History

A wildly vivid and entertaining chronicle of America's manned space program, from the author of The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test `What is it' asks Tom Wolfe, `that makes a man willing to sit on top of an enormous Roman Candle...and wait for someone to...

"A model of popular-science writing" STEVEN POOLEWho was "the first speaker" and what was their first message?An erudite, tightly woven and beautifully written account of one of humanity's greatest mysteries - the origins of language.Drawing on evidence...

Blood is thicker than water...It's a rainy day on Champion Street as Harriet attends the funeral of her beloved father. But then her grandmother drops a bombshell on her out of nowhere and she can hardly take in the words for shock and grief.Joyce, the...

At the terrible heart of the modern age lies Auschwitz. In a total inversion of earlier hopes about the use of science and technology to improve, extend and protect human life, Auschwitz manipulated the same systems to quite different ends. In Sybille...

In 1913 an ambitious young businessman named William Morris converted a derelict military college on the outskirts of Oxford into an assembly hall for motor vehicles. He thus opened the first chapter in one of the most extraordinary success stories of...

Seneca's Oedipus is a work of exceptional historical and dramatic interest. It is the only surviving ancient Roman play on one of the most important and enduring myths of European intellectual history. It is poetically experimental, intellectually...

Over a period of several centuries, Europeans developed an intricate system of plantation agriculture overseas which was quite different from the agricultural system used at home. Though the plantation complex centered on the American tropics, its...

Motorsport has many iconic names attached to it. It has many that are celebrated as heroes in their chosen sport. However, what perhaps is less well known is how many of the motorsport icons of the twentieth century carried out acts of real-life bravery,...

It should have been the start of a brand new life in Liverpool...Patricia, Tara and Aideen couldn't be more excited about leaving Dublin with their father and heading for a new life in Liverpool. Yet it soon becomes clear that all is not as it seems...

A gripping account of the life and fate of the woman who almost assassinated Benito Mussolini. 7 April 1926: on the steps of the Capitol in Rome, surrounded by chanting Fascists, The Honourable Violet Gibson raises her old revolver and fires at the...

In l750, half the population were unable to sign their names; by l9l4 England, together with a handful of advanced Western countries, had for the first time in history achieved a nominally literate society. This book seeks to understand how and why...

The world's largest democracy and second-most populous country, 21st century India is a dynamic nation with a thrusting economy, made up of a variety of beliefs and peoples united under one flag. Its history is a unique story of ancient empires and...

'Ruth is the queen of living history - long may she reign.'Lucy WorsleyA large black cast iron range glowing hot, the kettle steaming on top, provider of everything from bath water and clean socks to morning tea: it's a nostalgic icon of a Victorian way...

A remarkable and eccentric insight into the south east of England in the pre-war period. Richard Wyndham's 'last look round' was a tour taken immediately before the Second World War in 1939 and was originally published in the following year as...

When do you think the Second World War ended?If the end of the war was supposed to have brought 'freedom' to countries that suffered under Nazi occupation, then for millions it did not really end until the fall of Communism. In the summer of 1945 many of...

In the international bestseller Roma, Steven Saylor told the story of the first thousand years of Rome by following the descendants of a single bloodline. Now, in Empire, Saylor charts the destinies of five more generations of the Pinarius family, from...

"The most fascinating and wonderful book" JAN MORRIS"A restrained, lyrical tour de force" OWEN SHEERSIn the early years of the last century, Rebecca is born into a rural community in the Maesglasau valley in Wales; her family have been working the land...

Written by eleven contributors of international standing, this book offers a readable and authoritative account of Europe's turbulent history from the French Revolution in the late eighteenth century to the present day. Each chapter portrays both change...

'Victorians Undone is the most original history book I have read in a long while' Daily Mail A SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR * AN OBSERVER BOOK OF THE YEAR A groundbreaking account of what it...

'An epic tale . . . told relentlessly well. If you want to read a serious account of the price of Zionism, and a sobering review of Israel's new role as conqueror and occupier, then Hirst is your man.' Christopher HitchensA myth-breaking general history...

In an area where in-depth studies of Hitler's relations with Nazi Germany's allies, and the failure of Nazi Germany to make more effective use of them during the war, are scant, this is a survey that looks at the Soviet Union, Japan, France, Italy,...

In 1831, at only 22 years old, Darwin was offered the position of Naturalist on HMS Beagle's world voyage. He was set to become a clergyman but returns after five years at sea an inspired genius. This book follows the journey of HMS Beagle, showing life...

A Waterstones Travel Book of the Year 2023 A funny, warm and timely meditation on identity and belonging, following the scenic route along the England-Wales border: Britain's deepest faultline. There is a...

'Brilliant interweaving of personal experience, imaginative musing and political clarity' Kate Mosse Virginia Woolf exposes the prejudices and constraints against which women writers struggled for centuries, and argues for a more equal literary ...

The date is the 6 June 1944. The paratroopers on board the aircraft are crammed together, joking and singing over the drone of the engines, none of them dwelling on the gnawing fear in their guts. They reach the French coastline, and everyone goes quiet...

BOOK OF THE YEAR, The Times, Guardian and Prospect'Fascinating and instructive... his decency and pragmatism shine through.' The Times'Candid, valuable and insightful.' ObserverSince the EU referendum of 2016, British politics has witnessed a barrage of...

On February 1, 1960, four African American college students entered the Woolworth department store in Greensboro, North Carolina, and sat down at the lunch counter. This lunch counter, like most in the American South, refused to serve black customers...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9780399590870Author Rachel L. SwarnsFormat PaperbackPage Count 352Imprint Random House IncPublisher Random House USA Inc

This epic work-named a best book of the year by the Washington Post, Time, the Los Angeles Times, Amazon, the San Francisco Chronicle, and a notable book by the New York Times-tells the story of the Hemingses, whose close blood ties to our third...

Defining 'magic' is a maddening task. Over the last century numerous philosophers, anthropologists, historians, and theologians have attempted to pin down its essential meaning, sometimes analysing it in such complex and abstruse depth that it all but...

A Century of Stockton-on-Tees offers an insight into the daily lives and living conditions of local people and gives the reader glimpses and details of familiar places during a century of unprecedented change. Many aspects of Stockton-on-Tees' recent...

A bold new account of the state of globalization today-and what its collapse might mean for the world economy After the Cold War, globalization accelerated at breakneck speed. Manufacturing, transport, and consumption defied national borders, companies...

'This right which I claim for myself and for all those like me is the right to choose the person whom I love' Peter WildebloodIn March 1954 Peter Wildeblood, a London journalist, was one of five men charged with homosexual acts in the notorious Montagu...

Abraham Lincoln endowed the American language with a vigor and moral energy that has all but disappeared from today's public rhetoric. Lincoln's writings are testaments of our history, windows into his enigmatic personality, and resonant examples of the...

Intelligent, ambitious and a rising star in the French artillery, Captain Alfred Dreyfus appeared to have everything: family, money, and the prospect of a post on the General Staff. But his rapid rise had also made him enemies - many of them aristocratic...

Over 16 million copies sold worldwide 'Every human being should read this book' Simon Sinek One of the outstanding classics to emerge from the Holocaust, Man's Search for Meaning is Viktor Frankl's story of his struggle for survival in Auschwitz and...

'An absolute belter of a biography' MARINA HYDE A Times Literary Non-Fiction Book of the Year 2022 An LA Times Best Book of the Year 2022 An...

The harrowing, and inspiring, story of the capture of one of Britain's top SOE agents in World War Two, his refusal to crack under the most horrific torture, and his final imprisonment in a concentration camp.'The White Rabbit' was the code name of Wing...

'Ground-breaking ... One of the greatest international bestsellers of the post-war period' Andrew Roberts, Daily Telegraph'Reads like an engrossing novel' Sunday TimesAn infant queen. A teenage widow. Beautiful, flamboyant Mary Queen of Scots had a...

"A compelling slice of mid-century espionage that expertly blends history with possibility. All comparisons that will inevitably be made with le Carre are entirely apt" Tim Glister'Edward Wilson seems poised to inherit the mantle of John le Carre' Irish...