Table of Contents
Acknowledgements xii
Introduction 1
Cultural History
The Mediterranean in History, edited by David Abulafia, 2003 9
The Rise and Fail of Adam and Eve: The Story that Created Us Stephen Greenblatt, 2017 13
Madness in Civilization: A Cultural History of Insanity Andrew Scull, 2015 16
Eat Me: A Natural and Unnatural History of Cannibalism Bill Schutt, 2017 19
Stonehenge Rosemary Hill, 2008 22
Universe of Stone: Chartres Cathedral and the Triumph of the Medieval Mind Philip Ball, 2008 25
Vauxhall Gardens: A History David Coke Alan Borg, 2011 29
A Thing in Disguise: The Visionary Life of Joseph Paxton Kate Colquhoun, 2003 33
Singled Out: How Two Million Women Survived Without Men after the First World War Virginia Nicholson, 2007 36
Private Words: Letters and Diaries from the Second World War, edited by Ronald Blythe, 1991 40
In the Fifties Peter Vansittart, 1995 43
The Greatest Shows on Earth: A History of the Circus Linda Simon, 2014 46
A Great Feast of Light: Growing Up Irish in the Television Age John Doyle, 2006 49
Consuming Passions: Leisure and Pleasure in Victorian Britain Judith Flanders, 2006 53
IQ: The Brilliant Idea that Failed Stephen Murdoch, 2007 56
The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better Richard Wilkinson Kate Pickett, 2009 60
Leadville: A Biography of the A40 Edward Platt, 2000 64
Science
The Jewel House: Elizabethan London and the Scientific Revolution Deborah E. Harkness, 2007 71
Darwin's Island: The Galapagos in the Garden of England Steve Jones, 2009 75
Darwin's Sacred Cause: Race, Slavery and the Quest for Human Origins Adrian Desmond James Moore, 2009 75
The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science Richard Holmes, 2008 79
You're Looking Very Well: The Surprising Nature of Getting Old Lewis Wolpert, 2011 82
The Science of Love and Betrayal Robin Dunbar, 2012 86
Laughter: A Scientific Investigation Robert R. Provine, 2000 89
Crying: The Natural and Cultural History of Tears Tom Lutz, 2000 89
Mauve: How One Man Invented a Colour that Changed the World Simon Garfield, 2000 93
Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood Oliver Sacks, 2001 95
American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer Kai Bird Martin J. Sherwin, 2008 98
Being Mortal: Illness, Medicine, and What Matters in the End Atul Gawande, 2014 102
Memoirs
The Piano Shop on the Left Bank: The Hidden World of a Paris Atelier T.E. Carhart, 2000 109
No Voice from the Hall: Early Memories of a Country House Snooper John Harris, 1998 113
Gypsies: An English History David Cressy, 2018 116
Fishing in Utopia: Sweden and the Future that Disappeared Andrew Brown, 2008 119
Family Secrets, Derek Malcolm, 2003 122
Swimming with My Father: A Memoir Tim Jeal, 2004 126
Unapologetic: Why, Despite Everything, Christianity Can Still Make Surprising Emotional Sense Francis Spufford, 2012 129
Publisher Tom Maschler, 2005 132
Untold Stories Alan Bennett, 2005 135
Grayson Perry: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Girl, as told to Wendy Jones, 2006 139
Naked at Lunch: The Adventures of a Reluctant Nudist Mark Haskell Smith, 2015 142
Ahead of the Class: How an Inspiring Headmistress Gave Children Back Their Future Marie Stubbs, 2003 145
Worrying: A Literary and Cultural History Francis O'Gorman, 2015 148
Alamein to Zem Zem Keith Douglas, 1946 151
Anthropology
Feast: Why Humans Share Food Martin Jones, 2007 157
The Reinvention of Humanity: A Story of Race, Sex, Gender and the Discovery of Culture Charles King, 2019 161
Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes: Life and Language in the Amazonian Jungle Daniel Everett, 2008 164
Letters to Lily on How the World Works, Alan Macfarlane, 2005 167
Biography
The Fortunes of Francis Barber: The True Story of the Jamaican Slave Who Became Samuel Johnson's Heir Michael Bundock, 2015 173
Sarah: The Life of Sarah Bernhardt Robert Gottlieb, 2010 176
Bulwer Lytton: The Rise and Fall of a Victorian Man of Letters Leslie Mitchell, 2003 180
Damned to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett James Knowlson, 1996 183
Samuel Beckett: The Last Modernist, Anthony Cronin, 1996 183
The World of Samuel Beckett, 1906-1946 Lois Gordon, 1996 183
Eric Gill Fiona MacCarthy, 1989 187
Betjeman: The Bonus of Laughter Bevis Hillier, 2004 190
Eileen: The Making of George Orwell Sylvia Topp, 2020 194
The World Is What It Is: The Authorized Biography of V.S. Naipaul Patrick French, 2008 197
Hergé: The Man Who Created Tintin, Pierre Assouline, translated by Charles Ruas, 2009 200
The Last Englishman: The Double Life of Arthur Ransome Roland Chambers, 2009 204
Furious Interiors: Wales, R.S. Thomas and God Justin Wintle, 1996 207
Literature
The Poet's Tale: Chaucer and the Year that Made the Canterbury Tales Paul Strohm, 2015 213
Shakespeare's Language Frank Kermode, 2000 216
Shakespeare's Wife Germaine Greer, 2007 219
The Letters of Charles Dickens, Volume Eight: 1856-1858, edited by Graham Storey Kathleen Tillotson, 1995 223
The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes, 2 vols, edited by Leslie S. Klinger, 2004 226
The Short Sharp Life of T.E. Hulme Robert Ferguson, 2002 230
Robert Graves and The White Goddess, 1940-1985 Richard Perceval Graves, 1995 233
Robert Graves: Life on the Edge Miranda Seymour, 1995 233
Robert Graves: Collected Writings on Poetry, edited by Paul O'Prey, 1995 233
The Letters of Sylvia Plath, Volume 2: 1956-1963, edited by Peter K. Steinberg Karen V. Kukil, 2018 238
Faulks on Fiction: The Secret Life of the Novel Sebastian Faulks, 2011 241
The Good Soldier Švejk, Jaroslav Hašek, translated by Paul Selver, 1930 245
Back to Nature
Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature Linda Lear, 2006 251
Orchard: A Year in England's Eden Benedict Macdonald Nicholas Gates, 2020 255
Owl Sense Miriam Darlington, 2018 257
The Spade as Mighty as the Sword: The Story of World War Two's Dig for Victory Campaign Daniel Smith, 2011 260
Bertie, May and Mrs Fish: Country Memories of Wartime Xandra Bingley, 2005 264
Running for the Hills: A Family Story Horatio Clare, 2006 267
Mind Benders
A Short Treatise of the Great Virtues: The Uses of Philosophy in Everyday Life André Comte-Sponville, 1995 273
The Human Touch: Our Part in the Creation of a Universe Michael Frayn, 2006 276
The Clock Mirage: Our Myth of Measured Time Joseph Mazur, 2020 280
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind Yuval Noah Harari, 2014 283
Vegetable Gardening
Vegetable Gardening John Carey, 1980 289
