History

The American Future traces the history of a country whose most enduring trait is its capacity for self-renewal, especially at times of disaster. Examining issues of power, race and immigration,...

A faascinating story of heroism and collusion, censorship and suppression, myth-making and propaganda. Now brought up to date with new material on war in Afghanistan. The author is Australian.

Jung Chang's "Wild Swans" was an extraordinary bestseller throughout the world, selling more than 10 million copies and reaching a wider readership than any other book about China. Now she...

'One of the great love stories of history, in a league with Napoleon and Josephine, and Antony and Cleopatra ... Excellent, with dazzling mastery of detail and literary flair' EconomistIt...

Was the twentieth century the most violent in history? Are religions or tyrants, capitalism or communism the cause of most human suffering? Has violence increased or decreased over the course...

This is the enthralling story of the great powerhouse of British history - the middle class. The death of feudalism, the advancement of democracy, the spread of literacy, the industrial...

In 1989, the Berlin Wall fell; shortly afterwards the two Germanies reunited, and East Germany ceased to exist. In a country where the headquarters of the secret police can become...

'Go tell the Spartans, Passerby, That here, obedient to their laws, we lie' Thus did the poet Simonides remember the three hundred elite Spartan warriors who, led by their king,...

Neil MacGregor's A History of the World in 100 Objects takes a bold, original approach to human history, exploring past civilizations through the objects that defined them. Encompassing a grand...

The first volume of Alan Clark's diaries, covering two Parliaments during which he served under Margaret Thatcher - until her ousting in a coup which Clark observed closely from the...

'Mick Conefrey's Fallen is a marvellously researched and written story about the enigma of George Mallory and the fulfilment of his "Because it's there!"' Peter HillaryOn 6 June, 1924 George...

'A masterful account of the unsung heroes of the battle for Normandy. Without the valiant efforts of the British and American railwaymen, the liberation of France might have had a...

An exciting and often terrifying adventure story, and a precursor to the famous nineteenth-century slave narratives, Equiano's The Interesting Narrative recounts his kidnapping in Africa aged ten, his service as...

The American President is a riveting account of the actions of American presidents in the twentieth century from the assassination of William McKinley in 1901 to Bill Clinton's last night...

On 11th April 1919, less than a year after the assassination of the Romanovs, the British battleship HMS Marlborough left Yalta carrying the Russian Imperial Family into perpetual exile. The...

Theresa May has presided over the most dramatic and historic peacetime premiership for a century. May at 10 tells the compelling inside story of the most turbulent period in modern...

Covering the period 1780 - 1914, The Birth of the Modern World shows how events in Asia, Africa, and South America - from the decline of the eighteenth-century Islamic empires...

This ambitious book sets out to reinterpret the history of the twentieth century as a long war in which conditions of outright military confrontation or of frantic "cold" competition lasted...

Interposed between the fall of the Roman Empire and the great Age of Discovery, the Crusades represented the opening chapter of European expansionism and were forerunners to the colonial movement...

Do you know why Africa is so poor? What really happens to your charity money? Why do trade rules fail African countries and yet cost you too? We've heard it...

The Wellington Bomber was omnipresent during the Second World War, employed in a variety of contexts in the fight against the Axis powers. The pilots who flew this aircraft did...

An unforgettable 3,000-year-old journey - from Mesopotamian clay tablets trying to predict the future, to Tudor book-hunters and Nazi bonfires, and on into the dangers of our increasingly digital existence,...

This is the first major biography for a generation of a truly formidable king. Edward I is familiar to millions as 'Longshanks', conqueror of Scotland and nemesis of Sir William...

A publishing sensation in German, the publication of Victor Klemperer's diaries brings to light one of the most extraordinary documents of the Nazi period.The son of a rabbi, Klemperer was...

Beginning with pre-history and the early civilizations of the Aegean, this work traces the development of European identity through its many guises. Every period is covered from the Roman Empire...

After the overwhelming horrors of the first half of the 20th century, described by Ian Kershaw in his previous book as having gone 'to Hell and back', the years from...

A stunning tour de force and a remarkable achievement.- Alison WeirThis is Our Island Story for the modern age. - Charles Spencer'Not just a brilliant compendium of biographies, but the...

The classic account of the war on the Eastern Front between the Russians and the Germans - the greatest clash of arms the world has ever seen.Carefully researched and beautifully...

* A Rough Trade, Mojo and Evening Standard Book of the Year *'Peerless cultural history.' Ian Thomson, Evening Standard'Original.' Guardian'Fascinating.' Mail On Sunday'Exceptional.' Irish TimesOver the course of the twentieth...

An award-winning historian's "searing" (Wall Street Journal) account of America's internal slave trade-and its role in the making of AmericaSlave traders are peripheral figures in most histories of American slavery....

Israel is a small and relatively young country, but its turbulent history has placed it squarely at the centre of the world stage for most of this century. For two...

Shortlisted for the Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical BiographyVictor Sebestyen's intimate biography is the first major work in English for nearly two decades on one of the most significant figures...

Absolute War tells the story of the greatest and most terrible land-air conflict of all time: the war between Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia. There have been many individual accounts...

The Reign of Henry the VIII is not a tale of Henry VIII. It is about the great game of politics over which he presided.Henry VIII was almost never alone....

'Outstanding...Overy has written a masterpiece of analytical history, posing and answering one of the great questions of the century' Niall Ferguson, Sunday TimesThe Allied victory in 1945 - though comprehensive...

One December night in 1942, a Nazi parachutist landed in a Cambridgeshire field. His mission: to sabotage the British war effort. His name was Eddie Chapman, but he would shortly...

A fast-paced account of America's plunge into simultaneous cold wars against two very different adversaries - Xi Jinping's China and Valdimir Putin's Russia.New Cold Wars - the latest from Pulitzer...

Sarah Bradford's America's Queen is the definitive biography of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis - a fascinating account of an extraordinary life. Jackie Bouvier's privileged upbringing instilled rigid self-control, while her expedient...

A SUNDAY TIMES BEST FILM AND THEATRE BOOK OF 2022'Anyone in love with the arts will fall in love with this beautifully written and fascinating book' Kathy BurkeAstonish Me! is...

They were the most powerful rulers on earth. The mighty Qin Shi Huangdu (r. 221-210 BC), who began the construction of the Great Wall. The long-lived Han emperor Wudi (r....

Grigory Rasputin, Siberian peasant-turned-mystic and court sage, was as fascinating as he was unfathomable. In this riveting and eye-opening short biography, Frances Welch turns her inimitable wry gaze on one...