History

With a new Afterword and Reading Group Guide exclusive to the paperback edition. In this enlightening personal account, one man tells the story of his groundbreaking project to sleep overnight...

The definitive history of the Spanish Armada, lavishly illustrated and fully revised Selected by Foreign Affairs as one of the Best Books of 2023 "Will surely become the definitive account."-Stephen...

A lively new history of London told through twenty-five buildings, from iconic Georgian townhouses to the Shard A walk along any London street takes you past a wealth of seemingly...

A compelling intellectual biography of Stalin told through his personal library "[A] fascinating new study."-Michael O'Donnell, Wall Street Journal In this engaging life of the twentieth century's most self-consciously learned...

A spirited and thought-provoking history of the vast changes that transformed Europe during the 1,000-year span of the Middle Ages The millennium between the breakup of the western Roman Empire...

'The very best sort of panoramic portrait' David Kynaston'The Edwardians have long been the lost decade of British history, yet they are that history at its climax. Alwyn Turner sets...

No animal is so entangled in human history as the horse. The thread starts in prehistory, with a slight, shy animal, hunted for food. Domesticating the horse allowed early humans...

Unfurling a tapestry of surprising and historically overlooked figures spanning forty centuries and six continents, historian Matthew Lockwood narrates lives filled with imagination and wonder, curiosity, connection, and exchange. Familiar...

A pioneering political voice, with charisma and power that rivaled many of her male contemporaries, Clodia of Rome was a pivotal figure in the late Roman Republic until a murder...

LONGLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE A NEW YORKER BEST BOOKS OF 2025 A TIMES & SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR A NEW STATESMAN BOOK OF THE YEAR A...

Some central questions in the natural and social sciences can't be answered by controlled laboratory experiments, often considered to be the hallmark of the scientific method. This impossibility holds for...

In her earlier work, The History of the Ancient World , Susan Wise Bauer wrote of the rise of kingship based on might. But in the years between the fourth...

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 gunpowder,...

First used as a drug capable of treating mental illnesses, then as a 'truth serum' by the CIA, Tripped reveals how the fortuitous discovery of LSD in April 1943 led...

Whether it's pumping oil, mining resources or shipping commodities across oceans, the global economy runs on extraction. Promises of frictionless trade and lucrative speculation are the hallmarks of our era,...

Half of all 7,000-plus human languages may disappear over the next century and - because many have never been recorded - when they're gone, it will be forever. Ross Perlin,...

'Illuminating, thoughtful and scholarly' FINANCIAL TIMES'Does a fascinating job of exploring the history of women's bodies' GREG JENNER'Mind-blowing, fascinating stuff' BBC WOMAN'S HOUR'Authoritative, rich and wide-ranging, this is an immensely...

'Remarkable . . . grippingly and humanely recounted.' PHILIPPE SANDS, author of The Last Colony WINNER OF THE 2023 RSL GILES ST AUBYN AWARD The story of leprosy is the...

An electrifying re-examination of one of the twentieth century's greatest unsung power players, from the bestselling author of A WOMAN OF NO IMPORTANCE 'Supremely enjoyable . . . With a...

Kathleen Lonsdale was a groundbreaking chemist who was instrumental in developing the science of crystallography. She was also a midlife convert to Quakerism who campaigned for peace and prison reform....

SHORTLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION 2023WINNER OF THE CUNDILL HISTORY PRIZE 2023 SHORTLISTED FOR THE BRITISH ACADEMY PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION 2023 A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF...

Big, bold and beautiful, this is the enthralling celestial follow-up to Mythologica: Amazon's No. 1 Children's Non-Fiction Book of the Year 2019.How did the moon influence mighty emperors in Ancient...

'A total joy to read.' SARAH BAKEWELL 'Thrillingly intelligent and original . . . A breakthrough in biographical form.' EDMUND GORDON 'A discerning literary biography and a page-turning whodunit.' LISA...

A Holocaust historian, archivist, and history blogger adds a new dimension to the story of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising during World War II, shining a long overdue spotlight on five...

The No1 Sunday Times Bestseller A Waterstones Best Politics Book 2024 A Mail on Sunday 'Best Holiday Read 2024' 'A searing expose' Glamour 'A timely reminder of the dangers posed...

One of the government's former behavioural scientists reveals how you can do what you want, whilst everybody tries to influence you into doing what they want. Influence makes you think...

Big Tech has sold us the illusion that artificial intelligence is a frictionless technology that will bring wealth and prosperity to humanity. But hidden beneath this smooth surface lies the...

'Fascinating...a great historical military account and essential reading' John Volanthen, author of Thirteen Lives . 'Fascinating...a great historical military account and essential reading' John Volanthen, author of Thirteen Lives ....

The charismatic Fulvia amassed a degree of military and political power that was unprecedented for a woman in Ancient Rome. Married three times to men who moved in powerful circles,...

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...

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....

FOREWORD BY SIR NICK CARTER, FORMER UK CHIEF OF DEFENCE STAFF How have the character and technology of war changed in recent times? Why does battlefield victory often fail to...

'A masterly engagement with the most delicate and important of subjects - filled with gentle empathy, learning and rare balance' Rory Stewart'Rogerson is an original - eloquent and always fascinating'...

"A superb biographical portrait and work of historical analysis Let us hope that it will serve if not as a manual then at least as an inspiration-good statesmanship is needed...

A rebellious new history of female friendship and timely reclamation of the 'bad friend'. Move over idealised BFFs, glossy gal pals and indestructible work wives. Meet the bad friends. The...

A revelatory history of the women who brought Victorian criminals to account-and how they became a cultural sensation Shortlisted for The Wolfson History Prize 2025 From Wilkie Collins to the...

The first global history of the epic early days of the iron railway Railways, in simple wooden or stone form, have existed since prehistory. But from the 1750s onward the...

A vital guide to poetry from ancient times to the present "[A] fizzing, exhilarating book."-Sebastian Faulks, Sunday Times, London "Delightful.'"- New York Times Book Review Poetry is language made special,...

A vibrant guide to the world of literature, from dramatic plays to engrossing novels Literature has inspired every civilisation, from Greek myth to today's graphic novels. John Sutherland, who has...

The thrilling story of archaeological adventure, and astonishing discoveries around the globe Archaeology tells the story of our ancestors: how they lived, what they believed in and how their cultures...

A lucid guide to humankind's greatest thinkers, from Aristotle to Peter Singer "A primer in human existence: philosophy has rarely seemed so lucid, so important, so worth doing and so...

The internationally bestselling guide to the extraordinary human story, for the curious of all ages The World has existed for over 4 billion years, but humanity arrived much more recently....

An accessible account of the history of economics through the ideas of great thinkers "A whistle-stop introduction to the great works and thinkers of each age, this is a clear...

An acclaimed economist's observations on four years of events that have shaped the world In this new volume drawn from his columns for the French newspaper Le Monde , renowned...

A rich and engaging guide to psychology, the science devoted to understanding human nature Psychology is the science devoted to understanding human nature. Its practitioners have long sought to understand...

What happened when Jane Austen's heroines and heroes were finally wed? Marriage is at the centre of Jane Austen's novels. The pursuit of husbands and wives, advantageous matches, and, of...

A superbly engaging guide to music around the world, from prehistory to the present Music excites and moves us perhaps more than any other art form. From a Neanderthal's bone...

An enjoyable, accessible exploration of the legacy of ancient Greece today, across our daily lives and all forms of popular culture Our contemporary world is inescapably Greek. Whether in a...