ResoluteReader

Thud, Terry Pratchett's latest Discworld novel to hit paperback continues pretty much where the last few have left off. Once again, we a...

When Vesuvius erupted in AD 79, the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum stood little chance. Both were less than 10 miles from the volcano, an...

The outbreak of war in 1914 was greeted in many countries by rejoicing. Indeed, many of the most ardent and eloquent opponents of the expec...

Francis Wheen wrote one of the best books about the life of Karl Marx, an accessible, interesting and often funny look at the great man...

The greenhouse gases that humans have emitted into the atmosphere since the industrial revolution will lead to an almost certain temperature...

When I was a kid, I read and re-read the "Swallows and Amazons" novels many times. The descriptions of children free to idle thei...

Predictably confusing, with razor sharp wit and a plot as seeped in bourbon, cigarette smoke and blood as any other novel staring Chandler...

The period of history before the Romans came to Britain gets little enough attention. Right at the end of his excellent and illuminating boo...

As a leading figure in the international anti-war movement, John Rees has probably had more opportunity to reflect, debate and discuss the...

It must be pretty tough sometimes when you're writing in an over-subscribed arena like crime fiction, to come up with an original story....

Antonio Gramsci is one of the most important revolutionaries of the crucial inter-war years. He’s also almost forgotten, perhaps because his...

The twentieth anniversary of the accident at Chernobyl has led to much reflection on the dangers of nuclear power. While figures are hotly d...

I’ve said elsewhere how much I liked Poppy Z Brite’s earlier works. They combined dark, fantastical plots, with Vampires, erotica and New O...

I have to admit that I took this to Italy with me, because I quite liked the idea of sitting reading an ancient historian in some pavement c...

A few months back I reviewed Paul Theroux’s book about travelling from Cairo to Cape town overland – Dark Star Safari , since I enjoyed it s...

Thomas Pakenham’s monumental book (my copy weighs in at 680 pages, excluding indices etc) documents the inglorious ‘scramble’ undertaken by ...

Life as a worker in the early part of the 19th century in the UK was short and horrible. Those working in the new industries of Manchester, ...

On the surface this classic novel is about what happens to an individual who decides to allow fate to intervene in their daily life. But act...

Surely it must be a basic rule of archaeology and history that you can’t generalise from one small archaeological remain, one single excava...

Ah, the wonderful Inspector Morse – with his love for real ale, opera and good literature, what else could you want? This 1992 mystery st...