Secondhand History Books

Written by two leading social and cultural historians, the first two editions of A Social History of the Media became classic textbooks, providing a masterful overview of communication media and...

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...

What is the meaning of love and death in a remote, forgotten, impossibly conflicted part of the world? In "Rebel Land" the acclaimed author and journalist Christopher de Bellaigue journeys...

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...

Many of the traditions which we think of as very ancient in their origins were not in fact sanctioned by long usage over the centuries, but were invented comparatively recently....

Relations between the U.S. and Europe have declined in recent years, and today they are worse than at any time since the 1950s. In Friendly Fire, a veteran reporter known...

The bestselling memoir by France's president, Emmanuel Macron.Some believe that our country is in decline, that the worst is yet to come, that our civilisation is withering away. That only...

Gives a left-wing conservative assessment of Thatcherism in action - as ideology, style, monarchy, millenarianism, 19th-century liberalism, a set of moral values, right-wingery, or as a combination of them all...

Imran Khan's family are Pathans from the fiercely independent tribal areas of the north-west frontier province of Pakistan and in this book he describes their way of life, culture and...

A Companion to the First World War brings together an international team of distinguished historians who provide a series of original and thought-provoking essays on one of the most devastating...

Published as he approaches his 30th birthday, this biography chronicles Prince Edward's far-from-ordinary life. It considers the two sides of his career - as Edward Windsor, potential theatrical impressario, and...

Nancy Wake is one of the true heroines of the Second World War. Born in New Zealand, she was living in Marseille and was married to Frenchman Henri Fiocca when...

With the flair for narrative and the meticulous research that readers have come to expect, Andrew Marr turns his attention to the monarch -- and to the monarchy, chronicling the...

'I have always been fascinated by that charismatic hero of the Resistance, Josephine Baker, but it turns out I didn't know the half of it. Lewis' story-telling blew my mind....

The career of this erratic genius is an extraordinary story. The son of a Cornish mine captain, Trevithick single-handed totally changed the unwieldy steam engines of Newcomen and Watt to...

Recounts the transfer of technology, ideas, and social institutions between the East and the West, and looks at the influence this transfer has had on Chinese history

The Number One International BestsellerThe dramatic story of freelance photographer Daniel Rye, who was held hostage for 13 months by ISIS, as told by an award-winning writer.In May 2013, freelance...

Look out for more Pitkin Guides on the very best of British history, heritage and travel.

On 16 November 2010, the long-awaited engagement of HRH Prince William to Miss Catherine Middleton was formally announced, with a London wedding promised for April 2011. Andrew Morton, famous the...

On September 11th 2001, Carmen Bin Ladin heard the news on the radio that the Twin Towers had been struck. She instinctively knew that her brother-in-law was involved in these...

This work traces and analyses the evolution of the German fighting man and the army in which he served during three and a half centuries. It sets his patriotism against...

In this remarkably powerful book, James Bradley takes as his starting point one of the most famous photographs of all time. In February 1945, American Marines plunged into the surf...

Over the last 3000 years, the great 'sun kings' of history have dazzled the world with their ability to build empires and rule them absolutely, but equally with their shows...

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...

An outstanding dispatch from the frontline of war - unsparing, unsentimental, blackly comic and brutally beautiful - by and ordinary soldier who tells it like it is.Arkady Babchenko was still...