Secondhand History Books

Orlando Figes' The Whisperers is a groundbreaking account of daily life in the chaotic and paranoid atmosphere of Stalinist Russia. Exploring the inner life of a Russia where everyone was...

The first complete and unexpurgated edition of the war diaries of Field Marshall Lord Alanbrooke - the most important and the most controversial military diaries of the modern era.Alanbrooke was...

The seventeenth-century philosopher Spinoza was expelled from the Jewish community of Amsterdam the age of twenty-four for 'horrendous heresies', and was eventually reviled by all religious authorities for claiming that...

This encyclopedia looks at the sexual habits, deviations and quirks of nearly 200 famous, notorious or otherwise distinguished people from all walks of life. Each entry describes the subject's fame...

Spanning over 2000 years, from the great First Emperor, buried with his terracotta army in the 3rd Century BC, to the last emperor, enthroned in the Forbidden City in 1911,...

Philip's Historical Atlas of the Celts is a new addition to the highly successful Philip's Reference range. The Atlas details (in words, illustrations and maps) the history of the Celts,...

Assuming no prior knowledge of the period, this engaging narrative history introduces readers to the central features and main developments of sixteenth-century Europe.

The second edition of this lively and comprehensive book provides a forceful reassessment of the role of the Vikings in history. Drawing on archaeological, literary, as well as historical evidence,...

Nothing is more evocative of past civilizations than the hoards of treasure that are found by archaeologists. Many come from tombs and burial chambers, but they have been found too...

On November 10, 1995 the Nigerian government executed activist and author Ken Saro-Wiwa along with eight other Ogoni activists. Their deaths brought the plight of their people and the role...

This is an analysis of the causes and consequences of the coup d'etat that began in the USSR on 18 August 1991. It examines such issues as why and how...

Hanna Reitsch and Melitta von Stauffenberg were talented, courageous and strikingly attractive women who fought convention to make their names in the male-dominated field of flight in 1930s Germany. With...

Fans of Kingsley Holgate and his wild adventures, tackled fearlessly with his petite wife Gill and son Ross and a varying band of expedition members, will relish this new series...

This is a highly readable history and a unique work of reference. Focusing on the succession of the rulers of imperial Rome, it uses timelines with at-a-glance visual guides to...

A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, Duong Van Mai Elliott's The Sacred Willow illuminates recent Vietnamese history by weaving together the stories of the lives of four generations of her...

George Ward Price rose to prominence as the leading journalist in the 1930s, thanks to a string of world exclusives on Nazi Germany. He spent an hour alone with Hitler...

Sanctuary is an ancient right. But what does it mean today? Drawing on a lifetime of engagement with literature, myth, history and tradition from different cultures, Marina Warner's Sanctuary is...

A word book, straight up, with a twist The Devil's Dictionary is an American classic. A Yankee Oscar Wilde with a wicked edge to his tongue, gained from seeing the...

On 9 April 1953 an attractive twenty-one-year-old woman went missing from her family home in Rome. Thirty-six hours later her body was found washed up on a neglected beach at...

'Splendid... a triumph' John Lewis Stempel, Sunday Express'Compelling' Sunday Times'History writing at its best' Booklist (starred review)1941. The Battle of the Atlantic is a disaster. Thousands of supply ships ferrying...

Acclaimed historian Max Arthur pays tribute to the Royal Navy from 1914 to 1945 and VE Day, drawing on the personal stories of those who have served during this period,...