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History
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The Sea-King and the Sorceress
The Sunday Times bestselling author of The Children of Ash and Elm and award-winning expert on the Vikings brings us even closer to their worldWho do we think of when we think about the Vikings? Most of us are familiar with the seafaring marauders who raided, traded and settled the coasts of Europe between the eighth and eleventh centuries. In fact, those warriors made up only a small minority among a diverse people who had many roles and callings.In this eye-opening and often moving book, Neil Price takes us on a journey across the Viking world, revealing the complex, varied and richly textured lives of those who inhabited it through the intimate context of their burials. Traversing a vast Scandinavian diaspora that stretched from the eastern Steppe all the way to Newfoundland, we meet townsfolk and farmers, the free and the enslaved, immigrants and diplomats, followers of many gods and the worshippers of one, sea-kings, shamans, sorceresses, and - of course - the ferocious pirates who gave the vìkingar their name.Unexpected encounters along the way challenge received wisdom about Norse culture, spiritual practices and politics, showing how they transformed their times and in doing so were changed themselves. How did a woman of Persian ancestry come to be interred in the richest Viking grave ever found? What do an arctic hunter and a Sámi nomad tell us about a fast-changing society's notions of identity and belonging? How did these individuals see themselves, and what were their attitudes towards the elderly, infirm and children in their midst?Drawing on the latest archaeological research and scientific analysis, The Sea-King and the Sorceress brings us closer to understanding the lives and times of the Vikings. The era that bears their name will never seem so simple again.
£30.00
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An Axe and Four Balloons
This story is not just another history of the SAS. It is the only biography of an extraordinary man, 'whose courage made it easier for us to be brave'. Brian Franks, tough, capable and charismatic and loved by officers and soldiers alike, is largely unknown outside the Special Operations world but has been credited by David Stirling as being one of the five founding fathers of the SAS. A dashing bon viveur, he could move freely in all sections of society, from members of the royal family to junior soldiers. He was close friends with a wide range of characters. David Niven, Ian Fleming, Evelyn Waugh, and Winston Churchill as well as his military comrades - the Stirling Brothers, Paddy Mayne, Roy Farran and Bob Laycock. Set against the backdrop of World War II and the Cold War, Franks' life was one of bravery, intrigue and glamour.As for the title of this book, in 1918 Franks wrote a letter to his parents from his prep school. The letter, written on lined, dusty pink paper, began, 'Dear Mummy and Daddy, I hope you are well. Please send me an axe and four balloons…'. The reason for this strange request was never explained, but if the rest of Franks' life is anything to go by, the possibilities are endless.
£25.00
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Indignity
'A magical literary feat and one of the most touching books I've read this year' Stuart Jeffries, Spectator 'Full of politics and reportage… Full of ideas... Full of history, as it moves from the last days of the Ottoman empire to the last days of the Soviet one. But more than anything, it is full of life - Ypi's own, and that of her forebears' Peter Hoskin, Prospect When Lea Ypi discovers a photo of her grandmother, Leman, honeymooning in the Alps in 1941 posted by a stranger on social media, she is faced with unsettling questions. Growing up, she was told records of her grandmother's youth were destroyed in the early days of communism in Albania. But there Leman was with her husband, Asllan Ypi: glamorous newlyweds while World War II raged.What follows is a thrilling reimagining of the past, as we are transported to the vanished world of Ottoman aristocracy, the making of modern Greece and Albania, a global financial crisis, the horrors of war and the dawn of communism in the Balkans. While investigating the truth about her family, Ypi grapples with uncertainty. Who is the real Leman Ypi? What made her move to Tirana as a young woman and marry a socialist who sympathized with the Popular Front while his father led a collaborationist government? And why was she smiling in the winter of 1941?By turns epic and intimate, profound and gripping, Indignity explores what it means to survive in an age of extremes. It reveals the fragility of truth, both personal and political, and the cost of decisions made against the tide of history. Through secret police reports of communist spies, court depositions, and Ypi's memories of her grandmother, we move between present and past, archive and imagination, fact and fiction. Ultimately, she asks, what do we really know about the people closest to us? And with what moral authority do we judge the acts of previous generations?Longlisted for the 2026 Women's Prize for Non-FictionNamed a Book of the Year by Financial Times, Sunday Times, Prospect, TLS, Washington Post, NPR
£12.99
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£30.00
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A History of the Novel in Britain
The story of the novel in Britain is a good story.It begins in the eighteenth century, when people began to read in ever greater numbers, seeking words that helped explain their hopes and desires. A new kind of literature was needed for this growing market of readers, one that reflected as many different lives in its pages as there were people to buy them, that could change with the times and do something new: something novel.In this illuminating new history of both an art and an industry, Philip Hensher describes how the evolutionary scramble by writers and publishers to get attention drove constant innovation in writing techniques, and produced new ways of printing, distributing, and selling books. Over the course of three hundred years, these creative and commercial forces shaped the novel's form and its future, from Daniel Defoe to Zadie Smith.Reading widely across the famous, the once famous and the utterly (if unfairly) forgotten, this is a work of investigative verve that makes a serious case for widening the canon. But it is also a gift: Hensher has read untold thousands of books, and A History of the Novel in Britain is his hoard of treasure, waiting to be discovered, wondered at and delighted in.
£25.00
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A Short History of Japan
'A history that somehow manages to be at once succinct and sweeping: essential reading for anyone interested in this most fascinating of countries' - Tom Holland'The perfect introduction to [Japan's] intriguing society is Christopher Harding's lively new A Short History of Japan... The book is short, yes - but its scope is long, deep and rich' - Rana Mitter, History Extra, History Books of the Year 2025 In this enormously enjoyable introduction to a remarkable country, Christopher Harding traces Japan's rich history over several millennia. Beginning with its earliest coastal communities through to the spread of Buddhism, the rise of the warlords, the promise and menace of the West and Japan's own empire-building, Harding explores how a distinctly Japanese society and culture was forged.Drawing on the latest scholarship, A Short History of Japan moves beyond traditional tourist-board clichés to consider Japan's own view of its past, values and culture, from ceramics and theatre to food and architecture. The result is a sensory, tactile history conveying to the reader much about Japan's special nature. Harding skilfully shows how these everyday details are intimately bound up with the bigger historical picture, as an expression of the values that have been extraordinarily successful in helping the country to cope with centuries of radical change.
£12.99
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A Scandal in KöNigsberg
A Times Best Book of the Year 2025A remarkable micro-history from the author of The Sleepwalkers and Revolutionary Spring'It takes a confident historian to write a short book… the story is distilled to its powerful essence; he knows precisely what's important… This small book is many things, but for me what shines brightest is a tale of two renegade preachers who understood women and love' - Gerard de Groot, The Times Now part of the Russian Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad, the former Prussian and German port of Königsberg has always been a somewhat sleepy place, doomed to be famous for having once been the residence of Immanuel Kant. But in the late 1830s, just for a short while, it became famous for all the wrong reasons.Christopher Clark's brilliant new book is the result of many years of fascination with this strange case. Sensational accusations were bandied about, implying that beneath the town's somnolent surface there were dark erotic currents and wrenching betrayals of trust. For the Prussian authorities this was just the sort of moral collapse they feared most. In the aftermath of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, which had unsettled a generation, every lapse could be seen as the harbinger of new storms.A Scandal in Königsberg beautifully brings to life a time and a place that we would now situate in the tranquil 'Biedermeier' years between the seismic upheavals of the 1810s and 1840s. But there is a timeless quality to this small vortex of turbulence, in which spiritual hunger, vanity, professional rivalry, sexual incontinence, naivety and sheer human waywardness threatened to tear a city apart.
£12.99
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Betrayal
'Dark and compelling . . . Brilliant' BILL BROWDER'More gripping than a thriller' ANDREY KURKOV'A master chronicler' CHARLIE ENGLISHBetrayal charts the dramatic collapse of the post-1945 international system. The agreement that nations do not change borders by force is under attack, not just from Russia but America, too. Donald Trump has threatened to seize Greenland and bombed Iran as part of a violent remaking of the Middle East. Vladimir Putin's bloody imperial campaign to seize Ukraine and redraw Europe's map continues. Meanwhile, China eyes up Taiwan.Written in thrilling style, this vital and clear-eyed book reports from the frontlines during an age of upheaval. Luke Harding visits villages in eastern Ukraine under Russian bombardment, talks to Greenlanders about a US takeover, tours the divided Korean peninsula and sits down with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He examines why Trump appears to be in thrall to Putin and tracks Russian spies and their links with Nigel Farage's Reform party. Betrayal is an essential guide to brutal Great Power politics and how it came back.
£20.00
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Captain's Dinner
Four men in a lifeboat. Two weeks without food. One impossible choice that would reshape the boundaries between survival and murder.'A perfect enunciation of the classic philosophical conundrum: can you sacrifice one innocent life to save many?' (Yann Martel, author of Life of Pi)On May 19, 1884, the yacht Mignonette sailed from England on what should have been an uneventful voyage. When their vessel sank in the Atlantic, Captain Dudley and his crew found themselves adrift in a tiny lifeboat. As days turned to weeks, they faced an unthinkable choice: starve or resort to cannibalism.Their decision to sacrifice the 17-year-old cabin boy Richard Parker ignited a firestorm of controversy. Instead of being hailed as heroes and survivors, Dudley and his crew found themselves at the center of Regina v. Dudley and Stephens, a landmark murder trial that would establish the legal precedent that necessity cannot justify murder.In Captain's Dinner, acclaimed journalist, Pulitzer Prize juror, and New York Times bestselling author Adam Cohen masterfully depicts both the harrowing weeks at sea and the sensational trial.'Is killing one innocent person justified if it saves the lives of three others? Cohen's answer - in this riveting account - reads like a thriller' (former Secretary of State Antony Blinken).Perfect for readers of The Wager and Nathaniel Philbrick's In the Heart of the Sea, this pulse-pounding true story has become a real-life example of one of life's greatest moral dilemmas. 'Brilliant and profound,' (bestselling author Amy Chua), Captain's Dinner strikes at the heart of a question that haunts us all: When does survival justify murder?
£12.99
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A History of Science in 21 Women
From Ada Lovelace to Florence Nightingale, Rosalind Franklin to Tu Youyou - discover the women who changed science forever Imagine a scientist. White lab coat and goggles… check! A passing resemblance to Albert Einstein… yes, that too. So, most likely it's a man. However, from radiation to climate change, pulsars to the Earth's core - women have always stood at the forefront of scientific discovery. Learn how Ada Lovelace's tumultuous upbringing created the first computer programmer. Join Marie Curie as she discovers two elements and earns two Nobel prizes, all before the age of forty-five. Learn how Katherine Johnson launched the first American into space - defiant in the face of institutional racism. A timely addition to the growing global conversation around the future of science - and who gets to shape it - A History of Science in 21 Women is a paradigm-shifting exploration of the scientists who history tried, and failed, to brush under the carpet, and why their stories still matter today.
£18.99
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The Finest Hotel in Kabul
WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION 2026The Sunday Times BestsellerThe Times, Financial Times, Guardian, Observer and Economist Book of the YearLonglisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-FictionA sweeping and immersive history of modern Afghanistan - the first book from one of the world's leading war correspondents.'Simply unforgettable' ELIF SHAFAK'Terrific' THE TIMES'Incredible' PETER FRANKOPAN'Powerful and charming' FINANCIAL TIMES'Utterly compelling' PHILIPPE SANDS'Masterly' TELEGRAPH'Ingenious' KAMILA SHAMSIE'A must-read' SUNDAY TIMES'Beautiful' RORY STEWARTIn 1969, the Hotel Inter-Continental Kabul opened for the first time: a glistening white box, high on a hill, that symbolised Afghans' hopes for a more prosperous future.In the decades since, its staff have kept working through multiple coups, a Soviet occupation, the US-led invasion, and the rise, fall and rise of the Taliban. The Inter-Con has never closed its doors.Here, Lyse Doucet offers a vividly human history of modern Afghanistan through the lives of the people who have kept the Inter-Con running.It is the story of a hotel, and the story of a people._Shortlisted for the Nero Book AwardsShortlisted for the RSL Ondaatje PrizeShortlisted for the RSL Christopher Bland Prize'Haunting, hopeful and occasionally harrowing . . . much more than a history. It is a love letter to Afghanistan and its people.' Sunday Times'Full of warmth, wit, and a lovely eye for the human stories that make the hotel not just a monument to tragedy, but also love and resilience.' Financial Times'Beautifully written and observed . . . One of the finest journalists of her generation.' Observer'Wonderfully human . . . A masterly evocation of a supremely complex decade in Afghanistan's history.' Daily Telegraph'A monument to Afghan resilience and to the bravery and persistence of its staff . . . Witty, observant and sometimes heartbreaking.' Guardian
£11.99
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The Stones of Britain
'Cannon has a keen descriptive eye and a striking, lyrical turn of phrase . . . a rich, warm, authoritative book' TLSThis is the definitive tale of how our island history is written in stone. The Stones of Britain is about how rocks make places, exploring the connection between geology and landscape, the stones beneath the surface and the history that has played out above it. It movingly investigates the diverse character of the British landscape, and the rich variety of places that have come to be as a result. We discover that the shattered granite landscape of Dartmoor is different from the soft red sandstone hills of east Devon; the rolling chalk downs distinct from the gritty moors of Yorkshire - and each has a unique, fascinating story to tell. Interweaved with beautiful meditations on place, home and belonging, The Stones of Britain interprets these stories. It explains the nature of place on the island of Britain, revealing the landscape as the joint product of geology and man: an extraordinary history rooted in stone.Jon Cannon (1962-2023) was an architectural historian, lecturer and Canon Historian for Bristol Cathedral, and also worked for the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England and English Heritage. Unfortunately Jon passed away in the process of making this book, but his passion for landscape, history and culture lives on and leaps defiantly off the page - culminating in a richly researched and hugely special offering.
£12.99
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The Cauldron
'Vivid and monumental . . . Could not be a more essential primer' SUNDAY TIMES, Book of the Week'Both zips along and bulges with detail . . . A blockbuster narrative' TELEGRAPH'Gripping, dazzingly written . . . A masterpiece - no other word will do' MATTHEW D'ANCONA, former editor of the SPECTATORTHE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO THE MAKING OF TODAY'S MIDDLE EAST: A SPELLBINDING HISTORY FROM THE BESTSELLING, PRIZEWINNING HISTORIAN AND MASTER STORYTELLERHow did an elderly cleric overthrow the Shah of Iran and change the world?Why did Bin Laden attack the USA - and why did the USA destroy Saddam?How did one extraordinary prince create Saudi Arabia? How did an Ottoman general create Türkiye?How did Britain and France carve up the Middle East - and why did the Kurds never get their own state?Can there ever be peace between Israel and Palestine?The Middle East has forever been the source of religions, prize of empires, spark-wheel of conflicts, well of radicalism and epicentre of our tumultuous world. No other region has such a hold on our imagination nor such a propensity to unleash mayhem. Yet few know its real history; fewer still understand its variety and cosmopolitanism, its complexity and interconnectedness. In The Cauldron, Simon Sebag Montefiore delivers a fresh and unique history of the entire region in all its diversity, from 1900 up to the present day. Taking the reader on a spectacular journey from the Ottoman sultanate to the Trump presidency, from Morocco to Iran, this is a dazzling panorama of faith and fanaticism, creativity and tolerance, dictatorship and democracy brought to life by an extraordinary cast of kings, warriors, poets, terrorists and peacemakers.This is the essential story of how the Middle East of 1900 became the Middle East of today - and tomorrow.'An essential read' HUSSEIN AGHA, Palestinian negotiator with Israel over half a century'A must-have guide' EUGENE ROGAN, author of The Arabs'Captivating and monumental' EHUD OLMERT, former Prime Minister of Israel'Masterful . . . history at its best' GENERAL DAVID PETRAEUS, former Director of the CIA
£25.00
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Sparta
'Absorbing' The Times 'Gripping' Sam Leith 'There are few bits of history more mythologised, sensitive and political than Sparta, but luckily we have Bayliss' Dan Snow, creator of History Hit Sparta - its legendary warriors and steadfast resilience are famous throughout the world as a model for toughness, justice and masculinity. The Spartans' reputation as fighters is matched only by their mythic code of honour. Their torch has been carried by footballers and politicians, video games and philosophers alike. But who really were the Spartans? And what was the driving force behind the rise - and dramatic fall - of Sparta? Sparta traces the story of Ancient Greece's most iconic city-state, from its humble beginnings as a hamlet in the Peloponnese to its meteoric rise as the foremost military superpower of the Classical world. Andrew Bayliss uncovers the eclectic quirks that set Sparta above its rivals: its famous double monarchy, the harsh methods for raising children as soldiers and the unique role of women in Spartan life. Sparta was an ancient superpower, and its legacy is still shaping popular culture and politics today. This is the story of its rise and fall.
£12.99
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Ink, Paper, Chisel, Grain
'A fascinating account of the hidden history of the humble woodcut' SUNDAY TIMESInk Paper Chisel Grain is a dazzling journey through 500 years of art, ideas and human imagination, told through one of the most enduring and versatile artistic mediums ever created.At its simplest, a woodcut begins with a piece of wood, a cutting tool, ink and paper. Yet from these humble materials artists have created some of the most powerful images in human history. In Ink Paper Chisel Grain, artist and printmaker Paul Coldwell invites us into intimate encounters with the works and makers who transformed woodcut from a practical technology into a vehicle for beauty, revolution, protest and wonder.Travelling across centuries and continents, Coldwell guides us from Albrecht Dürer's apocalyptic visions and Hokusai's Great Wave to Käthe Kollwitz's searing anti-war prints and the monumental contemporary works of William Kentridge. Along the way we meet artists, printers, collectors, curators and craftsmen; step inside museums, archives and studios; and discover how a simple process of cutting into wood helped shape the visual culture of the modern world.Part history, part travelogue, part meditation on art and making, Ink Paper Chisel Grain reveals how woodcut has survived every technological revolution thrown at it, celebrating the enduring human impulse to leave a mark.
£25.00
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Rogues, Rakes and Robbers
'Exploring detailed accounts of historic crime is one of the best ways to catch a glimpse of a society and its culture decades and centuries later. Of course, stories of crime and deviance are intriguing in their own right; but through understanding the context in which they were committed, how they were made sense of, and how communities and officials responded to them, we can gain incredible insight into life at that time and place.'On 20 October 1799 at Pensieri in Anglesey, a fire breaks out, destroying cart house, corn, haystacks and timber. A young woman is seen running from the scene - but what secrets drove her to set the fire? Uncover the tales of real-life murders, manslaughters, assaults and arson that took place in Georgian Wales and the borders, which together give us a window onto life for ordinary, common people - whose lives would otherwise be lost from the historical record. From courtship rituals to the value of horses, Georgian attitudes to sex work and insanity, vulnerable adults and fraud, each chapter uses documents from Wales's Court of Great Sessions to illuminate the past.
£18.99
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Nineteen Days in Autumn
FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE IT WAS MADE NEARLY 1,000 YEARS AGO, THE BAYEUX TAPESTRY RETURNS TO ENGLAND IN A MAJOR EXHIBITION AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM.Now, uncover the incredible true story behind the tapestry with this definitive character-led history of the most famous year in English history - 1066.'A thrilling journey ... history as it should be written' ALICE LOXTON'Dazzlingly creative ... brings the eleventh century to life' ANTHONY BALE'Erin Goeres is a stunning new voice in medieval history' SUZANNAH LIPSCOMB_________On 5 January 1066, Edward the Confessor's death plunged England into a succession crisis that would change the kingdom forever. Mere hours after Edward's remains had been laid to rest, his brother-in-law Harold II seized power, inciting the wrath of two formidable challengers: King Haraldr Sigurðarson of Norway and Edward's ambitious cousin, William, Duke of Normandy.In this startling new history, Dr Erin Goeres unveils the intense drama that unfolded, culminating in the tumultuous nineteen days between the battles of Stamford Bridge and Hastings in the autumn of 1066 - the decisive event that ended Anglo-Scandinavian rule, secured the Norman Conquest and transformed medieval England.Drawing together sources from the three regions at the heart of the fray - England, Normandy and Scandinavia - Goeres uncovers the complex histories, characters and motivations that shaped one of the most defining moments in British and European history. We discover the stories of Tostig Godwinson, Harold II's estranged brother; of William the Conqueror's enigmatic wife, Matilda of Flanders, alleged lover of Harold of England; and we meet the regular people swept up in events beyond their control, such as an English farmer beheaded for his unwillingness to give up his fur-lined coat to a Norwegian invader.Rich in new research and vivid storytelling, Nineteen Days in Autumn reveals the gripping tale of three nations entwined and the enthralling yet devastating consequences of their unravelling._________'Visceral, thrilling and unexpectedly gripping given we all know the outcome!' EMMA SOUTHON'With more treachery, tragedy and cliffhangers than an episode of Game of Thrones, Nineteen Days in Autumn makes for an exhilarating read' HETTA HOWES'Brilliant and compelling' TABITHA STANMORE'Written with imagination and flair, this book vividly brings to life the real human stories at the heart of the fateful events of 1066.' ELEANOR PARKER
£25.00
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Son of Prophecy
As England's most celebrated royal dynasty, it's often overlooked that the Tudors have their origins in rural Wales, far from the urban centres of English power where they dared to become great. When Henry Tudor won the English crown by defeating Richard III in battle, he was a stranger to the people he now ruled, an 'unknown Welshman' in the words of his defeated foe. In his native Wales, however, Henry had long been championed as the Son of Prophecy, a foretold national messiah who would free his oppressed people from their lengthy misery. How had this remarkable situation come about? In this lucid and riveting account, Nathen Amin deftly explores how one redoubtable Welsh family thrived during lean years of political chaos, national instability, and inter-generational bloodshed to leave behind a complex legacy that changed the face of England and Wales forever. It is a passionately told tale of treachery, cunning, love, and heartbreak. From Penmynydd to Bosworth, this is the enthralling, action-packed story of the Tudors, but not as you know it.
£12.99
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The Mirror of Great Britain
Winner of the 2026 Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical BiographyA Financial Times History Book of the Year 2025'After finishing this beguiling book, there seems no point in reading anything else... In research, analysis and imagination, it's a masterpiece' Gerard de Groot, The TimesJames VI & I, who died 400 years ago, was one of Britain's most consequential and interesting monarchs, not least in creating the British monarchy itself by joining the English and Scottish thrones. A major intellectual, James's preoccupations ranged from witchcraft and theological controversy to hunting, diplomacy, poetry and sartorial fashion. The 'Mirror of Great Britain' was a spectacular jewel that gave symbolic endorsement to James's vision of British union, but mirrors themselves - with their limitless capacity to magnify, illuminate and distort - supplied James with one of his favourite literary metaphors.Ruler of Scotland for nearly four decades before his accession to the English throne in 1603, James was a 'cradle king' whose long reigns encompassed extraordinary dramas, including his abduction in the 'Ruthven Raid' in 1582 and his attempted assassination in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. In his lifetime, James often confounded contemporaries' expectations while his posthumous reputation has been distorted by crude stereotypes.Closely attentive to James's own words - in numerous publications, manuscript musings, topical verse and private correspondence - Clare Jackson's wonderful new book tells the story of this highly unusual monarch with great flair and insight.
£16.99
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Earth Shapers
'A riposte to the idea that geography is destiny' FINANCIAL TIMES 'Samson demonstrates how we are not always prisoners of geography but, increasingly, its masters' LEWIS DARTNELL 'This is a book that reshapes our story of global human geography' DANNY DORLING 'Accessible and erudite, this is an original look at the geography of connection' LEWIS BASTON Mountains, meridians, rivers and borders; these are some of the features that carve up the world on our maps and in our minds. But geography is far less set in stone than we might believe and, over time, we have become experts at reshaping our surroundings. From the Qhapaq Ñan, South America's 'Great Road', and the Panama Canal to Mozambique's railways and Korea's sacred Baekdu-daegan mountain range, Samson explores how we mould the world around us. And how, as we etch our needs onto the natural landscape, we alter the course of history. An immense work of cultural geography touching on ecology, sociology, history and politics, Earth Shapers argues that, far from being constrained by geography, we are instead its creators.
£12.99
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We Have Ways of Making You Talk
'What is it that makes the history of the Second World War so compelling? Why are the Afflicted afflicted? With these chapters we hope to offer some idea of our approach to, and understanding of, the war, while never forgetting the tumult and terror that came with defeating tyranny. Maybe you will become Afflicted too' AL MURRAY'At the time of writing, we have recorded nearly one thousand episodes of the podcast. That's a lot and has taken us longer to chalk up than the duration of the war. Hopefully, this book will draw readers ever further into this utterly absorbing, endlessly fascinating subject that has so captivated both of us'JAMES HOLLAND From the most fascinating characters to the bloodiest battles and decisive turning points of the Second World War, We Have Ways of Making You Talk: New Histories of the Second World War brings the energy and insight of James Holland and Al Murray's chart-topping podcast to the page.From El Alamein to Barbarossa and from the war in China to the ruins of Stalingrad, this book draws on the latest pioneering academic research to rethink how the war was fought - and why it unfolded the way it did. This is the Second World War as you haven't read it before: vivid, forensic and alive with debate.Experience the darkest hours and narrow escapes of Dunkirk, the perilous Arctic convoys of the North Cape, the devastation of Hamburg and discover the one thing that genuinely terrified Winston Churchill. As with the podcast, the focus is on the overlooked, the misunderstood and the rarely told - the details that change how we understand the conflict as a whole.Composed from James and Al's detailed show notes, this is essential reading for anyone who thinks they know the Second World War - and for those who want to know it better.
£22.00
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The Ritual Year
Wassails and plough blessings, cheese rolling and well dressings, Bradford's Mela and the Notting Hill Carnival, summer hen races and festive sword-dancing... On any given week, somewhere in Britain, you will find people gathering - to mark a moment in the agricultural year, to commemorate an event in local history, to herald the beginning of a new season or bid farewell to the old. Some of these rituals have been passed down through the centuries; some are newer or recently revived; some have a deep connection to the British landscape or folklore, and some have been carried from other cultures and taken root here. In this revelatory and beautifully illustrated guide to a living tradition of rites and rituals, we journey through some of the gatherings that shape our year, challenge our understanding of the past, and give pattern and meaning to communities across Britain today.
£14.99
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Shadow Divers
A true adventure in which two amateur scuba divers risk everything to solve a great historical mystery - and make history themselvesTHE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER'This book is a work of art' RYAN HOLIDAY'A pulse-quickening real-life thriller' New York Times 'A memorable story, beautifully told' The TimesFor John Chatterton and Richie Kohler, deep wreck diving was more than a sport.But in 1991, not even these courageous divers were prepared for what they found 230 feet below the surface, in the frigid waters of the Atlantic: a Second World War German U-boat, its ruined interior a macabre wasteland of twisted metal, tangled wires and human bones.No identifying marks were visible. No historian, expert or government had a clue as to which U-boat the men had found, and the official records all agreed that there simply could not be a sunken U-boat and crew there.Over the next six years, an elite team of divers embarked on a quest of increasingly perilous diving and painstaking archival research to solve the mystery. Some of them would not live to see its end.Chatterton and Kohler, at first bitter rivals, would be drawn into a friendship that deepened to an almost mystical sense of brotherhood with each other and with the drowned U-boat sailors - former enemies of their country.Bestselling author Robert Kurson's account of this quest is thrilling, vivid and emotionally complex. It's a story of persistence, ingenuity and a shared obsession.
£10.99
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Turncoat
George Downing was one of the English Civil War's most cunning spies. As Oliver Cromwell's head of military intelligence, he forged a career as a politician and diplomat, bribing, blackmailing and browbeating his way to success, before spectacularly betraying his friends by defecting to the Royalist camp. Always close to the action, Downing walked with the most illustrious men of his times: Oliver Cromwell and Charles II were his patrons; Samuel Pepys was his clerk; William of Orange godfather to his son. And when he came to build his famous street, Downing Street, which became the home of Britain's prime ministers, his surveyor was Sir Christopher Wren. Downing helped start two major wars and had a hand in founding New York. Yet he has remained an elusive figure in history, as if hiding himself in footnotes. Turncoat tells the full story of Downing's espionage and double-dealing for the first time, following this mystery man from the asceticism of Puritan New England, across battlefields and through courts, chancelleries and parliaments, to the heart of wealth and power in Restoration London.
£14.99
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