Jackson Pollock and Family: American Letters 1927-1947

'These letters are extraordinary, not only because of the events to which they so pointedly bear witness or the remarkable bond they manifest between all the members of this family, scattered as they are across the US while in search of a job, but for the relentless cultural and artistic aspirations of their authors throughout times of extreme financial distress. There are moments of anger, or despair at the political situation, but overall it is a shared conviction that the world could be made a better place both by art and by political activism, or by the joining of the two, that lies at the core of this amazingly rich correspondence. This vast trove gives us a detailed picture of what it was to be an aspiring artist in poverty-stricken America during the 1930s. It should be a must-read for anyone interested in the socio-political context from which American modernism emerged.'

Yves-Alain Bois, Institute for Advanced Study, New Jersey

Antonio Forcellino: The Lost Michelangelos

'As much a story about the intransigence of the art establishment and the gaps in its tradition-bound methods for considering authentication claims as it is about the ultimate fate of the painting itself.'

New York Times

'An art mystery for the ages'

New York Post

This extraordinary story, brilliantly retold, calls into question the received view of Michelangelo’s work and fills in a missing piece in our understanding of one of the greatest artists of all time.

Emma Fattorini: Hitler, Mussolini and the Vatican

'Emma Fattorini’s scholarly study of the reign of Pius XI provides a crucial new perspective on the relationship between the Vatican, Mussolini’s fascism, and National Socialism. The tendency to focus exclusively on Eugenio Pacelli, the future wartime pope Pius XII, has obscured the troubled papacy of Pius X1 between 1922 and 1939. Professor Fattorini’s narrative, in the light of the recent release of Vatican documents of the period, is sure to breathe new life into this controversial era of Church–state relations on the brink of world war.'

John Cornwell, University of Cambridge

Doron Rabinovici: Eichmann’s Jews

'A unique and candid account of the internal workings of the Jewish Community Vienna during the war. Doron Rabinovici has the courage and the gall to address directly the question of how much the Eichmann's Jews facilitated the Holocaust.'

Peter Goodrich, Cardozo School of Law, New York

Joachim Radkau: Wood: A History

'Joachim Radkau has set the agenda in German forest history for a generation. At last, one of his major works on this theme is available in translation. English-speaking historians should sit up and take notice: their world will look different after reading Radkau's work.'

Paul Warde, University of East Anglia

Sonya Rose: What is Gender History?

'Sonya Rose has written a wide-ranging survey of an important and rapidly changing field of historical study. Notable for its clarity, its sophistication, and its generous appreciation of diverse approaches, this book provides a splendid introduction to the study of gender dynamics in history.'

Raewyn Connell, University of Sydney

This book provides a short and accessible introduction to the field of gender history, one that has vastly expanded in scope and substance since the mid-1970s. Paying close attention to both classic texts in the field and the latest literature, Sonya O. Rose examines the origins and development of the field and elucidates current debates and controversies. She highlights the significance of race, class, and ethnicity for how gender affects society, culture, and politics as well as delving into histories of masculinity. The author discusses in a clear and straightforward manner the various methods and approaches used by gender historians. Consideration is given to how the study of gender illuminates the histories of revolution, war and nationalism, politics and citizenship, colonialism and imperialism, using as examples research dealing with the histories of a number of areas across the globe.

Withington: Society in Early Modern England

'A rigorous and persuasive charting of key concepts and discourses which not only reformulates the significance of the 'early modern' period but also gives that period a new shape.'

Keith Wrightson, Yale University

This book traces the coinage of 'early modern' as a category of historical analysis to Victorian debates about the origins of modern society. It then moves back in time to consider when and why words like ‘modern’ and ‘society’ were first introduced into English in the 16th and 17th centuries and who it was that used them. In so doing it unpicks the connections between linguistic and social change and how the consequences of those processes still resonate today.

A major contribution to our understanding of European history before 1700, the book will interest anybody concerned with the historical antecedents of contemporary culture and the interconnections between the past and the present.

Burke: What is Cultural History? 2nd Edition

'There is no clearer, more erudite, more humane voice in the field of cultural history than that of Peter Burke. This book is a delight, a tour in the company of a sure and steady guide to the ways men and women in the past have tried to make sense of the world in which they live.'

Jay Winter, Yale University

Andrew Leach: What is Architectural History?

'In this remarkable book, Andrew Leach makes the complex topic of historical knowledge in architecture accessible to a wide audience. He examines the discipline from multiple perspectives, considering the shifts in theoretical and methodological positions and situating them in their historic contexts. He reveals the richness of the field by highlighting its strategies, ambiguities, engagements with other disciplines, negotiations between polarities (high culture/low culture and the general /the particular), and relationship to architectural practice. Through a careful analysis of key texts, Leach leads the reader to the ultimate question of the meaning of architectural history today.'

Zeynep Celik, New Jersey Institute of Technology

Black: War in the Nineteenth Century

'Jeremy Black has given us a masterful overview of the period 1800-1914, not just for the West but for the world as a whole.'

Lawrence Sondhaus, University of Indianapolis

This book provides an accessible and up-to-date account of the rich military history of the nineteenth century. Leading military historian Jeremy Black offers the reader a twenty-first-century approach to this period, particularly through his focus on the dynamic drive provided by different forms of military goals, or “tasking”. This allows echoes with modern warfare to come to the fore and provides a fuller understanding of a period sometimes considered solely as background to the total war of 1914-45.

Law: Terrorism

'This book is timely, well-written, and of high quality. It fills a significant gap in the discipline – there are currently no histories of the subject which match this book’s breadth in such a thorough, unbiased way.'

Gregory Miller, University of Oklahoma

Terrorism is one of the forces defining our age, but it has also been around since some of the earliest civilizations. This one-of-a-kind study of the history of terrorism - from ancient Assyria to the post-9/11 War on Terror - puts terrorism into broad historical, political, religious and social context. The book leads the reader through the shifting understandings and definitions of terrorism through the ages, and its continuous development of themes allows for a fuller understanding of the uses of and responses to terrorism.

Arnold: What is Medieval History?

‘This stimulating and nuanced book should be required reading for, at the very least, all of those taking Master and Doctoral degrees in the period and it will give those already “in the field” at schools and universities much to reflect upon.’

BBC History Magazine

Harzig and Hoerder: What is Migration History?

The study of migration is and always has been an interdisciplinary field of study, vast and vibrant in nature. This short introduction to the field, written by leading historians of migration for student readers, offers an acute analysis of key issues across several disciplines. It takes in its scope an overview of migrations through history, how classic theories have interpreted such movements, and contemporary topics and debates including transnational and transcultural lives, access to citizenship, and migrant entrepreneurship. Key concepts and theories, such as systems, networks, and gender, are explained and historicized to produce a complex picture of the interaction of migrants, scholars, and disciplinary cultures in a globalized world.

Briggs and Burke: A Social History of the Media 3^rd Edition

Written by two leading social and cultural historians, A Social History of the Media provides a masterful overview of communication media and the social and cultural contexts within which they emerged and evolved. This third edition has been thoroughly revised to bring the text up to date with the very latest developments in the field.

Knight: The Making of Modern Science

'David Knight has long delighted his readers with books on the history of science that have been both instructive and entertaining. Here he draws on a lifetime's study to explain how science - as a practical, intellectually challenging, and socially diverse activity - gained its cultural importance in the long nineteenth-century. Warmly recommended. '

John Hedley Brooke, University of Oxford

Of all the inventions of the nineteenth century, the scientist is one of the most striking. Men of science rivalled clerics and critics as sages; they were honoured as national treasures, and buried in state funerals. Their new ideas invigorated the life of the mind. Peripatetic congresses, great exhibitions, museums, technical colleges and laboratories blossomed; and new industries based on chemistry and electricity brought prosperity and power, economic and military. The ideas, discoveries and inventions of scientists transformed the world: lives were longer and healthier, cities and empires grew, societies became urban rather than agrarian, the local became global.

Gruzinski: What Time is it There?

'Serge Gruzinski offers a brilliant multi-sited comparative study for an alternative history of modernity and globalization. Goa, Istambul, and Mexico City displace Amsterdam, London, and Paris.'

Jose Rabasa, Harvard University

In this remarkable book, the author takes us to the early modern period and examines two testimonies that require us to navigate between America and the Islamic world long before the images of 9/11 had entered our heads. One is a chronicle of the New World compiled in Istanbul in 1580, the other a Repertory of the Times written in Mexico in 1606.

Ferro: Resentment in History

'Marc Ferro's account of the dark force of resentment and revenge in modern times is a salutary reminder how much history of a high order can contribute to an understanding of our turbulent world. If you think fundamentalist Islam came out of the blue, then read this book and think again.'

Jay Winter, Yale University

Toner: Popular Culture in Ancient Rome

Most people in the Roman world did not belong to the elite. Much ancient history, however, has focused on the lives, politics and culture of the minority elite. This book helps redress the balance by focusing on the non-elite in the Roman world. It builds a vivid account of the everyday lives of the masses, including their social and family life, health, leisure and religious beliefs, and the ways in which their popular culture resisted the domination of the ruling elite.

Bringmann: A History of the Roman Republic

This book is chronologically organized, giving the reader a clear sense of the historical progress and dynamics of Roman republic history, it also offers a coherent and authoritative overview of the culture, economics, religion and military might of the Roman empire, presented in an original and stimulating new way and will be essential reading for upper-level undergraduates in history and classical studies.

Livi Bacci: Conquest: The Destruction of the American Indios

The arrival of Europeans in the American continent brought with them a demographic catastrophe of vast proportions for the native populations. What were the causes? The surviving documentation is extraordinarily rich: conquistadors, religious figures, administrators, officials, and merchants kept records, carried out inquiries, and issued edicts. The native world, for its part, has also left eloquent traces of events as well as direct testimony of its harsh subjugation at the hands of the Europeans. Through these sources, this book demonstrates how not only the ‘imported’ diseases but also a series of economic and social factors played a role in the disastrous decline of the Indios.

Heywood: A History of Childhood

'Even-handed, accurate and well-crafted, this admirable survey strikes the right balance: simple enough for a first-year student, sophisticated enough to do justice to the material.'

Roy Porter, Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine