‘The Scum of the Earth’: What Happened to the Real British Heroes of Waterloo?

Colin Brown • £20
The History Press

The Scum of the Earth follows the men Wellington called just that from victory at Waterloo to a Regency Britain at war with itself, and explodes some of the myths on the way; such as that the defeat of Napoleon ended the threat of revolution spreading from France. Did the victorious soldiers return to a land fit for heroes? They did not. There was the first of the Corn Laws in the same year as the battle, there was famine and chronic unemployment. In 1819, the Peterloo massacre saw 15 killed and at least 500 injured when cavalry sabred a crowd demanding parliamentary reform. Peace in Europe perhaps for 50 years – but at home, repression and revolution in the air. And at the same time, the sheer exuberance of the Regency period, with new buildings, new art, even 17 new colonies more or less accidentally acquired.

By 1848 the whole of Europe was once more set for complete upheaval. In this book political editor Colin Brown moves away from an anniversary of misty-eyed backslapping to take a cold, hard look at the battle itself and its aftermath.

We Also Served: The Forgotten Women of the First World War

Vivien Newman • £19.99
Pen & Sword

We Also Served is a social history of women’s involvement in the First World War. Dr Vivien Newman unravels the myths and preconceptions surrounding women’s war work and seeks to inform contemporary readers of the countless acts of derring-do, determination, and quiet heroism by British women, that went on behind the scenes from 1914-1918.

As well as becoming nurses, munitions workers, and members of the Land Army, women were also ambulance drivers and surgeons; they served with the Armed Forces; funded and managed their own hospitals within sight and sound of the guns. At least one British woman bore arms, and over a thousand women lost their lives as a direct result of their involvement with the war.

This book lets these all but forgotten women speak directly to us of their war, their lives, and their stories.

Children’s Voices of the Second World War

Christina Rex • £8.99
Amberley Books

Throughout WW2, military manoeuvres, bombs and calls for dedication to the war effort became the normality for children. For them this was a time of great excitement. Imagine the thrill of soldiers and tanks in the streets, Anderson shelters built in back gardens and barbed wire sprouting on beaches, the Battle of Britain and those spectacular dogfights, the Blitz and masses of shrapnel to collect. From Dunkirk to D-Day, through Doodlebugs to Victory, this book explores the experiences of children under these bizarre circumstances.

Picturing Englandr

Mike Evans, Gary Winter & Anne Woodward • £45
Historic England

Photographers have taken pictures of England’s buildings and landscapes since the invention of the medium, making images of the traces of past societies as well as photographing the new buildings around them.

This book features over 300 striking photographs from the Historic England Archive, an unparalleled collection of 9 million images on England’s buildings and landscapes from the 1850s to the present. Viewed collectively, its photographic collections record the changing face of England from the beginning of photography to the present day. With informative essays and captions by the authors, this book will appeal to anyone with an interest in photography, architecture, archaeology or social history.