20th Century History

'A heart-piercingly brilliant book about a woman whose personal life put her in the cross-hairs of history' HADLEY FREEMAN 'Totally riveting. I couldn't put it down' VICTORIA HISLOP 'Ethel sings...

A gripping, definitive account of one man's battle to reckon with the horror of the Holocaust, by Jack Fairweather, the bestselling, Costa prize-winning author of The Volunteer (over 100k TCM)...

A high-octane story from the great Eric Ambler of a journalist on the run in the south of France Lucia Bernardi was last seen driving a car at top speed...

How do places make us, and how do we make them? At the turn of the century, in the shade of Cambridge's cloisters, a young E. M. Forster conceals his...

A chilling alternative history of the Second World War, in which the Nazis have conquered Britain It is 1941 and Germany has won the war. Britain is occupied, Churchill executed...

Tadeusz Borowski's concentration camp stories were based on his own experiences surviving Auschwitz and Dachau. In spare, brutal prose he describes a world where where the will to survive overrides...

Kerry James Marshall is a monumental monograph covering the entire career of painter Kerry James Marshall, focusing on the last 35 years of work. Definitive monograph on contemporary African-American painter...

"A pure delight from start to finish!"--Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Diamond Eye Acclaimed author Trisha R. Thomas delivers a masterful new tale of scandal and...

In the vein of The Paris Wife and The Personal Librarian comes this debut novel, a magnificent work of "biographical fiction" that reimagines the turbulent and triumphant early years of...

"A classic story . . . delivers real news from Cuba in a lyrical way."-NPR Available for a new generation, Wendy Guerra's intoxicating and heartrending classic-a portrait of economically depressed...

"An engaging romp." - New York Times Book Review "A haunting, quietly devastating excavation of a story we should all know but don't: how a surfing legend became the target...

The disturbing true story of the notorious Cecil Hotel in downtown LA, by its general manager for a decade and star of the controversial Netflix documentary series Crime Scene: The...

From the acclaimed film critic and New York Times bestselling biographer of Paul Newman, the definitive biography of Hollywood legend Clint Eastwood, the most prolific and versatile actor-director in the...

The instant Sunday Times bestseller 'A painfully optimistic book that does the favour of making you laugh as it breaks your heart' Kenneth Branagh 'A tender, elegant novel about the...

'A fresh, unexpected, and revealing portrait of Russia' ANNE APPLEBAUM , Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Gulag and Red Famine 'A century of Russian history told through the women who lived...

A heart-wrenching novel of love, resilience and courage in World War II, from the author of Sisters of War - perfect for readers who loved The Tattooist of Auschwitz and...

Dustin Pittman amassed an archive of 100,000 photographs chronicling the untamed corners of New York City's after-hours nightlife, from shadowy underground haunts to prestigious galleries and clubs. This "wish I...

The first book, accompanying a traveling exhibition, dedicated to Cuban mid-century design anchored by an under-acknowledged collection of graphic design, prototypes, and furniture, much of which has never been exhibited...

On the 4th of August 1914 the First World War started with the German invasion of Belgium. Four years later, on November 11th 1918, the weapons fell silent, and on...

As Angus Calder states in his introduction to this edition, 'Seven Pillars of Wisdom' is one of the major statements about the fighting experience of the First World War. Lawrence's...

Pink Floyd are one of the most iconic and influential rock bands in the world: their sonic ambition, lyrical dexterity and structural ability are unparalleled in rock music. Since their...

Looking back at the impact of Britain's Big Four railway companies, 100 years later. GWR, LMS, LNER and SR: these initials arouse memories of the Cornish Riviera Express, the streamlined...

When communism fell in Poland, the mafia stepped in to fill the power vacuum: welcome to a world of Adidas, Kalashnikovs, and organised crime. Welcome to a world of Adidas,...

The full story of one of the twentieth century's greatest mavericks. Whitney Straight made his own way in life. Born in New York with a silver spoon in his mouth,...

Silver Medal winner in Military History Matters 'Book of the Year' Award "Written with great accuracy, detail, enthusiasm, and insight " Military History Matters judges' comment Striking where the enemy...

In 1903, a renowned naturalist joined the President of the United States for a two-week camping trip to Yosemite. John Burroughs offers delightful reminiscences of Theodore Roosevelt and their shared...

A Russian scientist defects to the West in this vintage spy thriller, part of The IPCRESS File series 1963 Berlin is dark and dangerous. The anonymous hero of The IPCRESS...

A champion of civil rights and a leading light in India's struggle for independence, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was one of the iconic figures of the 20th century. He is best...

'A salve for our current reactionary times.' ANDREW HARTMAN From the streets of Petrograd during the heady autumn of 1917, to Mao's stunning victory in October 1949, and Fidel's triumphant...

"I am a work in progress. There are times when I feel in control and like I know what I'm doing...and there are times (quite a few)(actually lots) when I've...

An important reckoning with Australia's unspoken history of slave trade. From the author of the bestselling books The Ballad of Abdul Wade and The Bravest Scout at Gallipoli As Australia...

FINALIST FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE 2025 'A brilliant personal account of China's borderlands and peoples' Francis Fukuyama 'Edward Wong is about as knowledgeable a guide to China as a reader...

*Shortlisted for the 2026 GORDON BURN PRIZE** 'Compelling, funny, intelligent . . . Thank You for Calling the Lesbian Line is a remarkable piece of work.' Kerry Hudson, Observer 'Utterly...

Hadley Freeman brings us her personalised guide to American movies from the 1980s - why they are brilliant, what they meant to her, and how they influenced movie-making forever. For...

In the eighteenth century, Thomas Jefferson and John Quincy Adams greatly admired the Persian Empire, while Iranians regarded America as an ideal their own government might emulate. Beginning there, how...

First published in 1956, What Shall I Wear is revolutionary fashion designer Claire McCardell's collection of fashion wisdom and philosophy and a vivacious guide to looking effortlessly stylishClaire McCardell, the...

Yassou! unlocks the secrets of this flavourful cuisine, with eighty home-cooking Greek recipes that capture the delicious tastes and utilize the superfood ingredients that make the Mediterranean diet one with...

First time in Penguin Classics for this single-volume edition of Churchill's most famous speeches The most eloquent and expressive statesman of his time - phrases such as 'iron curtain', 'business...

First time in Modern Classics for Penelope Lively's evocative memoir of her childhood in Egypt. This autobiography is about growing up in Egypt. It is also an investigation into childhood...

The hilarious writing of James Thurber, author of 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty', collected in this classic anthology This collection brings together the best of James Thurber's brilliantly funny,...

When the Nazis invaded Hungary in 1944, they sent virtually the entire Jewish population to Auschwitz. A Hungarian Jew and a medical doctor, Dr. Miklos Nyiszli was spared from death...

Nobel Prize-winning author Canetti spent only a few weeks in Marrakesh, but it was a visit that would remain with him for the rest of his life. In The Voices...

A classic from the leader of the pop art movement - published to coincide with the opening of the exhibition Pop Art Portraits at the National Portrait Gallery (October 2007-February...

'This is a very personal book, about being alone and lost'. In 1975 Kapuscinski's employers sent him to Angola to cover the civil war that had broken out after independence....

Just after the iron curtain fell on Eastern Europe John Steinbeck and acclaimed war photographer, Robert Capa ventured into the Soviet Union to report for the New York Herald Tribune....

After his father's early death Jean-Paul Sartre was brought up at his grandfather's home in a world even then eighty years out of date. In Words Sartre recalls growing up...

A fierce and moving account of the genocide practised by the Spanish colonialists Bartolome de Las Casas was the first and fiercest critic of Spanish colonialism in the New World....

In his iconoclastic and controversial study, Norman G. Finkelstein moves from an interrogation of the place the Holocaust has come to occupy in global culture to a disturbing examination of...