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Looks at the history of meritocracy, and at its recent corruption. Rather than abandon it, he argues in favour of a renewed social mobility.
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Three generations of impresarios gave us the Savoy, Gilbert & Sullivan, and made Wilde a transatlantic celebrity.
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The rich and varied life of the woman who introduced smallpox vaccination into the British Isles, a friend of Swift and Pope, and who is famous for her letters, especially those sent from Tu... read more
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A zesty account of archaeological wizardry, from Champollion's decipherment of hieroglyphics in 1822 to the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb by Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon.
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A curator of fashion at the V&A for most of her working life, CW uses her experience and sensitivity to clothes to explore how, in her own family's life, the secrets of clothes measure out t... read more
Patch Work: A Life Amongst Clothes
Hardback £16.99 -
An account of the club, its remarkable members and their influence, since 1824. Scholarly and entertaining.
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In the early 20th century an easily overlooked square in Bloomsbury was the home, at one time or another, of the modernist poet H.D., Dorothy L Sayers, the classicist Jane Harrison, the hist... read more
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Mecklenberg Square in Bloomsbury with Virginia Woolf, H.D., Dorothy L Sayers, classicist Jane Harrison and economic historian Eileen Power.
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An instructive look at 12 statues: why they were put up, the stories they were supposed to tell, why those stories were challenged; and why the statues were pulled down.
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How to keep chickens, make soap, create a kitchen garden, dip candles, tie knots, and a lot more. This might well take the place of the old 'Weekend Books' in an era of lockdowns.
Lost Skills and Crafts Handbook
Hardback £16.99 -
The author of 'The Queen of Whale Key' and 'The Suspicions of Mr Whicher' has found a new subject with which to amaze us: the case of the 'Croydon Poltergeist' and its investigation by the N... read more
The Haunting of Alma Fielding
Hardback £18.99 -
A remarkable work of research and skill, which brings to life Tsunemo, a country priest's daughter who defied conventions when her world was radically changing.
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An exuberant account of the importance to Modernism of what Truman Capote called "the all-time ultimate gallery of famous dykes" in Paris between the wars.
No Modernism Without Lesbians
Hardback £25.00 -
In this new book Sinclair has abandoned London for Peru, in an attempt to understand his great-grandfather's colonial career. The narrative Sinclair grew up with ends up as self-serving flot... read more
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The veteran commentator considers the 1960 coup that deposed Menderes, and traces the parallels that divide Erdogan's Turkey.
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The follow-up to Ruth Scurr's dazzling, inspired book about John Aubrey is a glorious portrait of Napoleon through his love of nature and gardens.
Napoleon: A Life in Gardens and Shadows
Hardback £30.00 -
Rutter - a literature graduate who notes the etymological link between 'text' and 'textile' - travelled the British Isles researching the social history of wool and knitting. This charming a... read more
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A panoramic account by the distinguished Harvard historian of five generations of a French provincial family originally from Angouleme, crammed with stories and archival research. ER has a d... read more
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In this magnificently madcap adventure, SR pursues rumours of old pianos into all corners of Siberia: Arctic, Altai, Kamchatka, Princess Volkonsky in Irkutsk... She writes well, has a lovely... read more
The Lost Pianos of Siberia
Hardback £18.99 -
Alex Renton is a journalist and writer: he uncovers his own family's slave-owning past and uses this as a means of approaching the growing debate about such legacies and contemporary consequ... read more
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From the author of the excellent 'The Edge of the World: How the North Sea Made Us Who We Are', an account of the dazzling city that was the hub of the known world in the C16th.
Antwerp: The Glory Years
Hardback £25.00 -
A magnificent account of how the Vikings saw themselves, including also the Viking diaspora, from Finland to Uzbekistan, and also the role of slavery in Viking life and trade that was glosse... read more
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Clever study of three very different psychoactive, natural drugs. Give up coffee - are you out of your mind?
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In praise of curiosity: the author's investigations began when she found herself living next door to its two-acre remnant. Part biography, part memoir, part history of science, this is as in... read more
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A provocative account of her well-lived life that exposes the profound misogyny of the music industry.
Why Marianne Faithfull Matters
Hardback £9.99 -
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Published by Yale, this is a fascinating and original exploration of the influence of the newly popular guitar on the Romantics and on culture in the early C19th.
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A panoramic view of the British landscape through the eyes of writers and artists, from Bede to Barbara Hepworth and beyond: mystery, reflection, discovery, imagination, vision, etc. The sco... read more
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The buildings that are falling into disuse and ruin all around the UK were once essential in their communities. This study - from the Anglo-Saxons to the mid-C16th shows how they worked.
Going to Church in Medieval England
Hardback £20.00 -
A vibrant blend of social history and memoir: argues that this three-month period of nation-wide, wintry shutdown gave rise to unprecedented cultural renewal. Fingers crossed for 2021 and 2... read more
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C20th experimental and idealistic collectives, including Santiniketan in Delhi, England's Dartington, Germany's Bruderhof. Their leaders were charismatics too - Tagore, Gurdjieff, et al - ... read more
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The story of the magazine that began in a someone's spare room 125 years ago. What - and who - made it so successful?
Glossy: The inside story of Vogue
Hardback £20.00 -
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The Camondos, Rothschilds, Ephrussis and others amassed superb collections which in many cases they left to the state that betrayed them.