Shire Publications imprint: 233 books

Fashion in the Edwardian period underwent some quite revolutionary changes. The delicately coloured, flower-and-lace-trimmed trailing gowns and elaborate hairstyles worn by tightly corseted fashionable ladies in the early years of Edward VII's reign would transform into the boldly coloured, dramatically...

The number of wounded in the First World War was unprecedented, and inadequate military planning presented the medical and voluntary community with huge and daunting challenges. Yet in the face of tremendous adversity both tackled their work with resourcefulness, courage and great humanity. This book...

Throughout history the English language has reflected social changes, trade routes, and waves of fashion. This book examines the histories of the names of foods, ingredients, utensils, drinks, cooking methods, and dishes to show how the vocabulary of English has reflected the ways speakers of the...

Royal nuptials are always a cause for excitement both at home and abroad, and never more so than when the couple in question are young, glamorous and bathed in the glow of genuine romance. But the meaning invested in royal weddings, and the manner in which they are conducted, have changed dramatically...

The 1950s was the first decade when American fashion became truly American. The United States had always relied on Europe for its style leads, but during World War II, when necessity became the mother of invention, the country had to find its own way. American designers looked to what American women...

The birth of the skyscraper in Chicago in the mid-1880s introduced a new direction for city architecture: upwards. But how-and why- was it that Chicago set the standard for high-rise buildings, not only across the USA but all over the world? Rolf Achilles here introduces the style of the First Chicago...

London's buildings are dotted with commemorative plaques. Many are the famous blue plaques, indicating where a famous person was born, lived, stayed, or if a significant event took place there, or an earlier use of the site. This book is a comprehensive gazetteer of all of London's plaques. Using...

Bradshaw's guide to London was published in a single volume as a handbook for visitors to the capital, and it includes beautiful engravings of London attractions, a historical overview of the city, and lots of other information relating to London theatres, Hackney carriages, omnibuses, London churches...

Until the middle of the last century, London's social calendar was dominated by 'the Season', a round of social events and parties during which the daughters of the upper classes made their 'debuts'. Debutantes and their families descended on the capital from all over Britain to take part in this...

London's many cemeteries, churches and graveyards are the last resting places of a multitude of important people from many different walks of life. Politicians, writers and military heroes rub shoulders with engineers, courtesans, artists and musicians, along with quite a few eccentric characters....

This book tells the epic thousand-year story of Britain's Jewish community, the country's oldest minority group, replete with the dark episodes of persecution and expulsion, but also with positive periods of acceptance and toleration. Some Jews came as wealthy traders, others as desperate refugees;...

A ride on a rollercoaster is the highlight of any trip to an amusement or theme park, and such attractions have been entertaining the public for well over a century. From the first mass-produced rollercoaster, the Switchback Railway, through to the giant wooden coasters of the inter-war period, seaside...

Modern living began with the homes of the 1950s. Casting aside the privations of the Second World War, American architects embraced the must-have mod-cons: they wrapped fitted kitchens around fridges, washing machines, dishwashers and electric ovens, gave televisions pride of place in the living room,...

From Jones's Woods, America's first amusement resort, to Coney Island during the golden age of the mid-1900s, and well beyond into the twenty-first century, the thrills of the amusement park have been a treasured part of childhood for Americans from coast to coast. Though many of the country's grand...