P. Ackroyd, Milton in America (1996)
N. Blake (C. Day-Lewis), The beast must die (1938)
J. Bull, The Brexit tapes ( 2023)
J. Clements, The Emperor's Feast (2021)
E. Crispin, The moving toyshop (1946)
H.J. Dyos, Victorian Suburb: Study of the Growth of Camberwell (1961)
M. Green, Historic Clapham (2008)
W.G. Hoskins, Local History in England (1959)
K. Lane, Potosi (2019)
J. Linford, The Missing Ingredient: The Curious Role of Time in Food and Flavour (2018)
A. Piper, A history of Brixton (1996)
J. Linford, The Missing Ingredient: The Curious Role of Time in Food and Flavour (2018)
A. Piper, A history of Brixton (1996)
I bought Hoskins on a whim in a charity shop in December, but it's sparked a flurry of reading around local history that I've thoroughly enjoyed. I'm definitely going to write the history of the Manor of Stockwell and the Parish of St Andrew's now (i.e., when I retire). I thoroughly enjoyed The Brexit Tapes, even after a delay of a couple of years in turning it into a book. I loved The Emperor's Feast, which is great on the evolution of food in China. I have bought millet in response, sparking less joy in my house.
My favourite of all was probably the least accessible of all. Every review of Peter Wilson's great tome stresses that this is largely incomprehensible if you don't have a working knowledge of a thousand years of German history. I do have a working knowledge of German history, though with a few gaps, and even I found it required hard work early on. But, having orientated myself through the annexes with my Salians and Luxembourgs, it opened up into a brilliant analysis of a complex, diverse institution that sat at the heard of Europe for a millennium. It was excellent on imperial reform around 1500, and really brought to life the nature of neglected areas like the 'interregnum' of the thirteenth century. It's done thematically and I think that really helps to see the evolution of imperial institutions - and their limits. I will be coming back to it again and again.
I now feel a real pang of regret that I didn't pursue my first proposed research interest in sixteenth century Austrian Protestantism. Too late now, but it's one of only a handful of books that have ever done that.
