Fact vs. fiction

In conjunction with the Institute of Historical Research's November conference Novel Approaches, their online Reviews in History has been comparing works of academic history with novels set in the same period

Julia Lovell (Birkbeck College, University of London)) compares Mao's last revolution by Roderick MacFarquhar and Michael Schoenhols with Yu Hua's novel Brothers (Xiong di)

Click to read her REVIEWS

Mao's last revolution (Harvard UP, 2006) is available in SOAS Library at CC951.056 / 995530.
Click HERE to go to the catalogue entry
Brothers is available at the British Library

Dr Jenny Benham (from the IHR) compares Jonathan  Riley-Smith's classic The Crusades: a short history with the Swedish bestseller The Temple knight by Jan Guillou

Click to read her REVIEWS

The Crusades (2nd edition, 2005) is available in SOAS Library at NB909.07 / 933682
Click HERE to go to the catalogue entry
Try Foyles or Waterstones if you are intrigued by The Temple knight !

Jerusalem: the biography (book review)

Simon Sebag Montefiore's "Jerusalem : the biography" was  published in the U.K earlier this year. The book examines the history of the city from the earliest times to the present day.

Read the latest review in the New York Times Sunday Book Review 


Find the book in SOAS Library at QJ956.944 / 734184

Click here to view the Library catalogue

The Crusades and the Near East -cultural histories : Book review

Dr Jonathan Harris (Department of History, Royal Holloway College, University of London) reviews The Crusades and the Near East: cultural histories in the Institute of Historical Research's online Reviews in History
The book, edited by Dr Conor Kostick of Trinity College, Dublin, explores the cultural history of the Crusades and how they shaped European identities.

SOAS Library has copies at NB909.07 / 736679