New History Books for October 2024

Here is a selection of anticipated new history books that will be released over the month ahead.

Edinburgh: A New History by Alistair Moffat

Birlinn Ltd, 3 October 2024

The Kelso-born author Alistair Moffat has produced a series of probing, nimbly-researched books over the past decade. Having dealt with the highlands and the islands and having peered deep into Scotland's pre-history, this new book sees him taking a square look at the nation's capital.

Edinburgh is a city of many aspects. It has its imposing Medieval castle, high on the hill. It has its old 'wynds' and cobbled streets, as well as the broad avenues and squares of its New Town. It is rich in ghost stories and public sensations, like the shocking case of Burke and Hare; but it is also one of the Western world's great centres of learning. Indeed, towards the end of the eighteenth century, it was thought preferable to head to Edinburgh and the lecture rooms of Dugald Stewart than the dusty old seminaries of Oxbridge.

This is a book alive with anecdotes, about a city that is surely one of the world's enchanting.

Lost Gardens of the World: An Atlas of Forgotten Horticultural Treasures by Sandra Lawrence

Frances Lincoln, 3 October 2024

As autumn accelerates and colours soften in the landscape around us, it seems natural to dwell on the nature of passing time. Loss is a central theme of Sandra Lawrence's latest publication. Born out of a very simple structure, Lost Gardens of the World is located 40 'once flourishing horticultural spaces' that have either been abandoned or forgotten. In this book she allows them to live once again.

Among those featured are Cornwall's 'Lost Gardens of Heligan' and the Jardin Majorelle in Marrakech. Lavishly illustrated, the book reminds of the enduring place gardens have retained within human society, providing us, over the centuries, with places of wonder, contemplation and peace.

Augustus the Strong: A Study in Artistic Greatness and Political Fiasco by Tim Blanning

Allen Lane, 3 October 2024

In recent times Tm Blanning, who for many years was Professor of Modern European History at the University of Cambridge, has turned his hand to biography. He has produced superb studies of Frederick the Great of Prussia and George I of Great Britain and this new work continues in the same vein. His subject is Augustus the Strong, 'one of the worst monarchs in European history'.

Fate brought Augustus to the very heart of European politics in the 1690s, when his elder brother died, and he found himself thrust into a position of tremendous power and responsibility. As Elector of Saxony and, shortly afterwards, King of Poland, Augustus had the opportunity to reshape politics in Early Modern Europe. This he did, not through brilliance and success, but, as readers will discover, through 'fiasco' and disappointment.

The Peepshow: The Murders at 10 Rillington Place by Kate Summerscale

Bloomsbury Circus, 3 October 2024

It is now approaching two decades since Kate Summerscale, in The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, pioneered a new form that blended biography, crime and documentary writing. In the years since she has successfully applied this formula - which generates non-fiction books that read like novels - to a range of sensational stories. This month Summerscale returns with her latest title, which is a new take on a familiar story.

Many readers will recall the disturbing tale of John Christie, whose grim series of murders in the 1940s and 1950s were terrifyingly depicted in Richard Fleischer's film Ten Rillington Place in the 1970s. The story might not be new, but Summerscale is such an accomplished writer that The Peepshow still reads with a compelling freshness.

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The Eagle and the Hart: The Tragedy of Richard II and Henry IV by Helen Castor

Allen Lane;, 3 October 2024

For an immersive, gripping autumnal read, it will be difficult to beat The Eagle and The Hart. This history pits the prickly King Richard II against his suave cousin, Henry Bolingbroke. Once childhood playmates, the relationship between these two central figures became increasingly tense as they entered adulthood before it descended into acrimony in the 1390s.

Set in the courtly years of the Middle Ages, readers will find plenty of Christianity, ceremony and chivalry running along with the plot. Helen Castor has a gift for making distant events vivid to us today and The Eagle and the Hart follows in the style of emotionally intense storytelling she displayed in her previous books about Joan of Arc and on the Paston Letters.

The Bookshop, The Draper, The Candlestick Maker: A History of the High Street by Annie Gray

Profile Books, 10 October 2024

In times gone by October was the time when the high street stirred into life. Catalysed by the beginning of the Christmas market, the high street became a place of discovery, excitement and pleasure.

Today the reality is starkly different as streets that have long stood at the heart of communities have become eerily empty. This fact gives Annie Gray's latest book a particular appeal. The Bookshop, The Draper and The Candlestick Maker is a title that evokes a bygone age. It is a social history that stretches as far back as the Medieval marketplace and canters breezily through the centuries to the Georgians and Victorians and the concrete precincts of today.

The Scapegoat: The Brilliant Brief Life of the Duke of Buckingham by Lucy Hughes-Hallett

Fourth Estate, 10 October 2024

One of last month's most anticipated releases was Alice Hunt's Republic. a book that delved into the heart of the revolutionary seventeenth century. For readers who enjoyed that story, The Scapegoat offers an ideal opportunity to extend their understanding of a vital period in English history.

George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, lived, as the subtitle suggests, 'a brief and brilliant life'. Dead at thirty-five, he was a suave, politicking, powerful figure at the very heart of King Charles I's court in his younger years. He inhabited that curious, dangerous role as 'the favourite', and in Lucy Hughes-Hallett's dazzling retelling, his chequered story is told anew.

Adventures in Time: Nelson, Hero of the Seas by Dominic Sandbrook

Particular Books, 17 October 2024

If you have a young child who is fond of history, then in all likelihood you will have heard of the popular 'Adventures in Time' series of books already. If you haven't then a very good introduction to them would be the high-tempo Nelson: Hero of the Seas, which, appropriately enough, will be published just before the anniversary of Trafalgar.

Nelson's story - from the tussles with polar bears in the Arctic to the supreme acts of heroism in the 1790s and the fateful encounter at Trafalgar in 1805 - is as thrilling as ever. Although both he and the period he represents have undergone a process of reassessment over the past two decades, don't expect too much in the way of moral lectures here. This is the grand, heroic narrative and there is plenty enough in it to widen many a child's eye.

The Price of Victory: A Naval History of Britain: 1815 – 1945 by N. A. M. Rodger

Allen Lane;, 24 October 2024

For many years and to a greater degree than almost anyone else in British history, N.A.M. Rodger has been studying and producing erudite works about the Royal Navy. In The Price of Victory, he brings to a close his great trilogy that details the naval history of Great Britain.

This is a serious book founded on the highest standards of scholarship. Opening in the years following the triumph at Trafalgar and the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the action begins with sailing ships and concludes with the steam turbines and drum boilers of World War Two destroyers. For those with a deep interest in this crucial part of British history, the publication of Rodger's book is an event in itself.

SAS Daggers Drawn: In For the Kill: the Mavericks Who Made the SAS by Damien Lewis

Quercus, 24 October 2024

The end of the month brings a new title from Damien Lewis who is well known for his high-octane, cinematic war narratives. Lewis's particular interest is in the early history of the Special Air Service (SAS) and in Daggers Drawn he returns to the subject once again.

The setting is one that will be familiar to many following the D-Day commemorations of June. The summer of 1944 was a busy one for the SAS who undertook a series of courageous missions behind the enemy's lines. Lewis is on sure ground writing about these and for readers searching for a tense and exhilarating read, pockmarked by Sherman tanks and Panzer troops, then Daggers Drawn is the book for them.

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