European History

The British Army was not highly regarded before World War I; the Kaiser was said to have called it "contemptible"; the French regarded it as a colonial police force with...

This pioneering art series combines stunning high-quality color reproductions with expert commentary on the most popular artists of all time at an extremely accessible price. Giotto, Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci,...

In the fall of 1944, Fey von Hassell, the 24-year-old wife of Italian Detalmo Pirzio-Biroli, was seized by the SS at her villa at Brazza near Venice and shuttled by...

'Invaluable - and hugely entertaining ... It is an absolute romp and a must-have for history and fantasy enthusiasts alike' - Eleanor Janega'Endlessly fascinating'- the SpectatorOld English was spoken over...

The Restoration was a decade of experimentation: from the founding of the Royal Society for investigating the sciences to the startling role of credit and risk; from the shocking licentiousness...

** Eastern Eye 's Non-Fiction Book of the Year 2023 ** ** Shortlisted for the HWA Non-Fiction Crown 2024** The UK is grappling with big questions about belonging, equality and...

Ireland played the central role in maintaining European culture when the dark ages settled on Europe in the fifth century: as Rome was sacked by Visigoths and its empire collapsed,...

In Captive Queen: The Decrypted History of Mary, Queen of Scots , Jade Scott, a historian and expert on Mary's correspondence, draws on hundreds of her encrypted letters to paint...

'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 of...

In this fresh and challenging look at the origins of the United Kingdom, Michael Fry focuses on the years which led up to the Union of 1707, setting the political...

From a renowned scholar and translator, the definitive translation of Aesop's Fables Aesop's fables are among the most familiar and best-loved stories in the world. Tales like "The Tortoise and...

In The Story of Scandinavia , political scholar Stein Ringen chronicles more than 1,200 years of drama, economic rise and fall, crises, kings and queens, war, peace, language and culture....

Przemysl, Poland, 1939. Two-year-old Renata is woken by her Mamusia in the middle of the night and bundled into the basement. The peacock quilt she is wrapped in reminds her...

1338: England has declared war on France, and Jeanette of Kent , cousin to King Edward III, says goodbye to her family and travels overseas with the royal court for...

This work focuses on English cultural attitudes toward Jews during what is known as the "longer" 18th century, from roughly 1660 to 1830. Frank Felsenstein describes the persistence through the...

An inspired yet haunted genius Caspar David Friedrich's paintings capture the raw power of nature. Find out how this great 19th-century Romantic painter created works of intense and mysterious beauty...

Although overlooked for centuries Piero della Francesca is now regarded as the supreme 15th-century Renaissance artist. Discover how he experimented with perspective to create powerful and profound works. Exploring art...

Jan Morris (then James) first visited Trieste as a soldier at the end of the Second World War. Since then, the city has come to represent her own life, with...

In the last quarter of the nineteenth-century, around 200,000 visitors from Australia landed in Britain. As members of the colonial elite, they sailed to the Old Country to experience their...

Love of Venice can strike anyone, not just romantic wusses. Among the toughies with serious cases were Lord Byron, Richard Wagner, Ezra Pound, and Ernest Hemingway. Symptoms include: Wishing that...

'A stunning book, a powerful investigation, utterly compelling,' James Holland, The Daily Telegraph , Five stars 'Terrifying' Simon Schama Ponar, Lithuania. 1944. The Nazis have enslaved Jewish men to exhume...

Inspired by the swashbuckling travelogues of Victorian diplomat Lord Dufferin, frail surburbanite Tim Moore sets out to prove his physical and spiritual worth before his sceptical Nordic in-laws by retracing...

Summer 1312. The brutal murder of King Edward II's favourite, Peter Gaveston, unleashes a horde of demons . . . Sir Hugh Corbett, Keeper of the Secret Seal, hastens to...

Until the early 1990s, when the Berlin Wall came tumbling down, travelling behind the iron curtain was never easy. In undertaking his new journey through Eastern Europe, breathing in its...

'A stunning book, a powerful investigation, utterly compelling,' James Holland, The Daily Telegraph , Five stars 'Terrifying' Simon Schama Ponar, Lithuania. 1944. The Nazis have enslaved Jewish men to exhume...

Most British travel writers head south for a destination that is hot, exotic, dangerous or all three. Harry Pearson chose to head in the opposite direction for a country which...

*PLUTARCH AWARD FOR THE BEST BIOGRAPHY OF 2024* *SHORTLISTED FOR THE DUFF COOPER PRIZE* ' SUBLIME ' A NEW STATESMAN BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024 ' STUNNINGLY GOOD ' THE...

Bearing all the markings of a truely classic novel, Troll Fell, is an exciting adventure-filled tale of Peer, his evil uncles, treasure and wicked trolls. Peer Ulfsson stood miserably at...

In Rome the echoes of the past resound clearly in its palaces and monuments, and in the remains of the ancient imperial city. But another presence has dominated Rome for...

Throughout medieval Europe, for hundreds of years, monarchy was the way that politics worked in most countries. This meant power was in the hands of a family - a dynasty;...

London Lives is a fascinating new study which exposes, for the first time, the lesser-known experiences of eighteenth-century thieves, paupers, prostitutes and highwaymen. It charts the experiences of hundreds of...

Fighting the People's War is an unprecedented, panoramic history of the 'citizen armies' of the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand and South Africa, the core of the British...

How did upstart outsiders forge vast new empires in early modern Asia, laying the foundations for today's modern mega-states of India and China? In How the East Was Won, Andrew...

This full story of German espionage in World War II, illustrated with 150 black-and-white photographs, explores the rivalry between Nazi intelligence services. Includes Nazi counter-intelligence operations and examines the popular...

LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE 2023 This extraordinarily affecting debut novel captures life inside the Siege of Sarajevo. Sarajevo, spring 1992. Each night, nationalist gangs erect barricades, splitting the diverse...

From New York Times bestselling author Eliot Schrefer comes an exuberant YA historical coming-of-age novel about a rising star French pianist, navigating his way into high society as he explores...

In this queer retelling of the classic novel and third book in Tirzah Price's Jane Austen Murder Mystery series, Mansfield Park is the center of a deadly accident (or is...

The course of true love never did sail smooth... Things on this yacht are about to get rocky... When feisty chef Sofia and strait-laced first officer Jack are thrown together...