April 2023 MBR The World History Shelf

The World History Shelf

The Road to Barbarossa
Norman Ridley
Frontline Books
c/o Casemate Publishers
1940 Lawrence Road, Havertown, PA 19083
www.casematepublishers.com
9781399068826, $42.95, HC, 232pp

https://www.amazon.com/Road-Barbarossa-Soviet-German-Relations-1917-1941/dp/1399068822

Synopsis: Arising from the chaos of the First World War, during which Germany and Russia had fought each other to a standstill, there emerged two societies whose diametrically opposed ideologies of communism and fascism represented the opposite extremes of the political spectrum. Despite this, in time the governments and military establishments in both countries were able to create an environment where political expediency led to both cooperation and an eventual alliance.

While western democracies found both systems repellent, the two countries of Germany and the Soviet Union, embodied in the case of the Soviets vast resources of raw materials and, in the case of Germany, huge intellectual, scientific and industrial expertise. Both offered massive opportunities for trade, but neither made comfortable partners. Britain (whose sympathies lay more with the Germans), and France (whose history tied them more to Eastern Europe), tended to treat both Germany and the Soviet Union as outcast states. This created a great deal of animosity in return and ultimately drove the outcasts into each other's arms.

while animosity was rampant on a political level, both countries, now having equal pariah status in the eyes of the Western allies, began to see huge benefits in military and economic cooperation. Collaborative ventures for covert armament production and training facilities were initiated in 1921. These schemes would continue, with varying degrees of success, for more than a decade until the rise of Nazism in Germany put an end to it.

The Spanish Civil War saw not only the two rival political philosophies but opposing military doctrines also being tested against each other on the field of battle. It is remarkable, therefore, that these two nations emerged from this maelstrom to rediscover the 'spirit of Rapallo'. It was a spirit which culminated in the signing of the Molotov - Ribbentrop Pact in August 1939. Within weeks, both sides would display their unity as they fell together with ruthless efficiency upon the hapless Poland.

With the publication of "The Road to Barbarossa: Soviet-German Relations, 1917 - 1941", Norman Ridley looks at how these two 'strange bedfellows' dealt with western hostility and found ways to accommodate each other in a bid to recover from the economic devastation and dismantling of their historic territorial boundaries. The extent to which cooperation was achieved is unusual given the circumstances, especially as they had to contend with the machinations of the Western Powers.

The era of the Molotov - Ribbentrop Pact proved to be a brief liaison, one that collapsed into savagery again when Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa just a few months later.

Critique: Enhanced for the reader with the inclusion of a section of historical black/white photographs, an informative Introduction, eight pages of Notes, a six pages listing of Sources, and a four page Index, "The Road to Barbarossa: Soviet-German Relations, 1917 - 1941" by military historian Norman Ridley is an impressively informative and exceptionally well written, organized and presented study which is unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, college, and university library European World War II History collections and supplemental German/Russian Pre-World War II curriculum studies lists. It should be noted for students, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "The Road to Barbarossa" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $18.99).

Editorial Note: Norman Ridley (https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Norman-Ridley/a/4216) is an Open University Honours graduate and an expert on inter-war intelligence.

Picts: Scourge of Rome, Rulers of the North
Gordon Noble, author
Nicholas Evans, author
Birlinn
c/o Casemate Publishers
1940 Lawrence Road, Havertown, PA 19083
www.casematepublishers.com
9781780277783, $34.95, PB, 336pp

https://www.amazon.com/Picts-Scourge-Rome-Rulers-North/dp/1780277784

Synopsis: The Picts emerged c. AD 300 to defy the might of the Roman empire only to disappear at the end of the first millennium AD, yet they left major legacies. They laid the foundations for the medieval Scottish kingdom and their captivating carved stones are some of the most eye-catching yet enigmatic monuments in Europe. Until recently the Picts have been difficult to trace due to limited archaeological investigation and documentary sources, but innovative new research has produced critical new insights into the culture of a highly sophisticated society which defied the might of the Roman Empire and forged a powerful realm dominating much of northern Britain.

"Picts: Scourge of Rome, Rulers of the North" by co-authors Gordon Noble and Nicholas Evans is the first dedicated book on the Picts that covers in detail both their archaeology and their history. It examines their kingdoms, culture, beliefs and everyday lives from their origins to their end, not only incorporating current thinking on the subject, but also offering innovative perspectives that transform our understanding of the early history of Scotland.

Critique: Profusely illustrated with both full color and black/white images, "Picts: Scourge of Rome, Rulers of the North" is additionally enhanced for the reader with the inclusion of a twenty-one page Bibliography, a twelve page listing of Sites to Visit, and a nine page Index. Impressively informed and informative, exceptionally well organized and presented, "Picts: Scourge of Rome, Rulers of the North" is a seminal work of meticulous scholarship and research. An inherently fascinating read and an unreservedly recommended addition to personal, professional, community, and academic library Archaeology collections, and supplemental curriculum Scottish History studies lists, it should be noted for students, academia, and non- specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Picts: Scourge of Rome, Rulers of the North" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $16.99).

Editorial Note #1: Gordon Noble (https://www.abdn.ac.uk/people/g.noble?count=25) is Senior Lecturer in Archaeology and Honorary Curatorial Fellow to the University Museums at the University of Aberdeen. He has also been director of the Rhynie Environs Archaeological Project. He is author of a number of books, including Neolithic Scotland: Timber, Stone, Earth and Fire.

Editorial Note #2: Nicholas Evans (https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/nick-evans) is a Research Fellow on the Leverhulme Trust funded Comparative Kingship: the Early Medieval Kingdoms of Northern Britain and Ireland project at the University of Aberdeen. He is a historian whose research and teaching have focussed on the medieval Celtic-speaking societies of Britain and Ireland. He is the author of The Present and the Past in Medieval Irish Chronicles (Boydell Press, 2010), A Historical Introduction to the Northern Picts (Aberdeen University/Tarbat Discovery Centre, 2014) and co-author of King in the North: The Pictish Realms of Fortriu and Ce (Birlinn 2019).

The Wars of the Bruces: Scotland, England and Ireland 1306 - 1328
Colm McNamee
Birlinn Ltd.
c/o Casemate (US distribution)
www.casematepublishers.com
https://www.penandswordbooks.com
9781780276618, $21.95, PB, 368pp

https://www.amazon.com/Wars-Bruces-Scotland-England-Ireland/dp/1780276613

Synopsis: The Bruces of fourteenth-century Scotland were formidable and enthusiastic warriors. While much has been written about events as they happened in Scotland during the chaotic years of the first part of the fourteenth century, England's war with Robert the Bruce profoundly affected the whole of the British Isles.

Scottish raiders struck deep into the heartlands of Yorkshire and Lancashire; Robert's younger brother, Edward Bruce, was proclaimed King of Ireland and came close to subduing the country; the Isle of Man was captured and a Welsh sea-port was raided; and in the North Sea Scots allied with German and Flemish pirates to cripple England's vital wool trade and disrupt its war effort.

Packed with detail and written with a strong and involving narrative thread, "The Wars of the Bruces: Scotland, England and Ireland 1306 - 1328" by historian Colm McNamee is the first book to link up the various theaters of war and discuss the effect of the wars of the Bruces outside Scotland.

Critique: An impressively informative, exceptionally well written, organized and presented history of 14th Century Scotland and its wars with England, "The Wars of the Bruces: Scotland, England and Ireland 1306 - 1328" is a fascinating read and an especially recommended addition to personal, community, and academic library Medieval/Renaissance Military History collections.

Editorial Note: Colm McNamee is the Senior Research Officer for the Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland. He studied at Queens' University, Belfast, and Worcester College, Oxford and has a DPhil in Medieval History.

Wars of the Roses
Paul Kendall
Frontline Books
c/o Pen & Sword Books
www.casematepublishers.com
https://www.penandswordbooks.com
9781399097512, $42.95, HC, 224pp

https://www.amazon.com/Wars-Roses-Battlefields-Yorkists-Lancastrians/dp/1399097512

Synopsis: The Wars of the Roses, which saw England and Wales ravaged by warfare for three decades and dynasties rise and fall, decimated the nobility of an entire generation, and saw the rise of the merchant class, the decline of medieval feudalism and opened the country to the enlightened ideals of the Renaissance. Such has been its lasting effects the red and white rose of the Tudors is still a national symbol.

With the publication of "Wars of the Roses: The People, Places and Battlefields of the Yorkists and Lancastrians" historian Paul Kendall provides an exploration of the buildings, monuments, towns and battlefields of that turbulent era across both England and Wales -- places and sites that can still be visited and experienced today.

Also included are the stories of the great battles of St Albans, Stoke Field, Wakefield, Townton, Barnet, Tewksbury and, of course, Bosworth, are told along with beautiful photographs to help guide the reader round these important sites, as well as the dozens of smaller engagements where the supporters of the Houses of York and Lancaster fought and died.

Here are castles and manor houses galore, all of which played their part in this protracted struggle for the throne of England, such as Richard of York's imposing powerbase of Lulow Castle and the magnificent Tudor stronghold of Bamburg. These are compared with the scant remains of Fotheringhay Castle, the birthplace of Richard III (the man whose remains were so dramatically uncovered in Leicester) and Micklegate Bar, York, was where Richard's head was placed on a spike.

We see the Clocktower of St Albans and 'Gabriel' the bell that was rung in 1455 alerting of the Yorkist advance, as well as the Tower of London where Henry VI met his death and the possible burial place of the two princes.

These, and scores of other places, monuments, plaques, buildings and battlegrounds, represent not only a journey across England and Wales, but a journey back in time to the bloody conflict that was to be forever known as the War of the Roses.

Critique: A brilliant and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, professional, community, and academic library English History collections, "Wars of the Roses: The People, Places and Battlefields of the Yorkists and Lancastrians" is an ideal resource for planning travel itineraries for anyone with an interest in the history and surviving monuments associated with the era and personalities associated with the War of the Roses. Profusely illustrated throughout with black- and-white photography, it should be noted for personal reading lists of academia and non-specialist general readers alike that "Wars of the Roses: The People, Places and Battlefields of the Yorkists and Lancastrians" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $18.99).

Editorial Note: Paul Kendall (https://www.paul-kendall.co.uk) is a military historian and author from Kent specializing in the First World War. He was educated at Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London, where he also served as an Honorary Midshipman with the University of London Royal Naval Unit.

Britain's Empires: A History, 1600-2020
James Heartfield
Anthem Press
www.anthempress.com
9781839987243, $150.00, HC, 506pp

https://www.amazon.com/Britains-Empires-History-1600-2020-Studies/dp/1839987243

Synopsis: With the publication of "Britain's Empires: A History, 1600-2020", author, social justice campaigner and historian James Heartfield presents an accurate and seminal history of the many different British Empires including: the Old Colonial System (1600 - 1776), the Empire of Free Trade (1776 - 1870), the New Imperialism (1870 - 1945), Decolonisation (1945 - 1990) and the era of humanitarian intervention (1990 - 2020).

Critique: Comprehensive, well written, accessible organized, and 'reader friendly' in presentation, and a masterpiece of independent scholarship, "Britain's Empires: A History, 1600-2020" is a seminal study that reveals the complex and controversial story of the Britain's colonial past as being indelible characterized by irresistible change and evolutionary mandated re-invention. While an especially and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, professional, community, and academic library British/English History collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists, it should be noted for students, academia, historians, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Britain's Empires: A History, 1600-2020" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $29.99).

Editorial Note: James Heartfield (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Heartfield) wrote The British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, Who's Afraid of the Easter Rising? The Equal Opportunities Revolution and many other books. James is also a long-standing campaigner for social justice.

The Ship Beneath the Ice
Mensun Bound
Mariner Books
www.marinerbooks.com
c/o HarperCollins Publishers
www.harpercollins.com
Blackstone Audiobooks
www.blackstoneaudio.com
9780063297401, $35.00, HC, 416pp

https://www.amazon.com/Ship-Beneath-Ice-Discovery-Shackletons/dp/006329740X

Synopsis: On November 21, 1914, after sailing more than ten thousand miles from Norway to the Antarctic Ocean, the Endurance finally succumbed to the surrounding ice. Ernest Shackleton and his crew had navigated the 144-foot, three-masted wooden vessel to Antarctica to become the first to cross the barren continent, but early season pack ice trapped them in place offshore. They watched in silence as the ship's stern rose twenty feet in the air and disappeared into the frigid sea, then spent six harrowing months marooned on the ice in its wake. Seal meat was their only sustenance as Shackleton's expedition to push the limits of human strength took a new form: one of survival against the odds.

As this legendary story entered the annals of polar exploration, it inspired a new global race to find the wrecked Endurance, by all accounts "the world's most unreachable shipwreck." Several missions failed, thwarted, as Shackleton was, by the unpredictable Weddell Sea. Finally, a century to the day after Shackleton's death, renowned marine archeologist Mensun Bound and an elite team of explorers discovered the lost shipwreck. Nearly ten thousand feet below the ice lay a remarkably preserved Endurance, its name still emblazoned on the ship's stern.

With the publication of "The Ship Beneath the Ice", Mensun Bound chronicles two dramatic expeditions to what Shackleton called "the most hostile sea on Earth". Bound experienced failure and despair in his attempts to locate the wreck, and, like Shackleton before him, very nearly found his vessel frozen in ice.

Enhanced for the reader with the inclusion of captivating photos from the 1914 expedition and of the wreck as Bound and his team found it, this inspiring modern-day adventure narrative captures the intrepid spirit that joins two mariners across the centuries -- both of whom accomplished the impossible!

Critique: An inherently fascinating and fully documented read from cover to cover, "The Ship Beneath the Ice" will be of particular appeal to readers with an interest in Arctic/Antarctica Exploratory Expeditionary and Maritime Histories, and is unreservedly recommended for community and academic library Travel/Explorer collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "The Ship Beneath the Ice" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $15.99) and as a complete and unabridged audio book (Blackstone Audio, 9798212201308, $41.99, CD).

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