Secondhand History Books

Hailed as one of the finest books to emerge from the Vietnam War, If I Die in a Combat Zone is a fascinating insight into the lives of the soldiers...

This compendious celebration of ineptitude includes some of history's most spectacularly ill-conceived expeditions and entirely useless pursuits, and features tales of black comedy, insane foolhardiness, breathtaking stupidity and relentless perseverance...

Hailed as one of the finest books to emerge from the Vietnam War, If I Die in a Combat Zone is a fascinating insight into the lives of the soldiers...

In May 1927 Lindbergh became the first solo pilot to cross the Atlantic non-stop. He had spent over 33 hours in the air and was feted as a new American...

The participants in the battle of Gallipoli tell the story of the failed offensive through contemporary accounts and memories recorded later in life. The bitter campaign against the Turks from...

This book traces the development of Bomber Command from its early days into one of the most potent weapons of World War II. The author provides a frank, warts-and-all portrayal...

In this provocative essay, finished just before the author's death, Gellner explores the subject with which he was most associated throughout his life: that of nationalism. He demonstrates how the...

Today, visitors experience Stonehenge as a wonder of ancient achievement and an enduring symbol of mystery. But Stonehenge was built as a temple - a place of ceremony, of burial...

A WATERSTONES AND TELEGRAPH BOOK OF THE YEARA major new history of England's turbulent seventeenth century and how it marked the birth of a new world'This is a wonderful book,...

A narrative history of the United States, which is also a reinterpretation of every aspect of American history, of its politics and economics, its literature and art, its society and...

Whilst sailing between Hawaii and Tahiti in January 1824, the captain and officers of the Nantucket whaling ship 'the Globe' were attacked with whaling gear, shot, and dumped overboard under...

Dick Davis, "our pre-eminent translator from the Persian" (Washington Post) has revised and expanded his highly-praised translation of Ferdowsi's masterpiece, including more than 100 pages of newly translated text. Davis's...

THE TOP 10 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERShortlisted for the Andre Simon Food and Drink Book Awards for 2019'A beautifully textured tour around the cheeseboard' Simon Garfield'Full of flavour' Sunday Times'A delightful...

Winner of the Jhalak Prize & Plutarch Award | A New York Times, New Yorker, Washington Post, Newsweek, TIME Book of the Year 2023'Fabulously entertaining' Daily Telegraph \ 'Perfect for...

A nation on the cusp of war. A king ousted from his capital by the people. A society on the brink of collapse. From Jonathan Healey comes a thrilling history...

"Modern History" completes, with "Ancient History" (published in 2004), a new two-volume illustrated edition, completely revised and fully updated, of the late J.M. Roberts' "History of the World", first published...

THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER 'Hums with living history, human warmth and indignation' New York Times Less a mystery unsolved than a secret well kept The mystery has haunted generations since the...

A burgeoning new city is built on the dreams of the American gold rush. It is also built upon a landscape that has been stretching, sliding and breaking apart for...

UPDATED EDITIONA rousing and full-blooded account of the Spanish Civil War and the rise to prominence of General Franco. No modern conflict has inflamed the passions of both civilians and...

This book includes ten sketches of European cities, each of which has contributed something to the ferment, the still dangerous brew of European civilization. Each will have something, even if...

He began his career as a court cleric and rose to become bishop of Autun, a position he retained until his involvement in the radical reorganization of the church during...

Between the years 1965 and 1971 something happened to make the world on one side of that divide all but unrecognisable to the world on the other side. For better...

An extraordinarily detailed account of the daily life and political ambitions of a Renaissance potentate, drawn from a hitherto unpublished archive of original documents. A tale of gambling, hunting, family...

Prince Louis Napoleon was born with a compelling sense of destiny. The eldest nephew of Bonaparte, he came from exile and ignominy to rule France, first as President then as...

Between August 1642, when the Royal Standard of King Charles I was raised above Castle Hill at Nottingham, and September 1651, when the second Charles barely managedto escape to France...

' "Twin Towers" was encoded in the 3000-year-old text. "Airplane" appeared in exactly the same place. "It caused to fall, knocked down" crossed "airplane" and "towers"...But it was not this...

The 15:17 to Paris is the amazing true story of friendship and bravery, and of near tragedy averted by three heroic young men who found the unity and strength inside...

Archaeologist, spy, Arabist, linguist, author, poet, photographer, mountaineer and nation builder, Gertrude Bell was born in 1868 into a world of privilege and plenty, but she turned her back on...

From the co-author of the bestselling 'The Dangerous Book for Boys', this is a book of heroes, new and old, known and sadly forgotten, now to be glorified as they...

Horace 'Jim' Greasley was twenty years of age in the spring of 1939 when Adolf Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia and latterly Poland. There had been whispers and murmurs of discontent from...