IAN SINCLAIR draws attention to the powerful role that literature plays in foreseeing the way humanity will deal with climate crisis
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The human cost of English, and British, Imperialism
WILL PODMORE applauds a stunning survey of the devastation wrought by the English state over four centuries
harfleur
High quality pulp, rollicking online murders, Abnorman Britain, and high skates drama: reviews of The Get Off, Everyone In The Group Chat Dies, Pagans and First To Fall
DENNIS BROE notes what happens to content when the streaming giants incorporate AI and deregulation into their economic models
New releases from The Tenementals, Nik Bartsch’s Ronin, and Kuunatic
SCOTT ALSWORTH hears the call to burn down and rebuild the video game industry from the bottom up
The Chinese language only introduced a feminine pronoun in the 1920s. Now, it might adopt a gender-inclusive one, suggests JANET DAVEY
ALEX HALL is intrigued by a detailed history of Gaza that demonstrates its historic resilience and changing economy
Harfleur to Hamburg: five centuries of English and British violence in Europe
edited by DJB Trim and Brendan Simms, Hurst, £38.80
THIS splendid book takes 11 case studies of English and British violence in Europe: Henry V’s wars in France, Henry VIII’s wars, the atrocities in the reign of Elizabeth I, the subjection of early modern Ireland, the violence in Scotland after the 1746 Battle of Culloden, the bombardment of Copenhagen in 1807, the violence against civilians during the Peninsular War of 1807-14, the Baltic campaign of the Crimean War, 1854-56, the blockade in the first world war, the attack on the French fleet at Mers-El-Kebir in 1940, and the 1943 bombing of Hamburg and other German cities.
The editors sum up: “England and then Great Britain inflicted extreme violence on its European neighbours, even when still using the rhetoric of neighbourliness and friendship.”
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