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[[Category:History|*]]

[[Category:New Reviews|History]] __NOTOC__

{{newreview

|author= James Sharpe

|title= A Fiery and Furious People: A History of Violence in England

|rating= 4

|genre= History,

|summary= From the tragic tale of Mary Clifford, whose death at the hands of her employer scandalised Georgian London, to Victorian Manchester's scuttling gangs, to a duel obsessed cavalier, author James Sharpe explores the brutal underside of our national life. As it considers the litany of assaults, murders and riots that pepper our history, it also traces the shifts that have taken place in the nature of violence and in people's attitudes to it. Why was it, for example, that wife-beating could at once be simultaneously legal and so frowned upon that persistent offenders might well end up ducking in the village pond? How could foot ball be regarded at one moment as a raucous pastime that should be banned, and next as a respectable sport that should be encouraged? Professor James Sharpe draws on an astonishingly wide range of material to paint vivid pictures of the nation's criminals and criminal system from medieval times to the present day. He gives a strong sense of what it was like to be caught up in a street brawl in medieval Oxford one minute, and a battle during the English Civil War the next. Looking at a country that has experienced not only constant aggression on an individual scale, but also the Peasants' Revolt, the Gordon Riots, the Poll Tax protests and the urban unrest of summer 2011, this book asks – are we becoming a gentler nation?

|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847945139</amazonuk>

}}

{{newreview

|author=Jan Bondeson

|summary= Just when you wondered whether there was room on your shelves for another book on the Yorkist dynasty, here comes a very enterprising addition. Part biography, part travel guide, this is a guidebook comprising a tour of various places at home and abroad associated with the major figures.

|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1445647133</amazonuk>

}}

~~{{newreview~~

~~|author=Edith Hall~~

~~|title=The Ancient Greeks: Ten Ways They Shaped the Modern World~~

~~|rating= 5~~

~~|genre=History~~

|summary= Reading Edith Hall's book on the Ancient Greeks, develops a deep respect for the power of poetry. No poet was more effective in this regard than Homer recounting the sea adventures contained in the ''The Odyssey''. It shaped the self-definition of a nation and engendered self-confidence. The mariners set out in their beautiful ships across the Aegean and established colonies to the West, in the Mediterranean as far as the Pillars of Hercules, to the East as far as the Levant and built trading cities in natural harbours along the fertile edges of the Black Sea. They were, as Plato wrote in the Phaedo, ''around the sea, like frogs and ants around a pond.'' They were encouraged by Delphic oracles and inspired by the company of diving dolphins.

~~|amazonuk=<amazonuk>009958364X</amazonuk>~~

}}

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