Alumni Publications
Our alumni have been busy this year writing books. Here is a brief selection – look out for them in your local bookshop or find them online.
“Elizabeth de Burgh, Lady of Clare, was a remarkable woman. But wherein lay her remarkable nature?
True, she was well connected: the granddaughter of Edward I, and niece of Edward II. Some would say it was remarkable that she outlived three husbands and, indeed, she was three times a widow by the time she reached the probably not so tender age of twenty-six. On the death of Roger Damory in 1322, she was widowed for the last time. However, Elizabeth lived for a further thirty-eight years and it was during this period of her life that she was able to take greater control of her destiny.”
Visit this link to read the rest of John Woodhead’s (1966) review of For Her Good Estate: the Life of Elizabeth de Burgh, Lady of Clare, edited by Claire Barnes (1978) and available to purchase at barnes1.net/fghe. All proceeds go to the Friends of Clare Music.
Coup de Feu
Paul Bristow (1969)
Coup de Feu is a novella set in Paris, in the aftermath of the suppression of the revolutionary Commune in 1871. The book pits characters from his previous novels depicting the French Second Empire against the forces of hatred unleashed by the chaos of that year. The book is available from the Chislehurst Society."
UN Reform: 75 Years of Challenge and Change
Stephen Browne (1968)
The UN has been impacted by major changes in the balance of powers among its member states. This unique and insightful book offers detailed commentary on its historic effectiveness and reviews the capacity of the UN to reform and adapt to global challenges.
Richard Wagner in Paris
Jeremy Coleman (2007)
This study traces Wagner’s complex relationship with Paris from the 1830s to the “Paris” Tannhäuser (1861) through the lens of translation. How did his Parisian experiences influence his works and social character? And how did his desire for recognition in Paris square with his Germanness and with the related idea of a universally valid art?
England's Islands in a Sea of Troubles
David Cressy (1964)
England's Islands in a Sea of Troubles explores the jurisdictional disputes and cultural complexities in England's relationship with its island fringe from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century. It presents the Channel Islands, the Isle of Wight, Scilly, Man, Lundy, and others as troubled outposts that long remained strange, separate, and perversely independent.
Another Man
Leslie Croxford (1966)
Historian Frank Ward travels to a Spanish pueblo to celebrate his first published book, and discovers that Albert Speer’s wartime driver had convalesced there. Obsessively attempting to penetrate the mystery of Speer (the so-called "Good Nazi”), he ultimately seeks to become what Speer tried – but failed – to be: another man.
Setting the Med Ablaze: Churchill’s Secret North African Base
Peter Dixon (2005)
In this new companion to Guardians of Churchill’s Secret Army (2018), Dr Peter Dixon tells the stories of the men and women of the secret Massingham base. The Special Operations Executive set up the base to spearhead sabotage and subversion in the Mediterranean islands, occupied France and Fascist Italy.
Stony the Road: Reconstruction, White Supremacy, and the Rise of Jim Crow
Henry Louis Gates, Jr (1973)
A profound new rendering of the struggle by African-Americans for equality after the Civil War and the violent counter-revolution that resubjugated them, as seen through the prism of the war of images and ideas that have left an enduring racist stain on the American mind. Stony the Road is the companion book to Prof Gates’ latest documentary series, Reconstruction: America After The Civil War.
M-Boldened: Menopause Conversations We All Need to Have
Caroline Harris (1986)
Caroline Harris published this ground-breaking book on menopause with Flint Books, part of The History Press, for World Menopause Day on 18 October 2020. The book opens up discussion on a global scale, with expert and experiential essays and interviews from a wide range of perspectives.
The Faces
A A Khan (2018)
At Cambridge University, we follow the adventures of Elio Husseini who wakes up to strange goings on at night, while dealing with his tumultuous teenage years. In FantaBridge - Fantasy Cambridge - darkness is home to the spectres and phantoms of Cambridge's finest fellows, past and present, who roam the streets. When the 700th anniversary party is disrupted, and an evil plot by power-hungry people to turn the university upside down and cause havoc is discovered, Elio must race against time to save his world from ruin.
Schoenberg and Hollywood Modernism
Kenneth Marcus (1992)
In this interdisciplinary study, Kenneth Marcus explains how Schoenberg played a vital role in the modernist movement in Southern California through his pedagogy, compositions, and texts. Although scholars have often argued that he was an isolated composer who was ill-at-ease in exile, this book argues that Schoenberg had multiple connections to Hollywood as well as to academia, while negotiating the dialectic of acceptance and rejection in American society.
The Genesis Quest
Michael Marshall (1999)
How did life begin? Why are we here? These are some of the most profound questions we can ask. In The Genesis Quest, Michael Marshall shows how the quest to understand life’s beginning is also a journey to discover the true nature of life, and by extension our place in the universe.
‘A Typology of Direct Action at Sea’ in Non-Human Nature in World Politics: Theory and Practice
Teale Phelps Bondaroff (2009)
Direct action (DA) is a sometimes confrontational strategy employed by activists whereby they actively seek to bring about the change they want to see in the world. This chapter explores the diverse ways in which DA is used by marine conservation activists at sea, and organizes these strategies into a typology. It also explores the relationships between activists employing DA and states.
Nothing by Accident: Brazil on the Edge
Damien Platt (2011)
Nothing by Accident is about Rio de Janeiro over the last decade, derived largely from the author’s experiences living there, but also the dissertation he undertook while at Clare for his Master's, which focussed on an understudied but hugely powerful aspect of Brazilian organised crime. It also describes the conditions that saw the rise of Bolsonaro and led to the 2018 assassination of a popular city politician, Marielle Franco, a friend of the author.
The Persian War in Herodotus and Other Ancient Voices
William Shepherd (1964)
2,500 years ago Greek victory over the Persian Empire secured the future of Europe. This book interweaves Herodotus’ entire narrative of the war with other original source material and linking commentary to present almost all that is known about this immense clash of arms and bring it vividly to life.
A Birdwatching Guide to the Netherlands
Roger White (1957)
The book lists over 100 of the best birdwatching sites and with detailed colour maps and GPS describes how to reach them. There is information about finding the large flocks of wintering wildfowl and the huge numbers of migrant waders, as well as some of the special birds. These include Spoonbill, Bluethroat and Black Woodpecker
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