==History==
__NOTOC__
{{newreview
|author=Mark Griffiths
|title=The Lotus Quest
|rating=4
|genre=Travel
|summary=Mark Griffiths is one of Britain's leading plant experts. I know this because his brief biog in the front of The Lotus Quest tells me so; just as it tells me that he is the editor of The New Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening 'the largest work on horticulture ever published'. His prior works list includes five other plant book credits, three of them for the RHS. I shall take all of this on trust, since attempts to find out more about the author and his background through the usual internet search mechanisms has failed miserably. He remains as elusive as the sacred flower that is the subject of this latest work: the lotus.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184595100X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Archie Brown
|summary=Having grown up during the era and followed the major news stories in the papers as they happened, I was fascinated to find everything (well, nearly everything) in the 500-page narrative that comprises this book. It was quite a rocky ride from the election of Edward Heath in June 1970 through the three-day week, record British inflation and the IMF rescue, industrial disputes and picket battles at Saltley and Grunwick, the Gay Liberation Front and the stirrings of the green movement, the rise of Arthur Scargill, and the discovery of North Sea oil. Then there was the survival of James Callaghan's minority administration despite the odds, and thanks largely to his adroit handling of the situation in keeping both Tony Benn and the Lib-Lab pact on board, followed by the winter of discontent, culminating in Thatcher at No 10.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>057122136X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Ian Mortimer
|title=The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century
|rating=5
|genre=History
|summary=What would happen if we twenty-first century people took a trip back in time to the fourteenth century? It would be very like visiting another country. Even our landscape would be greatly changed. Ian Mortimer takes this approach and, applying his theory of living history, treats his readers to an objective and entertaining view of one of the most stereotypical centuries in medieval history. The fourteenth century has not only castles, knights, tournaments, and wars, but also gave birth to many of the creative minds associated with medieval England like Chaucer and the Gawain-poet.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1845950992</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Alison Weir
|title=The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn
|rating=5
|genre=History
|summary=Wot? More Tudors? Sorry, yes. Come on, be honest: you love 'em, I love 'em, we all love 'em.
My favourite writer of popular history is adding to the market writing for a third time about possibly history's most dramatic rise and fall - that of Anne Boleyn, second of Henry VIII's six wives. The book covers only a very short period, covering her arrest, trial and execution. She had been the scandal of Europe, this woman; had captured a king, unseated a queen, and promoted a new religion. Her fall couldn't have been swifter, harder or more ruthless and her little neck was severed on a scaffold at the Tower of London.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0224063197</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Tracy Borman
|title=Elizabeth's Women: The Hidden Story of the Virgin Queen
|rating=4.5
|genre=Biography
|summary=So many biographies have been written about the life and times of England's longest-lived and longest reigning sovereign that one might wonder whether there is anything new left to say about her. However Tracy Borman has found an interesting new angle – by telling the story of her life through the women closest to her.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0224082264</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Tamim Ansary
|title=Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes
|rating=5
|genre=History
|summary=I enjoyed history at school and whilst we didn't always work our way through it chronologically I came, over time, to have a working knowledge of the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. I knew about the rise of Christianity and spoke knowledgeably about medieval England, the Renaissance and the Reformation but was perhaps less taken by the Industrial Revolution and all that followed. I was au fait with the east but it was mainly from the perspective of exploration – or even exploitation. It was an education based on the virtues of the solid, white, English, Christian middle classes and it completely ignored histories from the perspective of other religions.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1586486063</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Elliott J Gorn
|title=Dillinger's Wild Ride: The Year That Made America's Public Enemy Number One
|rating=4
|genre=History
|summary=John Dillinger was born and brought up in Indiana. His childhood was no better and no worse than most but the early part of his adult life was to be blighted by a spell in prison when he was convicted of an attack on a man in a botched hold-up. Hoping for leniency he pleaded guilty but was sentenced to a lengthy term of imprisonment, whilst the man with him pleaded not guilty and when convicted received a shorter sentence. It's easy to see where Dillinger's contempt for the law was spawned.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0195304837</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Anthony Read
|title=The World on Fire: 1919 and the Battle with Bolshevism
|rating=4.5
|genre=History
|summary=In 1919 the world was an extremely unstable place. They say history often repeats itself, and there were parallels with 1789 - but on a far greater scale.
During the First World War, with the Russian revolution and the overthrow of the Tsarist regime, one tyranny was supplanted by another which was even worse. Lenin took the new upstart socialist republic out of the conflict, accepting unbelievably harsh peace terms from Germany in order to save and nurture the still fragile Bolshevik revolution. Consolidating his power was no easy task. Much as the people might have been glad to see the end of imperial Russia (if not the cold-blooded butchery of the former sovereign, his consort and their children), they were less than enthusiastic about Bolshevism, which secured only 24% of the votes in the new assembly. Lenin dealt promptly with the problem by shutting the assembly down.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1844138321</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Conn Iggulden and David Iggulden
|title=The Dangerous Book of Heroes
|rating=3
|genre=History
|summary=For most of us (well, for me certainly) the word 'hero' summons an image of capes, spandex and garish primary colours. Conn and David Iggulden have written a book about the other kind – the every day heroes from history, who achieve incredible things without the aid of superpowers.
From household names like Horatio Nelson and Winston Churchill, to lesser known people, like Aphra Behn and Hereward the Wake, ''The Dangerous Book of Heroes'' covers a comprehensive range of characters from the history of the British Empire. From campaigners for political change, brilliant battle strategists to daring explorers, each and every one of the people in this book lived brilliant lives and changed the world forever.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>000726092X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Timothy Brook
|title=Vermeer's Hat: The seventeenth century and the dawn of the global world
|rating=4
|genre=History
|summary=If a picture paints a thousand words, then Timothy Brook provides the dictionary we can use to make sense of the vocabulary. Using five paintings by the seventeenth century Delft artist Johannes Vermeer along with a blue and white porcelain plate and the works of two of Vermeer's contemporaries, Brook demonstrates how the far flung corners of the seventeenth century world were drawn together by the ambitions of European merchants and the ability of Asia, Africa and the Americas to provided the materials to fulfil them.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846681200</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Pete Brown
|title=Hops and Glory: One Man's Search for the Beer That Built the British Empire
|rating=4
|genre=Travel
|summary=Being a beer writer can't be the easiest route to respect in journalism. But with this book Pete Brown has done much to counter the sceptical, even dismissive, attitudes which must surround his trade and its subject matter. He has attempted to combine a history of British imperialism and the brewing industry with the comic 'quest' genre of travel writing.
Against all the odds, he has largely succeeded.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0230706355</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Michael Haag
|title=The Templars: History and Myth: From Solomon's Temple to the Freemasons
|rating=4.5
|genre=History
|summary=Despite being very descriptive, the title of 'The Templars: History and Myth: From Solomon's Temple to the Freemasons' still doesn't cover the full scope of Michael Haag's book. Notwithstanding its relatively modest page count, ''Templars'' not only manages to place the fascinating tale of the Knights' astonishing rise and spectacular fall in a rich historical context, but also provides an entertaining account of the Templars' 'afterlife': from the Masonic lore of the title to novels, films and games to conspiracy theories. There is also a travel guide and good list of source materials for further reading.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846681537</amazonuk>
}}
