Atlas of the English Civil War by P.R. Newman.  Book, England General 942.06 NEW
If you are lucky enough to have some serious history in your ancestry, you may be interested in this book.  The subject matter deals with the topography of the English civil wars of 1642 – 1651, and the period of time around this span of years. 
It’s not so very hard to get some family names back to the 17th century in England or Scotland, and it’s interesting to be able to also research the history of the times and what was going on in your area of family history research.  At the end of the book is a comprehensive index to places, important people of the time period, and battles.
At the front of the book is a contents page which lists the maps, followed by an interesting introduction which includes a short explanation of the structure of the atlas.  Each map is on the left hand side of the page, and on the right hand page is a full description of the battle.  While you would be very fortunate to find one of your ancestors mentioned, it can still worthwhile to see what was going on in your area in the middle of the 17th century. 
If you want to take your research further, there is a comprehensive bibliography near the end of the book.

New Zealand – Australia Index c.1850 – 1899, compiled by Yvonne Fitzmaurice.  Book, NZ 929.36 FIT.
This index to people with some connection between New Zealand and Australia was compiled from the Victoria Police Gazette, so will naturally have more relevance to Victorian research than possibly to other states.  The short introduction to the book explains that inclusion in the index requires that the people are sometimes missing persons, some have visited Australia, have deserted families or committed a misdemeanor.
There are three pages of explanations, abbreviations etc. before the alphabetical surname index which runs right to the end of the book.  The headers of the columns are Surname, Christian name, Age in years, Birthplace, Occupation or relationship, Year of entry, VPG page (Victorian Police Gazette) and VPRS or other reference.  A VPRS reference means that you can head to the Victorian Public Record office armed with your number and access the documents relevant to the entry.


Southern Cross Scots by John E Price.  Book, RSA 929.8 RSI.
Many Australian Soldiers served in the Boer War.  The author of this book has comprehensively researched Australian and New Zealand soldiers who served with the Scottish Horse during the years 1901-1902.
One of the first things which strikes the reader of this book is the illustrations.  There are maps, photographs, cartoons, copies of documents which add to the picture of how our ancestors fought in the Boer war.  The early part of the book covers the history of recruitment, movements and activities of the regiments from early Australian involvement to the end of the war. 
The later part of the book has lists of soldiers from attestation papers, and also personal data of Australian Enlistees.  You can expect to find information which would lead you to further research, as the various columns list regimental numbers, ranks, enlistment dates, ship etc.