An eloquent counterpoint to the senselessness and inhumanity of war, In Flanders Fields tells the story of a young homesick World War I soldier who risks his life to cross the no-man's-land and rescue a robin caught in the barbed wire that separates the opposing forces.

Brian Harrison never wanted to be a famous writer, and so far, he’s succeeded. Brian retired in 2018 and was living free and easy when a life altering event occurred. His wife handed him the dreaded honey-do-list. It was a comprehensive list of things he didn’t want to do. This book is his excuse for not doing them. Harrison’s stories fit into the tradition of quirky, humorous, and reflective stories, blending everyday anecdotes with satirical, sometimes whimsical elements. His stories are...

The first major account of this transformative period in the history of Great BritainBetween 1990 and 2020, the United Kingdom experienced tension between unparalleled social change and a pragmatic political culture which sought continuity, compromise and gradualism. Thatcher’s legacy was slowly digested, Blair’s ‘New Labour’ thoroughly scrutinized and the decision was made after forty-seven years to leave the European Union. The UK’s long-established major institu...

The British feminist movement has often been studied, but so far nobody has written about its opponents. Dr Harrison argues that British feminism cannot be understood without appreciating the strength and even the contemporary plausibility of ‘the Antis’, as the opponents of women’s suffrage were called.In a fully documented approach which combines political with social history, he unravels the complex politics, medical, diplomatic and social components of the anti-suffrage mind, a...

In this, the first of two self-standing volumes bringing The New Oxford History of England up to the present, Brian Harrison begins in 1951 with much of the empire intact and with Britain enjoying high prestige in Europe. The United Kingdom could still then claim to be a great power, whose welfare state exemplified compromise between Soviet planning and the USA’s free market. When the volume ends in 1970, no such claims carried conviction. The empire had gone, central planning was...

The British constitution is regarded as unique among the constitutions of the world. What are the main characteristics of Britain's peculiar constitutional arrangements? How has the British constitution altered in response to the changing nature of its state - from England, to Britain, to the United Kingdom? What impact has the UK's developing relations with the European Union caused? These are some of the questions that Martin Loughlin addresses in this Very Short Introduction. As a const...

Charles Stewart Parnell is the most enigmatic figure in Irish history. An Anglo-Irish landlord from a distinguished Wicklow family, he became the most unlikely leader of Irish nationalism imaginable.He hated the colour green. He was not a dynamic speaker. He was cold and aloof and lacked the popular touch. None the less, from the late 1870s until his fall and death in 1891, he held the whole of Ireland spellbound.He established Home Rule for Ireland – previously a taboo sub...

In 1739, the London Foundling Hospital opened its doors to take in the abandoned children of the city. It was the culmination of seventeen years of campaigning by Captain Thomas Coram, driven by his horror at seeing children die in the streets. He was supported in his endeavours by a royal charter and by William Hogarth and George Frideric Handel. The Hospital would continue as both home and school for over 215 years, raising thousands of children until they could be appre...

The seminal history of Ireland’s most unusual century, thoroughly updated for the new millennium.With its starting point the bloody creation of the Irish Free State in 1922, Ireland: A Social and Cultural History explores how Irish identity has shifted across eighty years of unprecedented change and violence. What was the legacy of De Valera and Sinn Fein – or of remaining neutral during the Second World War? What were the effects of the establishment of a formally recognised Repub...

At the height of the Scottish Independence debate, After Independence offers an in-depth and varied exploration of the possibilities for Scotland, from both pro and anti-independence standpoints. Drawing together over two dozen leading minds on the subject, After Independence offers a comprehensive and balanced analysis of Scotland's current and prospective political, economic, social and cultural situation. Brought together in an inclusive, accessible and informative way, After Independen...

This book is an overview of the struggle for women to gain the vote in Great Britain and explores who the women were that formed and led or became members of the women's suffrage movement. Early campaigners and pressure groups in the nineteenth century led to the formation of National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies in 1897; many women within this group became increasingly frustrated with the lack of progress in their campaign to win the vote and, led by Emmeline Pankhurst, they broke ...

This year marks the centenary of Harold Wilson’s birth, the fiftieth anniversary of his most impressive general election victory and forty years since his dramatic resignation as Prime Minister. He was one of the longest-serving premiers of the twentieth century, having won a staggering four general elections, yet, despite this monumental record, his place in Labour’s history remains somewhat ambiguous.By the end of his two periods in power, both the left and right of the party were...