New reviews: Robert the Bruce, Wellington, pain and the Niger

As I’m sure you all know, it’s referendum day, and as well as marking the occasion with a relevant review (see below) I hoped to bring you breaking news from the polls, have texted my BBC correspondent pal earlier to ask how it was going. Just got his reply a few minutes ago – ‘Been up Arthur’s Seat. Sweaty’. I don’t think that really counts as a scoop…

Anyway, thanks to a super-quick turnaround from reviewer Fiona Watson and the author, we’ve got a discussion for you of Michael Penman’s new bookRobert the Bruce: King of the Scots, an excellent work that shines a light on some extremely murky corners of history (no. 1658, with response here).

To a quintessentially British figure now, with Rory Muir’s Wellington: The Path to Victory, 1769-1814.Kevin Linch and the author discuss an outstanding achievement – the definitive biography of Wellington (no. 1657, with response here).

Then we turn to The Story of Pain: From Prayer to Painkillers by Joanna Bourke. Jennifer Crane enjoys a detailed, thought-provoking and fascinating piece of historical scholarship (no. 1656).

Finally we have David Lambert’s Mastering the Niger: James MacQueen’s African Geography & the Struggle over Atlantic Slavery, and James Poskett hails an accomplished and creative account of the troubling connections between Atlantic slavery and geographical knowledge in the 19th century (no. 1655).

http://blog.history.ac.uk/2014/09/new-reviews-robert-the-bruce-wellington-pain-and-the-niger/

arrrghhh I already have 8 books by the side of the bed and you give me more????? Mr. C will not be best pleased lol x

You can never have enough books me Lady.xx

all I can say is thank God my district dies inter library loans.....