Secondhand History Books

The Bloody History of British Colonisation For centuries, a small island nation cast a shadow across the world. The British Empire's methods of expansion were often brutal, usually devastating. From...

WINNER OF THE SAMUEL JOHNSON PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION 'A heartbreaking, beautifully written book. A classic for sure' Claire Tomalin, GuardianExtraordinary true stories of those who lived in East Germany. Travel...

A gripping and shocking insight into the lives of Russia's most famous oligarchs from New York Times bestselling author of The Accidental Billionaires and Bringing Down the House. Once Upon...

On a mild winter's evening in 1850, Isabella Robinson set out for a party. Her carriage bumped across the wide cobbled streets of Edinburgh's Georgian New Town and drew up...

Despite the number of books about the Third Reich, little attention is usually paid to the women who lived alongside the Nazi leaders. Magda Goebbels (1901-1945) is arguably the most...

'(A)sensational book by one of our greatest and best-loved historians... Astoundingly good.' - Alison Weir 'Masterful, captivating, page-turning, this is solid gold history at its best.' - Nicola Tallis'(A) thought-provoking,...

Are we coming to the end of a cosmic cycle? Will there be an age of awakening, or even an end to the world we know? For the first time,...

Volume II of the Oxford History of the British Empire examines the history of British worldwide expansion from the Glorious Revolution of 1689 to the end of the Napoleonic Wars,...

During the ferocious Normandy campaign of World War Two, 20-year-old Christopher Portway was taken prisoner, transported to Silesia and forced to work as a slave in a Polish coalmine. Escaping...

In 1776 Foote's was the most talked-of name in the English-speaking world. By 1777 it was almost unmentionable. Samuel Foote, friend of David Garrick and Dr Johnson, is the greatest...

Born out of violence and the aspirations of its early settlers, the United States of America has become one of the world's most powerful nations. The book begins in colonial...

In this collection of accounts of famous battles, the whole changing nature of recorded warfare is explored, from Thermopylae, in Ancient Greece, to Operation Desert Storm. Here are the words...

The 1735 Witchcraft Act, charging that spirits of the dead had been raised by conjuration, was used for the last time in Portsmouth in 1944. The accused was Helen Duncan,...

On June 22nd 1941, Hitler invaded the Soviet Union and German troops advanced towards Leningrad, Russia's second city with a population of three million. On June 27th the people of...

A new look at a contentious period in the history of the Atlantic world Within just a half century, the American, French, Haitian, and Spanish American revolutions transformed the Atlantic...

In the standard presentation of the American Revolution, a ragtag assortment of revolutionaries, inspired by ideals of liberty and justice, throw off the yoke of the British empire and bring...

A monumental history of the nineteenth century, The Transformation of the World offers a panoramic and multifaceted portrait of a world in transition. Jurgen Osterhammel, an eminent scholar who has...

'That nickname . . .''"Little bird." It wasn't mine. I found out later he gave it to every little girl that came in to be injected. "Little Bird" didn't mean...

The medieval humoral system of medicine suggested that it was possible to die from having too much - or too little - sex, while the Roman Catholic Church taught that...

Much of the ancient world inherited by our ancestors now lies under water after melting ice caps flooded vast areas at the end of the last Ice Age. New advances...

'The Penguin History of Europe series ... is one of contemporary publishing's great projects' New StatesmanThe Pursuit of Glory brings to life one of the most extraordinary periods in European...

A masterful account, culminating in the fateful days before the most decisive event of World War II: Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union This brilliant new work by the author...

Hester Salusbury was a child prodigy. Later, as Hester Thrale, her wit, learning and vivacity would attract the greats of the day, Joshua Reynolds, Fanny Burney, Boswell, David Garrick and...

In May 1945, the city of Breslau was annihilated by the Soviet Red Army. At the beginning of February the Russians had laid seige to the city, an ordeal that...

The Sunday Times Number One Bestseller 'A compelling read' - Financial Times 'A sporadically absorbing, pleasingly vengeful and often darkly funny account of one woman's bid for presidential history.' Sunday...

Edited by Niall Ferguson, Virtual History applies 'counterfactual' arguments to decisive moments in modern history.What if Britain had stayed out of the First World War?What if Germany had invaded Britain...

Winner of the Wolfson Prize for History, Ian Kershaw's Hitler 1936-1945: Nemesis is the concluding second volume of one of the greatest biographies of modern times. No figure in twentieth...

501 Must-Read Speeches explores some of the most famous speeches of our time. Many of these speeches have inspired people to act, some have changed peoples' perceptions of the world...

From inside a surreal bubble of pure Americana known as the Green Zone, the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority attempted to rule Iraq following the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime. Drawing...

Comprehensive coverage of a complex and apparently wholly alien strategy Technical as well as psychological details Actual attacks described in full Includes human torpedoes * Kami Kaze: a 'Divine Wind'...

'A remarkable feat of scholarship, fairness and readability, full of lively detail with a freshness of style which brings new life to the narrative' Anthony Sampson Throughout its turbulent history,...

Bright Young People/ Making the most of our youth/ They talk in the Press of our social success/ But quite the reverse is the truth. [Noel Coward]The Bright Young People...

The Cold War was enacted in multiple arenas: military coalitions, espionage, industrial and technological developments, an arms race, many proxy wars - and chess. Those 64 squares may seem an...

The richly varied lives of the Martin brothers reflected the many upheavals of Britain in the age of Industrial Revolution. Low-born and largely unschooled, they were part of a new...

When Nelson Mandela emerged from decades in jail to preach reconciliation, South Africans truly appeared a people reborn as the Rainbow Nation. Yet, a quarter of a century later, the...

'Who would you say knows himself?'In 399 BCE Socrates was tried in Athens on charges of irreligion and corruption of the young, convicted, and sentenced to death. Like Plato, an...

In this lively and compelling biography Harlow Giles Unger reveals the dominant political figure of a generation. A fierce fighter in four critical Revolutionary War battles and a courageous survivor...

This work is a collection of 50 speeches from every period of British history from the medieval era to the present and a fascinating dip-in history title that will both...