HISTORY BOOKS (1)
Book of British Dates. Harrap.
1991 (Re-issued in 1994 as British
History: a Chronogical Dictionary of Dates. Parragon.)
I wrote this
panoramic view of Britain’s history as a handy reference source for students of
all ages, researchers, biographers, journalists and creative writers, as well
as a piece of entertainment, a diverting companion for the general reader.
World History: a Chronological Dictionary of Dates.
Parragon. 1994 (Re-issued in 1995 as The
Concise Encyclopedia of World History.
Parragon.)
As continuous and
detailed a narrative of the story of the human race as can be fitted into one
small volume. From the time when man first emerged in Africa through war, famine,
great art and literature, discoveries and disasters to perestroika, Nelson
Mandela and the Northern Ireland peace process, this endlessly fascinating book
allows you to trace the story of mankind. 5-star rating at Amazon.com.
Over 100,000
copies were sold, so it is hard to understand why Parragon showed no interest
in releasing an updated version, five years later, when I was more than ready
to provide the copy. Perhaps another publisher will take it up.
Reader’s comment:
‘I love this chunky little book. While it is true that
this hardcover fits in the palm of your hand, it contains 664 pages. I’ve lost
track of the number of times that I’ve reached for my copy to not just check on
a date or event but to read through to get the feel of a period. It is well
organised sequentially by year (starting in 38,000 BC). The significant events
of a year are covered in a paragraph, with significant milestones in
architecture, art, literature and music set off with icons immediately afterwards.
Moreover, there are lists of rulers, discoverers and explorations, major wars
and inventors in convenient tables in the back.’
Oakshaman.
The Little Book of Kings and Queens
of Britain
Britain has had
kings and queens for over 4000 years. While they lived they excited the most
extreme emotional responses, inspiring love, hatred, loyalty, treachery,
admiration, contempt, fear - occasionally even veneration. They have been the
main shapers of Britain
The History of World Events.
Armadillo. 2003
The
story of the human race can be compared to a river, or the voyage of a ship
across the ocean, an endless flow of events, each one leading continuously into
the next. It is a long chain of actions and results, causes and effects, but it
is also clear that the human story sometimes moves forward in quite sudden
surges or spasms. Every so often there is major event, such as the outbreak of
war or the eruption of a new civilization, that throws whole continents into
turmoil. These events, which are the focus of this book, produce step-changes
in everyone’s lives.
History
has important things to tell us about ourselves and what may happen to us. We
need to learn from the mistakes of the past. The ‘lesson of history’ has been
referred to repeatedly since the poet Coleridge first put it into words in
1831: ‘If men could learn from history, what lessons it might teach us! But
passion and party blind our eyes, and the light which experience gives is a
lantern on the stern, which shines only on the waves behind us!’
Author’s comment:
This is a project
close to my heart. With British secondary school curricula allowing history
teachers to get away with teaching no more than a few decades’ worth of history
– and with a strongly Eurocentric bias at that – British teenagers are being
short-changed. Continuously documented history reaches right back to the Athens
of Pericles, so there are two-and-a-half thousand years of history available.
Clearly it can’t be right for children to be taught the Holocaust and the Great
Dictators two or three times over, leaving more than two millennia of history
completely untouched. This 250-page book gives 12-year-olds access to a
panorama of world history, an outline that will supply a useful context to the
history they learn in school, and in language that they can easily understand.
People who Changed the World.
Time Warner. 2005
Each of the
people discussed in this book made a totally original and individual
contribution which had a significant, long-term impact on the world. His or her
actions had a lasting effect on a great many lives at a profound level.
Arranged in chronological order, the book includes the following details on
each person: dates, potted biography, list of achievements, impact on the world.
Readers’ comments:
‘A
most compelling read.’
‘The
sheer scale of this work is remarkably ambitious.’
Events that Changed the World.
Time Warner. 2005
In a sense every
event, however minor, changes the world in some way. A sequence of small events,
like those that triggered World War I, can change it dramatically. As Lenin
said, everything is connected to everything else. It is sometimes difficult to
distinguish the important from the unimportant and the events chosen for this
book were selected for the following reasons. Some historical events are very
obvious candidates, like the Exodus or the Battle of Waterloo. Some major
events seem powerful and momentous at the time, though we can see, perhaps many
years afterwards, that their effects were not as far-reaching as we may once
have imagined. People were deeply affected by the tragic death of Princess
Diana, but it did not actually change the world for all but a small group of
individuals. Conversely, other events were not seen as momentous at the time,
yet they became so afterwards, like Lincoln
English Castles.
Quercus. 2006
In the bronze,
iron and dark ages there were defensive enclosures, but they were primarily earth-walled with timber
palisades. We think of castles as made of stone. The Romans built the first
recognizable castles, and their heirs were the Normans
Descriptions
of 59 castles and abbeys are accompanied by lavish colour photographs.
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