The medieval English longbow has been the subject of considerable debate. The English Longbow - Investigating a Myth will draw out the arguments concerning it and produce a balanced and convincing summary. The book opens with a detailed description of the weapon system ? the bow, arrow, and arrowheads. The origin of the longbow has been much discussed and the Shortbow-Longbow conundrum is examined in depth. The longbow?s capabilities and effectiveness are evaluated using recent research allied to contemporary accounts. The part the bow played in the ?Infantry Revolution? and the longbow''s relationship with the crossbow are covered.The longbow could only be employed in war if the monarch could mobilise the resources needed to manufacture it and if English society could provide the strong-backed archers able to use it. These issues are investigated, including a consideration of the legal and societal framework needed.The English Longbow - Investigating a Myth is an honest appraisal of the longbow. It is not a book of battles but one that describes how the bow was used, sometimes successfully and sometimes not. It provides a comprehensive and balanced assessment of what was and remains the weapon that made Britain.

One of the first biographies of an Irish historian, this book relates the C20 struggle to show that Ireland had a history at all, and then to take that history away from the propagandists. The story is told through the life of Robert Dudley Edwards, famed as an eccentric but emerging as a deft operator in a dangerous political world. It also shows how the study of history changed after World War II, and why so many intelligence officers — from Hugh Trevor-Roper to Asa Briggs to Desmond Williams — became historians after 1945. Written by his granddaughter, the journalist Neasa MacErlean, the book also describes his harrowing family life, and the damage inflicted by the narcissist personality disorder of his older daughter Mary. His younger two children, Owen and Ruth, went on to become well-known historians, and the book also explains the dynamics of this family of historians.

An ethnographic study of the Welsh-Patagonians that live in the settlement of Y Wladfa. In 1865, a group of 153 Welsh settlers emigrated to Argentina, following an offer from the Argentine government of one hundred square miles on which to live, with the hope of creating a little Wales away from Wales, free from the influence of the English. The Sound of Welsh Patagonia explores the historical and present-day implications of this emigration through an ethnographic account of how and why Welshness is created, sustained, and performed in the Chubut Province of Patagonia, Southern Argentina. The monograph is based on eighteen months of ethnographic fieldwork in the village of Gaiman and surrounding areas with a community of Welsh Patagonians who live in the Chubut Province. Drawing on data gathered from in-depth participant observation and interviews, it argues that the individual and collective subjectivity (of both the Welsh self and the broader community as Welsh) was performatively constituted in the settler colony through the dynamics of seeing and being seen, and through the dynamics of hearing and being heard. In making this argument, The Sound of Welsh Patagonia analyses a series of ethnographic encounters to consider the usefulness and limitations of concepts that have been developed to theorize the self, such as subjectivity, subjectivization, performance, performativity, and self-cultivation.

The city of Nottingham has been an important centre of trade and industry in the East Midlands since the Middle Ages. Famous particularly for lace-making, centred on the preserved Lace Market area, it was also home to the household names of Boots the chemists and Raleigh bicycles. Since the Norman period the layout of Nottingham and its streets remained virtually the same until the mid-twentieth century. In the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s, Nottingham began to see many historic quarters of the city disappear. Large areas were demolished; centuries-old streets disappeared, particularly around the Broadmarsh Shopping Centre where numerous ancient caves under buildings were also destroyed; and famous old buildings such as the Black Boy hotel, Holy Trinity Church and Victoria train station fell victim to the bulldozers. This book sets out to explore what has been lost in the city over the years through photographs, slides, postcards, documents and illustrations from the Paul Nix Collection, the Nottingham Hidden History Team archive and the author’s own photographs.Lost Nottingham presents a portrait of a city and a way of life that has radically changed or disappeared today, often in the name of progress and development, showing not just the industries and buildings that have gone, people and street scenes, but also many popular places of entertainment and much more. This fascinating photographic history of lost Nottingham will appeal to all those who live in the city or know it well, as well as those who remember it from previous decades.

In the fifth century, Attila the Hun terrorised both the Eastern and Western Roman Empires; his were the first of the Devil’s horsemen. After his death his empire quickly disintegrated – but then came the Magyars, fighting the early Holy Roman Empire, and the heavy cavalry used to counter them is where the concept of the knight in armour comes from. Thirdly, there are the Turks, the only group that didn’t expand into Europe, but instead conquered the Middle East. Like the other groups, they were shamanistic pagans and yet within a generation they had converted to Islam.Fourthly, and most famously, we have the Mongol Empire, the largest land-based empire in history, spreading from Korea to Poland. It was hugely important for a century and its impact lasted for half a millennium. Finally, there is Tamerlane. Alexander the Great gets a lot of credit for fighting for eight years without a loss. Tamerlane fought for 25 without loss and he was paralysed down one side of his body. He would even vanquish two of the earlier groups, in wars against the Mongols and the Turkish Ottoman sultans.What links them all is the horse as a weapon of war. In his own attractive style – ‘as accessible as it is informative’ (Deus Vult) – Jem Duducu rides across a thousand years of conquest on horseback.