Oxford: Mapping the City Daniel MacCannell Edinburgh: Birlinn Ltd., 2016 One of the tests that can be applied by a book reviewer is whether the work in question leaves the reader wanting more, and that is certainly the case with Oxford: mapping the city. This is a handsomely produced work, profusely illustrated, with the text written in an interesting and …

John W Hawkins Reviews ‘Landscapes of London’ by Elizabeth McKellar Elizabeth McKellar Landscapes of London: the city, the country and the suburbs, 1660-1840 Yale University Press, 2013 xvi + 260 pages; 24 colour + 120 b/w illus. £45.00 RRP According to the author, a respected architectural historian, ‘This book is about cities, where they begin and where they end.’ Except …

Richard Roberts Saving the City: the great financial crisis of 1914 Oxford University Press, 2013 xviii + 302 pages + 8 B/W figures + 3 tables, £20.00 RRP Whether Richard Roberts would appreciate having his fast-moving book compared to Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code, or the latest series of Kiefer Sutherland’s 24 is a matter of debate, but it …

The incomparable Colonel Frederick Gustavus Burnaby (1842-1885) In 1876 Fred Burnaby returned from an epic winter-ride on horseback and by sledge to the Khanate of Khiva, in the heart of central Asia. His book, A Ride to Khiva, was an instant hit and ran to eleven editions in the space of a year. On Horseback through Asia Minor, written after …