British Isles Books

Impresses upon the reader just how metaphysical Homer writings were as well as a lovely exploration of the depth and beauty of the Celtic mysteries. A great book by a great English author.

Christian Wolmar is a respected journalist and author on transport matters. In this brilliant book he shows how and why privatising the railways was a disastrous failure. As he notes, It is now recognised that the limitations of British Rail were primarily due to low levels of government funding and investment in fact it delivered the most efficient railway system in Europe in return for the lowest public subsidy. The privatisation nationalised investment and risks while privatising the profits.

The whole ghastly tale of mismanagement, greed and incompetence that caused the Hatfield disaster was a result of the crazy structure for the railways created by John Major and his ministers, aided and abetted by civil servants and, worse, railway managers who should have known better. Hatfield was the epitome of the failings created by railway privatisation. It was also privatisations epitaph, given that Hatfield turned Railtrack from a profitable company into a financial wreck that had to be bailed out by the government.

Former Tory Minister David Willetts admitted in 2003 that rail privatisation had been a big mistake, in particular that the separation of track from operations had been ideologically driven and wrong. A Swiss researcher, Carlo Pfund, concluded, Separation has no benefits. The implementation of the separation philosophy of the EU is a fundamental error.

In opposition, Labour promised a publicly accountable, publicly owned railway. In power, Labour reneged. Annual subsidies to the train operators have risen, to £2 billion in 2003-4, though the government had said they would fall to £800 million by 2002-3.

Labour stopped the Strategic Rail Authority from publicising South East Trains success. As The Times reported, The SRA is under pressure from the Government not to publicise its success in operating the franchise. Ministers fear that they would face demands to renationalise all rail companies if it became widely known that SET was performing well in the public sector.

Wolmar shows how Labour by embracing capitalism made a bad situation worse, as with city academies, PFI/PPP in the NHS, and wars galore. He concludes, By focusing in detail on a particular case history, this book reveals much about the failure of our political system in preventing such disasters. Hopefully, it will help people stop the bastards next time.

Young Rose Webster has lived in the slums of London all of her life. But unlike many people, Rose wants more out of life and she knows that an education is the only to better herself. With the help of friends and the love of Bill she maybe able let that happen. But after years of remembering the past will Rose be albe to move on and will Bill be there with her?
"The Open Door" was the first book that I had read by Beryl Matthews and it was really great! Ms. Matthews gives the reader rich and real characters. I can't wait to read more by Ms. Matthews.

This is a fascinating study of a previously unexamined area of medieval history. It seeks with some success to reconcile our understanding of the relationship between the aspirational and idealistic world of chivalry with the pragmatic and at some times brutal world of medieval Europe. Focusing in particular on the order of the Garter during the later Middle Ages, it discusses how the politic functions of the order operated within a structure of ideals that embraced the highest aspirations of the chivalric ethos. All in all an inspired work of scholarship.

This book is so unique,I don't know how to describe it.Great stories,great pictures,great maps,like only the Brits can do it.We modern Americans have no idea how much smuggling was a part of our heritage in this country and the history of England.This book brings it all home.It's just so sad it is so rare and hard to find.It should be re-issued.Smuggling was the 17th,18th and 19th century version of fudging on those nice people at the IRS-or in the case of the UK-the sweethearts at Inland Revenue.

Dom Gregory Dix is perhaps the most influential liturgical historian of the 20th century. To quote the jacket, "The publication of the Shape of the Liturgy proved a watershed in English speaking liturgical writing. Whilst it was the culmination of the scholarship and spirituality of the Anglican monk-writer Dom Gregory Dix, it was only the best example of a wide and important output. Drawing on original correspondence and notebooks, Simon Bailey provides a balanced assessment of Dix the monk, scholar and pastor, and charts his involvement with the papist Anglo-Catholicism of the interwar years..."

If you have any interest in liturgical studies, this book will prove an fun footnote to one of the leaders in the field. Enjoy!
You may also find "God's Plagarist" a fun and educational biography of the shinanigans of the leading patristic publisher in the last century. Very odd.

Excellent summary of the overlooked history of the main off-shore islands. Fascinating details of an almost parallel universe to the mainland. Their geography often placed them in the way of power struggles taking place beyond their shores. Each island has its own peculiarities with shifting economies based on far-flung trading partners and changing demands. The book zips along, covering a lot of ground but has a terrific index for cross referencing place names and keeping track of the colorful characters that peopled the isles up to and including recent times.

Early Dickens has alays been my favorite, and John Bowen's book is an excellent companion to those wildly energetic first novels. The exciting and thought provoking chapter on Oliver Twist alone is worth the price of the book and will send you back to re-read the novel with a greater appreciation of Dickens' genius.

This book delves into the many outlaw characters of Medieval Britain, historical, semi-historical and those of so called myth that may have contributed to the Robin Hood legend. Hereward, Fulk Fitzwain, Eustace the Monk, William Wallace, and Gamelyn are all covered with at least one chapter dedicated to each. Outlaws of Medieval Legend also looks into the possibility of Robin Hood being a real living person, even if their reality differed from that of the Robin Hood Stories. Besides that it explores the sociological reasons that the Robin Hood and other British outlaw legends and historical figures were so popular during the middle ages and continue to be so to this day. I highly recomend this book to anyone with any sort of interest in the subject matter.

Personally I always liked to think of Robin Hood as a just and righteous Anglo Saxon Thegn that had lost everything after the Normans took over England in 1066 and was fighting a guerella war against the oppressive Normans. I also always liked the idea of Robin Hood being a heathen that would rob the corrupt greedy Christian church and political figures.

This is a fantastic collection of poetry from the British isles only poetry can describe. From Blake to Burns to Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley, Keats, Browning, Rossetti, Tennyson, Yeats, T. S. Eliot to W. H. Auden, the names goes on. All the famous poets from Blake onwards are included, some with a few poems, some with many. It really depends on each's influence and what the editor has picked.

This anthology is not so much a collection for study but rather for general reading or introduction to the various English poets, or for reference. Most of each poets' famous poems are included and it's impossible to list (for each person's preference is different). Still, if you've always wanted to read poems from the English poets, this one's a good start. The variety is astonishing, and it's really fascinating to see how each poet writes in what style.

Not to forget the 'lesser' poets though, there are some lesser known English poets with only one poem assigned to them but the editor picks them well. Like Oscar Wilde's 'Easter Day' for example, you may discover some surprises. It is simply one of the most comprehensive general English poetry collection from the Romantic period onwards. A great collection given that English poetry reached it's zenith during this period.