United Kingdom Books

very comprehensive especially for shopping. needs an updated edition. tells you where everything is.

I used this book extensively when visiting London during a study-abroad in 1995. I was hoping to find a newer, updated version, as I am planning to return to London this year. Instead, I will drag out my well-worn copy and use it!

Nearly eight years after its publication, and almost five since the (relatively) highly observed centenary of Noël Coward's birth, I'm amazed to see that I'm apparently the first person to review this biography on Amazon.com. When I first read it several years ago, I was struck by Hoare's thoroughness, his dispassion, and his wide-ranging research. While this book may not be flawless, it's certainly good enough, I believe, to be the current standard biography of the man.

Despite Coward's reputation as the quintessence of high-class sophistication and airy panache, Hoare shows how the man was shaped by his distinctly unglamorous childhood. His days as a hard-working child actor are thoroughly explored, as are his relationships with colleagues, lovers, competitors, and friends. While not prurient, Hoare clearly loves a good story, and doesn't mind dealing dish (as they say) on his subject when he has one to tell.

Though not really a devotee of theater generally, I am a fan of Coward's. Having read a few titles about the man, I don't hesitate to say this is the best of the lot. Whether you're a student of the man or a casual acquaintance who wants to know more about one of the outstanding talents of the last century, Philip Hoare's biography is a resource to read, enjoy, and keep close to hand.

Philip Hoare has compiled the most complete of all the Coward biographies and I think I have read them all save Cole Lesley's. Hoare points out dramatically what a complicated personality Coward was and how his sexual orientation impacted his talent and his fame.
I worked with Coward late in his life (1960/61) and knew only his celebrity. His autobiographies and most of the other bios dealt only on that level. It took Hoare and the passage of time to reveal the more complicated and private side of his amazing life.
I will always cherish my brief encounter with the Master.

This is a superb book. If you are looking for a general and strictly Norman survey, this book isn't for you. I only read up through the chapters on William, so I can't speak for the rest of the book. BUT - from what I have read the author means to describe the story of the dynastic line... not Norman adventures and antics in the 11th century. The book focuses on the development of the Counts of Rouen and Dukes of Normandy, and their ultimate conquest of England.

So if you are in need of a short introduction into Norman ducal growth and its relationship with England, then I highly suggest this book. I suggest it even if you aren't looking for that, it's a great read either way.

The Normans, like their Viking relations, were adventurers par excellence. David Crouch also reveals cool headed calculation and organised government to be the underlying pattern of their success; illuminating this early period through sensible reconstruction, Crouch shows `how quickly complete outsiders could take possession of and transform the structures of power within a region'.

Nevertheless, fortune could tip either way in this precarious world of flux. At the close of the first millennium Wessex is `systematically plundered' by Vikings, spurring the King of England, Ethelred the Unready, into a marriage alliance with Emma, sister to Duke Richard II of Normandy...`The Normans could conceivably have closed their ports to the Vikings, as the English had wanted, but the retaliation might have been dreadful. If the Normans had refused to be Viking collaborators, they would then have been potential victims. This fear alone guaranteed a reception for Viking ships in Normandy'...The astute Duke Richard II steered his realm between the shoals of Viking freebooters and firmly entrenched Frankish mainlanders.

Meanwhile Ethelred recklessly massacres a Danish population in the south east of England bringing an `aggressive and expansionist Danish kingdom towards the shores of England.' William the Conqueror would soon enter the fray of this viscous Nordic cockpit, tipping England's fortune Normandy's way. The rest, as they say, is history. The entire story of these incredible events is impeccable history when told by David Crouch. This is one modest volume well worth its shelf space.

This book should be required reading for all high school seniors. A course should be taught on the follies and horrors of war, with this book at the core. A course that teaches that all men are brothers in the end. Gibbs has done an amazing job here of describing World War I. Everything, from the mud and slime, bits of decomposed bodies, stupidity of G.H.Q. and those who ran the war, misguided patriotism, to the questioning of the Christianity of both sides, that could lead to such butchering of young men. 900,000 in England alone! And only 20 years later . . . . Giibbs knew it would happen. How?

I recommend this book for anyone who can read. I knew very little about WW1 other than vague impressions about "trenches" etc. This book prompted me to read other books on the subject. It is very hard to put down, and it will change you forever once you read it. I think it should be mandatory reading for students.

One of the problems of so many texts aimed at E.S.L. students is that they use only material from the country of publication. This book draws on so many diverse sources for its passages, including some from the countries of origin of many of those students. What could be better? Although many of the passages are just parts of the overall work (e.g., not all of a Shakespearean play), they are wonderful selections showing a great diversity of literature. Bravo to McRae and Vethamani for coming up with such a brilliant idea (in the British sense of brilliant) and producing this most interesting book.

A must read for students of ELT. Provides great hints and techniques for teaching of literature. A major difference from other books and definately a plus point is the extensive use of Asian literature in the book.

it is exactly what the title denotes and , what's more important, surely the best around (Believe me I have really searched). Everything that you need to know is here and tons more. Most of the times an 'entry' is accompanied by not one but TWO different examples so that the meaning be clear. The only thing I would have also liked to see would be description of the slang terms using the phonetic alphabet so that one gets the correct pronunciation as well -only for the equivocal slang words really.

This is one of the best slang dictonaries you will need when traveling to the UK. The way it gives you examples of the word being used is very helpful. Everyone should buy this book even if they are not traveling to the UK.

This book is one of the best sports reference books ever written. Byron Butler has assembled a season-by-season analysis of the Football Association Challenge Cup, dating right from the start(1871). Every final(and replay) gets covered with team-listings, attendance figures, photographs, and statistics. There are also lots of photogarphs and advertisements from down the years, lots of interesting related material(info on star playes, the men who founded the competition, the giant killers etc. etc.) This, added to the fact that Mr Butler is obviously a devout fan, passionate about the game, make this a must buy for any fan of football("soccer" to Americams).

This book is one of the best sports reference books ever written. Byron Butler has assembled a season-by-season analysis of the Football Association Challenge Cup, dating right from the start(1871). Every final(and replay) gets covered with team-listings, attendance figures, photographs, and statistics. There are also lots of photogarphs and advertisements from down the years, lots of interesting related material(info on star playes, the men who founded the competition, the giant killers etc. etc.) This, added to the fact that Mr Butler is obviously a devout fan, passionate about the game, make this a must buy for any fan of football("soccer" to Americams).

A.L.F. Schaumann's "On the Road with Wellington" is a delightful memoir of his service as a deputy assistant commissary officer during the Peninsular War. Schaumann's duties as a civilian supply officer for various units took him everywhere the Anglo-Portuguese Army went on campaign during the period 1808-1812. As a non-combatant, Schaumann's story focuses on the mundane tasks required to keep an army quartered and fed, but his eye for detail captures vignettes of the soldiers and civilians with whom he dealt. His gift for narrative provides the reader with a strong of sense of what it was like to be on campaign in that era. His account of the retreat of the British Army under Sir John Moore to Corunna under horrendous conditions in the winter of 1808-1809 is particularly vivid (and heartbreaking).

This is not a battlefield account, although Schaumann was close enough to the fighting to pass on some accounts of battles. Nor is this in any sense a history of the Peninsular War. Strategy and politics are played out well above Schaumann's head, and even Wellington is glimpsed only in passing. The average reader will sometimes be dependent on the footnotes to understand what is happening in the larger war. What Schaumann does provide is the human level detail that makes such a distant conflict real for the modern reader. It is no wonder that writers such as Bernard Cornwell of the Sharps series happily mined Schaumann's memoir for material. Cornwell provides an introduction to complement the translater's preface and the author's own introduction, all well worth reading for the context of Schaumann's story.

This book is highly recommended to students of the Peninsular War. It may also be of interest to the casual reader with some background in the Napoleonic Wars.

Greenhill Books has done students of the Peninsular War a great favor with this addition to their Napoleonic Library. August Schaumann, a 30-year old Hanoverian served as a commissary for the King's German Legion, paints an incredible picture of Britain's war in Iberia while maintaining a running travelog with wry humor and succint observations. Whether describing the horrendous retreat to Corunna, his cook (the Witch of Endor), the small kissable feet of a young lady, or the peculiarities of the English, French, Spainish and Portugese his insightful pen entertains and educates without stopping. His small book will make you roar with laughter and sigh sadly at man's inhumanity to man.

Orwell's life was not very mysterious. He left ample traces in his early novels, his essays, journalism and published letters. Still, if you want it as a coherent story instead of a jigsaw puzzle, this book is the place to go. And you get some surprises into the bargain.
Like: I had not realized that what Eric's father did as a professional in the India colonial service throughout his life was the most obnoxious work that he could possibly have done: he was a minor official in the opium authority, which was in charge of maintaining the official opium cultivation and exportation to China.
That, combined with Eric's own 5 years as a policeman in Burma must have put a heavy load of guilt on the young man's mind and conditioned him towards his urge for self-destructiveness that led him to live as a bum and to volunteer for a civil war. Shelden writes that Blair/Orwell had a deep sense of inadequacy throughout his life. Sounds about right.
As an admirer of Orwell's prose, I found the tales of Blair's poetic struggles in young life quite enlightening. Orwell was a man who loved the sound of words. Much of his criticism was about poetry. May that be the foundation for the clarity and simplicity of his writing?
A nice little anecdote (not that many of them in the book): Shelden says Blair was always an aggressive critic, as demonstrated by his habit of using disliked books for target practice as a police officer in Burma.
This bio is the 3rd attempt to write a complete one (i.e. other than the ex-girlfriend's or younger sister's partial view). The first one was seriously hampered by Sonia's refusal to cooperate and even to let the authors (Stansky/Abrahams) quote Orwell's work. The second one (Crick) was 'official', i.e. approved by Sonia, but then it displeased her strongly. Shelden's was written after Sonia's death and with approval by the literary executor.
I am not sure it is the last word, it came out in 91, but it is not a waste of time.

Professor Shelden's biography of Orwell is outstanding and well-researched. Prof. Shelden provides the important details of the molding of Eric Blair- boyhood, school, service in Burma for the Empire- and explains how each experience influenced young Blair yet he doesn't try to feed the reader psychobabble hogwash. Orwell's fitful rise as a writer is especially interesting. Prof. Shelden explains Orwell's various ideological wars and paints a portrait of a non-doctrinaire, humanist socialist who was a more astute critic of Stalinism or ideological socialism than anyone to his right. What I found refreshing about Prof. Shelden's account is that the reader finishes the bio without really knowing the writer's own politics. He allows Orwell to speak for himself.

I am frequently called upon by community groups to give a talk on the British royal family, given that I have worked in parliament, studied history in London, and have met several of the royals. This is rare among persons in midwestern America. Fortunately, there is no lack of material, and my talks are never the same.

One of my sources for interesting side notes and comic relief for these talks is 'The Oxford Book of Royal Anecdotes', edited by Lady Elizabeth Longford. Had there been tabloids throughout history many of these stories might have featured prominently (albeit probably with the occasional alien thrown in for good measure of sensationalism).

Longford does not commit the sin of most historians of the royals of beginning with William the Conqueror--there was a Britain before 1066. She includes Celts, Danes, and Saxons. Alas, she does not include Scots or others explicitly after 1066, but their stories are woven into the stories.

Longford's sources include histories, biographies, poems, newspaper accounts, diaries, and personal correspondence in library and museum collections. Many anecdotes are pulled from other histories--those bits that are neglected because the substance of the weightier matters overpowers them. Thus, this collection helps the hidden jewels to shine.

One example of Longford's treatment would be in recounting the shifting image over time of the reign and fate of Edward II. She gives brief details of biographers from 1313 (during his reign), 1327 (the year of his deposition), a seventeenth century biographer, and a modern biographer. In this we see that while the verdict of history holds sway, it needn't stay constant. Today's hero becomes tomorrow's villain, and yet later tragic character.

Here one can also see various bits about John Brown, friend and servant and supposed lover (even, some speculated, husband) of Victoria--their relationship is presented from many sides, and Longford resists jumping to conclusions herself.

From her epilogue, Longford states: 'This has been the story of many dynasties and one royal line. That line goes back a thousand years, yet it has shown infinite variety rather than recognisable family traits. Indeed it seems to cover the whole human spectrum, though in heightened or exaggerated form because of the royal ambiance.... The hushed abdication broadcast from Windsor Castle has replaced the crunch of the axe on Tower Green. Even anthologists can have no regrets.'

If you've ever had a hankerin' for knowledge, trivia or just an insight into the kings and queens of England, this is the source. Dame Longford has provided historical and contemporary references, sotries and tales of the British royals from Boudiccea, the Warrior Queen to Alfred the Great, from Aethelred to Victoria to Elizabeth II. the Book opens with a detailed genology, including the Saxons and Danes, Normans, Plantagenets, Yorks, Lancastrians,Tudors, Saxe-Coburg-Gothas and Windsors. Each dated entry