Reviews

Books of the Year 2023

Revolutions and rubles, godlings and fascist symbols, Shakespeare and silk: ten historians choose their favourite new history books of 2023.

Throwing shade: Camille Desmoulins speaks at the Palais-Royal on 12 July 1789, two days before the taking of the Bastille, by Jean-Louis Prieur, c.1790. Alamy Stock Photo.

‘The Revolutionary Temper’ by Robert Darnton review

The Revolutionary Temper: Paris, 1748-1789 by Robert Darnton is a sweeping account of events from the Parisian perspective, from disastrous wars to fights for religious toleration.

Cesar Chavez on march from with the United Farm Workers in Redondo Beach, California, 9 July 1975. The Regents of the University of California (CC BY-4.0).

‘Eli and the Octopus’ by Matt García review

Eli and the Octopus: The CEO Who Tried to Reform One of the World’s Most Notorious Corporations by Matt García is a human story amid mergers, sales, profits and losses.

‘Before the masquerade ball, 1922’ by Max Beckmann, a Weimar era artist branded ‘degenerate’ by the Nazis. Bavarian State Painting Collections - Modern Art Collection in the Pinakothek der Moderne Munich (CC BY-SA 4.0).

‘The Weimar Years’ by Frank McDonough review

The Weimar Years: Rise and Fall 1918-1933 by Frank McDonough is a lucid overview of Germany’s tumultuous interwar years.

Mortuary Chest at Winchester Cathedral, containing the remains of six Anglo-Saxon monarchs and two bishops. Amanda Slater (CC BY-SA 2.0).

‘The Bone Chests’ by Cat Jarman review

The Bone Chests: Unlocking the Secrets of the Anglo-Saxons by Cat Jarman is an enthusiastic guide through England’s early medieval past.

‘The Courtship of Anne Boleyn’ by Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze, c. 1846. Smithsonian American Art Museum. Public Domain.

Hunting the Falcon by John Guy and Julia Fox review

Hunting the Falcon: Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn and the Marriage That Shook Europe by John Guy and Julia Fox is a well-told account that shies away from debate.

A nursing mother in ‘The Third Class Carriage’ by Honoré Daumier, c. 1862-64. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public Domain.

Confinement by Jessica Cox review

Confinement: The Hidden History of Maternal Bodies in Nineteenth-Century Britain by Jessica Cox looks at the engine of the Victorian population boom: motherhood.

A Roma camp on the outskirts of paris by photographer Eugène Atget, c. 1913

Europe and the Roma by Klaus-Michael Bogdal review

Klaus-Michael Bogdal’s Europe and the Roma: A History of Fascination and Fear is a history of a people’s battle to tell their own story on their own terms.