Your Search Results

      • Trusted Partner
        First World War
        July 2013

        British Military Service Tribunals, 1916–18

        'A very much abused body of men'

        by James McDermott

        Military Service Tribunals were formed following the introduction of conscription in January 1916, to consider applications for exemption from military service. Swiftly, they gained two opposing yet equally unflattering reputations. In the eyes of the military, they were soft, obstructionist 'old duffers'. To most of the men who came before them, they were the unfeeling civilian arm of a remorseless grinding machine. This work, utilising a rare surviving set of Tribunal records, challenges both perspectives. Wielding unprecedented power yet acutely sensitive to the contradictions inherent in their task, the Tribunals were obliged, often at a conveyer belt's pace, to make decisions that often determined the fate of men. That some of these decisions were capricious or even wrong is indisputable; the sparse historiography of the Tribunals has too often focused upon the idiosyncratic example while ignoring the wider, impact of imprecise legislation, government hand-washing and short-term military exigencies.

      • Trusted Partner
        First World War
        July 2012

        British Military Service Tribunals, 1916–18

        'A very much abused body of men'

        by James McDermott

        Military Service Tribunals were formed following the introduction of conscription in January 1916, to consider applications for exemption from military service. Swiftly, they gained two opposing yet equally unflattering reputations. In the eyes of the military, they were soft, obstructionist 'old duffers'. To most of the men who came before them, they were the unfeeling civilian arm of a remorseless grinding machine. This work, utilising a rare surviving set of Tribunal records, challenges both perspectives. Wielding unprecedented power yet acutely sensitive to the contradictions inherent in their task, the Tribunals were obliged, often at a conveyer belt's pace, to make decisions that often determined the fate of men. That some of these decisions were capricious or even wrong is indisputable; the sparse historiography of the Tribunals has too often focused upon the idiosyncratic example while ignoring the wider, impact of imprecise legislation, government hand-washing and short-term military exigencies.

      • Trusted Partner
        First World War
        July 2013

        A minority and the state

        Travellers in Britain in the twentieth century

        by Becky Taylor

        This is a new paperback edition of Becky Taylor's history of Britain's travelling communities in the twentieth century. It draws together detailed archival research at local and national level to explore the impact of state and legislative developments on Travellers, as well as their experience of missions, education, war and welfare. It also covers legal developments affecting Travellers and crucially argues that their history must not be dealt with in isolation but as part of a wider history of British minorities. This book will be of interest to scholars and students concerned with minority groups, the welfare state and the expansion of government, as well as general readers and practitioners working with Travellers.

      • Trusted Partner
        First World War
        July 2013

        A minority and the state

        Travellers in Britain in the twentieth century

        by Becky Taylor

        This is a new paperback edition of Becky Taylor's history of Britain's travelling communities in the twentieth century. It draws together detailed archival research at local and national level to explore the impact of state and legislative developments on Travellers, as well as their experience of missions, education, war and welfare. It also covers legal developments affecting Travellers and crucially argues that their history must not be dealt with in isolation but as part of a wider history of British minorities. This book will be of interest to scholars and students concerned with minority groups, the welfare state and the expansion of government, as well as general readers and practitioners working with Travellers.

      • Trusted Partner
        First World War
        July 2012

        A minority and the state

        Travellers in Britain in the twentieth century

        by Becky Taylor

        'A minority and the state' is a much needed history of Britain's travelling communities in the twentieth century, drawing together detailed archival research at local and national level to explore the impact of state and legislative developments on Travellers, as well as their experience of missions, education, war and welfare. It also covers legal developments affecting Travellers and crucially argues that their history must not be dealt with in isolation but as part of a wider history of British minoritiesll. It will be of interest to scholars and students concerned with minority groups, the welfare state and the expansion of government, as well as general readers and practitioners working with Travellers.

      • Trusted Partner
        Second World War
        November 2014

        Civilians into soldiers

        War, the body and British Army recruits, 1939–45

        by Emma Newlands

        Civilians into soldiers is an examination of body cultures in the British Army during the Second World War. Drawing on a wealth of official records and servicemen's personal testimonies, it explores the ways in which male civilians were turned into soldiers through the techniques by which they were inducted into military service. It follows the chronological experiences of wartime recruits, from their enlistment and training to their confrontations with wounding and death, and traces the significance of the body throughout. As such, it provides new ways of understanding how the British prepared for and conducted the Second World War. Civilians into soldiers will appeal to students and specialists in British social and cultural history, war studies and military medicine and health.

      • Trusted Partner
        Second World War
        November 2014

        Civilians into soldiers

        War, the body and British Army recruits, 1939–45

        by Emma Newlands

        Civilians into soldiers is an examination of body cultures in the British Army during the Second World War. Drawing on a wealth of official records and servicemen's personal testimonies, it explores the ways in which male civilians were turned into soldiers through the techniques by which they were inducted into military service. It follows the chronological experiences of wartime recruits, from their enlistment and training to their confrontations with wounding and death, and traces the significance of the body throughout. As such, it provides new ways of understanding how the British prepared for and conducted the Second World War. Civilians into soldiers will appeal to students and specialists in British social and cultural history, war studies and military medicine and health.

      • Trusted Partner
        Second World War
        November 2015

        Ireland during the Second World War

        Farewell to Plato’s Cave

        by Bryce Evans

        In this book detailing the social and economic history of Ireland during the Second World War, Bryce Evans reveals the real story of the Irish emergency. Revealing just how precarious the Irish state's economic position was at the time, the book examines the consequences of Winston Churchill's economic war against neutral Ireland. It explores how the Irish government coped with the crisis and how ordinary Irish people reacted to emergency state control of the domestic marketplace. A hidden history of black markets, smugglers, rogues and rebels emerges, providing a fascinating slice of real life in Ireland during a crucial period in world history. As the first comparison of economic and social conditions in Ireland with those of the other European neutral states - Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Portugal - the book, now available in paperback, will make essential reading for the informed general reader, students and academics alike.

      • Trusted Partner
        Military history
        November 2015

        Colonial naval culture and British imperialism, 1922–67

        by Daniel Owen Spence

        Naval forces from fifteen colonial territories fought for the British Empire during the Second World War, providing an important new lens for understanding imperial power and colonial relations on the eve of decolonisation. With sources from Britain, the Caribbean, Africa and Asia, this book examines the political, social and cultural impact of these forces; how they fortified British 'prestige' against rival imperialisms and colonial nationalisms; the importance of 'men on the spot', collaboration, 'naval theatre', and propaganda in mobilising colonial navalism; the role of naval training within the 'civilising mission' and colonial development; and how racial theory influenced naval recruitment, strategy and management, affecting imperial sentiment, ethnic relations, colonial identities, customs and order. This book will appeal to imperial, maritime and regional historians, by broadening our understanding of navies as social and cultural institutions, where power was expressed through the ideas and relations they cultivated, as well as their guns.

      • Trusted Partner
        Military history
        November 2015

        Colonial naval culture and British imperialism, 1922–67

        by Daniel Owen Spence

        Naval forces from fifteen colonial territories fought for the British Empire during the Second World War, providing an important new lens for understanding imperial power and colonial relations on the eve of decolonisation. With sources from Britain, the Caribbean, Africa and Asia, this book examines the political, social and cultural impact of these forces; how they fortified British 'prestige' against rival imperialisms and colonial nationalisms; the importance of 'men on the spot', collaboration, 'naval theatre', and propaganda in mobilising colonial navalism; the role of naval training within the 'civilising mission' and colonial development; and how racial theory influenced naval recruitment, strategy and management, affecting imperial sentiment, ethnic relations, colonial identities, customs and order. This book will appeal to imperial, maritime and regional historians, by broadening our understanding of navies as social and cultural institutions, where power was expressed through the ideas and relations they cultivated, as well as their guns.

      • Trusted Partner
        History of medicine
        July 2015

        Working in a world of hurt

        Trauma and resilience in the narratives of medical personnel in warzones

        by Carol Acton, Jane Potter

        Working in a world of hurt fills a significant gap in the studies of the psychological trauma wrought by war. It focuses not on soldiers, but on the men and women who fought to save them in casualty clearing stations, hospitals and prison camps. The writings by doctors, nurses, ambulance drivers and other medical personnel reveal the spectrum of their responses that range from breakdown to resilience. Through a rich analysis of both published and unpublished personal from the First World War in the early twentieth century to Iraq in the early twenty-first, Acton and Potter put centre stage the letters, diaries, memoirs and weblogs that have chronicled physical and emotional suffering, many for the first time. Wide-ranging in scope, interdisciplinary in method, and written in a scholarly yet accessible style, Working in a world of hurt is essential reading for lecturers and students as well as the general reader.

      • Trusted Partner
        Military history
        July 2013

        The Victorian soldier in Africa

        by Edward M. Spiers

        Available in paperback for the first time, The Victorian soldier in Africa re-examines the campaign experience of British soldiers in Africa during the period, 1874-1902 - the zenith of the Victorian imperial expansion - and does so from the perspective of the regimental soldier. The book utilises an unprecedented number of letters and diaries, written by regimental officers and other ranks, to allow soldiers to speak for themselves about their experience of colonial warfare. The sources demonstrate the adaptability of the British army in fighting in different climates, over demanding terrain and against a diverse array of enemies. They also uncover soldiers' responses to army reforms of the era as well as the response to the introduction of new technologies of war. Moreover, the book provides commentary on soldiers' views of commanding officers and politicians alongside assessment of war correspondents, colonial auxiliaries and African natives in their roles as bearers, allies and enemies. This book reveals new insights on imperial and racial attitudes within the army, on relations between soldiers and the media and the production of information and knowledge from frontline to homefront. It will make fascinating reading for students, academics and enthusiasts in imperial history, Victorian studies, military history and colonial warfare.

      • Trusted Partner
        Military history
        July 2013

        The Victorian soldier in Africa

        by Edward M. Spiers

        Available in paperback for the first time, The Victorian soldier in Africa re-examines the campaign experience of British soldiers in Africa during the period, 1874-1902 - the zenith of the Victorian imperial expansion - and does so from the perspective of the regimental soldier. The book utilises an unprecedented number of letters and diaries, written by regimental officers and other ranks, to allow soldiers to speak for themselves about their experience of colonial warfare. The sources demonstrate the adaptability of the British army in fighting in different climates, over demanding terrain and against a diverse array of enemies. They also uncover soldiers' responses to army reforms of the era as well as the response to the introduction of new technologies of war. Moreover, the book provides commentary on soldiers' views of commanding officers and politicians alongside assessment of war correspondents, colonial auxiliaries and African natives in their roles as bearers, allies and enemies. This book reveals new insights on imperial and racial attitudes within the army, on relations between soldiers and the media and the production of information and knowledge from frontline to homefront. It will make fascinating reading for students, academics and enthusiasts in imperial history, Victorian studies, military history and colonial warfare.

      • Trusted Partner
        Military history
        July 2012

        The Victorian soldier in Africa

        by Edward M. Spiers

        The Victorian soldier in Africa re-examines the campaign experience of British soldiers in Africa during the period, 1874-1902 - the zenith of the Victorian imperial expansion - and does so from the perspective of the regimental soldier. The book utilises an unprecedented number of letters and diaries, written by regimental officers and other ranks, to allow soldiers to speak for themselves about their experience of colonial warfare. The sources demonstrate the adaptability of the British army in fighting in different climates, over demanding terrain and against a diverse array of enemies. They also uncover soldiers' responses to army reforms of the era as well as the response to the introduction of new technologies of war. Moreover, the book provides commentary on soldiers' views of commanding officers and politicians alongside assessment of war correspondents, colonial auxiliaries and African natives in their roles as bearers, allies and enemies. This book reveals new insights on imperial and racial attitudes within the army, on relations between soldiers and the media and the production of information and knowledge from frontline to homefront. It will make fascinating reading for students, academics and enthusiasts in imperial history, Victorian studies, military history and colonial warfare.

      • Trusted Partner
        First World War
        July 2013

        Priestley’s England

        J. B. Priestley and English culture

        by John Baxendale

        Priestley's England is the first full-length academic study of J B Priestley - novelist, playwright, screen-writer, journalist and broadcaster, political activist, public intellectual and popular entertainer, one of the makers of twentieth-century Britain, and one of its sharpest critics. From his scathing analysis of a slump-stricken nation in the best-selling English Journey, to his popular wartime broadcasts which paved the way to 1945 and the welfare state, his post-war critique of 'Admass' and the Cold War (he was a co-founder of CND), and his continual engagement with the question of 'Englishness', Priestley addressed the key issues of the century from a radical standpoint in fiction, journalism and plays which appealed to a wide audience and made him one of the most successful writers of his day, in a career which spanned the 1920s and the 1980s. Priestley's England explores the cultural, literary and political history of twentieth-century Britain through the themes which preoccupied Priestley throughout his life: competing versions of Englishness; tradition, modernity, and the decline of industrial England; 'Americanisation', mass culture and 'Admass'; cultural values and 'broadbrow' culture; consumerism and the decay of the public sphere; the loss of spirituality and community in 'the nervous excitement, the frenzy, the underlying despair of our century'. It argues that Priestley has been unjustly neglected for too long: we have a great deal to learn both from this extraordinary, multi-faceted man, and from the English radical tradition he represented. This book will appeal to all those interested in the culture and politics of twentieth-century Britain, in the continuing debates over 'Englishness' to which Priestley made such a key contribution, and in the life and work of one of the most remarkable and popular writers of the past century.

      • Trusted Partner
        First World War
        July 2013

        Priestley’s England

        J. B. Priestley and English culture

        by John Baxendale

        Priestley's England is the first full-length academic study of J B Priestley - novelist, playwright, screen-writer, journalist and broadcaster, political activist, public intellectual and popular entertainer, one of the makers of twentieth-century Britain, and one of its sharpest critics. From his scathing analysis of a slump-stricken nation in the best-selling English Journey, to his popular wartime broadcasts which paved the way to 1945 and the welfare state, his post-war critique of 'Admass' and the Cold War (he was a co-founder of CND), and his continual engagement with the question of 'Englishness', Priestley addressed the key issues of the century from a radical standpoint in fiction, journalism and plays which appealed to a wide audience and made him one of the most successful writers of his day, in a career which spanned the 1920s and the 1980s. Priestley's England explores the cultural, literary and political history of twentieth-century Britain through the themes which preoccupied Priestley throughout his life: competing versions of Englishness; tradition, modernity, and the decline of industrial England; 'Americanisation', mass culture and 'Admass'; cultural values and 'broadbrow' culture; consumerism and the decay of the public sphere; the loss of spirituality and community in 'the nervous excitement, the frenzy, the underlying despair of our century'. It argues that Priestley has been unjustly neglected for too long: we have a great deal to learn both from this extraordinary, multi-faceted man, and from the English radical tradition he represented. This book will appeal to all those interested in the culture and politics of twentieth-century Britain, in the continuing debates over 'Englishness' to which Priestley made such a key contribution, and in the life and work of one of the most remarkable and popular writers of the past century.

      • Trusted Partner
        First World War
        July 2012

        Priestley’s England

        J. B. Priestley and English culture

        by John Baxendale

        Priestley's England is the first full-length academic study of J B Priestley - novelist, playwright, screen-writer, journalist and broadcaster, political activist, public intellectual and popular entertainer, one of the makers of twentieth-century Britain, and one of its sharpest critics. From his scathing analysis of a slump-stricken nation in the best-selling English Journey, to his popular wartime broadcasts which paved the way to 1945 and the welfare state, his post-war critique of 'Admass' and the Cold War (he was a co-founder of CND), and his continual engagement with the question of 'Englishness', Priestley addressed the key issues of the century from a radical standpoint in fiction, journalism and plays which appealed to a wide audience and made him one of the most successful writers of his day, in a career which spanned the 1920s and the 1980s. Priestley's England explores the cultural, literary and political history of twentieth-century Britain through the themes which preoccupied Priestley throughout his life: competing versions of Englishness; tradition, modernity, and the decline of industrial England; 'Americanisation', mass culture and 'Admass'; cultural values and 'broadbrow' culture; consumerism and the decay of the public sphere; the loss of spirituality and community in 'the nervous excitement, the frenzy, the underlying despair of our century'. It argues that Priestley has been unjustly neglected for too long: we have a great deal to learn both from this extraordinary, multi-faceted man, and from the English radical tradition he represented. This book will appeal to all those interested in the culture and politics of twentieth-century Britain, in the continuing debates over 'Englishness' to which Priestley made such a key contribution, and in the life and work of one of the most remarkable and popular writers of the past century.

      • Trusted Partner
        Military history: post WW2 conflicts
        December 2014

        Defending the realm?

        The politics of Britain’s small wars since 1945

        by Aaron Edwards

        Britain is often revered for its extensive experience of waging 'small wars'. Its long imperial history is littered with high profile counter-insurgency campaigns, thus marking it out as the world's most seasoned practitioner of this type of warfare. This is the first book to detail the tactical and operational dynamics of Britain's small wars, arguing that the military's use of force was more heavily constrained by wider strategic and political considerations than previously admitted. Outlining the civil-military strategy followed by the British in Palestine, Malaya, Kenya, Cyprus, Aden, Northern Ireland, Iraq and Afghanistan, Defending the realm?, available for the first time in paperback, argues that Britain's small wars since 1945 were fought against the backdrop of an irrevocable decline in British power. Written from a theoretically-informed perspective, grounded in rich archival sources, oral testimonies and a revisionist reading of the literature on counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism, this is the definitive account of the politics of Britain's small wars.

      Subscribe to our

      newsletter