Author: Alice Jenkins File Type: pdf In 1818 Michael Faraday and a handful of London artisans formed a self-help group with the aim of teaching themselves how to write like gentleman. For a year and a half, this essay circle met regularly to read and critique one anothers writings and the Mental Exercises they produced are a record of life, literary tastes, and the social and political ideas of dissenting artisans in Regency London. This volume is the first to publish the essays and poems produced by Faradays circle and it includes not only the complete corpus of the groups writings, but detailed annotations, extracts from key sources, a full-length biographical, historical, and a literary introduction as well. Valuable not only for Romantic and early-Victorian historians, but for literary scholars and the general reader as well, this collection sheds considerable light on the developing mind of one our greatest scientists.Mental Exercises is an important document for historians interested in the lives and education of artisans of the period.Geoffrey Cantor, University of Leeds

Author: Malcolm Barber File Type: pdf First published to wide critical acclaim in 1992, The Two Cities has become an essential text for students of medieval history. For the second edition, the author has thoroughly revised each chapter, bringing the material up to date and taking the historiography of the past decade into account.The Two Cities covers a colourful period from the schism between the eastern and western churches to the death of Dante. It encompasses key topics such asullthe Crusadesllthe expansionist force of the Normansllmajor developments in the way kings, emperors and Popes exercised their powerslla great flourishing of art and architecturellthe foundation of the very first universities. lulRunning through it all is the defining characteristic of the high Middle Ages the delicate relationship between the spiritual and secular worlds, the two cities of the title. This survey provides all the facts and background information that students need, and is defined into straightforward thematic chapters. It makes extensive use of primary sources, and makes new trends in research accessible to students. Its fresh approach gives students the most rounded, lively and integrated view of the high Middle Ages available.ReviewReviews for the previous edition.Barber has filled an important gap . for years, leaders of undergraduate courses on the central Middle Ages have longed for a book like this a single volume which supplies useful outline reference material as an adjunct to a clear and wide ranging analysis of complex events, and one which presents a rounded view of the different aspects of the period, on association with a bountiful supply of relevant primary sources in translation. Above all, a book which presents the period as dynamic and fascinating, and positively invites the user to read more widely . a real tour de force.*Times Higher Education Supplement*Malcolm Barber has succeeded admirably . a fine book . should find a wide and grateful readership.* History*A valuable introduction.*History Today*A historical survey of unusual comprehensiveness. Warmly recommended to upper-division undergraduates and their instructors.*Choice*About the AuthorMalcolm Barber is Professor of Medieval History at the University of Reading. His many books include The Templars, The Cathars and The New Knighthood, A History of the Order of the Temple.