General and world history Books

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Book SynopsisIn this groundbreaking book, renowned global economist David McWilliams unlocks the mysteries and the awesome power of money: what it is, how it works and why it matters.Money is an epic, breathlessly entertaining journey across the world through the present and the past, from the birthplace of money in ancient Babylon to the beginning of trade along the silk road to China, from Marrakech markets to Wall Street and the dawn of cryptocurrency. By tracking its history McWilliams uncovers our relationship with money, transforming our perspective on its impact on the world right now. The story of money is the story of our desires, our genius and our downfalls. Money has shaped the very essence of what it means to be human. We can't hope to understand ourselves without it. And yet despite money's primacy, most of us don't truly understand it.Where does money come from? How much is out there? Who controls it? Nothing we've invented as a species has defined our own evolution so thoroughly a

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Book Synopsis''If great books encourage you to look at the world in an entirely new way, then Dominion is a very great book indeed . . . Written with terrific learning, enthusiasm and good humour, Holland''s book is not just supremely provocative, but often very funny'' Sunday Times History Book of the YearChristianity is the most enduring and influential legacy of the ancient world, and its emergence the single most transformative development in Western history. Even the increasing number in the West today who have abandoned the faith of their forebears, and dismiss all religion as pointless superstition, remain recognisably its heirs. Seen close-up, the division between a sceptic and a believer may seem unbridgeable. Widen the focus, though, and Christianity''s enduring impact upon the West can be seen in the emergence of much that has traditionally been cast as its nemesis: in science, in secularism, and yes, even in atheism. That is why Dominion will place the story of how we came to be what we are, and how we think the way that we do, in the broadest historical context. Ranging in time from the Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BC to the on-going migration crisis in Europe today, and from Nebuchadnezzar to the Beatles, it will explore just what it was that made Christianity so revolutionary and disruptive; how completely it came to saturate the mind-set of Latin Christendom; and why, in a West that has become increasingly doubtful of religion''s claims, so many of its instincts remain irredeemably Christian. The aim is twofold: to make the reader appreciate just how novel and uncanny were Christian teachings when they first appeared in the world; and to make ourselves, and all that we take for granted, appear similarly strange in consequence. We stand at the end-point of an extraordinary transformation in the understanding of what it is to be human: one that can only be fully appreciated by tracing the arc of its parabola over millennia.Trade ReviewTerrific: bold, ambitious and passionate -- Peter Frankopan, author of The Silk RoadsTom Holland is fun to read, monstrously erudite, wickedly joyful, and ahead of the established consensus, on average, by four years, three months, and two days -- Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of the Incerto (The Black Swan, Antifragile...)This extraordinary book is vintage Tom Holland: history boldly and elegantly retold, with fascinating interconnections traced to create a narrative that cannot fail to stimulate, for it leads to a never-ending question -- Diarmaid MacCullochHolland is an illuminating guide on a journey from Ancient Athens to 21st-century gay rights * History Revealed *Sustained with all the breadth, originality and erudition that we have come to associate with Holland's writing * Spectator *Fizzing with insights and challenges, this is one history book that is timely and important, as well as a feast of intellectual entertainment -- Christopher Hart * Sunday Times *Holland is an exceptionally good storyteller with a marvellous eye for detail * The Economist *An all-absorbing story * Literary Review *This book has ruffled feathers . . . lyrical, vivid * Evening Standard *It's not often that you come across a book that completely transforms your understanding of the world * Spectator *A rich and compelling history of Christendom . . . A masterpiece of scholarship and storytelling, Dominion surpasses Holland's earlier books in its sweeping ambition and gripping presentation -- John Gray * New Statesman *[Holland encapsulates] so much, so intelligently and entertainingly, in a book that's fizzing with ideas -- Andrew Lycett * Mail on Sunday *I love the sweep of it * Sunday Telegraph *Tom Holland's stupendous new book . . . There isn't a page of this magnificent book that does not contain somefascinating detail and the narrative is held together with a novelist's eye for character and theme -- Tim Stanley * History Today *A brilliant meditation on how Christianity in its Latin and Protestant forms entirely changed the way humans conceive life and their relationship to each other -- Helen Thompson * New Statesman *An absorbing survey of Christianity's subversive origins and enduring influence is filled with vivid portraits, gruesome deaths and moral debates . . . Holland has all the talents of an accomplished novelist: a gift for narrative, a lively sense of drama and a fine ear for the rhythm of a sentence -- Terry Eagleton * Guardian *If great books encourage you to look at the world in an entirely new way, then Dominion is a very great book indeed . . . Written with terrific learning, enthusiasm and good humour, Holland's book is not just supremely provocative, but often very funny * Sunday Times *A bravura swing through centuries of Western European history . . . a cornucopia of characters and information: almost everyone would learn from it something they didn't know . . . the range and unobvious sweep of his narrative are most impressive * Times Literary Supplement *An erudite and fascinating look at the enduring legacy of Christianity, which, as numbers of believers are dwindling * The Lady *Those who like their history with a dose of lessons about the present will be impressed by Tom Holland's ambitious Dominion * Telegraph *Definitely my book of the year -- Bernard Cornwell

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Book SynopsisNiall Ferguson''s acclaimed bestseller on the highs and lows of Britain''s empireOnce vast swathes of the globe were coloured imperial red and Britannia ruled not just the waves, but the prairies of America, the plains of Asia, the jungles of Africa and the deserts of Arabia. Just how did a small, rainy island in the North Atlantic achieve all this? And why did the empire on which the sun literally never set finally decline and fall? Niall Ferguson''s acclaimed Empire brilliantly unfolds the imperial story in all its splendours and its miseries, showing how a gang of buccaneers and gold-diggers planted the seed of the biggest empire in all history - and set the world on the road to modernity.''The most brilliant British historian of his generation ... Ferguson examines the roles of pirates, planters, missionaries, mandarins, bankers and bankrupts in the creation of history''s largest empire ... he writes with splendid panache ... and a seemingly effortless, debonair wit'' Andrew Roberts ''Dazzling ... wonderfully readable'' New York Review of Books''A remarkably readable précis of the whole British imperial story - triumphs, deceits, decencies, kindnesses, cruelties and all'' Jan Morris ''Empire is a pleasure to read and brims with insights and intelligence'' Sunday Times

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Book Synopsis“No single book is as relevant to the present moment.”—Claudia Rankine, author of Citizen“One of the defining books of the decade.”—Elizabeth Hinton, author of From the War on Poverty to the War on CrimeNEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS’ CHOICE • With a new preface • Fascist politics are running rampant in America today—and spreading around the world. A Yale philosopher identifies the ten pillars of fascist politics, and charts their horrifying rise and deep history.  As the child of refugees of World War II Europe and a renowned philosopher and scholar of propaganda, Jason Stanley has a deep understanding of how democratic societies can be vulnerable to fascism: Nations don’t have to be fascist to suffer from fascist politics. In fact, fascism’s roots have been present in the United States for more than a century. Alarmed by the pervasive rise of fascist tactics both at home and around the globe, Stanley focuses here on the structures that unite them, laying out and analyzing the ten pillars of fascist politics—the language and beliefs that separate people into an “us” and a “them.” He knits together reflections on history, philosophy, sociology, and critical race theory with stories from contemporary Hungary, Poland, India, Myanmar, and the United States, among other nations. He makes clear the immense danger of underestimating the cumulative power of these tactics, which include exploiting a mythic version of a nation’s past; propaganda that twists the language of democratic ideals against themselves; anti-intellectualism directed against universities and experts; law and order politics predicated on the assumption that members of minority groups are criminals; and fierce attacks on labor groups and welfare. These mechanisms all build on one another, creating and reinforcing divisions and shaping a society vulnerable to the appeals of authoritarian leadership. By uncovering disturbing patterns that are as prevalent today as ever, Stanley reveals that the stuff of politics—charged by rhetoric and myth—can quickly become policy and reality. Only by recognizing fascists politics, he argues, may we resist its most harmful effects and return to democratic ideals.“With unsettling insight and disturbing clarity, How Fascism Works is an essential guidebook to our current national dilemma of democracy vs. authoritarianism.”—William Jelani Cobb, author of The Substance of Hope

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Book SynopsisThe true story of the greatest battle of World War II and the basis of the film of the same name, directed by Richard Attenborough. The true story of the greatest battle of World War II and the basis of the 1977 film of the same name, directed by Richard Attenborough.Trade Review'The most brilliant reporter now alive' * Malcolm Muggeridge, 1973 *'I know of no other work of literature of World War II as moving, as awesome and as accurate in its portrayal of human courage.' * General James A Gavin *

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Book SynopsisPrisoners of Geography meets Bill Bryson: a funny, fascinating, beautifully illustrated and timely history of countries that, for myriad and often ludicrous reasons, no longer exist.Countries are just daft stories we tell each other. They're all equally implausible once you get up close'Countries die. Sometimes it's murder, sometimes it's by accident, and sometimes it's because they were so ludicrous they didn't deserve to exist in the first place. Occasionally they explode violently. A few slip away almost unnoticed. Often the cause of death is either got too greedy' or Napoleon turned up'. Now and then they just hold a referendum and vote themselves out of existence.This is an atlas of nations that fell off the map. The polite way of writing an obituary is: dwell on the good bits, gloss over the embarrassing stuff. This book fails to do that. And that is mainly because most of these dead nations (and a lot of the ones that are still alive) are so weird or borderline nonsensical that it's impossible to skip the embarrassing stuff.The life stories of the sadly deceased involve a catalogue of chancers, racists, racist chancers, conmen, madmen, people trying to get out of paying tax, mistakes, lies, stupid schemes and General Idiocy. Because of this and because treating nation states with too much respect is the entire problem with pretty much everything these accounts are not fussed about adding to all the earnest flag saluting in the world, however nice some of the flags are.Trade Review‘This entertaining atlas of nations that fell off the map is a joyously compiled catalogue of chancers, conmen, madmen, mistakes, lies and far fetches schemes that laid waste the genuine hopes of a nation or exploded the overreaching ambitions of bombastic megalomaniac … a riot of revisionist history and political ambition’ Traveller Magazine ‘A whirlwind tour through the pleasingly oddball tales of history's also-rans … If you’re looking for a delightful stocking stuffer for the travel and history aficionado in your life, look no further’ Frommers

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Book SynopsisShortlisted for the HWA Non-Fiction Crown Award 2023 The history of a demonic tradition that was stolen from women – and then won back again. 'Remarkable work... Extraordinary, meticulous detail' Literary Review 'Deftly fuses scholarly rigour, control of literary and archaeological sources' BBC History Magazine Creatures like Lilith, the seductive first wife of Adam, and mermaids, who lured sailors to their death, are familiar figures in the genre of monstrous temptresses who use their charms to entice men to their doom. But if we go back 4,000 years, the roots of these demons lie in horrific creatures like Lamashtu, a lion-headed Mesopotamian demon who strangled infants and murdered pregnant women, and Gello, a virgin ghost of ancient Greece who killed expectant mothers and babies out of jealousy. Far from enticing men into danger and destruction, these monsters were part of women’s ritual practices surrounding childbirth and pregnancy. So how did their mythology evolve into one focused on the seduction of men? Sarah Clegg takes us on an absorbing and witty journey from ancient Mesopotamia to the present day, encountering a multitude of serpentine succubi, a child-eating wolf-monster of ancient Greece, the Queen of Sheba and a host of vampires. Clegg shows how these demons were appropriated by male-centred societies, before they were eventually recast as symbols of women’s liberation, offering new insights into attitudes towards womanhood, sexuality and women’s rights.Trade Review[A] remarkable work... Extraordinary, meticulous detail * Literary Review *A rewarding and profound study * Literary Review *A delightful romp through four thousand years’ worth of sinister superstition, offering an empathetic interpretation of these supernatural creatures, so-called monsters, with a particular focus on women’s experiences of them. Sarah Clegg provides thought-provoking insights into a range of beliefs and practices so often overlooked by mainstream history. * Jane Draycott *Woman's Lore is a fascinating exploration of the mythology and trope of the 'demonic woman' that has existed for centuries and persists even today. Thoughtfully researched, it is an empowering and enlightening read. * Catherine Cho *Deftly fuses scholarly rigour, control of literary and archaeological sources, an accessible, entertaining style, wonderful illustrations and a warm-hearted sympathy with women's plight across the centuries * BBC History Magazine *Well-written and engaging.... This combination of the classics and women's lib makes it an enlightening read * The Lady *

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Book SynopsisChristian Grataloup is a specialist in geohistorical research and Professor Emeritus at Paris Diderot University. He has written or contributed to numerous books and atlases about world history. Patrick Boucheron is a historian and professor at the College de France. He has been a member of the scientific committee of the popular French history magazine L'Histoire since 1999 and has written numerous books on global history and the history of the Middle Ages in particular. Legendes Cartography has produced the maps for the magazine L'Histoire as well as many atlases and textbooks for over two decades.Trade Review'Finally: a historical atlas for 21st-century readers!' - Le Monde'An accessible, informative volume … that invites one to explore [the] world with curiosity and agency' - Geographical'Remarkable' - Wanderlust'A very worthy addition to this history of cartographic literature and iconography … exceptionally useful and stimulating' - ARGO'Informative, meticulously researched, and endlessly fascinating' - The MirrorTable of ContentsForeword: Stories of space by Patrick Boucheron Introduction: Making an Atlas by Christian Grataloup Part 1: A Single Human Race, 3000 BCE Part 2: Worlds Unto Themselves Part 3: Resources of the Ancient World from the Neolithic to the 15th century Part 4: Peoples of the Ancient World up to the 7th century CE Part 5: The societies along the axis of the Ancient World Part 6: The world in the 15th century Part 7: A world interconnected by Europe 16th–18th century Part 8: Europe 16th–18th century Part 9: A world dominated by Europe: Late 18th century to 1914 Part 10: Non-European powers in the late 18th–19th century Part 11: Europe 1789–1914 Part 12: A world dominated by the West 1914–89 Part 13: The world since 1989: 1989–2019

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Book SynopsisBased on explosive new evidence, bestselling author David Talbot tells America's greatest untold story: the United States' rise to world dominance under the guile of Allen Welsh Dulles, the longest-serving director of the CIA.America's rise to world dominance under the guile of the CIA's longest-serving director, Allen Dulles, is its greatest untold story. Acting beyond the law, Dulles manipulated presidents, protected German war criminals and colluded with Mafiosi, all in pursuit of his interests and those of his friends. As David Talbot's shocking new evidence reveals, Dulles' tactics at home and abroad would include the fixing of assassinations, and even culminate in the death of his political enemy, John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert. This disturbing expose of American power is a gripping story of the rise of the national security state and the battle for America's soul.Trade Review“A Cold War villain of realpolitik whose successes and blunders were unrivaled. As framed by Talbot, Dulles’s extra-legal interventions, coups, slush funds, and ex-Nazi collaborations were as much pro-corporate as anti-Communist, more Cheneyish than Nixonian…. He’d fit right into our globalized, subcontracted, and hypersurveilled era.” (New York Magazine) “Dulles is unmasked as the backstage manipulator of US policy (foreign and domestic) from the Cold War up to his skillful defense of the highly suspect Warren Commission report. Those who scoff at conspiracy theories might have a change of mind after reading this book.” (Boston Globe, Pick of the Week) “A frightening biography of power, manipulation, and outright treason…The story of Allen Dulles and the power elite that ran Washington, D.C., following World War II is the stuff of spy fiction…All engaged American citizens should read this book and have their eyes opened.” (Kirkus, starred review) “A damning biography—of the CIA’s longest standing director—and an exposé of American politics…. One would be hard pressed to find a book that is better at evoking the strange and apocalyptic atmospherics of the early Cold War years in America…. Neither le Carré nor Graham Greene could do any better.” (Daily Beast) “Offers a portrait of a black-and-white Cold War-era world full of spy games and nuclear brinkmanship.” (Mother Jones) “This year’s best spy thriller isn’t fiction — it’s history…. By the time ‘The Devil’s Chessboard’ eventually climaxes with the events that unfolded in Dallas in 1963, Talbot’s argument that Dulles had both the power and temperament to execute such a plot is more than believable.” (Salon) “A chilling psychological depiction…. The vast surveillance system so dramatically revealed to the world by Edward Snowden could never have come to pass without the culture of fanatical secrecy and habitual lawlessness handed down by Dulles and his loyal agents.” (Justyn Dillingham, Bookslut.com)

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Book Synopsis''No one knows why or how standing stones were set upright thousands of years ago and yet, amazingly, here they still are, in our modern world, waiting for us to go out and find them. They are totems of longevity, endurance and mystery; they are symbols of survival set in contrast to our ephemeral human lives.''A few months after discovering that her beloved husband, Stephen, had incurable stage 4 gallbladder cancer, Fiona Robertson began to write this book. As a megalith enthusiast, something resonated profoundly from the ancient monuments as she faced the prospect of losing him. Ideas of death, the deep past, survival and memory lie within the stones, and they offer a way to understand our collective history alongside our individual fates.Journeying across twelve ''stone lands'', from West Penwith and Avebury to the Lake District and Orkney, this book uncovers the magic and rich history of Britain''s most incredible megaliths - and what they mean in the shadow of p

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Book SynopsisMark Kurlansky is the author of several bestselling non-fiction titles including Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World (winner of the Glenfiddich Best Food Book Award), The Basque History of the World, Salt: A World History, 1968: The Year that Rocked the World, a short story collection The White Man in the Tree and a novel, Boogaloo on 2nd Avenue.Trade ReviewA diligently researched, entertainingly anecdotal and lovingly partisan history * Independent *[An] informative, quirky and delightful book * Express *A riveting [story] told with charm and dexterity * Independent on Sunday *The award-winning author of Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World takes an equally unconventional and engaging approach to those curmudgeonly nationalists, the Basques... Each chapter...addresses a particular facet of Basque culture...while the whole is punctured with simple but mouth-watering recipes reflecting the glorious tradition of Basque cuisine. Proof - if proof were needed - that learning about history can be fun * Kirkus Review *

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Book SynopsisTom Service presents the Saturday Morning programme and the New Music Show for BBC Radio 3, where he wrote and presented 250 editions of The Listening Service, and hosted Music Matters from 2003. His writing about music is at theguardian.com, he was Gresham Professor of Music from 2018-19, and Guest Artistic Director of the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival in 2005. He has made films for the BBC about composers from Mozart to Saariaho, and has been part of the radio and TV coverage of the BBC Proms for more than twenty years. His previous books include Music as Alchemy: Journeys with Great Conductors and their Orchestras, and Full of Noises, interviews with the composer Thomas Adès.

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Book SynopsisFor centuries, fame and fortune was to be found in the west - in the New World of the Americas. Today, it is the east which calls out to those in search of adventure and riches. The region stretching from eastern Europe and sweeping right across Central Asia deep into China and India, is taking centre stage in international politics, commerce and culture - and is shaping the modern world. This region, the true centre of the earth, is obscure to many in the English-speaking world. Yet this is where civilization itself began, where the world's great religions were born and took root. The Silk Roads were no exotic series of connections, but networks that linked continents and oceans together. Along them flowed ideas, goods, disease and death. This was where empires were won - and where they were lost. As a new era emerges, the patterns of exchange are mirroring those that have criss-crossed Asia for millennia. The Silk Roads are rising again. A major reassessment of world history, The SilTrade ReviewThe axis of history writing seemed to shift east with Frankopan's sweeping history, which placed the Silk Road at the very centre of world events -- Books of the Decade * Sunday Times *Many books have been written which claim to be “A New History of the World”. This one fully deserves the title . . . It is difficult, in a short review, to do justice to a book so ambitious, so detailed and so fascinating as this one -- Gerald DeGroot * The Times *A book that roves as widely as the geography it describes, encompassing worlds as far removed as those of Herodotus and Saddam Hussein, Hammurabi and Hitler . . . It is a tribute to Frankopan’s scholarship and mastery of sources in multiple languages that he is as sure-footed on the ancient world as he is on the medieval and modern -- Justin Marozzi * Sunday Times *My book of the year: history on a grand scale, with a sweep of ambition that is rare . . . A remarkable book on many levels, and one that anyone would have been proud to write: a proper historical epic of dazzling range, ambition and achievement -- William Dalrymple * Observer *The most illuminating book of the year . . . A healthy antidote to Eurocentric accounts of history -- Books of the Year * Times Literary Supplement *Splendid . . . tightly researched . . . invigorating and profound with enough storytelling to excite the reader and enough fresh scholarship to satisfy the intellect . . . charismatic and essential -- Bettany Hughes * Daily Telegraph *A rare book that makes you question your assumptions about the world * Wall Street Journal *Dazzlingly good * Evening Standard *Based on astonishingly wide and deep reading and in all areas draws on the latest research . . . It is full of vivid and recondite details * Independent *Full of intriguing insights and fascinating details * Observer *With extraordinary erudition and a vivid style, he takes us on a dazzling tour of these parts from the rise of the first empires right through to the present * Open (Weekly) *Beautifully constructed, a terrific and exhilarating read and a new perspective on world history -- Averil Cameron * History Today *As well-written, entertaining, disturbing and exciting as a detective story * Svenska Dagbladet *A dazzling piece of historical writing * South China Morning Post *This book lives up to its claim to be a new history of the world because of its geopolitical paradigm shift . . . He is a Herodotus of the twenty first century * Irish Left Review *Monumental . . . prodigious . . . astonishing. Frankopan is an exhilarating companion for the journey along the routes which conveyed silk, slaves, ideas, religion, and disease, and around which today may hang the destiny of the world * Vanity Fair *An exceptional storyteller . . . Frankopan does a superb job of explaining the history that has led to this modern era of new Silk Roads running across “the spine of Asia.” . . . Frankopan’s book will be indispensable to anyone who wants to make sense of this union of past and present * Dallas Morning News *Sumptuous, intriguing and surprising -- Sir Paddy AshdownA big book like this would have taken the whole year to read if I had followed up every reference that piqued my interest -- Readers' Books of the Year 2016 * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisTerry Deary is the author of 340 published books including the acclaimed Horrible Histories series, selling over 38 million books in 45 languages. The series has been adapted for theatre, museum exhibitions and a major CBBC television series, which has gone on to win several Children's BAFTA awards and a British Comedy Award for best sketch show the first children's show ever to win.Terry was conferred with an honorary Doctorate of Education by Sunderland University in 2000. He currently lives in County Durham with his wife Jenny and is an avid road runner in his spare time.

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Book SynopsisBartle Bull is a former editor of the Middle East Monitor and foreign editor of Prospect magazine. He has written from the Middle East for the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Daily Telegraph, Foreign Policy, Die Welt and other publications. His work, widely syndicated in Europe and the United States, has been featured in Corriere della Sera, International Herald Tribune, Los Angeles Times and elsewhere. He has appeared many times on radio and television and is most frequently a guest on Fox Business News; he has also appeared on the BBC, NPR, Fox News and Al Jazeera.

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Book Synopsis&b>Taking readers on a global journey through human history, Natasha Tidd examines how lies can change the world around us, from Julius Caesars deceptive PR machine to the cover-ups that caused Chernobyl.&/b>

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Book SynopsisTwo-time Pulitzer prize winner Bob Woodward tells the revelatory, behind-the-scenes story of three wars – Ukraine, the Middle East and the struggle for the American presidency.War is an intimate and sweeping account of one of the most tumultuous periods in presidential politics and American history. We see President Joe Biden and his top advisers in tense conversations with Russian president Vladimir Putin, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky. We also see Donald Trump, conducting a shadow presidency and seeking to regain political power. With unrivalled, inside-the-room reporting, Woodward shows President Biden’s approach to managing the war in Ukraine, the most significant land war in Europe since World War II, and his tortured path to contain the bloody Middle East conflict between Israel and the terrorist group Hamas. Woodward reveals the extraordinary complexit

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Book SynopsisExplore the places that time forgot. These abandoned, mysterious, sleeping monuments around the world have been relegated to the margins of history. From ancient ruins and crumbling castles to more recent relics – an art deco New York subway station, a Soviet ghost town in the Arctic Circle, a flooded Thai mall teeming with aquatic life – Travis Elborough takes you on a journey into these strange, overlooked, and disappearing worlds and immortalizes them in this book of original maps, accompanied by moving historic and geographic accounts of each site. The featured locations are a stark reminder of what was, and the accounts in this investigative book help to bring their stories back to life, telling us what happened, when and why, and to whom. The book features 40 sites, including: Santa Claus, Arizona, USA: A festive tourist resort-turned-ghost town deep in the desert where you could once meet Santa Claus any day

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Book SynopsisRemarkable.' THE TIMES''Wonderful.' GUARDIAN''Fascinating.'' DAILY TELEGRAPH''A landscape-keyhole onto the whole world . . . Glorious.'' Robert Macfarlane''A thrill akin to discovering buried treasure.'' RICHARD MABEYWhen Alexandra Harris returned to her childhood home of West Sussex, she realised that she barely knew the place at all. As she probed beneath the surface, excavating layers of archival records and everyday objects, hundreds of unexpected stories and hypnotic voices emerged from the area's past. These electrifying encounters ranging from those with the painter John Constable and the modernist writer Ford Madox Ford to the lost local women who left little trace inspired her to imagine lives that, though seemingly distant, are deeply connected through this shared landscape. By focusing on one small patch of England, Harris opens vast new horizons.

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Book SynopsisAndrea Komlosy argues in this important intervention that, when we examine it closely, work changes its meanings according to different historical and regional contexts. Globalizing labour history from the thirteenth to the twenty-first centuries, she sheds light on the complex coexistence of multiple forms of labour (paid/unpaid, free/ unfree, with various forms of legal regulation and social protection and so on) on the local and the world levels. Combining this global approach with a gender perspective opens our eyes to the varieties of work and labour and their combination in households and commodity chains across the planet—processes that enable capital accumulation not only by extracting surplus value from wage-labour, but also through other forms of value transfer, realized by tapping into households’ subsistence production, informal occupation and makeshift employment. As the debate about work and its supposed disappearance intensifies, Komlosy’s book provides

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Book SynopsisWhat can the fall of Rome teach us about the decline of the West today? A historian and a political economist, both experts in their field, investigateOver the last three centuries, the West rose to dominate the planet. Then, suddenly, around the turn of the millennium, history reversed. Faced with economic stagnation and internal political division, the West has found itself in rapid decline.This is not the first time the global order has witnessed such a dramatic rise and fall. The Roman Empire followed a similar arc from dizzying power to disintegration - a fact that is more than a strange historical coincidence. In Why Empires Fall, historian Peter Heather and political economist John Rapley use this Roman past to think anew about the contemporary West, its state of crisis, and what paths we could take out of it.In this exceptional, transformative intervention, Heather and Rapley explore the uncanny parallels - and productive differences - between the two cases, moving beyond the familiar tropes of invading barbarians and civilizational decay to learn new lessons from ancient history. From 399 to 1999, the life cycles of empires, they argue, sow the seeds of their inevitable destruction. The era of western global domination has reached its end - so what comes next?

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Book SynopsisThroughout history, and all over the world, seemingly intelligent people have made foolish decisions based on delusions. This has affected love affairs, politics, finance, science, warfare, showbusiness and even sport. It has also wrecked marriages, bankrupted millionaires, lost battles, destroyed empires, brought down leaders and royalty, split religions, ruined reputations, changed climates, thwarted gangsters and even exposed sex pests. Donough O'Brien and Liz Cowley shine a spotlight on 150 intriguing, and often hidden, corners of such calamities... And in so doing they highlight over 650 characters who prove to be both fascinating and flawed. Dreams, Delusions & Disasters is an absorbing take on history.Trade Review"The authors delve into little known, but really significant, corners of history that highlight human frailty and unpredictability." Christopher Joll - Author and HistorianTable of ContentsAttraction and Its Pitfalls; Money and Miscalculation; From Leaders to Losers; Crime and Punishment; Science and Medicine; Misjudgement and the Military; Lies and Disinformation; Sport and Entertainment; Appendix; Thanks; Acknowledgements to Authors; Picture Credits; Index.

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