History West Midlands: 5 books

The British electorate swelled dramatically with the passing of the Second Reform Act in 1867. This presented the political class with a significant challenge. Here was a large, new electorate which needed to be understood, managed, enthused, and persuaded to vote for the right candidate in local...

Anglo-Saxon Mercia was a great power in its day, although many aspects of it have been shrouded in myth and mystery. However, recent discoveries, such as the Staffordshire Hoard and the Lichfield Angel, have shone a fascinating light into the world of Mercia and the Mercians. In Warriors, Warlords...

A fascinating and richly illustrated book exploring speeches made in Birmingham that changed history. Meet some of Britain’s most famous orators. The book reflects the importance of oratory in making a political argument. It may in a sound-bite era be a dying art but these speeches...

Two famous and powerful men of the late Victorian and early Edwardian era, Joseph Chamberlain (1836-1914) and George Cadbury (1839-1922), towered over one of the great cities of the British Empire - Birmingham. Together, they offer a fascinating window into the rapidly changing world in which they...

In 1938 rapturous crowds greeted Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain when he proclaimed “Peace for our time” on his return from meeting Adolf Hitler in Munich. Yet today Chamberlain is vilified as a naïve appeaser – an image cynically cultivated by Winston Churchill for his own political gain. What...