Michael Foley

The River Thames has been a vital lifeline for London since Roman warships sailed along it to the newly founded town of Londinium. Even then the peaceful-looking river had a lethal aspect which led to the loss of these Thames sailors. When the Vikings sailed across the treacherous North Sea they did not expect to lose their ships in the Thames but still many did. Throughout the centuries the River Thames has claimed the lives of crews of small boats and large naval warships, the scale of the tragedies growing with the sizes of the vessels involved. The danger to shipping was often accepted as a necessary risk in order to keep trade flowing into London and many of the earlier tragedies, before news was so widely transmissible, have been largely forgotten today. This illustrated book chronicles the surprising number of disasters and tragedies to have occurred on the River Thames up to the present day.

Mordant wit, linguistic exuberance and a restless imagination are the hallmarks of Michael Foley’s poetry. For over three decades, and across four collections of poetry, his work has attracted critical acclaim and legions of readers who have been engaged and challenged by the candour, humour and compassion that drive his work. New and Selected Poems brings together the best of Foley’s poetry along with over fifty new poems, including the long epic poem, ‘The Parliament of the Birds’. Gathered under the title ‘Walking into Jerusalem’ and heavily influenced by Chinese poetry, these new poems crackle with Foley’s trademark zest for life, his impatience with power politics and posturing, but are accompanied here by a deeper sense of quest: for enlightenment, for meaning and for a way to be in the world. Chosen and ordered by Michael Foley, New and Selected Poems is an exciting and vibrant body of work and a testament to a poet whose voice has never been more engaging or compelling.

First published in 1990, Laws, Men and Machines is an original interpretation of the lasting influence that Newtonian mechanics has had on the design and operation of the American political system. The author argues that it is this mechanistic tradition that now instinctively shapes the way we conceive of, analyse, and evaluate American politics, and that the Newtonian conception of the world still finds expression in the 'checks and balances' of the American system.

Awry take on how contemporary culture is antithetical to happiness.

Despite the close connection between Barking and Dagenham now, there was an obvious difference in how the two places developed. Built in the seventh century, Barking's abbey elevated the town into significance, while Dagenham, until quite recently, was only a small rural village. By the nineteenth century, Barking was an industrial town, its wealth growing around the town quay, while Dagenham was still focused on farming. Dagenham changed dramatically after the First World War when the Becontree estate, the largest council estate in the world at the time, engulfed the small village. Along with the new houses came new industries on the banks of the Thames and in other smaller industrial estates. As Barking spread eastward and the Becontree estate spread to the west, the space between the two towns began to disappear and Barking and Dagenham merged. However, as the pictures in this book show, among the modern buildings there are still signs of the past, when both towns were separate entities.

Ranging from Somerset House to the Serpentine, Smithfield Market to Selfridges, Michael Foley leads us on a tour of London's most popular landmarks. He shows us that while much of the city is transformed decade-by-decade, London is rooted in its most persistent features. While White City would be unrecognisable to a time-travelling Edwardian, the great memorials, palaces and churches are definitive - and a century is nothing to the houses on Fleet Street that survived the Great Fire of 1666. Obvious patterns emerge - while the traffic on the streets is increasingly relentless, the Thames, once clogged with trading ships, now tends towards the empty. And although the speed of new building work has only accelerated over the years, the twenty-first century pedestrian has a much greener - and arguably safer - journey ahead of her than those Edwardian predecessors. London Through Time is the ideal companion for a leisurely ramble around one of the most diverse, most venerated cities on Earth.

This fascinating selection of more than 180 photographs traces some of the many ways in which Havering has changed and developed over the last century.

London has been under attack for literally centuries. London Under Attack charts the military history of the capital from Roman times until the Second World War. Throughout this period London was at the centre of hostilities, not always instigated by foreign enemies, but more often from its own inhabitants or those from other parts of Britain. As well as the terrible Blitz on London during the Second World War, earlier conflicts which made an impact on the city are also documented, including the Civil Wars of twelfth and seventeenth centuries, the war between King John and the barons, uprisings against the poll tax, the uprising against Queen Mary's marriage to Philip of Spain, the Gordon Riots, the riots and deaths at the funeral of Queen Caroline in the nineteenth century and numerous other uprisings and conflicts that have mainly been forgotten in the twenty-first century. London Under Attack is a must-read for all those interested in military history as well as the turbulent history of our nation’s capital.

Before the First World War, Essex was a very different county from that which we know today. The economy was largely based on agriculture, and its people rarely travelled beyond its borders, or even out of their towns or villages. The war opened up a whole new world for the people of Essex. Men from the county enlisted in Kitchener's Army and travelled abroad, and many troops came into the camps and barracks which sprang up around the countryside. Some of these men came from all points of the British Empire and had enlisted to fight for the mother country. Essex was a key area during the war. Situated on the east coast, it was thought that the enemy could potentially use it as a site for invasion, so many defences were set up all round the county. Essex was subjected to great danger and harsh times by the enemy in the form of air raids from Zeppelins, and later, from the more potent aeroplane attacks.This well-illustrated and informative book sets out the experiences of the county and its inhabitants against what was happening in the broader theatre of war. It offers a valuable insight into life for Essex folk in the First World War and will appeal to anyone interested in the county's history.

Essex has been at the centre of conflict since the earliest days of recorded history. Michael Foley's carefully selected images and factual captions take the reader through the turbulent times of the Romans, (when the Iceni tribe slaughtered the invaders at Colchester), through to the times of William the Conqueror and to the later gathering of troops at Tilbury to fight the Spanish Armada and the war with Napoleon. Colchester, Warley and Purfleet all feature, being the locations of both tented, temporary camps as well as sturdy barracks, which were to last until modern times. These housed the brave military men of Essex who, throughout the ages, have helped to protect the country both at home and around the world.

the book explores the military history of the county.

More Front-Line Essex takes another fascinating look at the military history of the county and answers all these questions. Since early times Essex has been on England's military front line and has protected the rest of the country from European invaders. Michael Foley covers much of the earlier period not mentioned in his first book, Front-Line Essex, as well as uncovering a host of new facts from later periods. We learn about Essex's distinguished military history from Roman times right up to the present day, taking in the Napoleonic Wars, the First and Second World Wars and the Cold War. Illustrated with a plethora of photographs, maps, drawings, engravings and paintings, More Front-Line Essex is a highly informative book which will appeal to anyone interested in the county's history.

The Thames has been the highway into London since early times. Iron Age forts once guarded its banks and then Roman legionaries took over. Every age since has added to the defences lining the river. The river was also used as the site of mills to produce gunpowder and test weapons, industries too dangerous to be based close to London. The river also betrayed the site of London to enemy airships and later aircraft. Even a complete blackout of the capital could not hide the river's route from enemy pilots. Although the defences are now outdated, many of them remain, giving example of London's battle through history. Michael Foley examines all aspects of military history around the capital and along the banks of the Thames in this fascinating new book.

American society may be hostile to the thought of ideologies, but it possesses a sophisticated but little understood ability to engage in deep conflicts over political ideas, while at the same time reducing adversarial positions to legitimate derivatives of American history and development. The study asks how this occurs; how the sources, traditions and usages of core ideas and their derivative compounds animate political discourse and structure the basis of political conflict; and how it is possible to sustain a high incidence of competitive value-laden argument and principled political conflict within a stable political order. The fundamental aim of this study is to examine the traditions and usages of American political ideas within the arena of practical politics. By locating them in their respective contexts, it will be possible to assess both their changing meanings and their shifting relationships to one another. In surveying America's core ideas both in isolation and in combination, the book facilitates an informed awareness of their political and cultural leverage as forms of persuasion and sources of legitimacy. American Credo roots the examination of American political ideas firmly in the milieu of social drives, political movements and contemporary issues within which the ideas themselves are embedded. This not only allows the study to investigate the interior properties and traditional priorities of America's key values but permits the theoretical implications and practical consequences of these ideas to be traced and evaluated. By marshalling a wide variety of evidence from different disciplines and perspectives, and by employing innovative principles of organisation, the study offers clarity and depth in support of an inventive explanatory scheme. It concludes with a review of the current and likely future challenges to the protocols and conventions surrounding the matrix of ideational coexistence.

This is the history of the Sportsmen's Battalion, Royal Fusiliers 23rd service battalion, which consisted almost entirely of men from the world of sport or entertainment. The battalion was privately raised and took men up to the age of 45. This book covers the battalion's beginnings in London and progression to Hornchurch, France and then Germany.

Suffolk's coastline faces east, and through most of its history has therefore been one of the areas of this country that has been at risk from invasion during times of conflict. This title delves into history of military Suffolk, from Saxon shore forts to castles or castle sites, Napoleonic martello towers and Second World War airfields.

A follow-up to the "Frontline Essex", this book describes life in the county during the Second World War. It draws on written sources and interviews with people who lived through the war on the Home Front, as children or as adults.

Kent has been on England's first line of defence. In all major conflicts many people in the county have lived closer to the enemy in Europe than they did to London. Much of the county's coastline has been the site of training and weapon development, which adds to the interest of military sites in this area.Michael Foley's new book delves into the long history of military Kent, from Roman forts to Martello towers, built to keep Napoleon out, from the ambitious Royal Military Canal, which cost an equivalent of GBP10 million in today's money but was abandoned after seventy years, to wartime airfields and underground Cold War installations.Illustrated with a wide range of photographs, maps, drawings, engravings and paintings, Front-Line Kent also includes location and access details for the sites that are illustrated and described. This lively and informative book will appeal to anyone interested in Kent's history, whether or not a military specialist.

Before the First World War, Essex was a very different county from that which we know today. The economy was largely based on agriculture, and the people rarely travelled beyond its borders, or even out of their towns or villages. The war opened up a whole new world for the people of Essex. Men from the county enlisted in Kitchener's Army and travelled abroad, and many troops came into the camps and barracks which sprang up. Some of these were men from across the empire who came to fight for the mother country. Essex was a key area during the war: situated on the east coast, it was thought that the enemy could potentially use it as a site for invasion, so many defences were set up all round the county. Essex was subjected to great danger and harsh times by the enemy in the form of air raids from Zeppelins, and later, from aeroplanes. This book sets out the experiences of the county against what was happening in the broader theatre of war.

Makes a compelling argument about the increrased importance of political leaders and the changing style of leadership in Britain and the US. Introduces new concepts and backs them up with a convincing argument about the existence of a British 'presidency'. Completely up-to-date - the first convincing analysis of Tony Blair's leadership style. Locates the emergence of the New Labour project and its defining ideal of strong leadership within the context of Margaret Thatcher’s conviction politics and the dysfunctional premiership of John Major. Concludes that Blair’s rise to power and his dominating presence in government represents a decisive precedent and the standard against which his competitors and successors will be judge.