History round-up

The Second World War

Author: A.W. Purdue

Edition: Second

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Pages: 240

Price: £60.00 and £19.99

ISBN: 97802309353 and 9360

One of the most concise yet comprehensive accounts of the entire course of the Second World War, this textbook covers both the European and Asian Pacific conflicts. Thoroughly revised in the light of the latest scholarship, this second edition challenges accepted views and reassesses the war, rejecting the simplistic concept of a “war against Fascism”, discusses the historiography, analyses key themes and current debates, and considers the evolution and shifts in popular attitudes to the Second World War.

The Caribbean: A History of the Region and its Peoples

Editors: Stephan Palmie and Francisco A. Scarano

Edition: First

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Pages: 624

Price: £61.50 and £22.50

ISBN: 9780226645063 and 5087

The Caribbean traces the history of the area from its pre-Columbian state, through European contact and colonialism, to the rise of US hegemony and the economic turbulence of the 21st century. Beginning with a discussion of the region’s geography and ecology, and then looking at the transatlantic slave trade and Caribbean nationalist movement for independence, Stephan Palmie and Francisco Scarano aim to provide a definitive overview.

The Origins of the Second World War: An International Perspective

Editor: Frank McDonough

Edition: First

Publisher: Continuum

Pages: 552

Price: £65.00 and £24.99

ISBN: 9781441164438 and 185938

Looking at the origins of the Second World War from a modern perspective, Frank McDonough has brought together 28 historians from half a dozen countries to discuss and present new interpretations of the causes of the war. With particular reference to Versailles and the League of Nations, McDonough’s intention is to offer a comprehensive guide to the origins of this complex global event.

The Great Humanists: An Introduction

Author: Jonathan Arnold

Edition: First

Publisher: I.B. Tauris

Pages: 336

Price: £54.50 and £17.99

ISBN: 9781848850811 and 850828

By exploring the intellect of late Renaissance Europe, Jonathan Arnold looks to provide an essential survey of the most important scholars, priests, theologians and philosophers of the period, now known as the Christian Humanists. By looking at Erasmus, Thomas More and Jacques Lefevre d’Etaples, among others, this book makes informative reading for scholars and students of both philosophy and early modern European history.

Northern Ireland since 1969

Authors: Paul Dixon and Eamonn O’Kane

Edition: First

Publisher: Longman/Pearson Education

Pages: 224

Price: £16.99

ISBN: 9781405801355

With the objective of providing an accessible and comprehensive account of the history of Northern Ireland, the authors consider key players and moments to produce a guide that contains primary source material, a glossary of terms and a bibliography. It enables readers to understand the history of Northern Ireland and, with that knowledge, begin to comprehend the Troubles.

Military Strategy: The Politics and Technique of War

Author: John Stone

Edition: First

Publisher: Continuum

Pages: 216

Price: £60.00 and £18.99

ISBN: 9781441166470 and 186911

John Stone, an academic in the war studies department at King’s College London, considers why military strategy has remained one of the most important political tools of the past two centuries, despite so often being practised ineffectively. In examining the period from the French Revolution and Napoleon to the global War on Terror, he argues that, to be effective, strategic practice must reflect the political context in which it is formulated; failures are often the result of its practitioners not paying due heed to military-technical matters.

Communism

Author: Mark Sandle

Edition: First

Publisher: Longman/Pearson Education

Pages: 232

Price: £15.99

ISBN: 9781408264508

This book seeks to offer a concise introduction to one of the most important and influential political and social movements of the 20th century. By looking at radical millenarian movements of the Middle Ages and the English Civil War, Mark Sandle explains how communism became a mass movement seeking to overturn capitalism and replace it with a society of equality, justice, harmony and cooperation.

Independent India, 1947-2000

Author: Wendy Singer

Edition: First

Publisher: Longman/Pearson Education

Pages: 232

Price: £15.99

ISBN: 9780582414945

A concise look at post-independence India covers the period’s most important themes - industrial development versus the agrarian sector, religious conflict, the rise of political parties, caste tensions - via a chronological framework. The book’s Assessment section draws the themes together and reflects on recent events such as the testing of nuclear weapons.

The New A-Z of Empire: A Concise Handbook of British Imperial History

Author: C. Brad Faught

Edition: First

Publisher: I.B. Tauris

Pages: 320

Price: £59.00 and £14.99

ISBN: 9781845118709 and 8716

Covering more than 400 years of British imperial history from the founding of the East India Company in 1600 to the time of High Empire, the unprecedented expansion of the “scramble” for Africa, decolonisation and the growth of the Commonwealth, this book’s 400-plus concise entries highlight individuals, territories, treaties, politics, the law, diplomacy, war and peace, administration, business and commerce, exploration, literature, art and scholarship.

Stalinist Society 1928-1953

Author: Mark Edele

Edition: First

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Pages: 384

Price: £50.00 and £18.99

ISBN: 9780199236404 and 6411

Using a wide range of sources, from declassified archives to interviews, memoirs and personal diaries, Mark Edele’s intention is to provide a fresh analytical overview of the complex social formation of Stalinist society. Combining the perspectives from above and below, the book integrates writing on culture and entertainment, ideology and politics, terror and welfare, consumption and economics.

Domination and Lordship: Scotland, 1070-1230

Author: Richard Oram

Edition: First

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Pages: 448

Price: £70.00 and £24.99

ISBN: 9780748614967 and 14974

Seeking a balance between traditional concentration on the “feudalisation” of Scottish society, and recent emphasis on the centrality of Gaelic culture and tradition, this volume focuses on the era often labelled the “Making of the Kingdom” in Scottish history. Richard Oram looks at the struggle for political domination of the northern mainland of Britain and the culture of Scotland, and aims to provide a guide to the politics of late 11th- to early 13th-century Scotland.

Argentina: A Modern History

Author: Jill Hedges

Edition: First

Publisher: I.B. Tauris

Pages: 336

Price: £29.50

ISBN: 9781848856547

Political, economic and social aspects of Argentina’s recent past are considered here in a work intended to serve as a key resource for history and politics students of the region. Although Argentina was one of the world’s most prosperous economies in the early 20th century, it later fell behind its regional neighbours. Despite few ethnic or linguistic divisions, it failed to create a strong post-independence national identity and its history has been marred by frictions, violence and military coups d’état. Jill Hedges focuses on the 1853 constitution, the Golden Age, Perónism and the return to democracy.

The Middle Ages in Texts and Texture: Reflections on Medieval Sources

Editor: Jason Glenn

Edition: First

Publisher: University of Toronto Press

Pages: 368

Price: £21.99

ISBN: 9781442604902

A collection of essays spanning the period from the 4th century to the turn of the 15th, this textbook aims to furnish students with primary sources that are often used in courses on medieval Europe or Western civilisation. The purpose of the collection is to allow readers to engage with notable texts, from a variety of genres, produced during the Middle Ages.

Collected Writings on Chinese Cultural History

Author: Tsuen-Hsuin Tsien

Edition: First

Publisher: The Chinese University Press

Pages: 430

Price: £48.95

ISBN: 9789629964221

With newly translated articles among its resources, this collection explores many aspects of China’s culture: Chinese documents, paper, ink-making, printing, cultural exchange, libraries, biographies and more. An appendix includes biographical and critical context for readers unfamiliar with the author’s impact on the study of Eastern history.

China since 1949

Author: Linda Benson

Edition: Second

Publisher: Longman/Pearson Education

Pages: 244

Price: £14.99

ISBN: 9781408237694

A fully revised second edition of this readable text traces major events in the post-revolutionary period, taking in the Maoist era, the reform period and the present day. Linda Benson explores the promises and challenges of China’s rise within the context of the nation’s remarkable transformation, its new position as an international powerhouse, and the rapid social change that has created both winners and losers. Additional resources include a documents section with primary source material; a glossary, chronology section and “who’s who”; and extensive bibliography and further reading sections.

Empire in Question: Reading, Writing, and Teaching British Imperialism

Author: Antoinette Burton

Edition: First

Publisher: Duke University Press

Pages: 416

Price: £70.00 and £16.99

ISBN: 9780822348801 and 49020

The development of the “new imperial history” is considered in this book by a scholar who helped to shape the field. Antoinette Burton has insisted that the vectors of imperial power run in many directions and that race must be incorporated into history writing, and argued that gender and sexuality are critical dimensions of imperial history. This collection of essays includes her groundbreaking critiques of British historiography, as well as essays in which she views topics from Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre to nostalgia for colonial India through the lens of theory, and a coda in which she candidly assesses shortcomings in her own thinking.

History, Historians and Development Policy: A Necessary Dialogue

Editors: C.A. Bayly, Vijayendra Rao, Simon Szreter and Michael Woolcock

Edition: First

Publisher: Manchester University Press

Pages: 304

Price: £65.00 and £16.99

ISBN: 9780719085765 and 85772

In a text aimed at students and scholars of history, development studies, international relations, politics and geography, as well as policymakers and the staff of non-governmental organisations, 10 historians and seven policy advisers consider the main development issues of social protection, public health, public education and natural resource management. In exploring how certain ideas have taken hold in the shaping of policy responses, the authors recognise the distinctive ways historians assemble, analyse and interpret a range of evidence.

Religion, Politics and Society in Britain 1066-12

Author: Henry Mayr-Harting

Edition: First

Publisher: Longman/Pearson Education

Pages: 380

Price: £19.99

ISBN: 9780582414136

The author, a former Regius professor of medieval history at the University of Oxford, surveys a period of great change in the Church and in the political landscape of the nation: the age of the Gregorian reforms, of the foundation of the friars’ orders of Franciscans and Dominicans, and of the philosophical and proto-scientific flowering of the 12th-century Renaissance, and of figures such as Aelred of Rievaulx, Thomas à Becket and Christina of Markyate.