History

Paris Review contributor Katy Kelleher explores our obsession with gorgeous things, unveiling the fraught histories of makeup, flowers, perfume, silk, and other beautiful objects. April recommended reading by the New York Times Book Review, Vanity Fair,...

The story of the most famous revolt of the ancient world, and its legendary leader, Spartacus the Gladiator.Spartacus was a Thracian gladiator who started a prison breakout with 74 men, armed with kitchen knives. It grew into a full scale rebellion...

The extraordinary true story of the Stasi's poetry club: Stasiland and The Lives of Others crossed with Dead Poets Society.'Engrossing.' Observer'Remarkable.' The Times'Magnificent.' Phillipe Sands'Gripping.' Literary Review'A history so outlandish and...

A fascinating slice of social history - Jennifer Worth's tales of being a midwife in 1950s London, now a major BBC TV series.Jennifer Worth came from a sheltered background when she became a midwife in the Docklands in the 1950s. The conditions in which...

Sunday Times Number One bestselling author Deborah Harkness returns to the spellbinding world she created in A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES with an unconventional love story. From human to vampire...Marcus Whitmore was made a vampire in the eighteenth century...

Israel's pulverization of Gaza since October 7, 2023 is not only a humanitarian crisis, but an environmental catastrophe. Far from the first event of its kind, the devastation Israel has inflicted on Palestine since October 2023 has merely ushered in a...

'It's rare for a book to make you see the world differently, but this ... does exactly that on almost every page' Guardian Standard histories of technology give tired accounts of the usual inventions, inventors, and dates, framing technology as the...

A rip-roaring Roman adventure from the acclaimed author of Princess BMX, Marie Basting! 'Perfect funny escapism with added Roman mythology ... Charming and mischievous!' LOUIE STOWELL, author of LOKI 'Full of fun...

A complete guide to the British Way of Life. If you're British, you'll love it. If you're not, you'll recognise it._______Born in Hungary, George Mikes spent more than forty years in the Britain observing behaviours and misbehaviours of local and foreign...

'The finest book ever written about England and the English' Stuart Maconie 'J. B. Priestley is one of our literary icons of the 20th Century and it is time that we all became re-acquainted with his...

A masterful history of the great dynasty of the Netherlands' Middle Ages. 'A sumptuous feast of a book' The Times, Books of the Year 'Thrillingly colourful and entertaining' Sunday Times 'A thrilling narrative of the brutal dazzlingly rich...

For most of western history, all sex outside marriage was illegal, with the church and state punishing any dissent. Between 1600 and 1800, this entire world-view was shattered by revolutionary new ideas - that consenting adults have the freedom to do...

A 2022 BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR: Sunday Times * Irish Times * Spectator * Financial Times * Telegraph * Aspects of History 'The history book you need if you want to understand modern Russia' ANNE APPLEBAUM 'A magnificent, magisterial thousand year...

From master storyteller Andy McNab, this is the opening book in an adventure-filled and action-packed new series telling, for the first time ever, the true stories of Special Forces missions. 'McNab's first major non-autobiographical work of non-fiction ...

'This is history bursting at the seams with English eccentrics and Indian gentry...the charm of Tunzelmann's approach is to restore her cast to full and vital life' Observer'A compelling narrative, sometimes controversial, occasionally perverse, never...

Gateway to the Moon presents the definitive history of the origins, design, and construction of the lunar launch facilities at Kennedy Space Center, the terrestrial site of one of the greatest national adventures of the 20th century, humanity's first...

Lady Jane Grey, is one of the most elusive and tragic characters in English history. In July 1553 the death of the childless Edward VI threw the Tudor dynasty into crisis. On Edward's instructions his cousin Jane Grey was proclaimed queen, only to be...

For centuries, battleships provided overwhelming firepower at sea. They were not only a major instrument of warfare, but a visible emblem of a nation's power, wealth and pride. The rise of the aircraft carrier following the Japanese aerial strike on...

1914-1918, David Stevenson's history of the First World War, has been acclaimed as the definitive one-volume account of the conflictIn the summer of 1914 Europe exploded into a frenzy of mass violence. The war that followed had global repercussions,...

The appeal of the Beatles is everlasting. Millions of fans from all over the world continue to revel in the band's eternal hits and their music stands out as one of Britain's greatest cultural successes. This book takes the reader on a journey to the Fab...

Arguably the greatest of all published memoirs of the Great War, Old Soldiers Never Die is Private Frank Richards' classic account of the war from the standpoint of the regular soldier, and a moving tribute to the army that died on the Western Front in...

London's Underground is associated with a multitude of ghostly stories and sightings, particular stations and abandoned lines, many of which are in close proximity to burial sites from centuries ago. This chilling book reveals well-known and hitherto...

Adrian Carton de Wiart's autobiography is one of the most remarkable of military memoirs. He was the son of a Belgian barrister, Leon Constant Ghislain Carton de Wiart (1854-1915). He, himself, was intended for the law, but abandoned his studies at...

This book presents a history of the Umayyad Empire, the only period in which an Arabian ruling elite and its tribal armies ruled a world empire. Marsham presents a number of arguments which, taken together, offer a new perspective on the Umayyads.Book...

When John F. Kennedy was shot, millions were left to wonder how America, and the world, would have been different had he lived to fulfill the enormous promise of his presidency. For many historians and political observers, what Kennedy would and would...

An invigorating journey through Britain's prehistoric landscape, and an insight into the lives of its inhabitants. 'Highly compelling' Spectator, Books of the Year 'An evocative foray into the prehistoric past' BBC Countryfile Magazine 'Vividly...

The history of a bewilderingly exotic city, rarely written about: five hundred years of clashing cultures and peoples, from the glories of Suleiman the Magnificent to its nadir under Nazi occupation. Salonica is the point where the wonders and...

Shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize, Cundill History Prize, Fage and Oliver Prize, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the Pius Adesanmi Memorial Award Winner of the Historical Writers' Association Non-Fiction Crown 2020Winner of the American...

ENTER THE BATTLEFIELDS OF ANCIENT GREECE WITH THE EPIC BESTSELLER FROM MASTER STORYTELLER CONN IGGULDEN'Pacy and propulsive . . . Crackling with energy, violence and stirring speeches' DAILY MAIL'Iggulden draws the Greek world convincingly and he is...

Few states in the modern world have had a less promising birth than Jordan. When in 1921 the Hashemite Emir Abdallah was recognized as the ruler of this romantic backwater of the former Ottoman Empire, it was sparsely populated, extremely poor, and...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9780795300295Author William L. ShirerFormat PaperbackPage Count 384Imprint Rosetta BooksPublisher Rosetta BooksDimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 25mm

The Smell of Summer Grass is the story of the years spent in finding and building a personal idyll, sometimes a dream, sometimes a nightmare, by writer Adam Nicolson and his wife, cook and gardener, Sarah Raven. Without knowing one end of a...

The ideal travel companion, full of insider advice on what to see and do, plus detailed itineraries and comprehensive maps for exploring these historic countries.Appreciate the architectural splendour of Brussels, wander through picture-postcard Bruges,...

From Dr Annie Gray, presenter of BBC2's Victorian Bakers What does it mean to eat like a queen? Elizabeth gorged on sugar, Mary on chocolate and Anne was known as 'Brandy Nan'. Victoria ate all of this and more. The Greedy Queen celebrates Victoria's...

AN OBSERVER BOOK OF THE YEAR 'A peerless intellectual biography. The Glass Universe shines and twinkles as brightly as the stars themselves' The Economist #1 New York Times...

A celebration of Ukraine's rich cultural heritage, drawing on over 100 of the country's most important works of art and architectural monuments from prehistory to the present. Showcasing more than one hundred objects and buildings - from Byzantine icons...

The five Tudor monarchs - Henry VII, Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I - were some of the most influential rulers in British history. This volume explores all aspects of life in the Tudor age, from life at court (and at the grand country...

Women's role in crusades and crusading examined through a close investigation of the narratives in which they appear. Narratives of crusading have often been overlooked as a source for the history of women because of their focus on martial events, and...

The British government's top secret Code & Cypher School at Bletchley Park, otherwise known as Station X, was the unlikely setting for one of the most vital undercover operations of the Second World War. It was at Bletchley in present-day Milton Keynes...

Enter The Madman's Gallery - the perfect gift book for any art lover. Discover an eccentric exploration through the curious history of art, to find the strangest paintings, sculptures, drawings and other artistic oddities ever made. From the author of...