Our 800th review was a double-header, with Robert Poole tackling two histories of popular protest, Katrina Navickas’s Loyalism and Radicalism in Lancashire 1798-1815 and Adrian Randall’s Riotous Assemblies: Popular Protest in Hanoverian England.

Then Rhonda Semple (no. 801) reviews Alison Twells’ The Civilising Mission and the English Middle Class, 1792-1850: The ‘Heathen’ at Home and Overseas, a study of missionary philanthropy both abroad and back in England. Alison’s response can also be found here.

Glenn Richardson’s edited collection ‘The Contending Kingdoms’: England and France 1420-1700 spans three centuries of contact between the two nations, and is reviewed (no. 802) by Simon Lambe.

There is also an account by Paul Flewers of British attitudes to the Soviet Union under Stalin, critiqued (no. 803) by Geoffrey Foote with a response by the author.

On a different note, Peter Webster reviews (no. 804) two volumes on early modern church music, Beth Quitslund’s The Reformation in Rhyme. Sternhold, Hopkins and the English Metrical Psalter, 1547-1603, and Humanism and the Reform of Sacred Music in Early Modern England. John Merbecke the Orator and The Booke of Common Praier Noted (1550) by Hyun-Ah Kim.

Next the medieval prison is the focus of a short and ambitious work by G. Geltner, The Medieval Prison: A Social History, which has been reviewed for us (no. 805) by Jonathan Rose.

The first full-length work on the history of adoption in England (A Child for Keeps: the History of Adoption in England, 1918-45 by Jenny Keating) is the subject of a piece (no. 806) by Daniel Grey, for which there is also a response by the author.

The next book under review examines the contradictory relationship between Americans and the British royal family, as Adam Smith (no. 808) tackles Frank Prochaska’s The Eagle and the Crown: Americans and the British Monarchy.

In addition Carolyn Kitching discusses (no. 810) a new book analysing the relation between British foreign policy and the formation of the League of Nations – Peter Yearwood’s Guarantee of Peace: The League of Nations in British Policy 1914-1925.

Lastly there feature two very different books on British history. To mark the 25th anniversary publication of a new edition Vernon Bogdanor reviews (no. 813) a key work of modern constitutional history, John F. Naylor’s A Man and an Institution: Sir Maurice Hankey, the Cabinet Secretariat and the Custody of Cabinet Secrecy, while elsewhere Kristina Straub’s Domestic Affairs: Intimacy, Eroticism, and Violence Between Servants and Masters in Eighteenth-Century Britain is discussed by Sarah Lloyd (no. 814), for which there is a response by the author.

As always, all comments or suggestions should be sent to danny.millum@sas.ac.uk.

1) work in original source materials in the humanities in the United Kingdom.
2) help doctoral candidates in the humanities to deepen their ability to develop knowledge from original sources.
3) provide insight from the viewpoint of doctoral candidates into how scholarly resources can be developed most helpfully in the future.

There are two types of Fellowship: Pre-dissertation and Dissertation. The Pre-dissertation Fellowship (stipend value USD $5,000) is offered for a maximum of 2 months and is intended to help candidates draw up and revise a dissertation proposal. Candidates must have completed their coursework and examinations prior to the start of the Fellowship. The Dissertation Fellowship (stipend value USD 25,000) is offered to candidates already working on their dissertation and who need to spend time in the United Kingdom to carry out archival research. These fellowships will run concurrently with the academic year (i.e. 1 October 2010 to 30 September 2011).

The closing date for receipt of applications, and supporting documentation, is 15 January 2010. Further details and forms may be obtained by using the link below.

http://www.history.ac.uk/awards/prizes#mellon

Please inform and encourage your doctoral students to apply for these fellowships, where appropriate. This is a valuable opportunity for students who would benefit from carrying out work in original source materials held in the United Kingdom, but who otherwise might not be able to undertake such extensive research.

If you wish to join a mailing list making you aware of the University of London’s academic resources and events,  send an email to James.Lees@sas.ac.uk.

For more information, contact

James Lees

Fellowship Officer
Institute of Historical Research
University of London
Senate House
Malet Street
London
WC1E 7HU

Tel: 0207 862 8747
Fax: 0207 862 8745

I am writing now to give you advance warning of the event, at which I hope very much you will wish to join us in some shape of form. We will be back in the South Block of Senate House, ie: using the Beveridge Hall and the surrounding reception area and galleries for the main events. Do let us know as soon as possible if you would like to be involved, and please pass on news of the conference to your colleagues and graduate students. Details of the cfp are below.

As always, we are grateful for your support, and may I thank those NABCS colleagues particularly for helping to make Cities in 2009 such a success. The Anglo-American conference has been running at the IHR since 1921 and is the main national history event of the academic calendar. This is a wonderful opportunity for us and for you to communicate to the wider history community some of the findings and concerns of the environmental sector past, present and future.

I shall be attending the NACBS in Louisville next month and looking forward to updating you with more news on the AA2010 and other IHR developments then.

Yours sincerely,

(Professor) Miles Taylor, 
Director of the Institute of Historical Research
Anglo-American Conference 2010: Environments
Call for papers now open at www.history.ac.uk/aac2010

For further details please contact: jennifer.wallis@sas.ac.uk

During his long career, he received grants from the Rockefeller Foundation, American Council of Learned Societies, the Guggenheim foundation, and the National Humanities Center. He was the editor of the Journal of British Studies from 1969-1974 and a member of the Royal Historical Society.

Professor Semmel received his BA from the College of the City of New York and his MA. And Ph.D from Columbia University. He began his teaching career in 1956 at Park College, Parkville, Missouri. In 1960 he joined the faculty of the Long Island Center of the State University of New York at Oyster Bay, which moved to its permanent home at Stony Brook in 1962. He chaired the department from 1966-1969. After he retired, he became a Distinguished Professor of History at the Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York. Throughout his career, he was a dedicated and inspiring teacher and mentor. His student, Mrinalini Sinha, praised him for his intellectual integrity, his demonstration through his own work that disciplinary boundaries are historically contingent, and his success in linking his principled traditionalism to a radically liberating view of the historian.

Semmel is survived by his wife Maxine, his son Stuart and daughter-in-law Tina, and four grandchildren. His family, friends, colleagues, and students will remember him as a tough-minded, but always generous and compassionate teacher, intellectual, and human being.

Barbara Harris with help from Mrinilini Sinha.

Additionally, The Southern Historical Association has compiled an excellent Louisville Restaurant Guide, which can be found at http://www.uga.edu/sha/meeting/dining_guide.pdf.  During the Conference, those who are interested can also visit the Local Arrangements Table of the Southern Historical Association in the Marriott, where they can find more information and some discount opportunities for downtown restaurants.

Finally, for further information on Louisville visit the Louisville Convention and Visitors Bureau web site at www.gotolouisville.com <http://www.gotolouisville.com/> .

Sincerely yours,

Lara Kriegel, NACBS Program Chair
Mark Lester, SCBS President and Local Arrangements Chair

First, Lynne Walker finds much of interest (no. 786) in Judith Neiswander’s new study of the popular literature of Victorian interior decoration, The Cosmopolitan Interior: Liberalism and the British Home 1870-1914.

Frank Turner then assesses (no. 787) Ruth Windscheffel’s attempt to find a new perspective on Gladstone through an examination of his reading habits, in Reading Gladstone.

We also have Hilda Kean’s critical take (no. 789) on A History of Attitudes and Behaviours toward Animals in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Britain. Anthropocentrism and the Emergence of Animals by Rob Boddice, whose reply can be found here.

Next Ariel Hessayon (no. 798) deals with a work which examines the period of gradual and informal Jewish readmission to England, Eliane Glaser’s Judaism without Jews: Philosemitism and Christian Polemic in Early Modern England. Her response can be read here.

Finally there is an amicable exchange (no. 799 and response) between Gareth Atkins and Richard Blake over the latter’s exploration of the increasing concern for spiritual and moral wellbeing in the British Navy in his Evangelicals in the Royal Navy, 1775–1815: Blue Lights and Psalm-Singers.

As ever, please feel free to send all comments, including suggestions for books you would like to see on Reviews in History to the deputy editor Danny Millum.