Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside, as the old song goes. But better yet, with a cold beer in hand at a British pub.

In ‘Melting Point’, Rachel Cockerell provides lots of historical sources, but little insight into what they’re saying.

A collection of indelible photographs, maps and ‘intimate guides” from 1807 to 1940 went beyond extolling the virtues of the ...