A collection of the most inspiring and powerful letters of all time.
The written word has the power to inspire, astonish and entertain, as this collection of 100 letters that changed history will..
A new study into those pivotal moments around the striking of the iceberg, during which the fate of Titanic, and the 2,208 souls aboard, was realised At 11:40pm on 14 April 1912, Titanic collided wit..
Sapiens showed us where we came from. Homo Deus looked to the future. 21 Lessons for the 21st Century explores the present.
How can we protect ourselves from nuclear war, ecological cataclysms a..
Taking us from the beginning of our story to the present day, A Cold Spell examines how ice has shaped our thoughts, actions and societies - and what it means for us that it is rapidly disappearing fr..
Taking us from the beginning of our story to the present day, A Cold Spell examines how ice has shaped our thoughts, actions and societies - and what it means for us that it is rapidly disappearing fr..
A spine-chilling illustrated history
Discover the spine-chilling history of ghosts and the supernatural across the world in this stunningly illustrated guide.
A History of Ghosts, Spirits a..
People have been drawing lines on maps for as long as there have been maps to draw on. Sometimes rooted in physical geography, sometimes entirely arbitrary, these lines might often have looked very di..
'Masterful and entrancing - this is big history at its best.' Professor Alice Roberts, author of Ancestors
'A real-life Indiana Jones takes readers on a dive through these underwater museum..
An authoritative and concise history of witchcraft from the ancient world up to the present day.
Witchcraft has always been a fluid and intriguing belief system that has enchanted and sometimes ..
The way we remember the past today remains dishearteningly patriarchal: a place where women have always been oppressed by men, from ancient times to the present day. A History of Women in 101 Objects ..
The origin story of our modern oil age
Petroleum has always been used by humans- as an adhesive by Neanderthals, as a waterproofing agent in Noah's Ark and as a weapon during the Crusades. Its ex..
Explore the failures, mistakes and missed opportunities that shaped history in this new entry in the bestselling series.
From the botched attempt to create a life-extending elixir that produced g..
A delightfully captivating journey across the medieval world; perfect for fans of Ian Mortimer, who calls this book 'rich and wonderful'
From the medieval bazaars of Tabriz, to the mysterious isl..
" An elegantly layered exploration of Europe's past and future . . . a multifaceted masterpiece."-The Wall Street Journal
"A lovely, personal journey around the Adriatic, in which Robert Kaplan ..
The international best-selling author explores the revolutions-past and present-that define the chaotic, polarized and unstable age in which we live
Fareed Zakaria first warned of the threat of \..
Zeinab Badawi, award-winning broadcaster and President of SOAS, tells an epic story of the oldest inhabited continent in the world from an African perspective, for fans of William Dalrymple, David Olu..
Too many popular histories seek to establish heroes, pioneers and martyrs but as Huw Lemmey and Ben Miller argue, the past is filled with queer people whose sexualities and/or dastardly deeds have bee..
'The most attractive, comprehensive and easily digestible history of the oldest railway system in the world' - Michael Palin
In 1825 the Stockton & Darlington company strode into history with t..
The definitive, dramatic, minute-by-minute story of the 1986 Challenger space shuttle disaster by New York Times-bestselling author Adam Higginbotham, based on fascinating new archival research and in..
Churches are many things to us - they are places of worship, vibrant community hubs and oases of calm reflection. To know a church is to hold a key to the past that unlocks an understanding of our sha..
'The reigning Queen of Classics' Spectator
What are civilisations?
At the heart of this big question is how people have depicted the human and divine, from prehistory to the present day. Bri..
THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER
'A rigorous and thoughtful study of what has happened on battlefields over the past eight decades' THE TIMES
'A hugely important book ... elegantly written and ..
Two leading authorities - a bestselling historian and the outstanding battlefield commander and strategist of our time - collaborate on a landmark examination of war since 1945.
Conflict is both a ..
'Like Crecy itself, this book is a triumph and the tale it tells gives an old story new life.'- Bernard Cornwell, bestselling author of The Last Kingdom series
A groundbreaking new study of the b..
It shows how art forms have crisscrossed continents over centuries to produce masterpieces. From Nefertiti's lost city and the Islamic Golden Age to twentieth century Nigerian theatre and Modernist po..
Opens a fascinating new window onto medieval and early modern life - a world where it's possible to meet the devil on the road, control the future through stars, and employ a fairy to help find gold
..
"A brilliant exploration of Cyprus's long history of cultural resilience. Superbly composed." -- Guardian
"Poetic...Compelling" -- New Statesman
One of National Geographic's Summer Reads 202..
The Darkening Age is the largely unknown story of how a militant religion comprehensively and deliberately extinguished the teachings of the Classical world, ushering in centuries of unquestioning adh..
'If great books encourage you to look at the world in an entirely new way, then Dominion is a very great book indeed . . . Written with terrific learning, enthusiasm and good humour, Holland's book is..
27th November 1918, London. Just 16 days after the end of the Great War, with the nation on its knees, Billie Carleton takes to the stage for the last time. She is found dead the next day in her bedro..
An incredible true story of murder, romance, and a fateful search for utopia in the Galapagos-from the New York Times bestselling author of The Ghosts of Eden Park
At the height of the Great Depres..
"Clever, charming, amusing, and just plain brilliant. Ken Krimstein is the most inventive graphic biographer on the planet-and certainly the only one who could explain both Einstein and Kafka. A page ..
Set amidst the unforgettable sights and smells of 18th and 19th Century Paris, Elixir tells the story of Edouard Laugier and Auguste Laurent, the son of a perfumer and a fellow aspiring chemist, who m..
'Brilliantly written ... evokes the wonder of an entire civilisation.' Tom Holland, author of Pax and co-host of The Rest is History'A wondrous, gorgeously-written book' Rebecca Wragg Sykes, author o..
THE SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN & NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
BLACKWELL'S NON-FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WATERSTONES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023
'Extraordinary ... a deliciously varied tap..
An epic history of how the so-called 'barbarians of the steppes' shaped the modern world.
'This is a history of epic scope that brings together the empires of the steppe land with the caravan ci..
Everyone knows about pirates: or do they? The Hollywood stereotype black flags and peg-legs, cutlasses and cannons, exotic yet sinister pets, buried treasure is familiar and entrancing, but ther..
Four writers. Four dictators. One world, changed out of all recognition. ENGINEERS OF HUMAN SOULS is an intimate and shocking shadow history of creative vanity in a time that turned writers - once the..
A journey through the great mass-extinction events that have shaped our Earth.
Drawing on the latest research, this timely and original book lays out the current scientific understanding of mass..
A dazzling exploration of the intersections of beauty and power around the globe, told through the lens of an iconic cosmetic
'Fascinating' Nigella Lawson
'Awe-inspiring' Funmi Fetto
'A treat..
'Subtle, compendious and rich' - James McConnachie, The Sunday Times
'Dazzling ... Finlay's adventures, vividly recounted, make enthralling reading ... This book is equally an inspiration and an edu..
From the author of bestseller Fake History, Otto English, comes a shocking yet hilarious look at ten of the greatest liars in history.
'A brilliant book.'
James O'Brien
..
A funny, revealing, myth-busting guide to all the history you thought happened but never actually did, from historical expert Jo Teeuwisse, better known online as The Fake History Hunter.
Fake ne..
Based on the podcast with over 100 million downloads,Fall of Civilizationsbrilliantly explores how a range of ancient societies rose to power and sophistication, and how they tipped over into collapse..
'Extraordinary' Ai Weiwei'Brilliant' Simon SchamaFear has long been a driving force - perhaps the driving force - of world history: a coercive tool of power and a catalyst for radical change. Here, Ro..
A bestselling, groundbreaking reappraisal of medieval femininity, revealing why women have been written out of history, and why it matters, by Oxford historian Janina Ramirez.
THE INSTANT SUNDAY ..
A sparkling exploration of the four cardinal directions, by the acclaimed author of A History of the World in 12 Maps
North, south, east and west- almost all societies use the four cardinal direc..
Michael Palin recreates the extraordinary life and tragic death of a First World War soldier - his great-uncle Harry.
'An important historical record and a well-paced story in its own right, Grea..
A glorious illustrated history of sixteen of the world's greatest cathedrals, interwoven with the extraordinary stories of the people who built them.
'An impeccable guide to the golden age of eccle..
A kaleidoscopic journey tracing the methods and means of visual communication from the cave paintings of the earliest humans to the 'photograph' of a black hole in deep space.
Since the beginni..
Since the inception of the Secret Service Bureau back in 1909, women have worked at the very heart of British secret intelligence - yet their contributions have been all but written out of history. No..