Tag Archives: Britain

The Battle of the Atlantic

Posted on November 5, 2015 by smellincoffee

The Battle of Britain © 1977 Barrie Pitt, series editor William Goolrick 208 pages Time-Life History of WW2 Long before panzers roared through Paris and Stukas littered the fields of France with burned-out machines, the Phony War existed only in … Continue reading →

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V for Vendetta

Posted on November 4, 2015 by smellincoffee

V for Vendetta© 1988 Alan Moore and David Lloyd300 pages Remember, remember the Fifth of November.  The Britain of 1998 is a nation that has lost its spirit,. After nuclear war and crop failures, widespread disorder was quelled only by … Continue reading →

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Battle of Britain

Posted on October 28, 2015 by smellincoffee

Battle of Britain© 1980 Len Deighton224 pages “When I told them that Britain would fight on alone, whatever [the French] did, their generals told their  prime minister and his divided cabinet, ‘In three weeks England will have its neck wrung … Continue reading →

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The Eagle’s Conquest

Posted on September 10, 2015 by smellincoffee

The Eagle’s Conquest© 2002 Simon Scarrow320 pages In Under the Eagle,  Simon Scarrow introduced readers to two legionnaires:  Macro, a grizzled veteran, and Cato, a young bookish sort straight from Rome , a boy made an officer  because of his … Continue reading →

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Here be Dragons

Posted on September 8, 2015 by smellincoffee

Here be Dragons © 1985 Sharon Penman 700 pages               Here Be Dragons takes readers to the Welsh Marches in 13th century England. King John, remembered for losing England’s ancestral holdings in France and being gelded by his own barons … Continue reading →

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American Colonies

Posted on June 13, 2015 by smellincoffee

American Colonies: The Settling of North America© 2001 Alan Taylor526 pages           American Colonies is a sweeping history of the New World,  one that attempts to convey the full American experience, beginning with the arrival of … Continue reading →

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The English People on the Eve of Colonization

Posted on June 8, 2015 by smellincoffee

The English People on the Eve of Colonization© 1954 Wallace Notestein302 pages    If there was ever an exemplar for not judging a book by its cover, The English People on the Eve of Colonization is it. The binding is … Continue reading →

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The Wars of the Roses

Posted on May 25, 2015 by smellincoffee

The Wars of the Roses© 1996 Alison Weir496 pages The wars of the roses sounds like a gardening contest run amok, but no genteel horticulturists were involved.  The strange appellation refers to a series of dynastic crises in 15th century … Continue reading →

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The Fall of Saxon England

Posted on May 7, 2015 by smellincoffee

The Fall of Saxon England© 1975 Richard Humble242 pages History never rests. In the middle of the first millennium, the great tide of the Roman Empire began at last to recede. Its legions stationed in distant reaches of the realm, … Continue reading →

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Faith and Treason

Posted on May 2, 2015 by smellincoffee

Faith and Treason: The Story of the Gunpowder Plot© 1997 Antonia Frasier384 pages        Remember, remember, the Fifth of November, the gunpowder treason and plot….or, as contemporaries called it, the Powder Plot.   Its scale, for the 16th … Continue reading →

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