Portable Magic: A History of Books and their Readers by Emma Smith

Most of what we say about books is really about the words inside them: the rosy nostalgic glow for childhood reading, the lifetime companionship of a much-loved novel. But books are things as well as words, objects in our lives as well as worlds in our heads. And just as we crack their spines, loosen their leaves and write in their margins, so they disrupt and disorder us in turn.

All books are, as Stephen King put it, 'a uniquely portable magic'. Here, Emma Smith shows us why.

Portable Magic unfurls an exciting and iconoclastic new story of the book in human hands, exploring when, why and how it acquired its particular hold over us. Gathering together a millennium's worth of pivotal encounters with volumes big and small, Smith reveals that, as much as their contents, it is books' physical form - their 'bookhood' - that lends them their distinctive and sometimes dangerous magic. From the Diamond Sutra to Jilly Cooper's Riders, to a book made of wrapped slices of cheese, this composite artisanal object has, for centuries, embodied and extended relationships between readers, nations, ideologies and cultures, in significant and unpredictable ways. 

Exploring the unexpected and unseen consequences of our love affair with books, Portable Magic hails the rise of the mass-market paperback, and dismantles the myth that print began with Gutenberg; it reveals how our reading habits have been shaped by American soldiers, and proposes new definitions of a 'classic'-and even of the book itself. Ultimately, it illuminates the ways in which our relationship with the written word is more reciprocal - and more turbulent - than we tend to imagine.

Emma Smith was born and brought up in Leeds, went unexpectedly to university in Oxford, and never really left. She is now Professor of Shakespeare Studies at Hertford College and the author of the Sunday Times bestseller This is Shakespeare. She enjoys silent films, birdwatching, and fast cars.

Buy the book: Portable Magic: A History of Books and their Readers by Emma Smith

Emma Smith: Author profile

Emma Smith: Academic Profile: Hertford College, University of Oxford

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Everybody Loves Our Town: A History of Grunge by Mark Yarm - published exactly twenty years after the release of Nirvana's landmark album Nevermind - is said to be the definitive word on grunge.

Grunge, also known as the 'Seattle sound', is the sludgy fusion of punk rock and heavy metal that emerged from the Pacific Northwest in the early part of the 1980s. But it was the unexpected, seemingly overnight success of Nirvana's single 'Smells Like Teen Spirit,' in the fall of 1991, that made grunge a household word and launched an American music movement on par with punk and hip-hop.

20 years later, Mark Yarm captures that era in the words of those at the forefront of the movement (and the music's lesser-known champions). Everybody Loves Our Town will tell the whole story: the founding of originators like Soundgarden and the Melvins, the early successes of Seattle's Sub Pop record label, the rise of powerhouses Nirvana and Pearl Jam, the insane media hype surrounding the grunge explosion, the suicide of Kurt Cobain, and finally, the genre's mid-to-late-'90s decline.

Mark Yarm is an adjunct assistant professor at Columbia Journalism School and the former tech desk editor at BuzzFeed News (RIP). Prior to BuzzFeed, he worked at Input, BreakerMag, and Blender. In addition, he has written for the New Yorker, the New York Times, the Washington Post, Wired, WSJ. Magazine, and Rolling Stone. His book Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge, was named as a Time magazine book of the year.

Buy the book: Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge

Mark Yarm: online

Twitter: https://x.com/markyarm

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The State of Africa: A History of the Continent Since Independence by Martin Meredith

The fortunes of Africa have changed dramatically since the independence era began in 1957. As Europe's colonial powers withdrew, dozens of new states were born. Africa was a continent rich in mineral resources and its economic potential was immense. Yet, it soon struggled with corruption, violence and warfare, with few states managing to escape the downward spiral.

So what went wrong? In this riveting and authoritative account, Martin Meredith examines the myriad problems that Africa has faced, focusing upon key personalities, events and themes of the independence era. He brings his compelling analysis into the modern day, exploring Africa's enduring struggles for democracy and the rising influence of China. It is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the continent's plight and its hopes for a brighter future.

Martin Meredith is a journalist, historian and biographer who has written extensively on Africa. A former foreign correspondent and then a research fellow at St Antony’s College, Oxford, he is the author of The State of Africa (Simon & Schuster, 2005), a best-selling history of the continent since independence, updated in 2011. He has written biographies of Nelson Mandela; Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe; and South African Communist lawyer Bram Fischer.

Buy the book: The State of Africa

Other books mentioned:

Africa Is Not A Country: Breaking Stereotypes of Modern Africa by Dipo Faloyin

An African History of Africa: From the Dawn of Humanity to Independence by Zainab Badawi

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Albion's Secret History: Snapshots of England’s Pop Rebels and Outsiders by Dr Guy Mankowski

Albion's Secret History compiles snapshots of English pop culture’s rebels and outsiders, from Evelyn Waugh to PJ Harvey via The Long Blondes and The Libertines. By focusing on cultural figures who served to define England, Guy Mankowski looks at those who have really shaped Albion’s secret history, not just its oft-quoted official cultural history. He departs from the narrative that dutifully follows the Beatles, The Sex Pistols and Oasis, and, by instead penetrating the surface of England’s pop history (including the venues it was shaped in), throws new light on ideas of Englishness. As well as music, Mankowski draws from art, film, architecture and politics, showing the moments at which artists like Tricky and Goldfrapp altered our sense of a sometimes green but sometimes unpleasant land.

Dr. Guy Mankowski is a writer and Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at the Lincoln School of Creative Arts. His research interests include music writing, particularly depictions of post-punk and subculture. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Authority.

He holds a Ph.D. from Northumbria University, an MPhil from Newcastle University, and a BSc Hons from Durham University. Mankowski trained as an Assistant Psychologist at The Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability in London. He was also the singer of the band Alba Nova. 

Guy has published four novels, The Intimates (2011), Letters from Yelena (2012), How I Left The National Grid (2015) and An Honest Deceit (2016), with his fifth You Complete the Masterpiece (2024) to be released this November. He is currently writing a biography on the life of Kristen Pfaff, the late bassist of the band Hole. It was the subject of his 2022 TEDx talk. 

Additionally, in 2021 Dr. Mankowski wrote Albion's Secret History: Snapshots of England's Pop Rebels and Outsiders which is the subject of today’s podcast. The book compiles snapshots of English pop culture’s rebels and outsiders, from Evelyn Waugh to PJ Harvey via The Long Blondes and The Libertines.

Buy the book: Albion's Secret History: Snapshots of England’s Pop Rebels and Outsiders

Extract from upcoming biography 'I Know How to Live': The Life of Kristen Pfaff by Guy Mankowski

Guy Mankowski: University of Lincoln

Guy Mankowski: TEDx Talk on Kristen Pfaff

Guy Mankowski: online

Guy Mankowski: Wikipedia

Guy Mankowski: Instagram

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Punk Art History: Artworks from the European No Future Generation (Global Punk) by Marie Arleth Skov

The punk movement emerged during the mid-1970s, as young adults in the United Kingdom and Europe struggled to find steady employment. History was critical to the movement’s ethos. Punks rejected a narrative of supposed progress and prosperity, a rebuke evident in their visual art as well as their music. “No future,” the Sex Pistols sang, “there’s no future for you, no future for me.”

Punk Art History examines punk as an art movement, combining archival research, interviews, and art historical analysis. Marie Arleth Skov draws on personal interviews with punk art figures from London, New York, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, and Berlin, including Die Tödliche Doris (The Deadly Doris), members of Værkstedet Værst (The Workshop Called Worst), Nina Sten-Knudsen, Marc Miller, Diana Ozon, and Hugo Kaagman. The book also features email correspondence with Jon Savage, Anna Banana, and Genesis Breyer P-Orridge. Many of these artists shared materials from their private archives with Skov, who examines a wide range of media: paintings, drawings, bricolages, collages, booklets, posters, zines, installations, sculptures, Super 8 mm films, documentation of performances and happenings, body art, and street art. She also discusses scandalous and spectacular public events like the Prostitution exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, which spurred walkouts and political debate with its graphic content, and Die Große Untergangsshow (The Grand Downfall Show) in West Berlin, a festival of “ingenious dilettantes.” Skov’s analysis reveals that punks saw themselves as the “rear-guards,” a rejection of the notion of progress inherent to the term “avant-garde.” After all, why would a “no future” movement want to lead the way for a culture they saw as doomed?

Lively and accessible, Punk Art History will captivate students and scholars of art, design, and performance history, as well as readers with an interest in punk, music, fashion, feminism, and urban histories.

Buy the book: Punk Art History: Artworks from the European No Future Generation

Punk Art History on Intellect Books (publisher)

Marie Arleth Skov on Intellect Books (publisher)

Marie Arleth Skov on Punk Scholars Network

Marie Arleth Skov Bird on Instagram

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Red: A Natural History of the Redhead by Jacky Colliss Harvey

A New York Times bestseller, Red is the first book to explore the history of red hair and red-headedness throughout the world.

With an obsessive fascination that is as contagious as it is compelling, Jacky Colliss Harvey explores red hair in the ancient world, the prejudice manifested against redheads across medieval Europe, and red hair during the Renaissance as both an indicator of Jewishness and the height of fashion in Protestant England, thanks to Elizabeth I.

Colliss Harvey also examines depictions of red hair in art and literature, looks at modern medicine and the genetic decoding of redheads, and considers red hair in contemporary culture, from advertising to 'gingerism' and bullying.

More than just a book for redheads, Red is a fascinating social and cultural celebration of a rich and mysterious genetic quirk.

Buy the Book: Red: A Natural History of the Redhead

Jacky Colliss Harvey on Facebook

Jacky Colliss Harvey on Instagram

Daisy Bird on Facebook

Daisy Bird on Instagram

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Welcome to The Neo Historian a history book podcast.

Each episode we hear from acclaimed authors about their historical research interests and recent publications. From the history of redheads to punk art, English pop to the pink triangle join us as we explore history and history books about subjects far beyond kings and queens, battles and wars.

Website: https://www.theneohistorian.com/

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Email: [email protected]

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