Social & cultural history
Showing 1–16 of 175 results
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50 finds from childhood
£15.9950 finds from childhood
The latest volume in this popular series looks at how objects registered with the PAS inform our understanding of children and childhood through history.
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A brief history of the countryside in 100 objects
£10.99A brief history of the countryside in 100 objects
A Waterstones Best Book of 2024: Nature Writing
The untold story of rural Britain revealed through its artefacts
?‘A really lovely, fascinating book. I dived straight into this clever, joyous, celebration of nature, history, and – of course – the countryside.’ Charles Spencer, author of The White Ship
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A cold spell
£20.00A cold spell
Ice has confounded, delighted and fascinated us since the first sparks of art and culture in Europe and it now underpins the modern world. Without ice, we would not feed ourselves or heal our sick as we do, and our towns and cities, countryside and oceans would look very different. Science would not have progressed along the avenues it did and our galleries and libraries would be missing many masterpieces. ‘A Cold Spell’ uses this vital link to understanding our past to tell a surprising story of obsession, invention and adventure – how we have lived and dreamed, celebrated and traded, innovated, loved and fought over thousands of years.
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A history of the world in six plagues
£25.00A history of the world in six plagues
Here is a deeply reported, insightful, and literary account of humankind’s battles with epidemic disease and their outsized role in deepening inequality along racial, ethnic, class and gender lines. Epidemic diseases enter the world by chance, but they become catastrophic by human design. With clear-eyed research and lush prose, ‘A History of the World in Six Plagues’ shows that throughout history, outbreaks of disease have been exacerbated by and gone on to further expand the racial, economic and sociopolitical divides we allow to fester in times of good health.
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A history of women in 101 objects
£14.99A history of women in 101 objects
The way we remember the past today remains dishearteningly patriarchal: a place where women have always been oppressed by men, from ancient times to the present day. ‘A History of Women in 101 Objects’ tells a new story of female history, revealing the evolution of the role women have played in society through the quiet power of their everyday items.
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A little history of music
£10.99A little history of music
Human beings have always made music. Music can move us and tell stories of faith, struggle, or love. It is common to all cultures across the world. But how has it changed over the millennia? Robert Philip explores the extraordinary history of music in all its forms, from our earliest ancestors to today’s mass-produced songs. This is a truly global story. Looking to Europe, South America, Asia, Africa, and beyond, Philip reveals how musicians have been brought together by trade and migration and examines the vast impact of colonialism. From Hildegard von Bingen and Clara Schumann to Bob Dylan and Aretha Franklin, great performers and composers have profoundly shaped music as we know it.
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A northern wind
£30.00A northern wind
How much can change in less than two and a half years? In the case of Britain in the Sixties, the answer is: almost everything. From the seismic coming of the Beatles to a sex scandal that rocked the Tory government to the arrival at No 10 of Harold Wilson, a prime minister utterly different from his Old Etonian predecessors. ‘A Northern Wind’ brings to vivid life the period between October 1962 and February 1965. Drawing upon an unparalleled array of diaries, newspapers and first-hand recollections, Kynaston’s masterful storytelling refreshes familiar events – the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Big Freeze, the assassination of JFK, the funeral of Winston Churchill – while revealing in all their variety the experiences of the people living through this history.
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A place of our own
£22.00A place of our own
For as long as queer women have existed, they’ve created gathering grounds where they can be themselves. From the intimate darkness of the lesbian bar to the sweaty camaraderie of the softball field, these spaces aren’t a luxury – they’re a necessity for queer women defining their identities. Blending memoir, archival research and interviews, journalist June Thomas invites readers into six iconic lesbian spaces over the course of the last sixty years, including the rural commune, the sex toy boutique, the holiday destination and the feminist bookstore. She also illuminates what is gained and lost in the shift from the exclusive, tight-knit women’s spaces of the ’70s toward today’s more inclusive yet more diffuse LGBTQ+ communities.
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A short history of British architecture
£26.99A short history of British architecture
The architecture of Britain is an art gallery all around us. From our streets to squares, through our cities, suburbs and villages, we are surrounded by magnificent buildings of eclectic styles. ‘A Short History of British Architecture’ is the gripping and untold story of why Britain looks the way it does, from prehistoric Stonehenge to the lofty towers of today.
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Age of the city
£12.99Age of the city
Visionary Oxford professor Ian Goldin and The Economist’s Tom Lee-Devlin show why the city is where the battles of inequality, social division, pandemics and climate change must be faced. From centres of antiquity like Athens or Rome to modern metropolises like New York or Shanghai, cities throughout history have been the engines of human progress and the epicentres of our greatest achievements. Now, for the first time, more than half of humanity lives in cities, a share that continues to rise. In the developing world, cities are growing at a rate never seen before. In this book, Professor Goldin and Tom Lee-Devlin show why making our societies fairer, more cohesive and sustainable must start with our cities.
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Agincourt
£10.99Agincourt
Anne Curry tells the story of Agincourt, one of the most iconic battles in English history – how it was fought, how it has been remembered, and what it has come to mean.
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All that she carried
£12.99All that she carried
A renowned historian traces the life of a single object handed down through three generations of Black women to craft a deeply layered and insightful testament to people who are left out of the archives
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An almost impossible thing
£12.00An almost impossible thing
While working at the Royal Horticultural Society, Fiona Davison discovered a cache of letters from a young gardener who was denied a scholarship by the RHS, on the grounds that she was female. Appalled and intrigued to find out what became of Olive, Fiona began to research the wider story of early female professional gardeners and discovered a group of pioneers whose struggles against patriarchy changed forever the rights and opportunities for women gardeners. ‘An Almost Impossible Thing’ follows six hitherto littleknown women gardeners in the years before the First World War, and examines their lives in the context of suffragism, collectivism and Empire.
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Antarctica
£25.00Antarctica
This powerfully relevant work tells the history of Antarctica through 100 varied and fascinating objects drawn from collections around the world. Retracing the history of Antarctica through 100 varied and fascinating objects drawn from collections across the world, this book is published to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the first crossing into the Antarctic Circle by James Cook aboard Resolution, on 17th January, 1773.
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Behind Closed Doors
£11.99Behind Closed Doors
Using an impressive range of source materials, including literary memoirs, the transcripts of burglary trials and upholsterer’s ledgers, Amanda Vickery provides a detailed insight to home life in Georgian England for a wide cross section of the society.
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Between Britain
£10.99Between Britain
The border between Scotland and England is rich in history. It has been the site of battles, treaties, castles and crossroads. It is also a place where both countries display their nationalism: Saltires flying in the north, the Cross of St George to the south. But it can also be a lens through which to look at the changing history and identities of these two countries. Alistair Moffat is a life-long borderer and the ideal guide on this one-hundred-mile journey. We begin just north of the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed. Already the battlelines have been drawn – the town having been grabbed by the English from Berwickshire in 1482 and never given back. From here we will head west as our tour travels backwards and forwards through history. In all, we will walk through eight centuries before we reach journey’s end at the mouth of the River Sark.
£10.99