18th Century

Winner of the Franco-British Society Book Prize 2019'The ultimate biography of the Sun King' Simon Sebag Montefiore Louis XIV dominated his age. He extended France's frontiers into Netherlands and Germany, and established colonies overseas. The...

The French Revolution was the "big bang" out of which all the elements of modern politics and social conflicts were formed. Democracy, populism, liberalism, conservatism, socialism, nationalism, feminism, abolitionism, and "enlightened" imperialism are...

Irish Artisans and Radical Politics, 1776-1820: Apprenticeship to Revolution is a comparative study of the political activities of workers in three Irish cities: Dublin, Belfast and Cork. It investigates how Ireland's journeymen and apprentices engaged...

The definitive history of how witchcraft and black magic have survived, through the modern era and into the present dayCursed Britain unveils the enduring power of witchcraft, curses and black magic in modern times. Few topics are so secretive or...

The lives and careers of Sir Charles Stewart and his brother Lord Castlereagh take in a grand stage, from Britain and Ireland to the kingdoms and empires of western and central Europe. Throughout his life Stewart played a key role in shaping Europe: his...

'Highly readable and deeply researched' - Andrew Roberts 'Masterful ... brilliantly brings to life one of the most complex characters of modern European history' - Sunday Telegraph'It is sure to be the standard English-language account for many years. It...

'Fascinating . . . Shot through with fresh insights . . . No previous biography has attempted anything so comprehensive.' ObserverNelson is a thrilling new appraisal of Horatio Nelson, the greatest practitioner of naval command the world has ever seen...

A major new assessment of the "vanished kingdom" of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth-one which recognizes its achievements before its destruction Richard Butterwick tells the compelling story of the last decades of one of Europe's largest and least...

John Whitehurst was one of a select number of men of science living and working in the eighteenth century whose minds were as remarkable for their breadth as their talents were for their diversity. Although remembered today mainly as a notable clockmaker...

The fascinating true story behind HBO's Catherine the Great starring Dame Helen Mirren as Catherine the Great. Born into a minor noble family, Catherine transformed herself into empress of Russia by sheer determination. For thirty-four years, the...

A portrait of Jane Austen's England told through the career paths of younger sons-men of good family but small fortune In Regency England the eldest son usually inherited almost everything while his younger brothers, left with little inheritance, had...

A fascinating life of Sir Joseph Banks which restores him to his proper place in history as a leading scientific figure of the English Enlightenment"An extensive, admiring account of his subject's circuitous route to fame and power."-Wall Street...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781911512899Author Jonathan OatesFormat HardbackPage Count 288Imprint Helion & CompanyPublisher Helion & Company

As 1794 opened, Revolutionary France stood on a knife's edge of failure. Its army and navy had been shaken by the revolution, with civil war and famine taking its toll on their resources. Seeking to bring a revitalizing supply of food from its Caribbean...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781912702336Author Stephen MullenFormat PaperbackPage Count 340Imprint Institute of Historical ResearchPublisher School of Advanced Study

An intimate new portrait of one of history's most controversial figures: heroic revolutionary or the first terrorist? For some historians and biographers, Maximilien Robespierre (1758-94) was a great revolutionary martyr who succeeded in leading the...

In The Enlightenment's Animals Nathaniel Wolloch takes a broad view of changing conceptions of animals in European culture during the long eighteenth century. Combining discussions of intellectual history, the history of science, the history of...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781909248786Author Marc MeltonvilleFormat PaperbackPage Count 256Imprint Prospect BooksPublisher Prospect Books

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781912174867Author Peter DennisFormat PaperbackPage Count 48Imprint Helion & CompanyPublisher Helion & Company

Cook led three famous expeditions to the Pacific Ocean between 1768 and 1779. In voyages that ranged from the Antarctic circle to the Arctic Sea, Cook charted Australia and the whole coast of New Zealand, and brought back detailed descriptions of the...

The principles of the French Revolution remain the only possible basis for a just society -- even if, after more than two hundred years, they are more contested than ever before. In A New World Begins, Jeremy D. Popkin offers a riveting account of the...

A sweeping history of the Age of Reason, which shows how, although it was a time of progress in many areas, it was also an era of brutality and intolerance, by the author of The Borgias and The Florentines.During the 1600s, between the end of the...

A Spectator and Prospect Book of the YearWinner of the American Library in Paris Book Award'Ceaselessly interesting, knowledgeable and evocative' - Spectator'A fresh way to write history' - Alan Johnson'An amused, erudite homage to France . . . ambitious...

Witches, ghosts, fairies. Premodern Europe was filled with strange creatures, with the devil lurking behind them all. But were his powers real? Did his powers have limits? Or were tales of the demonic all one grand illusion? Physicians, lawyers, and...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781913336479Author Eirik HornborgFormat PaperbackPage Count 284Imprint Helion & CompanyPublisher Helion & Company

In the natural course of events, humans fall sick and die. The history of medicine bristles with attempts to find new and miraculous remedies, to work with and against nature to restore humans to health and well-being. In this book, Londa Schiebinger...

A fascinating journey through the history of "Amazing Grace," one of the transatlantic world's most popular hymns and a powerful anthem for humanity.   Sung in moments of personal isolation or on state occasions watched by millions, "Amazing Grace" has...

This first-ever biography of William Beckford provides a unique look at eighteenth-century British history from the perspective of the colonies. Even in his own time, Beckford was seen as a metaphor for the dramatic changes occurring during this era. He...

The enthralling story of an eighteenth-century family and their extraordinary achievements.Four brothers, three sisters. Brought up in a Northumberland rectory and in the close of Durham Cathedral, the Sharps would achieve exalted positions at the heart...

THE SUNDAY TIMES ART BOOK OF THE YEAR A Sunday Times Best Paperback of 2022 Christie's Best Art Books of the Year 'Deft and richly detailed ... rescues the artist from John Bull caricature' - Michael Prodger, Sunday Times 'Marvellous ... a...

This is a blistering account of the battle of Cowpens, a short, sharp conflict which marked a crucial turning point in the American Revolution. With Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton and the British troops in hot pursuit, Daniel Morgan, leading a small force of...

How was Great Britain made? And what does it mean to be British? This brilliant and seminal book examines how a more cohesive British nation was invented after 1707 and how this new national identity was nurtured through war, religion, trade, and empire...

Georgian London evokes images of elegant buildings and fine art, but it was also a city where prostitution was rife, houses of ill repute widespread, and many tens of thousands of people dependent in some way or other on the wages of sin. The sex...

In 1774, the Spanish viceroy of Mexico sent Juan Bautista de Anza, captain of the Presidio at Tubac (in what is now Arizona), to lead two expeditions: the first to find a safe overland route to Monterey, and the second to return Anza to California with...

DISCOVER THE INDIGNITIES AND REALITIES OF SLAVERY FROM A CAPTIVATING FIRST-HAND NARRATIVE Olaudah Equiano's interesting narrative is an astonishing first-hand account of kidnapping, enslavement and eventual emancipation that has horrified and enlightened...

This Very Short Introduction provides a concise, accurate, and lively portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte's character and career, situating him firmly in historical context. David Bell emphasizes the astonishing sense of human possibility--for both good...

For more than two centuries, our political life has been divided between a party of progress and a party of conservation. In The Great Debate , Yuval Levin explores the origins of the left/right divide by examining the views of the men who best...

Shortlisted for the 2021 Highland Book Prize Explores the prominent role of Highland Scots in the slavery industry of the cotton, sugar and coffee plantations of the 18th and 19th centuries Scots were involved in every stage of the slave trade:...

How two men brought about the defeat of Louis XIV's previously unbeaten army and saved Europe from French domination - A Sunday Times BestsellerBy the summer of 1704 Louis XIV's vast armies dominated Europe. France defeated every alliance formed against...

The first global history of the epic early days of the iron railway Railways, in simple wooden or stone form, have existed since prehistory. But from the 1750s onward the introduction of iron rails led to a dramatic technological evolution-one that...