Brian Wright – författare

Filled with traditional tales and illustrations, this book looks at the legends of dragons that have been prevelant throughout the history of Somerset, from the 6th century to the modern day.

Insurance Fire Brigades 1680-1929 describes how the Romans in Britain had well organised fire brigades, but that these ceased after the Romans left Britain in the fifth century. After that there was no organised fire service and fires were both common and devastating, culminating in the 1666 Great Fire of London. It was not until 1680 that the first insurance company, the Fire Office, was established in London by Nicholas Barbon. The government took no interest in the subject so it was insurance companies that pioneered the fire service for almost 250 years.The firemen in major cities had magnificent uniforms in bright colours, many of which are illustrated in this book, and they used manual fire engines until the 1880s, manned by volunteers who were often paid in beer. The insurance companies also provided new and improved water supplies and pioneered the improvement of fire proofing and Fire Acts. In the 1800s James Braidwood introduced the pattern of operation still in use today. As is clear from Insurance Fire Brigades 1680-1929, throughout the nineteenth century the impracticalities of having so many small brigades were realised and local authorities began to take control. The last insurance brigade to be disbanded was the Norwich Union in Worcester, in 1929, so ending 249 years of direct involvement in firefighting by the insurance companies, which shaped the service we know today.

Brigid of Kildare, Ireland, is uniquely venerated as both a goddess and a saint throughout Ireland, Europe and the USA. Often referred to as Mary of the Gael and considered the second most important saint in Ireland after St Patrick, her widespread popularity has led to the creation of more traditional activities than any other saint; some of which survive to this day. As a result of original historical and archaeological research Brian Wright provides a fascinating insight into this unique and mysterious figure. This book uncovers for the first time when and by whom the goddess was 'conceived' and evidence that St Brigid was a real person. It also explains how she 'became' a saint, her historical links with the unification of Ireland under a High King in the first century and discusses in depth her first documented visit to England in AD 488. Today, Brigid remains strongly connected with the fertility of crops, animals and humans and is celebrated throughout the world via the continuation of customs, ceremonies and relics with origins dating back to pre-Christian times. Using a combination of early Celtic history, archaeology, tradition and folklore from Ireland, Britain and other countries, this comprehensive study unravels the mystery of a goddess and saint previously complicated by the passage of time.

The conservation of genetic resources is vital to the maintenance of biodiversity and to the world’s ability to feed its growing population. There are now more than a thousand genebanks worldwide involved in the ex situ (meaning “away from the source”) storage of particular classes of crops. Since the 1970s, the eleven genebanks maintained by the centres of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) have become pivotal to the global conservation effort. However, key policy and management issues – usually with economic dimensions – have largely been overlooked.This provided the impetus for a series of detailed economic studies, led by IFPRI, in collaboration with five CGIAR centres: CIAT (based in Colombia), CIMMYT (Mexico), ICARDA (Syria), ICRISAT (India) and IRRI (Philippines). This book reports these studies and discusses their wider implications.

Let’s say you’re the manager of one of the most beloved franchises in Major League Baseball, with every past and current player available on your bench. Game time is approaching and the ump needs your line-up card. Who’s your starting pitcher? Fireballer Dwight Gooden, lights-out Tom Seaver, or run-stingy Jacob de Grom? Is Gary Carter behind the plate or Mike Piazza? Who’ll bat clean-up? Combining statistical analysis, common sense, and a host of intangibles, Brian Wright constructs an all-time All-Star Mets line-up for the ages. Agree with his choices or not, you’ll learn all there is to know about the men who played for and managed New York’s Amazin’ Mets.

A challenge to the “end of the shari‘a” thesis in Islamic legal historiographyIn the second half of the nineteenth century, states across the Muslim World developed new criminal codes and reshaped their legal landscapes, laying the foundations of the systems that continue to inform the application of justice today. Influenced by colonialism and the rise of the modern state’s desire to control its populations, many have seen the introduction of these codes as a pivotal shift and divergence from the shariʼa, the dominant paradigm in premodern Muslim jurisdictions.In A Continuity of Shari‘a, Brian Wright challenges this view, comparing among the Egyptian, Ottoman, and Indian contexts. By examining the environment in which the new codes were created, highlighting the work of local scholars and legal actors, and examining the content of the codes themselves, Wright argues that the criminal systems of the late nineteenth century have more connections to their past than is previously understood. Colonial influence was adapted to local circumstances and synthesized with premodern understandings in an eclectic legal environment to create solutions to local problems while maintaining a continuity with the shari’a.This book will be of interest to scholars and students of Islamic Studies, Islamic Law, and Islamic Legal History.