Two extraordinary and contrasting images from the Folio Society edition of Hugh Thomas’ comprehensive history, ‘The Spanish Civil War.’ Above is a picture of the jailed Catalan government in May 1935. Amongst those staring at the camera from behind bars, Lluís Companys is third from left. The image below is much earlier - from 1926 … More Friday Picture (s) Spanish Civil War
What this amazing book is not is a conventional, comprehensive history of the First World War. What it is instead is first-hand testimony, a chronological selection from letters, diaries and written accounts by those at the front, accompanied by masses of photos, some of them illicitly taken and some of them taken by the men … More ‘Tommy’s War’ by Richard Van Emden
Sometimes the most interesting conversations I have with politicians aren’t about politics at all. Recently I got talking to the Labour MP for Wrexham, Ian Lucas, abut the Norwegian anthropologist-adventurer Thor Heyerdahl. Ian had bought a second-hand copy of Heyerdahl’s account of his famous attempt in 1947 to cross the Pacific on a balsa-wood raft … More ‘The Kon-Tiki Expedition’ by Thor Heyerdahl
This evocative photograph gives you a good idea of what ‘Do Miners Read Dickens?’ by Hywel Francis and Siân Williams is all about. It’s a celebratory coffee-table volume to mark the 40th anniversary of the South Wales Miners’ Library which is part of Swansea University. But in doing that it also tells the story of … More ‘Do Miners Read Dickens?’ by Hywel Francis and Siân Williams
Robert Shepherd’s ‘Westminster: a Biography’ covers the whole lifespan of the marshy island which became the centre of power and government in Britain. For me, Westminster has become a workplace and I often forget the history behind the buildings which have shaped the form of government operating in Britain. As a result of this book, … More Groom of the Stool: Robert Shepherd, ‘Westminster: A Biography’
