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Castlereagh - review
Posted on: 14 August 2021
Why Bew why now? John Bew’s biography of Robert Stewart (generally known as Viscount Castlereagh, the courtesy title he held most of his adult life) was published ten years ago, which raises the very...
★★★★☆ (2011)
review
Dictators - review
Posted on: 8 August 2021
Frank Dikotter’s ‘Dictators: the Cult of Personality in the Twentieth Century’ is a highly readable potted history of eight twentieth century dictators, charting the rise and (more often than not) the...
★★★☆☆ (2019)
review
Making Deep History - review
Posted on: 6 August 2021
How do you envisage a million years? Clive Gamble in “Making Deep History: Zeal, Perseverance and the Time Revolution of 1859” tell us that Charles Darwin was advised in 1868 to try this exercise:...
★★★☆☆ (2021)
review
Why new history books? What's wrong with the old ones?
Posted on: 6 August 2021
“Who controls the past,” ran the Party slogan, “controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.” George Orwell, agreeing with me that new history books are important, in his recent...
opinion
What Is History? - review
Posted on: 31 July 2021
There is something about the theory of history or historiography – ie how and why the study of history is conducted – that can inflame passions among professional historians. Seemingly mild mannered...
★★★★★ (1961)
review
Ten Caesars - review
Posted on: 24 July 2021
A week ago I went to see a blockbuster exhibition about an accused arsonist who murdered his wife and his mum. The star of the show (running until October 2021 at the British Museum in London) is of...
★★★☆☆ (2019)
review
The Last Embassy - review
Posted on: 16 July 2021
The Dutch present ships have arrived at the Tiger’s Mouth, like tall inns on the oyster-shell mirror of the water, a joyful noise ringing out. They’re filled with precious offerings, but first they...
★★★★☆ (2021)
review
Slavery After Rome, 500-1100 - review
Posted on: 11 July 2021
Health warning: the reviewer got a bit carried away and has written a rather long review – you may want to make yourself a cup of tea before starting it. What is it about? Professor of Medieval...
★★★★☆ (2017)
review
The Horde - review
Posted on: 4 July 2021
I first learned to fear the power of the Mongols while playing the computer game Medieval II Total War. Playing as king of the English I was pretty pleased with my thuggish army of knights and...
★★★★☆ (2021)
review
Empire of Silver - review
Posted on: 17 June 2021
Silver mining is not an easy job – when you dig the raw ore out of the ground it typically contains less than 0.1% silver – 1 part in a thousand. You then have to go through a laborious process of...
★★☆☆☆ (2021)
review
Soldier, Priest, and God - review
Posted on: 15 June 2021
What is it about? Alexander the Great is one of the most famous, and studied, figures in history. What more is left to be said? According to Professor Fred Naiden, rather a lot. In his opening chapter...
★★★☆☆ (2018)
review
If history is wrong, does it matter?
Posted on: 7 June 2021
...at the end, Garder [the last Norse settlement in Greenland] was like an overcrowded lifeboat… famine and associated disease would have caused a breakdown of respect for authority… starving people...
opinion