• A century of state murder?: death and policy in twentieth century Russia

      Haynes, Michael J.; Hasan, Rumy (London: Pluto Press, 2003)
      Russia has one of the lowest rates of adult life expectancy in the world. Average life expectancy for a man in America is 74; in Russia, it is just 59. Birth rates and population levels have also plummeted. These excess levels of mortality affect all countries that formed the former Soviet bloc. Running into many millions, they raise obvious comparisons with the earlier period of forced transition under Stalin. This book seeks to put the recent history of the transition into a longer term perspective by identifying, explaining and comparing the pattern of change in Russia in the last century. It offers a sharp challenge to the conventional wisdom and benign interpretations offered in the west of what has happened since 1991. Through a careful survey of the available primary and secondary sources, Mike Haynes and Rumy Husan have produced the first and most complete and accurate account of Russian demographic crisis from the Revolution to the present. (Pluto Press)
    • A Nation of Shopkeepers: Retailing in Britain 1550-2000

      Benson, John; Ugolini, Laura (London: I. B. Tauris & Co. Ltd., 2002)
      "A Nation of Shopkeepers" reflects research on retail history and cultures of consumption. The contributors challenge existing ideas about retail development, showing how, for example, large-scale retailers played a far lesser role in the development of the modern city that is generally thought, and how the success of department stores was determined less by "entrepreneurial" spirit and more by the unforseen consequences of legislation. With the growing interest in cultures of consumption, this book should be useful to specialists and students in retail history, human geography and social and cultural history. (I.B. Taurus publishers)
    • Accumulation and Working Class Exploitation, Some Origins of 1956 in Hungary.

      Haynes, Michael J. (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2007)
      This chapter: Mike Haynes looks at the origins of the Hungarian revolt, in terms of workplace politics while Anne Alexander reviews the impact that Suez had on Nasser s reputation within the Arab world and Arab nationalist politics. In the afternoon there was a widening of the focus. This book: ‘Through the Smoke of Budapest 50 Years On’, The February 2006 Conference of the London Socialist Historians Group was held at the Institute of Historical Research in central London, one of a series of such conferences over the previous ten years. Assembled were a modest group of academics and activists come to mark the 50th anniversary of the events of 1956, and to do so in a particular way. Firstly by presenting new historical research on the questions under review rather than trotting out tired orthodoxies. Secondly by linking historical inquiry to political activism. It was queried why such a conference was held in February 2006 rather than in the autumn, and the answer was a simple one. To intervene historically in the debates of the year by setting a socialist historical agenda for doing so.
    • Affluence and Authority: A Social History of Twentieth-Century Britain

      Benson, John (Hodder Arnold, 2005)
      The turn of the millennium generated a spate of reflections on the state of the nation and the ways in which life in Britain had changed during the course of the twentieth century. Affluence and Authority contributes to this debate by providing a wide-ranging, well-informed and accessible interpretation of British social history during a hundred years of profound, and almost certainly unprecedented, economic, political, cultural, demographic and ideological change. This book lays particular emphasis upon material conditions in accounting for the underlying stability of society during the course of this turbulent and troubled century. It argues that despite the fact that many groups shared only haltingly and uncertainly in the benefits of economic growth, it is the long-term improvement in the standard of living that provides the single most important key to understanding the social history of twentieth-century Britain. The balance between economic and social developments is analysed thoroughly. Indeed, one of this book's central purposes is to challenge the view that economic gains were undermined by social losses, that the British people failed to respond as constructively as they should to the economic improvements they enjoyed. John Benson's thought provoking study also suggests that social class should be set alongside categories such as age, gender and ethnicity when attempting to analyse the ways in which British social history developed during the course of the twentieth century.
    • Coalminers, Coalowners and Collaboration: The Miners' Permanent Relief Fund Movement in England, 1860-1895.

      Benson, John (Maney Publishing, 2003)
      British coal-mining history has long been influenced by the classic, conflictual view of industrial relations, according to which the history of the industry is best understood in terms of a courageous trade union leadership inspiring a united workforce in an unending struggle against self-interested and intransigent employers. Accordingly, it is the purpose of the paper to argue that the miners' permanent relief fund movement repays more serious attention than the conventional perspective allows. It will be shown that the movement attracted a large membership, and provided the mining community with a major source of compensation for industrial accidents. It will be suggested that the permanent relief funds owed their success not just to their administrative efficiency but to the collaborationist foundations upon which they were predicated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
    • Coalowners, Coalminers and Compulsion: Pit Clubs in England, 1860-80

      Benson, John (Taylor & Francis, 2002)
      It is suggested that, insofar as coalowner stereotyping rests upon the denigration of pit clubs, it stands in need of substantial modification. It is true that many coalowners organised pit clubs for their own purposes, and that the assistance they provided was seriously and sometimes scandalously deficient. However, it is shown that many owners offered their pit clubs significant financial support, and that the clubs provided their members with benefits in a form, and on a scale, which both contributed towards the relief of coalfield suffering and compared well with the assistance provided by the other agencies to which coalminers and their dependants had access.
    • Constructing East Germany: Interpretations of GDR History since Unification

      Dennis, Mike (2004)
      This book: The system transformation after German unification in 1990 constituted an experiment on an unprecedented scale. At no point in history had one state attempted to redesign another without conquest, bloodshed or coercion but by treaties, public policy and bureaucratic processes. Unification was achieved by erasing the eastern political and economic model. However, in the meantime it has become clear that the same cannot be said about social transformation. On the contrary, social and cultural attitudes and differentiation have continued and resulted in deep divisions between West and East Germany. After unification, the injustices of politics seemed to have been replaced, in the eyes of most former GDR citizens, by unexpected injustices in the personal spheres of ordinary people who lost their jobs and faced unknown realities of deprivation and social exclusion. These are the main concerns of the contributors to this volume. Incorporating new research findings and published data, they focus on key aspects of economic, political, and social transformation in eastern Germany and compare, through case studies, each area with developments in the West.
    • Cooperation and Conflict: Episodes from the North Wales Coalfield, 1925-35

      Gildart, Keith (Keele University: Centre for Industrial Relations, 2001)
    • Dictionary of Traded Goods and Commodities, 1550-1820

      Cox, Nancy; Dannehl, Karin (Wolverhampton: University of Wolverhampton, 2007)
      A dictionary of nearly 4,000 terms found used in documents relating to trade and retail in early modern Britain. It represents part of a larger dataset produced by the Dictionary Project at the University of Wolverhampton. The team of Cox and Dannehl is responsible for the concept, development and delivery of the Dictionary Project, including identification and digitising of sources, recruitment of specialist contributors, writing the majority of the entries, the editing and refinement process, and the formulation and design of the delivery platform.
    • Food and the Food Crisis in Post-War Germany, 1945-1948: British Policy and the Role of British NGOs

      Steinert, Johannes-Dieter (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006)
      This volume examines conflicts over food and their implications for European societies in the first half of the Twentieth century. Ranging across Europe, from Scandinavia and Britain to Germany, Italy and the Soviet Union, this volume explores the political, economic and cultural dynamics that shaped conflicts over food and their legacies. (Palgrave Macmillan)
    • Forming a new concept of home: how consumption of textiles contributed to homemaking between 1760 and 1850

      Ponsonby, Margaret (Middlesex University Press, 2002)
      THIS BOOK: Textiles form the largest group of designed objects available for study, whether as objects in their own rights, as constituents parts of fashion, furniture and interiors, or as industry - the latter embracing production, trade and working environments and experiences. This anthology demonstrates the range of textile studies through eighteen essays that consider the process of designing and making, the makers and manufacturers, the product itself, or how it is sold, used and perceived. Tackling subjects from prehistory to the 1990s, each has been ed to be of particular interest to students and professionals in design, cultural history, fashion and textiles, but also will be of use to anyone who is interested in the study of objects. Set within the context of interdisciplinary techniques in the study of designed objects, the contributors have been drawn from diverse professional backgrounds in both the United Kingdom and the United States. Their experience encompasses the history of textiles and dress, design and economics, museology, social history, psychoanalytical therapy, artchitecture, sociology and textile practice. Divided into four sections, this volume both demonstrates and explores cross-disciplinary research, while enriching and making acccessible the myriad of ways in which textiles - and objects in general - can be interpreted. The editors are the freelance historian, Mary Schoeser, and Dr Christine Boydell, Senior Lecturer in the Department of History of Art and Material Culture, De Montfort University. Published widely, they previously collaborated on the exhibition and publication The Architect of Floors: modernism, art and Marion Dorn designs (1996). (Middlesex University Press)
    • Ideals, Reality and Meaning: Homemaking in England in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century

      Ponsonby, Margaret (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003)
      Advice books in the first half of the nineteenth century offered homemakers instructions for creating the ideal home. The problem for the design historian is to ascertain with what results the homemaker mediated these instructions. This article suggests using lists of house contents, which survive in a variety of forms, and adopting a qualitative approach to their analysis. Evidence for a number of middle-class homes is used to explore the variations. The symbolic value of individual objects and their role within the material culture of the home is examined - in particular, the use of textiles to articulate the practical and symbolic functions of living rooms. Although all the examples followed the general tendencies of the period as described in advice books, they also showed distinct differences according to social status,age. sex and occupation. A qualitative approach to the evedence permits exploration of the differences between homes and the possible social and cultural meaning that they conveyed. (Oxford University Press)
    • Japan 1868-1945: From Isolation to Occupation

      Benson, John; Matsumura, Takao (London: Longman/Pearson, 2001)
      The history of Imperial Japan, from the Meiji Restoration through to defeat and occupation at the end of the Second World War, is central to any understanding of the way in which modern Japan has developed and will continue to develop in the future. This wide-ranging accessible and up-to-date interpretation of Japanese history between 1868 and 1945 provides both a narrative and analysis. Describing the major changes that took place in Japanese political, economic and social life during this period, it challenges widely-held views about the uniqueness of Japanese history and the homogeneity of Japanese society. (Longman)
    • Labour, Exploitation and Capitalism in Russia before and after 1991.

      Haynes, Michael J. (Brill Academic Publications, 2008)
      This article explores the relevance of the idea of state capitalism in Russian development. It situates the idea within the framework of capitalist development which it argues is marked by global inequalities, power imbalances and economic and military competition. The Russian Revolution of October 1917 was an attempt to overthrow this system but its failure led to a highly intense form of state capitalism which lasted until 1991. The underlying continuities in the different regimes in Russia are then analysed in terms of the process of working class exploitation.
    • Men and Menswear: Sartorial Consumption in Britain, 1880 -1939

      Ugolini, Laura (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007)
      Despite increasing academic interest in both the study of masculinity and the history of consumption, there are still few published studies that bring together both concerns. By investigating the changing nature of the retailing of menswear, this book illuminates wider aspects of masculine identity as well as patterns of male consumption between the years 1880 and 1939. While previous historical studies of masculinity have focused overwhelmingly on the moral, spiritual and physical characteristics associated with notions of 'manliness', this book considers the relationship between men and activities which were widely considered to be at least potentially 'unmanly' – selling, as well as buying clothes – thus shedding new light on men's lives and identities in this period. Contents: General editor's preface; Introduction; Part I Consuming Menswear: Identities, 1880–1939; Non-conformity, 1880–1939; Menswear and war,1914–1918; The democratisation of menswear? 1919–1939. Part II Selling Menswear: Tailoring and manliness, 1880–1914; Menswear retailing and war, 1914–1920; The struggle for survival, 1920–1939. Part III Buying Menswear: Shopping decisions, 1880–1939; Making a purchase, 1880–1939. (Ashgate)
    • Men, masculinities and menswear advertising, c.1890-1914

      Ugolini, Laura (London: I. B. Tauris & Co. Ltd., 2002)
      "A Nation of Shopkeepers" reflects research on retail history and cultures of consumption. The contributors challenge existing ideas about retail development, showing how, for example, large-scale retailers played a far lesser role in the development of the modern city that is generally thought, and how the success of department stores was determined less by "entrepreneurial" spirit and more by the unforseen consequences of legislation. With the growing interest in cultures of consumption, this book should be useful to specialists and students in retail history, human geography and social and cultural history. (I.B. Taurus publishers)
    • Nach Holocaust und Zwangsarbeit: Britische humanitäre Hilfe in Deutschland: Die Helfer, die Befreiten und die Deutschen

      Steinert, Johannes-Dieter (Osnabrűck: Secolo Verlag, 2000)
      Abstract in English, text in German. After the Second World War, British voluntary organisations were among the first in the field of international humanitarian assistance in Europe. To begin with, British help was directed only to the survivors of the Holocaust and the German forced labour system, but in late 1945 it was extended to German civilians, in particular to children and refugees. Based on British and German archival material, the monograph examines the interrelations between British humanitarian assistance and British occupation policy in Germany. Special emphasis has been given to the work of British voluntary organisations and the interdependencies between governmental and non-governmental efforts. The study contributes to research on British civil society as well as to the ongoing Opferdebatte (debate on Germans as victims of the war) in Germany. The book is divided into seven chapters: Chapter one is dominated by an analysis of British and international war-time planning; the foundation of the 'United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration', the 'Council of British Societies for Relief Abroad', and the training of welfare workers are examined. Chapter two looks at humanitarian assistance in Europe during the final stage of the war, with a particular focus on the liberation of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Chapter three concentrates on the organisation and structure of British humanitarian assistance in Germany, the appeals for funds in Britain and their distribution in Germany. Chapters four and five analyse the help provided for Displaced Persons and the problems of repatriation. Chapter six focuses on the field of German welfare, the reconstruction of German voluntary organisations, and the cooperation between relief teams and the Military Government. Chapter seven examines how NGOs and relief workers viewed their work in Germany, and how they perceived the Displaced Persons and the German population.
    • National and International Trade and the Midlands Economy

      Wanklyn, Malcolm (Manchester University Press - Melland Schill Studies, 2005)
      This book: In recent years, traditional interpretations of the processes of industrialisation in Britain have been superceded by a more subtle, macro-economic, gradualist understanding of industrialisation. In particular, commentators have now come to consider the importance of geography and the notion that historical change occurs in space as well as time. Concentrating on the Midlands, this book, drawing on a wealth of original research by an eminent collection of scholars, seeks to develop a fresh understanding of the complex range of urban industrial activity taking place in England during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Focusing on the concomitant urbanisation, it explains how regional urban systems both shaped and responded to processes of industrialisation and how urban systems influenced growth and raised the potential for development in particular locales. (Manchester University Press)
    • North Wales Miners: A Fragile Unity, 1945-1996

      Gildart, Keith (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2002)
      Keith Gildart concentrates on the period between the nationalization of the coal industry in 1947 and its privatization in 1994 and, through a detailed study of groups, individuals and communities, demonstrates the complex nature of work and politics during a period of momentous change in British coalfield history. He pays particular attention to the politics of the National Union of Mineworkers, the role of the Labour Party, and the impact of pit closures on miners and their localities. North Wales Miners combines oral history and archival sources to provide a ground-breaking account of social, political and industrial change in post-war Wales. Contents: The Golden Age of Labourism, 1945-1963; Miners, Labour and pit closures, 1964-1971; The Politics of Coal, 1972-1982; The Fragmentation of Unity, 1983-1988; The End of an era, 1989-1996. (University of Wales Press)
    • Payment and Philanthropy in British Healthcare, 1918-48

      Gosling, George Campbell; Gosling, George (Manchester University Press, 2017-03-10)
      There were only three decades in British history when it was the norm for patients to pay the hospital; those between the end of the First World War and the establishment of the National Health Service in 1948. At a time when payment is claiming a greater place than ever before within the NHS, this book uses a case study of the wealthy southern city of Bristol as the starting point for the first in-depth investigation of the workings, scale and meaning of payment in British hospitals before the NHS. Payment and philanthropy in British healthcare, 1918-48 questions what it meant to be asked to contribute financially to the hospital by the medical social worker, known then as the Lady Almoner, or to subscribe to a pseudo-insurance hospital contributory scheme. It challenges the false assumption that middle-class paying patients crowded out the sick poor. Hopes and fears, at the time and since, that this would have an empowering or democratising effect or that commercial medicine would bring about the end of medical charity, were all wide of the mark. In fact, payment and philanthropy found a surprisingly traditional accommodation, which ensured the rise of universal healthcare was mitigated and mediated by long-standing class distinctions while financial contribution became a new marker of good citizenship. Anyone interested in these changing notions of citizenship, charity and money, as well as the hospital as a social institution within the community in early twentieth-century Britain, will find this book a valuable companion.