Summer Reads

An urgent, incisive account of how the depredations of its imperial past dog Britain’s view of itself today, Empireland is provocative, meticulously researched writing of the highest order.   Longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for...

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...

“A gothic and elegant page-turner.”—The Boston GlobeTwenty years ago, Jane Hudson fled the Heart Lake School for Girls in the Adirondacks after a terrible tragedy. The week before her graduation, in that sheltered wonderland, three lives were taken, all...

New York Times bestselling author Tana French, author of the forthcoming novel The Searcher, is “the most important crime novelist to emerge in the past 10 years” (The Washington Post) and “inspires cultic devotion in readers” (The New Yorker).“Required...

If you loved From Lukov with Love - the sensational TikTok hit that is captivating readers all over the world - then you don't want to miss Ruby's story in Dear Aaron! No one writes slow burn like Mariana Zapata and her millions of fans agree!Some days,...

"YouTube Mastermind" Orion Carloto turns raw emotion into powerful, digestible verse in her debut collection of poetry.Flux is a somber narrative, an ode to change, a collection of poetry and prose written from the many states of grief over a...

Bringing together short stories by award-winning contemporary science fiction authors and philosophers, this book covers a wide range of philosophical ideas from ethics, philosophy of religion, political philosophy, and metaphysics.Alongside the...

'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...

(Available after 3-20 days)**Also an Academy Award–winning film starring Russell Crowe and Jennifer Connelly—directed by Ron Howard**The powerful, dramatic biography of math genius John Nash, who overcame serious mental illness and schizophrenia to win...