Category: History
In the quiet Cotswolds village of Great Rollright in 1944, a thin, and unusually elegant, housewife emerged from her cottage to go on her usual bike ride. A devoted mother-of-three, attentive wife and friendly neighbour, Sonya Burton seemed to epitomise rural British domesticity. However, rather than pe ...Show more
Category: History
It began with an armchair. It began with the surprise discovery of a stash of personal documents covered in swastikas that had been sewn into its cushion. The SS Officer's Armchair is the story of what happened next, as historian Daniel Lee follows the trail of cold calls, documents, coincidences and fa ...Show more
Category: History
In his landmark international bestsellers Guns, Germs and Steel, and Collapse, Jared Diamond transformed our understanding of what makes civilizations rise and fall. Now in the third book in this monumental trilogy, he reveals how successful nations recover from crisis. Diamond’s analysis of ...Show more
Category: History
'Alive with human detail and acute political judgement, this book marks the arrival of a formidably gifted historian.' Dan Jones, author of The Plantagenets and The TemplarsIt was around half-past eight in the morning, with summer rainclouds weighing heavy in the sky, that Simon de Montfort decided to d ...Show more
Category: History
In war, there is no easy victory. When troops invaded Iraq in 2003 to topple Saddam Hussein's regime, most people expected an easy victory. Instead, the gamble we took was a grave mistake, and its ramifications continue to reverberate through the lives of millions, in Iraq and the West. As we gain more ...Show more
Category: History
Opening with the notorious bonfires of 'un-German' and Jewish literature in 1933 that offered such a clear signal of Nazi intentions, Burning the Books takes us on a 3000-year journey through the destruction of knowledge and the fight against all the odds to preserve it. Richard Ovenden, director of the ...Show more
Category: History
After 1933, as the brutal terror regime took hold, most of the two-thirds of Germans who had never voted for the Nazis - some 40 million people - tried to keep their heads down and protect their families. They moved to the country, or pretended to support the regime to avoid being denounced by neighbour ...Show more
Category: History
In The Habsburgs, Martyn Rady tells the epic story of a dynasty and the world they built - and then lost - over nearly a millennium. From modest origins, the Habsburgs grew in power to gain control of the Holy Roman Empire in the fifteenth century. Then, in just a few decades, their possessions rapidly ...Show more
Category: History
From a Bancroft Prize-winning historian, a biography of the famed poet, courtier, and colonizer, showing how he laid the foundations of the English Empire Sir Walter Ralegh was a favorite of Queen Elizabeth. She showered him with estates and political appointments. He envisioned her becoming empress of ...Show more
Category: History
The story of the Savoy's founders, through three generations and a hundred years of luxury In 1889, Victorian impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte opened The Savoy, Britain's first luxury hotel. Allowing the rich to live like royalty, it attracted glamour, scandal and a cast of eccentric characters, with the ...Show more
Category: History
Once drunk only as part of an obscure Ottoman custom, coffee is now an indispensable part of daily life for billions of people around the world. It is one of the most valuable commodities in the history of the global economy and the world's most popular drug. The very word 'coffee' is one of the most wi ...Show more
Category: History
From the award-winning historian of the Holocaust, Europe Against the Jews, 1880-1945 is the first book to move beyond Germany's singular crime to the collaboration of Europe as a whole.The Holocaust was perpetrated by the Germans, but it would not have been possible without the assistance of thousands ...Show more
