History

'Happiness, then, is the best, noblest, and most pleasant thing in the world.' In the Nicomachean Ethics Aristotle's guiding question is: what is the best thing for a human being? His answer is happiness, but he means, not something we feel, but rather...

Here is a lively new translation of Cornelius Tacitus' timeless history of three of Rome's most memorable emperors. Tacitus, who condemns the depravity of these rulers, which he saw as proof of the corrupting force of absolute power, writes caustically...

The Lives of the Caesars include the biographies of Julius Caesar and the eleven subsequent emperors: Augustus, Tiberius, Gaius Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Galba, Otho, Vitelius, Vespasian, Titus, Domitian. Suetonius composed his material from a variety of...

The director of the Design Museum defines the greatest artefact of all time: the cityWe live in a world that is now predominantly urban. So how do we define the city as it evolves in the twenty-first century? Drawing examples from across the globe,...

In the bestselling tradition of Why We Sleep and The Sixth Extinction, an urgent and insightful look at the hidden impact of light pollution, and a passionate appeal to cherish natural darkness for the sake of the environment, our own wellbeing, and all...

The Expedition of Cyrus tells the story of the epic march of the Ten Thousand, an army recruited at the end of the fifth century BC by a young Persian prince, Cyrus, who rose in revolt agains his brother, the King of Persia. After Cyrus' death, the army...

A masterful and comprehensive chronicle of World War II, by internationally bestselling historian Antony Beevor.Over the past two decades, Antony Beevor has established himself as one of the world's premier historians of WWII. His multi-award winning...

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER.The most trusted explainer of the most mind-boggling concepts pulls back the veil of mystery that has too long cloaked the most valuable building blocks of modern science. Sean Carroll, with his genius for...

A charming, gorgeously illustrated botanical encyclopedia for your favorite romantic, local witch, bride-to-be, or green-thumbed friend.Floriography is a full-color guide to the historical uses and secret meanings behind an impressive array of...

A timely refutation of the prevailing western narrative of the Ottoman Empire, Marc David Baer’s engaging and original new history explores the rich diversity, cultural legacy, ruthless ambition and bloodthirsty rule of a world-changing dynasty...

Rife with concepts of original sin, fallen angels, demonology, resurrection, and the last judgment, The Book of Enoch is a vital document to the origins of Christianity.  Today, it remains a written remnant of the Apocalypse — an ardent...

A trusted member of the Byzantine establishment, Procopius was the Empire's official chronicler, and his History of the Wars of Justinian proclaimed the strength and wisdom of the Emperor's reign. Yet all the while the dutiful scribe was working on a...

The definitive sequel to New York Times bestseller How the Scots Invented the Modern World is a magisterial account of how the two greatest thinkers of the ancient world, Plato and Aristotle, laid the foundations of Western...

'Drawn on by his eagerness for the open sky, he left his guide and soared upwards...'Ovid tells the tales of Theseus and the Minotaur, Daedalus and Icarus, the Calydonian Boar-Hunt, and many other famous myths.Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books...

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PULITZER PRIZE WINNER • A modern American classic, this huge and galvanizing biography of Robert Moses reveals not only the saga of one man’s incredible accumulation of power but the story of his shaping (and mis-shaping) of...

The first complete translation of a classic Buddhist text on the journey through living and dying. Graced with opening words by His Holiness The Dalai Lama, the Penguin Deluxe Edition of The Tibetan Book of the Dead is "immaculately...

'War is an act of violence intended to compel our opponent to our will'Writing at the time of Napoleon's greatest campaigns, Prussian soldier and writer Carl von Clausewitz created this landmark treatise on the art of warfare, which presented war as part...

The Top 10 Sunday Times Bestseller NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTUREOscar Nominated For Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay Set amid the civil rights movement, the never-before-told true story of NASA's African-American female mathematicians who played a...

The individual volumes of Sir Anthony Kenny's acclaimed History of Western Philosophy have been hailed as "wonderful authoritative hugely rewarding" (Times Higher Education Supplement) and "genial and highly accessible" (London Review of Books). Now...