{"id":374,"date":"2019-03-06T11:40:51","date_gmt":"2019-03-06T11:40:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/history\/?p=374"},"modified":"2024-08-31T17:05:53","modified_gmt":"2024-08-31T16:05:53","slug":"how-to-review-orphan-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/history\/2019\/03\/06\/how-to-review-orphan-books\/","title":{"rendered":"How to review orphan books"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
The Times Literary Supplement (TLS), No. 5951, 21 April 2017. No matter how high the TLS piles on your coffee table, it can never review every worthwhile read.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u2019s the time of year when those high profile history books not heavily discounted in December are available at half price in Waterstones.\u00a0 With honourable exceptions, too many titles heavily promoted in the run up to Christmas were heavyweight stocking fillers, of which \u2013 with due predictability \u2013 a depressingly high number focused upon ever more arcane aspects of the Second World War.\u00a0 These volumes now languish in large stacks, their bright red stickers and knock down prices clear confirmation that these are not books per se<\/em> but too often unloved and unwanted products, hard to shift and an inconvenience to both retailer and publisher.\u00a0 For most of us the economics of publishing remain a mystery.\u00a0 End-of-year titles arrive in Waterstones or W.H. Smith after weeks of heavy duty negotiations over pricing and promotion, and, unless their final fate is the bargain bin, the mark up must be sufficient to secure at least a marginal return on every copy sold.\u00a0 Hopefully, however disappointing the sales, individual authors can secure a modest reward for all their efforts.\u00a0 Freelance historians deserve every advantage they can attract, and, if their books have featured prominently in end-of-year promotions and recommendations, then good luck to them.<\/p>\n

But what about the numerous history books which don\u2019t feature on Waterstones\u2019 front-of-store shelves every autumn, or indeed any other season of the year?\u00a0 The same books are similarly absent from the shop windows of Daunt or Blackwell\u2019s, or any other chain; let alone the resurgent independent booksellers so successfully defying the digital doomsayers.\u00a0 Hundreds if not thousands of titles are left to sink or swim, but at what cost?\u00a0 Year on year a large number of high quality books are the victim of arbitrary decisions regarding their saleability \u2013 Waterstones\u2019 regional buyers daily determine the commercial prospects of books they never see.\u00a0 This especially applies to those books researched and written with the intention of reaching out beyond academia to a wider audience; titles which stand up to close scholarly scrutiny, but which can also interest the general reader.\u00a0 Given the number of campus-based and independent historians, and the nation\u2019s ceaseless fascination with the past, history boasts a disproportionate number of titles which deserve a far wider readership then is in fact the case.<\/p>\n

The writers of these unknown books have invested years of work, often at considerable expense to themselves and to public funding agencies.\u00a0 Campus career advancement scarcely compensates for an absence of readers.\u00a0 Like Waterstones\u2019 buyers, review editors of national newspapers and magazines display conscious or unconscious bias against the subject matter, the publisher, the follower-free author, or even all of the above.\u00a0 This sad state of affairs might be tolerable if there was a review safety net, but there isn\u2019t, not even on-line.\u00a0 Clearly the Times Literary Supplement<\/em> can\u2019t provide comprehensive coverage of every history book it receives for review, but in any one year the high quality volumes that never make the cut is alarming.<\/p>\n

Far worse than being ignored is the solitary hostile review.\u00a0 If there is a complete absence of interest across the mainstream press then anyone with an interest in history who does discover an unnoticed book can make up their own mind whether or not to buy it.\u00a0 A single review can be disproportionately damaging: it stands alone, with no parallel notices to confirm or contest.\u00a0 If the reviewer has a particular agenda, and these prejudices and preferences are at odds with the title under consideration, then, however unwarranted the criticism, the author\u2019s fate is sealed. Here was the one opportunity to generate interest and momentum, and it\u2019s gone.<\/p>\n

Similarly wreaking havoc is the solitary review on Amazon, where the self-appointed critic dislikes a text intensely, and derives deep satisfaction from awarding one or two stars to a book which a more informed and enlightened reader might rate highly.\u00a0 Historians seeking to satisfy both their peers and the public frequently encounter such criticism, especially when writing biographies.\u00a0 The absence of published reviews compounds the problem as an Amazon customer reads the one online assessment, notes its companion rating, and unsurprisingly, chooses not to buy the book.\u00a0 Unless those who do order the book are sufficiently impressed as to write a favourable commentary, no counterweight exists.\u00a0 Thus, the near anonymous volume is left abandoned on its single star Amazon website, drifting year on year into ever greater obscurity.\u00a0 The writer is left bereft of an effective response.\u00a0 Rightly or wrongly, to contest in print a harsh review is deemed bad form.\u00a0 More damnable is the shoddy practice of an aggrieved author submitting under an assumed name a favourable online review and rating.<\/p>\n

With so many well-researched, well-written history books attracting so few readers, what can be done?\u00a0 Clearly it\u2019s not feasible to create a website where every half-decent book is guaranteed a review, but it is possible to create an app through which registered readers automatically learn of titles recently received by the British Library in their chosen areas of interest: a simpler, more broad-based, more accessible version of the Institute of Historical Research\u2019s online bibliography.\u00a0 If two or more readers of an individual book wrote reviews (maximum length, three hundred words, respectful of the writer) then they would be published on the BL approved website; everyone originally informed of the book\u2019s publication would learn via the app that contrasting or complementary reviews were now available.\u00a0 The funding base for the website and app would be based on subscription or advertising, or a mixture of both.\u00a0 Creating such a system would be easy as the technology is proven.\u00a0 This seems a simple way of informing the non-specialist about new books which have not been reviewed but deserve wider recognition.\u00a0 Whether such a system could ever be created is a question I leave to the experts.\u00a0 What I do know is that each year far too many first-rate books history are swiftly forgotten, for the simple reason that most potential readers are unaware they exist.\u00a0 Such a dreadful waste of effort, energy, and emotion needs addressing, urgently.<\/p>\n

Adrian Smith <\/em><\/p>\n

Emeritus <\/em>Professor of Modern History, University of Southampton<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s the time of year when those high profile history books not heavily discounted in December are available at half price in Waterstones.\u00a0 With honourable exceptions, too many titles heavily promoted in the run up to Christmas were heavyweight stocking fillers, of which \u2013 with due predictability \u2013 a depressingly high number focused upon ever more arcane aspects of the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3768,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comment-and-debate","category-open-access","column","threecol"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9DnLX-62","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":313,"url":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/history\/2018\/12\/10\/what-is-musical-germanness\/","url_meta":{"origin":374,"position":0},"title":"What is Musical Germanness?","author":"Eve Colpus","date":"10th December 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"This month sees the publication of Dreams of Germany: Musical Imaginaries from the Concert Hall to the Dance Floor, which Neil Gregor has co-edited with University of Southampton musicologist, Thomas Irvine. Here, Neil considers some of the ways the book rethinks both the histories of national identity and modern and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Comment and debate"","block_context":{"text":"Comment and debate","link":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/history\/category\/comment-and-debate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/236\/2018\/12\/GregorDreams-202x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":873,"url":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/history\/2025\/10\/17\/dr-charlotte-riley-wins-prestigious-prize\/","url_meta":{"origin":374,"position":1},"title":"Dr Charlotte Riley Wins Prestigious Prize","author":"Craig Lambert","date":"17th October 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"History\u2019s Charlotte Lydia Riley has won a very prestigious award from the American Historical Association. The prize is for her the American edition of her book,\u00a0Imperial Island: An Alternative History of the British Empire\u00a0(Harvard University Press, 2024). The prize is the Herbert Baxter Adams Prize for an author\u2019s first book\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Notes from the archive"","block_context":{"text":"Notes from the archive","link":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/history\/category\/notes-from-the-archive\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/236\/2025\/10\/image-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":355,"url":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/history\/2019\/02\/11\/the-many-lives-of-calouste-gulbenkian-worlds-richest-man\/","url_meta":{"origin":374,"position":2},"title":"The Many Lives of Calouste Gulbenkian, World’s Richest Man","author":"Jonathan Hunt","date":"11th February 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 At a ceremony in Lisbon last Thursday His Excellency Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, President of Portugal, helped launch Jonathan Conlin's new biography of the Anglo-Armenian oil baron Calouste Gulbenkian (1869-1955). Published in English by Profile Books as Mr Five Per Cent: The Many Lives of Calouste Gulbenkian, World's Richest\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Events"","block_context":{"text":"Events","link":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/history\/category\/events\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/236\/2019\/02\/190124-PRMRS-RO-0008-2989.jpg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/236\/2019\/02\/190124-PRMRS-RO-0008-2989.jpg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/236\/2019\/02\/190124-PRMRS-RO-0008-2989.jpg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/236\/2019\/02\/190124-PRMRS-RO-0008-2989.jpg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":506,"url":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/history\/2020\/09\/14\/professor-chris-woolgar-fellow-of-the-british-academy\/","url_meta":{"origin":374,"position":3},"title":"Professor Chris Woolgar, Fellow of the British Academy","author":"Jonathan Hunt","date":"14th September 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"In this year of pandemic and distancing, the Southampton history department is united in pleasure and appreciation at the election of our colleague, Professor Chris Woolgar, as a Fellow of the British Academy. This is a rare and high honour, which is given to a few of the most influential,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Notes from the archive"","block_context":{"text":"Notes from the archive","link":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/history\/category\/notes-from-the-archive\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/236\/2020\/09\/Chris-Woolgar-web-image.jpg_SIA_JPG_fit_to_width_INLINE.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":340,"url":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/history\/2019\/01\/28\/translating-darwin-translating-history\/","url_meta":{"origin":374,"position":4},"title":"Translating Darwin, Translating History","author":"Eve Colpus","date":"28th January 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The history of science and of scientific knowledge offers lessons in many ways of thinking about the world we live in, past and present, scientific and beyond. Katalin Straner, Lecturer in Modern European History at Southampton, is writing a book on the translation and reception of Darwinism and evolutionary theory\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Notes from the archive"","block_context":{"text":"Notes from the archive","link":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/history\/category\/notes-from-the-archive\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/236\/2019\/01\/Postcard-300x184.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":950,"url":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/history\/2026\/04\/23\/prof-craig-lamberts-keynote-lecture-at-a-conference-of-the-the-british-commission-for-maritime-history\/","url_meta":{"origin":374,"position":5},"title":"Prof. Craig Lambert’s keynote lecture at a conference of the The British Commission for Maritime History","author":"Elisabeth Forster","date":"23rd April 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"On the 17-18th\u00a0April we were proud to host The British Commission for Maritime History at the University of Southampton for their 31st\u00a0\u2018New Researchers in Maritime History\u2019 Conference. This was organised by BCMH and Prof. Helen Farr (Archaeology), a trustee of the Commission, and supported by the Society for Nautical Research,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Notes from the archive"","block_context":{"text":"Notes from the archive","link":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/history\/category\/notes-from-the-archive\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/236\/2026\/04\/Craig-best-photo.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/236\/2026\/04\/Craig-best-photo.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/236\/2026\/04\/Craig-best-photo.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/236\/2026\/04\/Craig-best-photo.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/236\/2026\/04\/Craig-best-photo.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3768"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=374"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":377,"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374\/revisions\/377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}