Boyd Tonkin at the Independent thought that the recent paperback edition of Summer of Blood was a ’swift and thrilling close-up history of the Peasants’ Revolt’. You can read his generous review here.
Archive for the ‘Rampant self-aggrandisation’ Category
March 18th, 2010
Churchilliana
Winston Churchill
Here’s a link to my lead review from this week’s Spectator. I discuss three recent books about Sir Winston Churchill, attempting to get to grips with his views on Empire (’I have not become the King’s First Minister in order to preside over the liquidation of the British Empire’) and race (’I hate people with slit eyes and pig-tails’), as well as his attitudes towards standing up (best avoided) and his mother’s predilection for ‘dinner or tea or sex’ with members of the royal family.
Enjoy.
March 7th, 2010
Summer of Blood paperback reviews
Two little plugs for the paperback edition of Summer of Blood, released this week, have appeared in The Telegraph and The Times.
February 12th, 2010
Give a clown a gun and whaddya got?
February 11th, 2010
‘Summer of Blood’ in paperback
My first book, “Summer of Blood: The Peasants’ Revolt of 1381″, is released in paperback on March 4th. You can pre-order it here. It looks rather natty in soft-cover.
February 10th, 2010
Vampires: Why They Bite
If you want to have another look at tonight’s BBC3 show, ‘Vampires: Why They Bite’, which was presented by the brilliant Lisa Hilton, then jog on over to BBC iPlayer. You will spot me banging on about the historical significance of the vampire myth at several points.
December 23rd, 2009
Summer of Blood: a book of the year
Kind words of praise for Summer of Blood from the brilliant Lisa Hilton in the Independent a few weeks back. Click here to read.
(Choice cut: “an alliance of sound scholarship and sexy writing which makes this first popular account of our most famous class war essential reading.”)
June 9th, 2009
The Today programme (redux)
It was interesting to hear it reported twice on this morning’s Today programme that the group of Labour rebels mustering forces for a fatal attack on Gordon Brown have dubbed themselves members of ‘the peasants’ revolt’. In terms of sheer upheaval - ‘the world turned upside down’ - the analogy between the (literally) bloody summer of 1381 and the (metaphorically) bloody summer of 2009 seems less and less fanciful by the day.
Of course, what was notable about the 1381 revolt was that it was a genuine expression of popular anger, led in the most part by community leaders from the localities and aimed against the political classes as a whole. What we are seeing in parliament today is factional infighting as an incumbent political party tries to save itself from precisely that fate.
Indeed, there is an argument to say that Labour MPs claiming to be the inheritors of Wat Tyler are actually as crass as the bunkered Brownites. The MPs aiming to oust their leader are doing so in order to limit the damage done to their party when the country finally goes to the polls in a general election. In other words, they wish to dampen as far as possible the electorate’s inclination to wreak full revenge on the government - at the ballot box, rather than the chopping block.
June 9th, 2009
My Evening Standard column
I am covering Sam Leith’s beat while he’s away. Read my Evening Standard column here. Enjoyment guaranteed, or your money back. I can say that, now the Evening Standard is free.