Historical

'Nominally a history of the hot air balloon, 'Falling Upwards' is really a history of hope and fantasy - and the quixotic characters who disobeyed that most fundamental laws of physics and gave humans flight' New Republic, Best Books of 2013 ...

The astonishing true story of a young woman's adventures, and misadventures, in the dangerous world of Nazi-occupied France.For Priscilla, pre-war Paris was an exciting carousel of suitors, soirees and heartbreak, and eventually a lavish wedding to a...

The astonishing true story of a young woman's adventures, and misadventures, in the dangerous world of Nazi-occupied France.For Priscilla, pre-war Paris was an exciting carousel of suitors, soirees and heartbreak, and eventually a lavish wedding to a...

I want to live, not be a witness of my life. Beautiful. Cultured. Refined. Enviable. Admirable. Adored. Journalist. Philanthropist. Publisher. Jackie Kennedy was many things - amongst them, she was and remains the most iconic First Lady the United...

'Machiavellian' can signify duplicity and amorality in politics, but Machiavelli himself is far more complex than this cliche. A high-ranking Florentine government official and prolific writer of hugely influential political, military and historical...

Margery Kempe. Aemilia Lanyer. Aphra Behn. Lady Mary. Jane Austen. Warned not to write - and certainly not to bite - these women put pen to paper anyway and wrote themselves into history. 'Smart, funny and highly readable... a tour de force.' A.L...

On 24 April 1916, as President of the Provisional Government, Patrick Pearse appeared under the GPO Grand Portico on Dublin's O'Connell Street and read aloud the Proclamation of the Irish Republic. Nine days later, he was the first of the rebel leaders...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9780684838830Author Garry WillsFormat PaperbackPage Count 392Imprint Simon & SchusterPublisher Simon & SchusterWeight(grams) 497gDimensions(mm) 216mm * 140mm...

Empress of Rome is the fascinating biography of one of the most perplexing and powerful figures of the ancient world: the empress Livia. Second wife of the emperor Augustus and the mother of his successor Tiberius, Livia has been vilified by posterity...

Through his foreign conquests and internal reforms, Charlemagne is a defining figure of both Western Europe and the Middle Ages. Crowned king of the Franks in 768, he expanded their kingdoms into an empire that incorporated much of western and central...

As the longest serving royal consort in British history (1921-2021), this fully-illustrated guide celebrates Prince Philip's remarkable contribution to the monarchy. A strong character full of vigour and verve, he found himself married to the most...

The modem American economy was the creation of four men: Andrew Camegie, John D. Rockefeller, Jay Gould, and J. P. Morgan. They were the giants of the Gilded Age, a moment of riotous growth that established America as the richest, most inventive, and...

In the Clearances of the 19th century, crofts - once the mainstay of Highland life in Scotland - were swept away as the land was put over to sheep grazing. Many of the people of the Highlands and islands of Scotland were forced from their homes by...

'A marvellous romp' The Times'The clash of blades, the whizzing bullets and galloping hooves guarantee nonstop adventure' Literary ReviewIn May 1671, Colonel Blood became the only person ever to steal the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London. How did he...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9780547247816Author Christopher HibbertFormat PaperbackPage Count 336Imprint Houghton MifflinPublisher Cengage Learning, IncWeight(grams) 313gDimensions(mm)...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781451673296Author S C GwynneFormat PaperbackPage Count 688Imprint Simon & SchusterPublisher Simon & Schuster

This fascinating book studies the life and times of Mary Tudor and Charles Brandon, Henry VIII's dearest sister and his closest companion. Charles rose from being Henry's childhood friend to becoming the Duke of Suffolk; a consummate courtier and...

In 1908 Ellen Wilkinson, a fiery adolescent from a working-class family in Manchester, was "the only girl who talks in school debates." By midcentury, Wilkinson had helped found Britain's Communist Party, earned a seat in Parliament, and become a...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.AwardsWinner of National Book Awards and Pulitzer Prize.Book InformationISBN 9780394720951Author Robert A. CaroFormat PaperbackPage Count 1232Imprint Vintage BooksPublisher...

A compelling new portrait of Marcus Brutus delves behind the ancient evidence to set aside the myths that surround the ancient world's most famous assassin"Kathryn Tempest leads us into the complexities and contradictions in the life and legacy of...

Richard Burton was a brilliant, charismatic man - a unique blend of erudite scholar and daring adventurer. Fluent in twenty-nine languages, he found it easy to pass himself off as a native, thereby gaining unique insight into societies otherwise closed...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781761108174Author Kate FullagarFormat HardbackPage Count 320Imprint Scribner AustraliaPublisher Simon & Schuster Australia

In the winter of 1849, Florence Nightingale was an unknown 29-year-old - beautiful, well-born and deeply unhappy. After clashing with her parents over her refusal to marry, she had been offered a lifeline by family friends who suggested a trip to Egypt,...

"In a very real sense, Ruairi O Bradaigh can . . . be said to be the last, or one of the last Irish Republicans. Studies of the Provisional movement to date have invariably focused more on the Northerners and the role of people like Gerry Adams and...

The youngest of William the Conqueror's sons, Henry I (1100-35) was never meant to be king, but he was destined to become one of the greatest of all medieval monarchs, both through his own ruthlessness and intelligence and through the dynastic legacy of...

Oleg Kalugin oversaw the work of American spies, matched wits with the CIA, and became one of the youngest generals in KGB history. Even so, he grew increasingly disillusioned with the Soviet system. In 1990, he went public, exposing the intelligence...

A remarkable figure of British politics between the late Victorian and interwar years, Lord Lansdowne was among the last hereditary aristocrats to wield power by birth. Over the course of a distinguished fifty year career he served as Governor-General of...

In a startling reinterpretation of the evidence, Stillman Drake advances the hypothesis that Galileo's trial and condemnation by the Inquisition was caused not by his defiance of the Church, but by the hostility of contemporary philosophers. Galileo's...

Personal letters and diaries provide an intimate view into the hearts and minds of a brother and sister who became martyrs in the anti-Nazi resistance during World War II.Idealistic, serious, and sensible, Hans and Sophie Scholl joined the Hitler Youth...

From bestselling and prize-winning author Paddy Ashdown, a revelatory new history of German opposition to Hitler. 'Ashdown has a great gift for narrative history. He unearths little known stories and...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9780624075738Author Anemari JansenFormat PaperbackPage Count 368Imprint Tafelberg Publishers LtdPublisher Tafelberg Publishers LtdWeight(grams) 500g

'Brilliant' Financial Times 'Hollis expertly weaves together the human tragedy and high politics behind the explosion of one of the world's greatest cities' Dan Snow The reclaimed history of a woman whose tragic life tells a story of madness,...

A rich portrait of Frederick Barbarossa, the medieval monarch who ruled Germany in cooperation with the princes and whose legend inspired Hitler to label his invasion of the Soviet Union "Operation Barbarossa""Freed has done so much to illuminate the ins...

General Sir Richard Dannatt's distinguished career in the army has spanned thirty-eight years and seen him serve in many different theatres of conflict, from Northern Ireland (where he was awarded the Military Cross) to Bosnia and Kosovo, Iraq and...

General Sir Richard Dannatt's distinguished career in the army has spanned thirty-eight years and seen him serve in many different theatres of conflict, from Northern Ireland (where he was awarded the Military Cross) to Bosnia and Kosovo, Iraq and...

The latest definitive biography in the acclaimed Yale English Monarchs series Edward II (1284-1327), King of England, Lord of Ireland, and Duke of Aquitaine, was the object of ignominy during his lifetime and calumny since it. Conventionally viewed as...

As Tudors go, Elizabeth of York is relatively unknown. Yet she was the mother of the dynasty, with her children becoming King of England (Henry VIII) and Queens of Scotland (Margaret) and France (Mary Rose) and her direct descendants included three Tudor...

A gripping biography by the author of Brave New WorldThe life of Father Joseph, Cardinal Richelieu's aide, was a shocking paradox. After spending his days directing operations on the battlefield, Father Joseph would pass the night in prayer, or in...

Xi Jinping wants to become the world's most powerful leader. To succeed, he must balance Mao's Little Red Book with the Analects of Confucius, and more. For Xi, the task ahead of China is to preserve the guiding ideology of Marxism, while challenging...

This compelling account of Henry VIII is by no means yet another history of the 'old monster' and his reign. The 'monster' displayed here is, at the very least, a newer type, more beset by anxieties and insecurities, and more tightly surrounded by those...