The pitfalls of cultural fantasies of the north: this cultural history, rich with travellers' tales and legends, is entertaining but also disturbing as myth, reality and politics rub uncomfo... read more
From the Bible to Simon Schama, a huge investigation of how the writing of history influences the record of human experience, and therefore its development.
A fascinating examination of how the prevailing causes of death have changed through history. It is a story of growing medical knowledge and social organisation, and is refreshingly optimist... read more
The heady world described by Waugh - but, besides the fun and aristocrats, there were men with shellshock, women reading for degrees, and a false sense of security as Hitler rose to power.
An unflinching look at Britain's past, showing how the empire was built - and depended on - institutionalised, racialised violence. The Pulitzer-winner argues that the empire only waned when... read more
From Byzantium to England, the Normans achieved an extraordinary ascendancy in the C11th. This study draws particular attention to dynastic relations and to the role of women in what has hit... read more
Founded by mavericks in 1922, it evolved through the war, the invention of television and subsequent massive cultural changes. Whatever its problems, it is an extraordinary institution, and ... read more
This is likely to be one of the best of the many books we will see about the context and impact of Covid, from the great social historian of postwar Britain. (The eponymous 'duty of care' is... read more
By looking at the surviving remains of eleven ships, from a prehistoeric prow to the propellor of an ocean liner, TM has written a fascinating maritme history of Britain.
Incredible though it seems, in the closing years of the GDR the Stasi trained operatives to become poets in order to infiltrate literary circles. Years of sleuthing has yielded this remarkab... read more
Argues that the abolition of the slave trade in Britain owed more to a deep cultural shift - one that valued the idea of individual freedom - than it did to the actions of particular indi... read more
We heard about Molotov's library in Rachel Polonsky's superb Molotov's Magic Lantern (£12.99). Now we have a portrait of Stalin through the books he read - and he was an avid reader all his... read more
What distinguished 'art' from 'Art' ? Types of display, collecting, certain kinds of knowledge becoming matters of profession, etc. A specialised and fascinating study that puts the subject ... read more
The story of one of the most daring raids of WW2, after which 5 VCs were awarded. GW argues that the raid was misconceived and that its object was only attained by the astonishing bravery of... read more