Chris Upton ventures further afield in the second part of his books of the year recommendations.

Last week I made my pick of the year’s history books on Birmingham, a heady mix of misunderstood politicians, misunderstood architects and a handful of musicians.

This week it’s time to look a little further afield for stocking and bookshelf fillers.

I’ve decried before now the tyranny of the old photo book in local history, particularly for its sheer laziness.

All the publisher needs to do is to throw together a bunch of old photographs (for which they’re reluctant to pay a reproduction fee), find someone who can write “circa 1900” on the bottom of each one, leave out the index (I find this especially irritating) and, hey presto, there’s a new book on the shelf.

Amberley Publishing has embraced a somewhat more interesting format with its Through Time series, juxtaposing “then and now” pictures, with enough text to make you feel you are actually learning something about the history of the place. Michael Glasson, Walsall Through Time, £14.99, is a good example of the genre, not a comprehensive history of Walsall by any means, but a decent introduction to it.

The author, as curator of the Walsall Leather Museum, knows what he’s talking about, and runs through the development of this important Black Country town with expertise.

For reasons of space, the Walsall volume will have to stand for the rest; there are plenty of others covering the West Midlands if you’re interested.

Derek Hurst et al., Dodderhill Through the Ages, Orphans Press, Leominster, may well be an item you have missed.

I spotted it at a meeting of the Bromsgrove BMSGH, and snaffled the last copy.

At £5 the book was a snip, courtesy of the Heritage Lottery Fund, which subsidised its publication.

This is a really heartening example of community history.

The research team first met on a WEA course back in 2000 (now where did the funding go for those?), developed into a Local Heritage Initiative application to HLF, and has now completed its journey as a comprehensive, expertly edited, history of the parish of Dodderhill and Wychbold.

If I tell you that the first 100 or so pages cover the Roman and medieval periods, it’s evident that the research group has not cut corners and gone for easy (living memory) history.

Their investigation of local buildings, land ownership and agricultural patterns is painstaking and engaging, a credit to themselves and to one of HLF’s most fertile ideas. The text is accompanied by useful maps and diagrams, showing a real engagement with the local history, not simply the documenting of it.

With London 2012 now on the horizon I’ve already seen the early signs of a publishing tidal wave approaching the bookshops.

No doubt the picturesque town of Much Wenlock in Shropshire, where William Penny Brookes initiated the modern Olympic movement, will be much in the spotlight.