Alice Hunt
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alicehunt.bsky.social
Alice Hunt
@alicehunt.bsky.social
Professor at the University of Southampton. Author of Republic: Britain's Revolutionary Decade, 1649-1660 (Faber, 2024). Co-investigator on 'The Visible Crown: Elizabeth II and the Caribbean'. Represented by Felicity Bryan Associates.
This sounds good!
Are you coming along to #HistDay25 on Tuesday 4 November 2025? Why not stay at Senate House for my #lecture in the evening, on 'Can popular #history be radical? Historical research and writing for the public'. Book your free place: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
October 16, 2025 at 1:12 PM
Thank YOU @mrsamin.bsky.social. Inspirtational and thought-provoking few days meeting this wonderful group of history teachers as part of the @histassoc.bsky.social teacher fellowship with The Visible Crown colleagues @profannawhitelock.bsky.social @gracemc971.bsky.social and Kate Quinn.
My head and heart are enriched and excited! Thank you @histassoc.bsky.social and the Visible Crown project for the most wonderful few days.
September 17, 2025 at 7:12 PM
Yes! I LOVE this bookshop.
‘I suppose it was one of those genuine moments that cheesy lifestyle gurus tell you about – when a truly special opportunity lands in your lap, you really should take it.’

Our September Bookshop of the Month is Shrew Books, Fowey.

faber.co.uk/journal/independent-bookshop-of-the-month-shrew-books/
September 5, 2025 at 11:04 AM
Thank you, Owen. V happy to hear this.
Really enjoyed reading this. Historical writing that gives a real sense of its actors living in their present.

Lots to learn for the present decade too. Thanks @alicehunt.bsky.social!
August 27, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Thank you @stuartbj.bsky.social. What a lovely post to see - and on my birthday too! 🙂
@alicehunt.bsky.social just to say congratulations on your book Republic. A brilliant and addictive read, under-pinned by much research.
I’m well into researching and writing a biography of Nathaniel Fiennes and your book has opening many new avenues for my research 👌
August 5, 2025 at 10:06 AM
Definitely! And especially if it's al fresco reading.
Feels like a good time to be starting @alicehunt.bsky.social's Republic.
August 4, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Cheers, Tracey!
July 16, 2025 at 10:21 PM
Reposted by Alice Hunt
‘The republic was a great age for English satire. Royalist laughs had been generated by rejecting certain social norms and annoying Puritans with wilful impurity – fart jokes, heavy drinking and a celebration of sex and dancing.’

Jonathan Healey on England’s republic: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Jonathan Healey · Blood and Confusion: England’s Republic
The English republic isn’t recalled with much fondness by anyone. It is known as a fun-sapping entity that cancelled...
www.lrb.co.uk
July 11, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Reposted by Alice Hunt
A fantastic listen – Prof @alicehunt.bsky.social talks about Britain's oft-maligned revolutionary decade and how it actually laid the groundwork for the radical changes in the years following it www.worldturnedupsidedown.co.uk/podcast/brit...
July 8, 2025 at 12:29 PM
Reposted by Alice Hunt
‘As the old order creaked, new ideas flourished, particularly in religion: radical sects emerged not only from the London streets but from country towns and the ranks of the parliamentary army.’

Jonathan Healey on the English Commonwealth: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Jonathan Healey · Blood and Confusion: England’s Republic
The English republic isn’t recalled with much fondness by anyone. It is known as a fun-sapping entity that cancelled...
www.lrb.co.uk
July 7, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Reposted by Alice Hunt
A superb piece of journalism in The Observer: it seems like the one of the sacred texts of Nature Writing (TM) is not quite as much of an unflinchingly honest read as claimed

observer.co.uk/news/nationa...
The real Salt Path: how a blockbuster book and film were ...
Penniless and homeless, the Winns found fame and fortune with the story of their 630-mile walk to salvation. We can reveal that the truth behind it is ve...
observer.co.uk
July 6, 2025 at 7:54 AM
'Until recently,​ trade publishers have avoided England’s republic – as too dowdy, perhaps, and too complex. But now it’s all the rage.' It is, it is!
V pleased with @jonathanhealey.bsky.social's review of my book REPUBLIC in the latest @lrb.co.uk @faberbooks.bsky.social
‘Families were torn apart and individuals changed sides. These coat-turns show how intricate the ideological fissuring had become, along lines of religion, constitutional law, localism, loyalism, culture and nationality.’

Jonathan Healey on the English Commonwealth:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Jonathan Healey · Blood and Confusion: England’s Republic
The English republic isn’t recalled with much fondness by anyone. It is known as a fun-sapping entity that cancelled...
www.lrb.co.uk
July 3, 2025 at 9:08 AM
And wit music too! Lovely cover reveal.
25 poems written between the eighth century and today = 25 time machines into moments in England's past.
My new #history #book A History of England in 25 Poems, out September 2025 with Penguin Allen Lane (available for pre-order now).
www.penguin.co.uk/books/461263...
June 29, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Reposted by Alice Hunt
25 poems written between the eighth century and today = 25 time machines into moments in England's past.
My new #history #book A History of England in 25 Poems, out September 2025 with Penguin Allen Lane (available for pre-order now).
www.penguin.co.uk/books/461263...
June 29, 2025 at 9:36 AM
Looking forward to being a bookseller tomorrow at the wonderful @pgwells.bsky.social to celebrate #IndieBookshopWeek
@jamesmcconnachie.bsky.social and I have recommended some of our favourite non-fiction books -- some of which can be glimpsed here 👇
June 20, 2025 at 1:19 PM
Reposted by Alice Hunt
📚 'Magisterial.' Suzannah Lipscomb
📚 'Gripping.' Malcolm Gaskill
📚 'Evocative.' Clare Jackson
📚 'Superb.' Jessie Childs
📚 'Compelling.' David Kynaston
📚 'Thrilling.' Paul Lay

Republic: Britain's Revolutionary Decade 1649-1660 by Alice Hunt is out in paperback today!

www.faber.co.uk/product/9780...
June 5, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Reposted by Alice Hunt
We also have a brilliant article from Alice discussing six poems from Britain's Republican past which you can read here on the Faber Journal.

www.faber.co.uk/journal/alic...
June 5, 2025 at 2:03 PM
@cathamclarke.bsky.social was so thoughtful on the relationship between literature and history, and fascinating on how writing for non-academic audience can be so unexpectedly emotional -- and in a good way. Can't wait to read #AHistoryofEnglandin25Poems
I had such a great time speaking at the University of Southampton English research seminar today that I forgot to take any photos! Here I am in my hotel room now, feeling grateful for such a wonderful first outing for #AHistoryOfEnglandIn25Poems ❤️🙏
June 5, 2025 at 9:41 AM
Really looking forward to this.
All welcome! My first public event for #AHistoryOfEnglandIn25Poems, hosted by my friends @unisouthampton.bsky.social on 4 June. I'll be talking wormholes, archival discoveries, time travel, & tales from inside the journey of a book... Join in person or online:
www.southampton.ac.uk/humanities/n...
Writing a History of England in 25 Poems | English Seminar Series
Join us for the Department of English seminar series.
www.southampton.ac.uk
May 16, 2025 at 9:40 AM
Very pleased @jamesmcconnachie.bsky.social picked up Carys Davies' Clear which had been carefully placed on his bedside table.
Love The Writer's Bookshelf by@matthewlyons.bsky.social
May 12, 2025 at 9:17 AM
Joyous launch last night @dauntbooks.bsky.social for The Sun Rising: James I and the Dawn of a Global Britain - the brilliant new book by @profannawhitelock.bsky.social which gives us James I waking up to the rest of the world.
April 24, 2025 at 4:50 PM
And I answered: 'yes'.
In this week’s email newsletter: did King #CharlesI have to die? Four historians share their perspectives.

📬 Sign up for Miscellanies at buff.ly/oApl7tS and we’ll send you the article for free.
March 24, 2025 at 11:31 AM
Many congratulations to Brian Thornton. It was a privilege to be on the judging panel for this with @uk.theconversation.com .
If you find yourself on the wrong side of the law and want to challenge the evidence, the odds are stacked against you, writes Brian Thornton, winner of The Conversation Prize for writers. tcnv.link/ND8ofu1
Convicting the innocent: how a rotten system ensures miscarriages of justice will continue
Why are so many innocent people still being convicted of crimes they did not commit?
tcnv.link
March 6, 2025 at 9:17 AM
Ah, thank you @andymack.bsky.social
Very pleased to hear this. And narrated so well by @sophierobertsaudio.bsky.social
I've been listening to 'Republic' by @alicehunt.bsky.social over the last few days at work. It's a terrific book that explains a period of history (that we pretty much skirted over at school) in a thorough and entertaining manner revealing a world thats beyond po faced puritans banning Christmas.
February 13, 2025 at 1:08 PM