Secondhand History Books

A searing eyewitness account of what life was like in the prison camps of China during the 1960s and 1970s--through the rise of the Cultural Revolution and the Red Brigade,...

As night fell in Picardy on Thursday 24 October 1415, Henry V and his English troops, worn down by their long march after the taking of Harfleur and diminished by...

For almost two centuries, the last stand at the Alamo has been recognized as a defining moment in America's history. On February 23, 1836, a Mexican army thousands of soldiers...

These essays represent the full range of Dodds' literary and philosophical interests, and his ability to combine profound scholarship with the lucid humanity of a teacher convinced of the value...

T.E. Lawrence quickly became one of the most famous Englishmen of his generation. His exploits and personality fascinated the general public, and deeply impressed those who knew him and saw...

'Should be read by anyone who cares about the past and the way we think and write about it' Independent on SundayAt a time when fact and historical truth are...

Using extensive materials from both published and private sources, this concise text focuses on U.S./Soviet diplomacy to explain the causes and consequences of the Cold War. The thesis allows for...

Was medieval England full of knights on horseback rescuing fainting damsels in distress? Were the Middle Ages mired in superstition and ignorance? Why does nobody ever mention King Louis the...

The Great War gave birth to some of the twentieth century's most celebrated writing; from Brooke to Sassoon, the poetry generated by the war is etched into collective memory. But...

Challenging conventional history, Amity Shlaes offers a striking reinterpretation of the Great Depression. She shows how both Presidents Hoover and Roosevelt failed to understand the prosperity of the 1920s and...

A BBC HISTORY MAGAZINE BOOK OF THE YEAR'Thoroughly researched, stylish and entertaining' Financial Times'A vivid and sparkling account, full of colour and dark drama' Observer'Brilliantly depicts a disastrous failure' Antony...

When the Great War ended in 1918, the West was broken. Religious faith, patriotism and the belief in human progress had all been called into question by the mass carnage...

On 18 April 1947, British forces set off the largest non-nuclear explosion in history. The target was a small island in the North Sea, thirty miles off the German coast,...

Thomas Stamford Raffles (1781-1826) was the charismatic and persuasive founder of Singapore and Governor of Java. An English adventurer, disobedient employee of the East India Company, utopian imperialist, linguist, zoologist...

Where does our food come from? The story of one of the world's most important crops From the gold potatoes at the Sun Temple in Cuzco, Peru, the muddy ones...

'Dunlop is engaging in her personal approach. Her obvious feminine empathy with the venerable ladies she spoke to gives her book an immediacy and intimacy.' Daily Mail'An in-depth picture of...

The M1 Abrams was the most radical departure in US tank design since World War II.Until the advent of the M1 in the early 1980s, the US Army had relied...

When the Nazis began destroying lives across Europe and artists became state enemies, Nelly Kroeger, a tall, blonde ex-barmaid, and writer and political activist Heinrich Mann - twenty-seven years her...

When this book was first published it received some attention from the critics but none at all from the public. Nazism was finished in the bunker in Berlin and its...

The Iraq War remains highly controversial, but in all the uncertainty about weapons of mass destruction, the use and misuse of intelligence, and the whereabouts of Saddam Hussein, it remains...

When Tom Lehrer sang 'We'll all go together when we go', the world was gripped by fear of nuclear holocaust. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the threat was...

Stephen Greenblatt has been at the centre of a major shift in literary interpretation towards a critical method that places cultural creation in history. In this book - a sustained...

The First World War was the overwhelming disaster from which everything else in the twentieth century stemmed. Fourteen million combatants died, four empires were destroyed, and even the victors' empires...

A wide-ranging, forceful, and fascinating analysis of generals - who they are, what they do, and how they affect the world we live in. Its central argument is that, like...

'The final days of the German occupation of the French capital are vividly captured in this fine account of death and deliverance' Sir Max Hastings The liberation of Paris was...

Available for the first time in years, this is a new edition of the classic account by the adventurer and big game hunter who developed and ran the British Army...

To the people of Great BritainWorld War II was the deadliest and bloodiest war in history. Never before or since have so many people made such a personal sacrifice in...

When the Royal Marines Commandos returned to a chaotic Helmand in the winter of 2008, they realised that to stand any chance of success they would need to pursue an...

A fast-paced, character-filled history that brings the unique American saga to life for readers of all ages "This is a little history with a big heart, meant to be savored...

Edited by the bestselling author of Birdsong and Dr Hope Wolf, this is an original and illuminating non-fiction anthology of writing on the First World War. A lieutenant writes of...