Social History

1950s Ireland was the age of De Valera and John Charles McQuaid. It was the age before television, Vatican II, and home central heating. A time when motor cars and public telephones had wind-up handles, when boys wore short trousers and girls wore...

'London: A Pilgrimage' was conceived in 1868 by the journalist and playwright Blanchard Jerrold. Accompanied by the famous artist Gustave Dore, Jerrold prowled every corner of the heaving metropolis, sometimes with plain-clothes police for protection...

'A powerful chronicle of the transformation of English football and society through the prism of two very different characters' Irish TimesJack was open, charismatic, selfish and pig-headed; Bobby was guarded, shy, polite and reserved to the point of...

An eye-opening publication that contrasts perceptions of luxury - together with its positive and negative connotations - in imperial Persia, democratic Athens and the Hellenistic world between 600 and 200 BCE. 'Luxuriously illustrated' - Asian Review of...

More than just an anthology, WE BRITISH is a history of Britain told through its poetry. Written by Britain's most celebrated political commentator for World Poetry Day. This is the story of Britain told from inside. Hundreds of...

This oral history of Glasgow spans most of the last century - a time of economic downturn and eventual renewal, in which the many communities making up the city experienced upheavals that tore some apart and brought others closer together. It tells of...

True stories of love and loss during WWII, from the tough Northern women who kept the foundry fires burning.When war broke out, the young women of Sheffield had their carefree lives turned upside down. With their sweethearts being sent away to fight,...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781739819422Author Paul ChrystalFormat PaperbackPage Count 244Imprint Destinworld Publishing LtdPublisher Destinworld Publishing Ltd

The untold story of a British institution 'Brilliant.' Alan Johnson 'Compelling.' David Kynaston 'The beer drinkers' Bill Bryson.' Times Literary...

The border between Scotland and England is rich in history. It has been the site of battles, treaties, castles and crossroads. It is also a place where both countries display their nationalism: Saltires flying in the north, the Cross of St George to the...

'As this book shows, the women of the Durham coalfield played an equal role in shaping daily life and trajectories of history in the region, just as women today are building their own futures in communities around the world.' - Hillary Rodham ClintonThe...

By walking, you escape from the very idea of identity, the temptation to be someone, to have a name and a history ... The freedom in walking lies in not being anyone; for the walking body has no history, it is just an eddy in the stream of immemorial...

London's East Enders are known for being a tough, humorous and lively lot. In the early 20th century, families crowded into single rooms, children played on the streets and neighbours' doors were never locked in case you needed an escape route from the...

In this vivid and highly original reading of recent Chinese history, Xuelei Huang documents the eclectic array of smells that permeated Chinese life from the High Qing through to the Mao period. Utilising interdisciplinary methodology and critically...

'Restless, poetic, strange ... and the territory it describes deserves nothing less' Observer'Glittering and energetic' Country LifeYorkshire is 'a continent unto itself', a region where mountain, plain, coast, downs, fen and heath lie close. By weaving...

Bryan D. Palmer's award-winning study of James P. Cannon's early years (1890-1928) details how the life of a Wobbly hobo agitator gave way to leadership in the emerging communist underground of the 1919 era. This historical drama unfolds alongside the...

A definitive history of mescaline that explores its mind-altering effects across cultures, from ancient America to Western modernity Mescaline became a popular sensation in the mid-twentieth century through Aldous Huxley's The Doors of Perception, after...

'It is a story full of drama, with the Nile, the pyramids and the Valley of the Kings as backdrop. That A World Beneath the Sands is also a subtle and stimulating study of the paradoxes of 19th-century colonialism is a bonus indeed.' - Tom Holland,...

In this long-awaited book (already a major bestseller in Italy) Ginsborg has created a fascinating, sophisticated and definitive account of how Italy has coped, or failed to cope, with the past two decades. Contemporary Italy strongly mirrors Britain -...

"Delightfully horrifying."--Popular ScienceOne of Mental Floss's Best Books of 2018One of Science Friday's Best Science Books of 2018* A mysterious epidemic of dental explosions... * A teenage boy who got his wick stuck in a candlestick.....

Winner of the Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books 2012, the world's leading prize for popular science writing. We live in the information age. But every era of history has had its own information revolution: the invention of writing,...

In Riches and Poverty, Donald Winch explores the implications of a fundamental and influential idea in political economy. Adam Smith's science of the legislator provided a key to studying the rich and poor in commercial societies, transformed an ancient...

One woman's investigation into the nature of memory, the past, and above all, love. All families have their myths and Juliet Nicolson's was no different: her flamenco dancing great-great-grandmother Pepita, the flirty manipulation of her...

A FAMILY STORY AND THE TALE OF A NATION.Ai Weiwei - one of the world's most famous artists and activists - weaves a century-long epic tale of China through the story of his own life and that of his father, Ai Qing, the nation's most celebrated poet...

'My dear, she's on fire!' DAMIAN BARR'A snappy guide to an all-conquering aesthetic' Financial Times'The following things have seemed impossibly camp to me at one point or another: a doll whose body acts as a cover for a toilet roll, a tantrum over wire...

The history of leisure time, from the earliest societies to the work-from-home era Free time, one of life's most precious things, often feels unfulfilling. But why? And how did leisure activities transition from strolling in the park for hours to...

'A pretty awesome present for the feminist in your life' - Caroline Criado Perez, OBE, author of Do It Like a WomanAt the last count, the Blue Plaque Guide honours 903 Londoners, and a walking tour of these sites brings to life the London of a bygone era...

Richard Sennett's The Fall of Public Man examines the growing imbalance between private and public experience, and asks what can bring us to reconnect with our communities. Are we now so self-absorbed that we take little interest in the world beyond our...

Winner of the Slightly Foxed Best First Biography Prize 2014 A rich historical biography of 'those wild Wyndhams' - three cultured aristocratic sisters born into great privilege in late Victorian Britain. Mary, Madeline and Pamela -...

From the masters of storytelling-meets-science and co-authors of Quackery, Patient Zero tells the long and fascinating history of disease outbreaks-how they start, how they spread, the science that lets us understand them, and how we race to destroy them...

The history of policing in Britain is a considerably under-researched subject, and the advancement of women within that history even more so. This book seeks to fill that gap, by tracking the progress of women in policing - a story that is longer and...

An absolute classic of autobiography and history - one of the few books to explore how and why the Germans were seduced by Hitler and Nazism.'If you have never read a book about Nazi Germany before, or if you have already read a thousand, I would urge...

Simon Jenkins has travelled the length and breadth of England to select his thousand best churches. Organised by county, each church is described - often with delightful asides - and given a star-rating from one to five. All of the county sections are...

A long-term resident and expert observer of dissent in Hong Kong takes readers to the frontlines of Hong Kong's revolution. Through the long, hot summer of 2019, Hong Kong burned. Anti-government protests, sparked by a government proposal to introduce a...

Using wide-ranging evidence, Martyn Whittock shines a light on Britain in the Middle Ages, bringing it vividly to life in this fascinating new portrait that brings together the everyday and the extraordinary.Thus we glimpse 11th-century rural society...

This newly updated illustrated guide provides a detailed insight into the origins and history of tartan, from the very earliest samples, through those worn by the warring clans in the Stuart rebellions, to the Katsushika Japanese Dancers. The first...

The gripping story of the lure of porcelain, or 'white gold', from the Number One bestselling author of The Hare with Amber Eyes.** A Sunday Times Top Ten Bestseller ** "Other things in the world are white but for me porcelain comes first" A handful of...

Contains discussion of topics including the Holocaust, slavery, white guilt and the war in Ukraine. Accessibly written, current and engaging. Primarily psychoanalytic perspective but also includes discussion of history, morality and politics.About the...

ONE OF FOUR FOUR TWO MAGAZINE'S '50 FOOTBALL BOOKS YOU MUST READ' 'A great book' - Henry Winter 'A lovely read, the kind in which you constantly annoy people by reading the funny bits out loud' - Irish Post ---- First published 25 years ago,...

Crumbling ruins, undead fiends, dark alleys and forests teeming with horrors seen and unseen: the tendrils of the Gothic have crept out of the architecture of churches, mosques and grand houses and into suburban malls, overcrowded cities, the deserted...