Thomas Harding’s family originated in Germany. During the 1930s they bought The House by the Lake but being Jews they were eventually forced to flee their homeland and their property was allocated to another. When the author returned to Germany in the early years of this century he found the house was about to be … Continue reading My 12 in 12 Challenge – October – History – Book 10
John MacLeod’s book None Dare Oppose about the nineteenth century on the island of Lewis in the Hebrides tells the most amazing tale. The island was owned by Sir James Matheson who was retired from a career in the East and regarded the island and its inhabitants as a hobby. He mostly left the management … Continue reading My 12 in 12 Challenge – October – History – Book 9
When I chose to read The Last Days of Detroit by Mark Binelli for my 12 in 12 Challenge I was expecting it to be a history of the city and how it became bankrupt. This book covers that issue, although in a lot less detail than I would have liked and without many statistics … Continue reading My 12 in 12 Challenge – October – History – Book 8
During the Victorian era women who had inconvenient babies, usually out of wedlock, and had no support system were faced with a terrible dilemma. They could keep their child and starve or they could find someone who would look after the baby for a regular sum or an upfront payment. Amelia Dyer and the Baby … Continue reading My 12 in 12 Challenge – October – History – Book 7
Suzannah Lipscomb’s book 1536 is subtitled The Year that Changed Henry VIII. The historian claims that the Tudor king changed during the course of his reign from a carefree, intelligent, “golden” prince into a tyrant. Her argument is that the events of 1536 are what made the difference. It was certainly a rough year for … Continue reading My 12 in 12 Challenge – October – History – Book 6
Jeff Guinn’s book Manson is not just a biography of Charles Manson and a look at the “family” he formed in 1960s America and the crimes they committed. It is also an examination of a particular period in time in a certain place which the author argues allowed the crimes to happen as they did. … Continue reading My 12 in 12 Challenge – October – History – Book 5
In 1518 in Strasbourg a peculiar plague broke out. Suddenly members of the public were dancing for days and couldn’t stop. In fact, as John Waller says in his fascinating history A Time to Dance, A Time to Die, this was not the first time that this happened in Europe and nor was it the … Continue reading My 12 in 12 Challenge – October – History – Book 4
Quite a lot of the history books I have on my to-be-read pile are about WW2 – in fact, there were so many that I spent a whole month just reading WW2 books and didn’t exhaust the supply. East West Street by Philippe Sands is a memoir and history book all in one concentrating on … Continue reading My 12 in 12 Challenge – October – History – Book 3
Globe by Catharine Arnold is not just a book about Shakespeare’s theatre but is actually a wider look at the beginning of established theatres, theatre companies and commercial theatre in London in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century. It’s a period that I know something about, I have read/seen many of the plays she … Continue reading My 12 in 12 Challenge – October – History – Book 2
A fascinating look at the history of rock lighthouses
