History > British & Irish History

cultural and literary history of London, looking at the capital's development from Roman times to its modern-day role, as financial and tourist metropolis.

Europe's most westerly capital city was established by invaders and was for most of its history the locus of colonial administration, the engine room of foreign power and a major site of indigenous resistance. From The Act of Union through nineteenth-century decline and into the early years of Irish independence it was a city identified with poverty, dirt and decaying splendour. The Celtic Tiger produced sweeping changes, including massive new building projects, and the surprising revelation that Dublin has become fashionable. Two ... read more

In 1956, Australian art historian Bernard Smith published an article in which he linked the navigator on Cook's second voyage, William Wales, to Coleridge's celebrated poem 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner'. Smith had found that Wales taught Coleridge mathematics at school and that the journal he wrote on the voyage must have been a source for the poem. This connection has been virtually ignored by Coleridge scholars, many of whom have seen the poem as a fantasy. The author came across Smith's article while planning a tramping trip... read more

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In Curious Scotland, George Rosie unearths and illuminates many neglected aspects of Scottish history in a rich collection of episodes that ranges from the Picts to the Indian tribes of North America. What became of the sons of Robert Burns? How did Scotland influence the Ku Klux Klan? Why was a Hebridean island deliberately infested with anthrax? The answers lie in a book which reveals the complexity, contradictions and sheer interestingness of Scotland's long and strange story.

An intriguing collection of little-known stories from Scottish history The histories of nations are never as simple as their legends suggest. George Rosie has been driven by a powerful curiosity about the country he has lived in since he was an Edinburgh schoolboy fifty years ago. This lively mindset has established him as one of Scotland's most inquiring writers and journalists, in print and in television. In Curious Scotland, he unearths and illuminates many neglected aspects of Scottish history in a rich collection of episo... read more

Stonehenge is the most famous prehistoric monument in Europe visited by hundreds of thousands of people every year. The great stones remain compelling because they remain mysterious. 'God knows what their use was,' Pepys wondered in 1668. To greet the winter solstice, for goddess worship, funerary temple? - all recently advanced theories. But the answer is still unknown.This is the first book to approach Stonehenge without any theoretical position. It describes what is known and believed about the monument's construction from c. 30... read more

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William Wilberforce was a world-class statesman, a politician whose profound Christian convictions not only led to the abolition of slavery in the British Empire but also paved the way for the development of the Welfare State.

In a night of unforgettable tragedy,the Titanic ,the world 's largest liner on its maiden voyage,struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic at 11.40 p.m.on 14 April 1912 and sank at 2.20 a.m.the following morning.Over 1500 people died.Whose fault it was, and how the passengers and crew reacted,has been a subject of dispute ever since the first news of the disaster broke. Titanic:A Night Remembered ,as well the story of the ship and its only voyage,is an account of ten of those who died:among them Titanic 's captain Edward S... read more

thelred became king of England in 978, reigned largely unchallenged for 38 years, despite presiding over a period which saw many Danish invasions and much internal strife. If not a great king, he was certainly a survivor whose posthumous reputation and nickname (meaning "Noble Council the No Council") do him little justice. In "thelred the Unready Ann Williams, a leading scholar on his reign, discounts the later rumors and misinterpretations that have dogged his reputation to construct a record of his reign from contemporary sources.

Three King Richards ruled England in the Middle Ages. All had memorable reigns. Richard I was a crusading hero; Richard II was an authoritarian aesthete who was deposed and murdered; Richard III was the most famous villain in English history, locking his nephews in a tower to secure his reign. This highly readable joint biography shows how much the three kings had in common.. All were younger sons, not expected to come to the throne; all failed to produce an heir, leaving instability on their deaths; all were cultured and pious; an... read more

In 1963, the Home Office and Central Office of Information distributed this handbook for the civil defence, police and fire services to advise the public on what to do in the event of a nuclear attack. The booklet told people what to do to protect themselves, their family and their home. From how to build an outdoor fall-out shelter and putting together a survival pack to what to do if a warning sounds, this is a terrifying glimpse of life under the threat of nuclear attack. Published to coincide with the V&A's Cold War Modern exhi... read more

The Tudor period (1485 to 1603) marks in the minds of many the emergence of an English national identity. Defined by the totemic figure of the virgin queen - Elizabeth I - it witnessed the end of the dynastic uncertainties of the Wars of the Roses, the creation and triumph of the Anglican Church; the successful repulsion of foreign invaders and the beginnings of the adventure of empire; the blossoming of a sublimely gifted generation of musical composers, including Thomas Tallis and William Byrd; and the flowering of English poetry... read more

This is a book for everyone who has ever wondered why pubs should be called The Cross Keys, The Dew Drop Inn or The Hope and Anchor. You'll be glad to know that there are very good - strange and memorable - reasons behind them all. After much research about (and in) pubs, Albert Jack brings together the stories behind pub names to reveal how they offer fascinating and subversive insights on our history, customs, attitudes and jokes in just the same way that nursery rhymes do. The Royal Oak, for instance, commemorates the tree that ... read more

This is the changing story of Britain as it has been preserved in our fields, roads, buildings, towns and villages, mountains, forests and islands. From our suburban streets that still trace out the boundaries of long vanished farms to the Norfolk Broads, formed when medieval peat pits flooded, from the ceremonial landscapes of Stonehenge to the spread of the railways - evidence of how man's effect on Britain is everywhere. In "The Making of the British Landscape", eminent historian, archaeologist and farmer, Francis Pryor explains... read more

Merlin: the very name evokes intriguing images - magician, wise man, prophet, adviser to Arthur, counsellor of Camelot. The legend is famous but not the truth: that Merlin was a historical figure, a Briton, who hailed not from England or Wales, as traditional wisdom would have it, but from Scotland.

Roots of Stone is a passionate tapestry, weaving the story of Scotland with the lives of ordinary and extraordinary people. This fascinating sweep over two thousand years of Scotland's past blends with a true family story stretching back over these same two millennia in a spellbinding fusion of history and memoir. This is an exploration of the Scottish identity through actual tales of the author's forebears - tales drawn from royal bloodline and from crofting hearth, tales of high drama and of quiet everyday satisfactions. Mackays ... read more

Does the fabled Holy Grail lie buried beneath Rosslyn Chapel?Rosslyn Chapel is one of the most famous, most mysterious and most misunderstood places in the world. There are many stories and theories about the chapel, but what is the truth?For the first time ever, two historians identify Arthurian carvings within Rosslyn Chapel and show the connections between the tales of Rosslyn Chapel and Castle, and the legends of King Arthur, the Knights of the Round Table and the Quest for the Holy Grail.Did the Knights Templar hide their trea... read more

Millions of Scots have left their homeland during the last 400 years. Until now, they have been written about in general terms. "Scottish Exodus" breaks new ground by taking particular emigrants, drawn from the once-powerful Clan MacLeod, and discovering what happened to them and their families. These people became, among other things, French aristocrats, Polish resistance fighters, Texan ranchers, New Zealand shepherds, Australian goldminers, Aboriginal and African-American activists, Canadian mounted policemen and Confederate reb... read more