Category: Recent picks

Our picks of the new material in different subject areas. Find your next read! See also our full lists of what’s new, and our other lists that feature a mix of old and new material.

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Borderlands: New History books

Sabrina

Borders define us. While giving us a sense of identity, they also separate us and create large divides prone to warfare and strife, of misunderstanding and incompatibility. With this selection of new books, we dive into the imaginary and natural lines that define a place, a person. We look at the way a map weaves together a nation and how identities are formed along these lines, how landmarks natural and manmade direct our future. Inseparable from these tangible borders are the borders between peoples – the divide between communities and the clashes that arise from defining ourselves by who we aren’t, instead of by simply by who we are.

Lost realms : histories of Britain from the Romans to the Vikings / Williams, Thomas J. T.
Covering a period when the way Britain changed radically from the way it was run and organised to language, religious belief and practice and overseas contact, Williams looks to the warring kingdoms of the era. The world was local then, and many realms were forged but did not survive. Williams takes a single realm at a time to show how these kingdoms were formed and why they failed; how communities adapted in this era; and what the challenges were for the people and those searching to lead.” — Provided by publisher.” (Catalogue)

The hot trod : a history of the Anglo-Scottish border / Sadler, John
“‘Here are two peoples almost identical in blood – the same language and religion; and yet a few years of quarrelsome isolation have so separated their thoughts and ways that not unions nor mutual dangers, not steamers nor railways, seem able to obliterate the broad distinction.’ Robert Louis Stephenson” (Catalogue)

Beyond the wall : East Germany, 1949-1990 / Hoyer, Katja
For over forty years the GDR presented a radically different German identity to anything that had come before, and anything that exists today. Beginning with the bitter experience of German Marxists exiled by Hitler, Katja Hoyer traces the arc of the state they would go on to create and argues that amid oppression and frequent hardship, East Germany was yet home to a rich political, social and cultural landscape, a place far more dynamic than the Cold War caricature often painted in the West. (Adapted from Catalogue)

Putin’s war on Ukraine : Russia’s campaign for global counter-revolution / Ramani, Samuel
“Samuel Ramani argues that Putin’s policy of global counter-revolution is driven not by systemic factors, such as preventing NATO expansion, but domestic ones: the desire to unite Russians around common principles and consolidate his personal brand of authoritarianism. This objective has inspired military interventions in Crimea, Donbas and Syria, and now all-out war against Kyiv. Ramani explores why Putin opted for regime change in Ukraine and considers the impact on his own regime’s legitimacy. How has Russia’s long-term political and foreign policy trajectory shifted? And how will the international response reshape the world order?”–Publisher’s description.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

A stranger in your own city : travels in the Middle East’s long war / Abdul-Ahad, Ghaith
“From the American invasion to the Arab Spring, ISIS and beyond, this book offers a remarkable de-centring of the West in the history and contemporary situation of the region. What comes to the fore is the effect on the ground: the human cost, the shifting allegiances, the generational change”–Publisher’s description.” (Catalogue)

Life on the Mississippi : an epic American adventure / Buck, Rinker
Building a wooden flatboat from the bygone era of the early 1800s, Rinker Buck casts off down the Mississippi river accompanied by an eccentric crew of daring shipmates. Like the Nile, the Thames, or the Seine before them, the western rivers in America fueled national growth. Buck resurrects the era’s adventurous spirit, but also challenges familiar myths about American expansion, confronting the bloody truth behind settlers’ push for land and wealth. Weaving together a tapestry of first-person histories, Buck portrays this watershed era of American expansion as it was really lived.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Palestine 1936 : the great revolt and the roots of the Middle East conflict / Kessler, Oren
“The Great Arab Revolt of 1936 in the Holy Land lasted three years, cost thousands of lives-Jewish, British, and Arab-and cast the trajectory for the Middle East conflict ever since. It radicalized the Jewish and Arab communities and made the separation permanent. This book reveals world-changing events through extraordinary people on all sides”– Provided by publisher.” (Catalogue)

Touring Edwardian New Zealand / Moon, Paul
“A fascinating insight into life in NZ at the turn of the 20th century and the evolving face of Aotearoa over time. The Edwardian era (1901-1910) marked a pivotal time in New Zealand’s history. In the main centres, the country had emerged as a modern, urbane and self-assured nation. In the hinterland, however, the ‘real’ NZ – wild, exotic and ‘Māori’- was still there, waiting to be discovered by the intrepid traveler. The book traces the routes taken by Edwardian visitors and provides a panorama of NZ in the first age of mass travel in the colony.”–Provided by publisher.” (Catalogue)

Koresh : the true story of David Koresh and the tragedy at Waco / Talty, Stephan
Drawing on first-time, exclusive interviews with Koresh’s family and survivors of the siege, Stephan Talty paints a psychological portrait of this infamous icon of the 1990s. Talty reveals how Koresh’s fixation on holy war, which would deliver the Davidians to their reward and confirm himself as Christ, collided with his paranoid obsession with firearms to destructive effect. Their deadly, 51-day standoff with the embattled FBI and ATF embodied an anti-government ethic that continues to resonate today. – Publisher.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

History of war in maps / Parker, Philip
“From the moment the first towns and cities arose, the competition for land, resources and power has often turned to violence. Almost from the start, maps have been an essential part of planning and waging war. Spanning more than 3,000 years, from ancient and medieval warfare to modern-day global conflicts, these maps tell the fascinating story of war”–Back cover.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Lost stories: Recent history related books

Alayne

We have an impressive amount of new history related books being added to the catalogue this month! The below list includes a history of The Black Death, the true story of Tutankhamun, the almost completely lost language of the /Xam people and the often erased lives of women in the middle ages.

Femina : a new history of the middle ages through the women written out of it / Ramirez, Janina
“The middle ages are seen as a bloodthirsty time of Vikings, saints and kings: a patriarchal society which oppressed and excluded women. But when we dig a little deeper into the truth, we can see that the ‘dark’ ages were anything but. Oxford and BBC historian Janina Ramirez has uncovered countless influential women’s names struck out of historical records, with the word FEMINA annotated beside them. As gatekeepers of the past ordered books to be burnt, artworks to be destroyed, and new versions of myths, legends and historical documents to be produced, our view of history has been manipulated. “– Provided by publisher.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Dreaming the Karoo : a people called the /Xam / Blackburn, Julia
“In spring 2020, Julia Blackburn travelled to the Karoo region of South Africa to see for herself the ancestral lands that had once belonged to an indigenous group called the /Xam. Throughout the nineteenth century the /Xam were persecuted and denied the right to live in their own territories. In the 1870s, facing cultural extinction, several /Xam individuals agreed to teach their intricate language to a German philologist and his indomitable English sister-in-law. The result was the Bleek-Lloyd Archive: 60,000 notebook pages in which their dreams, memories and beliefs, alongside the traumas of their more recent history, were meticulously recorded word for word. It is an extraordinary document which gives voice to a way of living in the world which we have all but lost. ‘All things were once people’, the /Xam said”– Publisher’s description.” (Catalogue)

India : a history in objects / Blurton, T. Richard
“An authoritative visual history of one of the world’s oldest and most vibrant cultures, drawing on South Asian art and artefacts from prehistory to the present. Arranged chronologically, and abundantly illustrated with expertly selected objects, this superb new overview connects today’s India with its past. Early chapters uncover prehistoric objects from 1.5 million years ago, examine artefacts from the Indus Civilization, and follow the emergence and transmission of Buddhism, Jainism, Hinduism and Sikhism, as well as the incoming religions of Zoroastrianism, Islam and Christianity.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

The passengers / Ashon, Will
“Between October 2018 and March 2021, Will Ashon collected voices – people talking about their lives, needs, dreams, loves, hopes and fears – all of them with some connection to the British Isles. He used a range of methods including letters sent to random addresses, hitchhiking, referrals from strangers and so on. He conducted the interviews in person, on the phone, over the internet or asked people to record themselves.”–Publisher’s description.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Tutankhamun : pharaoh, icon, enigma : lost for three thousand years, misunderstood for a century / Tyldesley, Joyce A
“A hundred years ago, a team of archaeologists in the Valley of the Kings made a remarkable discovery: a near-complete royal burial, an ancient mummy, and golden riches beyond imagination. The lost tomb of Tutankhamun ignited a media frenzy, propelled into overdrive by rumours of a deadly ancient curse. But amid the hysteria, many stories — including that of Tutankhamun himself — were distorted or forgotten.”–Publisher’s description.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

You don’t know what war is : the diary of a young girl from Ukraine / Skalietska, Yeva
“An important, harrowing and ultimately hopeful memoir about the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war as told through the diary entries of a young Ukrainian girl.” (Catalogue)

 

 

The world the plague made : the Black Death and the rise of Europe / Belich, James
“In 1346, a catastrophic plague beset Europe and its neighbours. The Black Death was a human tragedy that abruptly halved entire populations and caused untold suffering, but it also brought about a cultural and economic renewal on a scale never before witnessed. The World the Plague Made is a panoramic history of how the bubonic plague revolutionized labour, trade, and technology and set the stage for Europe’s global expansion.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Come to this court and cry : how the Holocaust ends / Kinstler, Linda
“A few years ago Linda Kinstler discovered that a man fifty years dead – a former Nazi who belonged to the same killing unit as her grandfather – was the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation in Latvia. The proceedings threatened to pardon his crimes. They put on the line hard-won facts about the Holocaust at the precise moment that the last living survivors – the last legal witnesses – were dying. Across the world, Second World War-era cases are winding their way through the courts. Survivors have been telling their stories for the better part of a century, and still judges ask for proof. Where do these stories end? “–Publisher’s description.” (Adapted from Catalogue)