Secondhand History Books

When nineteen year old Alexander Scrimgeour lost his life at the Battle of Jutland in 1916, he had already left a legacy - complete diaries spanning the previous six years,...

Linda Colley's latest book is at once a grand saga, a remarkable detective story, and a major work of revisionist British and imperial history. Ranging in setting from white slave...

'A deed of glory intimately involved in high strategy' - Winston Churchill St Nazaire, 1.34am March 28th, 1942 - the destroyer HMS Campbeltown , with her Oerlikons blazing at the...

This collection of first-hand experiences from the whole of history enables the reader to relive some of the world's greatest moments. Writers from Herodotus, Thucydides, and Plutarch, to Tom Wolfe,...

America is in crisis. In the space of a generation, it has become more than ever a country of winners and losers, as industries have failed, institutions have disappeared and...

In the African kingdom of Kasch the king should be sacrificed when the stars come into a particular alignment. One day a stranger arrives who tells such good yarns the...

One of the world's most celebrated scholars, Stephen Greenblatt has crafted both an innovative work of history and a thrilling story of discovery, in which one manuscript, plucked from a...

Intelligence specialist Leigh Neville identifies, describes and illustrates the Special Operations Forces (SOF) of the British, American and other Coalition forces committed to the 'War on Terror' in Afghanistan since...

A delightful, entertaining and illuminating investigation into our peculiar fascination with making things small, and what small things tell us about the world at large.Simon Garfield reveals the secret histories...

Petain's Crime investigates the role of Marechal Philippe Petain in the persecution and mass murder of Jews under the Vichy government. It remains the definitive account of this 'hero' and...

In his revealing biography of British politician and diplomat Malcolm MacDonald, Clyde Sanger gives a full account of MacDonald's central role in the decolonization of the British Empire. The son...

At the heart of the Regency period - nine years from 1811 to 1820 - lies the mismatch between the Prince and Princess of Wales. The Prince Regent, later George...

This is a probing of the realities, as distinct from the theory, of politics in the UK. It concentrates on two main issues. One is the role of Parliament with...

Labour's second term is drawing to a close. What have they really achieved in the last four years? Did Iraq overshadow all? Did public services improve after all? Were the...

This is a biography of Napoleon III who ruled over 18 years of glittering success in France known as the Second Empire. Modern Paris was created out of its medieval...

As we move toward trials challenging the legitimacy of the Bush administration's use of detentions in Guantanamo and elsewhere, Roosevelt's response to the captured Germans - military tribunals, a secret...

Samuel Pepys is perhaps the best-known instance of the zest and versatility that characterize the second half of the 17th century, but his cousin and patron Edward Montague, first Earl...

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...

Christopher Hibbert's acclaimed biography of Queen Victoria is as impressive and authoritative as the great woman herself. In 1837 an eighteen-year-old girl, raised by a German mother, inherited the throne...

When separate worlds collide..."I was 19 years old when I came face to face with Nelson Mandela. He was 60. Until that day I had never heard of him, or...

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the 7th annual Robert Kennedy Book Award, this biography of Martin Luther King, first published in 1986, portrays the struggles and conflicts within the...

Why have certain people in history become more notable, memorable, revered and respected than their fellow man? The answer is acts of bravery or courage, life-changing creations of inventions, selflessness,...

In June of 1997, over a century and a half of British rule in Hong Kong came to an end. Chris Patten writes about his experiences as the last governor...

Jason Burke has produced the definitive account of Islamic militancy - revolutionising our understanding of Al-Qaeda, retelling its history from scratch and critically exploding the myths that form the very...