Top texts - History
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Historiography & Reference
Published June 2008
This book brings together David Cannadine's most important reflections on how history has been written and made in Britain in the twentieth century. Empire, monarchy, parliament, the economy, culture, heritage and tradition: Cannadine casts his eye over some of the central topics of our age and their treatment by historians down the years, delivering rich insights into the nature and profession of history itself. Most of the essays included here were produced during his decade-long association with the Institute of Historical Research in London and they are framed by his inaugural and valedictory lectures there. The result is a remarkably coherent collection, which demonstrates yet again why Cannadine is one of the most thoughtful, original, incisive and readable historians of our time.
Published August 2007
The new edition of this best-selling introductory guide has been thoroughly revised to reflect the changing nature of the discipline. Includes advice on writing essays, dissertations, preparing for exams, group work, oral presentations and using the Internet for assignments.
Published May 2008
Does history matter? Does it offer anything more than just entertainment? If so, what practical relevance does it have?
In this text John Tosh identifies the essential features of historical thinking and shows how they can be applied to contemporary concerns. Drawing on practical examples from the Iraq War to the AIDS crisis, Tosh demonstrates why the study and application of history is such a critical resource for the active citizen in a representative democracy.
Published June 2002
'As a lively, challenging view of the purpose of historical inquiry and the role of the historian...What is History? has yet to be bettered.' - David Horspool, Times Literary Supplement
Since its first publication in 1961 E.H. Carr's What is History? has established itself as the classic introduction to the subject. Ranging across topics such as historical objectivity, society and the individual, the nature of causation, and the possibility of progress, Carr delivered an incisive text that still has the power to provoke debate today.
Published April 2004
'...destined to become a must-have text for today's history students.' - Tristram Hunt, BBC History Magazine
In this book, ten internationally renowned scholars, writing from a range of historical vantage points, answer Carr's question for a new generation of historians: What does it mean to study history at the start of the Twenty-first century? This volume stands alongside Carr's classic, paying tribute to his seminal enquiry while moving the debate into new territory, to ensure its freshness and relevance for a new century of historical study.
Published October 2006
'Mabbett outlines the methods of historical research and writing, and clearly illustrates their application to writing assignments, essays and dissertations in History. I would absolutely recommend this book to students and teachers alike.' - Gerry Hughes, University of Wales, UK
Writing History Essays is an indispensable aid for all those studying history and is ideal for beginners. Focusing on the fundamentals, this helpful and informative guide demonstrates that it is through the writing of history essays that we learn the nature of the discipline.
Palgrave Essential Histories Series
Publishes December 2009
Drawing on the latest research into ancient, medieval and modern history, this single-volume traces the history of Greek culture and societies from the Bronze Age to the Present, for the general reader and undergraduate student.
Publishes November 2009
Intertwining the history of art, literature, food, music and religion, Baldoli explores Italy's history from the Middle Ages to the present. The book offers an insight into continuities across past and present day Italian culture, politics, and identity, drawing on a range of recent historiography and contemporary sources.
Publishes June 2009
This expanded new edition has been revised throughout in order to amplify key points. The last chapter brings the story up to date and includes discussion of recent events such as the 2004 Madrid bombings and the 2008 general election. The second edition also features additional maps and figures.
Medieval History
Published April 2009
Riley-Smith's acclaimed book is now regarded as a classic short study. The updated fourth edition of this essential introduction features a new Preface which surveys and reviews developments in crusading scholarship, a new map, material on a child crusader, and a short discussion of the current effects of aggressive Pan-Islamism.
Publishes June 2009
A revised and expanded second edition of a highly-praised account of the structure of the government of the Ottoman Empire to the mid-seventeenth century. Colin Imber incorporates the latest research, and the text now also features a new chapter on taxation as well as an up-to-date Bibliography.
Publishes October 2009
A fresh introduction to the political history of late medieval France duing the turbulent period of the Hundred Years' War, taking into account the social, economic and religious contexts.
Published October 2003
‘Medieval Warfare: Theory and Practice of War in Europe, 300-1500, is a remarkable book, of interest both to students just beginning their studies in the field and to well-read scholars. Nicholson has a clear idea of all the aspects of medieval warfare, including theory, personnel, buildings, equipment, and practice.'
- Kelly DeVries, Loyola College, Maryland, USA
Published November 2006
In this fascinating study, Lynette Olson explores the original formation of Europe from the fall of Rome to the First Crusade, and covers every European region, including the British Isles.
The Early Middle Ages
- adopts an easy-to-follow century by century format
- gives due attention to the female half of the population and the secular side of life
- demonstrates how, out of the triad of Islam, Byzantium and the West, the latter was considered the ' Third World' of its day
- features numerous maps, illustrations and a comprehensive Glossary
Early Modern History
Published April 2009
Focusing on the interaction of religion and politics, this is a comprehensive chronological survey of the political thought of post-Reformation Britain which examines the work of a wide range of thinkers.
Published January 2007
'Smith's The American Civil War skillfully integrates political, economic, military and social history in a narrative format that should suit students and instructors alike.' - Amy S. Greenberg, Pennsylvania State University, USA
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Publishes July 2009
'The book will be attractive to teachers and students who want an introductory survey of American political history that combines assured scholarship and accessible prose, and that - through admirable compression - keeps to a manageable length.' - Richard Cawardine, Rhodes Professor of American History, University of Oxford, UK
Published January 2009
This text was the first edited collection on the burgeoning history of the early modern Atlantic world and has had a huge impact on the many fields of Atlantic Studies. This second edition features two new essays on science and global history respectively, as well as a revised Introduction and updated guides to further reading.
Publishes June 2009
This popular, concise and approachable text discusses the key debates and themes surrounding the Russian Revolution. The expanded fourth edition has been thoroughly revised and updated in the light of the latest research, and now features a new scene-setting Introduction and maps.
Published January 2009
Widely praised when it was first published, this new edition has been brought up to the present with new final chapters, and thoroughly revised to take into account the latest research. It now includes maps and more coverage of key topics such as: racial strife, colonial difficulties, the Vichy regime, and the nature of the French extreme right.
Publishes April 2009
This book provides a much-needed historiographical overview of modern Irish History, which is often written mainly from a socio-political perspective. This guide offers a comprehensive account of Irish History in its manifold aspects such as family, famine, labour, institutional, women, cultural, art, identity and migration histories.
Published November 2008
Little integrates the latest research from younger and established scholars to provide a new evaluation and 'biography' of Cromwell. The book challenges received wisdom about Cromwell's rise to power, his political and religious beliefs, his relationship with various communities across the British Isles and his role as Lord Protector.
Published December 2008
John Adamson provides a new synthesis of current research on the political crisis that engulfed England in the 1640s. Drawing on new archival findings and challenging current orthodoxies, these essays by leading historians offer a variety of original perspectives, locating English events firmly within a 'three kingdoms' context.
Published November 2008
The Risorgimento is considered to be the defining moment in Italy's history, the period where Italy became a nation and entered the modern world. Lucy Riall provides a provocative and pioneering examination of the historical debates surrounding this complex and controversial period, incorporating new research on national identity.
Published 2003
'A skillful account of a long-term process of religious change that links the Middles Ages to the eighteeenth-century, and places religion in its multiple contexts.' - Dairmaid McCullough, Journal of Ecclesiastical History
Modern History
Published February 2004
'This source book belongs on the shelf next to the great classics of teaching Holocaust.' - Jewish Book World
Publishes September 2009
An insightful new biography of Joseph Goebbels, Propaganda Minister of the 'Third Reich' and one of the most important and troubling figures of the twentieth century. The first account to use all of Goebbels' surviving diaries, it sheds new light on his personality, private life and political convictions, as well as his relationship with Hitler.
Published August 2008
A Fascist Century is actually two books in one. First, it is a collection of 10 essays (nearly all printed here for the first time in English) by one of the world's foremost experts in the nature and evolution of fascism. These illuminate some of its most significant aspects, notably its attempted temporal and anthropological revolution, the dynamics of Nazism as the most virulent manifestation of 'palingenesis', and its postwar development away from interwar paradigms. Second, the preface, extensive introduction and concluding discussion between author and editor provide penetrating insights into the evolution of Griffin's thinking between his two seminal monographs, The Nature of Fascism (1991) and Modernism and Fascism (2007). Thanks also to the varying academic register and length of the pieces, this functions both as a multifaceted contribution to fascist studies and as a primer in the nature of contemporary historiographical debates.
Published August 2008
In this heart-wrenching book, Father Patrick Desbois documents the daunting task of identifying and examining all the sites where Jews were exterminated by Nazi mobile units in the Ukraine in WWII, with the goal of providing proper burials for the victims of the forgotten Ukrainian Holocaust.
Published September 2007
Jonathan Wright explores the events, discusses rival interpretations and places the policies of Hitler in the context of Germany as a whole. Wright explains that support rose and fell, but, nevertheless, by December 1941 Hitler had succeeded in carrying Germany into a world war for racial empire.
Published June 2007
The development of nationalism, the movement of peoples, imperialism,
industrialization, environmental change and the struggle for equality are
all key themes in the study of both US history and world history. Ian
Tyrrell offers a fresh, comparative perspective on the relationship between
events and movements in the US and wider world.
Published April 2007
Smith provides a remarkably comprehensive and objective account of this
complex subject, adopting a long-view approach. The detailed discussion of
pre-1948 history reveals how Arab and Israeli attitudes and world opinion
have been formed, and how contemporary issues and events can be understood
in relation to events dating back to WWI and earlier.
Published June 1998
The third edition of this book is specifically designed to help Advanced Level students and undergraduates. It brings the story of British history up to the general election of 1997, the end of the Thatcherite era and the eighteen year period of Conservative domination.
Published September 2005
The fourth edition of this best-selling coursebook is designed to help college and first year university students. It requires no previous knowledge and covers international relations and major conflicts during the Twentieth Century, as well as the internal affairs of the great powers - USA, Russia/USSR and China. Coverage is brought right up to the present, with sections on September 11th and the war against global terrorism, the war in Iraq, global warming and the AIDS/HIV pandemic.
Contemporary History 1945 -
Published February 2008
'Effectively describes the successes and failures of the United States to fight within the framework of Just War principles, both on the battlefield and the home front, in the four major wars the nation was engaged in during the Twentieth century.' - Peter Karsten, University of Pittsburgh, USA
Publishes October 2009
A fully revised, updated and expanded new edition of an essential text which provides students with an approachable overview of the modern history of Eastern Europe
Published January 2006
Combining the latest scholarship with
John Kirk's informed commentary, this sourcebook throws a powerful light on
the civil rights movement and its most influential leader. Bringing together
the latest debates and scholarship, Kirk provides a clear, helpful and
essential volume to introduce readers to key topics, debates and scholars in
the field.
Theory and History
Published December 2007
Anna Green provides a coherent and accessible introduction to the major theoretical approaches and key concepts within this most diverse of historical fields. 'Cultural History' explores the conceptual, affective and imaginative worlds of human consciousness, as reflected in elite intellectual works as well as everyday social beliefs and practices.
Published July 2007
Narrative and History explains the key concepts and practices in
the composition and writing of history. It explores how knowledge of the
ways in which historians author history affects many conventional
understandings of its nature. Major concepts such as truth, objectivity,
reference and representation are re-evaluated in radical ways.
Social and Cultural History
Published June 2009
A revised and updated new edition of a classic text which offers a broad ranging and authoritative history of British social policy from the Industrial Revolution to the present day.
Publishes September 2009
This book traces the history of charisma, and its various meanings, from its first-century origins in Christian theology to its manifestations in twenty-first century politics and culture
Publishes October 2009
'A History of Reading and Writing in the Western World fills a crying need for an introductory transnational Book History textbook.' - Jonathan Rose, Drew University
Published October 2007 – Paperback published September 2009
'In his exhaustive, intelligent and impeccably researched new book…Owen Davies entertainingly delineates the sheer scope of the phenomenon - from medieval superstition to nineteenth-century spiritualism to the present-day abundance of psychics who haunt the murkier channels of digital television.' - Jon Barnes, Times Literary Supplement
Published February 2008
An updated and shortened new edition of an outstanding treatment of social history featuring lively writing and extensive primary sources that give voice to a wide range of individuals. Combined with political, cultural, and economic coverage it provides students with a vivid and approachable account of what life was like throughout human history.
Gender and History
Published June 2009
A fascinating and lively introduction to the key debates and trends in the study of women's relationship to the criminal justice system in England over the last four centuries.
Published December 2007
Women's lives changed more in the Twentieth century than in any previous century. It was a period of transformation, not only of the political realm, but also the household, family and workplace. Ranging widely over Europe, this fascinating textbook is one of the first comprehensive surveys of its kind.
Published January 2007
This lively collection penetrates the stereotype of the Victorian
'paterfamilias' to reveal intimate and involved, authoritarian and
austere fathers. Examining how paternal power was embedded in social
institutions, it argues that fatherhood invoked more anxiety and
debate than hitherto acknowledged.
History of Science
Published December 2008
The second edition of this successful text has been updated and expanded in the light of recent scholarship, offering greater treatment of key topics such as alchemy and medicine.
Published June 2008
'The most comprehensive short introduction to the Scientific Revolution available.' - Rob Iliffe, University of Sussex, UK
'Thoughtful and well targeted .our introductory textbook of choice .commended to our students on all levels.' - Professor John Schuster, University of New South Wales, Australia
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