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Unlocking the World
Unlocking the World
Oct 8, 2024 4:17 PM

Author:John Darwin

Unlocking the World

From the acclaimed historian of global empire, the dramatic story of how steam power reshaped our cities and our seas, and forged a new world order

Steam power transformed our world, initiating the complex, resource-devouring industrial system the consequences of which we live with today. It revolutionized work and production, but also the ease and cost of movement over land and water. The result was to throw open vast areas of the world to the rampaging expansion of Europeans and Americans on a scale previously unimaginable.

Unlocking the World is the captivating history of the great port cities which emerged as the bridgeheads of this new steam-driven economy, reshaping not just the trade and industry of the regions around them but their culture and politics as well. They were the agents of what we now call 'globalization', but their impact and influence, and the reactions they provoked, were far from predictable. Nor were they immune to the great upheavals in world politics across the 'steam century'.

This book is global history at its very best. Packed with fascinating case histories (from New Orleans to Montreal, Bombay to Singapore, Calcutta to Shanghai), individual stories and original ideas, Darwin's book allows us, for better or worse, to see the modern age taking shape.

'A fine, important and original book ... wonderful' Paul Kennedy, Literary Review

Reviews

Striking ... The work underlines how the past 50 years' surge of globalisation has built on the previous wave that started nearly 200 years ago ... A compelling picture of the societies that drove steam globalisation.

—— Robert Wright , Financial Times

In the great opening up of the world that is his subject, the port cities were the hinges ... an enjoyable synthesis of a large body of scholarship.

—— The Economist

A fine, important and original book ... wonderful.

—— Paul Kennedy , Literary Review

Superb . . . a perfectly candid portrait of our present Queen's grandfather: demythologised, certainly, and with spades called spades, but not trivialised, and not denied full credit for the massive amount he achieved . . . Ridley's convincing thesis [is] that George V was the true begetter of modern constitutional monarchy . . . this book makes it clear we were lucky to have him

—— Simon Heffer , Daily Telegraph

There have been few monarchs quite as discreet and inscrutable as George V . . . There's much to enjoy here about George's nerdy, hypochondriacal and rather humourless character. Yet, as Ridley portrays with great fairness, he somehow managed to be a king loved and revered by the people . . . Ridley has a wonderful ability to push the story along, luring us with salient details . . . riveting . . . Never a dull paragraph

—— Ysenda Maxtone Graham , The Times

A 21st-century [biography] was overdue . . . and nobody could do it better than the immensely experienced Jane Ridley . . . The Windsors have always been emotionally handicapped, and in this respect George V was their prize exhibit

—— Max Hastings , Sunday Times

A magnificent new life -- wonderfully funny, from its winning subtitle onwards, and full of human sympathy and understanding . . . an evocative and touching portrait of a surprisingly impressive man

—— Philip Hensher , Spectator

The best royal biography since James Pope-Hennessy's Queen Mary (1959) . . . rivetingly interesting . . . sheds an entirely new light on both George V and his consort . . . Jane Ridley persuades us that their tactful handling of the many crises of the reign paved the way for the stable constitutional monarchy that persists to this day

—— A. N. Wilson , Times Literary Supplement

Splendid

—— Craig Brown , Daily Mail

Jane Ridley is a consummate storyteller and superb researcher. With a funny, analytical, sympathetic touch she both conveys the immediacy of history and invests those elusive, long-ago events and mysterious, long-dead people with a humanity recognisable to us all

—— Juliet Nicolson

A big beautiful beast of a book. Fair, thorough and unexpectedly funny, it won't be surpassed for decades

—— Lucy Worsley

Jane Ridley has written the definitive biography of George V. Sharply observed, revealing and very absorbing, 'dull George' and his dutiful wife, Mary, emerge in a new light as the monarchies of Europe crumble around them and the horrors of the early twentieth century unfold. At a pivotal time in the history of our democracy, with world leaders tested to their limits, Jane gives a gripping and authoritative account of what was happening behind palace doors

—— Deborah Cadbury

A truly inspirational new biography of George V

—— A N Wilson , The Times

A superb book; arguably it is the best biography of George V... immensely readable, wonderfully researched

—— Michael Nash , Eastern Daily Press

Ridley is good on the telling detail . . . lively and unstuffy

—— Kate Hubbard , The Oldie

[George V] is candid, well written, based on wide research and full of piquant detail, some of it new

—— Piers Bredon , Literary Review

This deeply researched biography casts new light upon the misunderstood monarch and his Queen, Mary of Teck. Illuminating, intensely readable

—— Rose Shepard , Saga Magazine, *Christmas Gift Guide 2021*

Sparkling

—— Tony Rennell , Daily Mail Biographies of the Year

Riveting... Ridley brings new insight to George's personal life... Well-researched and entertaining, this book offers a vluable reassessment of a king who shaped modern Britain

—— Heather Jones , BBC History Magazine

[A] graceful, funny book... Ridley offers fine-grained and astute sketches of members of the king's entourage as they came and went

—— Michael Ledger-Lomas , London Review of Books

Outstanding . . . richly entertaining

—— Geoffrey Wheatcroft , New York Review of Books

Empireland argues passionately that our identity has been shaped for the worse by empire, and that we must do more to debunk national myths

—— Prospect, Books of the Year 2021

In the wake of personal epiphany we glimpse with Sanghera pathways of transformative potential ... a simple but profound response - this searching introspection and a quest for new horizons, combined with a readiness to sit with the contradictions of it all

—— Observer

My book of the year so far. A really thoughtful, deeply researched and elegantly written look at the legacy of empire

—— Gideon Rachman , Financial Times

Very well written ... decent, balanced and wise. His decency and talent remind us of how much we owe to all those immigrants from our empire who came to make their lives here

—— Chris Patten , The Tablet

Blending rigorous research with passages that make you bark with laughter, this is an effortlessly smart study of feminism’s power to make society better for everyone.

—— Gwendolyn Smith , Mail on Sunday

Helen Lewis has produced a real gem in Difficult Women... With wit and understanding...it is effective and often very moving.

—— Julia Langdon , Tablet

A collection of fascinating, well-researched and vividly told biographies of women who made tangible contributions to the lives we live now… Lewis’ book is challenging, punchily written and refreshing in equal measure, and a joy to read.

—— Clare Jarmy , Times Educational Supplement Scotland

A lesson modern progressives would be remiss to ignore.

—— Phil Wang , Guardian

Any one of these women could fill a book on her own, but Lewis deftly threads their lives together into an irresistibly rumbustious account of this movement; sometimes affecting, sometimes very funny (the footnotes are a sass-filled joy) and sometimes shocking.

—— Sarah Ditum , In the Moment

[Difficult Women] is meticulously researched and intelligently argued whilst also being extremely readable. Unusually for a non-fiction book, it is a page-turner. Lewis' style is playful and engaging, and after each chapter you find yourself turning the page asking eagerly "but what happened next?”… Interspersed with personal anecdotes and often funny footnote asides, she deals with the serious alongside the light-hearted in a way which demonstrates her talent as a writer, researcher and journalist

—— Emily Menger-Davies , Glasgow Guardian

This history of feminism eschews feelgood, empowering clichés and goes in search of the 'difficult women' who shaped the fight for gender equality.

—— The Times, *This year's best reads so far*

Engaging and witty, this history of feminist fights will keep you gripped to the last page.

—— Independent

This often hilariously funny book taught me about the women who fought for my freedoms. Unlike in so many accounts, these women are not canonised but written as they are, imperfect.

—— Jess Phillips , Week

Helen Lewis is one of the very few journalists whose every word I will read.

—— Adam Rutherford , Week
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