A Time to Dance, A Time to Die: The Extraordinary Story of The Dancing Plague of 1518 (HARDBACK)

In July 1518 a terrifying and mysterious plague struck the medieval city of Strasbourg. Hundreds of men and women danced wildly, day after day, in the punishing summer heat. They did not want to dance, but could not stop. Throughout August and early September more and more were seized by the same terrible compulsion. By the time the epidemic subsided, heat and exhaustion had claimed an untold num…

A Time to Dance, A Time to Die: The Extraordinary Story of the Dancing Plague of 1518 (PAPERBACK)

The true story of a wild dancing epidemic that brought death and fear to a 16th-century city, and the terrifying supernatural beliefs from which it arose. In July 1518 a terrifying and mysterious plague struck the medieval city of Strasbourg. Hundreds of men and women danced wildly, day after day, in the punishing summer heat. They did not want to dance, but could not stop. Throughout August and …

The Discovery of the Germ (Ebook: PDF)

20 incredible years that revolutionised our understanding of disease. Excess bile, blood and phlegm. Inhaling airborne poisons. Overexcited nerves. From Hippocrates to the age of Louis Pasteur, the medical profession relied on these plausible but almost wholly mistaken ideas of the cause of infectious illness. Few doctors, even by the mid-1800s, realized that different diseases have different cau…

The Real Oliver Twist

From a parish workhouse to the heart of the industrial revolution, from debtors' jail to Cambridge University and a prestigious London church, Robert Blincoe's political, personal and turbulent story illuminates the Dickensian age like never before. In 1792 as revolution, riot and sedition spread across Europe, Robert Blincoe was born in the calm of rural St Pancras parish. At four he was abandon…

The Real Oliver Twist (paperback)

'A compelling history of the lives of workhouse children in the industrial revolution' Guardian 'An engrossing biography' Mail on Sunday 'The Real Oliver Twist is history approaching its best.' The Australian 'Waller writes with a passion and flair which commands the reader's attention' Times Literary Supplement From a parish workhouse to the heart of the industrial revolution, from de…

The Real Oliver Twist (Ebook: PDF)

From a parish workhouse to the heart of the industrial revolution, from debtors' jail to Cambridge University and a prestigious London church, Robert Blincoe's political, personal and turbulent story illuminates the Dickensian age like never before. In 1792 as revolution, riot and sedition spread across Europe, Robert Blincoe was born in the calm of rural St Pancras parish. At four he was abandon…