The Last Emperor of Mexico

"It’s looking, so far, like a good year for history, with a nice selection of books published in the UK in the first couple of months of 2022 (and more to come throughout the spring: I’ll do an update in early March). The Last Emperor of Mexico particularly appealed to me, just the madness of a Habsburg archduke, in line to the Austrian throne, somehow thinking that taking on this position thousands of miles away was a good idea, and the general setting, in 19th-century Mexico, a history I’m not familiar with. While we’re on the Habsburg family, there’s also a new biography of Maria Theresa , the Holy Roman Empress who ruled swathes of Europe for 40 years in the 18th century as well as having 16 children. It’s by German historian Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger, a specialist on the Holy Roman Empire, and quite apart from insights it gives into women and power is quite a nice route into the complicated European history of that period. (Afterwards, if you want to move into the 19th century and Germany’s Second Reich, Katja Hoyer’s Blood and Iron: The Rise and Fall of the German Empire , was published in the US in December). On British history , Penelope Corfield has a book out on The Georgians (normally neglected at school, but that’s a pity: the 18th was a lively and important century, with lots going on). There’s also Conquering the Ocean , by archaeologist Richard Hingley , on the Roman invasion of Britain (the first question to ask: why did they do it?). Edging back into the Bronze Age, How to Build Stonehenge by Michael Pitts also looks really interesting. On social and cultural history, a book that’s been getting quite a bit of reviewer attention is Worn: A People’s History of Clothing , by Sofi Thanhauser . Unlike the author, I’m not someone who delights in clothes per se , but I do love anything that sheds light on how people lived in the past and clothing is a vital part of that (I now know, for example, what kind of underpants people wore before stretch fabrics were available). Another book that may interest some is Sweat: A History of Exercise by Bill Hayes. I wasn’t quite sure what to make of the book: it reads more like a book about writing a book about the history of exercise than a book about the history of exercise—the author goes to the library to do his research between mad sessions at the gym—but quirkiness is good, I guess."