History

Roaming Midsomer is the perfect follow-up to the successful Exploring Midsomer, which enticed lovers of Midsomer Murders and rural England to go and enjoy the beautiful 'Midsomer' for themselves. This compilation of interesting and pleasant walks offers...

'He seems to have laboured under an almost child-like misapprehension about the size of his world. Had greatness not been thrust upon him, he might have lived a life of great harmlessness'The reign of Edward II was a succession of disasters. Inept in...

Witchcraft: The Basics is an accessible and engaging introduction to the scholarly study of witchcraft, exploring the phenomenon of witchcraft from its earliest definitions in the Middle Ages through to its resonances in the modern world. Through the use...

The Romans left a long-lasting legacy and their influence can still be seen all around us - from our calendar and coins, to our language and laws - but how much do we really know about them? Help is at hand in the form of Veni, Vidi, Vici, which tells...

A book of surpassing importance that should be required reading for leaders and policymakers throughout the world For thirty years Ben Kiernan has been deeply involved in the study of genocide and crimes against humanity. He has played a key role in...

In a sweeping narrative that traverses 600 years, one that eloquently weaves precise historical detail with poignant personal reportage, Pulitzer Prize finalist Howard W. French retells the story of medieval and emerging Africa, demonstrating how the...

Nicky Haslam has always been at the centre of things wherever he is - at parties, opening nights, royal weddings - and has stories to tell of crossing paths, and more, with the cultural icons of our time: Cecil Beaton, Francis Bacon, Diana Cooper, Lucian...

Scrooby, Potters Bar, Stansted Mountfitchet, Melbury Bubb, White Ladies Aston, Lugwardine. Every name, like every word, has an origin. But how many of us really know how our towns, cities and villages got their names? In this easy-to-understand...

Bangladesh did not exist as an independent state until 1971. Willem van Schendel's state-of-the-art history navigates the extraordinary twists and turns that created modern Bangladesh through ecological disaster, colonialism, partition, a war of...

'I wish you a Merry Xmas but no compliments of the season' - Jane AustenChristmas comes up time and time again in Jane Austen's books, from childish chaos in Persuasion to fraught festivities in Northanger Abbey. Join Christmas historian Maria Hubert on...

When Britain's empire went to war in August 1914, rugby players were the first to volunteer: they led from the front and paid a disproportionate price. When the Armistice came after four long years, their war game was over; even as the last echo of the...

The second book in V. S. Naipaul's acclaimed Indian trilogy. In 1964 V. S. Naipaul published An Area of Darkness, his semi-autobiographical account of a year in India. Two visits later, prompted by the Emergency of 1975, he came to write India: A Wounded...

As the outbreak of World War II approached, Nazi Germany ordered artillery manufacturers Krupp and Rheimetall-Borsig to build several super-heavy siege guns, vital to smash through French and Belgian fortresses that stood in the way of the Blitzkrieg...

Iran has rarely been out of the headlines. Yet media interest and extensive coverage has tended to hinder rather than help our understanding of Iran as an idea, an identity, and a people, leading to a superficial understanding of what is a complex and...

A TIMES HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEAR From the preeminent historian of 20th century Spain Paul Preston, Architects of Terror is a new history of how paranoia, conspiracy and anti-Semitism was used to justify the military coup of 1936 and enabled the...

The inside story, told by the archaeological detectives themselves, of the extraordinary discovery of the world's oldest papyri - revealing how King Khufu's men built the Great Pyramid at Giza. Pierre Tallet's discovery of the Red Sea Scrolls - the...

From rag-gatherers to royalty, from fish knives to Freemasons: everyday life in Victorian London.Like its acclaimed companion volumes, Elizabeth's London, Restoration London and Dr Johnson's London, this book is the product of the author's passionate...

Most of the women who ever lived left no trace of their existence on the record of history. Sixteenth- and seventeenth-century women of the middling and lower levels of society left no letters or diaries in which they expressed what they felt or thought...

A beautifully illustrated book that explores William Blake's relationship with Europe against a backdrop of political turmoil. Responding to revolution and war in Europe, enslavement and exploitation in European colonies, and repression and reaction...

A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK'An exquisite book, beautifully put together... What a very wonderful book.' STEPHEN FRY'Forty-thousand years of our relationship with time condensed into 288 pages: a hugely entertaining achievement.' ESQUIRE'5/5 A true joy...

SHORTLISTED FOR THE HISTORICAL WRITERS' ASSOCIATION CROWN AWARDS 2022 'Compelling and often horrifying' THE TIMES Best Paperbacks of 2022 The epic, moving stories of Britain's search to recover, identify and honour the missing soldiers of the First...

An illustrated history of how the Luftwaffe intended 'the Blitz' to knock Britain out of the war, emphasising the German point of view and detailing how Britain's defences and civilians responded. The Blitz - the German 'blitzkrieg' of Britain's...

For nearly two and a half years, from June 1940 until late 1942, Malta was subjected to one Axis air raid after another. The Mediterranean island was effectively beleaguered, reliant for defence on anti-aircraft guns and often-outnumbered fighter...

In Search of the Romans is a lively and informative introduction to ancient Rome. Making extensive use of ancient sources and copiously illustrated with photographs, drawings, maps and plans, now for the first time in colour, its opening two chapters...

Oleg Gordievsky was the highest ranking KGB officer ever to work for Britain.For eleven years, from 1974 to 1985, he acted as a secret agent, reporting to the British Secret Intelligence Service while continuing to work as a KGB officer, first in...

When a merchant in Exeter hears an intruder in his home one night, his first thought is to conceal his adulterous lover. But then he witnesses a sinister figure stooping over the bed of his only child, a figure who seems to vanish into thin air.Two years...

"Wondrous . . . Compelling . . . Piercing." -The New York Times Book Review Award-winning writer Matti Friedman's tale of Israel's first spies has all the tropes of an espionage novel, including duplicity, betrayal, disguise, clandestine meetings, the...

In her own words, the life of the beautiful young model and dancer who helped to bring down the Tory government of Harold Macmillan - the 'Profumo Affair' remains the greatest political sex scandal in recent British history.Following Christine Keeler's...

Delving into Brazil's baroque past, Peter Robb writes about its history of slavery and the richly multicultural but disturbed society that was left in its wake when the practice was abolished in the late nineteenth century. Even today, Brazil is a nation...

Aged nineteen, Alison McKelvie was a self-confessed romantic, immersed in books and poetry, and dreaming of beauty, truth and love. In 1940, whilst working as a secretary at MI6, Alison met Alexander Wilson. Thirty years her senior, Alexander was worldly...

An epic account of how a new world order under Tamerlane was born out of the decline of the Mongol Empire "A masterwork."-William Dalrymple, Financial Times "A landmark publication."-Noel Malcom, The Telegraph By the mid-fourteenth century, the...

A fascinating history of an ancient place. From its first mention in legend in the Book of Invasions, through early Christian monastic settlements, castles and grand residences, Fenian raids and the Battle of Tallaght, there has been huge change in...

During the German May 1940 offensive, the 51st (Highland) Division, including the 1st and 5th Battalions Gordon Highlanders, became separated from the British Expeditionary Force. After a heroic stand at St Valery-en-Caux the Division surrendered when...

This highly original, extremely enjoyable book tells the story of Britain's extraordinary scramble to world power in the 18th century and how, through hubris and incompetence, it lost almost everything it had gained. Whilst Britain was an important...

From the cassoulet that won a war to the crepe that doomed Napoleon, from the rebellions sparked by bread and salt to the new cuisines forged by empire, the history of France is intimately entwined with its gastronomic pursuits. A witty exploration of...

A penetrating study of the German army's military campaigns, relations with the Nazi regime, and complicity in Nazi crimes across occupied Europe For decades after 1945, it was generally believed that the German army, professional and morally decent, had...

'A delightful compendium of the kind of facts you immediately want to share with anyone you encounter' New York Times 'An ebullient, irrepressible spirit invests this book. It is erudite and...

The Blitz of 1940-41 is one of the most iconic periods in modern British history - and one of the most misunderstood. The 'Blitz spirit' is celebrated by some, whereas others dismiss it as a myth. Joshua Levine's thrilling biography rejects the tired...

BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week 'It was time for a vivid, popular history of the Cold War, and this is it' The Times 'Essential ... endlessly fascinating ... to read Sixsmith is to want to read more Sixsmith' Forbes More than any other conflict,...

Everyone loves a good ghost story and the city of Sheffield seems to have plenty of them. The tales contained in this book are told by the Steel City Tours ghost walkers themselves, Mr and Mrs P. Dreadful, collected over the years and now brought...