03 April 2020
Publications 2000 - 2009
Publications from your fellow alumni. Published by alumni who graduated 2000 - 2009.
From novels and poetry collections to works of non-fiction, our community of alumni and staff have published a variety of books over the years. We share a selection of these with you here.
If you would like to put forward a work for inclusion, please email the alumni office.
Heaven and Hell: The psychology of the emotions by Dr Neel Burton (Medicine, 2002)
Today more than ever, the education doled out in classrooms is cold and cognitive. But, once outside, it is our uneducated emotions that move us, hold us back, and lead us astray. It is, at first and at last, our emotions that determine our choice of profession, partner, and politics, and our relation to money, sex, and religion. Nothing can make us feel more alive, or more human, than our emotions, or hurt us more.
Yet many people lumber through life without giving full consideration to their emotions, partly because our empirical, materialistic culture does not encourage it or even make it seem possible, and partly because it requires unusual strength to gaze into the abyss of our deepest drives, needs, and fears. This book proposes to do just that, examining over 25 emotions ranging from lust to love and humility to humiliation, and drawing some useful and surprising conclusions along the way.
Loyal to the Empire by Patrick Crowley (Defence Studies, 2004)
Monro was one of a handful of senior officers selected to command a division with the British Expeditionary Force in 1914 and also led a corps on the Western Front as the war progressed.
After Gallipoli he was instrumental in supporting the war effort from India as commander-in-chief and was directly involved in the aftermath of the Amritsar massacre by Brigadier General Dyer. His earlier life included distinguished service on the North West Frontier and in South Africa, and he was responsible for dramatically improving tactics within the army.
Loyal to Empire brings to life the interesting character of General Monro, perhaps the least well known of all the British First World War commanders, and reassesses the legacy of his important military
Infantry Die Hards: The Anatomy of a Regiment by Patrick Crowley (Defence Studies, 2004)
Colonel Patrick Crowley, Deputy Colonel Heritage Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment, has written a unique new book for the Regiment. It highlights the role of the infantry and then tells some of the key Regimental stories, throughout its history. It highlights the role played by the infantry regiments of the south east, from Tangier in the 17th century to modern Iraq and Afghanistan and the long campaign in Northern Ireland. The Foreword is by Colour Sergeant Johnson Beharry VC and the Afterword by the Colonel of The Regiment. All profit made goes to Regimental Benevolence and the order flyer is attached. If you want to support benevolence, this purchase is a ‘must’!
Available for £30 only (including postage), from Mr Henry Thomas MBE, PWRR Area HQ, Leros Barracks, Sturry Road, Canterbury Kent CT1 1HR.
Eurasia's Shifting Geopolitical Tectonic Plates by Alexandros Petersen (War Studies, 2006)
This anthology of articles, short studies, and interviews by Alexandros Petersen was written over the span of ten years, starting in 2004. Yet they are even more relevant today in their prescient analysis. Petersen insightfully addresses the implications of the West withdrawing its engagement from the Caucasus and Central Asia, the expansion of the Chinese influence, and Russia’s strategic interests.
Eurasia's Shifting Geopolitical Tectonic Plates is available on Amazon.
Integration in Energy and Transport: Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey by Alexandros Petersen (War Studies, 2006)
The South Caucasus has established itself as a corridor for transporting energy from Azerbaijan to Georgia, Turkey, and on to Europe, symbolised by the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline. This new infrastructure has created an east-west “Eurasian bridge” in which transnational extra-regional actors, especially the European Union and international financial institutions, have played a critical role. This book offers an original exploration of integration in the energy and transport sectors amongst Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey, and the capacity of this to fundamentally change relations between these countries. In the period studied, from the mid-1990s to 2008, integration in energy and transport did not result in broader political, security, and sociocultural integration in any significant way. The author sets his analysis in a theoretical framework, drawing on theories of integration, but also grounds it in the detailed, empirical knowledge that is the measure of true expertise.
The World Island - Eurasian Geopolitics and the Fate of the West by Alexandros Petersen (War Studies, 2006)
Both a historical analysis and a call to arms, this is the comprehensive policy guide to understanding and engaging in the geopolitics of Eurasia.
An Illustrated History of The Royal Northern Hospital 1856 - 1992 by Dr Albert Rinsler
'Sherard Statham entered University College, London, to study medicine. In 1846 he went on to win a Silver Medal for Medicine and in the following year he gained the University Gold Medal in the final MB, achieving a first in Medicine. In 1851 he passed the London FRCS and in the same year was appointed assistant surgeon to University College Hospital, London. However, an early promising career came to an abrupt end because of a scandal, which involved some very foolish behaviour in the operating theatre. Statham had taken an active interest in the training of junior medical staff and medical students in the administration of chloroform. His manner however, was regarded as brusque and even uncouth at times. On 21 May 1856, a special meeting of the Medical Committee at University College Hospital took place, to consider a complaint against his conduct. This took the form of a letter to the Chairman of the Medical Committee from Mr John Erichsen, a surgeon at University College Hospital.'
The book can be ordered by sending a £6 donation, inclusive of delivery and payable to the Whittington Hospital Charitable Fund, to:
Press Office, Jenner Building, Whittington Hospital, Magdala Avenue, London N19 5NF
A Choice of Enemies: America Confronts the Middle East by Professor Sir Lawrence Freedman (Professor of War Studies and Vice Principal)
'When war comes, choosing an enemy is normally the least of the government’s problems. The choice tends to be obvious. Speaking after the 'unprovoked and dastardly' Japanese attack on the American fleet at Pearl Harbour on December 7, 1941, 'a date that will live in infamy,' President Franklin D. Roosevelt saw no need to elaborate on the meaning of these events: 'The facts of yesterday speak for themselves. The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation.' The next 'unprovoked and dastardly' attack against American territory, on September 11, 2001, was naturally compared to Pearl Harbour. Yet in this case the facts did not speak so clearly.'
Concentration Camps on the Home Front: Japanese Americans in the House of Jim Crow by Professor John Howard (Head of American Studies)
'As a result of Executive Order 9066 signed by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on 19 February 1942, over 110,000 Japanese Americans along the West Coast of the United States faced eviction from their homes and expulsion from the area – what the War Relocation Authority (WRA) called 'evacuation,' falsely implying rescue. Far from delivering Japanese Americans from danger, the WRA put them into one hazardous situation after another, first confining them at sixteen 'assembly centres': detention camps with barbed-wire fences and guard towers. The largest was set up at Santa Anita Race Track, where horse stables were converted into living quarters and straw was used to stuff mattresses. Then prisoners were shunted into ten longer-term 'relocation centres' constructed on undesirable federal lands across the West and South. Though obviously quite different from Nazi death camps, these compounds for the forced, indiscriminate incarceration of an entire ethnic minority population have earned the designation concentration camps from many scholars of Asian American history.'
My Restless Spirit by Reg Grant
'I was educated in the scientific model but I was destined to cross the river that divides the scientists and the spiritualists. I now realise the strict limitations that science places on our lives and how it cannot accept the non-physical Afterlife because it does not have physical characteristics by which it can be measured.
The birth of my father was the outcome of a love affair between Lily Digby and Lord Alwyne Compton who was the third son of the fourth Marquess of Northampton. My father’s birth was never registered and it was shrouded in secrecy and he never found out who were his parents.
It became a family secret and those who knew the secret have since taken it with them to the grave. I was to discover the secret after I had undergone a period of awakening and enlightenment lasting some 25 years culminating in a visit from my beloved grandmother.'
Paranoia: The 21st Century Fear by Dr. Daniel Freeman (Wellcome Trust Fellow and Senior Lecturer in Clinical Psychology)
'Threats seem to loom at us from all quarters. And of course sometimes it’s right to be cautious. Lurking within the kitchen of the Thai Cottage was nothing more sinister than a super-spicy savoury dip, but Londoners are well aware of the havoc terrorists can wreak. Muggers, vandals, delinquent teenagers, paedophiles, rapists, corrupt officials, malicious colleagues, gossips, spies, and blackmailers – none of these are entirely the figment of our fevered imaginations. The trick, of course, is keep a sense of perspective, recognising that these kinds of dangers are rare and taking that on into a calm and measured assessment of risk.When we look at the data on rates of paranoia, however, it appears that many of us are finding that trick increasingly difficult to pull off. At any one time, around a quarter of the population are having regular paranoid thoughts, with lots more people probably experiencing them occasionally. Our fears have gotten the better of us, and the twenty-first century begins to look like a new age of paranoia.'
The Colour Black by Maia Walzack (Hispanic Studies, 2008)
The Colour Black follows two people, Silvia and Jack, who meet by chance. Their stories intertwine, and one day they set off on a journey that takes them physically from the urban streets of San Diego to the vast wildernesses of Alaska – and, mentally, from their personal stories to global issues, and the mysteries of the universe.
Weird Sports and Wacky Games; From Buzkashi to Zorbing by Dr Victoria Williams (English, 2008)
Play is an essential part of the human experience that has existed since time immemorial and occurs in all cultures. Play also proves that what can seem frivolous is actually a source of joy, and, sometimes, of great commercial value. One of the main ways people play is through participating in sports and games. This single volume edition concentrates on sporting activities and pastimes enjoyed around the world that are either played by only a handful of participants (such as the Eton Wall Game) or enjoyed by many millions of people and have a huge cultural significance (such as cricket). Many of the activities detailed include elements of history, folklore, politics, art, literature and science and cover North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Oceania. Animal sports are also featured, including controversial so-called blood sports. Also included are a number of entries on traditional British pub games and other pastimes including British folk sports like the Haxey Hood Game and activities such as cheese rolling and pancake races, which, though often presumed to be uniquely English occasions, have parallel events in other countries.
Buy Weird Sports and Wacky Games from Amazon here.
Caesar’s Footsteps: Journeys through Roman Gaul by Bijan Omrani (Classics, 2009)
In his new book, Caesar’s Footsteps: Journeys through Roman Gaul, alumnus Bijan Omrani (PGCE Classics, 2009) makes a revelatory journey across Gaul in the footsteps of its Roman conquerors. In his book, Bijan tells the story of Caesar’s Gallic Wars and traces the imprint on modern France that Roman civilisation has left to this day.
The parallels drawn with the tumultuous times we live in are striking, including how Caesar dealt with a migration crisis, and what kept the Roman Empire together for so long. Could Caesar’s conquest of Gaul can be seen as the birth of the ‘European project’?
Caesar’s Footprints: Journeys through Roman Gaul is available to purchase on Amazon.
Identity through Science, Philosophy and Artistic Concepts in the Qur'an by Dr Shams un Nahar
This book is an attempt to understand and interpret human identity through revelations found in the Quran. The Quran’s aim is to encourage a person to reach philosophical and spiritual maturity and its revelations are addressed to a human mind that is assumed to be sensible and moderate. However, since the Quran was revealed fourteen hundred years ago, some might consider time to be a barrier to interpreting its meanings today. Critics may ask whether it is possible to assess and identify from the Quranic era human attributes that apply to all ages of mankind. The author hopes to address this issue in this book.
Get the book here.
Kut 1916: Courage and Failure in Iraq by Patrick Crowley
This modest venture led to a British military disaster so total yet unnecessary, so futile yet expensive, that its like did not occur again until the fall of Singapore in 1942.
The town of Kut in Mesopotamia, now Iraq, surrendered to the Turkish Army on 29 April 1916. The occupying British-led and mainly Indian Army force had been besieged for four months. 12,000 soldiers were taken into captivity and were to suffer almost as much as their countrymen did in different circumstances under the Japanese nearly thirty years later. There had been 3,776 casualties during the siege, 23,000 men were killed or wounded during the unsuccessful relief attempts and a further 4,000 were to die, subsequently, as prisoners. It was, arguably, Britain’s worse military defeat since the surrender of Cornwallis’s army in 1781 during the American Revolutionary War and came only a few months after the evacuation from Gallipoli.
Available from all good bookshops and www.thehistorypress.co.uk.
My Ward by Wendy Mathews
The Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust has comprised St Thomas’, Guy’s and the Evelina Children’s Hospital since 2004. Much has been written of the Hospitals’ histories but, to the best of my knowledge, there is no other reference book detailing the origins of the ward names. Yet, over the centuries, the names of the wards give a fascinating insight into general and medical history and the preoccupations and changing values of the Hospitals and their times.
This work details the history of the ward names of the Hospitals over the centuries, providing some insight into why these names were chosen. Wards and other listed names are printed in bold type.
Please follow this link for information about how to purchase 'My Ward'. Proceeds from book sales will go to benefit the Guy's League of Nurses, The Friends of Guy's Hospital, and the Florence Nightingale Museum, among others.
Performing Gender at Work by Elisabeth Kelan
This insightful book explores how changes in the world of work interact with changes in gender relations. The advent of new technologies and the emergence of new ways of working are said to change the world of work. This raises the question in how far gender is changing in these new work relations, too. In popular perceptions gender is often seen as something static: people just are men and women. This book, in contrast, explores how the gender binary is established and challenged through interactions in the workplace. It shows how gender is performed or ‘done’ in rigid but also fluid ways. It also highlights how we perform and are performed by gender. The book develops an innovative approach to study gender as a doing in the work context. It does so by drawing on fieldwork in high-tech organizations. It uses discourse analytic methods to analyze how gender is done at work and to show how changes at work are intertwined with changes in gender relations. The book provides academics and practitioners with a cutting edge view on how to make sense of gender in the changing workplace. It will challenge and transform the way gender is seen at work.
Buy the book here.
Rude Boy by Simon Corbin
Expelled from boarding school, Punk Rock rebel Kenny Silvers returns to early 1980s London to renew his friendship with former `partner in crime’, Eddie. Kenny’s downward spiral, from scholarship student to squat-dwelling delinquent, forms the backdrop to a powerful rites of passage tale exploring themes of alienation and drug addiction through gritty dialogue, colourful imagery and a rich vein of black humour. This is Catcher In The Rye for Generation X.
RUDE BOY is available from Amazon.co.uk.
Ruso and the Root of All Evils by Ruth Downie
'Justinus was lying in the stinking dark of the ship’s hold, bruised and beaten, feeling every breath twist hot knives in his chest.
The light that trickled in through the worrying gaps in the hull showed the angle of the ladder above him. Beyond it, thin, bright lines betrayed the position of the hatch. He remembered the slam, and the rattle of the bolts. Now he heard the sharp yell of a reprimand over the thumps and footfalls up on the deck of the Pride of the South, a ship that could hardly have been less appropriately named.'
Buy the book here.
The Rule by Jack Colman (Law, 2009)
In Helvik, a single rule governs the people: ‘No person of Helvik may kill another person of Helvik. Any person who breaks this rule is no longer a person of Helvik.’ Gunnarr remembers a time before the rule, when blood feuds and petty rivalries led to endless death. In the days since, an uneasy peace has fallen over the town, and Gunnarr has made himself the man to enforce it. When an innocent friend suffers from a breach of the rule, Gunnarr rushes to deal retribution. Too late, he discovers that what appeared a mindless act was actually something far more sinister. And now he has left his unborn child and family unprotected, just when they need him most. A vast host of warriors is at the gates of Helvik, and with Gunnarr gone, nothing and no one stands against them…
Buy The Rule from Amazon here.
Be Who You Want by Christian Jarrett (Neuroscience MSc, 2000)
Today, more than ever, we are aware of the power of personality. Are we introverts, extroverts, neurotic, open-minded? Psychology has always taught that there are personality types, some advantageous, some often seen as less so, and the common perception is that we're stuck with what we're given. The introvert will never break out of their shell, the narcissist will be forever trapped gazing into the mirror (or endlessly tweeting about perceived attacks on their brilliance).
Be Who You Want argues that contrary to the old adage, not only can the leopard change his spots, he can swap them for stripes, and that he can do so to his own advantage. In psychological terms, although our initial personality type is moulded by a combination of genetic influences and early experiences, it is not fixed. It's malleable, voluntary even. This book will tell the story of how our personalities are formed and gives us the tools to shape them in the ways which we desire and which will benefit us most.
Buy the book here.