Sub-titled 'The Epic Story of the Brothers Who Led the Native American Resistance', this is a towering work of scholarship. Shawnee chief Tecumseh, a fierce warrior and a savvy politician, is remembered as the charismatic architect of the greatest pan-Indian Confederation in history. But his younger brother Tenskwatawa was just as vital to the success. Over time however his role has been forgotten and now, if remembered at all, he is remembered as a charlatan and a drunk. Peter Cozzens argues that while Tecumseh was the forward-facing diplomat, behind the scenes it was Tenskwatawa who unified multiple tribes with his deep understanding of Shawnee religion and culture. The brothers together led the resistance against the threat of violence and bloody expansion by white settlers, forging an alliance with the British army in the process, and becoming a last hope for Native Americans to preserve ways of life they had known for centuries. Cozzens paints in vivid detail the violent, lawless world of the Old Northwest, when settlers spilled over the Appalachians to bloody effect in their haste to exploit lands won from the War of Independence. He brings to life an often-overlooked episode in America's past and tells the untold story of the Shawnee brothers who retaliated against this threat, who enjoyed great popularity and posed a grave threat to colonial expansion. Many maps, colour photographs and a terrific text from the author of over 17 books on the Civil War and the American West. 357pp, chunky paperback.

The kingdom of Benin was at the epicentre of the largest historical empire ever established in the 'rainforest belt' of West Africa. Today it is part of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and it looks to compete with the most modern states of Africa while losing none of its unique heritage. Weighing in at a hefty 1.6kg and 608 pages in a slipcase measuring 29 x 36cm, we have a rare 2020 first edition published in Nigeria. It begins with the growth of an African civilisation, the origin of Benin and its monarchy, the establishment of the Oranmiyan-Eweka dynasty from Oba Oranmiyan to Oba Ewuare II, kingdom to empire building 1440-1897, the administrative and political structure, military organisation, religious practices including the origin of worship at Holy Aruosa Cathedral, economy and society, artistic and hand-crafted artifacts, antiquities and other arts, heroines and queen mothers of the Benin kingdom, the last king of independent Benin, the resilience and grandeur of royalty and the philosopher and diplomat kings who followed. The epilogue even covers human trafficking and the traditional and diplomatic fight against modern slavery. As you turn the huge pages of this remarkable coffee table book you will see a leopard head hip ornament in brass from the 16th century, ornate brass heads and memorial sculptures, archive photographs, a table of the evolution of Benin Chieftaincy titles, and Chiefs in traditional costumes with beads and decorated robes of the finest materials. Presiding over all these historical and cultural riches is His Royal Majesty Omo N'Oba Ewuare II, the Oba of Benin and current representative of the remarkable royal dynasty that weaves together this nation and its peoples. Written by the finest Nigerian scholars and essayists in the most beautifully produced and lavishly illustrated book on the culture of Benin and Africa in general. Blood red satin pagemarker, gold foil title, slipcased and with hundreds of colour illustrations. 608pp.

Sub-titled 'The British and Commonwealth Armies and the Second World War', this mammoth 932 page Cambridge University Press softback offers an unprecedented, panoramic history of the 'citizen armies' of the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand and South Africa. Drawing on new sources to reveal the true wartime experience of the ordinary rank and file, Jonathan Fennell fundamentally challenges our understanding of the war and of the relationship between conflict and socio-political change. He uncovers how fractures on the home front had profound implications for the performance of the British and Commonwealth armies, and he traces how soldiers' political beliefs, many of which emerged as a consequence of their combat experience, proved instrumental to the changes of the postwar era. 'Fennell draws on a wide literature and deep archival research to explore how the Commonwealth armies fought key battles and campaigns, but he never loses sight of the role of citizen soldiers and how they exerted agency in calamitous defeats and gritty victories.' - Tim Cook. The book forces us to rethink the way we view the armies of the British Empire and the modern British experience, wartime cohesion within participating societies and comradeship which in turn brought classes together in the post-war 'quiet revolution' that ended the Empire and redefined the Commonwealth. It is a hugely impressive and sweepingly ambitious book which brings together the military histories of all the British Commonwealth nations for the first time and asks vital questions about the relationship between wartime experience, society and politics in a trans-national way and the scale, size and significance of this book is nothing but staggering. Fennell is a Senior Lecturer of Defence Studies at King?s College London. Tables, maps, list of abbreviations, 932pp in heavyweight softback.

England's second city has been a manufacturing powerhouse since Anglo-Saxon times, yet it is not a port and has no local mineral deposits of the kind that powered the Industrial Revolution. For its expansion into a major city, Birmingham relied on the talents and hard work of communities of migrants, first people from neighbouring villages and then in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries from the other side of the world. The borough rental, or list of tenants, from 1296 is an important document showing that two-thirds of the early workforce came from a ten-mile radius. The 19th century saw economic migration from Scotland and Ireland, and also the arrival of Russian Jews and Romanies escaping persecution. In the 20th century there were new communities of Yemenis, Chinese, Poles, Ukrainians, West Indians of the Windrush generation, Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis. This comprehensive history, published to mark the 850th anniversary of Henry II's grant of a market charter to the town in 1166, starts with recent developments in the archaeology of the medieval and Tudor periods. The "City of a Thousand Trades", to quote the 18th century politician Edmund Burke, emerged in the centuries after 1700 as it became a centre of industry and commerce. There were no guilds to create a closed shop, and the freedom allowed to Nonconformists in religion resulted in leaders such as John Bright and Joseph Chamberlain, radicals with a strong philanthropic drive. The first navigable canal was opened in 1766, giving the city access to overseas trade. There has been debate about the involvement of slaves in local industry, but their numbers were probably small. A high wage economy and opportunities for women and children attracted people to the town. Metalworking, from guns to jewellery to railway carriages, was a speciality, and the 20th century saw Birmingham's further development as Britain's motor city. 334pp, timeline, population figures, superb colour photos.
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Clive Staples Lewis (1898-1963) was one of the intellectual giants of the 20th century and arguably one of the most influential writers of his day. He was a Fellow and Tutor in English Literature at Oxford University until 1954, when he was unanimously elected to the Chair of Medieval and Renaissance English at Cambridge University, a position he held until his retirement. To date his Narnia books have sold over 100 million copies. The revered professor in this huge tome offers a magisterial take on the literature and poetry (excluding drama) written during one of the most consequential periods in world history and the rise of English Literature. In his classic survey he provides deep insight into the greatest of the 16th century writers, including: Edmund Spenser, William Shakespeare, William Tyndale, John Knox, Dr Johnson, Richard Hooker, Hugh Latimer, Christopher Marlowe, John Donne, Thomas Cramner and many more. It is a wise and distinctive collection in which Lewis expounds on the profound impact prose and poetry have had on both British intellectual life and his own critical writing and thinking. As readers we obtain an invigorating overview from the Norman Conquest through the mid 17th century and you feel reading this that he has read every book he is writing about. He makes a principle of telling us which authors he thinks we will enjoy as he invites us to a literary feast and a realm of discovery and enjoyment. He writes 'with astonishing freshness on subjects which might be thought to be exhausted.' - the New Statesman. He even includes 'bad books'. Spenser's Faerie Queene draws on masque, pageants, tapestry, carvings, tournaments and the whole panoply of the court. Shakespeare's sonnets are the heart of the Golden Age, and for Lewis they tell a story of a young man's passion both for another man and also for a fickle woman. 744 pages.

An intelligent and perceptive word-picture of the lives of early criminals, written by a former police officer fascinated by historical stories of murder and justice. She studies nine historic crimes - and one familiar obsession. Murder truly was most foul in early modern Britain. Pamphlets littered the streets titillating audiences with exceedingly gruesome tales. Trials were gossipy events packed to the rafters with noisome spectators. Executions were public proceedings which promised not only gore, but desperate confessions and the grandest, most righteous human drama. The book unfolds true stories of murder, criminal investigation, early forensic techniques and high court trials pieced together from original research using coroner's inquests, court records, parish archives, letters, diaries and the cheap street pamphlets that proliferated to satisfy a voracious public. The historical laws and attitudes may strike us as exceptionally cruel, yet many aspects of public reaction to the criminal justice system have remained unchanged. We are still fascinated by narratives of murder and true crime, and trials continue to be grand public spectacles. Chapters include The Trial of Spencer Cowper, The Mutilation of Francis Marshall, The Bloody Midwife of Poplar and The Honourable Drowning of John Temple. 296pp.

A stunningly beautiful visual timeline which begins with Alfred the Great in the 9th century, journeying through to the 21st century with objects which best represent the kings and queens who have ruled. Crowns, statues and coins immediately spring to mind but so too do golden coaches, castles, paintings, flags, letters, jewellery and much more besides: even the occasional photograph becomes the object itself in the desire to tell the intriguing royal tale. One of the most precious and popular exhibits in Oxford's Ashmolean Museum is King Alfred?s Jewelled Aestel, one of the most significant ancient royal relics ever discovered, a tear drop-shaped piece of jewellery found in 1693 in a ploughed up field in Somerset not far from where Alfred the Great in 878 took refuge from the Vikings. Made of rock crystal embellished with enamel and gold, the goldsmithing is so intricate that it is believed to have been the work of a master craftsman. At the base of the piece is a dragon-like head and the cloisonné enamelled character was originally thought to depict Christ, but it may depict sight as it shows a man holding plants. There are illuminated manuscripts, the Edgar Window in Bath Abbey depicting a coronation in glass, the Abingdon Chronicle, a mortuary chest in Winchester Cathedral, Edward the Confessor's Shrine at Westminster Abbey, the Round Tower at Windsor Castle created for William the Conqueror's 11th century fortress, the Rufus Stone in the New Forest marking the spot where William II was fatally wounded by an arrow, the Royal Seal of Approval, ornate gates and castles, crosses and tombs, a monument to the popular Scottish King James IV, and exquisite miniatures of Elizabeth I by Nicholas Hilliard set in an enamelled golden lockets embellished with diamonds and rubies. 216 magnificent pages from Pitkin publishers, 19 x 24cm. Over 100 colour images.