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With the publication of Brian Gibbons's Jacobean City Comedy thirty-five years ago, the urban satires by Ben Jonson, John Marston and Thomas Middleton attained their 'official status as a Renaissance subgenre' that was distinct, by its farcical humour and ironic tone, from 'citizen comedy' or 'London drama' more generally. This retrospective genre-building has proved immensely fruitful in the study of early modern English drama; and although city comedies may not yet rival Shakespeare's plays in the amount of editorial work and critical acclaim they receive, both the theatrical contexts and the dramatic complexity of the genre itself, and its interrelations with Shakespearean drama justly command an increasing level of attention. Looking at a broad range of plays written between the 1590s and the 1630s - master-pieces of the genre like Eastward Ho, A Trick to Catch the Old One, The Dutch Courtesan and The Devil is an Ass, blends of romance and satire like The Shoemaker's Holiday and The Knight of the Burning Pestle, and bourgeois oddities in the Shakespearean manner like The London Prodigal - the twelve essays in this volume re-examine city comedy in the light of recently foregrounded historical contexts such as early modern capitalism, urban culture, the Protestant Reformation, and playhouse politics. Further, they explore the interrelations between city comedy and Shakespearean comedy both from the perspective of author rivalry and in terms of modern adaptations: the twenty-first-century concept of 'popular Shakespeare' (above all in the movie sector) seems to realign the comparatively time- and placeless Shakespearean drama with the gritty, noisy and bustling urban scene that has been city comedy's traditional preserve.
This is an innovative biography about an adventurous, game-changing traveller in Africa during the West’s ‘Enlightenment’ period (when the American and French Revolutions occurred). James Bruce was not what he seemed to be. I can now reveal that although he was notorious in his own day for a variety of interesting reasons (including his alleged theft of his assistant’s art-work), he was basically an espionage agent working with a clique of powerful, mostly British, persons whose secret agenda was: to eradicate slaving. Bruce undertook a ‘subversive’ mission to investigate slave trafficking across the Mediterranean and Red Seas as well as the Atlantic in order to support his friends’ drive to destroy the principal source of their own country’s wealth. This was achieved in 1807. Like Bruce himself, in my book I address neglected aspects of the ancient habit of slavery and the related abuse of —particularly —women. Bruce’s Travels (1790) is a delightful —although massive —read. Therefore I sketch the geo-historical and faith background to Bruce’s work, convey the ‘feel’ of his book, and add to the known facts of his life a great deal of newly discovered material. This includes the international range of Bruce’s friends and collaborators, from Rome to Cairo to Bethlehem in the newly constituted U.S.A. Change is agonisingly slow to take hold. It was possibly because Bruce ‘only’ wrote about Africa that he has been trivialised, and his biography has never previously been fully responsibly researched.
In "Spies of the Kaiser: Plotting the Downfall of England," William Le Queux presents a gripping tale of espionage and political intrigue set during a time of heightened tensions between Germany and England. Written in a fast-paced and suspenseful style, Le Queux's work delves into the clandestine operations of German spies planning to overthrow the British government. This novel, published in 1909, reflects the fears and anxieties of the era leading up to World War I, where the threat of foreign invasion loomed large. Through intricate plot twists and detailed descriptions, the author offers readers a glimpse into the shadowy world of international espionage and the lengths to which spies would go in pursuit of their objectives. Le Queux's narrative skillfully captures the paranoia and uncertainty of the period, keeping readers on the edge of their seats until the very end. William Le Queux, a prolific writer and journalist, was known for his works of popular fiction that often focused on themes of espionage and political conspiracy. As a keen observer of world events, Le Queux's background in journalism and travel likely inspired his interest in writing about the geopolitical tensions of his time. His ability to blend real-world events with thrilling storytelling cemented his reputation as a master of the spy thriller genre. For readers interested in a gripping tale of espionage set against the backdrop of historical events, "Spies of the Kaiser: Plotting the Downfall of England" is a must-read. Le Queux's meticulous attention to detail and compelling narrative make this novel a captivating exploration of the darker side of international relations and the high stakes of political machinations.
By 1840, the epistolary novel was dead. Letters in Victorian fiction, however, were unmistakably alive. Postal Plots explores how Victorian postal reforms unleashed a new and sometimes unruly population into the Victorian literary marketplace where they threatened the definition and development of the Victorian literary professional.
Britain’s secret state exists to protect her from ‘enemies within’. It has always aroused controversy; on the one hand it is credited with preventing wars, revolutions and terrorism and on the other it is accused of subverting democratically elected governments and luring innocents to death. What is the true story? The book, first published in 1992, delves beneath the myths and deceptions surrounding the secret service to reveal the true nature and significance of covert political policing in Britain, from the ‘spies and bloodites’ of the eighteenth century to today’s MI5. This title will be of interest to students of modern history and politics.
My name is Peter Grant and until January I was just probationary constable in that mighty army for justice known to all right-thinking people as the Metropolitan Police Service (and as the Filth to everybody else). My only concerns in life were how to avoid a transfer to the Case Progression Unit - we do paperwork so real coppers don't have to - and finding a way to climb into the panties of the outrageously perky WPC Leslie May. Then one night, in pursuance of a murder inquiry, I tried to take a witness statement from someone who was dead but disturbingly voluable, and that brought me to the attention of Inspector Nightingale, the last wizard in England. Now I'm a Detective Constable and a trainee wizard, the first apprentice in fifty years, and my world has become somewhat more complicated: nests of vampires in Purley, negotiating a truce between the warring god and goddess of the Thames, and digging up graves in Covent Garden ... and there's something festering at the heart of the city I love, a malicious vengeful spirit that takes ordinary Londoners and twists them into grotesque mannequins to act out its drama of violence and despair.The spirit of riot and rebellion has awakened in the city, and it's falling to me to bring order out of chaos - or die trying.
With Britain by late 1916 facing the prospect of an economic crisis and increasingly dependent on the US, rival factions in Asquith's government battled over whether or not to seek a negotiated end to the First World War. In this riveting new account, Daniel Larsen tells the full story for the first time of how Asquith and his supporters secretly sought to end the war. He shows how they supported President Woodrow Wilson's efforts to convene a peace conference and how British intelligence, clandestinely breaking American codes, aimed to sabotage these peace efforts and aided Asquith's rivals. With Britain reading and decrypting all US diplomatic telegrams between Europe and Washington, these decrypts were used in a battle between the Treasury, which was terrified of looming financial catastrophe, and Lloyd George and the generals. This book's findings transform our understanding of British strategy and international diplomacy during the war.