The Right to Dress: Sumptuary Laws in a Global Perspective, c.1200-1800, edited by Professor Giorgio Riello (University of Warwick) and Professor Ulinka Rublack (University of Cambridge), is a new edited volume published by Cambridge University Press.

This is the first global history of dress regulation and its place in broader debates around how human life and societies should be visualised and materialised. Sumptuary laws were a tool on the part of states to regulate not only manufacturing systems and moral economies via the medium of expenditure and consumption of clothing but also banquets, festivities and funerals. Leading scholars on Asian, Latin American, Ottoman and European history shed new light on how and why items of dress became key aspirational goods across society, how they were lobbied for and marketed, and whether or not sumptuary laws were implemented by cities, states and empires to restrict or channel trade and consumption. Their findings reveal the significance of sumptuary laws in medieval and early modern societies as a site of contestation between individuals and states and how dress as an expression of identity developed as a modern 'human right'.

Details of all the monographs and edited collection of the Warwick University History Department's current academic staff are available online, and the details of all the monographs and edited collection of the Warwick University History Department's emeritus academic staff are also available online.

 
Beyond the Barricades by Dr Anna Ross is an original study of government after the 1848 revolutions. It focuses on the state of Prussia, where a number of conservative ministers sought to learn lessons from their experiences of upheaval and introduce a wave of reform in the 1850s. Using extensive archival research, the work explores Prussia's entry into the constitutional age, charting initiatives to transform criminal justice, agriculture, industry, communications, urban life, and the press. Reform strengthened contact with the Prussian population, making this a classic episode of state-building, but Beyond the Barricades seeks to go further. It makes a case for taking notice of government activity at this particular juncture because the measures endorsed by conservative statesmen in the 1850s sought to remove the feudal intermediaries that had lingered long into the nineteenth century and replace them with an array of government institutions, legal regimes, and official practices. In sum, this book recasts the post-revolutionary decade as a period which saw the transition from an old to a new world, pivotal to the making of modern Prussia and ultimately, modern Germany.

Details of all the monographs and edited collection of the Warwick University History Department's current academic staff are available online, and the details of all the monographs and edited collection of the Warwick University History Department's emeritus academic staff are also available online.

Race and Riots in Thatcher's Britain by Dr Simon Peplow will be published on Friday 25th January 2019 by Manchester University Press.

This powerful and original book locates the anti-police violence that spread across England in 1980-1 within a longer struggle against racism and disadvantage faced by black Britons, which had seen a growth in more militant forms of resistance since the Second World War. It explains these disturbances as 'collective bargaining by riot' - attempts to increase political inclusion by this marginalised group. Through case studies of Bristol, Brixton and Manchester, the book explores the actions of community organisations in the aftermath of disorders. Highlighting the political activities of black Britons and the often-problematic reliance upon 'official' sources when forming historical narratives, it demonstrates the contested value awarded to public inquiries - contrastingly viewed by black Britons as either a method for increased political participation or simply a governmental diversionary tactic.

Details of all the monographs and edited collection of the Warwick University History Department's current academic staff are available online, and the details of all the monographs and edited collection of the Warwick University History Department's emeritus academic staff are also available online.

 I Am Waiting For You to Come Back: Family Wartime Diaries (Čekám až se vrátíš. Rodinné deníky z války) is a new book edited by Dr Anna Hájková.

In the six months he spent in hiding in Prague prior to his arrest in August 1944, the Jewish Communist resistance fighter, Jany Lebovič, kept a diary. Jany was deported to Auschwitz and shot upon arrival. At the time of Jany’s arrest, the Nazis deported the mother of Jany’s friend, Pavla Hájková, for supporting this resistance group. Pavla was liberated from a Ravensbrück satellite camp, and throughout the months following her liberation, Pavla kept a diary testifying to her difficult return trip through a destroyed Germany to Prague, her new beginning in Prague, and her slow realization that her husband would never return. For Jany and Pavla, diary-writing represented a means of communicating with their beloved partners, from whom they were separated by the Nazis. These unique documents speak about the Holocaust, concentration camps, Communist resistance, and love in wartime. This edition of these two family diaries is accompanied by the editor’s historical introduction and critical commentary, memories of Pavla’s and Jany’s relatives, and photographs from family archives.

Details of all the monographs and edited collection of the Warwick University History Department's current academic staff are available online, and the details of all the monographs and edited collection of the Warwick University History Department's emeritus academic staff are also available online.

 
The Caribbean: A Brief History by Emeritus Professor Gad Heuman has been republished as a Third Edition by Bloomsbury.

In this new edition of his crucial introduction to Caribbean history, Gad Heuman provides a comprehensive overview of the region's history, from its earliest inhabitants to contemporary political and cultural developments. Topics covered include: - The Amerindians - Sugary and Slavery - Race, Racism and Equality - The Aftermath of Emancipation - The Revolutionary Caribbean - Cultures of the Caribbean This third edition has been updated to reflect the latest developments in the literature, and takes into account important recent events including the rapprochement between the U.S. and Cuba, the ongoing problem of climate change and the threat of the Zika virus. The companion website, which includes chapter questions, primary documents, a timeline and link to relevant websites, has also been updated with new material. The book considers not only of the political and social struggles that have shaped the Caribbean, but also provides a sense of the development of the region's culture. The Caribbean: A Brief History is ideal for all students seeking a clear and readable introduction to Caribbean history.

Details of all the monographs and edited collection of the Warwick University History Department's current academic staff are available online, and the details of all the monographs and edited collection of the Warwick University History Department's emeritus academic staff are also available online.
 

 
The Nonviolent Struggle for Indian Freedom, 1905-19 is a new book by Emeritus Professor David Hardiman.

Much of the recent surge in writing about the practice of nonviolent forms of resistance has focused on movements that occurred after the end of the Second World War, many of which have been extremely successful. Although the fact that such a method of resistance was developed in its modern form by Indians is acknowledged in this writing, there has not until now been an authoritative history of the role of Indians in the evolution of the phenomenon. Celebrated historian David Hardiman shows that while nonviolence is associated above all with the towering figure of Mahatma Gandhi, ‘passive resistance’ was already being practised by nationalists in British-ruled India, though there was no principled commitment to nonviolence as such. It was Gandhi, first in South Africa and then in India, who evolved a technique that he called ‘satyagraha’. His endeavours saw ‘nonviolence’ forged as both a new word in the English language, and a new political concept. This book conveys in vivid detail exactly what nonviolence entailed, and the formidable difficulties that the pioneers of such resistance encountered in the years 1905-19.

Details of all the monographs and edited collection of the Warwick University History Department's current academic staff are available online, and the details of all the monographs and edited collection of the Warwick University History Department's emeritus academic staff are also available online.

Child Protection in England, 1960-2000: Expertise, Experience, and Emotion is a new book by Dr Jennifer Crane, Research Fellow for the Wellcome Trust Senior Investigator Award "The Cultural History of the NHS" at the Warwick University History Department.

This book explores how children, parents, and survivors reshaped the politics of child protection in late twentieth-century England. Activism by these groups, often manifested in small voluntary organisations, drew upon and constructed an expertise grounded in experience and emotion that supported, challenged, and subverted medical, social work, legal, and political authority. New forms of experiential and emotional expertise were manifested in politics - through consultation, voting, and lobbying - but also in the reshaping of everyday life, and in new partnerships formed between voluntary spokespeople and media. While becoming subjects of, and agents in, child protection politics over the late twentieth century, children, parents, and survivors also faced barriers to enacting change, and the book traces how long-standing structural hierarchies, particularly around gender and age, mediated and inhibited the realisation of experiential and emotional expertise.

 
The Emotional Politics of the Alternative Left: West Germany, 1968-1984 is a new book by Dr Joachim Häberlen of the Warwick University History Department, published by Cambridge University Press.

In the 1970s, a multifaceted alternative scene developed in West Germany. At the core of this leftist scene was a struggle for feelings in a capitalist world that seemed to be devoid of any emotions. Joachim C. Häberlen offers here a vivid account of these emotional politics. The book discusses critiques of rationality and celebrations of insanity as an alternative. It explores why capitalism made people feel afraid and modern cities made people feel lonely. Readers are taken to consciousness raising groups, nude swimming at alternative vacation camps, and into the squatted houses of the early 1980s. Häberlen draws on a kaleidoscope of different voices to explore how West Germans became more concerned with their selves, their feelings, and their bodies. By investigating how leftists tried to transform themselves through emotional practices, Häberlen gives us a fresh perspective on a fascinating aspect of West German history.

Details of all the monographs and edited collection of the Warwick University History Department's academic staff are available online.