Chapter 10, on political epigrams, examines the dynamics of political satire in manuscript poetry and the limits of political comment in printed epigrams books, with a special focus on Thomas Bastard's Chrestoleros. Certain moments of intense political controversy often provoked numerous topical epigrams and individual prominent political figures were often the subject of libellous attack in the genre. The chapter offers an extended of case study of epigrams on the life and career of the prominent legal and political figure Sir Edward Coke. Many of these were savagely partisan, but the final part of the chapter turns to epigrams by Robert Ayton, Richard Corbett and George Herbert that were nuanced and stoic in their political explorations.

In order to evaluate the changes in the treatment of exhibitionists introduced since 1992 by the penal system, we should briefly consider their fate under the aegis of the old Article 330. According to Érnest Dupré, beyond sexual perversions, there exists a perverse condition that expresses itself from childhood in aggressive conduct and with a deplorable malignance. In 1967, in his thesis in medicine, Jacques Stéphany proposed a typology of exhibitionists, in which he retained only the "semi-mad", that is, those convicted of criminal sanctions, while discarding cases caused by delirium or epilepsy. In that first category, he distinguishes between two large groups: neurotics and perverts. Certainly, without being exhibitionists, some individuals will fall under the heel of the violation either by challenge, or because of the relative vagueness that the law creates in the matter of exhibition in public spaces.

This introduction presents an overview of Thomas Becket's life, background to the Lives of St Thomas and his biographers. The book tells the story of Thomas Becket's turbulent life, violent death and extraordinary posthumous acclaim in the words of his contemporaries. Both medieval and modern commentators have tended to take more interest in Thomas of Canterbury than in Thomas of London. Thomas's rift with his former friend the king, and the progress of the dispute which led to public confrontation and prolonged exile, was keenly followed all over the Christian world. Martyrdom is a willingly-undertaken sacrifice, and throughout, Thomas is shown to have known of his death, and to have embraced it. Thomas and his biographers claimed that he was advancing the cause of the Church, but this was a multifaceted phenomenon with overlapping and some-times conflicting components.

This chapter republishes a review of Amelia Fauzia’s book Faith and the State: Islamic philanthropy in Indonesia, originally published in the Asian Journal of Social Science in 2014. Most research published in English since 2000 on Islamic philanthropy and humanitarianism has concentrated on the Middle East, South and Central Asia, and Europe and the USA. Fauzia’s impressive monograph on Indonesia bears comparison with any of this research. She explores how zakat (the Islamic tithe) and sadaqa (optional charity) have been implemented in various ways in Indonesia. Her guiding theme is the tension between the private or personal imperatives of the Islamic revelation and public conduct where persuasion or coercion can be effective, including that exerted by the modern state. She gives special attention to the "modernist" Muhammadiyah, founded in 1912. The Chapter proposes an angle for historical research: to what extent did Christian institutions introduced by colonial powers affect the development of Islamic charities in Indonesia and elsewhere?

Both Waldensian and Cathar heretics made considerable use of texts. In the case of southern France, there are three important textual survivals. The first is an early fourteenth-century manuscript in the Occitan vernacular. The second is a copy and its authentication, made by Cathars in the 1220s, of a charter relating to their 'Council' of St-Felix in 1167. The third is a Cathar theological tract, sizeable extracts from which survive in its refutation in a treatise by the former Waldensian, Durand of Huesca.

This chapter discusses Winterson's third novel, The Passion. The Passion may be said to combine the parallel stories of two marginal witnesses to the Napoleonic wars, at the crucial moment in Hegelian World History when it was approaching its apocalyptic synthesis. One is Henri, a French soldier who joined the Grande armée because he wanted to be a drummer and ended up as chicken-neck wringer and personal cook to Napoleon. The other is Villanelle, a Venetian boatman's daughter who worked at the casino as a croupier until she was sold by her husband as a vivandière, or army prostitute. The combination of history with fantasy aligns The Passion with ‘historiographic metafiction’, the type of novel characterised by intense self-reflexivity and a relish in storytelling which Linda Hutcheon considers to be the best expression of the contradictory nature of the postmodernist ethos.

This chapter reflects on the alleged special association between religion in general and violence – an association rebutted by both authors under review, David Martin (in Religion and Power: No logos without mythos) and Karen Armstrong (in Fields of Blood: Religion and the history of violence). It was first published in the Times Literary Supplement on 10 December 2014, under the heading "Poplars in the marsh". These two very different authors also agree that violent resistance is an inevitable response to policies that oppress large populations. The Chapter goes on to consider briefly the exorbitant reworking of Wahhabism that underpins the so-called Islamic State (Isis), and finally the obstacles that beset all attempts to found non-violent movements.

Defending the British Empire became part of the bread and butter of colonial policing, alongside crime prevention and detection. Having considered the evolution of nineteenth- and twentieth-century British policing models, this book turns to the history of post-war colonial policing. Following the inauguration of the Colonial Police Service in 1936, concerted efforts were made to bring standardisation to all colonial police forces. In explaining the origins of professional policing in Britain, it is possible to reach a greater understanding of the wider imperial dimensions. Certainly, the Irish model spread rapidly throughout the Empire, from India to Canada and on to Palestine and so on. In the Mediterranean, the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia, the British Government was pressured into police reform as a result of the end of the Empire.

This chapter, together with the next, examine the decision-making process that led to the withdrawal announcement in 1968 – commonly known as the ‘East of Suez’ decision. Together they ask some of the central questions about the end of empire: Why, when and how does an empire end? The prevailing view pivots around economic retrenchment, in the sense that long-term relative economic decline had convinced the Labour government by July 1967 that it should leave the ‘East of Suez’, including Aden, Malaysia, Singapore and the Persian Gulf. This understanding rests on the assumption that the withdrawal from the Gulf was decided upon as part of the retreat from a larger area ‘East of Suez’. However, this conflated conception could only be confirmed at a rhetorical level, and in the actual policy-making process the Gulf was largely separated from other regions. As far as the Persian Gulf was concerned, very little was decided until autumn 1967.

This chapter discusses absurdist practice during the twentieth century, examining absurdism in the works of some writers, namely Fernando Pessoa, Antonin Artaud and Camus. It notes that these writers can be regarded as absurdists, and that they sometimes embrace absurdist qualities. The chapter also clarifies that the use of the word ‘absurd’ does not guarantee that a work is to be considered – with justification – as fully or solely belonging to the ‘literature of the absurd’.