European history Books

Book SynopsisThe Falklands War, which may prove to be the last ‘colonial’ war that Britain ever fights, took place in 1982. Fought 8,000 miles from home soil, it cost the lives of 255 British military personnel, with many more wounded, some seriously. The war also witnessed many acts of outstanding courage by the UK Armed Forces after a strong Task Force was sent to regain the islands from the Argentine invaders. Soldiers, sailors and airmen risked, and in some cases gave, their lives for the freedom of 1,820 islanders. Lord Ashcroft, who has been fascinated by bravery since he was a young boy, has amassed several medal collections over the past four decades, including the world’s largest collection of Victoria Crosses, Britain and the Commonwealth’s most prestigious gallantry award. Falklands War Heroes tells the stories behind his collection of valour and service medals awarded for the Falklands War. The collection, almost certainly the largest of its kind in the world, spans all the major events of the war. This book, which contains nearly forty individual write-ups, has been written to mark the fortieth anniversary of the war. It is Lord Ashcroft’s attempt to champion the outstanding bravery of our Armed Forces during an undeclared war that was fought and won over ten weeks in the most challenging conditions.

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Book SynopsisThis volume offers the fruits of Peter Meineck and Paul Woodruff''s dynamic collaboration on the plays of Sophocles'' Theban cycle, presenting the translators'' Oedipus Tyrannus (2000) along with Woodruff''s Antigone (2001) and a muscular new Oedipus at Colonus by Meineck. Grippingly readable, all three translations combine fidelity to the Greek with concision, clarity, and powerful, hard-edged speech. Each play features foot-of-the-page notes, stage directions, and line numbers to the Greek. Woodruff''s Introduction discusses the playwright, Athenian theatre and performance, the composition of the plays, and the plots and characters of each; it also offers thoughtful reflections on major critical interpretations of these plays.

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Book SynopsisAn update of a popular work that takes on the myths of the Spanish Conquest of the Americas, featuring a new afterword.Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest reveals how the Spanish invasions in the Americas have been conceived and presented, misrepresented and misunderstood, in the five centuries since Columbus first crossed the Atlantic. This book is a unique and provocative synthesis of ideas and themes that were for generations debated or perpetuated without question in academic and popular circles. The 2003 edition became the foundation stone of a scholarly turn since called The New Conquest History. Each of the book''s seven chapters describes one myth, or one aspect of the Conquest that has been distorted or misrepresented, examines its roots, and explodes its fallacies and misconceptions. Using a wide array of primary and secondary sources, written in a scholarly but readable style, Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest explains why Columbus did not set out to prove the world was round, the conquistadors were not soldiers, the native Americans did not take them for gods, Cortés did not have a unique vision of conquest procedure, and handfuls of vastly outnumbered Spaniards did not bring down great empires with stunning rapidity. Conquest realities were more complex--and far more fascinating--than conventional histories have related, and they featured a more diverse cast of protagonists-Spanish, Native American, and African. This updated edition of a key event in the history of the Americas critically examines the book''s arguments, how they have held up, and why they prompted the rise of a New Conquest History.Trade ReviewSeven Myths of the Spanish Conquest is an engaging and highly readable account of the history of the conquest of the Amerias. * Jennifer Jobb, Against the Current *A daring revisionist critique.... Restall's provocative analysis, wide-ranging scholarship and lucid prose make this a stimulating contribution to the debate on one of history's great watersheds. * Publishers Weekly *This is an important book. It should be read by all high school world history teachers, and by professors of the same....a powerful indictment of the myths that we all inadvertently rely on to explain a complex and distant period. It will undoubtedly stir up a discussion about the reality of these myths and what others might find in both popular and scholarly writing in this field, and others. * John F. Schwaller, American Historical Review *Rejecting the conventional hierarchy that placed 'subhuman' Indians below 'superhuman'' Europeans, Matthew Restall's re-examination of the Spanish conquest portrays a far more complex process in which Indians were central participants on both sides of the struggle. * The Economist *Matthew Restall has written a serious and important book, but one that is also delightful as it addresses issues about the Spanish conquest that have long intrigued scholars....It serves the needs of Latin Americanists who have not kept up with the latest literature on the subject, as well as the many scholars who address the conquest in their writings. * John E. Kicza, Renaissance Quarterly *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction: The Lost Words of Bernal Diaz Ch 1 A Handful of Adventurers: The Myth of Exceptional Men Ch 2 Neither Paid Nor Forced: The Myth of the King's Army Ch 3 Invisible Warriors: The Myth of the White Conquistador Ch 4 Under the Lordship of the King: The Myth of Completion Ch 5 The Lost Words of La Malinche: The Myth of (Mis)Communication Ch 6 The Indians Are Coming to an End: The Myth of Native Desolation Ch 7 Apes and Men: The Myth of Superiority Epilogue: Cuauhtemoc's Betrayal Afterword Permissions Notes References Index

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Book SynopsisAn unusually clear and comprehensive examination of transatlantic relations during the Nixon/Kissinger eraTrade Review“Early post-war America saw European unity as vital. Donald Trump saw it as a threat. So had Nixon and Kissinger. Klaus Larres analyzes the turning point of the 1970s with great authority, based on original documents and interviews, including with Kissinger himself. Uncertain Allies is essential reading for understanding the modern world.”—Vernon Bogdanor, author of Britain and Europe in a Troubled World“Klaus Larres deploys his fine skills as a writer and his foreign policy expertise to make an interesting case on the transatlantic relationship. Uncertain Allies is an engaging and thought-provoking read.”—Michael Clauss, German ambassador to the European Union“Klaus Larres’ engaging study tellingly documents how personal ambition and the search for uncontested control impacted Henry Kissinger’s relations with European allies during the economic and political crises of the 1970s.”—Charles S. Maier, Harvard University“The early 1970s represented a pivotal moment in U.S. ties with Europe. Klaus Larres tells this story in a fascinating and highly readable manner. Essential reading.”—Daniel S. Hamilton, Johns Hopkins University/Woodrow Wilson Center“Klaus Larres dissects the complexities and paradoxes in alliance politics that are generally concealed by Rose Garden speeches and the rhetoric of NATO summits. Policy makers and scholars will find much to ponder in this painstakingly researched account of a US giant, idealism put aside, behaving like a normal great power with interests and anxieties all its own.”—Bob Carr, former Australian Foreign Minister

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Book SynopsisA dedicated career soldier and excellent division and corps commander, Dominique Vandamme was a thorn in the side of practically every officer he served. In this first book-length study of Vandamme in English, John Gallaher traces the career of one of Napoleon's most successful midrank officers.

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Book SynopsisWhy have elephantsand our preconceptions about thembeen central to so much of human thought?From prehistoric cave drawings in Europe and ancient rock art in Africa and India to burning pyres of confiscated tusks, our thoughts about elephants tell a story of human history. In Elephant Trails, Nigel Rothfels argues that, over millennia, we have made elephants into both monsters and miracles as ways to understand them but also as ways to understand ourselves.Drawing on a broad range of sources, including municipal documents, zoo records, museum collections, and encounters with people who have lived with elephants, Rothfels seeks out the origins of our contemporary ideas about an animal that has been central to so much of human thought. He explains how notions that have been associated with elephants for centuriesthat they are exceptionally wise, deeply emotional, and have a special understanding of death; that they never forget, are beloved of the gods, and Trade Review[Rothfels] captures the ache and cruelty of colonization and enslavement; it is, at times, a gruesome read but a sobering one. This book will appeal to those fascinated by the mythology and legacy of elephants, as well as animal lovers who fight for the liberation of all living creatures.—Jen Cox, Scientific AmericanTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction. Blind Men's ElephantsChapter 1. First among MonstersChapter 2. Afraid of Mice Chapter 3. A Serpent for a HandChapter 4: The Most Friendly CreatureChapter 5: A Descendant of MastodonsChapter 6: The Last of Its KindChapter 7: Trails of HistoryNotesFor Further ReadingIndex

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Book SynopsisShortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize 2018 A Book of the Year for the Evening Standard and the Observer A black porter publicly whips a white Englishman in the hall of a Gloucestershire manor house. A Moroccan woman is baptised in a London church. Henry VIII dispatches a Mauritanian diver to salvage lost treasures from the Mary Rose. From long-forgotten records emerge the remarkable stories of Africans who lived free in Tudor England… They were present at some of the defining moments of the age. They were christened, married and buried by the Church. They were paid wages like any other Tudors. The untold stories of the Black Tudors, dazzlingly brought to life by Kaufmann, will transform how we see this most intriguing period of history.Trade Review‘That rare thing: a book about the 16th century that said something new.’ * Evening Standard, Books of the Year *‘This is history on the cutting edge of archival research, but accessibly written and alive with human details and warmth. Black Tudors is a critical book that allows us to better understand an era that fascinates us like no other.’ -- David Olusoga, author of Black and British: A Forgotten History‘Splendid…that rare thing – a work of history about the Tudors that actually says something fresh and new…a cracking contribution to the field.’ * Dan Jones, Sunday Times *‘This is history on the cutting edge of archival research, but accessibly written and alive with human details and warmth. Black Tudors is a critical book that allows us to better understand an era that fascinates us like no other.’ -- David Olusoga, author of Black and British: A Forgotten History‘Enlightening and constantly surprising… Far too many popular studies of the Tudors return the same faces. To its great credit, Black Tudors presents fresh figures and challenges the way we look at them.’ * Jessie Childs, Financial Times *‘Consistently fascinating, historically invaluable…the narrative is pacy, the research sympathetically thorough.. Anyone reading it will never look at Tudor England in the same light again'. * Daily Mail *‘[The] audience will find itself in the hands of a historian of excellent investigative skills, who shows attention to detail, uses evidence with appropriate caution, and has the sensibility of a scholar.’ * Times Literary Supplement *‘The industry and skill with which Miranda Kaufmann has hunted for these sources and teased out their meanings are exemplary… Kaufmann’s greatest skill is her ability to fill in the background on every topic that arises, from piracy to silk-weaving to brothels to Anglo-Moroccan diplomacy…In the hands of a lesser writer this would be mere padding with secondary material, but she investigates every subject in the same depth… a fascinating book, which brings a sadly neglected part of our history to life, and grinds no ideological axes in the process’. * Daily Telegraph *‘Both an eye-opener and a good read.’ * Sorted *‘Miranda Kaufmann writes engagingly as she reveals the untold stories of Africans who lived free, worked for wages, married and died in 16th and 17th century England.’ * CHOICE *‘Fascinating.’ * Sunday Telegraph *‘Meticulous research draws on sources from letters to legal papers…The detail [Kaufmann] unearths brings to life those absent from the pages of history.’ * Observer *‘A thought-provoking account of 10 remarkable people, and a valuable corrective to some unthinking assumptions about both Tudor society and the role of racial minorities in English history.’ * Times Higher Education *‘A powerful and perceptive reassessment of a time that has too long been sidelined by popular historical storytelling.’ * Press Association *‘Impressively detailed and persuasively argued.’ * Diplomat *‘Thought-provoking… [Kaufmann] takes readers on fascinating excursions through Moroccan history, the European exploration of South America, and the seedier side of London.’ * Christian Science Monitor *‘An absolute joy.’ * Leanda de Lisle, The Times *‘Black Tudors demonstrates the way understanding of history is constantly changing based on changing contemporary values and perspectives. For someone dedicated to an awareness of oppression throughout history, Black Tudors is an important but difficult read, inspiring a desire for more information.’ -- The Riveter Magazine‘In a work of brilliant sleuthing, engagingly written, Kaufmann reclaims long-forgotten lives and fundamentally challenges our preconceptions of Tudor and Jacobean attitudes to race and slavery.’ -- John Guy, bestselling author of Elizabeth: The Forgotten Years‘Miranda Kaufmann has written a superb antidote both to the cliches of Tudor history and to the assumption that Black migration to Britain began with the Windrush. Her vivid portrait of Black Tudor lives sweeps readers around the world in the company of Diego, manservant to Sir Francis Drake, and back to the life of single woman Cattelena in the Gloucestershire countryside. Grounded in precise and detailed historical research, Black Tudors promises to change perceptions of a period at the heart of Britain’s national identity.’ -- Catherine Fletcher, author of The Black Prince of Florence‘The book is based on impeccable research in a rich array of sources. But Dr Kaufmann wears her learning lightly and she tells a series of fascinating stories with an elegance and wit that should appeal to many readers.’ -- Clive Holmes, Emeritus Fellow and Lecturer in History, University of Oxford‘A brilliant example of how to use the most detailed kind of archival data to present a broadly accessible picture of the past, and one which has enormous relevance to the present controversies about immigration and diversity.’ -- Paul Kaplan, Professor of Art History, State University of New York, Purchase‘The very concept of black Tudors may sound unlikely, but in this highly readable yet intensively researched book, Kaufmann…makes clear that people of African descent were residing in England centuries before the postwar Windrush generation and were not necessarily enslaved. By examining in detail the lives of 10 previously obscure men and women, Kaufmann depicts the great diversity of their experiences in 16th- and early-17th-century England… Kaufmann also persuasively argues that the enslavement of Africans emerged as a response to the socioeconomic conditions of England’s Caribbean and North American colonies, rather than as an inevitable result of a supposedly inherent racism within early modern English culture. Kaufmann’s crucial contention, in conjunction with her lively prose and fascinating microhistories, should draw some well-deserved attention.’ * Publishers Weekly, starred review *‘An eminently readable book that offers contemporary readers valuable insights into racial relations of centuries past.’ * Kirkus *‘Tudor England’s legendary history is a rich locus in the popular imagination. Full of pageantry and larger-than-life personalities, the period is a favorite of the Anglophilic world. But what if that seemingly monolithic world was also black?… For a modern audience acculturated to thinking of Africans in the West as either enslaved or altogether absent, the picture that emerges challenges the centrality of whiteness and slavery in the Tudor period. Kaufmann takes pains to situate Great Britain on the national stage as a minor nation emerging from civil war and fighting to be acknowledged at the international level… Black Tudors concentrates on individuals who are enmeshed in the historical narrative and effectively places them right back where they’ve always belonged.’ * Foreword Reviews *‘Who knew that a diver from West Africa worked to salvage Henry VIII’s flagship the Mary Rose? Based on a wealth of original research, Miranda Kaufmann’s Black Tudors restores the black presence to sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England in all its lively detail. Africans lived and worked not as slaves but as independent agents, from mariners to silk weavers, women and men, prince and prostitute. Black Tudors challenges assumptions about ethnic identity and racism in Tudor England. It will be required reading for anyone interested in new directions in Tudor history.’ -- Dr John Cooper, Senior Lecturer in History, University of York, and author of The Queen’s Agent‘This meticulously researched book… it’s remarkable that she’s created a book that so vividly paints a broad picture of Tudor life, making it both entirely readable and utterly fascinating.’ -- Dorset Magazine

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Book SynopsisTo refer to the private life of Charles II is to abuse the adjective. His personal life was anything but private. His amorous liaisons were largely conducted in royal palaces surrounded by friends, courtiers and literally hundreds of servants and soldiers. Gossip radiated throughout the kingdom. Charles spent most of his wealth and his intellect on gaining and keeping the company of women, from the lowest sections of society such as the actress Nell Gwyn to the aristocratic Louise de Kérouaille. Some of Charles'' women played their part in the affairs of state, colouring the way the nation was run. Don Jordan and Michael Walsh take us inside Charles'' palace, where we will meet court favourites, amusing confidants, advisors jockeying for political power, mistresses past and present as well as key figures in his inner circle such as his ''pimpmasters'' and his personal pox doctor.The astonishing private life of Charles II reveals much about the man he was and Trade ReviewEntertaining history of the antics of the libidinous King Charles II and his licentious court ... tells you everything you need to know about 17th-Century sex -- Sebastian Shakespeare Tatler The King's Bed violates all the po-faced standards of serious scholarship, but that's precisely what makes it so enjoyable -- Gerard DeGroot The Times Don Jordan and Michael Walsh share an unerring nose for a good subject ... These romps through Charles's bed-chamber are wonderfully lively ... Narrating a libertine's life with a gusto tempered by sound common sense, they have produced a book that is as pleasantly addictive as might be suggested by its racy title -- Miranda Seymour Sunday Times While showing that 'never again would an English royal court reverberate with such fun and vigour, so much youthful swagger and sexuality', the book makes clear that Charles's sex addiction had its darker side Mail on Sunday In a tone of breezy bravado in keeping with their concept of their subject's character, Don Jordan and Michael Walsh have written a swashbuckling life of Charles II ... the stuff of a TV mini-series ... the authors have a keen eye for memorable anecdotes which consistently hold the reader's attention Spectator This hugely entertaining book gives the low-down on the many mistresses who shared [Charles II's] bed Mail on Sunday

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Book SynopsisThis is the memoir of Audie Murphy, who was the most decorated American soldier during World War II. Desperate to see action but rejected by both marines and paratroopers because he was too short, Murphy eventualy found a home with the infantry.

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Book SynopsisOne of our most provocative military historians, Victor Davis Hanson has given us painstakingly researched and pathbreaking accounts of wars ranging from classical antiquity to the twenty-first century. Now he juxtaposes an ancient conflict with our most urgent modern concerns to create his most engrossing work to date, A War Like No Other.Over the course of a generation, the Hellenic city-states of Athens and Sparta fought a bloody conflict that resulted in the collapse of Athens and the end of its golden age. Thucydides wrote the standard history of the Peloponnesian War, which has given readers throughout the ages a vivid and authoritative narrative. But Hanson offers readers something new: a complete chronological account that reflects the political background of the time, the strategic thinking of the combatants, the misery of battle in multifaceted theaters, and important insight into how these events echo in the present.Hanson compellingly portrays the ways Athen

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Book SynopsisSet within the context of the struggles in the Florentine Republic over the distribution of political power and the search for stability, Florence in the Age of the Medici and Savonarola, 1464–1498: A Short History with Documents illuminates a key moment of fifteenth-century Florentine history with a focus on the monumental personalities and actions of Lorenzo de’Medici and Fra Girolamo Savonarola.Trade Review"A brief narrative overview of the mainly political history of Florence to the end of the fifteenth century that also offers an attractive collection of illustrative documents, aimed to engage student interest and discussion." —Melissa Bullard, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill"Bartlett cuts through the political complexities of fifteenth-century Florence to offer students an engaging and accessible narrative supplemented by a wide range of relevant primary documents. This story of a key turning point in Florentine history continues to have much relevance in our own society.” —Brian J. Maxson, East Tennessee State University

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Book Synopsis‘The latest in the series of powerful books on the divisions in modern Britain, and will take its place on many bookshelves beside Reni Eddo-Lodge’s Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race and Owen Jones’s Chavs.’ –Andrew Marr, Sunday Times ‘In his fascinating, enraging polemic, Verkaik touches on one of the strangest aspects of the elite schools and their product’s domination of public life for two and a half centuries: the acquiescence of everyone else.’ –Observer In Britain today, the government, judiciary and military are all led by an elite who attended private school. Under their watch, our society has become increasingly divided and the gap between rich and poor is now greater than ever before. Is this the country we want to live in? If we care about inequality, we have to talk about public schools. Robert Verkaik issues a searing indictment of the system originally intended to educate the most underprivileged Britons, and outlines how, through meaningful reform, we can finally make society fairer for all.Trade Review'Verkaik comprehensively demolishes [public school] claims.' * Peter Wilby, New Statesman *‘The latest in the series of powerful books on the divisions in modern Britain, and will take its place on many bookshelves beside Reni Eddo-Lodge’s Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race and Owen Jones's Chavs.’ * Andrew Marr, Sunday Times *‘Does a fine job of reminding us how powerful a hold the elite schools have over public life.’ * The Times *'An illuminating and hugely enjoyable read, packed full of eye-opening facts... At a time when the gap between rich and poor is widening, we need to talk seriously about the role of public schools in our society. Posh Boys is a welcome catalyst for that debate.' * Sunday Herald *'In his fascinating, enraging polemic, Verkaik touches on one of the strangest aspects of the elite schools and their product’s domination of public life for two and a half centuries: the acquiescence of everyone else.' * Observer *'A trenchant j’accuse against the old-boy chumocracy... Posh Boys is, for a book about public schools, decidedly comprehensive.' * Guardian *‘You cannot understand Britain without understanding this – the story of how we became a nation obsessed with elite education that continues to stack the odds against fairness and progress, and the cultural forces it has unleashed upon us all. Robert Verkaik tells it with clarity, and makes a powerful call for change.’ -- Afua Hirsch, author of Brit(ish)‘Inspired, committed, careful and kind.’ -- Danny Dorling, author of Inequality and the 1%

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Book SynopsisA riveting double biography of Nazi Germany's most highly decorated women test pilots - Hitler's personal Valkyries.Hanna Reitsch and Melitta von Stauffenberg were talented, courageous and strikingly attractive women who fought convention to make their names in the male-dominated field of flight in 1930s Germany. With the war, both became pioneering test pilots and both were awarded the Iron Cross for service to the Third Reich. But they could not have been more different and neither woman had a good word to say for the other.Hanna was middle-class, vivacious and distinctly Aryan, while the darker, more self-effacing Melitta, came from an aristocratic Prussian family. Both were driven by deeply held convictions about honour and patriotism but ultimately while Hanna tried to save Hitler's life, begging him to let her fly him to safety in April 1945, Melitta covertly supported the most famous attempt to assassinate the Führer. Their interwovenTrade ReviewVividly drawn . . . this is a thrilling story. * Telegraph *This is popular history of a high order. * Times *A satisfying, rollicking read . . . well researched and beautifully written. * Spectator *This compelling work has the drama and suspense of the best movie scripts. * Library Journal USA *Biographer Mulley comes through in a major way . . . absolutely gripping. * Booklist, USA *An utterly compelling read * Historia *Packed with detail and colour. * History Revealed *

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewWinner of the 2016 Douglass C. North Research Award, Society for Institutional and Organizational Economics (SIOE) Shortlisted for the 2016 Ralph Waldo Emerson Award, Phi Beta Kappa Society One of Flavorwire's 10 Must-Read Academic Books for 2015 One of HistoryBuff.com's 10 Can't-Miss History Books of 2015 "Superb."--Armand Marie Leroi, New York Times "In the late fourth century B.C., Aristotle and his students collected the constitutions of more than 150 [...] city-states. The scholar who would today follow in Aristotle's footsteps has to deal with a far more formidable mass of data. Few of today's scholars control more of this data, or write about it more insightfully, than Josiah Ober. [T]hose willing to put in the effort will learn much from the deep meditations of an expert historian and political philosopher."--James Romm, Wall Street Journal "[T]his could turn out to be Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire for classical Greece."--Jonathan Sturgeon, Flavorwire "Ober marshals a wealth of new data to make the case for a much different view of Greek history ... there was something distinct about the Greek world, he argues. What set the Greeks apart, he says, was their choice of a particular kind of order--and the cultural attitudes that went with it. Citizen self-government. Equality of standing among persons. Fair and open institutions. These ideas, unusual in history, were well developed in the Greek world, Ober notes. If we care about them, he says, we should pay attention."--Marc Parry, Chronicle of Higher Education "[Ober's] central argument is that the achievements of Greek civilization were rooted in its prosperity, and that was the result of a rough economic and political equality... [He] ranges over a half millennium of Greek history, from the 8th to the 3rd centuries BCE, seeking the roots of Greek "efflorescence"--its material and cultural flourishing... [The Rise and Fall of Classical Greece] is rife with parallels to the present."--Brian Bethune, Macleans "An attractive, informative, and timely picture of Greece from Homer to Aristotle... It's an absorbing story full of excitement, drama and hope."--Evaggelos Valiantos, Huffington Post "A sharp and insightful economic history."--Daisy Dunn, History Today [The Rise and Fall of Classical Greece] is by far [Ober's] most ambitious work to date, a magisterial tour of the successes and failures of various city-states throughout the Greek world from the archaic through the Hellenistic periods... The thrust of the book is not just provocative but persuasive."--Adriaan Lanni, The New Rambler "This book is a groundbreaking examination of what Ober (political science, Stanford) calls the 'efflorescence' of ancient Greece, which, divided into some 1,100 city-states as it was, developed a unified, dominant culture."--Choice "His narrative history of Greek efflorescence is engaging and full of insights."--Richard Seaford, Literary Review "A thought-provoking book with great depth. As the great political theorists of the modern era have always known, the ancient Greek experience provides immense empirical material to mine for insights into political science: how we design rules of politics to secure human freedom and well-being. We ignore the experience of classical civilization to our own disadvantage."--Jason Sorens, The American Conservative "This challenging book is like no other history of the ancient world... [Ober] produces some engaging and striking analyses of familiar historical episodes."--American Historical Review "Intriguing... [Y]ou can think of this book as how an economist might think about ancient Greece."--Tyler Cowen, Marginal Revolution "[Ober's] work will be of interest to anyone who is serious about the history of political economy, or who wants to know more about the relationship between democracy, economic growth, and human flourishing, whether in the ancient or modern world... The Rise and Fall of Classical Greece ... will richly reward a serious lay reader. One of its most appealing qualities is its multidisciplinary approach, which is the fruit of Ober's extensive and generously acknowledged collaboration with scholars from around the world as well as with his Stanford colleagues in a number of fields, including the sciences. In this respect, it points in a direction that future humanities scholars will need to go if they, too, wish to flourish."--David Wharton, Weekly Standard "A fresh and vigorous account about the roots of democracy."--Brian A. Pavlac, Canadian Journal of HistoryTable of ContentsList of Images and Tables xi Preface xiii Acknowledgments xxi Abbreviations xxv 1 The Efflorescence of Classical Greece 1 2 Ants around a Pond: An Ecology of City-States 21 3 Political Animals: A Theory of Decentralized Cooperation 45 4 Wealthy Hellas: Measuring Efflorescence 71 5 Explaining Hellas' Wealth: Fair Rules and Competition 101 6 Citizens and Specialization before 550 BCE 123 7 From Tyranny to Democracy, 550-465 BCE 157 8 Golden Age of Empire, 478-404 BCE 191 9 Disorder and Growth, 403-340 BCE 223 10 Political Fall, 359-334 BCE 261 11 Creative Destruction and Immortality 293 Appendix I: Regions of the Greek World: Population, Size, Fame 317 Appendix II: King, City, and Elite Game, Josiah Ober and Barry Weingast 321 Notes 329 Bibliography 367 Index 401

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Book SynopsisRising '44 is a brilliant narrative account of one of the most dramatic episodes in 20th century history, drawing on Davies' unique understanding of the issues and characters involved. In August 1944 Warsaw offered the Wehrmacht the last line of defence against the Red Army's march from Moscow to Berlin. When the Red Army reached the river Vistula, the people of Warsaw believed that liberation had come. The Resistance took to the streets in celebration, but the Soviets remained where they were, allowing the Wehrmacht time to regroup and Hitler to order that the city of Warsaw be razed to the ground. For 63 days the Resistance fought on in the cellars and the sewers. Defenceless citizens were slaughtered in their tens of thousands. One by one the City's monuments were reduced to rubble, watched by Soviet troops on the other bank of the river. The Allies expressed regret but decided that there was nothing to be done, Poland would not be allowed to be governed by Poles. The sacrifice was in vain and the Soviet tanks rolled in to the flattened city. It is a hugely dramatic story, vividly and authoritatively told by one of our greatest historians.Trade Review[His] knowledge and his passion are displayed in this notable book. His research among Polish and Soviet sources is exhaustive -- Max Hastings * Sunday Telegraph *Davies reveals a comprehensive design, tremendous narrative power, a remarkable gift for compression, and a shrewd sense of overall balance * The New York Review of Books *Davies has been widely recognised as the historian of that benighted country. Now he has used the forthcoming 60th anniversary of the uprising not only to provide a comprehensive account but to make us rethink the central trauma of the 20th century - the conflict between democracies and the totalitarian fantasies of fascism and communism. * Guardian *Much more than the story of the Warsaw uprising. It is one of the most savage indictments of Allied malfeasance yet leveled by a historian. Unsparing in his depictions of the slaughter of the Polish fighters and the destruction of their capital, Davies challenges the popular assumption that World War II was entirely the triumph of good over evil. * New York Times *

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Book SynopsisThe calamity that proved lethal for Pompeii inhabitants preserved the city for centuries, leaving behind a snapshot of Roman daily life that has captured the imagination of generations, including Renoir, Freud, Hirohito, Mozart, Dickens, Twain, Rossellini, and Ingrid Bergman. Interwoven is the thread of Rowland’s own impressions of Pompeii.Trade ReviewIts historical breadth and richness notwithstanding, From Pompeii is a surprisingly intimate book. Rowland begins with her first encounter with Herculaneum as an 8-year-old with a Brownie Starmite camera… From Pompeii is thus a personal, even idiosyncratic, introduction to Pompeii in the mode of, say, the novelist E. M. Forster’s Alexandria: A History and a Guide… If you have any interest in Pompeii, or in entertaining scholarship, or in Italian culture, you’ll want to set aside a few evenings for this deeply engaging work of popular history. -- Michael Dirda * Washington Post *[Rowland’s] book is a personal, indeed highly selective, account of what many researchers, cultivated visitors, archaeologists and even urban reformers have made of the site and the modern town of Pompeii: It reads, all told, like a collection of entertaining essays. She handles her theme with an ease and authority that should please others who are fond of Campania, the Neapolitan region, an area of great beauty and equally great social and environmental problem… Rowland covers a wide range of topics, including the creation of the modern town of Pompeii, the musings of tourists like Dickens and Mark Twain, and diverse aspects of Neapolitan folklore. -- Dan Hofstadter * Wall Street Journal *Elegant, witty and beautifully produced… It is less a guide than an overtly aesthetic appreciation of the site and its environs, poetic in its sense of connections over time… It is more the gap between individual drama and universal catastrophe, both inside Pompeii and looking on from outside, that Rowland’s account so powerfully conjures up. -- Emily Gowers * The Guardian *[A] lively book… For Pompeii is not really frozen in time. The achievement of Rowland’s book is precisely to show it at the heart of a turbulent, ever-changing region, where the landscape and people are forever caught up in transformation and drama—whether geological, political, technological or cultural. She beautifully evokes the connections between the local, the international, the spiritual and the seismic… For Rowland, Pompeii is the fount from which innumerable rivulets of history flow, and her fluent and engaging writing follows them where it will… This is a vivid and stimulating account of the history of a corner of the earth where there seems too much colorful humanity ever to be adequately captured in a single book. Rowland’s brimming pages show there are plenty more treasures to be excavated from the fertile volcanic soil of its history. -- Rebecca Langlands * Times Higher Education *There’s probably no one more qualified to have a go at this subject than Rowland… She possesses unsurpassed knowledge of whatever she takes up, and this work is no exception… It will delight any reader who likes the serious laced with the macabre and bizarre, the ancient with the modern… We never tire of her deeply knowledgeable entertainment… [A] genial, learned travelogue… It’s one of the pleasures of Rowland’s tour that we get to meet with Pompeii’s visitors over the centuries, as varied a cast of characters as might be dreamed up… While this is in no sense a guidebook to Pompeii and Herculaneum, anyone planning to visit Italy’s southwest coast will gain from taking Rowland’s fast-paced historical tour beforehand… [A] splendid book. -- James M. Banner, Jr. * Weekly Standard *This is a book difficult, even impossible, to summarize… Rowland’s enthusiasm for her subject and her knowledge of history are such that many will find interest and pleasure in dipping into it, pulling out a plum here or there. -- Allan Massie * Literary Review *Visitors to Pompeii have long marveled at the town’s perfectly preserved scenes of Roman life, but interpretations of those scenes have varied widely over the years. Rowland writes about a selection of those visitors, some famous—like Renoir, whose painting style was influenced by the town’s erotic frescoes—others less well known—like a priest named Father Kircher, who risked the wrath of the Inquisition when he suggested that the eruption of Vesuvius was ‘in response to gigantic cycles within the earth itself rather than God’s pique at individual sinners.’ Each story speaks to the way in which Pompeii reveals the hopes and the desires of the individuals and of societies. -- Andrea DenHoed * New Yorker *[Told] in rich and fascinating detail… When Rowland tells us that a visit to Pompeii can change a person’s life, she is speaking from personal experience. -- Tom Holland * The Spectator *From Pompeii is immensely lively and thought-provoking… The book is crammed with telling details and entertaining snippets. -- Chloe Chard * Sunday Telegraph *The book is an entertaining canter through two millennia of history, deeply learned without succumbing to stuffiness or superiority… Rowland is a lively writer and her tale of Pompeii’s rediscovery and excavation is engaging. She skillfully brings to light details of the world unearthed at Pompeii—the various styles of painting identified by art historians, the social purpose of the god Priapus—and splices these into her narrative of discovery. In the process she never loses sight of the relationship between this recovery of antiquity’s physical remains and the 18th century’s vibrant neo-classicism. The former clearly nourished the latter, but the story turns out to be more complicated than first thought. -- Luke Slattery * Sydney Morning Herald *[An] engaging look at the allure of an ancient city. -- Vanessa Bush * Booklist *The book is an enjoyable read that encompasses an exciting range of topics in political and social history… Recommended for general readers who want to know more about a place that continues to haunt the imagination of nearly everyone who visits it. -- Linda Frederiksen * Library Journal *[Rowland] constructs an overview of Pompeii’s history by collecting the opinions and work of famous figures: artists, writers, musicians, actors, and royalty, including Renoir, Mozart, Ingrid Bergman, and Crown Prince Hirohito of Japan. All of the individuals included experienced Pompeii and its environs firsthand—though some, like Mark Twain and Charles Dickens, did not always see them in a positive light. Rowland’s work, replete with lyrical verse and beautiful descriptions of Southern Italy, highlights potential problems with preservation, and…it wistfully captures the atmosphere of a place both beautiful and dangerous. * Publishers Weekly *Ingrid D. Rowland’s richly learned From Pompeii is a wonderfully well-written, funny, fascinating, and oddly poignant tour through the many afterlives of the ancient city. This is a brilliant book about the pleasures and perils of archaeology, historical preservation, and cultural tourism, stumbling over one another in a quixotic search for the traces of the dead. -- Stephen Greenblatt, author of The Swerve: How the World Became ModernOriginal, highly illuminating, and fun—brimming with ideas and observations—and many surprises for those familiar with Pompeii as well as for new visitors to the Bay of Naples. This is classic Rowland! -- Kenneth Lapatin, J. Paul Getty Museum

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Book SynopsisPoet and musician, artist and hostess, Lady Anne Barnard lived at the heart of Georgian society. High-born yet egalitarian, she travelled to France to observe the Revolution, rejected numerous suitors, and lived independently. Her curious ways attracted gossip right into her final years when she raised an illegitimate child at her home in Berkeley Square. Written with full access to her previously unseen private papers and unpublished memoirs, Defiance shows Lady Anne to be one of the unheralded chroniclers and pioneering women of her time.

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Book SynopsisVolume VIII of the nine-volume Loeb edition of Early Greek Philosophy includes the so-called sophists Protagoras, Gorgias, Prodicus, Thrasymachus, and Hippias, along with testimonia relating to the life, views, and argumentative style of Socrates.Trade ReviewIn brief, André Laks and Glenn Most give us a brilliant and beautiful reference work that can, at the same time, be easily enough read straight through. And spending a few months doing so gives the reader almost all that she needs (perhaps along with Loeb #258, Greek Elegiac Poetry) to reconstruct for herself the origins of the discipline of philosophy. I should want any graduate student or colleague in ancient philosophy or intellectual history to acquire and make their way through it. -- Christopher Moore * Classical Journal *The publication of the Loeb Classical Library’s nine-volume set, Early Greek Philosophy, gives us a new edition of the original texts, with fresh translations. It is a monumental achievement—the result of many years of dedicated work on the part of the two editors/translators André Laks and Glenn W. Most… We owe a profound debt of gratitude to the editors/translators for their thorough and impeccable scholarship, and to the publishers for their usual high standards of production. If you can afford them, don’t hesitate: you will be all the richer for having these volumes on your shelves. -- Jeremy Naydler * Minerva *André Laks and Glenn W. Most have made available to the world of scholarship in early Greek philosophy a resource of immense value. Every study of a thinker or of an issue within the thematic ambit of Early Greek Philosophy must henceforth start by canvassing and taking into account the appropriate selections in the Loeb set. -- Alexander P. D. Mourelatos * Bryn Mawr Classical Review *The publication of a Loeb Classical Library edition of the evidence for early Greek philosophy is a major event in classical scholarship…The editors and their assistants are to be commended for their exemplary execution of such a vast and difficult task. They have succeeded in producing what is far and away the best available edition of the texts of the early Greek philosophers with accompanying English translation…More than that, their edition effectively supersedes Hermann Diels and Walter Kranz’s Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker, which has long held sway as the standard edition of the Presocratics, but it only does so because Laks and Most have respectfully taken Diels-Kranz as their model…Laks and Most have set such a high standard with this work that it is hard to imagine that we will see a better general collection on early Greek philosophy in our lifetimes…Laks and Most’s philological acumen, judiciousness as editors, and excellence as translators is evident on every page. -- John Palmer * Arion *

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Book SynopsisThis collection explores 18th-century theories of international market competition that continue to be relevant for the 21st century. “Jealousy of trade” refers to a particular conjunction between politics and the economy that emerged when success in international trade became a matter of the military and political survival of nations.Trade ReviewThese are very remarkable essays and it is invaluable to have them published in collected form. Dr. Hont has for many years been working on the interaction of political economy and political theory in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and his knowledge of this field is unrivalled. He is able to study it in Central European, French, and British settings and perspectives, and his familiarity with recent (often Cambridge-inspired) developments in the methodology of intellectual history equips him especially well to present it to English speaking scholars. He is authentically a master in this field, and it is an exciting prospect to have his works in a single volume. -- J.G.A. Pocock, Johns Hopkins University, author of The Machiavellian MomentIstvan Hont, a prominent member of the influential "Cambridge School" of the history of ideas, is one of the most able and respected historians of early modern political thought and political economy writing today. This collection brings together Hont's most important work of the past 22 years, work that has helped to re-shape our understanding of Enlightenment thought, particularly the attempt by a wide range of philosophers and social theorists to comprehend the dynamics and evaluate the moral standing of emerging market societies in the West. -- E.J. Hundert, The University of British Columbia, author of The Enlightenment's Fable: Bernard Mandeville and the Discovery of SocietyIstvan Hont's book treats the most decisive transformation in the modern understanding of politics with unique intellectual boldness and unmatched depth of scholarship. He shows far more clearly than any previous interpreter just how and why the nature and consequences of international trade have come to set the agenda for coherent political action for every modern population. This is the intellectual backdrop to the chaotic and hazardous politics of today and tomorrow. Mastering it is a prerequisite for any possibility of a more orderly and dependably benign political future. -- John Dunn, University of Cambridge, author of Setting the People Free: The Story of Democracy[A] major new study...Jealousy of Trade is a collection of pioneering essays in the history of political and economic thought, focused on a period extending from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries...Hont presents his argument with an absorbing combination of scholarly erudition and analytical force. But his project remains a deliberately historical one. Its aim is to rewrite the history of modern liberalism, beginning with its foundations...Hont departs from the revisionist projects of Pocock and Skinner. In opposition to them, he seeks neither to recover nor to renovate traditions of political thought occluded by the subsequent triumph of liberalism. His purpose, instead, is to restore to the long history of liberalism its properly sceptical foundations. He begins by debunking the liberal legend of the benign progress of modern liberty. At the same time, Hont refuses to endorse the counter-mythologies of Marxism and socialism. In striving to maintain this disabused perspective, Jealousy of Trade provides an account of the development of modern political argument freed from the ideological distortions bred by party-polemical zeal. Its ambition here is conspicuous, but so too is its intellectual energy and imagination. It is a landmark contribution to its field. -- Richard Bourke * Times Literary Supplement *Hont's painstaking work on Enlightenment political and economic discourse is historically invaluable, because it reveals the epoch-making impact of emergent global commercial empires, and forces us to recognize that the histories of individual European nation-states are really the products of a transnational (and ultimately global) process at once political and economic. -- David W. Bates * International History Review *What this book in any case shows is that eighteenth-century political and economic thought still holds a [many] secrets and unexplored territory that, if dealt with carefully, can enrich present-day reflection on the challenges of global markets and international peace. Not in the least, the message of Jealousy of Trade implies a forceful argument addressed to economic theorists not to disregard the international political conditions under which eighteenth-century thinkers developed political economy, as well as those under which their nineteenth-century equivalents turned it into a science. -- Koen Stapelbroek * Storia del Pensiero Economico *

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Book SynopsisFeaturing updates and revisions that reflect recent historiography, this new edition of The Portuguese Empire in Asia 1500-1700 presents a comprehensive overview of Portuguese imperial history that considers Asian and European perspectives.Trade Review"This masterful history of Europe's first great Early Modern maritime empire goes well beyond the limits of traditional nationalistic and Eurocentric interpretations. Integrating European and Asian sources, Subrahmanyam's new edition is a synthetic, interpretative and at times speculative book that sets the Portuguese Indian Ocean empire in the context of Asian and World history. There is no book in English that provides a better introduction to this topic." (Expofairs.com, 23 October 2013) Table of ContentsAbbreviations x Maps xi Tables xii Acknowledgments xiv Preface to the Second Edition xv Preface to the First Edition xvii Introduction: The Mythical Faces of Portuguese Asia 1 1 Early Modern Asia: Geopolitics and Economic Change 11 Fifteenth- and Sixteenth-century States 13 The Circulation of Elites 22 Towards a Taxonomy 27 Long-term Trends 30 2 Portuguese State and Society, 1200-1500 33 Crown and Nobility 33 In Search of a Bourgeoisie 40 Mercantilism and Messianism 48 Summing Up 55 3 Two Patterns and Their Logic: Creating an Empire, 1498-1540 59 The Early Expeditions 60 From Almeida to Albuquerque: Defining the First Pattern 67 The Second Pattern: East of Cape Comorin 74 The Logic at Work: Portuguese Asia, 1525–40 78 Towards the "Crisis" 83 Notes 85 4 The Mid-Sixteenth-century "Crisis" 87 The Dilemmas of Joanine Policy 88 S´as, Sousas, and Castros: Portuguese Asian Officialdom in the Crisis 96 The Mid-century Debate 104 The Far Eastern Solution 107 The Estado in 1570 113 Notes 114 5 Between Land-bound and Sea-borne: Reorientations, 1570-1610 115 Trade and Conquest: The Spanish View 116 Spain, Portugal, and the Atlantic Turning 120 Girdling the Globe 124 The “Land” Question 130 The Maritime Challenge 141 Concessions and Captains-Major 145 The Beginnings of Decline? 150 6 Empire in Retreat, 1610-1665 153 Political Reconsolidation in Asia, 1570-1610 154 Syriam and Hurmuz: The Beginnings of Retreat 160 Reform and Its Consequences 167 The Decade of Disasters: Portuguese Asia in the 1630s 172 Restoration, Truce, and Failure, 1640-52 181 The Retreat Completed, 1652-65 186 Asians, Europeans, and the Retreat 188 Notes 189 7 Niches and Networks: Staying On, 1665-1700 191 The Cape Route and the Bahia Trade 192 The Vicissitudes of the Estado: The View from Goa 198 Mozambique, Munhumutapa, and Prazo Creation 206 The Portuguese of the Bay of Bengal 211 Survival in the Far East: Macau and Timor 217 The Portuguese, Dutch, and English: A Comparison 222 8 Portuguese Asian Society I: The Official Realm 227 The Problem of Numbers 228 The World of the Casado 236 Networks, Fortunes, and Patronage 243 "Portuguese" and "Foreigner" 250 Rise of the Solteiro 253 The Impact on Portugal 257 9 Portuguese Asian Society II: The Frontier and Beyond 261 Renegades and Rebels 262 Mercenaries, Firearms, and Fifth Columnists 269 Converts and Client Communities 274 A Luso–Asian Diaspora? 279 10 Conclusion: Between Banditry and Capitalism 285 Glossary 295 A Note on Quantitative Data 303 Bibliography 307 Maps 323 Index 333

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Book SynopsisProfessor Saraiva's multi-volume History of Portugal is a celebrated scholarly standard work. Yet, when he published a one-volume Historia Concisa, it proved a run-away best seller in Portugal, and the television series that went with it became a chart-topper. His latest book, produced especially for Carcanet's Aspects of Portugal series, is a history of his country, brief, acute and illuminating, written with scholarly insight and with non-specialist foreign readers specifically in mind. To this main text Ian Robertson, author of the well-known Blue Guide to Portugal, has added a historical gazeteer, brief biographies, chronological tables, maps and other elements which make this an essential Companion, the sort of book that a reader in need of accurate, brief and lucid reference will find useful, and every visitor to Portugal will find rewarding. The book is generously illustrated.

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Book SynopsisWhen the Roman Empire split in the 4th century AD into the Western and Eastern empires, the boundary between the two stretched from the Montenegrin coast up the river Drina to the confluence of the Slava and the Danube and then further north. This boundary has remained virtually unchanged for 1500 years: the European, Catholic west and the Orthodox east meet on Slav territory. With Croatia having become an independent state in the 1990s, this text traces the history of the region and its people. It is divided into major sections on: the early medieval Croatian state (until 1101); the periods of union with Hungary (1102-1526) and with Austria (1526-1918); incorporation in Yugoslavia (1918-91); and the creation of a sovereign state.

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Book SynopsisCharles II's succession to the throne came at a time of national turbulence: his father had been beheaded, Oliver Cromwell had usurped his right to reign. England was at sea among Europe's constantly shifting allegiances. But Henry Jermyn, a Suffolk commoner, lover to the queen mother and possibly even father to the king, was there to keep the royal family together. Jermyn's deft way of secretly manipulating government and raising an army almost prevented Civil War. He was instrumental in saving the monarchy and set in motion the rise of the British Empire. A duellist, soldier and spymaster, Jermyn was close to the great men of the 17th century: Francis Bacon (his kinsman), Louis XIV, Cardinal Richelieu, Inigo Jones, Samuel Peypys, Christopher Wren and Thomas Hobbes (whose Leviathan he inspired). The King's Henchman is a story of love, family, regicide, adversity and last-minute escapes, set against the backdrop of bloody Civil War. It is also the remarkable love story of a commoner and a royal who together shared a vision for Britain and created St James's Square and Greenwich Park as its first grand expression.Trade Review'Enticing - well-written - interesting.' Michael Braddick, TLS 'Energetic and original - A character as flamboyant as Henry Jermyn deserves to be rescued from history, a task that Anthony Adolph relishes - Adolph could hardly have done him more justice - Fascinating.' John Cooper Literary Review 'A rich and heady brew that gallops along at a cracking pace.' 4 stars, Dan Cruickshank Mail on Sunday Review 'Cracking.' A Non-Fiction Book of the Year, Daily Express 'The hidden power behind Charles II's throne.' Spectator Online 'A visual feel for the age and a rare gift for conveying it.' Blair Worden, Spectator 'One of the Britain's leading genealogists.' Sunday Express 'Brilliant.' Gillian Tindall 'A moving love story between a commoner and a royal, as well as a breathtakingly fresh window into the courts of Charles I and Charles II, and the foundation of London's West End.' Fiona MountainTable of ContentsPedigrees: The Jermyns of Rushbrook The Killigrews of Arwenack Stuarts and Bourbons Foreword Prelude: The great coach (Thursday, 12 September 1678) 1 Education of a courtier (1605-22) 2 The Madrid embassy (1622-23) 3 Courting the Louvre (1624-28) 4 Two disputed cases of paternity (1628-35) 5 Sir William D'Avenant's dream of Madagascar (1635-37) 6 'Speak with Mr Jermyn about it' (1637-40) 7 'Do something extraordinary' (1641) 8 Colonel Lord Jermyn (1641-43) 9 'The strongest pillar in the land' (1644) 10 'Some succour for England' (1644-45) 11 The 'Great Hell-Cat' (1645-46) 12 'The Louvre Presbyter' (1646-1649) 13 'Our own condition is like to be very sad' (1649-56) 14 The Chateau of Colombes (1656-60) 15 Restoration! (1660-62) 16 'Grand Master of the Freemasons' (1662) 17 Somerset House (1662-63) 18 The Second Anglo-Dutch War (1664-66) 19 The road to Breda (1666-67) 20 The Grand Design (1667-68) 21 Saint-Denis (1669) 22 The Secret Treaty of Dover (1669-78) 23 'Joining together to surpass all others' (1678-85) 24 'The Funeral of Glory'? (1685 - present) 317 Elegy: (Wednesday, 2 January 1684) 329 Appendices: 335 The calendar in the seventeenth century Red herrings Acknowledgements Bibliography 337 Notes on sources Index 359

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Book SynopsisA century after it began, we still struggle with the terrible reality of the First World War, often through republished photographs of its horrors: the muddy trenches, the devastated battlefields, the maimed survivors. Due to the crude film cameras used at the time, the look of the Great War has traditionally been grainy, blurred, and monochrome-until now. The First World War presents a startlingly different perspective, one based on rare glass plate photographs, that reveals the war with previously unseen, even uncanny, clarity. Scanned from the original plates, with scratches and other flaws expertly removed, these oversized reproductions offer a wealth of unusual moments, including scenes of men in training, pictures of African colonial troops on the Western front, landscapes of astonishing destruction, and postmortem portraits of Belgian soldiers killed in action. Readers previously familiar with only black-and-white or sepia-toned prints of the hostilities will be riveted by the book's many authentic color photographs, products of the early autochrome method. From children playing war games to a wrenching deathbed visit, these images are extraordinary not only for their subject matter, but also for the wide range of emotions they evoke. Accompanied by a preface from celebrated writer Geoff Dyer and an essay by historian David Van Reybrouck, the photographs here serve both as remarkable witnesses to the everyday life of warfare and as dramatic works of art in their own right. These images, taken by some of the conflict's most gifted photographers, will radically change how we visualize the First World War.

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Book SynopsisIt is well to remember that the stomach governs the world. Winston Churchill Mrs. Landemare s food is distinguished. She is an inspired intuitive cook. Clementine Churchill "Churchill s Cookbook" provides fascinating insight into what the legendary prime minister ate during World War II, containing over three hundred delicious recipes created by his personal cook, Georgina Landemare. The celebrity cook of her day, Landemare specialized in creating sumptuous feasts for England s nobility. At the outbreak of the Second World War, however, she devoted her full-time services to the Churchill family, declaring This will be my war work! She worked for the prime minster throughout the war; she was up at dawn preparing his breakfast and remained steadfastly in the kitchen until after his last whiskey at night. On VE Night, Churchill told her that he could not have managed through the war without her. With an introduction by Phil Reed, director of the Churchill War Rooms, "Churchill s Cookbook" marks the fiftieth anniversary of Churchill s death and the seventieth anniversary of VE Day. Covering mouth-watering cakes, biscuits, and puddings; healthy salads; and warming soups; this timely publication revives some forgotten British classics and reveals the food that sustained Churchill during his finest hours."

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Book SynopsisIn An Army at Dawn - winner of the Pulitzer Prize - Rick Atkinson provided a dramatic and authoritative history of the Allied triumph in North Africa. Now, in The Day of the Battle, he follows the strengthening American and British armies as they invade Sicily in July 1943 and then, mile by bloody mile, fight their way north.The Italian campaign''s outcome was never certain; in fact, Roosevelt, Churchill and their military advisors engaged in heated debate about whether an invasion of the so-called soft underbelly of Europe was even a good idea. But once underway, the commitment to liberate Italy from the Nazis never wavered, despite the agonizingly high price. The battles at Salerno, Anzio, and Monte Cassino were particularly difficult and lethal, yet as the months passed, the Allied forces continued to push the Germans up the Italian peninsula. And with the liberation of Rome in June 1944, ultimate victory at last began to seem inevitable.Drawing on a

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Book SynopsisA spellbinding new portrait of one of the world’s most beloved cities, from the author of IstanbulLa Serenissima. Its breathtaking architecture, art, and opera ensure that Venice remains a perennially popular destination for tourists and armchair travelers alike. Yet most of the available books about this magical city are either facile travel guides or fusty academic tomes. In Venice, renowned historian Thomas F. Madden draws on new research to explore the city’s many astonishing achievements and to set 1,500 years of Venetian history and the endless Venetian-led Crusades in the context of the ever-shifting Eurasian world. Filled with compelling insights and famous figures, Venice is a monumental work of popular history that’s as opulent and entertaining as the great city itself.

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Book SynopsisNow available in a single, abridged paperback, Ian Kershaw''s Hitler is the definitive biography of the Nazi leader. Ian Kershaw''s two volume biography, Hitler 1889-1936: Hubris and Hitler 1936-1945: Nemesis, was greeted with universal acclaim as the essential work on one of the most malign figures in history, from his earliest origins to the final days of the Second World War. Now this landmark historical work is available in one single, abridged edition, tracing the story of how a bitter, failed art student from an obscure corner of Austria rose to unparalleled power, destroying the lives of millions and bringing the world to the brink of Armageddon. ''Supersedes all previous accounts. It is the sort of masterly biography that only a first-rate historian can write''  David Cannadine, Observer ''The Hitler biography for the twenty-first century''  Richard Evans, Sunday Telegraph ''I cannot imagine a better biography of this great tyrant emerging for a long while''  Jeremy Paxman ''Magisterial ... anyone who wishes to understand the Third Reich must read Kershaw, for no one has done more to lay bare Hitler''s morbid psyche''  Niall Ferguson, Sunday Telegraph ''For the present generation, Kershaw''s Hitler stands out as a clear beacon of truth, illuminating a dark age of terror and mendacity''  Mail on Sund ''An achievement of the very highest order''  Michael Burleigh, Financial Times Ian Kershaw (b. 1943) was Professor of Modern History at the University of Sheffield from 1989-2008, and is one of the world''s leading authorities on Hitler. His books include The ''Hitler Myth'', his two volume biography Hitler 1889-1936: Hubris and Hitler 1936-1945: Nemesis, and Fateful Choices: Ten Decisions that Changed the World, 1940-1941. He was knighted in 2002.Trade ReviewSupersedes all previous accounts. It is the sort of masterly biography that only a first-rate historian can write -- David Cannadine * Observer *The Hitler biography for the twenty-first century -- Richard Evans * Sunday Telegraph *I cannot imagine a better biography of this great tyrant emerging for a long while -- Jeremy PaxmanMagisterial ... anyone who wishes to understand the Third Reich must read Kershaw, for no one has done more to lay bare Hitler's morbid psyche -- Niall Ferguson * Sunday Telegraph *For the present generation, Kershaw's Hitler stands out as a clear beacon of truth, illuminating a dark age of terror and mendacity -- Craig Brown * Mail on Sunday *The definitive biography of the Führer -- Juliet Gardiner * Sunday Times *An achievement of the very highest order -- Michael Burleigh * Financial Times *Mesmerizing ... presents the twentieth century's most controversial life in a single sweep -- Michael Kerrigan * Scotsman *

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Book SynopsisThe history of the Normans began a long time before 1066. Originating from the 'Norsemen' they were one of the most successful warrior tribes of the Dark Ages that came to dominate Europe from the Baltic Sea to the island of Sicily and the borders of Eastern Europe. Beginning as Viking raiders in the eighth century, the Normans not only changed the landscape of Europe but were changed by their new conquests. As a military force they became unstoppable. As Conquerors, they established their own kingdom in Normandy from where they set out on a number of devastating campaigns, where they also introduced innovations in politics, architecture and culture. In A Brief History of the Normans leading French historian, Francois Neveux, gives an accessible and authoritative introduction.

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Book SynopsisA short and vivid biography, which deconstructs the Napoleonic myth and reveals the reality of his rule.'Written with his customary verve and certainty' Andrew Roberts, SUNDAY TELEGRAPHWritten with great wit and panache, this biography also has a serious purpose: to make us face up to the moral bankruptcy of Napoleon's dictatorship. Johnson tells the whole story: his astonishing gift for battle tactics and his complete control of propaganda. His audacious, hyperactive and aggressive leadership alongside his failure as an international statesman, as Europe grew to hate him. His marshals and ministers; his wives, mistresses. The mistakes he made; the escape from Elba, and the world-changing events leading up to Waterloo and the battle itself. This riveting account is a fascinating look at one of the most notorious military leaders of all time.Trade ReviewIt is lucidly written, and enlivened by personal details and well-chosen quotations -- William Doyle * TLS *Written with his customary verve and certainty -- Andrew Roberts * SUNDAY TELEGRAPH *Thoughtful and incisive * INDEPENDENT *

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Book SynopsisA clear, intelligently-written guide to a crucial period of Spanish historyWritten in the same tradition as John Julius Norwich's engrossing accounts of Venice and Byzantium, Richard Fletcher's Moorish Spain entertains even as it enlightens. He tells the story of a vital period in Spanish history which transformed the culture and society, not only of Spain, but of the rest of Europe as well. Moorish influence transformed the architecture, art, literature and learning and Fletcher combines this analysis with a crisp account of the wars, politics and sociological changes of the time.

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Book Synopsis''With one''s face in the wind you were almost burned with a shower of Firedrops''A selection from Pepys'' startlingly vivid and candid diary, including his famous account of the Great FireIntroducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin''s 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions.Samuel Pepys (1633-1703). The Diary of Samuel Pepys: A Selection is available in Penguin Classics

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Book SynopsisPlease note: This product is a map. It was more than just a wall: it was a whole military zone designed to control movement across the northern frontier of the Roman province of Britannia. Great earthwork barriers survive, along with the remains of forts and temporary camps; watch-towers and fortified gates; civilian settlements, temples, cemeteries, bath-houses, roads and bridges. Stretching across the spine of England from the North-East coast to the Irish Sea, the line of the frontier extends for over 100 miles through every type of landscape: from the streets of urban Tyneside, through arable fields; along the crags of the wild Whin Sill; to the sands of the Solway, and down the coast of Cumbria. Drawing upon the extensive expertise and unrivalled archives of English Heritage, and those of its partners, this map depicts the fruits of modern archaeological research: in field survey, geophysics, excavation, and the analysis of aerial photographs. Using Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 data - the ideal scale for walkers - this revised new map shows with great clarity all the elements of Hadrian’s Wall, and distinguishes between those features that are visible and those that have been levelled through time. A brief text explains the remains on the ground, and how to use the map to find them – including the museums and the best places to visit. This World Heritage Site is now more accessible than ever before, so see the landscape through new eyes.Trade Review'The most detailed guide published yet ...'The Daily Telegraph

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