United Kingdom Books

When reviewing another title about the history of the Royal Navy I said, and quite rightly so, you needed far more than 279 pages for such a long history. In this book, Michael Carver has included everything, and I do mean "everything," that happened to the British Army during the 20th Century. There are no shortcuts or brief overviews here.

Michael Carver was 24 years old at the beginning of World War Two and by the time it was over he was commanding a Brigade - and was not yet 30. By the time he was 60 he had already commanded the entire British Army and was now in charge of all British armed forces in the rank of Field Marshall (the equivalent of a 5 star general). Since his retirement from the army, he has written 12 books and edited even more.

There is, therefore, no better person to tell the story of the British Army during the 20th Century if only because Michael Carver lived most of it through a succession of conflicts and a succession of ranks - some of which had to be earned all over again as wartime ranks were reduced after hostilities had ended. For a period of 27 years during that same time I also wore a British Army uniform and was surprised to discover the detail produced in this book on matters which were well known to me. I also learned a great deal about why certain events occurred which had a direct bearing on myself and my colleagues at the time in question.

In a work which includes all military, domestic and political events and decisions affecting the British Army for a period of 100 years, this book is the definitive work on the subject and I commend it to anyone with an interest.

NM

"The history of Britain is enshrined in its buildings," the Introduction says, and the author (who has done several BBC series) makes his point by examining in detail eight structures from different eras in the nation's history, beginning with the 12th century Durham Cathedral. The other buildings discussed and pictured include Windsor Castle, Holyroodhouse, Blenheim Palace, Cardiff Castle, the Grand Hotel at St. Pancras Station, and Tower Bridge, all of which have obvious iconic status, . . . so why wrap up the volume with Highpoint One, a modernist apartment building from the 1930s, which probably no one has ever heard of? (Or maybe that's his point.) I've rubbernecked in and around most of these buildings over the years (never been to Scotland, though), and I have my own favorites: St. Pancras is delightful in its Victorian-industrial, take-no-prisoners, brick-and-iron lushness, and Durham Cathedral's soaring Gothic spacees get right into my bones. On the other hand, Blenheim has to be one of the ugliest palaces ever conceived -- an object lesson in what happens when you're spending Other People's Money. An absorbing, well-written book.

The Opium War was a tragedy with overtones of farce, two civilized nations fighting a war over opium. It was also a major turning point in the reltions between the West and East Asia.

While there are several reasonably good books about the war itself, none of them make much sense about how it all came about. This book fills much of the gap, and fills it exceptionally well. Melancon provides a compact but comprehensive account of the development of British cabinet policy (and on-the-spot ad hoc policy-making by British officials in the Far East) leading up to the Opium War in the context both of domestic politics and Britain's world-wide foreign interests, integrating sources I have not seen used in other treatments of this crucial incident. Moreover, he explains the background very clearly so that his study should be accessible to those without much knowledge of British politics or policy. In addition to illuminating a pivotal event in world history the book represents an example of diplomatic history at its best.

This book is an excellent companion to "Queen Victoria's Little Wars". There is some time overlap, and a bit of repetition in the wars, but mostly this book (a compilation of three works by the same author) covers the really unknown battles and wars. Some of them were very brief, some took many years, but all of them were savage and bloody. The British looked for almost any excuse to impose their hegemony on a distant country inhabited by what they considered inferior peoples. Some of their opponents, however, were fairly adept at fighting, and it cost the Empire dearly in men and money to subdue them. My one quibble with this excellent book is the total lack of maps, which really would have helped in areas that are completely unfamiliar to the average reader.

I got this when I went to England for the first time. You can pick one up at any souvenir shop around London. Perfect for those who want a breif introduction and synopsis about the English monarchs. It's light, cheap and can be bended to fit in your jacket pocket. I found it essential when going into castles and museums as a quick reference guide and took it with me on subsequent trips. Well worth getting.

An endorsement on the back of the book by Michael Freeman of the Ceredigion Museum in Wales best describes the work. He wrote: "This well-researched book deals with all aspects of the castle in Britain. The author knows her subject well and writes lucidly about more than just the structures: she places them in their socio-political and historical contexts which casts a fresh light on their complex histories over several centuries."
It is not a coffee table book, but a well written book that is enjoyable to read and covers the subject of British castles well. The text provides a description of these medieval structures that includes background material and how the castles evolved through and even after the Medieval Period. The author provides the type of detail expected for a book on castles and sieges, but her skillful mix of British history makes this all so much better than what is found in similar works.
Even some of the aspects that are usually ignored because they are not truly about castles are described in detail because they play an important part in the human imagination. One that I found quite interesting was the author's description of how some castles, although not built for that purpose, were used as prisons and some of the famous personalities involved, although much of this happened after the medieval period. A description is included of the oubliette and its use. This is one of those mysterious features few castles had for isolating prisoners from the world. It was basically a windowless pit- like feature (bottle shaped) where entrance and exit was only possible by rope or ladder. Other items covered that are of interest include the "Sham" castles built after the medieval period as imitations of the real thing.
If there are any problems with this work it may only be said that the publisher opted not to include any plans or maps, but they did include many interesting photos. When this book is done in paperback we can only hope that plans and maps will be added by the publisher to truly make this a classic work. For now the reader can probably find a decent map of the location of castles on the internet and also plans of the ones covered. If you are interested in castles in the British Isles, or castles in general, this excellent book is a must!

Repeatedly in the twentieth century, Britain has been involved in the Middle East greater than any other external power. In his "Britain's War in the Middle East, Strategy and Diplomacy 1936-42", Martin Kolinsky focuses on the whole major issues of the period, presenting for each an illuminating analysis and his research in depth. The issues include:

- British Strategic Policy, 1936-38, - Political Uncertainties in Egypt during the Interwar Period, - Palestine 1936-38: the Reshaping of British Policy, - The Policy of Appeasement : the White Paper on Palestine and Jewish Refugees, - British Strategic Policy, 1939-June 1940, - Defence Issues in Egypt and Palestine, 1939-40, - British Strategic Policy, July 1940-June 1941, - British Intervention in Egyptian Politics, - Wartime Policy towards Palestine,

Britain's War in the Middle East allows the reader to see the making of British foreign policy and to understand it as a process that was shaped by interactions with the countries of the region before and during the first years of the Second World War. As Martin Kolinsky explained in his masterful study of British strategy and diplomacy, in this period, Britain was caught between the contingencies of global warfare and growing nationalist pressures in the Middle East. Indeed, the dominance which Britain established in the Middle East after the great war was seriously challenged during the years 1936-42. In those crucial seven years, Britain's position was confronted by a formidable combination of internal and external threats, arising from new currents of Arab nationalism and from Axis pressures and military operations. The use of a rich collection of original documents and Kolinsky's inspired scholarship makes this book indispensable for historians, researchers and students. It builds and draws on the author's earlier works on both before and after the period in concern ("Britain and the Middle East in the 1930s" and "Demise of the British Empire in the Middle East 1943-55" [co-editor with Michael J. Cohen in these books] and "Law, Order and Riots in Mandatory Palestine, 1928-35") and adds new information to this extraordinarily complex subject.

Stoker's work on inter-war Baltic Navies, and their relationship with the great powers is not only a first in English, but also very good. He provides a great deal of information on Polish, Latvian, Estonian, Finnish, efforts to produce naval power, at least capable of fending off the Soviets in the 1920s-30s. This book also covers the machinations of British and French arms dealers, who often pushed substandard, shoddy, or just plain peculiar weapons into the Baltic market. Based on research in many countries, this would be an excellent addition on the shelf of a naval, diplomatic, military, or Baltic historian.

Britain, France, And The Financing Of The First World War is a scholarly study by Martin Horn (Associate Professor in the Department of History, McMaster University) of the flow of money during the First World War. Professor McMaster demonstrates how the financial ability to arm and feed vast armies was crucial to the Allied victory, and that Britain and France fought not only to win and survive, but to bolster and preserve financial strength on an international scale. A meticulously researched and persuasively presented study, Britain, France, And The Financing Of The First World War is a seminal study and a welcome addition to academic library collections.

In this original book, Mark Baimbridge, of the University of Bradford, and Philip Whyman, of the University of Central Lancashire, study the economic relationship between Britain and the EU. Part 1 includes a cost-benefit analysis of our EU membership, beyond anything that any government has ever dared to do. Parts 2 and 3 examine Economic and Monetary Union in theory and practice. Part 4 explores alternative futures for Britain, including an independent Britain, with alternative economic policies to promote our national economic development.

Their cost-benefit analysis concludes, "EU membership and the momentum towards deeper political and economic integration have consistently undermined UK national interests." From 1973 to 2000, our total cumulated trade deficit with the EU was £90.6 billion, while our trade with the rest of the world was £70.9 billion in surplus. This widening trade gap cost us more than a million manufacturing jobs. The Common Agricultural Policy raises the average family's food bill by £36 a week. We also lose out on the Common Fisheries Policy and the EU budget.

The authors argue that EMU's effects on us would be `overwhelmingly negative'. The conditions for joining would undermine the economy, while burdening British taxpayers. They sum up, "Economic growth would be stymied, unemployment would rise dramatically and the disaster of UK participation in the ERM would be repeated, but this time there would be no easy escape!"

EU supporters say that any autonomy is impossible under globalisation, so that we may as well give up our sovereignty to the EU. But when we left the Exchange Rate Mechanism (the rehearsal for EMU) in 1992, we were able to devalue the pound by 20%, so the economy grew and unemployment fell.

Now, however, the growing integration of the EU threatens what autonomy we still have. The EU Constitution would bind us more tightly, imposing EMU on us whether we like it or not. The authors propose instead that we could choose, as an independent sovereign nation, the economic strategy that we want, so we could rebuild industry to serve the interests of the people, not the minority `political and business elites'.