History

Fear and loathing on the 2020 campaign trail...'26 February, White House Briefing RoomThe coronavirus feels like it is changing everything. Suddenly it's not just a public health emergency; it has the potential to upend this whole election.....

'Jenner uses all the questions you never dared to ask about history as an excellent excuse to rummage around in some funny, fascinating, and downright peculiar corners of the past. Every page contains delights, and you will be illuminated and entertained...

Providing a network of connections between cultures across time, Neil Oliver brings his talent for observing and curating the past to a revelatory and engaging new anthology of personal life stories that reveal a unique perspective on specific...

“From the Mediterranean to Japan, a dazzling, beautifully written, and surprising tale to discover the deep connections between the transformations of modern warfare and the rise of constitutions across the globe. A must read.”—M’hamed Oualdi, Sciences...

2021 Cundill History Prize Finalist“Outstanding, original, and revolutionary. Favereau subjects the Mongols to a much-needed re-evaluation, showing how they were able not only to conquer but to control a vast empire. A remarkable book.”—Peter Frankopan,...

***SHORTLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE 2021***A 2021 Book of the Year* Telegraph * New Statesman * Financial Times *'A masterpiece' -- SPECTATOR'Exemplary [and] important... This is the kind of book few writers possess the clarity of vision to...

Marking the 200th anniversary of his death, Napoleon is an unprecedented portrait of the emperor told through his engagement with the natural world.   “How should one envisage this subject? With a great pomp of words, or with simplicity?” —Charlotte...

A bold new history showing that the fear of Communism was a major factor in the outbreak of World War IIThe Spectre of War looks at a subject we thought we knew—the roots of the Second World War—and upends our assumptions with a masterful new...

'Grayling brings satisfying order to daunting subjects' -- Steven PinkerIn very recent times humanity has learnt a vast amount about the universe, the past, and itself. But through our remarkable successes in acquiring knowledge we have learned how much...

A prize-winning historian reveals how Stalin—not Hitler—was the animating force of World War II in this major new history.World War II endures in the popular imagination as a heroic struggle between good and evil, with villainous Hitler driving its...

Charting the events and psychological effects of witch-hunting in a small community of early settlers in 1650s Massachusetts in gripping and thought-provoking prose, The Ruin of All Witches reads like a haunting real-life folktale.   The dark,...

As richly beautiful as it is informative, Hidden Hands’ skill is in bringing to life not only the works that are so essential to our literary and cultural history but the men and women – their quiet lives often unregarded – who created and preserved...

This immersive dive into the life and work of Salvador Dalí unlocks the secret of this creative genius and reveals for the first time how his erotically charged paintings changed the world of modern art. In turns beloved and reviled, twentieth century...

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERThe official book behind the Academy Award-winning film The Imitation Game, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira KnightleyIt is only a slight exaggeration to say that the British mathematician Alan Turing (1912-1954) saved...

The bestselling author of E=mc2 weaves tales of romance, divine inspiration, and fraud through an account of the invisible force that permeates our universe—electricity—and introduces us to the virtuoso scientists who plumbed its secrets.For centuries,...

A landmark work of American photojournalism “renowned for its fusion of social conscience and artistic radicality” (New York Times)     In the summer of 1936, James Agee and Walker Evans set out on assignment for Fortune magazine to explore the daily...

The #1 New York Times bestseller from the author of Killers of the Flower MoonIn 1925, the legendary British explorer Percy Fawcett ventured into the Amazon jungle, in search of a fabled civilization. He never returned. Over the years countless perished...

The most authoritative life of Mao ever written, by the bestselling author of Wild Swans, Jung Chang and her husband, historian Jon Halliday.Based on a decade of research, and on interviews with many of Mao's close circle in China who have never talked...

(Available after 3-20 days)NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE directed by Marjane Sartrapi, starring Rosamund Pike and Sam Riley.   NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINIALIST. “Vivid and ethereal” –New York Times “Radioactive is quite unlike any book I have ever read—part...

Shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize and winner of the Royal Society Prize for Science Books, Richard Holmes's dazzling portrait of the age of great scientific discovery is a groundbreaking achievement. The book opens with Joseph Banks, botanist on...