United Kingdom Books

[...] This five volume history of the victorian bourgeois follows a freudian schematic: the first volume dealt with love, the second with sex, and this volume with agression.

This book was my favorite of the three I've read so far. Gay picks apart the Victorian penchant for cloaked agression with admirable scholastic fortitude. His discussion of Foucault's theory of prisons is a high light for this entire five volume set.

His critique of what he calls the "social control" theorists is that they fail to take into account the ability of the powerful to delude themselves into thinking they are doing the right thing, even when they are most assuredly not.

Why stop here? Only two more volumes to go...

I'm surprised no one else has reviewed this book - I guess they're too busy trying to alter this trend. Garland's book represents an extremely solid, well-written and methodical approach to how and why the US rate and absolute number of imprisonment is the highest in the world.

Garland reached an understanding of how this trend happened, was this process:
1. A shift from `penal welfare' to `retributive' model...
2. Prompted by social and tech. changes.
3. Enabled by a shift to political conservatism.
4. Resulting in a marginalization of subgroups.
5. Who were blamed for the problems in society, as was the liberal penal welfare model.
6. This shift resulted from a desire for security, order and control missing following #2.
7. And led to a combination of `market and moral discipline' with more controls on the poor and fewer on everyone else.

He finds that the current system of mass incarceration does the following:
-Creates systematic social, economic and political exclusion by race (social marginality)
-Develops and supports criminal underclass through criminogenic nature of incarceration and parole/probation rules
-Understates unemployment rate by removing `unemployable' from society.
-Alters norms and values of communities across generations.
-Creates a gulag system of economy, where prisoners are increasingly perform work for government and private business without pay.

That's a very brief summary, I could go into much greater detail, but I'll stop here. This book is now being cited by any serious inquiry into the phenomenon. However, despite its being very well-written, it's a thick read, so I would not recommend it for an undergrad text.

Ever since the British government proposed radically changing British law towards secrecy, many unscrupulous people have tried to cash in on it. Journalists either slagged off or praised the government in an attempt to increase their own prestege and their newspaper's circulation. For a time it was the talked about issue in the media and around the office water cooler. It was, however, short lived and other items came into prominance within a couple of weeks. In the end, practically no-one had made any significant money or fame with the story. David Vincent, however, had written his book long before the story ever came about and has written one of the most fascinating books I have ever read. It details, in addictively well written English, the course of secrecy from Victorian times to the present day. It gives an amazing insight into the workings of the British government and the extraordinary methods, devices and motives that were employed to keep 'the stiff upper lip' towards a variety of foes (and friends) throughout the modern era. I admit that I had never before picked up a history book (and can't honestly say why I started reading this) but it is more than a history or political book. It makes you wonder about the world we live in and why so many things are kept from our knowledge. If you never read another popular history book in your life, read this as history has never been so fascinating.

I bought this book at my husband's request. He is of Scottish descent, and we have visited his cousins in Caithness, Scotland, so this book was of great interest to him. He has enjoyed the book immensely, learning lots of interesting and unusual facts about the country and it's people, and has even started contacting various Scotsmen he knows to check out and verify some of those facts. Most interesting to him was the information about John Ross, and he is now trying to find relatives or descendants of John Ross.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the history of Scotland...it has been a great read for my husband, quite enjoyable and at times very humorous.
Written in the voice of a Scotsman, the book is eloquent yet succint.

If you want a book on Indian cuisine that is unlike any other, do not hesitate to get this book. It is a treasure. It earned an IACP award in 1990. Fascinating to read from cover to cover for its stories on the British Raj and full of receipes that are intriguing and delightful. These are not the same receipes that you will find in Madhur Jaffrey's books since they are derived from British influences on the traditional indian dishes, such as tea-time and weddings and club dinners. A must have for anyone who is fascinated with India and Indian cuisine.

M/s Basu is a rare find. I laughed, salivated and became informed too. A must for ALL lovers of the various cuisines from the Indian Sub-Continent, Pakistan & Bangladesh.

Sven Klinge is the author of the most comprehensive cycling guide books in Australia. By combining cycling with walking treks, he has explored over 300 of Australia's National Parks and State Forests. Born in Sydney and educated at the University of Sydney, Sven now divides his time between accountancy and other writing projects. CYCLING THE BUSH: 100 RIDES IN NEW SOUTH WALES is a fully revised edition, with dozens of new rides, and many others updated to take into account new management policies and conditions. The range of rides includes short one day trips around Sydney to extended overnight cycling/walking expeditions in remote and rugged wilderness areas. Almost all of New South Wales' major national parks are covered, including nearly 50 rides in the popular Blue Mountains alone. Other chapters centre on the wild Morton National Park, the picturesque Barrington Tops, and the great alpine ranges of Kosciusko. From mountain lookouts to secluded beaches, from pristine rivers to limestone caves, from cliff-lined gorges to snow-gum forests, this guide covers 100 of the most exciting mountain and touring bike adventures available to the cyclists in New South Wales and the ACT. Each ride incorporates data on distances, height variation, transport, access, track and rides grades, facilities, map references, and special equipment needed. Extensive information is provided on geological, biological, and historical aspects of natural, Aboriginal, and colonial features along the rides. There are chapters devoted to the development, mechanics, and maintenance of the mountain bike, in addition to sections covering accessories, riding techniques, first aid, food, equipment, photography, and camping. In COMPACT, LIGHTWEIGHT FORMAT, this guide should be POCKET EQUIPMENT for every cyclist and bushwalker wishing to discover this exciting way of venturing into the most diverse parks system in Australia.

This annual guide to the antique stores in Britain is a superb compilation of all quality antique stores listed by geographical area (with maps). It is the essential guide to week-end trips into the countryside to find and prowl the best antique stores and is the bible used by dealers to find their wares for reale. All stores are also listed by category of speciality. Good hunting!

Nick Griffiths, writer, Doctor Who fan, and a child of the 70s gives us a book that is fun filled, funny and very, very British. He tells us of growing up in the 1970s and 1980s, and being a music journalist in the 1990s. It isn't just about Doctor Who? but also music, the school system, his family, love, life and being British. Or being English. Or whatever he happens to end up being. I suggest it for bus travel, plane travel or a rainy day. Not a lot about Daleks, funny enough, but don't let that throw you.

Most books on Elizabeth spend little time putting her reign into historical context, which is why Alison Plowden's books on that time period are a must-read for those interested in Elizabeth. In Danger to Elizabeth, Plowden describes the plans and plots of the Catholics who were determined to overthrow Elizabeth and rescue England from heresy. Plowden's research is thorough and her writing style is interesting and engaging.