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We regularly review history books as well as historical fiction. We are always looking for review submissions and also maintain a list of books available for review.
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Raiders, Rulers, and Traders: The Horse and the Rise of Empires
The Silk Road may have carried the world’s most luxurious fabrics for trade, but it was paved with horses’ hooves. From the Bronze Age to the 20th century, the empires of China, Persia, India, and Mongolia conquered astride the backs of horses...
Book Review
Humsafar: The World of Urdu Poetry
“Humsafar” is an Urdu word which means "companion." True to its name, this book acts as a friend to guide the audience through the complex world of Urdu poetry. Hitesh Gupta Aadil is an Urdu language and literature enthusiast and translator...
Book Review
The Lost Queen: The Surprising Life of Catherine of Braganza―the Forgotten Queen Who Bridged Two Worlds
British author, Sophie Shorland, a former Research Fellow at the University of Warwick, takes a very friendly approach to describe the difficult life of King Charles II's Queen Consort, the Portuguese Catherine of Braganza. Shorland's audience...
Book Review
Southern Europe in the Age of Revolutions
From the outbreak of war in the 13 British North American colonies in 1775 to the conflicts that erupted throughout the Spanish New World colonies in the 1810s, revolutions convulsed the Atlantic World for half a century. The power and consequences...
Book Review
The Fabric of Civilization: How Textiles Made the World
In The Fabric of Civilization: How Textiles Made the World, Virginia Postrel expertly demonstrates how the history of textiles is the story of human progress. Although textiles have shaped society in many ways, their central role in the development...
Book Review
Embodied Histories: New Womanhood in Vienna, 1894–1934
When first picking up this book, the reader might not expect to stumble upon police reports regarding wrongful arrests of Viennese women at the turn of the century. As a contemporary reader, what is provided on the pages of Katya Motyl’s...
Book Review
Trafficking with Demons: Magic, Ritual, and Gender from Late Antiquity to 1000
Martha Rampton’s two primary goals with this book were to define in specific terms what “magic” meant and to examine how that meaning changed over time. She divides the book into four parts, with the last three focusing on specific time periods...
Book Review
Twilight Cities: Lost Capitals of the Mediterranean
Twilight Cities: Lost Capitals of the Mediterranean is Katherine Pangonis’s second book, with her first being Queens of Jerusalem: The Women Who Dared to Rule (2021). Twilight Cities is dedicated to the history of five prominent and "lost"...
Book Review
Alexandria: The City that Changed the World
The book begins with Alexandria's founding by Alexander the Great after he conquered the Persian Empire. Like its legendary namesake, the city was destined for fame. Its strategic and symbolic value made it a coveted prize of world conquerors...
Book Review
The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper
The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper takes a refreshing approach by focusing on the lives of the women believed to be victims of the notorious killer rather than simply on their deaths. Unlike typical ripperology...