Strike Up The Band

New York City in the Roaring Twenties

Published by Reaktion Books, 2024.

This is the story of the zest for life that gripped New York in the post-war years of the 1920s. The decade ushered in an era of almost unprecedented prosperity and economic expansion that made New York the powerhouse of America and fuelled a wave of creativity in music, fashion, literature and architecture.

Strike Up the Band explores how the city became a magnet for a host of outstanding personalities, from literary figures to sports stars, musicians, composers and journalists and pays a visit to the places they frequented, such as The Cotton Club and Broadway theatres.

From skyline to sidewalk the city was redeveloped in the 1920s building boom, with Art Deco becoming the style that dominated the new era. This book is a spirited chronicle of an outstanding decade.

Policing The Big Apple

The Story of the NYPD

Published by Reaktion Books, 2021.

Policing the Big Apple is the story of America's largest and most celebrated law enforcement agency. The book covers the history of policing New York City from 1625 New Amsterdam, to the formation of the NYPD in 1898, through battles with the Mafia in the 1930s, to Zero Tolerance of the 1990s. The book examines episodes of political influence, corruption and reform including Tammany Hall, New York City mayors and the police and the enrolment in the force of women and people of colour.

Madrid: Midnight City by Helen Crisp and Jules Stewart

Published by Reaktion Books, 2020.

Spain’s top city for tourism, Madrid attracts more than six million visitors a year. Helen Crisp and Jules Stewart relate the story of a city and its people through the centuries, while their carefully curated listings give a nod to well-known attractions and sights, as well as hidden gems. Spain’s art capital, with its ‘Golden Triangle’ of museums and myriad art galleries, Madrid is also a city of dazzling nightlife, with a profusion of cafés and bars. This is the story of a vibrant, energetic city, one that remains an enigma to many outsiders.

Madrid:

A Literary Guide for Travellers

Published by I.B. Tauris in October 2019.

Hemingway called Madrid 'the most Spanish of all cities' and the 'centre of the world'; it was a place that drew him back again and again. But he wasn't the only writer to have been inspired by this proud city which fizzes with energy and is so infused with art and literature.

From the Café Gijón, a popular hang-out of Lorca, Dalí and Buñuel, and the Bar Chicote, Hemingway's preferred watering hole and a popular haunt for bohemian Madrid during the Civil War, to the Hotel Florida where John Dos Passos and Antoine de Saint Exupéry used to stay, to the grave of Lope de Vega and the house in which Cervantes took his last breath, this unique guide takes the reader on a colourful journey that spans four centuries and brings to life the people and places that make Madrid the heart of literary Spain.

Gotham Rising: New York in the 1930s

Published by I.B. Tauris in October 2016.

New York is often described as the greatest city in the world. Yet much of the iconic architecture and culture which so defines the city as we know it today from the Empire State Building to the pastrami sandwich only came into being in the 1930s, in what was perhaps the most significant decade in the city's 400-year history. In this era, New York underwent an architectural, economic, social and creative renaissance under the leadership of the charismatic mayor Fiorello La Guardia.

The Kaiser’s Mission to Kabul

In 1915, at the height of World War I, Germany and Turkey sent a secret mission, led by Oskar Ritter von Niedermayer and Werner Otto von Hentig, to the court of the emir of Afghanistan, Habibullah Khan. The aim of the mission was to persuade the emir to declare full independence from the British Empire, enter the war on the side of the Central Powers and attack British India.

Published by I.B. Tauris in June 2014

Madrid, The History

Published by I.B. Tauris in March 2015

At the heart of the Castilian plateau sits the city of Madrid. Perched some 2,200 feet above the distant sea, it is at once the loftiest and also the most enigmatic of Europe's capitals: hard to decipher for the Spanish and for foreigners alike. Its intense character and the abrupt manner and hectic lifestyle of the Madrileños can make even other Spaniards feel exhausted. Madrid has a rich historical and cultural life which attracts almost eight million visitors a year. The book offers an insider's account of Madrid and unveils the history and culture of one of Europe's most fascinating cities.

On Afghanistan's Plains

Published by I.B. Tauris in June 2011

To protect British India from the expanding Russian empire, Britain fought a series of conflicts on Afghan soil between 1838 and 1919. The Anglo-Afghan wars of the 19th and early 20th centuries were ill-conceived and led to some of the worst military disasters ever sustained by British forces in this part of the world, with poor strategy in the First Afghan War alone resulting in the annihilation of 16,000 soldiers and civilians in a single week.Published by I.B. Tauris in June 2011

Albert

Published by I.B. Tauris in October 2011

Albert, prince consort to Queen Victoria and social and cultural visionary in his own right, defined the culture and direction of nineteenth century Britain—a superpower at the zenith of its influence—more than any other British royal or politician. Though overshadowed in history by his adoring wife and at times even mocked by her subjects, Albert gave form and substance to the Victorian Age. From the Great Exhibition and the construction of many of London’s great museums to his social campaigns against slavery and the Corn Laws, Albert’s achievements were truly remarkable.Published by I.B. Tauris in October 2011

Crimson Snow

Britain's First Disaster in Afghanistan

Published by The History Press December 2010

In the mid-nineteenth century, the British and Russian empires played the 'Great Game,' a rivalry for supremacy in Central Asia. To secure a 'buffer zone' in Afghanistan, between India and Russian territory, Britain launched the First Anglo-Afghan War in 1838. Initial success was followed by complete disaster in 1842, with 4,500 soldiers and 12,000 civilian camp followers killed. The book provides important parallels with the West’s contemporary exploits in this graveyard of ambitions and illustrates how little has been learnt from the past.

The Savage Border:

The Story of the North-West Frontier

Published by The History Press 2007

For centuries, Pakistan's North West Frontier has been seen as a lawless wilderness, which Barack Obama once called ‘the most dangerous place on Earth’. This, the first significant book on the territory for 40 years, includes first-hand accounts of life and soldiering on the Frontier since the Second World War. It also tells how the British and invaders before and after the Raj, attempted to deal with this unpredictable land of the Pathans.

Spying for the Raj

Published by The History Press 2006

In the 1860s, Captain Thomas Montgomerie trained Indians to be surveyors and had them explore the region covertly. These men, known as Pundits, crossed into Tibet disguised as lamas. The book reveals the lives and adventures of these secret agents who managed to map the Himalaya and Tibet, helping the British to consolidate their rule in the Indian subcontinent.

The Khyber Rifles

From the British Raj to Al Qaeda

The History Press, 2005

Recruited from the Pathan tribes that live in the no-man’s land between Pakistan and Afghanistan, the Khyber Rifles fought for the British Raj against their own kith and kin. Jules Stewart tells the story of Colonel Sir Robert Warburton, the man who raised the Khyber Rifles in 1878, and describes the corps in action.