The Franciscans in the Middle Ages, Michael Robson (The Boydell Press, Woodbridge and New York first published 2006, reprinted in paperback 2009) xiv, 239 pp., paperback £16.99, ISBN 978 1 8436 35158This book, by the Director of Studies in Theology at St Edmund's College, Cambridge, surveys the history of the...

The Cambridge History of South Africa: Volume 1, From Early Times to 1885 by Carolyn Hamilton, Bernard K. Mbenga and Robert Ross (eds.)(Cambridge University Press), 2010 466pp., £80 hard, ISBN 0-978-521-51794-2I am writing this review an hour before England's first match of the World Cup in the ‘Rainbow Nation'.  For...

Understanding the British Empire by Ronald Hyam(Cambridge University Press), 2010 552pp., £24.99 paper, ISBN 0-978-521-13290-9Ronald Hyam is a highly regarded imperial historian whose work over the last thirty years has been at the forefront of innovative thinking about the subject.  Divided into six main themes, the geopolitical and economic dynamics...

Sir Robert Peel: The Life and Legacy by Richard A. Gaunt(I.B. Tauris), 2010 264pp., £20 hard. ISBN 978-184885354The two-volume biography of Peel by Norman Gash was published in 1961 and 1967.  Gash sees Peel as a pragmatic administrator and an instinctively consensual politician whose great achievement was to establish the...

War in an Age of Revolution 1775-1815 by Roger Chickering and Stig Főrster, (eds.)(Cambridge University Press), 2010 422pp., £45 hard, ISBN 0-978-521-89996-3Modern warfare really began in the series of wars that convulsed Europe and North America between 1775 and 1815: the War of American Independence, the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic...

Childhood and Child Labour in the British Industrial Revolution by Jane Humphries(Studies in Economic History, Cambridge University Press), 2010 439pp., £60, hard, ISBN 978-0-521-84756-8In Kirkheaton churchyard near Huddersfield there is a 15 foot stone obelisk topped by a flame that commemorates ‘The dreadful fate of 17 children who fell unhappy...

Seafarers, Merchants and Pirates in the Middle Ages by Dirk Meier(Boydell Press), 2009 184pp. £14.99 paper, ISBN 978-1843-383512-7The first thing that stands out in this book is the wonderful colour illustrations and maps.  The second is the discussion of the nature and construction of ships such as the cog, carrack...

Edward II by Seymour Phillips (Yale English Monarchs, Yale University Press), 2010 679pp., £25 hard, ISBN 978-0-300-15657-7Stuck between two of the greatest medieval English monarchs his father Edward I, the ‘Hammer of the Scots' and his son Edward III, it is hardly surprising that Edward II has gained the reputation...

Saladin: Hero of Islam by Geoffrey Hindley(Pen & Sword), 2010 208pp., £12.99 paper, ISBN 1-84884203-1Originally published in 1976 and republished thirty years later with additions to the bibliography to bring it up-to-date, this is a highly serviceable study of Saladin, the most effective of the Islamic leaders to oppose the...

The Last Vikings: The Epic Story of the Great Norse Voyagers by Kirsten A. Seaver(I.B. Tauris), 2010 277pp., £18.99, hard, ISBN 978-1-84511-869-3There has been a proliferation of studies of the Vikings in the past decade most of which has focussed on their impact on Britain and mainland Europe.  This excellent...

Ireland: A History by Thomas Bartlett(Cambridge University Press), 2010625pp., £25 hard, ISBN 0-978-521-19720-5There are many good histories of Ireland such as the Oxford History of Ireland series, the two volumes by Connolly on the early modern period and Paul Bew on the period after 1789 but we lack a well-written...

Jeremy Black, The War of 1812 in the age of Napoleon, Continuum, 2010, hardback, 256 pp, £25.00, ISBN 9780826436122Dedicated to William Hague, who since this book went to press has now assumed responsibility for Britain's conduct of Anglo-American relations in the second decade of the twenty-first century, Professor Jeremy Black's...

Anna Selby, ed., Thomas Allinson, A Victorian Guide to Healthy Living, Pen and Sword, 2009, hardback, 192 pp, £19.99, ISBN 9781844680764Dr Thomas Allinson was a healthy eating campaigner long before Jamie Oliver transformed school dinners in twenty-first century British schools. He founded the famous Allinson Bread firm in 1892 and...

Told through words and pictures: how women challenged the "go home and sit still - no petticoats here" message from Whitehall and did their bit during the First World War. Women in the First World War: Neil R Storey & Molly Housego ISBN: 978-07478-752-0, £5.99, Published 10th April 2010When war...

Throwing light on the medieval female voice - 'Women's Writing in Middle English' part of the revised Longman Annotated Texts seriesPrice: 12.99 each Publisher: Longman The Middle Ages - a time of arbitrary royal power, a wealthy transnational Church, and religious controversy. Not a time, perhaps, we associate with the...

Tracing Your Liverpool Ancestors - A Guide for Family Historians, by Mike Royden. Pen and Sword, 2010, Paper, 456 pp, £14.99, ISBN 9781844159901This very useful guide for family historians tracing their Liverpool ancestry is firmly rooted in the belief that genealogical research is both enlivened and enhanced by an appreciation...

Exclusionary Empire: English Liberties Overseas 1600-1900 by Jack P. Greene, (ed.)(Cambridge University Press), 2009  305pp., £16.99 paper, 978-0-521-13270-1The development of a comparative approach to British imperial history has been an important development in historiography over the past five years.  This was especially evident in the recently published Replenishing the Earth...

Raffaele D'Amato Arms and Armour of the Imperial Roman Soldier from Marius to Commodus, 112 BC - AD 192 (Frontline Books), 2009xiv, 290pp., hardback, folio, £35, ISBN 978 1 84832 512 8.This, the first of three volumes, is without doubt a magnificent production.  As Professor Giorgio Ravegnani of Venice writes...

Members will be interested in BRITAIN AT WAR 1939 to 1945 what was life like during the war? By James Lingard (ISBN 9781434359339) which brings alive the harsh realities of life in Britain during the war - life full of uncertainty and the danger of impending death. It also provides...

Claire Hopley The History of Tea and Tea Times; As Seen in Books (Pen and Sword Books Ltd.), 2009192pp., paperback, £9.99 ISBN 978 1 84468 030 6  In this contribution to the Remember When series, Claire Hopley discusses the history of tea as it is recorded in English literature, from...