A focus on the history of Britain this month with half of the books peering back at the history of this island, and more precisely the English bit of it. The rest of the world is not totally neglected though, for example with a timely book on the US Constitution which I am glad to see is still a thing.
The three books from this month that I woud set either myself or my time-rich virtual doppleganger to read are:
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The First King of England: Æthelstan and the Birth of a Kingdom, by David Woodman. I've always been a fan of the Anglo-Saxon kings without ever knowing much about them - I'm sure distance makes the heart grow fonder! This one should reduce the gap.
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The Finest Hotel in Kabul: A People's History of Afghanistan, by Lyse Doucet. Has the feel of a 'journalist's history book', but that said I think using the hotel as a way to bring together all sorts of people is a compelling way to tell the story of the (presumably) recent past in Afghanistan.
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A Scandal in Königsberg, by Christopher Clark. And finally one which I have actually read and so can reliably comment on! A short sweet and superb book, using the story of an actually-not-that-turbulent priest to illuminate a zeitpunkt.1 My review of Scandal in Konigsberg.
Click the book covers to see a zoomed in image and links to Amazon if you like to buy your books there.
The full list:
- 📙 A Scandal in Königsberg
- 📕 The Finest Hotel in Kabul: A People's History of Afghanistan
- 📘 Between the Waves: The Hidden History of a Very British Revolution 1945-2016
- 📔 The Stolen Crown: Treachery, Deceit and the Death of the Tudor Dynasty
- 📗 A History of England in 25 Poems
- 📙 The Rage of Party: How Whig Versus Tory Made Modern Britain
- 📓 Dark Renaissance: The Dangerous Times and Fatal Genius of Shakespeare’s Greatest Rival, Christopher Marlowe
- 📒 The First King of England: Æthelstan and the Birth of a Kingdom
- 📙 On Antisemitism: A Word in History
- 📘 Revolting: A Riotous History of the World
- 📔 Sparta: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Superpower
- 📗 We the People: A History of the US Constitution
- 📕 Queer Georgians: A Hidden History of Lovers, Lawbreakers and Homemakers
- 📘 The Wars of the Roses: A Medieval Civil War
- 📔 Crucible of Light: Islam and the forging of Europe from the 8th to the 21st Century
- 📗 Warrior Monks: Politics and Power in Medieval Britain
The English language doesn't seem to have good word to convey the concept of 'a particular place at a particular time' - in this case mid 19th Century Konigsberg. On the assumption that if AI is good at anything it should be good at this, I used google Gemini to isolate the German word zeitpunkt as the best candidate for a loanword. I will check with my sister who is an ex German translator (thanks in part to AI...) as to the appropriateness of this word and report back! ↩︎
