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How we understand and respond to failure is one of the most defining features of how our lives pan out. Some people refuse to fail. Some people expect to fail. Some people always hide from their own failings (most of these currently seem to be in politics). Others always look for failings in themselves, or […]
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Present-day political controversies are strikingly like those in Britain at the end of World War Two. I’ve constructed The Cambridge Introduction to British Fiction, 1900-1950 to call attention to that convergence. Pivotal in this regard is the Introduction’s final chapter, “Collective Welfare and Warfare: British Fiction, 1936-1950.” For years now the U.S. has debated the […]
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In 1945 Britain was a Christian nation, governed by many theocratic laws that determined much of moral behaviour. By 1980 it wasn’t. The existing explanations for the reform of UK moral law are rather vague, but generally involve the role of liberal Christians and the general secularisation of society. What has not featured sufficiently is […]
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I decided to write Women of Fortune when I discovered that Grace Bennet, widow of a rich mortgage and loan banker and mother of the Countess of Salisbury, had been murdered by the local butcher in 1694. Called by a contemporary “the most sordid person who ever lived,” Grace was, however, not only a victim […]
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Why do we need another book about Queen Victoria? The last time I checked, there were over 1,500 entries for the Queen as a subject in WorldCat. Yet on this, the 200th anniversary of Queen Victoria’s birth, I’d like to think that my book clears up some significant misunderstandings about the Queen, particularly on matters […]
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The rise and fall of convict transportation in the British Empire is often told as a Gothic melodrama. John Mitchel, the Young Ireland leader transported for treason, was typical in referring to the British transportation system as an ‘Empire of Hell’. He was even more scathing about attempts to reform the convicts in Van Diemen’s […]
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Are we really a United Kingdom? In a year that has seen the British public trying to grasp the politics at play with the dreaded B-word, we look back at some key moments in British politics and social surveys since 1900. Pat Thane’s remarkable analysis of data across the 20th Century United Kingdom outlines with clarity the […]
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Innovation is big business. Whether we’re talking about blue chip companies like Apple, multinationals like Google, or the Defence community, the ability to innovate is associated with greater competitive advantage and versatility. Yet, for the military, in an era marked by tightening budgets, constant confrontation, and the blurred distinction between war and peace, armed forces […]
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