OFF THE SHELF: MAY 2025

Motherdom: Breaking Free from Bad Science and Good Mother Myths by Alex Bollen (Verso, 2025)

Alex  (St John’s, 1991) has already gathered up splendid reviews for this long overdue piece of research. Mothers have been subject to endless criticism for practically anything they do, she argues, on the basis far too often of disreputable pseudo-science. She tells us: ‘My book takes on Good Mother myths, an assortment of narratives, ideologies and stereotypes which are justified by bogus science and spurious invocations of nature. These myths are deployed to censure mothers and blame them for the ills of society. They afflict all women, whether or not they are mothers. Good Mother myths shape-shift in different times and contexts. ‘Mothercraft’ was once touted as the solution to water-borne diseases, contaminated milk and insanitary living conditions. Today, attentive and sensitive mothering to build children’s brains is the answer to – and excuse for – economic, social and racial inequalities. The book argues that we need to replace Good Mother myths with motherdom, a more generous and expansive conception of motherhood. Instead of finding fault with mothers, motherdom shifts our focus to the relationships and resources children need to flourish.’ She adds that the book owes lots to Oxford influences. ‘My book has a strong St John’s [College] connection as it draws upon on the work of Professor Dorothy Bishop, Professor Sarah-Jayne Blakemore and Sir Keith Thomas.’

Hitler’s Deserters: Breaking ranks with the Wehrmacht by Douglas Carl Peifer (Oxford University Press, 24 April 2025)

Very few readers will know that the Nazis executed over 20,000 of their own soldiers for desertion. Peifer, who is a Professor of Strategy and History at the US Air War College and an expert on mutiny, desertion and dissent, noticed that the subject has received huge attention inside Germany but almost none outside it. This invaluable volume not only translates and interprets an enormous subject in one volume, but sheds all sorts of lights on the Nazi war machine and ideology. The book starts with riveting, detailed accounts of individual deserters fleeing across fields, disappearing to see pregnant girlfriends and seeking internment inside Switzerland, often in dire circumstances and subsisting on as little as stolen carrots and cherries. Yet no two accounts are the same. A comparative approach makes crystal clear that the Nazi approach was extreme compared to the allies, but then finds the root cause in the end-throes of the Western Front of World War One, when Germany had seen large amounts of desertion and even a well-publicised mutiny in the German Navy. Twenty years later military legal code had been re-written and a pitiless approach was taken, far harsher than any other combatant nation. In numerous cases cited here, intricate evidence that seemed to exonerate an individual was overturned by a higher military court, resulting in execution whether by shooting squad, hanging or often guillotine. In one case months of legal inquiry finally ended in a guilty verdict and a death sentence. A judge delivered the verdict at 2pm and scarcely three hours later the same day the hapless soldier had been guillotined inside a Berlin gaol. Beyond these chilling details lie a treasure trove of historical evidence about Nazi ideology and the fact that the Wehrmacht was indeed shaped as a pillar of the German state and not ‘apolitical’ as some tried to argue after the war. In particular, a very harsh attitude was taken towards anyone who had a former criminal record, even though many of these same individuals had Second-Class Iron Crosses from the Great War and had almost certainly been victims of trauma and the Great Depression. Despite all this there are situations where a soldier either succeeded in their desertion or had their sentence commuted to heavy labour, re-volunteered for a suicide brigade and re-deserted. In one case the individual did all these things across two years of precarity, one imagines knocking at death’s door, only to survive the war and live on until 1999. It is literally a book about life and death.

The other point of departure is of course that while the failed assassination attempt on Hitler in July 1944 has received so much attention, the thousands of ordinary deserters have received no such treatment. The author considers in considerable depth the range of motivations of these individuals. A shaping theme of the book is a fascinating historiography of Germany after 1945, where a whole generation wrestled with whether the deserters should be viewed as heroic role models or as cowards, given the fallout from Germany’s defeat. The book culminates in the decision of Germany to overturn all the court-martial verdicts from the Second World War, a whole half-century after it ended. By then the pain of the war had subsided enough for a counter-narrative to prevail.

A Life in Travel by Mike Stephens (Mike Stephens, February 2025)

Mike Stephens (Nuffield, 1975) went to Paris, aged ten, with his father and ended up eating dog biscuits, he half jokes. As a young man, his tastes improved, and he visited many elegant cities in Europe, sometimes being an informal ski guide in the Alps. Becoming more adventurous, Mike toured India and the Far East, and also Mexico, Cuba, the USA and Canada. His greatest adventures, however, were on safari in Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Kenya. In this book, Mike reveals many of the hilarious events in which he was involved and describes the fascinating characters he met from around the world. At various times, he has been foolish enough to approach on foot a white rhino, a bull elephant, and three cheetahs devouring their freshly caught prey. In India, his life was threatened as he was caught up in riots, while in Vietnam he ended up, unwittingly, in a brothel. In the USA, on patrol with the police, he was again caught in disorder. Unexpected adventures and humorous events are all found in this book. We also note Mike’s novel Staying Down, published late last year – a narrative about the failing wellbeing of a miner and his family and community in Wales in 1973.

The Boy, the Sand and the Flower by Clare Linda Roberts (Troubador, May 28 2025)

The author (Somerville, 1975) studies themes of exile and displacement in a powerful novel. Osman Saleh, his sister Mariam, and their three school friends flee Eritrea with Idris, the son of a war hero. The reasons behind their decision to leave their beloved families and a country that is an integral part of them are gradually revealed as they come together to plan their great adventure. Ahead lies an incredibly perilous journey, taking them over mountains, across the Sahara Desert, and through two war-torn countries – without passports or any form of identification. Constantly hiding to avoid capture and deportation, they rely on unreliable transport and fall prey to ruthless smugglers. Throughout their dangerous quest, the friends grow closer, sharing moments of hardship and hope. But gradually, they drift apart, losing each other to the unforgiving landscape until only Mariam and Osman remain, standing on the shores of the Mediterranean, their dream of freedom within reach.

The Elephant in the Room: How to Stop Making Ourselves and Other Animals Sick by Liz Kalaugher (Icon Books, 10 April ; University of Chicago Press on 15 May, in the US)

Humans, animals and disease. They're all inter-related, so why do we keep ignoring the elephant in the room? It's well known that Covid-19 may have come from a bat, but diseases are often transmitted in the other direction too. Humans have passed diseases to animals countless times through history, and it's the cross-currents of this relationship between humans, animals and disease that are explored by Liz Kalaugher (Trinity, 1989) in The Elephant in the Room. Taking the reader on a globe-trotting journey through time, Kalaugher presents a series of fascinating case histories of human-related wildlife diseases. Among the stories featured here are the early humans who may have carried pathogens responsible for the extinction of Neanderthals, the native birds of Hawaii that have been devastated by human-introduced disease, and the Tasmanian tiger that has been lost to the sands of time.

Highlife & My Other Lives by Richard Walker (22 May 2025)

The author (St Peter’s, 1971) explains that this is his first work of non-fiction. ‘As a boy, Richard went to live in Ghana where he danced with his parents and their friends to Highlife music, the foundation of Afrobeat. This experience set the tone and tenor for the rest of his life. A life in which music, poetry, literature, theatre, art, travel, nature and love entwine. Performing at the Edinburgh Festival, he met Lauren, who became his soulmate. His story weaves their enduring romance through a life that brought them adventures in many parts of the world: Thailand, Nigeria, India, Brazil, Cyprus, Greece. On the Peloponnese coast by a turtle beach, they create the perfect place to live out the rest of their lives together. But their dream is prematurely cut short, as Lauren is diagnosed with Stage 4 terminal cancer. Despite the loss of the love of his life, Richard continues to live in the moment. Lauren’s presence continues with him as he revisits the memories of their intriguing odyssey. Both irreverent and moving, this is a story that will inspire the reader to value each day as a unique adventure and experience.’ Richard also tells us, ‘I am now resident in Oxford. Later this year my publisher will be re-issuing my 1989 novel A Curious Child which has a transgender narrator, rare if not unique at the time.’

A Measure Short of War: A Brief History of Great Power Subversion by Jill Kastner and William C. Wohlforth (Oxford University Press, April 24 2025)

A primer on the history of subversive statecraft in great power rivalry, A Measure Short of War will leave readers smarter about foreign meddling, more prepared to debate national responses, and better able to navigate between the twin temptations of insouciance and overreaction. Its point of departure is that in 2016, the United States was stunned by evidence of Russian meddling in the US presidential elections. But it shouldn't have been. Subversion, or domestic interference to undermine or manipulate a rival, has a long history. The basic idea would have been familiar to Sun Tzu, Thucydides, Elizabeth I, or Bismarck, note the authors. Russia's operation was just the latest episode, and there will be more to come.

It came as a surprise in 2016 because the sole superpower had fallen asleep at the wheel. But what's really new? Have we entered a new age of vulnerability? To answer these questions, and to protect ourselves against future subversion, we need a clear-eyed understanding of what it is and how it works.

In A Measure Short of War, Jill Kastner and William C. Wohlforth provide just that, taking the reader on a compelling ride through the history of subversion, exploring two thousand years of mischief and manipulation to illustrate subversion's allure, its operational possibilities, and the means for fighting back against it. With vivid examples from the ancient world, the great power rivalries of the 19th century, epic Cold War struggles, and more, A Measure Short of War shows how prior technological revolutions opened up new avenues for subversion, and how some democracies have been fatally weakened by foreign subverters while others have artfully defended themselves – and their democratic principles.