History

'The first example of non-fiction, the text that underlies the entire discipline of history ... it is above all a treasure trove' -- Tom HollandOne of the masterpieces of classical literature, The Histories describes how a small and quarrelsome band of...

'It's just a brute fact that we don't throw virgins into volcanoes any more. We don't execute people for shoplifting a cabbage. And we used to.'-Steven Pinker 'The idea that because things have gotten better in the past they will continue to do so in the...

(Available after 3-20 days)This “landmark” (Ibram X. Kendi) dual biography of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King transforms our understanding of the twentieth century’s most iconic African American leaders.To most Americans, Malcolm X and Martin Luther...

In The Persian Expedition, Xenophon, a young Athenian noble who sought his destiny abroad, provides an enthralling eyewitness account of the attempt by a Greek mercenary army - the Ten Thousand - to help Prince Cyrus overthrow his brother and take the...

(Available after April 30th, 2022)From the acclaimed author of Japan Story, this is the history of Japan, distilled into the stories of twenty remarkable individuals.The vivid and entertaining portraits in Chris Harding's enormously enjoyable new book...

This is a fresh and surprising account of Japan's culture from the 'opening up' of the country in the mid-nineteenth century to the present.'How much I admired it, what a lot I learned from it and, above all, how very much I enjoyed it ... Masterly...

The riveting true story of the women who launched America into space.In the 1940s and 50s, when the newly minted Jet Propulsion Laboratory needed quick-thinking mathematicians to calculate velocities and plot trajectories, they didn't turn to male...

A compelling new biography that recasts the most important European statesman of the first half of the nineteenth century, famous for his alleged archconservatism, as a friend of realpolitik and reform, pursuing international peace.Metternich has a...

This inspiring memoir, now adapted for young adults, chronicles Top Chef star and Forbes and Zagat 30 Under 30 phenom Kwame Onwuachi's incredible and odds-defying fame in the food world after a tough childhood in the Bronx and Nigeria.Food was Kwame...

Sometimes radical yet always applicable, Brick by Brick abounds with real-world lessons for unleashing breakthrough innovation in your organization, using LEGO—which experienced one of the most remarkable business transformations in recent history—as a...

'Like nothing else you will read' Hilary MantelEvery day a beloved father dies. Every day a lover departs. Every day a woman turns forty.All three happening together brings a moment of reckoning.Medieval historian Elizabeth Boyle made sense of these...

"Comic book fans will fall hard for this delightfully daffy guidebook. . . . Exuberant, optimistic, and just plain fun, How to Take Over the World will both surprise and delight." --Esquire   A book this informative should be a crime!Taking over the...

In a compelling new set of interviews, Noam Chomsky identifies the “dry kindling” of discontent around the world that could soon catch fire.In wide-ranging discussions with David Barsamian, his longtime interlocutor, Noam Chomsky asks us to consider “the...

King John ruled England for seventeen and a half years, yet his entire reign is usually reduced to one image: of the villainous monarch outmanoeuvred by rebellious barons into agreeing to Magna Carta at Runnymede in 1215. Ever since, John has come to be...

'AEthelred's reign of nearly thirty-eight years was the longest of any Anglo-Saxon ruler. If he had died in AD 1000, history would have remembered him more kindly'Few monarchs of the Middle Ages have had a worse popular reputation than AEthelred II, 'the...

"A reputation as a ruthless ruler was sealed that would last beyond his lifetime. In that respect, at least, Cnut had succeeded..."Cnut, or Canute, is one of the great 'what ifs' of English history. The Dane who became King of England after a long period...

Part of the Penguin Monarchs series: short, fresh, expert accounts of England's rulers in a collectible formatQueen Victoria inherited the throne at 18 and went on to become the longest-reigning female monarch in history, in a time of intense industrial,...

(Available after 3-20 days)The acclaimed Penguin Monarchs series: short, fresh, expert accounts of England's rulers - now in paperbackThe formation of England happened against the odds - the division of the country into rival kingdoms, the assaults of...

'After my death,' George V said of his eldest son and heir, 'the boy will ruin himself within twelve months.'The forecast proved uncannily accurate. Edward VIII came to the throne in January 1936, provoked a constitutional crisis by his determination to...

The acclaimed Penguin Monarchs series: short, fresh, expert accounts of England's rulers - now in paperback   Edward VI, the only son of Henry VIII, became king at the age of nine and died wholly unexpectedly at the age of fifteen. All around him...