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We read and review history books! Latest reviews and posts below โ
The Bomb - review
Posted on: 16 October 2026
This book was a birthday present from site contributor Maddox von Ranke, our very own Dr Strangelove. I confess to having reservations about whether I would enjoy it: the intricacies of...
โ โ โ โ โ (2020)
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โWhy do you want us to restrain ourselves?โ he screamed. โWhy are you so concerned with saving their lives? The whole idea is to kill the bastards!โ After a bit more of this tirade, Power said, โLook. At the end of the war, if there are two Americans and one Russian, we win!โ General Thomas Power, Strategic Air Command
Review of Fred Kaplan, The Bomb
New history books in September 2026
Posted on: 11 October 2026
The very latest updates from the past, published in September 2026 (in hardback, in the UK). A few that I would like to have read, even if I probably will not get around to reading them: The...
new books
AI ate this website and the solution is... more AI.
Posted on: 20 September 2026
I'm exaggerating a little, you are after all (probably) reading this on the website which therefore can't be totally broken. What has been broken is the popular history books database that I have been...
website
New history books in August 2026
Posted on: 20 September 2026
I'm a bit late this month, for which I blame AI. More on this later! The three that I am looking out for are: Nineteen Days in Autumn: A New History Of 1066, by Erin Goeres. Coinciding with the...
new books
Those Who Are About To Die - review
Posted on: 3 August 2026
24 hours in the life of a history book author: Gladiators and the Writing Mind... Chapter 1: Tempus Postmeridianum (Afternoon). Oxford, England The author pauses, waiting for his muses to gather. The...
โ โ โโโ (2025)
review
New history books in July 2026
Posted on: 2 August 2026
It is hot here in the UK and in Europe. That means that I am reading less as I prefer to cycle into work rather than get the (extremely hot) London underground, which is my most reliable free time for...
new books
The Rage of Party - review
Posted on: 10 July 2026
The late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries are probably among the most significant periods in English and British history, yet they do not loom large in the national consciousness. The years...
โ โ โ โ โ (2025)
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New history books in June 2026
Posted on: 2 July 2026
Ok here's what we've got from last month (published in the UK in hardback). With the World Cup in full swing and England not yet out of it, I'm pleased to see at least one football history book on the...
new books
The Black Death - review
Posted on: 28 June 2026
I, Agnolo di Tura, called the Fat, buried my five children with my own hands... It is impossible for the human tongue to recount the awful thing. Indeed, one who did not see such horribleness can be...
โ โ โ โ โ (2026)
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The Four Heavens - review
Posted on: 7 June 2026
Most human societies tend towards hierarchies: someone at the top giving orders, and everyone else at least pretending to follow the rules. And we tell each other stories to justify to ourselves why...
โ โ โ โโ (2026)
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We found a large number of these books in these characters and, as they contained nothing in which there was not to be seen superstition and lies of the devil, we burned them all, which they regretted to an amazing degree and which caused them great affliction.
Review of David Stuart, The Four Heavens
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