Ireland Books

During the time of slaughter in the trenches of World War I, all participating countries reached out to the older and younder to provide the manpower they needed. This book started out as part of the oral history being compiled by historian Van Emden. He found that the people still alive to interview were getting younger and younger at the time they served. Many were fifteen or sixteen when they were on the front line, some were as young as thirteen. Perhaps a quarter of a million men were underage when they served in the Army.

This was a time when birth certificates, indeed any identity papers at all were not needed to enlist. It continues the tradition of earlier wars, Waterloo, the American Civil War where the recruiting people were so desparate for men that they took any they could find. And it reminds one of the pictures of Hitler and the young soldiers he met during the end of World War II.

These young soldiers did not do badly. Many received awards for heroic deads. Some became officers. When captured by the Germans, the 'Boy Soldiers' were segregated and sent to school.

This book presents a side to World War I that hasn't been seen before.

Boy Soldiers of the Great War is how history ought to be written. It's a riveting, deeply moving account of the tens of thousands of boys and young men who not only served their country, but, as van Emden shows, quite probably saved it.

van Emden has done his homework and it shows on every page. While other oral histories simply collect and present first-person accounts, van Emden has discovered many previously untold stories, then puts them in social, political, personal and historical context.

Once started, the book won't be put down. Once finished, it won't be forgotten.

If you want to know the real story behind the history of chimney sweeps, this is the book to read. The author did excellent research on the subject. It should be of interest to anyone in the chimney sweeping profession or the history of any labor force.

Interesting, well-written account of what life was like as a chimney sweep and climbing boy before modern times. Ms. Cullingford brings out little-known facts about the trade, making this book an interesting read for both chimney sweeps and the general public. I highly recommend it!

This book serves as an overview of the historiography of the British Empire. It is not a history of the empire by any stretch and really looks at the motives for expansion and shows what other historians are debating on the subject. There is a distinct justification of Marxism throughout the book although they treat it relatively fairly and do point out when Marxist theory does not apply such as Africa. The book does expose the theory that a gentleman class of capitalists was in charge of British expansion and was well placed within the government and financial sectors to control expansion during this time period. Hughes and Cain try to show how this class rose to prominence and then fell with the rest of the empire in the post world war II era through the sterling zone. The majority of the book focuses on the years from 1688-1939. There is only really one chapter on the post 1939 world although what is said about it is very interesting.

Overall this is not a book that you want to start with if you are just learning about British Empire. I would recommend either Dennis Judd's book on Empire or the Oxford history five volume history of the British Empire. Once you have a good grasp on the history of the British Empire this is an excellent book to summarize that knowledge and understand the historical debates affecting the historiography of empire today. The authors are truly the top in their field when considering the theories of empire and this book is a landmark not only in the study of the British empire but empires as a whole.

Great historians of British imperialism have tended to come in pairs for the last half-century (Robinson and Gallagher being the other pair), and this is the magnum opus for Cain and Hopkins. In many ways this book is an historiographical response to Robinson and Gallagher, and it is rich in themes adapted both from Robinson and Gallagher, as well as from earlier imperial commentators such as Marx, Hobson, and Lenin.

It argues, amongst other things, that the primary motivator of British overseas expansion were the "gentlemanly interests" emanating from the metropole. That is, interests in the financial and the service sector, non-working incomes that were the natural extension of the British aristocracy of yesteryear. Robinson and Gallagher's ideas may hold true in many cases, but this work is indispensable for demonstrating that perhaps underlying all the strategic interests were economic interests of the most powerful variety - aristocratic businessmen that held sway at Westminster. The connections between gentlemanly capitalists and government officials ran deep, they argue; everything from their common public school upbringing, to powerful amalgamations of finance and government.

This book also includes a detailed discussion of informal empire, yet it considerably modifies Robinson and Gallagher's thesis by ascribing both formal and informal imperialism to the interests of the City (that is, financial and service sector interests). In other words, both formal and informal empire found their impetus in the City's financial interests. This otherwise Hobsonian (J.A. Hobson, "Imperialism: A Study") thesis therefore modifies the economically-based theories of both Hobson himself, as well as Marxist historians, by emphasizing financial and service sector interests, rather than being preoccupied with industrial interests. Industrial interests, according to Cain and Hopkins, were not connected with London policy-makers, and were not sufficiently wealthy and integrated to have any considerable effect on official policy.

First published in 1993, and having been re-issued in one volume in 2001, this book has sparked fresh debate on British imperialism, as well as shed light on the issue of globalization in the twenty-first century.

Because of the popularity of Pirates of the Caribbean, many books about pirates have been published in the past few years. Most are light-weight works.

The Buccaneer's Realm is Berenson Little's second "backgrounder" about pirates. This former US Navy SEAL officer wants the reader to understand the world that the pirate lived in. This is not the easiest book to read because of the myriad of detail the author presents, but the "ordeal" is well worth the effort

This is one of several excellent books I've read recently about pirates.
My interest was originally sparked in 1995 with David Cordingly's "Under the Black Flag" because this book pictured the privateers/pirates as sea-going guerrillas.

Beside "The Republic of Pirates", the following are worth reading:
Peter Earle Pirate Wars
The Sack of Panama
Stephan Talty Empire of Blue Water
Benerson Little The Sea Rover's Practice
Richard Zacks The Pirate Coast
Frederick C. Leiner End of the Barbary Terror
Colin Woodard The Republic of Pirates
Together these works cover piracy from the late 16th to the early 19th Century.

In 1674 it's three years since Henry Morgan's pirates sacked Panama and peace is spreading - but buccaneers are set to seize opportunity from a failing Spanish Empire and Spain itself produces pirates which will lead to new challenges. Any college-level collection strong in marine history will appreciate this new in-depth focus on pirate culture and history, considering their deeds, the Spanish Main's world and sentiments, and pirate life as a whole. It's a lively survey recommended for any in-depth marine history collection - and many a general college-level world history holding.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

John D. Bell provides perhaps the best account of the history of the Bulgarian Communist Party available in English. Together with Richard Crampton's history of Bulgaria, it is also the best scholarly source of more general Bulgarian history in the 20th century. A must for anyone studying Bulgaria. The book uses interviews of dissidents who fled Bulgaria during the years of communist domination to supplement available archival sources. The result is a magnificently documented narrative that brings to light some controversial and unclear episodes in the history of Bulgarian communism. The book demonstrates, for example, that Zhivkov's power was not unchallenged and that internal dissent, even if it came from the Party or the armed forces, existed even here, in the country widely considered to have been the closest Soviet ally and follower. The book also demonstrates the reciprocity of alliance politics within the Soviet bloc. Challenging the existing convention, John Bell demonstrates that relations within the Warsaw pact were not unidirectional. The Soviet Union responded to various interests of the Bulgarian leadership and often helped their advancement. In addition, the book is thoroughly readable and, provides impartial insight into the almost century-old history of the Bulgarian labor movement and its political organizations.

John D. Bell provides perhaps the best account of the history of the Bulgarian Communist Party available in English. Together with Richard Crampton's history of Bulgaria, it is also the best scholarly source of more general Bulgarian history in the 20th century. A must for anyone studying Bulgaria. The book uses interviews of dissidents who fled Bulgaria during the years of communist domination to supplement available archival sources. The result is a magnificently documented narrative that brings to light some controversial and unclear episodes in the history of Bulgarian communism. The book demonstrates, for example, that Zhivkov's power was not unchallenged and that internal dissent, even if it came from the Party or the armed forces, existed even here, in the country widely considered to have been the closest Soviet ally and follower. The book also demonstrates the reciprocity of alliance politics within the Soviet bloc. Challenging the existing convention, John Bell demonstrates that relations within the Warsaw pact were not unidirectional. The Soviet Union responded to various interests of the Bulgarian leadership and often helped their advancement. In addition, the book is thoroughly readable and, provides impartial insight into the almost century-old history of the Bulgarian labor movement and its political organizations.

Readers must realize that this is not your modern day John Grisham, Danielle Steele novel. It is a very interesting life story of a good man who was a gentleman even when his life circumstances were poor. It is told through the eyes of Phineas Fletcher, his friend. I cannot wait to read it again to catch things I missed the first time. Exceptional editing by Dr. Lynn Alexander makes it that much better.

This is a classic from the 1800's. At one time it was as widely read as Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin". It is a thoroughly captivating book!

Wonderful British historian Steven Runciman herein chronicles the terribly important saga of the Byzantine Theocracy, from its foundation by Constantine, until its tragic fall, over 1,100 years later. As Runciman so clearly and insightfully illustrates, the theory of the Byzantine, or later Roman, Empire was that it was the Kingdom of God on Earth. With this lofty concept in mind, we see the various human machinations of the many interesting players in Byzantine history in the context of their membership in the Mystical Body of Christ, His Holy Church. We have read no more important treatise on Christian government to date.

In historical context, the Byzantine theory of government is of crucial importance. For it was this theory that was inherited by Holy Russia. It is in this context, that Moscow was known as the Third Rome, after the original Rome, the first city of the Church, and the second Rome, Constantinople, which fell in 1453. When Constantinople fell, Moscow became the leading city of Orthodoxy, a role in which she served until her fall to the Bolshevik butchers in 1917. And we wait anxiously to see if Moscow, the Third Rome, can emulate her predecessor, Constantinople, and rise again. On this question turns much of the story of Civilization yet to come.

We strongly recommend Sir Steven Runciman's very important work. He writes beautifully, and with a proper sense of justice.

In his book "The Byzantine Theocracy" is an excellent survey of the relationship between Emperors and the Church hierarchy throughout Byzantium's 1,100 year old history. This book is in fact a collection of six separate lectures given by Runciman given at the Weil Institute in Cincinnati. The six chapters in the book chronologically map the evolution of Byzantine political thought, from the Constantine I and the era of Christological controversies, through the Iconoclastic controversy, Schism with the West, and the Byzantine Empire's decline and eventual collapse in 1453.

Runciman's main argument is that an unwritten Byzantine constitution, formulated by the fourth century Bishop Eusebius, regarded the Emperor as God's Viceroy on earth. Runciman's view is that throughout the Empire's history, Byzantines following this understanding of divine kingship jealously struggled to maintain the dignity of the Imperial office in the face of abuse, incompetence and challenges from ecclesiastical authorities.

"The Byzantine Theocracy" is also a rather pleasant history of Church history from the 4th through 15th century, demonstrating many of Byzantium's splendid contributions to Christian history. Byzantine emperors were very much involved in virtually all of the ecumenical councils that took place during this era. As well, the complicated history of the relationship between the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, the Pope and the other eastern Patriarchs is intertwined with Byzantine political history.

This is a fascinating book and an essential read for anyone interested in Byzantine history, Church history, applied politics or anyone curious how a state that lasted more than a millennium governed itself.

Paul Stephenson reached several conclusions that are really revolutionary for the study of the Byzantine administration in the Balkan provinces. The increasing interest for the Balkan history (not only for the modern times) denotes the need to understand the roots of the present conflicts. Stephenson's book explains how and why the disintegration of the Byzantine administration and the emergence of the ethnic states in the Balkans were possible. His main idea is that "Byzantine authority was almost always exercised through existing local power structures". Can we consider these surviving local structures to be a cause of the future Balkan separatism, even if they were not always the expression of "national" solidarities ? We think so, because also the Ottoman administration preserved and used in its interest the power of some Albanian, Serbian and Bosniac local potentates, after their conversion to Islam and even before. Stephenson has payed a special attention to the significance of the frontier as an ideological limit between the civilized world and the barbarians. He also introduces a new concept: the internal frontiers of the territories mastered by the local authochtonous rulers by whom the Byzantine administration was exerted. The book brings valuable arguments for the new interpretation of the 11th century supported by P. Lemerle and more recently by M. Angold against Ostrogorsky's old viewpoint. Stephenson shows that the shift to `civilian' government was not a decline, because "the Byzantine economy was growing rapidly" and that the defence policy based on warfare was replaced with a more adecquate policy based on trade and gifts for the barbarians ("traiding, not raiding"). He considers that Basil II left a poisoned legacy: a too large and expensive army, and that his `civilian' successors tried to transform the general strategy after the hard Pecheneg inroads of 1036, when became obvious that a classical limes is not useful. Unlike many works of Byzantine political history, this book gives much attention to the rich archaeological and numismatic evidence, carefully used in order to supply the scarcity of the literary sources. Some points are disputable or even wrong, but, generally speaking, the use of archaeology led him to important conclusions I consider that the most important Stephenson's contributions concern the history of the Paradunavon province (in northern Bulgaria and Dobrudja) and the Byzantine-Hungarian relations in the 12th century. Other subjects dealt in are: the Byzantine conquest of Bulgaria, the restoration of this state after the rebellion led by the Vlach rulers Peter and Asan in the form of a Romanian-Bulgarian state, the small Slavic principalities in the Serbian lands. Albeit a high-scientific work, this book can easily be read by any people interested in the medieval history. We can be sure that this book will be considered a major contribution to the history of the South-Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages.

Dr. Alexandru Madgearu

Paul Stephenson reached several conclusions that are really revolutionary for the study of the Byzantine administration in the Balkan provinces. The increasing interest for the Balkan history (not only for the modern times) denotes the need to understand the roots of the present conflicts. Stephenson's book explains how and why the disintegration of the Byzantine administration and the emergence of the ethnic states in the Balkans were possible. His main idea is that "Byzantine authority was almost always exercised through existing local power structures". Can we consider these surviving local structures to be a cause of the future Balkan separatism, even if they were not always the expression of "national" solidarities ? We think so, because also the Ottoman administration preserved and used in its interest the power of some Albanian, Serbian and Bosniac local potentates, after their conversion to Islam and even before. Stephenson has payed a special attention to the significance of the frontier as an ideological limit between the civilized world and the barbarians. He also introduces a new concept: the internal frontiers of the territories mastered by the local authochtonous rulers by whom the Byzantine administration was exerted. The book brings valuable arguments for the new interpretation of the 11th century supported by P. Lemerle and more recently by M. Angold against Ostrogorsky's old viewpoint. Stephenson shows that the shift to `civilian' government was not a decline, because "the Byzantine economy was growing rapidly" and that the defence policy based on warfare was replaced with a more adecquate policy based on trade and gifts for the barbarians ("traiding, not raiding"). He considers that Basil II left a poisoned legacy: a too large and expensive army, and that his `civilian' successors tried to transform the general strategy after the hard Pecheneg inroads of 1036, when became obvious that a classical limes is not useful. Unlike many works of Byzantine political history, this book gives much attention to the rich archaeological and numismatic evidence, carefully used in order to supply the scarcity of the literary sources. Some points are disputable or even wrong, but, generally speaking, the use of archaeology led him to important conclusions I consider that the most important Stephenson's contributions concern the history of the Paradunavon province (in northern Bulgaria and Dobrudja) and the Byzantine-Hungarian relations in the 12th century. Other subjects dealt in are: the Byzantine conquest of Bulgaria, the restoration of this state after the rebellion led by the Vlach rulers Peter and Asan in the form of a Romanian-Bulgarian state, the small Slavic principalities in the Serbian lands. Albeit a high-scientific work, this book can easily be read by any people interested in the medieval history. We can be sure that this book will be considered a major contribution to the history of the South-Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages....END

If you have an interest in the Carolingians, Dutton's book is a 'must have' resource. Many entries are otherwise unavailable or very hard to find in English.

The best way to judge the value of this book is by it's contents:

CHAPTER ONE: THE TIME OF PEPIN THE SHORT
1. A List of Superstitions and Pagan Practices
2. The Correspondence of Boniface, Missionary and Martyr
3. The Coronation of Pepin the Short
4. The Reanointing of Pepin in 754
5. The Donation of Constantine
CHAPTER TWO: THE TIME OF CHARLEMAGNE
6. Pope Stephen Scolds Charlemagne and Carloman
7. Einhard's Life of Charlemagne
8. Pepin's Victory over the Avars
9. Epitaphs and Eulogies
10. The Equestrian Statue of Theoderic
11. The Lateran Palace of Pope Leo III
12. Charlemagne and Pope Leo
13. Capitularies
14. An Exhortation to the Faithful
15. The Iconodule Controversy in Francia
16. Theodulf and the Antique Vase
17. Six Short Poems by Theodulf
18. Theodulf of Orleans: Precepts for the Priests of his Diocese
19. Letters of Alcuin
20. Five Poems of Alcuin
21. Alcuin's Dialogue with Young Prince Pepin
22. Charlemagne's Division of his Kingdoms
23. The Diet of Aachen in 813
CHAPTER THREE: THE TIME OF LOUIS THE PIOUS
24. Lament on Charlemagne's Death
25. Thegan's Life of Louis
26. Benedict of Aniane: His Life and Times
27. The Ordinatio Imperii of 817
28. The Vision of the Poor Woman of Laon
29. Louis's Public Penance in 822
30. The Polyptyque of Saint-Germain-des-Pres
31. Agobard of Lyons and the Popular Belief in Weather Magic
32. Of Bread and Provisions 33. A Royal judgment of Pepin in 828
34. Einhard and His Holy Relics: The Translatio
35. Claudius of Turin's Complaint
36. The Penitential of Halitgar
37. Saint-Riquier (Centula): Its Precious Goods
38. The Emperor Louis's Palace at Ingelheim
39. The Astronomer's Account of the Rebellions
40. Paschasius Radbertus's Defense of Wala
41. The Letters of Einhard
42. Rudolf of Fulda, The Life of Saint Leoba
43. The Final Days and Death of Louis the Pious
CHAPTER FOUR: THE TIME OF THE CIVIL WAR
44. Nithard's History
45. Engelbert at the Battle of Fontenoy
46. The Treaty of Verdun, 843
47. Dhuoda's Advice to Her Son
48. Walahfrid Strabo's Little Garden
CHAPTER FIVE: THE TIME OF THE THREE KINGS AND THEIR SONS
49. The Annals of Xanten for the Years 844 to 862
50. Gottschalk and the Predestination Controversy
51. The Epitaphs of Ermengard and Lothar
52. Sedulius Scottus, On Christian Rulers
53. Lothar II's Divorce
54. Otfrid of Weissenburg on Old High German
55. The Vision of Charlemagne
56. Letters of Lupus of Ferrieres
57. The Wandering Monks of Saint-Philibert
58. A Judicial Dispute in the Loire Valley
59. A Charter of Immunity from Charles the Bald
60. Saint Remi's Protection of People and Property
61. The Coronation of Charles the Bald as King of Lotharingia
62. Eriugena's Periphyseon: the Beginning and End
63. Eriugena's Homily
64. Wulfadus's Library
65. Wulfadus Goes to Court
66. Charles the Bald Grants a Benefice
67. The Capitulary of Quierzy, 877
68. The Death of Charles the Bald
CHAPTER SIX: THE TIME OF CHARLES THE FAT
69. The Annals of Saint-Vaast for the Years 882 to 886
70. The Song of Louis: Ludwigslied
71. Abbo's Account of the Siege of Paris by the Northmen
72. Hincmar of Rheims, On the Governance of the Palace
73. Notker the Stammerer Addresses Charles the Fat
74. The Saxon Poet's Thoughts on Charlemagne
75. The Vision of Charles the Fat
76. Last Thoughts
Index of Topics

Competently translated, entertaining, enlightening, and well-selected. If you want a real feel for medieval French society, go back to the source; this book is a wonderful and affordable way to sample a wide variety of contemporary historians (and get your share of scurrilous stories in the meantime).

I met Dr. Coulson at the parish church in Nonington several weeks ago and have since had one of the staff at the Center for Kentish Studies recommend his book so I'm really looking forward to getting it. Coulson is history staff at the University of Kent. The recommendation I received was based on his attention to daily life and the social implications of what we might call "Castle culture" in the localities. We will see......I will post again after the book arrives.

Coulson seeks to revise the understanding of castles as basically military structures to an understanding of them as images of the primary factors and the complexity of European society in the time from the fall of Rome to the late Middle Ages. This society was basically hierarchical and aristocratic. Today's conventional conception of a castle as more or less a fortification is a largely romantic notion bearing little relation to the true place of castles in medieval society. In medieval Europe, towns, ecclesiastical areas, estates and mansions, and even temporary earthworks of a traveling army were regarded as castles. The word "fortalicium" originally used for "castle" meant "element" or "sign" of fortification more than strictly a military fortification. In the medieval society, this was understood to mean above all "a symbolism of aristocratic armed power." As symbols of this power, castles were also social centers where most of the interaction of the different social classes took place. As Coulson remarks, there is no military history associated with most castles. In his revision of the conception of castles, the author elaborates on the presence of high-rankng women in many of them. Coulson is a research fellow at England's U. of Kent. He does not undercut the significance of castles in medieval society; rather, he shifts the understanding of what their significance was.