SUMMARY: Inventing the Nation: France

Timothy Baycroft
Hodder Education

A study of France which examines the nation-building process of continual re-creation and re-invention over more than two centuries and the challenge of creating unity whilst reconciling diversity in a nation profoundly divided since the Revolution.

SUMMARY: The Real World of the Bayeux Tapestry

Michael J. Lewis
The History Press

An introduction to the Bayeux Tapestry, which examines the story of the tapestry itself, as well as its design and production and the extent to which it is a reliable representation of the events of 1066.

SUMMARY: Harthacnut: The Last Danish King of England

Ian Howard
The History Press

A biography of Harthacnut, the last Danish king to rule England from 1013 to 1042 and the son of Emma of Normandy, which reveals his influence on the course of English history and provides a deeper understanding of the origins of the Norman Conquest.

The Buddha and Dr Führer: An Archaeological Scandal

Charles Allen
Haus Books

An account of the scandal that followed the discovery, in 1898, of a casket which allegedly contained the ashes of the Buddha, when it was uncovered that the archaeologist Dr Führer had faked his results.

SUMMARY: Fighting for the Cross: crusading to the holy land

Norman Housley
Yale University Press

The story of the experience of individuals who took part in the crusades, which considers the challenges of raising and transporting the combatants from Europe to the East and the complications presented by non-combatant pilgrims.

Paracelsus: Medicine, Magic and Mission at the End of Time

Charles Webster
Yale University Press

An account of the life and works of Theophrastus von Hohenheim (1493-1541), the physician, natural magician, radical activist of the early Reformation and commentator on the social and religious issues of his day.

SUMMARY: Rome’s Cultural Revolution: society, culture and identity

Andrew Wallace-Hadrill
Cambridge University Press

An interpretation of the transformations of Rome’s society, culture and identity in the period of its imperial expansion, which attributes a central role to cultural change in the process of redefinition of Roman identity.

The Titanic Experience: The Legend of the Unsinkable Ship

Beau Riffenburgh
Carlton

The Titanic Experience contains photographs, facsimile items of the Titanic memorabilia and first hand accounts from the survivors, providing an insight into life aboard the ship.

New book review from our current issue: Orgasm and the West

Robert Muchembled
Translated by Jean Birrell
Polity Press

The penis and breast, masturbation and bestiality: the 21st century has seen an outpouring of books about sexed bodies. Here, the author aims to write a history of the West through the orgasm.

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New book review from our current issue: The French Renaissance Court

Robert J. Knecht
Yale University Press

The court of the Valois monarchs of France reached both its zenith and its nadir in the sixteenth century. In this useful and wide-ranging book, Robert Knechtpresents detailed evidence of the origins and evolution of the Valois court.

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New book review from our current issue: Hollywood’s Ancient Worlds

Jeffrey Richards
Continuum

‘The very last thing Gladiator was about was actual Roman history’, writes Jeffrey Richards in his book about Hollywood’s renewed interest in the ancient world. Ridley Scott’s film is principally entertainment, not education.

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New book review from the current issue: The Curse of History

Jeremy Black
The Social Affairs Unit

Never has the past been so present in contemporary society. Whether it be the History Channel, the explosion of museums and monuments, or the media’s obsession with anniversaries and personal roots, history is everywhere.

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Unseemly Pictures: Graphic Satire and Politics in Early Modern England

Helen Pierce

Yale University Press

A study of the satirical print in seventeenth-century England, which considers graphic satire as a particular pictorial category within the wider medium of print and as a vehicle for political agitation, criticism and debate.

The Art of War: Great Commanders of the Ancient and Medieval Worlds

Andrew Roberts
Quercus

A chronological survey of the lives and careers of the fifty greatest military commanders of the ancient and medieval worlds, from Julius Caesar to Judas Maccabeus, from Belisarius to Bohemond and from Trajan to Tamerlane.

The Press Gang: Naval impressment and its opponents in Georgian Britain

Nicholas Rogers
Continuum

A study of the press gang, the regulating officers and gangs of the Royal Navy who were sent out to find recruits to man its fleets, of how it worked, whom it was aimed at and why and how many people opposed its activities.

From Demons to Dracula: Creation of the Modern Vampire Myth

Matthew Beresford
Reaktion Books

A study of the vampire myth in literature, history and art, from its beginnings in the demons of the ancient world to Hollywood blockbusters, which seeks to explain our fascination with this creature.

Summary: Russia’s Peasants in Revolution and Civil War: 1914-1922

Aaron B. Retish
Cambridge University Press

The evolution of peasant society and peasants’ conceptions of themselves as citizens in the Soviet nation, from the First World War to the end of the Civil War, in a period of total war, mass revolutionary politics and civil breakdown.

Messenger of Death: Capt Nolan & the Charge of the Light Brigade

David Buttery
Pen & Sword

A biography of the man remembered as the captain who ordered the Charge of the Light Brigade during the Crimean War, which provides a reassessment of the life of Captain Louis Nolan and his role in the Charge.

Mavericks: Commanders Who Changed the Course of History

Robert Harvey
Constable

Based on twelve individual portraits, an insight into the minds and actions of military mavericks, such as Clive of India, George Washington, Horatio Nelson, and George Patton, who helped change the course of military history.

We Will Not Fight… The Untold Story of World War One’s Conscientious Objectors

Will Ellsworth-Jones
Aurum

The tale of the British men who refused to fight in the First World War, at the heart of which lies the story of Bert Brocklesby, who was sentenced to death for refusing to join the army.

The Western Front, Richard Holmes (BBC Books)

A new edition of Holmes’ classic text, which covers the creation of the Western Front and the experiences of the British Army in France, and clarifies some of the complexities of the Western Front.

Survivors’ Songs from Maldon to the Somme, Jon Stallworthy (Cambridge University Press)

A study of poetic encounters with war including essays on Brooke, Sassoon and Owen, which places the poetry and prose of the First World War and its aftermath in the wider context of writing about warfare.

Gladstone: God and Politics, Richard Shannon (Continuum)

A study of Gladstone, which provides an account of his political career, at the centre of which is placed his intense religious faith and desire to realise God’s purposes.

The Lost Villages: In Search of Britain’s Vanished Communities, Henry Buckton (I.B. Tauris)

The story of some of the more recent lost villages in Britain, which include Hallsands in Devon and villages in Wiltshire and Dorset, requisitioned to help safeguard the nation but never given back.

London: The Autobiography, Jon E. Lewis (Constable)

A history of the events, everyday life and character of the capital over the last 2,000 years, from Boudicca’s raid on Roman London to the terrorist bombings of 7/7, told by Londoners and visitors to the city.

Marie-Thérèse: The Fate of Marie Antoinette’s Daughter, Susan Nagel (Bloomsbury)

A biography of the only surviving child of Marie-Antoinette and Louis XVI, who vanished from public view during the last days of the ancien régime when she was smuggled to Vienna by her cousin, the Holy Roman Emperor Francis II.

Wrath of God: The Great Lisbon Earthquake of 1755, Edward Paice (Quercus)

An account of the Lisbon earthquake of 1755, in which 60,000 souls perished and which ushered in a period of decline in Portugal, and its impact on western thought and religion.

The Fall of Mussolini, Philip Morgan (Oxford University Press)

An account of Mussolini’s fall from power, which reveals the causes and consequences of the event and how the Italians’ experiences of the country at war distanced them from the fascist regime.