From ‘Shōgun’ Fan to Historian: My Journey into Japanese History and the Making of a TV Epic
26th April, 2024
Author of In the Service of the Shogun, Frederik Cryns, was historical adviser on the new Disney+ television series, ‘Shōgun’, and in this blog he discusses his journey into Japanese history and how the show, and his book, came into being … *** At…
A History of the Embassy
24th April, 2024
In this blog, G.R. Berridge explores the reasons behind his new book, Outposts of Diplomacy, and how he came to write it… *** Oddly enough, it was well before I became a serious student of the history of diplomacy that I was first struck by the adv…
How to End a Revolution
4th March, 2024
Napoleon Bonaparte, perhaps one of the most famous revolutionaries, not only began, but ended the French Revolution. In this blog, author William Doyle examines how the Revolution came to an end… *** Looking back on his triumphant entry into world…
Strange Times
6th February, 2024
The run for president in the United States has always been something to behold. Now, even more so. John Rennie Short, author of Insurrection: What the January 6th Assault on America Reveals about America and Democracy, takes a look at these strange t…
Excerpt: The Illuminated Window
7th December, 2023
In this short extract, Virginia Chieffo Raguin describes her intention for The Illuminated Window: Stories Across Time, and what inspired her to write the book. *** Last Judgement (detail), dead rising, c. 1200, cathedral of Notre-Dame, Paris, transf…
The Persistence of Inflation
11th October, 2023
Inflation is a hot topic right now, and there is much debate about its significance and persistence. In this blog, Paul Mattick writes about this phenomenon, as well as what caused him to write his book, The Return of Inflation: Money and Capital in…
Restoring Women’s Fairy-Tale Legacies
29th September, 2023
When people think of fairy tales, Charles Perrault, the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, and Walt Disney immediately come to mind. But, as Anne E. Duggan makes distinctly clear, women writers and storytellers, and especially Marie-Catherine d…
Why are people so defensive about the Flat Earth?
3rd July, 2023
There is often a sense of ridicule when people mention a belief in a flat Earth. But why is that? Where did it come from, why does it endure, and why is it so mocked? In this blog, James Hannam explores the Flat Earth phenomena. *** Writing to his Je…
On the History of the Gypsy
1st June, 2023
All it took was a look through some Georgian newspapers to inspire Jeremy Harte to write his new book, Travellers Through Time: A Gypsy History. In this blog, Jeremy talks about his research and discoveries as he wrote the book. *** A photograph of t…