Secondhand History Books

In the fifty years between 1530 and 1580, England moved from being one of the most lavishly Catholic countries in Europe to being a Protestant nation, a land of whitewashed...

A combination of historical enquiry, observation and fictional intrigue. Together with family, or accompanied by the mischevious archaelogist Vittoria, Matthew Spender encounters the Magus of Montecapraia, film makers from Rome,...

The myth of T.E. Lawrence single-handedly leading his loyal band of fighters to victory obscures the intricate story behind the British-backed Arab Revolt of 1916. In this groundbreaking book, drawing...

The Romanovs were the most successful dynasty of modern times, ruling a sixth of the world's surface. How did one family turn a war-ruined principality into the world's greatest empire?...

The four centuries between the composition of the Homeric epics and the conquests of Alexander the Great witnessed an immensely creative period in Greek art, one full of experimentation and...

'I Have a Dream' is an anthology of history's most inspiring words and thoughts from history's greatest leaders from all ages and nations. Each of the 370 quotations is accompanied...

This celebrated account of the decline of the ancient world describes the fall of the Roman Empire and the beginning of the emergence of the new medieval European order.

A TABLET AND WALL STREET JOURNAL BOOK OF THE YEARShortlisted for the Wingate Literary Prize'A tremendous feat of storytelling, propelled by numerous twists and revelations, yet anchored by a deep...

Historians and broadcasters Peter Snow and Ann Macmillan tell the real stories of the most powerful men and women in British history.From Alfred the Great to Charles III, Kings &...

The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders is one of the best-known regiments in the British Army. In a previous incarnation as the 93rd Highlanders, its soldiers were famed for being the...

The original edition of this now classic work was hailed by Jacob Cohen in The Nation as "the finest one-volume interpretation of American history extant." For this Third Edition of...

Beautiful, powerful and sexy, Madame Chiang Kai-shek was at the centre of one of the great dramas of the twentieth century: the founding of modern China, beginning with a revolution...

Famous for lampooning the schoolboy view of the medieval world in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail", Terry Jones has a real passion for and detailed knowledge of the Middle...

The compelling love story of two extraordinary individuals - Nancy Mitford and Free French commander Gaston Palewski - living in extraordinary times - immortalised in THE PURSUIT OF LOVE'A delicious...

Born into the famous, sometimes scandalous, theatrical clan of Colley Cibber, Charlotte was an actress destined for greatness. But she rebelled, and started dressing as a man. When her father...

Two boys travel three continents to follow one monk's dream, in this untold story from Australia's colonial history. In 1848, the Spanish missionary Rosendo Salvado, founder of New Norcia Monastery...

The Second World War began in August 1939 on the edge of Manchuria and ended there exactly six years later with the Soviet invasion of northern China. The war in...

In 1994, Professor Bryan Sykes, a leading authority on DNA and human evolution, was called in to examine the frozen remains of a man trapped in glacial ice in Northern...

Winner of the Political Book Awards 2013 Best Political Biography. The era of sensational tabloid journalism began in Britain in the summer of 1885 when W. T. Stead, editor of...

In November 2008 the United States will elect a new President. But the imminent collapse of twenty years of Republican conservativism means the country is already conducting an intense self-examination...

China constitutes a fifth of the world's population. Over the last twenty years its economy has doubled to make it the fifth largest economy in the world; if the pace...

In October 1934, the Chinese Communist Army found itself facing complete annihilation, surrounded by hundreds of thousands of Nationalist soldiers. Rather than surrender, 86,000 Communists embarked on an epic journey,...

An account of one journalist's experience from 1992-93 of the conflict in Bosnia, this work is an attempt to come to terms with the overwhelming questions that are provoked by...

'Stunning. History at its very best: a blend of impeccably researched scholarship, genuinely revelatory primary sources, and a beautifully written narrative.' - James Holland'The sheer brutal intimacy of his descriptions...

In 1867, Lisa See's great-great-grandfather left China in search of riches on the 'Gold Mountain', the Chinese name for the promised land of America. His son Fong See later built...

Elizabeth of York would have ruled England, but for the fact that she was a woman. The eldest daughter of Edward IV, at seventeen she was relegated from pampered princess...

What was the tallest building of the ancient world? Or the average life expectancy in medieval Byzantium? Where did scientific writing first emerge? What was the bloodiest ritual human sacrifice...

The acclaimed autobiography of Fidel Castro, one of the towering political figures of our age, who dominated both Cuba and the world stage for over half a century.Here Castro tells...

Written by the author of "The Embarrassment of Riches" and "Citizens", this book is about man's search for his cultural origins in the landscape which surrounds him, a search which...

Celebratory, witty and incredibly insightful, Harry Bingham explores the eccentricities and customs of the British nation in a bid to answer a question which has everyone debating - Who are...