I added The Making of Oliver Cromwell to my reading list and it's still there. I'm an occasional reader of history books. My failure, not any author's. However, rising to the top of the list is The Siege of Basing House: A Bloody Chapter of the English Civil War by Jessie Childs. Shorter than The Making... and concerning a place that's fairly local to me, I hope this will be a preparation for reading Ronald Hutton.
Different kinds of histories, but Jessie Childs' book on the Basing House siege is brilliant. Superbly told, deeply researched but handled deftly, and ultimately rather moving, I found. Let me know what you think when you've read it!
Hi Ann. I go through the publishers’ catalogues every six months looking for books that I think look really good and that might be interesting to read and / or review. So this is basically a selection of those books for the next couple of months. I haven’t read them. I hope that’s clear from the way I write about them. But I’ve tried to explain why I think they might be worth seeking out.
Thanks Mathew. Yes, I do something similar as a reviewer except I usually stick to the Bookseller (as I'm mainly writing about non-academic books, like memoir). I do like to hear what's coming up.
It’s a bit laborious doing it the way I do, I must say, but I think it’s worthwhile on the whole. And it’s interesting to get an idea of the different sensibilities at the different houses, and so on.
I added The Making of Oliver Cromwell to my reading list and it's still there. I'm an occasional reader of history books. My failure, not any author's. However, rising to the top of the list is The Siege of Basing House: A Bloody Chapter of the English Civil War by Jessie Childs. Shorter than The Making... and concerning a place that's fairly local to me, I hope this will be a preparation for reading Ronald Hutton.
Different kinds of histories, but Jessie Childs' book on the Basing House siege is brilliant. Superbly told, deeply researched but handled deftly, and ultimately rather moving, I found. Let me know what you think when you've read it!
Thank you, Matthew. That's good encouragement. I'll bump it up the list!
These look great, thanks. Reaktion is really doing fantastic work.
Yes they really are. They put the big publishing houses to shame, I think. Yale have a reliably wonderful list too
Sounds like a tempting and varied selection, Mathew. Do you base your suggestions on reviews, or previews in places like the Bookseller?
Hi Ann. I go through the publishers’ catalogues every six months looking for books that I think look really good and that might be interesting to read and / or review. So this is basically a selection of those books for the next couple of months. I haven’t read them. I hope that’s clear from the way I write about them. But I’ve tried to explain why I think they might be worth seeking out.
Thanks Mathew. Yes, I do something similar as a reviewer except I usually stick to the Bookseller (as I'm mainly writing about non-academic books, like memoir). I do like to hear what's coming up.
It’s a bit laborious doing it the way I do, I must say, but I think it’s worthwhile on the whole. And it’s interesting to get an idea of the different sensibilities at the different houses, and so on.
PS I'd italicise titles but can't work out how to do so on Substack.