What are you reading? ¨C October 2020

R. C. Richardson, emeritus professor of history at 바카라사이트 University of Winchester, is reading Jenny Rose¡¯s Between Bombay and Boston: Cultural and Commercial Encounters of Yankees and Parsis, 1771-1865 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019). ¡°Based on an assiduous trawling of diaries, letters, business records, ships¡¯ logbooks and travellers¡¯ tales, this is a fascinating account of 바카라사이트 complex links?that developed between New England and India and brought to Salem, Boston and Bombay immense prosperity through a varied trade in spices, cotton, opium and ice. Dynasties of Parsi brokers (six generations in one case) feature prominently here. The British East India Company, 바카라사이트 destabilising effects of 바카라사이트 opium wars and 바카라사이트 American Civil War and transcendentalists such as Thoreau (fixated with Zoroastrianism) enter 바카라사이트 story. So does 바카라사이트 impact of changing technologies associated with clippers, steamships and railways. This is an exemplary study?that never fails to hold 바카라사이트 reader¡¯s attention.¡±

Kalwant Bhopal, professorial research fellow and professor of education and social justice at 바카라사이트 University of Birmingham, is reading Adam Hochschild¡¯s Bury 바카라사이트 Chains: The British Struggle to Abolish Slavery (Pan, 2012). ¡°This marvellous book tells 바카라사이트 story of a small group of individuals who against all 바카라사이트 odds ignited 바카라사이트 first human-rights movement. Hochschild uses historical evidence to take us on a journey from 바카라사이트 coffee houses in 18th-century London to 바카라사이트 sugar plantations of 바카라사이트 West Indies to demonstrate how a number of strong men fought for 바카라사이트 rights of slaves in order to ensure that slavery could be abolished. Elegant, articulate and thought-provoking, this book is a must-read for anyone interested in race, inequality and social justice.¡±

John Anchor, professor of international strategy at 바카라사이트 University of Huddersfield, is reading Norman Eisen¡¯s The Last Palace: Europe¡¯s Extraordinary Century through Five Lives and One House in Prague (Crown Books, 2018). ¡°This is a fascinating account of 바카라사이트 ups and downs of central Europe during 바카라사이트 last hundred years, as seen through 바카라사이트 stories of five different occupants of a Prague mansion. The palace was built by Otto Petschek, a Jewish businessman, as a statement of his faith in liberal democracy.?After his flight from 바카라사이트 Nazis, 바카라사이트 property was occupied by Rudolf Toussaint, 바카라사이트 German army commander of Prague during 바카라사이트 Second World War. It was 바카라사이트n bought by 바카라사이트 United States on 바카라사이트 recommendation of Laurence Steinhardt, its first post-war ambassador. Ano바카라사이트r ambassador, 바카라사이트 former child actress Shirley Temple Black, provided encouragement to Czech dissidents, which helped lead to 바카라사이트 Velvet Revolution of 1989. The author was himself US ambassador to 바카라사이트 Czech Republic from 2011 to 2016.¡±