New Year Readers’ Resolutions
How to read more? We might take instruction from a more leisurely age.
Georgian
Jacquard Patents His First Loom
On 23 December 1800 Joseph Marie Jacquard set out to revolutionise weaving – and took his first step towards greatness.
‘Heiresses’ by Miranda Kaufman review
Heiresses: Marriage, Inheritance and Caribbean Slavery by Miranda Kaufman follows the money to reveal how Britain’s women of means profited from plantations.
The Decembrists: Russia’s First Revolution
The Decembrist revolt of 1825 saw Russia’s nobility attempt to depose tsar Nicholas I. Dismissed as romantic idealists, they were driven by a bold vision for the future of the country.
Drinking to Australian Democracy
The colony of New South Wales did not have its own parliament until 1856, but it did have a tradition of public dinners and politically charged toasts.
‘The Heretic of Cacheu’ and ‘Worlds of Unfreedom’ review
The Heretic of Cacheu by Toby Green and Worlds of Unfreedom by Roquinaldo Ferreira, painstakingly recreate the worlds at the beginning and end of Portugal’s slave trade.
The Radical John Wilkes
Parliament’s champion of the people or scandalous, self-serving politician? Georgian radical John Wilkes kept a foot in both camps.
‘The Rage of Party’ by George Owers review
They go low, we go lower. The Rage of Party: How Whig Versus Tory Made Modern Britain by George Owers offers up the origins of Britain’s fractious political culture.
Slavery After Abolition: Revolt on the Amelia
The slave trade was an international criminal enterprise. In 1811 an uprising on the slaving ship Amelia off the coast of West Africa revealed a complex network spanning four continents.
What Birmingham Taught Muslim India
Industrial Birmingham was an important stop on the grand tours of various Muslim rulers, all eager to learn from the city of a thousand trades.