Secondhand History Books

In 1616, an English adventurer, Nathaniel Courthope, stepped ashore on a remote island in the East Indies on a secret mission - to persuade the islanders of Run to grant...

Anna Politkovskaya turns her steely gaze on President Putin and his early regime in this explosive book.From Putin's tyrannical grip on ordinary citizens to rampant corruption in highest ranks of...

Henry V is regarded as the great English hero. Lionised in his own day for his victory at Agincourt, his piety and his rigorous application of justice, he was elevated...

This is the successful account of Colditz, f amous PoW camp, as seen from the German side. Eggers was on the staff there for the greater part of the war,...

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...

In the first century B. C. , Rome was master of the world but could not control its own citizens and its own army. After Rome defeated its age-old enemy,...

As a result of unforeseen and unpredictable events, the German Federal Republic is now the most populous state in Europe, with nearly 79 million people, and the economic potential of...

A comprehensive study and interpretation of statistical data concerning crime and the penal system in Ireland. It includes chapters on trends in crime, trends in punishment, prisoners' families and social...

Women played key roles in Byzantine society: some ruled or coruled the empire, and others commissioned art and buildings, went on pilgrimages, and wrote. This engrossing book draws on evidence...

As a student at Beijing University in the 1980s, Diane Wei Liang took part in and witnessed one of the truly momentous political events of the decade: the Tiananmen Square...

One of the seminal texts of the British New Left Leo Panitch Parliamentary Socialism presents a detailed and scholarly record of the Labour Party's thinking and of its role in...

This entertaining Very Short Introduction reflects the enduring popularity of archaeology-a subject which appeals as a pastime, career, and academic discipline, encompasses the whole globe, and surveys 2.5 million years....

Theodosius II (AD 408-450) was the longest reigning Roman emperor. Ever since Edward Gibbon, he has been dismissed as mediocre and ineffectual. Yet Theodosius ruled an empire which retained its...

Our age is obsessed by the idea of conspiracy. We see it everywhere - from Pearl Harbour to 9/11, from the assassination of Kennedy to the death of Diana. Bookshop...

The bestselling, prize-winning author explores the impact of the Second World War - for nations, cities and families around the world. How does the experience and memory of the Second...

In the autumn of 1942, British Special Operations Executive agent Ronald Sydney Seth was parachuted into German occupied Estonia, supposedly to carry out acts of sabotage against the Nazis in...

From the bestselling author of The English comes Empire, Jeremy Paxman's history of the British Empire accompanied by a flagship 5-part BBC TV series, for readers of Simon Schama and...

'Taylor Downing is a wonderful historian and a wonderful history communicator' Dan Snow, History Hit'Vividly brings to life a terrible year' Max Hastings, Sunday Times'Sheds intriguing light on just how...

Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan have written the definitive account of 9/11. The shockwaves of the September 11, 2001 attacks in America reverberate to this day. Though Osama Bin Laden...

Felipe Fernandez-Armesto's Ideas That Changed The World is a compelling andthought-provoking guide to the historical and philosophical notions that haveshaped human civilization. From cannibalism to jihad, from the dawn of...

A moving and extraordinary book about courage and survival, friendship and endurance - a portrait of ordinary women who faced the horror of the holocaust together.On an icy morning in...

September 1613.In Belvoir Castle, the heir of one of England's great noble families falls suddenly and dangerously ill. His body is 'tormented' with violent convulsions. Within a few short weeks...

During the Red Army's first major war, its ill-equipped, starving troops fought fellow countrymen and an invasion force of 10,000 American, British, and French soldiers in the freezing wastelands of...

We think the way we do because Socrates thought the way he did. His aphorism 'The unexamined life is not worth living' may have originated twenty-five centuries ago, but it...

Here is a concise, scholarly, yet accessible overview of the brilliant, flawed, and quarrelsome group of lawyers, politicians, merchants, military men, and clergy known as "the Founding Fathers"--who got as...

Think you know your kings and queens? Think again.In Unruly, David Mitchell explores how England's monarchs, while acting as feared rulers firmly guiding their subjects' destinies, were in reality a...

Legendarily, 2200 years old and 4300 miles long, the Great Wall of China seems to make an overwhelmingly confident physical statement about China's age-old sense of itself as an advanced...

'Evocative, authentic and brilliantly told - a wonderful read.' David LammyForeword by West Indies Cricketer Sir Clive LloydVoices of the Windrush Generation is a powerful collection of stories from the...

From Simon & Schuster, and originally published as Gentlemen Freeholders, American Revolutionaries in the Making is Charles S. Sydnor's exploration of the political practices in Washington's Virginia.A masterclass in political...

From the acclaimed author of John F. Kennedy: An Unfinished Life, the biography of one of America's greatest presidents, Franklin D. Roosevelt.'Meticulously researched and authoritative, heroically objective and wide-angled ......