From the author of the excellent 'The Edge of the World: How the North Sea Made Us Who We Are', an account of the dazzling city that was the hub of the known world in the C16th.
An instructive look at 12 statues: why they were put up, the stories they were supposed to tell, why those stories were challenged; and why the statues were pulled down.
By the author of 'The Moor's Last Stand', a biography of Boabdil, whose sigh, looking back at the beautiful Granada he had fled, still resonates. Illustrated.
A history of the Troubles, propelled by a gripping narrative that centres on the abduction of Jean McConville in 1972. The events that Radden Keefe writes about here are both tragic and haun... read more
Alex Renton is a journalist and writer: he uncovers his own family's slave-owning past and uses this as a means of approaching the growing debate about such legacies and contemporary consequ... read more
Son of Edward III, brother to the Black Prince, father to Henry IV: the man with the levers of power, to whom Shakespeare gave the speech about 'this sceptered isle'.
A riveting portrait of the man who sold many of the books that drove the Renaissance, who knew where manuscripts were, arranged for copies to be made and trod carefully among rival ruling fa... read more
It seems that the stalwart defender of Imperial narratives and values was a compulsive and manipulative womanizer. Thousands of newly discovered letters show an unexpected side to the histor... read more
This is not the Alexandria in the Nile Delta, but rather Alexandria 'Beneath the Mountains', in Afghanistan, discovered by a wandering scholar and archaeologist called Charles Masson in 1833... read more
Traces Napoleon's accrual of the spoils of war: the negotiated, carefully targeted removal of Renaissance masterpieces including works by Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael, as well as the ... read more
JR wrote a superb novel ('Kozlowski') about the Katyn massacre. This book uses the testimonies of survivors and investigators to understand how the effects of the massacre rippled on for de... read more
Explores the interaction of mass-market diamonds and German colonialism in Africa. Or how the new American fashion for diamond engagement rings funded Germany in two world wars.
An immense and authoritative account that draws attention to Stalin's similarities with Hitler; their primary difference being that Stalin was a more successful murderous predator.
How the rise of antiquarian interests between the Fall of the Bastille and the Great Exhibition promoted the rediscovery of national history in Britain, France and Germany. From the author o... read more
A new departure for the author of 'The Tipping Point' etc... A history book about what happened in WW2 when technological innovation collided with good intentions...
Considers the Mongols as law givers, economists, diplomats, builders and promoters of religious tolerance, whose legacy remains palpable now across the 2 million square miles of Eurasia tha... read more
An account of farming in Britain today - from sheep farming to polytunnels. Bella Bathurst's previous subjects have included the Lighthouse Stevensons, so she gets our vote.
Fabric - and our hunger for it - as the mother of invention, the driver behind technology, agriculture, trade, politics, culture... it funded the Italian Renaissance and the Mughal empire. H... read more
A fascinating Great-Game-ish romp with yaks , spies, political intrigue and a cast that includes not only the Viceroy Curzon but the rather overlooked figure of Sir Charles Bell, British Pol... read more
In 1849 Garibaldi gave up the defence of Rome to the besieging French troops and made his way northwards with a few thousand volunteers; this is an earlier phase of the attempt at Italian li... read more