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Appeasement’s Epigones

“A declaration of intent by Franklin Reid Gannon, (author of The British Press and Germany 1936–1939) reads, ‘It is one of the great ironies of the period, and perhaps the major conclusion of this study, that appeasement was in fact the product of a crisis of the liberal . . .” read more

Myth and History

“‘The teaching of South American myths serves to provide general laws for the resolution of problems concerning the nature and development of thought.’” read more

The Age of Don Quixote

“Masterpieces have a date. Today, too many theories in flight before history make the history of thought into ‘a discontinuous series of singular totalities’. But those who are not alarmed by the future dare savour to the full the draught of concrete history which every masterpiece distils for . . .” read more

Soviet Oppositions

“‘One day our company officer, Captain Usov, said to me: “You, Marchenko, are always dissatisfied, nothing suits you. But what have you ever done to make things better? All you wanted was to run away . . .”.’ Having read My Testimony and a few of Marchenko’s . . .” read more

The Purges Recalled

“For quarter of a century I. S. Poretsky (or Ludwik or Eberhard or Ignace Reiss) was one of the most prominent secret agents of the ussr. Now, after more than 30 years of ‘withdrawal and reflection’—according to the preface—his widow writes the tragic story of his life . . .” read more

Problems of Communist History

“We are today at the end of that historical epoch in the development of socialism which began with the collapse of the Second International in 1914 and the victory of the Bolsheviks in October 1917. This is therefore a suitable time to survey the history of the Communist . . .” read more

'Politics and the Military in Jordan'

“P. J. Vatikiotis: Politics and the Military in Jordan: a study of the Arab Legion. 1921–1957. Frank Cass and Co. 30s.” read more

The Pathology of English History

“A recent survey in the Times Literary Supplement suggested that the writing of history in England was on the verge of a renaissance. This is only another way of saying that the progress of British historiography in the last 100 years provides a spectacular case of arrested intellectual . . .” read more

'Economic Recovery in Britain 1932-1939'

“H. W. Richardson: Economic Recovery in Britain 1932–1939. Weidenfeld and Nicolson. 63s.” read more

The Spanish Background

“The Iberian peninsula has problems but no solutions, a state of affairs which is common or even normal in the ‘third world’, but extremely rare in Europe. For better or worse most states on our continent have a stable and potentially permanent economic and social structure, an established . . .” read more

Spain and the Americas

“A remarkable Bengali writer has complained of a decline of historicity in the West, of the sense of man as part of history, during his lifetime. Dr J. H. Plumb, in a striking introduction to The Spanish Seaborne Empire, as editor of The History of Human Society series, . . .” read more

The Embers of Easter 1916-1966

“‘A blow delivered against the British imperialist bourgeoisie in Ireland has a hundred times more political significance than a blow of equal weight would have in Asia and Africa. . . The dialectics of history are such that small nations, powerless as an independent factor in the struggle . . .” read more

History in One Dimension

“Britain in 1914 was as near to revolution as it has ever been in the 20th century. A dispirited government, barely united and effetely led, groped its way between right-wing rebellion backed by military force in Ulster, and a militant syndicalist Labour movement freed from respectable leadership. Three . . .” read more

What Happened in History

“The publication of this small volume makes accessible for the first time in English a fundamental work for the understanding and development of outstanding Marxist problems.” read more

Socialism and Pseudo-Empiricism

“In a voice choking with anger, Edward Thompson has denounced the historical and theoretical work on British society developed in this review. In twenty years of public life, no other group or individual has earned the kind of unprovoked attack he has launched over some fifty pages of . . .” read more

'The African Past'; 'Modern African Stories' and 'Modern African Prose'

“The African Past. Edited by Basil Davidson. Longmans. 30s.” read more

'The English Provinces, 1760-1960'

“The English Provinces, 1760–1960. Donald Read. Arnold, 42s.” read more

'A History of the USA'; 'A History of the USSR'

“A history of the USA. André Maurois. Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 36s.” read more

'The Secret History of the Mongols'

“The Secret History of the Mongols. Arthur Waley. Allen & Unwin, 32s.” read more

Imperial Spain 1469-1716

“Imperial Spain 1469–1716, Edwin Arnold, 30/—, 411 pp. J. H. Elliott” read more

'A History of Latin America'; 'Latin American Politics in Perspective'

“A History of Latin America. George Pendle. Pelican Books, 4s.” read more

Origins of the Present Crisis

“Two commanding facts confront socialists in Britain today, dominating this moment of our history. British society is in the throes of a profound, pervasive but cryptic crisis, undramatic in appearance, but ubiquitous in its reverberations. As its immediate result, a Labour government seems imminent. So much everyone agrees. . . .” read more

'Ghenghis Khan'; 'The Builders of the Mogul Empire'

“Genghis Khan. Ralph Fox Background Books, 10s. 6d.” read more

Landed England

“English Landed Society in the Eighteenth Century: G. E. Mingay, English Landed Society in the Nineteenth Century: F. M. L. Thompson. Both from series “Studies in Social History”, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1963, 40s. 310pp., 45s. 368pp. respectively.” read more

Revolution and Reaction 1789-1848

“Dr. Hobsbawm’s book is addressed, its preface tells us, to “the intelligent and educated citizen, who is not merely curious about the past, but wishes to understand how and why the world has come to be what it is today and whither it is going”. One has not . . .” read more

The Free-Born Englishman

“A chapter from a book shortly to be published by Gollancz on the formation of the working class.” read more

Preface to Machiavelli

“The inclusion of the works of Niccolo Machiavelli in the series of volumes published by ‘Academia’ needs no justification. The episodes which inspired Machiavelli’s works, the works themselves (propagandist, historical, fictional), the bitter disputes which raged around his name for centuries afterwards—all these are major events in the . . .” read more

The City

“The City in History, Lewis Mumford; Seeker & Warburg, 70s.” read more

On the Puritan Character [excerpt from 'Religion and the Rise of Capitalism']

“As a tribute to R. H. Tawney, we publish, as the most fitting comment on the life and achievement of a great Socialist teacher, the following passage from his work. The excerpt is taken, with acknowledgements to John Murray (Publishers) Ltd., from Religion and the Rise of . . .” read more

Century of Revolution

“The Century of Revolution 1603—1714, by Christopher Hill: Nelson, 1961. 25s.” read more

The Mahdi’s Skull

“it must be difficult to write biography at all if you are entirely out of sympathy with your subject. Hence Philip Magnus passes few judgments on Kitchener and is, to some extent his apologist. This, however, does not matter much. The real brute does not merely peep, . . .” read more

Jews and Others

“why try Eichmann? Some of the older Israeli Jews will tell you that Eichmann symbolises ages of anti-Semitic persecution, that his crimes must be exposed as an object lesson in what Jewish identity can involve and a memorial to the inhumanity Jews have suffered. Eichmann’s judgment must . . .” read more

Republicanism after the Restoration

““The deeds of the cursed and the conquered, that were wise before their time”. (William Morris, The Pilgrims of Hope).” read more