Michael Foley: 47 books

It has always been difficult to appreciate everyday life, often devalued as dreary, banal and burdensome, and never more so than in a culture besotted with fantasy, celebrity and glamour. Yet many writers, artists, film-makers and photographers have celebrated the ordinary life around them, and many...

London has been under attack for literally centuries. Michael Foley's book records the dramatic military history of the capital from Roman times until the Second World War and beyond. Throughout its early history London was at the centre of hostilities, not always instigated by foreign enemies, but...

Passengers on the early railways took their lives in their hands every time they got on board a train. It was so dangerous that they could buy an insurance policy with their ticket. There seemed to be an acceptance that the level danger was tolerable in return for the speed of travel that was now...

On the morning of 21 November 1920, Jane Boyle walked to Sunday Mass in the church where she would be married five days later. That afternoon she went with her fiancé to watch Tipperary and Dublin play a Gaelic football match at Croke Park. Across the city fourteen men lay dead in their beds after...

The Thames has been the highway into London since early times. Iron Age forts once guarded its banks and then Roman legionaries took over. Every age since has added to the defenses lining the river. The river was also used as the site of mills to produce gunpowder and test weapons, industries too...

The municipal borough of Ilford, in north-east London, grew from a sleepy Essex backwater in the seventeenth century to become a major coaching town, thanks to its strategic position on the London–Colchester road. Its growth continued through the early and mid-nineteenth century with the arrival...

Romford History Tour is a unique insight into the illustrious history of this east London town, its well-known streets and famous places, and explains what they meant to local people throughout the nineteenth and into the twentieth century. Readers are invited to follow a timeline of events and watch the changing face of Romford as author Michael Foley guides us through the local streets.

Rise of the Tank will be concentrated on the period of the development of the tank and its use in the First World War. This will appeal to those interested in new developments in war and those interested in the First World War generally. The book will be especially relevant due to the forthcoming...

First published in 1989, Michael’s Foley’s book deals with the ‘abeyances’ present in both written and unwritten constitutions, arguing that these gaps in the explicitness of a constitution, and the various ways they are preserved, provide the means by which constitutional conflict is continually...

There are a number of strange buildings that stand on the south and east coasts of England, often thought to be water towers or ventilation shafts. They are, in fact, important historical defences, built to stop Napoleon's army invading our shores during the wars of the early nineteenth century. Any...

Kent has been on England's first line of defence. In all major conflicts many people in the county have lived closer to the enemy in Europe than they did to London. Much of the county's coastline has been the site of training and weapon development, which adds to the interest of military sites in...

Essex has been at the centre of conflict since the earliest days of recorded history. Michael Foley's carefully selected images and factual captions take the reader through the turbulent times of the Romans, (when the Iceni tribe slaughtered the invaders at Colchester), through to the times of William...

Rescued Hearts tells the story of Matt Toomey, a grizzled veteran with years of service with the Boston Fire Department, who has grown increasingly bitter and cynical as the decades have passed. His experiences in life not only have driven a wedge between him and the Catholic Church, they have led...

With the end of the First World War, British troops crossed the Rhine and entered a country torn by violence where revolution seemed likely. Also, there was a threat of the war resuming if Germany refused to accept Allied terms. British forces were plunged into the turmoil of a defeated country and...