David Nash

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, entire communities, particularly in central Europe were gripped by a fear of witches and witchcraft, and pursued witches in order to bring them to justice. Professor David Nash unlocks the sometimes opaque history of the phenomenon of witchcraft in Britain, Europe and America. The book explores the development of witchcraft and belief in witches, the obsession with witches and witchcraft that spawned witch-hunting, the hey-day and decline of witch-hunting, and the fascinating 'afterlife' of witchcraft: covering not only the survival of some beliefs into the nineteenth century but the academic interest in witchcraft in the early twentieth century, which culminated in the interest shown in the phenomenon by experts serving the interests and ideology of Nazi Germany. Among the themes that the author will examine are the geographical spread and regional differences in witchcraft and witch-hunting across Britain, Europe and America; the theories on the rise of witch-hunting; and gender differences: why so many more women were accused and convicted of witch-hunting than men.

Witches and Witchcraft

Tracing the subject from the Middle Ages to the present, David Nash outlines the history of blasphemy as a concept - from a species of heresy to modern understandings of it as a crime against the sacred and individual religious identity. Investigating its appearance in speech, literature, popular publishing and the cinema, he disinters the likely motives and agendas of blasphemers themselves, as well as offering a glimpse of blasphemy's victims. In particular, he seeks to understand why this seemingly medieval offence has reappeared to become a distinctly modern presence in the West.

A History

Blasphemy in the Christian World

Callum G. Brown

Charlie Lynch

Humanists have been a major force in British life since the turn of the 20th century. Here, leading historians of religious non-belief Callum Brown, David Nash, and Charlie Lynch examine how humanist organisations brought ethical reform and rationalism to the nation as it faced the moral issues of the modern world. This book provides a long overdue account of this dynamic group. Developing through the Ethical Union (1896), the Rationalist Press Association (1899), the British Humanist Association (1963) and Humanists UK (2017), Humanists sought to reduce religious privilege but increase humanitarian compassion and human rights. After pioneering legislation on blasphemy laws, dignity in dying and abortion rights, they went on to help design new laws on gay marriage, and sex and moral education. Internationally, they endeavoured to end war and world hunger. And with Humanist marriages and celebration of life through Humanist funerals, national ritual and culture have recently been transformed. Based on extensive archival and oral-history research, this is the definitive history of Humanists as an ethical force in modern Britain.

A History of Ethicists, Rationalists and Humanists

The Humanist Movement in Modern Britain

David Nash's new study focuses on the development of blasphemy in the Christian world. Tracing the subject from the Middle Ages to the present, he outlines the history of blasphemy as a concept, from a species of heresy to modern understandings of it as a crime against the sacred and individual religious identity. Investigating its appearance in speech, literature, popular publishing and the cinema, he disinters the likely motives and agendas of blasphemers themselves, as well as offering a glimpse of blasphemy's victims. In particular, he seeks to understand why this seemingly medieval offence has reappeared to become a distinctly modern presence in the West.

Why study history? What’s the point? Through compelling historical narratives, such as the assassination of President Kennedy, Dr David Nash introduces us to the central elements of the subject. Readers learn how history seeks to explain, categorise and make sense of events of the past. It is a search for truth which involves searching for sources and then scrutinising them to try and determine how reliable they are. Nash explores how new interpretations can change our understanding of what was previously an established version of history and what lasting contribution the study of history can make to society and, indeed, civilisation. Ideal for those with an emerging interest in history, the book is designed to provide readers with a toolkit for further investigation of the subject.

A Beginner's Guide

History

Jörg Wettlaufer

Jan Frode Hatlen

This book covers a wide range of topics related to honor and shame in European historical societies: history of law and literature, social and ancient history, as well as theoretical contributions on the state of research and the importance of honor and shame in traditional societies. Honor and shame in Western History brings together 14 texts of interdisciplinary scholars from Europe and North America. It covers a wide range of topics related to honor and shame in historical societies. The contributions cover periods of Western history from Greek and Roman times to the nineteenth century and many of them integrate the concept of a "deep history" of honor and shame in social interaction. The book is essential for a broad audience interested in social history and the history of emotions.

Honor and Shame in Western History

Judith Rowbotham

Marianna Muravyeva

This ground-breaking collection of research-based chapters addresses the themes of shame, blame and culpability in their historical perspective in the broad area of crime, violence and the modern state, drawing on less familiar territories such as Russia and Greece, not just on material from familiar locations in western Europe. Ranging from the early modern to the late twentieth century, the collection has implications for how we understand punishments imposed by states or the community today. Shame, blame and culpability is divided into three sections, with a crucial case study part complementing two theoretical parts on shame, and on blame and culpability; exploring the continuance of shaming strategies and examining their interaction with and challenge to 'modern' state-sponsored blaming mechanisms, including allocations of culpability. The collection includes chapters on the deviant body, capital punishment and, of particular interest, Russian case studies, which demonstrate the extent to which the Russian, like the Greek, experience need to be seen as part of a wider European whole when examining ideas and themes. The volume challenges ideas that shame strategies were largely eradicated in post-Enlightenment western states and societies; showing their survival into the twentieth century as a challenge to state dominance over identification of what constituted 'crime' and also over punishment practices. Shame, blame and culpability will be a key text for students and academics in the fields of criminology and crime, gender or European history.

Crime and violence in the modern state

Shame, Blame, and Culpability

Based on the facts and fables of his life, this is the story of Allen (Ailean) MacLean (1498-1551), Scotland's Last Viking Pirate who is called in history "Nan Sop"."David Nash has done a remarkable job of putting perspective on the many myths and historical facts concerning Allen "Nan Sop" Maclean. Creating a reasonable and convincing story from a small handful of historical facts is a daunting task. Nash has accomplished that with this book. He had to tackle the many conflicting sources, separate myth from fact and then weave it all into a story that puts flesh onto the bare bones we know about Nan Sop. Even answering the simple question of how long did Allen Nan Sop live? So, when did Nan Sop live? The question comes down to when exactly did Hector, son of Nan Sop, inherit his father's lands? The answer is 1552. Therefore, I conclude Nan Sop died in late 1551 or early 1552. Nash also had to sort through the many myths involving Allen Nan Sop. Those he chose to weave into this book are those that meet the reasonable test as based upon historic fact, at least partially.David Nash captures the animosity between the Clan MacLean and the Clan Campbell and their Chief, the Earl of Argyll better than any history book.The author has used the archaic spellings of names for both Ailean (Allen) and his brother Eachann (Hector Mor), and others, such as Tearlach (Charles) and as much setting texture, i.e. details of weapons, clothing, towns, ships, etc., as he could to put the reader into the time of Nan Sop.It has been my pleasure to be David Nash's historical consultant for this project and I applaud him for staying true to what history we know of Allen 'Nan Sop' MacLean." Ronald W. Collins, author of "The Genealogy of the Clan MacLean"

The Story of Ailean "Nan Sop" Maclean - Scotland's Last Viking Pirate

A Wisp of Flame

Peter Martin

Daniel J. Bright

Evaluation of Ground-water Flow and Solute Transport in the Lompoc Area, Santa Barbara County, California

W. M. Banks

The safe design and operation of pressure equipment and pressure systems is key to much of the infrastructure in any present-day industrial society. This book presents an amalgam of best practice from a range of international specialists, as well as highlighting new areas that require research and development. In May 2002, pressure equipment took a major step forward with the emergence of the first edition of the new European Standard EN13445. Pressure Equipment Technology; Theory and Practice not only describes and analyses the status of the new Standard (providing underpinning data) but primarily it seeks to provide new light and present new information on many of the areas where there is insufficient coverage in EN13445 or other Standards. The information is presented in a variety of ways in order to make it useful not only for the specialist but for the general reader as well. The researcher in pressure vessel technology will find here a comprehensive and up-to date picture on many important and vital topics that need to be considered. The non-expert will also find a variety of different analysis approaches that will give interest in a whole spectrum of pressure equipment and storage vessels. The papers and information included in this volume give expert guidance on a variety of important topics that must be understood if appropriate design of pressure equipment is going to be undertaken. These include, Piping and Finite Element Analysis Saddles - Plastic Collapse Loads Vessel Ends and Eccentric Loads Containment Vessels Explosive Loading Welding and Fatigue

Theory and Practice

Pressure Equipment Technology

Blasphemy is a phenomenon that spans human experience, from the ancient world right up to today’s ferocious religious debates. Acts Against God is the first accessible history of this crime—its prosecution, its impact, and its punishment and suppression. While acknowledging blasphemy as an act of individuals, Acts Against God also considers the act as a widespread and constant presence in cultural, political, and religious life. Beginning in ancient Greece and the genesis of blasphemy’s link with the state, David Nash moves on to explore blasphemy in the medieval world, where it was used both as an accusation against outsiders and as a method of crusading for piety in the West. He considers how the medieval world developed the concept of heresy as a component of disciplining its populations, the first coherent phase in state control of belief. This phenomenon reached its full flowering in the Reformation, where conformity became a fixation of confessional states. The Enlightenment created agendas of individual rights where room for religious doubt pushed blasphemy into the twilight as modern humankind hoped for its demise. But, concluding in the twenty-first century, Nash shows how individuals and the state alike now seek to adopt blasphemy as a cornerstone of identity and as the means to resist the secularization and globalization of culture.

A Short History of Blasphemy

Acts Against God

Witchcraft haunts the Western imagination to this day, from Central Europe to Britain to North America. This book explores the development of witchcraft and of the belief in it (stressing the difference between the two), the sixteenthand seventeenth-century obsession that spawned witch-hunting, the eventual decline of witchcraft, and the phenomenon's fascinating 'afterlife' that has involved the Nazis' fixation and modern treatments including Arthur Miller's acclaimed The Crucible. Fully illustrated with historical documents and colour photographs, and expertly written by Professor David Nash, this book is the perfect introduction to a subject that is compelling, disturbing and a little-understood cultural touchstone.

Anne-Marie Kilday

This introductory book offers a coherent history of twentieth century crime and the law in Britain, with chapters on topics ranging from homicide to racial hate crime, from incest to anarchism, from gangs to the death penalty. Pulling together a wide range of literature, David Nash and Anne-Marie Kilday reveal the evolution of attitudes towards criminality and the law over the course of the twentieth century. Highlighting important periods of change and development that have shaped the overall history of crime in Britain, the authors provide in-depth analysis and explanation of each theme. This is an ideal companion for undergraduate students taking courses on Crime in Britain, as well as a fascinating resource for scholars.

Crime in Twentieth-Century Britain

Murder and Mayhem

"When we finally came out of the root cellar, the house was gone, the barn was gone, and the king was dead. The fields had been burned. The dray horses were charred bones weeks old. The cow was missing, undoubtedly a meal for troops. In the distance the castle which had once stood proudly was now a blackened lump, its towers like broken fingers in a burnt hand reaching upward for one last sign of hope."

From Ash and Ruin

Legends are somewhat deceitful. Leaving no room for sequels. Books never written. Stories never told. Until now. It is the late 1800s, and Paul Cunningham is about to establish himself as one of the most iconic American folklore figures of all time by logging his way through the northern United States. What he doesn't realize is the ruinous cost of his conquest. The Man in the Pines is the reimagined life story of the famous American folk legend, Paul Bunyan. It is a tale of demi-god strength, love lost, hubris, and destruction. It is a story of conservation and, hopefully, redemption. It is the life of Paul Bunyan you've never heard before.

The Man in the Pines

Adopting a microhistory approach, Fair and Unfair Trials in the British Isles, 1800-1940 provides an in-depth examination of the evolution of the modern justice system. Drawing upon criminal cases and trials from England, Scotland, and Ireland, the book examines the errors, procedural systems, and the ways in which adverse influences of social and cultural forces impacted upon individual instances of justice. The book investigates several case studies of both justice and injustice which prompted the development of forensic toxicology, the implementation of state propaganda and an increased interest in press sensationalism. One such case study considers the trial of William Sheen, who was prosecuted and later acquitted of the murder of his infant child at the Old Baily in 1827, an extraordinary miscarriage of justice that prompted outrage amongst the general public. Other case studies include trials for treason, theft, obscenity and blasphemy. Nash and Kilday root each of these cases within their relevant historical, cultural, and political contexts, highlighting changing attitudes to popular culture, public criticism, protest and activism as significant factors in the transformation of the criminal trial and the British judicial system as a whole. Drawing upon a wealth of primary sources, including legal records, newspaper articles and photographs, this book provides a unique insight into the evolution of modern criminal justice in Britain.

Microhistories of Justice and Injustice

Fair and Unfair Trials in the British Isles, 1800-1940

This monograph traces the use, abuse and negotiation of the concept of shame from 1600-1900. The book shows good and bad behaviour, morality and perceptions of crime in British society at large, and identifies the changing interaction between popular and official notions of shame. Each of the chapters is a single episode in the ongoing history of shame contextualized by two chapters which discuss the historiography and theory of shame and their implications for the history of crime and social relations. The wide acceptance and utility of shame, as the early episodes in the book suggest, became manifestly less obvious during the eighteenth century. The traditional uses and functions of shame were questioned, yet the growth of the public sphere allowed some of its messages to become recast in modern forms. The last examples in the book demonstrate shame's longevity and relevance beyond the arrival of modernity.

David Nash

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