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Alternate Biography Titles: Lives that might have been

Where we're going we don't need Rhodes Yanis Varoufakis and the politics of concession
Where we're going we don't need Rhodes Colonial South Africa in the late Victorian era.
Where we're going we don't need Rhodes the modern African university by Njonkulu Ndungane and Max Price*


*yes I know, one of the vice-chancellors in the whole university fees debacle in Mzansi is literally named let's make them pay. OTL ain't my fault
 
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Loosely based off of a list I'm working on:

The Atrocity Archives: How British Colonial Atrocities Were Kept Secret For Decades, by Charles Stross MP.

The Annihilation Score: Why MAD Kills Both Sides In The End, by Charles Stross MP.

The Delirium Brief: The Inside Story From The Campaign To Legalise Psychoactive Drugs, by Charles Stross MP.

Iron Sunrise: The Labour Party Manifesto, 2013, by Charles Stross MP and Dr Mark Fisher.
 
Phantom Blood: John of Gloucester and the last of the Plantagenets.

Battle Tendency: a defense of George Patton and the Pusan Defenders.

Stardust Crusaders: Carl Sagan and the Reagan Administration

Diamond is Unbreakable: Marilyn Monroe at her twilight

***

Fellowship of the Ring: Sarah Bernhardt, Nietzsche and the anti-Wagnerians

The Two Towers: Robert Kiyosaki and the trial of the century.

Return of the King: Elvis Presley at Live Aid and other memories.
 
Arthur Doyle was in his day one of the great non-fiction writers of the Victorian and Edwardian eras. In many ways he was a pioneer; after some success writing short articles in The Strand, he made his name with long works of popular non fiction that were neither journalism nor academic, but rather an attempt to combine investigative reporting, education and explanations of complicated subject matter for the lay reader and excellent story telling. Though many of his works are of interest only to a denizen of the ivory tower, Toucan Publishing has reissued the 'Canonical Works' in this handsome edition marking the centenary of Doyle's death...

A Study in Scarlet: Hugely controversial when it came out, this book about the British left and the continental anarchist émigré community remains a fascinating glimpse at a revolution that never happened. Sympathetic to their ideals without ever approving of their methods, the book was banned in twenty two US states.

A Scandal in Bohemia: Doyle happened to be attending a medical conference in Prague in 1891 when Crown Prince Rudolf was discovered in flagrante delicto with Princess Charlotte of Saxe-Meiningen. The resulting scandal for the houses of Hapsburg, Hohenzollern and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was never more entertainingly chronicled than in this slim volume, drawn largely from Doyle's contemporary diaries. Banned in thirty two US states, and resulted in Doyle's trial for obscenity at the Old Bailey (where he was successfully defended by Sir Edward Carson.)

The Valley of Fear: The Luxembourg (Eisch Valley) Crisis almost brought Europe into a general war, and Doyle was there to report on the standoff between Boulanger and Leopold II. Not banned in any US states, possibly because it's distressingly straightforward.

The Hound of the Baskerville: A comic work that deserves a wider audience, this tells the story of a dispute between two printers over the most aesthetically pleasing typeface that somehow led to the Fleet Street Riots of 1898.

The Sign of Four: The Quadruple Intervention saw the fleets of Germany, Russia, the United States and France stand between the Tokugawa Shogunate and the seemingly invincible Beiyang Navy and its British allies. Doyle's reporting of the crisis and his frank assessment of the British navy's woeful obsolescence compared to her rivals made this a seminal text of the Naval Panics of the early twentieth century.

The Red Headed League: This tale of the Spencer family's designs on Downing Street verges into conspiratorial, but it remains one of the most entertaining character assessments of the infamous Winston Churchill ever written. Churchill did, in the end, get Doyle jailed for slander- but neither he nor his father ever made it to the helm of the ship of state.
 
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Arthur Doyle was in his day one of the great non-fiction writers of the Victorian and Edwardian eras. In many ways he was a pioneer; after some success writing short articles in the strand, he made his name with long works of popular non fiction that were neither journalism nor academic, but rather an attempt to combine investigative reporting, education and explanations of complicated subject matter for the lay reader and excellent story telling. Though many of his works are of interest only to a denizen of the ivory tower, Toucan Publishing has reissued the 'Canonical Works' in this handsome edition marking the centenary of Doyle's death...

A Study in Scarlet: Hugely controversial when it came out, this book about the British left and the continental anarchist émigré community remains a fascinating glimpse at a revolution that never happened. Sympathetic to their ideals without ever approving of their methods, the book was banned in twenty two US states.

A Scandal in Bohemia: Doyle happened to be attending a medical conference in Prague in 1891 when Crown Prince Rudolf was discovered in flagrante delicto with Princess Charlotte of Saxe-Meiningen. The resulting scandal for the houses of Hapsburg, Hohenzollern and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was never more entertainingly chronicled than in this slim volume, drawn largely from Doyle's contemporary diaries. Banned in thirty two US states, and resulted in Doyle's trial for obscenity at the Old Bailey (where he was successfully defended by Sir Edward Carson.)

The Valley of Fear: The Luxembourg (Eisch Valley) Crisis almost brought Europe into a general war, and Doyle was there to report on the standoff between Boulanger and Leopold II. Not banned in any US states, possibly because it's distressingly straightforward.

The Hound of the Baskerville: A comic work that deserves a wider audience, this tells the story of a dispute between two printers over the most aesthetically pleasing typeface that somehow led to the Fleet Street Riots of 1898.

The Sign of Four: The Quadruple Intervention saw the fleets of Germany, Russia, the United States and France stand between the Tokugawa Shogunate and the seemingly invincible Beiyang Navy and its British allies. Doyle's reporting of the crisis and his frank assessment of the British navy's woeful obsolescence compared to her rivals made this a seminal text of the Naval Panics of the early twentieth century.

The Red Headed League: This tale of the Spencer family's designs on Downing Street verges into conspiratorial, but it remains one of the most entertaining character assessments of Winston Churchill ever written. Churchill did, in the end, get Doyle jailed for slander- but neither he nor his father ever made it to the helm of the ship of state.

Oh, absolutely superb work
 
A Blaze of Autumn Sunshine, by Tony Benn. This posthumous collection of Benn's speeches and diary entries from his time as Energy Secretary is a timely reminder that the conflict between solar power and nuclear power lobbies is no new thing, and shines light on some controversies that continue to dog British energy policy today
 
The Life of John Wesley: A Brand from the Burning by Roy Hattersley. Hattersley's moving account of the man who took the scattered volunteer fire fighter groups into what is today the Royal National Firefighting Institute spans Wesley's whole life, but focusses a lot on his relationship with his brother, Rev Charles Wesley, who was instrumental in linking John's methodical firefighting Ciruicts to the CoE, and the use of CoE churches as central depots for the Circuits.
 
Mzilikazi the great, and the foundations of KwaNdebele-Natal, by Craig Groenewald
 
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