Latest Reviews – War, psychological trauma and early modern social history

Dec 7, 2017

We start this week with A. C. Grayling’s War: An Enquiry. In his review of this penetrating and provocative book, James Cronin focuses on its assertion that war is synonymous with the ascent of civilisation (no. 2206). Next up is a review of two new collections...

Latest Reviews – Ukrainian famine, Louis VIII and Archbishop Randall Davidson

Nov 30, 2017

We start this week with Anne Applebaum’s Red Famine: Stalin’s War on Ukraine. Christopher Gilley finds the treatment of the famine here to be largely convincing – the book’s weakness is its historical framework (no. 2203). Next up is Louis: The...

Pollard the 3D Penguin in the IHR Library

Nov 30, 2017

To tie in with this year’s Being Human Festival theme of ‘Lost and Found’, the IHR Library recently installed a new exhibition focused on the four points of the compass and the library’s resources for each geographical area. I was tasked with...

Latest Reviews – Bank of England, shell-shock, Tudor houses and C17 women writers

Nov 23, 2017

We start this week with David Kynaston’s Till Time’s Last Sand: A History of the Bank of England 1694-2013. Geoffrey Wood reviews a gallant attempt at a history of the Bank for the general reader, but one which misses its target (no. 2200). Next up is...

The Food and Drinke of Samuel Pepys

Nov 23, 2017

This week is Being Human, the annual festival of the humanities and the arts – this year on the theme of ‘Lost and Found’. For its contribution, the IHR takes you back to the 1660s, and the loss of Charles II’s warship, The London, which sank in the Thames estuary in...

Latest Reviews – Labour Party, medieval peacemaking, Irish poverty & crusaders

Nov 16, 2017

We kick off this week with John Gaffney’s Leadership and the Labour Party: Narrative and Performance. Christopher Massey believes this book provides vital reading for all interested in Ed Miliband’s leadership of the Labour Party and the development of political...