Nick Tooke's Books

The Ballad of Samuel Hewitt

By: Nick Tooke

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June 1934: the depths of the Great Depression. Reckless with anger and spoiling for a fight, seventeen-year-old Samuel Hewitt and his Shuswap friend Charleyboy conspire to steal a prize stallion and disappear into the blistered, unforgiving terrain of British Columbia’s Thompson River Valley. The boys are looking for a fresh start—and for somewhere to belong. But what they find is a hardscrabble existence enlivened by ruthless criminals and boxcar bums ... until they come upon the denizens of a once-majestic travelling circus struggling to survive in an era in which even marvels have lost their capacity to charm. In this surreal, ramshackle environment, Samuel develops an unexpected kinship with the failing ringmaster and his enigmatic daughter. But violence and treachery are prevalent in the shadows of the Big Top, and Samuel may well find himself on the run once more. In The Ballad of Samuel Hewitt, Nick Tooke presents an uncommon coming-of-age story as well as a thoughtful examination of the meaning of home and family.

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220

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The Porcupine's Quill

Published Date

ISBN 10

0889844275

ISBN 13

9780889844278

Soldiers as Citizens

Popular Politics and the Nineteenth-Century British Military

By: Nick Mansfield

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Soldiers as Citizens

Popular Politics and the Nineteenth-Century British Military

By: Nick Mansfield

Rank and file soldiers were not ‘the scum of the earth’ but included a cross section of working-class men, who retained their former civilian culture. While they often exhibited pride in regiment and nation, soldiers could also demonstrate a growing class consciousness and support for political radicalism. The book will challenge assumptions that the British army was politically neutral, if privately conservative, by uncovering a rich vein of liberal and radical political thinking among some soldiers, officers and political commentators. This ranges from the Whig ‘militia’ tradition, through radical theories on tactics and army reform, to attempted ultra-radical subversion amongst troops, and the involvement of soldiers in riots and risings. Case studies are given of individual 'military radicals', soldiers or ex-soldiers who were reforming and later socialist activists. Popular anti-French feeling of the Napoleonic Wars is examined, alongside examples of rank and file bravery which fostered widespread loyalty and patriotism. This contributed to soldiers being used successfully in strike breaking, and deployed against rioters or Chartist revolts. By the late Victorian period, popular imperialism was an important part of working-class support for Conservatism. The book explores what impact this had on rank and file soldiers, whilst outlining minority support for socialism.

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Page Count

264

Publisher

Liverpool University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1789624932

ISBN 13

9781789624939

The Making of Percy's Reliques

By: Nick Groom

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The Making of Percy's Reliques

By: Nick Groom

Percy's Reliques is the seminal collection of historical and lyrical ballads that defined English literature at the end of the 18th century. This study examines his working methods.

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310

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

019818459X

ISBN 13

9780198184591

The English Civil War

An Atlas and Concise History of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms 1639–51

By: Nick Lipscombe

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The English Civil War

An Atlas and Concise History of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms 1639–51

By: Nick Lipscombe

The English Civil War is a joy to behold, a thing of beauty... this will be the civil war atlas against which all others will judged and the battle maps in particular will quickly become the benchmark for all future civil war maps.' -- Professor Martyn Bennett, Department of History, Languages and Global Studies, Nottingham Trent University The English Civil Wars (1638–51) comprised the deadliest conflict ever fought on British soil, in which brother took up arms against brother, father fought against son, and towns, cities and villages fortified themselves in the cause of Royalists or Parliamentarians. Although much historical attention has focused on the events in England and the key battles of Edgehill, Marston Moor and Naseby, this was a conflict that engulfed the entirety of the Three Kingdoms and led to a trial and execution that profoundly shaped the British monarchy and Parliament. This beautifully presented atlas tells the whole story of Britain's revolutionary civil war, from the earliest skirmishes of the Bishops' Wars in 1639–40 through to 1651, when Charles II's defeat at Worcester crushed the Royalist cause, leading to a decade of Stuart exile. Each map is supported by a detailed text, providing a complete explanation of the complex and fluctuating conflict that ultimately meant that the Crown would always be answerable to Parliament.

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Page Count

369

Publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

1472847164

ISBN 13

9781472847164

Star Maps

History, Artistry, and Cartography

By: Nick Kanas

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Star Maps

History, Artistry, and Cartography

By: Nick Kanas

Until the publication of the first edition of 'Star Maps,' books were either general histories of astronomy using examples of antiquarian celestial maps as illustrations, or catalogs of celestial atlases that failed to trace the flow of sky map development over time. The second edition focuses on the development of contemporary views of the heavens and advances in map-making. It captures the beauty and awe of the heavens through images from antiquarian celestial prints and star atlases. This book uniquely combines a number of features: 1) the history of celestial cartography is traced from ancient to modern times; 2) this development is integrated with contemporary cosmological systems; 3) the artistry of sky maps is shown using beautiful color images from actual celestial atlases and prints; 4) each illustration is accompanied by a legend explaining what is being shown; and 5) the text is written for the lay reader based on the author's experience with writing articles for amateur astronomy and map collector magazines. This updated second edition of 'Star Maps' contains over 50 new pages of text and 44 new images (16 in color), including completely new sections on celestial frontispieces, deep-sky objects, playing card maps, additional cartographers, and modern computerized star maps. There is also expanded material about celestial globes, volvelles, telescopes, and planets and asteroids.

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558

Publisher

Springer Science & Business Media

Published Date

ISBN 10

1461409179

ISBN 13

9781461409175

Hanover and the British Empire, 1700-1837

By: Nick Harding

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Hanover and the British Empire, 1700-1837

By: Nick Harding

A reappraisal of the links between Hanover and Great Britain, highlighting their previously un-explored importance.

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304

Publisher

Boydell & Brewer

Published Date

ISBN 10

184383300X

ISBN 13

9781843833000

Stories of Chaos

Reason and its Displacement in Early Modern English Narrative

By: Nick Davis

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Stories of Chaos

Reason and its Displacement in Early Modern English Narrative

By: Nick Davis

First published in 1999, this volume re-examines narrative design in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, The Faerie Queene, King Lear and Paradise Lost. Written in a period newly set on finding practical application for available systems of reasoning, these texts confront in their different ways reason’s absolute limitation in the face of a Real which it cannot adequately represent to itself or recruit to its own purposes. An influential model for the staging of such a confrontation was the mythic, cosmological narrative of Plato’s Timaeus. In their rewriting of Plato’s narrative the English texts deploy but also destabilize the ancient conceptual polarization of the ‘rational’ and the ‘irrational’ or ‘chaotic’, rethought in the terms offered by their period’s innovatory practices of reasoning. The study establishes the critical importance of telling a story of chaos by comparing the narrative method of its chosen texts with that adopted by Freud and Lacan as a means of reflection on the psychoanalytic encounter with an ultimately chaotic Real. This book has unusual interdisciplinary scope, and offers historically grounded, theoretically informed new readings of four major early modern English literary texts.

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295

Publisher

Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

0429791399

ISBN 13

9780429791390

The Encyclopedia of the Sword

By: Nick Evangelista

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The Encyclopedia of the Sword

By: Nick Evangelista

From the gruff, sword-toting swashbucklers of the Middle Ages to modern adventure epics like The Princess Bride, the aura surrounding the sword is one that is both romantic and pragmatic. Thoughts of this weapon bring to mind images of the Knights of the Round Table, Zorro, the Three Musketeers—the things daydreams are made of. Historically, the fate of the empires revolved around the sword; nations rose and fell based on the power of their swordsmen. For centuries it was the weapon of choice in settling personal disputes. Today, the art of sword fighting has been incarnated as the dynamic, chess-like sport of fencing. It has also played an important part in the history of theatre and film, and it has been part of literature for as long as there have been books. In its varied guises, the sword has for centuries figured in the world's varied cultures, myths, and politics. Yet, there has never been a comprehensive volume on the subject of the sword until the publication of this encyclopedia. For the first time, in a single volume one can locate information on the history of sword types and styles around the world; techniques of combat sword use; techniques and styles of modern sport fencing; names and descriptions of various fencing implements and weapon types; swashbuckler films and the fencing masters who influenced the genre; significant individuals who have taught sword use; the sword at the Olympics; the literature in which the rapier, foil, or broadsword has figured; and much, much more. Essential reading for fencing and military history enthusiasts.

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Page Count

716

Publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published Date

ISBN 10

0313369739

ISBN 13

9780313369735

Robin Hood

Myth, History & Culture

By: Nick Rennison

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Robin Hood

Myth, History & Culture

By: Nick Rennison

An informative, lively guide through the rich mythology of Robin Hood, across all mediumsEveryone knows the story of England's greatest folk hero, the outlaw who robbed from the rich and gave to the poor. This highly entertaining book begins with the search for the historical Robin, looking at the candidates for the "real Robin Hood" who have been proposed over the years, from petty thieves to Knights Templar, before moving on to examine the many ways in which he has been portrayed in literature and onscreen. He began as the hero of dozens of late medieval ballads, appeared in plays by contemporaries of Shakespeare, and in the Romantic era was reinvented by Walter Scott as a Saxon champion in the struggle against the Normans. During the 19th century, Robin Hood emerged as a hero in children's literature, while more recently he has been portrayed as everything from proto-socialist man of the people to anarchist thug. In the cinema he put in an appearance as early as 1908 and Douglas Fairbanks and then Errol Flynn turned him into the typical hero of Hollywood swashbucklers. In the last 20 years, Kevin Costner and Russell Crowe have provided their own very different interpretations of the character. On the small screen, Robin has been the hero of half a dozen TV shows from the 1950s series starring Richard Greene, which used many writers blacklisted by Hollywood, via the well-remembered Robin of Sherwood in the 1980s, to the recent BBC series. Robin Hood is still very much with us, as the subject of graphic novels and computer games. Robin is an archetypal hero who, it seems, can never die. This engaging book charts his life so far.

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135

Publisher

Oldacastle Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

1842436376

ISBN 13

9781842436370

A London Year

365 Days of City Life in Diaries, Journals and Letters

By: Travis Elborough,Nick Rennison

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A London Year

365 Days of City Life in Diaries, Journals and Letters

By: Travis Elborough,Nick Rennison

DIVA London Year is an anthology of short diary entries, one or more for each day of the year, which, taken together, provides an impressionistic portrait of life in the city from Tudor times to the twenty-first century. This ebook edition, with its own distinct cover, has been optimised for the digital reader. A hyperlinked contents page makes it easy for the reader to dip in and out of the book while each 'page' is dedicated to a separate day. To further improve formatting, the illustrations from the printed edition have been omitted. We promise this does not detract from the reading experience. This ebook serves as the perfect accompaniment to the print edition. There are more than two hundred featured writers, with a short biography for each. The most famous diarist of all - Samuel Pepys - is there, as well as some of todayâ€™s finest diarists like Alan Bennett and Chris Mullin. There are coronations and executions, election riots and zeppelin raids, duels, dust-ups and drunken sprees, among everyday moments like Brian Eno cycling in Kilburn or George Eliot walking on Wimbledon Common. Vividly evoking moments in the lives of Londoners in the past, providing snapshots of the cityâ€™s inhabitants at work, at play, in pursuit of money, sex, entertainment, pleasure and power, the ebook of A London Year is the perfect read for all who live in or love this eternal, ever-changing city./div

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Page Count

609

Publisher

Frances Lincoln Adult

Published Date

ISBN 10

1781311447

ISBN 13

9781781311448

Making Haste from Babylon

The Mayflower Pilgrims and Their World: A New History

By: Nick Bunker

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Making Haste from Babylon

The Mayflower Pilgrims and Their World: A New History

By: Nick Bunker

At the end of 1618, a blazing green star soared across the night sky over the northern hemisphere. From the Philippines to the Arctic, the comet became a sensation and a symbol, a warning of doom or a promise of salvation. Two years later, as the Pilgrims prepared to sail across the Atlantic on board the Mayflower, the atmosphere remained charged with fear and expectation. Men and women readied themselves for war, pestilence, or divine retribution. Against this background, and amid deep economic depression, the Pilgrims conceived their enterprise of exile. Within a decade, despite crisis and catastrophe, they built a thriving settlement at New Plymouth, based on beaver fur, corn, and cattle. In doing so, they laid the foundations for Massachusetts, New England, and a new nation. Using a wealth of new evidence from landscape, archaeology, and hundreds of overlooked or neglected documents, Nick Bunker gives a vivid and strikingly original account of the Mayflower project and the first decade of the Plymouth Colony. From mercantile London and the rural England of Queen Elizabeth I and King James I to the mountains and rivers of Maine, he weaves a rich narrative that combines religion, politics, money, science, and the sea. The Pilgrims were entrepreneurs as well as evangelicals, political radicals as well as Christian idealists. Making Haste from Babylon tells their story in unrivaled depth, from their roots in religious conflict and village strife at home to their final creation of a permanent foothold in America.

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512

Publisher

Vintage

Published Date

ISBN 10

0307593002

ISBN 13

9780307593009

Dante's British Public

Readers and Texts, from the Fourteenth Century to the Present

By: Nick Havely

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Dante's British Public

Readers and Texts, from the Fourteenth Century to the Present

By: Nick Havely

This is the first account of Dante's reception in English to address full chronological span of that process. Individual authors and periods have been studied before, but Dante's British Public takes a wider and longer view, using a selection of vivid and detailed case studies to record and place in context some of the wider conversations about and appropriations of Dante that developed in Britain across more than six centuries, as access to his work extended and diversified. Much of the evidence is based on previously unpublished material in (for example) letters, journals, annotations and inventories and is drawn from archives in the UK and across the world, from Milan to Mumbai and from Berlin to Cape Town. Throughout, the role of Anglo-Italian cultural contacts and intermediaries in shaping the public understanding of Dante in Britain is given prominence - from clerics and merchants around Chaucer's time, through itinerant scholars, collectors and tourists in the early modern period, to the exiles and expatriates of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The final chapter brings the story up to the present, showing how the poet's work has been seen (from the fourteenth century onwards) as accessible to 'the many', and demonstrating some of the means by which Dante has reached a yet wider British public over the past century, particularly through translation, illustration, and various forms of performance.

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374

Publisher

OUP Oxford

Published Date

ISBN 10

0191034371

ISBN 13

9780191034374

The Ballad of Samuel Hewitt

By: Nick Tooke

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The Ballad of Samuel Hewitt

By: Nick Tooke

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The Porcupine's Quill

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0889844275

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9780889844278

Book's by Nick Tooke

The Ballad of Samuel Hewitt

The Ballad of Samuel Hewitt

Soldiers as Citizens

Soldiers as Citizens

The Making of Percy's Reliques

The Making of Percy's Reliques

The English Civil War

The English Civil War

Star Maps

Star Maps

Hanover and the British Empire, 1700-1837

Hanover and the British Empire, 1700-1837

Stories of Chaos

Stories of Chaos

The Encyclopedia of the Sword

The Encyclopedia of the Sword

Robin Hood

Robin Hood

A London Year

A London Year

Making Haste from Babylon

Making Haste from Babylon

Dante's British Public

Dante's British Public

The Ballad of Samuel Hewitt

The Ballad of Samuel Hewitt

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