Old Street Publishing

26/10/2022

Praise for The Shortest History of the Soviet Union by Sheila Fitzpatrick:

'Fitzpatrick is in superb form when crystallizing into just five pages the tumultuous events between February and October 1917'

'Deftly described... fascinating reading.'

Sean Sheehan THE PRISMA

https://theprisma.co.uk/2022/10/24/never-trust-the-capitalists/

30/09/2022

Proud!
'Fascinating, fact-packed book' Bel Mooney liking our Shortest History of the Crown by Stephen Bates in today's Mail

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/books/article-11264009/Why-British-needed-monarchy.html

19/08/2022

'channel[s] the pithy, punchy spirit of the great Norman Stone’s short histories of Turkey and Hungary... There are many surprises here, even for cognoscenti of Russian history.'

Owen Matthews in The Spectator, on The Shortest History of the Soviet Union.

Read the rest here: https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/nothing-is-certain-in-russia-where-the-past-is-constantly-rewritten

03/08/2022

some lovely words about Tom Drury's The End of Vandalism from Joe at The Book Hive https://www.facebook.com/thebookhivenorwich

From a thriving market town in Norfolk, England, to a small town in fictional Grouse County, USA...
This week, I (Joe) find myself trying to fill bookseller Ben's extremely big boots -- that's right, I'm over in our Aylsham shop. While still bustling with readers, this branch offers a slightly different pace, and it got me thinking about one of my favourite recent reads -- the quietly powerful 'The End of Vandalism' by Tom Drury.
Set in small town, mid-west USA in the '90s, Drury's debut is a master class in "the stuff of real storytelling" (New York Times). You might point out that a rural, realist novel set in middle America isn't exactly unique -- and you'd be right -- but believe me when I say this novel is a rare gem.
At the heart of the story are three characters: Sheriff Dan Norman, local troublemaker and petty thief Tiny Darling, and Tiny's wife, Louise -- whose lives are intertwined after Tiny vandalises an anti-vandalism charity dance (yes, you read that right). But this is one of those books that feels bigger -- or should I say smaller? -- than any one obvious 'plot'. It's alive with an organic patchwork of "life-sized nobodies". A whole cast of characters populate Grouse County, each so convincingly and lovingly rendered it honestly feels like you could put the book down, walk around the corner, and bump into them. The observation, compassion and "electric deadpan" humour make this a book unlike any you've read. Here's an example -- an account of someone working on a broken-down car: "She had got down on her hands and knees and looked, but this hadn't fixed it." Genius. And real.
This is gentle, wise, witty writing -- hilarious in places, heartbreaking in others (Jon McGregor calls it an "unsettling delight"). It seems criminal to me that Drury isn't more well known! Do yourself a favour and order a copy -- this is part one of a trilogy, and, let me tell you now, you'll be so happy to be able to meet these characters again in books two and three.

03/08/2022

A cheering tweet from the Venerable Rob Potts, History Teacher. Also brightening classrooms up and down the land are our syllabus-friendly Shortest Histories of Germany, the Soviet Union, China and coming soon (trumpet fanfare...) The Crown

13/07/2022

07/07/2022

Linda Jaivin's Shortest History of China - out now in paperback. £8.99

11/11/2021

Hot – or at least warm – off the press...

The Shortest History of Greece - James Heneage - £12.99
Hardback in stock.

Philosophy, art, democracy, language, even computers our world has been shaped by the products of Greek civilisation.

Yet most of us know little about a people and a place that have given us so much. Pericles and the Parthenon may be familiar, but what of Epaminondas, the Theban general who saved the Greek world from Spartan tyranny?

Alexander the Great's fame has rolled down the centuries, but the glorious Hellenistic Age that came after him is largely forgotten. 'Byzantine' often conjures a vague notion of decadence and deadly intrigue, yet the 1,000-year empire ruled from Constantinople saved Europe twice from invasion and was, in fact, Greek.

The story of modern Greece, too, is a dramatic tale of triumph and catastrophe, from liberation and expansion through schism and home-grown dictatorship, N**i occupation and civil war to today's nation -- battered by austerity, a transit camp for the casualties of the Middle East, at the front-line of climate change -- yet still proud of its values.

The Shortest History of Greece, James Heneage charts the odyssey of the Greeks through more than three millennia. As he does so, he uncovers a vital lesson -- one that may just help us fix our own democracies.