Michael J. Allen – författare

Fewer Americans were captured or missing during the Vietnam War than in any previous major military conflict in U.S. history. Yet despite their small numbers, American POWs inspired an outpouring of concern that slowly eroded support for the war. Michael J. Allen reveals how wartime loss transformed U.S. politics well before, and long after, the war's official end.Throughout the war's last years and in the decades since, Allen argues, the effort to recover lost warriors was as much a means to establish responsibility for their loss as it was a search for answers about their fate. Though millions of Americans and Vietnamese took part in that effort, POW and MIA families and activists dominated it. Insisting that the war was not over ""until the last man comes home,"" this small, determined group turned the unprecedented accounting effort against those they blamed for their suffering. Allen demonstrates that POW/MIA activism prolonged the hostility between the United States and Vietnam even as the search for the missing became the basis for closer ties between the two countries in the 1990s. Equally important, he explains, POW/MIA families' disdain for the antiwar left and contempt for federal authority fueled the conservative ascendancy after 1968. Mixing political, cultural, and diplomatic history, Until the Last Man Comes Home presents the full and lasting impact of the Vietnam War in ways that are both familiar and surprising.

Forensic document examination is a long established specialty and its practitioners have regularly been shown to have acquired skills that enable them to assist the judicial process.  This book, aimed primarily at students studying forensic science and document examination in particular, introduces all of the essential ideas that are to be found in the work of the forensic document examiner in a concise and straightforward way.  Each examination type is described not only in terms of its procedural basis but also the science and reasoning that underpins it.  The reader will be able to relate the different kinds of interpretation skills used by the document examiner to those used in other forensic disciplines.

This book will be an invaluable text for all students taking courses in Forensic Science or related subjects. The book will also be a useful reference for researchers new to this field or practitioners looking for an accessible overview.The author will be adding new references that are relevant as they are published and some more worked examples from time to time. Please visit http://qdbook.blogspot.co.uk/ for more details.

Forensic document examination is a long established specialty and its practitioners have regularly been shown to have acquired skills that enable them to assist the judicial process.  This book, aimed primarily at students studying forensic science and document examination in particular, introduces all of the essential ideas that are to be found in the work of the forensic document examiner in a concise and straightforward way.  Each examination type is described not only in terms of its procedural basis but also the science and reasoning that underpins it.  The reader will be able to relate the different kinds of interpretation skills used by the document examiner to those used in other forensic disciplines.

This book will be an invaluable text for all students taking courses in Forensic Science or related subjects. The book will also be a useful reference for researchers new to this field or practitioners looking for an accessible overview.The author will be adding new references that are relevant as they are published and some more worked examples from time to time. Please visit http://qdbook.blogspot.co.uk/ for more details.

Forensic document examination is a long established specialty and its practitioners have regularly been shown to have acquired skills that enable them to assist the judicial process.  This book, aimed primarily at students studying forensic science and document examination in particular, introduces all of the essential ideas that are to be found in the work of the forensic document examiner in a concise and straightforward way.  Each examination type is described not only in terms of its procedural basis but also the science and reasoning that underpins it.  The reader will be able to relate the different kinds of interpretation skills used by the document examiner to those used in other forensic disciplines.This book will be an invaluable text for all students taking courses in Forensic Science or related subjects. The book will also be a useful reference for researchers new to this field or practitioners looking for an accessible overview.The author will be adding new references that are relevant as they are published and some more worked examples from time to time. Please visit http://qdbook.blogspot.co.uk/ for more details.

This volume is derived, in concept, from a conference held in honour of John Evans by the School of History and Archaeology and The Prehistoric Society at Cardiff University in March 2006. It brings together papers that address themes and landscapes on a variety of levels. They cover geographical, methodological and thematic areas that were of interest to, and had been studied by, John Evans. The volume is divided into five sections, which echo themes of importance in British prehistory. They include papers on aspects of environmental archaeology, experiments and philosophy; new research on the nature of woodland on the chalklands of southern England; coasts and islands; people, process and social order, and snails and shells - a strong part of John Evans' career. This volume presents a range of papers examining people's interaction with the landscape in all its forms. The papers provide a diverse but cohesive picture of how archaeological landscapes are viewed within current research frameworks and approaches, while also paying tribute to the innovative and inspirational work of one of the leading protagonists of environmental archaeology and the holistic approach to landscape interpretation.

The Ouse valley, East Sussex, is a key communication route from the Channel coast, via the Downs (and the historic county town of Lewes), to the wide expanse of the Weald. It traverses and encompasses landscapes and archaeological sites of both regional and national importance – all connected by the river Ouse and its valley. This is the first review of the archaeology of this important landscape – from Palaeolithic to medieval times by contributors all routed in the archaeology of Sussex. Binding together the archaeology is a review of the geoarchaeology and palaeo-environment following which the chapters document the collective archaeology and potential from the Palaeolithic of Boxgrove vs Piltdown, via Mesolithic archaeology from the textbook excavations of Grahame Clark to recent 21st century investigations. Monuments of causewayed enclosures, long barrows and round barrows represent some of the Neolithic and Bronze Age evidence with some extraordinary finds recorded in the Bronze Age. From hillforts and villas, to medieval rural and urban excavation; the Ouse valley represents a microcosm of the wider region, the contributions collectively reveal the importance and significance of this valley to the development of landscape history and society of a quintessential English county. The narrative concludes with the first detailed research agenda for the Ouse valley.

The Chalcolithic, the phase in prehistory when the important  technical development of adding tin to copper to produce bronze  had not yet taken place, is not a term generally used by British  prehistorians and whether there is even a definable phase is  debated. Is There a British Chalcolithic? brings together many leading authorities in 20 papers that address this question.  Papers are grouped under several headings. Definitions, Issues and Debate considers whether appropriate criteria apply that define a distinctive period (c. 2450 - 2150 cal BC) in cultural, social, and temporal terms with particular emphasis on the role  and status of metal artefacts and Beaker pottery. Continental Perspectives addresses various aspects of comparative regions of Europe where a Chalcolithic has been defined. Around Britain and Ireland presents a series of large-scale regional case studies where authors argue for and against the adoption of the term. The final section, Economy, Landscapes and Monuments, looks at aspects of economy, land-use and burial tradition and provides a detailed consideration of the Stonehenge and Avebury landscapes during the period in question.  The volume contains much detailed information on sites and artefacts, and comprehensive radiocarbon datasets that will be invaluable to scholars and students studying this  enigmatic but pivotal episode of British Prehistory. Additional information originally found on included CD ROM can be downloaded at https://books.casematepublishers.com/Is_There_a_British_Chalcolithic.pdf.

Leading scholars in these 29 commissioned papers in honour of Richard Bradley discuss key themes in prehistoric archaeology that have defined his career, such as monumentality, memory, rock art, landscape, material worlds and field practice. The scope is broad, covering both Britain and Europe, and while the focus is very much on the archaeology of later prehistory, papers also address the interconnection between prehistory and historic and contemporary archaeology. The result is a rich and varied tribute to Richard's energy and intellectual inspiration.

The Chalcolithic, the phase in prehistory when the important technical development of adding tin to copper to produce bronze had not yet taken place, is not a term generally used by British prehistorians and whether there is even a definable phase is debated. Is there a British Chalcolithic? brings together many leading authorities in 20 papers that address this question. Papers are grouped under several headings. Definitions, Issues and Debate considers whether appropriate criteria apply that define a distinctive period (c. 2450 - 2150 cal BC) in cultural, social, and temporal terms with particular emphasis on the role and status of metal artefacts and Beaker pottery. Continental Perspectives addresses various aspects of comparative regions of Europe where a Chalcolithic has been defined. Around Britain and Ireland presents a series of large-scale regional case studies where authors argue for and against the adoption of the term. The final section Economy, Landscapes and Monuments , looks at aspects of economy, land-use and burial tradition and provides a detailed consideration of the Stonehenge and Avebury landscapes during the period in question. The volume contains much detailed information on sites and artefacts, and comprehensive radiocarbon datasets that will be invaluable to scholars and students studying this enigmatic but pivotal episode of British Prehistory.

‘The Anthem Anthology of Victorian Sonnets’ is a comprehensive collection of three thousand sonnets written by poets between 1836 and the early years of the twentieth century. The work contains a representative selection of sonnets for each individual poet, in order to display the diversity and innovation brought to the sonnet form by Victorian poets.

The date of the Cerne Giant has long been a matter for debate, as exemplified by a public and televised debate of March 1996, published as The Cerne Giant: An Antiquity on Trial (1999, Oxbow Books). Excavations were conducted in 2020 by the National Trust in the centenary year of its ownership of the Giant. The excavations were limited and targeted in extent and scope, the aim was to date the actual construction of the iconic figure by absolute dating methods (OSL). As the 1999 publication explained, the jury was still out – with advocates for a prehistoric origin, one connected to the period of the Civil War or a more modern one. In the event, the dates were a complete surprise, falling within the Anglo-Saxon period.The research has provided an accurate, scientifically verified date for the Cerne Giant. These unexpected results, together with the land-use history and ominous ‘disappearance’ of the Giant for six centuries, provide the platform for reconsideration and new discussion and debate.Part 1 deals with new research: the historical background and aims, the excavation results, stratigraphic finds, geoarchaeological interpretation, land-use history (environmental/land snails), and discussion. Part 2 is the wider discussion and implications derived from the results and places the Giant in his local and Saxon context. Part 3 begins with summaries of the other two excavated hill figures (the Long Man of Wilmington and the Uffington White Horse) followed by a series of essays from leading archaeologists, historians and experts in early medieval iconography.