‘Investment in Blood’: Frank Ledwidge on the cost of the Afghanistan war
Investment in Blood, the latest book by Frank Ledwidge, analyses the cost – both financial and human – of Britain’s involvement in the Afghanistan war. With the aid of interviews, on-the-ground research and countless Freedom of Information requests, he pieces together the enormous burden the Afghan intervention has placed on the shoulders of British soldiers and their … Read more
The Anglo-Saxon World: From Roman Retreat to Norman Takeover
The Anglo-Saxon period witnessed the birth of the English people, the establishment of Christianity, and the development of the English language. With an extraordinary cast of characters (Alfred the Great, the Venerable Bede, King Cnut), a long list of artistic and cultural achievements (‘Beowulf’, ‘the Sutton Hoo ship-burial’ finds, the ‘Bayeux Tapestry’), and multiple dramatic … Read more
China’s Innovation Hurdle: Author Article by Lyric Hughes Hale
Drawing on extensive research and experience living and working in Asia over the last thirty-five years, Stumbling Giant by Timothy Beardson spells out China’s situation: an inexorable demographic future of a shrinking labour force, relentless ageing, extreme gender disparity, and even a falling population. Also, the nation faces social instability, a devastated environment, a predominantly … Read more
My Backyard Jungle – A Conversation with James Barilla
For James Barilla and his family, the dream of transforming their Columbia, South Carolina backyard into a haven for wildlife evoked images of kids catching grasshoppers by day and fireflies at night, of digging up potatoes and picking strawberries. When they signed up with the National Wildlife Federation to certify their yard as a wildlife … Read more
Edwardian Opulence: ‘The Gown’ by Angus Trumble
Views of the Edwardian era have swung between seeing the period as a golden summer afternoon of imperial and elite complacency and the starkly conflicting depiction of the decade as one of intense political, economic, and artistic instability leading up to the chasm of the First World War. Edwardian Opulence by Angus Trumble explores themes … Read more
