I wonder if any of you history folk can help me. When I did A-level history, there was a really useful little series of books called Seminar Studies in History. I gave away all my copies long ago, but I remember them as good short introductions to period, themes, historiography and sources.
I'm looking for something similar for my son. Not a 'textbook' (nothing like the Revision Guides), but more of a named historian's 'take' on a period/theme/incident.
The only things I can find that are at all similar are the OUP 'Very Short Introductions' series.
What would you recommend? He's doing King Richard/King John, Crime and Punishment, Weimar/Nazi Germany, and the Cold War. Everything I knew is sooooo out of date...