History

In the summer of 1914 Europe exploded into a frenzy of mass violence. The war that followed had global repercussions, destroying four empires and costing millions of lives. Even the...

THE TIMES HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEARONE OF THE ECONOMIST'S BEST BOOKS OF THE YEARFrom the master storyteller and internationally bestselling author - the story of humanity from prehistory to...

'A huge, fizzing omnium-gatherum of a book . . . marvellous' Daily Telegraph'Witty, wise and elegant . . . a classic of history itself' The Spectator'Grave and witty, suave yet...

____________________NOW OUT IN CINEMAS, STARRING COLIN FIRTH, MATTHIAS SCHOENAERTS AND LEA SEYDOUX 'It takes you through each nail-biting moment . . . heart-breaking, humane and, at times, all too vivid....

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERYanis Varoufakis, the world-renowned economist and #1 bestselling author, uses personal stories and famous myths to explain what economics is and why it has the power to...

A city under attack. Over two million combatants killed, wounded or captured. This is the story of the fight for Stalingrad - a pivotal battle of the Second World War...

A profound and ground-breaking new history of one of the most important encounters in the history of colonialism: the British arrival in India in the early seventeenth century._______________'A triumph of...

Stonehenge is one of the world's most famous monuments. Who built it, how and why are questions that have endured for at least 900 years, but modern methods of investigation...

One of the great contemporary historians of France on one of the most controversial periods of twentieth-century French historyFew images more shocked the French population during the Occupation than the...

The story of an obsession. When cycling commentator Ned Boulting bought a length of Pathe news film featuring a stage of the Tour de France from 1923 he set about...

Keith Lowe's Savage Continent is an awe-inspiring portrait of how Europe emerged from the ashes of WWII.The end of the Second World War saw a terrible explosion of violence across...

The extraordinary, never-before-told story of Bep Voskuijl, Anne Frank's closest friend during the 761 days she spent in the Secret Annex. Bep was just twenty-three when the Franks went into...

The inspiring and heartbreaking true story of two best friends torn apart and reunited against all odds.When Hannah Pick-Goslar's family fled Nazi Germany for Amsterdam, she struck up a close...

Illuminating, engrossing and full of surprises, The Discovery of France is a literary exploration of a country few will recognize; from maps and migration to magic, language and landscape, it's...

WINNER OF THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE 2021What will you sacrifice for the truth?Maria Ressa has spent decades speaking truth to power. But her work tracking disinformation networks seeded by her...

Praise for the author's A Brief Guide to the Greek Myths: 'Eminently sane, highly informative'PAUL CARTLEDGE, BBC History magazineThe year 2022 marks 2,500 years since the final defeat of the...

A new take on Southeast Asia's complex history, expertly told through art objects and cultural artefacts dating from the Neolithic Age to the present. Southeast Asia is home to numerous...

'A masterpiece of history'DAILY TELEGRAPHBetween 1917 and 1921 a devastating struggle took place in Russia following the collapse of the Tsarist empire. Many regard this savage civil war as the...

A Times History Book of the Year 2022 From the #1 bestselling historian Max Hastings 'the heart-stopping story of the missile crisis' Daily Telegraph The 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis was...

Too many popular histories seek to establish heroes, pioneers and martyrs but as Huw Lemmey and Ben Miller argue, the past is filled with queer people whose sexualities and/or dastardly...

Rising star Simon Hall captures the spirit of the 1960s in ten days that revolutionised the Cold War: Fidel Castro's visit to New York.'With its cool judgements and blackly comic...

Daily life in the occupied territories, including rationing, restrictions on movement and social gatherings, censorship of the radio and press, savage reprisals for acts of defiance, systematic rape by German...

'A compelling, beautifully written story of resilience, friendship and survival.' Heather Morris, author of The Tattooist of AuschwitzThe thrilling story of how nine young women, captured by the Nazis for...

Benjamin Franklin is one of the most influential figures of American history and is honoured in countless ways. Several counties in the USA are named after him and his image...

***THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER***BOOK OF THE YEAR IN GUARDIAN, ECONOMIST & NEW STATESMAN'Excellent and provocative... a passionate, timely book.' Sunday Times'A fine new book... thoughtful, deeply reported and impeccably even-handed.'...

A new edition of the classic African American autobiography, now with with the inclusion of Douglass's other works.The pre-eminent American slave narrative published in 1845, the Narrative powerfully details the...

'A masterclass in storytelling... Agrawal is the perfect narrator: her curiosity, technical knowledge and excitement fill every page. It left me inspired by the ingenuity of historic engineers and optimistic...

Although the ultimate prize of the Great Game played out between Great Britain and Imperial Russia in the 19th century was India, most of the intrigue and action took place...

'A scary portrait of put-upon servants and potty aristos ... this is arguably the most riotously funny volume published this year' Max Hastings, Sunday Times'One of the funniest, most eccentric...

Histories you can trust.At age thirty in 1919, Adolf Hitler had no accomplishments. He was a rootless loner, a corporal in a shattered army, without money or prospects. A little...

'a vital resource'TLS 'Compelling collection'Literary Review The Reformation was a seismic event in history whose consequences are still unfolding in Europe and across the world. Martin Luther's protests against the...

WINNER OF THE PEN HESSELL-TILTMAN PRIZE 2020 'Reads like a thriller...colourful, detailed and meticulously researched' Sunday Times'Gripping from start to finish' Peter Frankopan, bestselling author of The Silk Roads'Remarkable and...

'A fine and deeply affecting work of history and memoir' Philippe SandsDecades ago, the historian Bernard Wasserstein set out to uncover the hidden past of the town forty miles west...

'Expertly researched, zestfully written, acutely intelligent in its historical judgements, this masterly biography finally does justice to a forgotten Tudor princess' John GuySometime heir to the English throne, courtier in...

A GUARDIAN, ECONOMIST AND PROSPECT BOOK OF THE YEAR'A superb book' Simon Sebag Montefiore'An empowering story of human ingenuity' Economist'Full of curious facts' The TimesCauses of death have changed irrevocably...

Introducing the Collins Modern Classics, a series featuring some of the most significant books of recent times, books that shed light on the human experience - classics which will endure...

A brilliantly witty book about the intertwined lives of psychoanalyst Ernest Jones, surgeon Wilfred Trotter and the guru of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud.Welsh-born psychoanalyst Ernest Jones was Sigmund Freud's closest associate...

The Number 1 International Bestseller.The heartbreaking, inspiring true story of a girl sent to Auschwitz who survived Mengele's evil experiments. With a foreword by His Holiness Pope Francis.Lidia was just...

'Superbly entertaining.' Financial Times'Jaw-dropping.' Sunday Times'Fascinating.' Guardian'Gripping.' The Times'Terrific . . . A page-turning history of imperial hubris and nemesis, deceit and delusion, love and betrayal on a grand scale.'...

In summer 1927, America had a booming stock market, a president who worked just four hours a day (and slept much of the rest), a devastating flood of the Mississippi,...

The first complete account of the fiercely guarded secrets of London's clandestine interrogation center, operated by the British Secret Service from 1940 to 1948 Behind the locked doors of three...

ECONOMIST, SUNDAY TIMES, FINANCIAL TIMES AND GUARDIAN BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2017'Comprehensive and compelling ... A nuanced, landmark study that has deservedly won plaudits from both Palestinian and Israeli historians'...

'One of the greatest books of the [last] century' - Guardian'In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart ...'A deeply moving and unforgettable portrait...

Chosen 16 times as a 'Book of the Year' - the top non-fiction pick of 2012'The best work of modern history I have ever read' A. N. Wilson, Financial TimesAt...

Winner of the Kekoo Naoroji Award for Mountain Literature 2019An engrossing story of passion and exploration that traces the end of empire and the stirring of a new world order.John...