History

A “playful, enlightening,” and “effervescent exposé” (Scientific American) on the queens of the animal kingdom  Studying zoology made Lucy Cooke feel like a sad freak. Not because she loved spiders or would root around in animal feces: all her friends...

A Washington Post Notable Work of NonfictionA sweeping history of American psychiatry—from the mental hospital to the brain lab—that reveals the devastating treatments doctors have inflicted on their patients (especially women) in the name of science and...

'I envy no body but him, and him only, that catches more fish than I do.'A unique celebration of the English countryside and the most famous book on angling ever published, Walton's Compleat Angler first appeared in 1653. In 1676, at Walton's invitation,...

An authoritative new history of the Roman conquest of BritainWhy did Julius Caesar come to Britain? His own account suggests that he invaded to quell a resistance of Gallic sympathizers in the region of modern-day Kent — but there must have been personal...

Early in the twenty-first century, a quiet revolution occurred. For the first time, the major developed economies began to invest more in intangible assets, like design, branding, and software, than in tangible assets, like machinery, buildings, and...

Written in the thirteenth century, Njal's Saga is a story that explores perennial human problems-from failed marriages to divided loyalties, from the law's inability to curb human passions to the terrible consequences when decent men and women are swept...

On Saturday 9th September, 1922, the victorious Turkish cavalry rode into Smyrna, the richest and most cosmopolitan city in the Ottoman Empire. What happened over the next two weeks must rank as one of the most compelling human dramas of the twentieth...

'A canticle to God, and full of psychological insights that might have been written yesterday, the Confessions are the story of a soul, and also the story of God, and how he is constantly at work seeking us.' Confessions is perhaps the most important...

A passionate witness to the colossal upheaval that has transformed her native South Africa, Gillian Slovo has written a memoir that is far more than a story of her own life. For she is the daughter of Joe Slovo and Ruth First, South Africa's pioneering...

The Angel Makers is a true-crime story like no other—a 1920s midwife who may have been the century’s most prolific killer leading a murder ring of women responsible for the deaths of at least 160 men.The horror occurred in a rustic farming enclave in...

An entrancing tale of piracy colored with gold, treachery and double-dealing (Portland Press Herald), Pulitzer Prize-finalist Colin Woodward's The Republic of Pirates is the historical biography of the exploits of infamous Caribbean buccaneers.In the...

The Oregon Trail is the gripping account of Francis Parkman's journey west across North America in 1846. After crossing the Allegheny Mountains by coach and continuing by boat and wagon to Westport, Missouri, he set out with three companions on a...

Rejoicing in the myriad of wonders that underpin our everyday lives, May's radiant call to embrace the magnetism of the natural world is a beautiful and life-affirming path to mental wellness and calm. #1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER“I love Katherine May’s new...

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A “beautiful and eye-opening” (Jacqueline Woodson), “hilarious and heart-rending” (Celeste Ng) graphic memoir about American identity, interracial families,  and the realities that divide us, from the acclaimed author of The...

(Available after September 30th, 2023)A sweeping account of the social and political world of the Roman emperors by “the world’s most famous classicist” (Guardian).   In her international bestseller SPQR, Mary Beard told the thousand-year story of...

This heart-wrenching memoir from a Holocaust survivor reveals the terrible realities of life in Auschwitz—and how a courageous young stable boy survived against all odds to tell his story.​   “I couldn’t last much longer. But just as I was beginning to...

Learn about the origins of our species and all things revolution in The History Book.Part of the fascinating Big Ideas series, this book tackles tricky topics and themes in a simple and easy to follow format. Learn about History in this overview guide to...

In a revelatory dispatch from the frontier of capitalist extremism, an acclaimed historian of ideas shows how free marketeers are realizing their ultimate goal: an end to nation-states and the constraints of democracy.Look at a map of the world and...

(Available after 3-20 days) This isn’t a book about a conflict in a faraway country; it's a wake-up call. While debates about border security continue to rage, and with stories about legal and illegal marijuana in the news daily, Hidden War forces an...

Described as this generation's Silent Spring, this riveting read is equally a meticulously researched work of science, a travelogue of the near future for life on earth, and completely terrifying! With lyrical prose, Wallace-Wells will argue that our...