Old Southampton

Nat Turner's 1831 slave insurrection made Virginia's Southampton County notorious. Gradually, however, the bloody spectacle receded from national memory. Although the timeless rhythms of rural life resumed after the insurrection, Southampton could not escape the forces of change. From the Age of Jackson through to secession, wartime, and Reconstruction, it shared the fate of the Old South. Many who had witnessed the insurrection lived to see Tuner's cause triumph as war destroyed the slave system, inaugurating an intense struggle to shape the new postwar order. Old Southampton links local and national history. It explains how partian loyalties developed, how white democracy flourished in the late antebellum years, how secession sharply divded neighborhoods with few slaves from those with large plantations, and how, following emancipation, former slaves challenged the prerogatives of former slaveholders. Crofts draws on two volumnious diaries and other rich records, plus rare poll lists that show how individuals voted. He vividly re-creates the experiences of planters and plain folk, slave owners and slaves, the powerful and the obscure. This deft combination of political and social history is must reading for anyone interested in the Old South and the Civil War era.

Based upon the Handbook of London, by the late Peter Cunningham.

Following the success of his autobiography, everyone's favourite cult football icon Perry Groves is back, pen in hand, to deliver his latest opus. "Perry Groves' Football Heroes" is his collection of the twenty players he has idolised in front of the television, marvelled at from the stands, tussled with on the pitch and drank with in the bar. Pele's in there, so is Bobby Moore...and what all-time player list would be complete without Terry Hurlock?More than just a collection of great players, Perry explains in his own inimitable way exactly why these players made the cut. So, while Pele would make everyone's list for his amazing goal-scoring feats, Perry can't help but admire the Brazilian's drug of choice - Viagra - to guarantee he still keeps scoring despite pushing 70!From Cryuff's turn and 20-a-day habit to Brazilian maestro Ronaldinho, who still manages to be the best player in the world despite being a fixture on the Barcelona party circuit; and from the flamboyant skills, poetry and kung-fu fighting of Eric Cantona to the va-va-voom of Thierry Henry, Perry has a host of great players from the history of the game - from the 1960s up to the present day - and from all corners of the globe.Packed full of facts and uproarious stories from the man himself, "Perry Groves' Football Heroes" is guaranteed to have you believing, just for a little while, that We All Live in a Perry Groves World. This is an engaging and hilarious collection of football heroes by a true football hero.