{"title":"History of the Americas Books","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"devil-dogs-a-new-history-of-the-second-world-war-from-the-sunday-times-bestselling-author-of-sbs-saul-david-9780008395797","title":"Devil Dogs A New History of the Second World War","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA Times History Book of the Year 2022From Sunday Times bestselling historian Saul David, the dramatic tale of the first American troops to take the fight to the enemy in the Second World War, and also the last.The Devil Dogs' of K Company, 3\/5 Marines, were part of the legendary first Marine Division. They landed on the beaches of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands in 1942  the first US ground offensive of the war  and were present when Okinawa, Japan's most southerly prefecture, finally fell to American troops after a bitter struggle in June 1945. In between they fought in the Green Hell' of Cape Gloucester on the island of New Britain, and across the coral wasteland of Peleliu in the Palau Islands, a campaign described by one K Company veteran as thirty days of the meanest, around-the-clock slaughter that desperate men can inflict on each other.'Ordinary men from very different backgrounds, and drawn from cities, towns, and settlements across America, the Devil Dogs were asked to do \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e             \u003cstrong\u003ePRAISE FOR \u003cem\u003eDEVIL DOGS\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e           \u003c\/p\u003e           \u003cp\u003e‘Exquisite detail…subtly textured… the Pacific War is rendered in painful and poignant detail… A narrative that reads like war in real time. It's war unplugged: cruelty, destruction, pain, but also love, kindness and camaraderie. I cried for these men and then thanked God that I will never have to send my son to war.’ \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eTimes\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e           \u003cp\u003e‘Brilliant… A chronicle that is part Hollwood film-script, but never less than vigorously researched history. David has a claim to be our finest military historian… Superb’\u003cbr\u003e’\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eDaily Telegraph\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e           \u003cp\u003e‘David recounts in this stirring saga the WWII campaigns of Company K, the 1st Marine Division unit … Skillfully plumbing the rich array of firsthand accounts by Company K veterans, David vividly describes pillbox raids, accidental deaths, and hellish jungle conditions, and draws incisive portraits of Marine officers and their command decisions. 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Ideas honed in slavery  of the otherness, the boorishness, the inferiority of thy neighbour  have continued to travel through American society.'The story of slavery in America is not over. It lives on in how we speak to one another, in how we treat one another, in how our societies are organised. In Giving a Damn, the legal scholar Patricia Williams finds that when you begin to unpick current debates around immigration, freedom of speech, the culture wars and wall-building, beneath them lies the unexamined history of enslavement in the West. Our ability to dehumanize one another can be traced all the way from the plantation to the US President's Twitter account.Williams begins in the American South with Gone With the Wind (still the second most popular book in the USA after the Bible), that nostalgic tale full of the myths of th","brand":"HarperCollins Publishers","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47832475795799,"sku":"9780008404505","price":9.49,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780008404505.jpg?v=1710333883"},{"product_id":"the-ruin-of-all-witches-9780141991481","title":"The Ruin of All Witches","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e*THE \u003ci\u003eSUNDAY TIMES\u003c\/i\u003e BESTSELLER*\u003cbr\u003e*SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOLFSON HISTORY PRIZE*\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e*A \u003ci\u003eTIMES\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eSUNDAY TIMES \u003c\/i\u003eAND\u003ci\u003e BBC HISTORY\u003c\/i\u003e BOOK OF THE YEAR*\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e''A bona fide historical classic'' \u003ci\u003eSunday Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e''Simply one of the best history books I have ever read'' \u003ci\u003eBBC History\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the frontier town of Springfield in 1651, peculiar things begin to happen. Precious food spoils, livestock ails and property vanishes. People suffer fits and are plagued by strange visions and dreams. Children sicken and die. As tensions rise, rumours spread of witches and heretics, and the community becomes tangled in a web of spite, distrust and denunciation. The finger of suspicion falls on a young couple struggling to make a home and feed their children: Hugh Parsons the irascible brickmaker and his troubled wife, Mary. It will be their downfall.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Ruin of All Witches\u003c\/i\u003e tells the dark, real-life folktale of witch-hunting i\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA bona fide historical classic ... Historical writing of the very highest class, impeccably researched and written with supreme imagination and wisdom. -- Dominic Sandbrook * Sunday Times *\u003cbr\u003eUnforgettable ... Whether you read \u003ci\u003eThe Ruin of All Witches \u003c\/i\u003efor a startling insight into another age, or see its portrait of mob hysteria and witch-hunts as darkly analogous to our own uneasy times, this is one of those rare history books that stays with you and haunts you long after you have turned the last page. Superb. -- Christopher Hart * Sunday Times *\u003cbr\u003eThe genius of Gaskill's book lies in his meticulous piecing together of daily life in New England ...  Gaskill tells this deeply tragic story with immense empathy and compassion, as well as historical depth. A compelling study that offers a chilling insight into human nature in an age of superstition. -- PD Smith * The Guardian *\u003cbr\u003eBreathtaking ... a great story, exquisitely told. I had to reread certain sentences aloud, just to savour their insight and cadence ... This book is history at its illuminative best. -- Gerard DeGroot * The Times *\u003cbr\u003eThe narrative is as compelling as a campfire story ... This is deeply atmospheric writing, carefully sourced ... As with the best history, the lessons of Springfield's past may serve to inform the citizens of a still-divided and conflicted nation. -- Erica Wagner * Financial Times *\u003cbr\u003eEvocative right from the start, the reader is drawn in and excited in both body and mind ... It's a feast ... a valuable gift to every reader of history. -- Marion Gibson * BBC History Magazine *\u003cbr\u003eA portrait of a community during one of the first Puritan witch panics in the New World - and a timeless study of how paranoia, superstition and social unrest fuel fantasies ... Mr Gaskill's immersive approach brings the fate of his subjects movingly to life. * The Economist *\u003cbr\u003eSimply one of the best history books I have ever read ... His deeply imaginative, empathetic and yet empirical exploration of a past moment of crisis is history at its finest. -- Suzannah Lipscomb * BBC History *\u003cbr\u003eA rich and beautifully written microhistory ... a work of remarkable historical reconstruction. -- Edward Vallance * Literary Review *\u003cbr\u003eMalcolm Gaskill shows us with filmic vividness the daily life of the riven, marginal community of Springfield, where settlers from a far country dwell on the edge of the unknown. The clarity of his thought and his writing, his insight, and the immediacy of the telling, combine to make this the best and most enjoyable kind of history writing. Malcolm Gaskill goes to meet the past on its own terms and in its own place, and the result is thought-provoking and absorbing. -- Hilary Mantel\u003cbr\u003eA surefooted and gripping narrative ... Gaskill's Springfield joins Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie's Montaillou, Tony Wrigley's Colyton and other places of little intrinsic importance which for one reason or another have been immortalised by modern historiography...  There is currently no memorial for Hugh and Mary Parsons in Springfield like those which have been erected in other places where witches were hunted. Perhaps they will get one now. -- Keith Thomas * London Review of Books *\u003cbr\u003eReads with the fluency of a novel ... Crucially, Gaskill writes to make us see the world as those early Puritans saw it; how their own psychological fears, of financial ruin, of neighbours, of Native Americans and the hostile elements, could seed the first accusations of witchcraft. -- Samira Ahmend * The New Humanist *\u003cbr\u003eAn impressively researched account, bringing to life the fears and preoccupations of obscure and humble people, and setting them in the context of their time and place. -- Richard Francis * The Spectator *\u003cbr\u003ePowerfully evocative, a grimly compelling morality tale with more than one unexpected twist ... an outstanding achievement, haunting, revelatory and superbly written - a strong contender for the best history book of 2021. -- Andrew Lynch * Irish Independent *\u003cbr\u003eA pulsating history of sorcery and superstition ... an academic feat but reads like a Stephen King thriller - and it's just right for our conspiracy-laden times. -- Robert Epstein * The i *\u003cbr\u003eA riveting micro-history, brilliantly set within the broader social and cultural history of witchcraft. Drawing on previously neglected source material, this book is elegantly written and full of intelligent analysis. * Wolfson History Prize 2022 *\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Penguin Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47832687935831,"sku":"9780141991481","price":10.44,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780141991481.jpg?v=1710336766"},{"product_id":"how-the-word-is-passed-9780349701196","title":"How the Word Is Passed","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eONE OF BARACK OBAMA''S FAVOURITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA NUMBER ONE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR NON-FICTION\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e''A beautifully readable reminder of how much of our urgent, collective history resounds in places all around us that have been hidden in plain sight.'' Afua Hirsch, author of \u003ci\u003eBrit(ish)\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBeginning in his hometown of New Orleans, Clint Smith leads the reader on an unforgettable tour of monuments and landmarks - those that are honest about the past and those that are not - which offer an intergenerational story of how slavery has been central in shaping a nation''s collective history, and our own.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt is the story of the Monticello Plantation in Virginia, the estate where Thomas Jefferson wrote letters espousing the urgent need for liberty while enslaving more than four hundred people. It is the story of the Whitney Plantation, one of the only former plantations devoted to preserving\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA beautifully readable reminder of how much of our urgent, collective history resounds in places all around us that have been hidden in plain sight. 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It is both a searching historical work and a journalistic account of how these historic sites operate today. Its both carefully researched and lyrical. I mean Smith is a poet and the sentences in this book just are piercingly alive. And it's both extremely personal-it is the author's story-and extraordinarily sweeping. It amplifies lots of other voices. Past and present. Reading it I kept thinking about that great Alice Walker line 'All History is Current'. -- John Green\u003cbr\u003eHow the Word is Passed frees history, frees humanity to reckon honestly with the legacy of slavery. We need this book -- Ibram X. 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Over the span of six decades, he won the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Royal Society of Literature's Heinemann Award, the Thomas Cook Award, the PEN West Creative Nonfiction Award, the Pacific Northwest Booksellers' Award, and the Governor's Award of the State of Washington. 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Over the next two hundred years the steam engine would be at the heart of the industrial revolution that changed the fortunes of nations.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePassionately written and insightful, \u003ci\u003eA Brief History of the Age of Steam\u003c\/i\u003e reveals not just the lives of the great\u003cbr\u003einventors such as Watts, Stephenson and Brunel, but also tells a narrative that reaches from the US to the expansion of China, India and South America. 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No other single Indian conflict had such a significant impact on the fate of the country.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWonderfully told and brilliantly detailed, \u003ci\u003eA Brutal Reckoning\u003c\/i\u003e is a sweeping history of a crucial period in the destruction of America's native tribes.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCozzens recounts this tale with his customary equanimity, never attempting to embroider that which is already horrifying\u003c\/b\u003e... Sadly, this is a book that many Americans won't want to read. It will probably be banned from some schools. Cozzens nevertheless deserves praise for having the courage, in today's climate, to write it. * The Times *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA penetrating and fast-paced account...The story of the Creek War is a sorry one, but Cozzens recounts it both with fairness and with a richness of color and detail\u003c\/b\u003e... Cozzens writes with sensitivity about the political and cultural vise in which the Creeks were crushed. * Wall Street Journal *\u003cbr\u003eAs has come to be expected from Cozzens's work, \u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eA Brutal Reckoning \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003emasterfully blends important cultural and biographical details with expressive and engaging military history\u003c\/b\u003e. * Washington Post *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCozzens' storytelling works well... An engaging, highly readable narrative.\u003c\/b\u003e * New York Journal of Books *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCozzens vividly describes the Creek Indians' advanced society and clashes with other tribes, giving a grand sense of their civilization\u003c\/b\u003e... Equally well brought to life, Cozzens' dramatic, often gory descriptions of armed conflicts among the Creeks and white settlers put flesh to myth-encased events. * Booklist (starred review) *\u003cbr\u003eA seasoned historical storyteller, Cozzens portrays both Jackson and his Creek adversaries without minimizing their flaws, though he is clearly appalled by Jackson's later treatment of the Indians during the Trail of Tears... \u003cb\u003eAn authoritative account of a disturbing chapter in the relations between the U.S. military and Indigenous peoples.\u003c\/b\u003e * Kirkus Reviews (starred review) *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAn engrossing and important book that pays homage to the complex history and heritage of the Muscogee people. Highly recommended.\u003c\/b\u003e * Library Journal (starred review) *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA gut-wrenching account of a tragic chapter in American history.\u003c\/b\u003e * Publishers Weekly *\u003cbr\u003eExtremely well researched... taking from an array of secondary material... and quoting extensively from contemporary letters, war reports, treaty negotiations, trading statistics and the like. * TLS *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e1: From the Ashes of the Entrada 2: A Rope of Sand 3: Between Three Fires 4: The Sweets of Civilization 5: The Hungry Years 6: Rise of the Red Sticks 7: Civil War 8: Stark Mad 9: Terror in the Tensaw 10: The Emergence of Old Hickory 11: Invasion of the Tennesseans 12: The Red Sticks Resilient 13: All We Lack Is Powder and Lead 14: Tennesseans to the Rear 15: Jackson Courts Disaster 16: A Slow, Laborious Slaughter 17: An Elusive Peace 18: Betrayal at Fort Jackson 19: A Scalp for a Scalp 20: Shades of Genocide","brand":"Atlantic Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47850861232471,"sku":"9781838959043","price":21.25,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781838959043.jpg?v=1710623340"},{"product_id":"emigrants-why-the-english-sailed-to-the-new-world-9781780221038","title":"Emigrants: Why the English Sailed to the New","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Marvellously engaging' \u003ci\u003eThe Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Brisk, informative and eye-opening' \u003ci\u003eDaily Telegraph\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the 1600s, vast numbers of people left England for the Americas. Crossing the Atlantic was a major undertaking, the voyage long and treacherous. Why did they go?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eEmigrants \u003c\/i\u003ecasts vivid new light on the population shift which underpins the rise of modern America. Using contemporary sources including diaries, court hearings and letters, James Evans brings us the extraordinary personal stories of the men and women who made the journey of a lifetime.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJames Evans has written \u003cb\u003ea marvellously engaging and comprehensive account\u003c\/b\u003e of this ambitious undertaking and the men and women who accomplished it, often with the odds stacked against them. Here he tells the exciting, sometimes heartbreaking stories of the pioneers and explains what kind of world they dreamt of creating. It was one in which individual liberty and freedom was cherished: both became part of the modern American mindset -- Lawrence James * THE TIMES *\u003cbr\u003eOtto von Bismarck was once asked to identify the pre-eminent fact in modern world history. That America spoke English, he replied. In \u003ci\u003eEmigrants\u003c\/i\u003e, James Evans attempts to explain how and why that happened ... Evans' book is \u003cb\u003ean eloquent testimony to the fact that the commodity America has always traded in, above all others, is hope\u003c\/b\u003e -- Mathew Lyons * FINANCIAL TIMES *\u003cbr\u003eWhat led a person in 17th-century England to get on a ship bound for the Americas? James Evans attempts to answer that question by exploring both the push and pull factors involved ... \u003cb\u003eHis descriptions are vivid\u003c\/b\u003e ... and he relates in a readable style the lives of people who chose to make the journey -- Katrina Gulliver * THE SPECTATOR *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eEngaging\u003c\/b\u003e ... Evans is vivid on the risks of going to a land that, for a good portion of the century, had little to recommend it ... \u003cb\u003eBrisk, informative\u003c\/b\u003e and ... \u003cb\u003eeye-opening \u003c\/b\u003e... A fascinating book that gives real insight into the age that birthed the modern West -- Tim Smith-Lang * DAILY TELEGRAPH *\u003cbr\u003eA \u003cb\u003evivid and thoughtful\u003c\/b\u003e take on the ways that the hopes and concerns of many, often ordinary, English people contributed to their burgeoning empire -- Misha Ewen * HISTORY TODAY *\u003cbr\u003eWith great vigour, Evans \u003cb\u003etransports us back to this time of America's earliest immigrants\u003c\/b\u003e. Many had already migrated across England, before landing in London and then heading off in search of a fresh start across the ocean. In this \u003cb\u003ethought-provoking\u003c\/b\u003e book, Evans uses contemporary sources, such as diaries, court records and letters, to \u003cb\u003ecast vivid new light on a historic population shift\u003c\/b\u003e, bringing to life the stories of English emigrants and their colonisation of the New World. All proving, perhaps, that mass migration is nothing new * FAMILY TREE MAGAZINE *\u003cbr\u003eWhy this book is such \u003cb\u003ea gripping and enjoyable read \u003c\/b\u003eis that Evans does not focus on the great and the good of history, but on the ordinary men, women, and children who migrated, with their hopes, fears, and desperation. Through primary sources of diaries, court hearings, and letters, Evans tells their stories, which sometimes inspire you with their heroism, and sometimes make you weep over their tragedies ... In a \u003cb\u003elucid, well-written, and solidly researched\u003c\/b\u003e analysis, he teases out the mixed and complicated reasons that so many people were compelled to make the risky sea voyage to a perilous wilderness -- The Ven. Dr Lyle Dennen * CHURCH TIMES *\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eEmigrants \u003c\/i\u003eis an intriguing idea for a book and one which James Evans has executed masterfully. His prose is \u003cb\u003ehighly readable\u003c\/b\u003e, shedding light on just why so many people bravely sought to start a new life in a region which, as contemporaries admitted, was 'not yet perfectly discovered' -- Elizabeth Norton * WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE MAGAZINE *","brand":"Orion Publishing Co","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47851361534295,"sku":"9781780221038","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781780221038.jpg?v=1710635348"},{"product_id":"unprepared-america-in-the-time-of-coronavirus-9781635577204","title":"Unprepared: America in the Time of Coronavirus","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e''An essential volume'' \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eE. J. Dionne, Jr.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWith an introduction by Pulitzer Prize-winner Timothy Egan, the riveting, eye-opening first-draft history of the Covid-19 pandemic.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eUnprepared\u003c\/i\u003e is the sweeping history of the Covid-19 pandemica raw, primary-source accounting of the epoch-defining event: a virus that first appeared in China in late 2019 and spread rapidly across the globe, killing hundreds of thousands, devastating economies, and changing the modern world forever. A day-by-day chronicle of the response to Covid-19 as it attacked, \u003ci\u003eUnprepared\u003c\/i\u003e gathers a range of public statements from President Trump and his administration, elected officials such as New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, leading journalists and scientists, and organizations from National Nurses United to the United Food and Commercial Workers union. A haunting portrait of the world scrambling for answers while the number of cases rose alongside the death toll, the book reveals not only our strengths as a people, but also the fault lines and dysfunction that plague our nation in the new millennium.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eUnprepared\u003c\/i\u003e is an illuminating artifact for today and for future generations, an astonishing document of history being made, and a multifaceted narrative that drops the reader directly into the real-time experience of confusion, drama, and fear that defines the outbreak of Covid-19.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Bloomsbury Publishing USA","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47851444076887,"sku":"9781635577204","price":13.59,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781635577204.jpg?v=1710636669"},{"product_id":"car-crazy-the-battle-for-supremacy-between-ford-and-olds-and-the-dawn-of-the-automobile-age-9781610395519","title":"Car Crazy: The Battle for Supremacy between Ford","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBefore the  Big Three,\" even before the Model T, the race for dominance in the American car market was fierce, fast, and sometimes farcical.  Car Crazy  takes readers back to the passionate and reckless years of the early automobile era, from 1893, when the first US-built auto was introduced, through 1908, when General Motors was founded and Ford's Model T went on the market. The motorcar was new, paved roads few, and devotees of this exciting and unregulated technology battled with citizens who considered the car a dangerous scourge, wrought by the wealthy, that was shattering a more peaceful way of life.Among the pioneering competitors were Ransom E. Olds, founder of Olds Motor Works and creator of a new company called REO Olds' cutthroat new CEO Frederic L. Smith William C.  Billy\" Durant of Buick Motor Company (and soon General Motors) and inventor Henry Ford. They shared a passion for innovation, both mechanical and entrepreneurial, but their maniacal pursuit of market share would also involve legal manipulation, vicious smear campaigns, and zany publicity stunts,including a wild transcontinental car race that transfixed the public. Their war on wheels ultimately culminated in a courtroom battle that would shape the American car industry forever.Based on extensive original research,  Car Crazy  is a page-turning story of popular culture, business, and sport at the dawn of the twentieth century, filled with compelling, larger-than-life characters, each an American original.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"The dawn of the auto age brought with it conflict, controversy, fear and excitement as ably illustrated in G. Wayne Miller's book... Simultaneously tracking several threads of the story of early automobiles, Miller reveals business and legal battles, engineering and mechanical innovations, endurance races over destructive terrain, and the social impact of the car... Several of the people who comprise these threads of Miller's history would make likely movie subjects... [a] lively book with implied lessons about our own time.\" --Providence Journal \"Absolutely extraordinary... Get this book! It is very, very readable. Fascinating.\" --LLewellyn King, host of PBS' White House Chronicle \"Fascinating... It was a time of off-the-wall characters, eager-to-corner markets and run competitors off the road. We meet the ruthless Frederic Smith, the CEO of Olds Motor Works, and, of course, Ford.\" --Newport Mercury \"Engrossing and well-written, Miller's study of the cultural impact of the automobile is also a testament to the elements of the vehicle that car enthusiasts find endearing. This work will attract fans of motor sports as well as entrepreneurs and anyone interested in the power of technology to enact social change.\" --Library Journal \"A chronicle of the frantic, ultracompetitive, and heroic early days of automobile manufacturing... Buoyant and charming...Capturing the energy and ambition of a time when optimism in the American spirit was unparalleled, Miller also shows that despite the car's profound effect on American culture, it was not the modern panacea some predicted. A must for car lovers and plenty of interesting material to keep other curious readers flipping pages.\" --Kirkus Reviews \"Does the best job of teaching you everything about the 1st decade of American car-making (1900 -- 1910) that I think we are ever likely to get. If you want to learn how the Ford, Olds, Reo, Chevrolet, Buick and GM got started, this book is indispensable. It's really that good.\" --Jesse Bowers, Just a Car Guy \"Should fan your enthusiasm for automobile history.\" --Examiner.com \"This is a story rich with corporate war, courtroom drama, world-record racing, and larger-than-life characters--in particular Henry Ford, who was not just a mechanical and business genius, but one of America's original speed demons.\" --Jack Roush, founder and CEO of Roush Fenway Racing, the NASCAR team \"Wayne Miller's Men and Speed, about the historic NASCAR season when Dale Earnhardt died, is a sports classic. In Car Crazy, he takes us back to the birth of auto racing when Henry Ford, Barney Oldfield, and other greats risked life and limb--their own and spectators'--in pursuit of money and glory. Some things never change. A must-read for all sports fans.\" --Bill Reynolds, #1 New York Times bestselling coauthor of Success Is a Choice with Rick Pitino, coauthor of Basketball Junkie with Chris Herren, and author of Fall River Dreams \"With the combination of his historian's eye and a unique, cinematic-style approach to storytelling, Wayne Miller has written an exciting page-turner. With a rag-tag cast of underdogs, death-defying spectacles and thrilling courtroom drama, Car Crazy is a must-read book that explores the against-all-odds survival of the American automotive industry in its infancy.\" --Danny Strong, Emmy-winning screenwriter of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Parts 1 and 2, and Lee Daniels' The Butler","brand":"PublicAffairs,U.S.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47851457151319,"sku":"9781610395519","price":16.5,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781610395519.jpg?v=1710636850"},{"product_id":"evil-geniuses-the-unmaking-of-america-a-recent-history-9781529108101","title":"Evil Geniuses: The Unmaking of America – A Recent","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eHow an elite cabal rewrote the American dream for their gain – and left the rest of world behind.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eEvil Geniuses\u003c\/i\u003e is the secret history of how, over the last half century, from even before Ronald Reagan through Donald Trump, America has sharply swerved away from its dream of progress for the many to a system of unfettered profit and self-interest for the few. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs the social liberation of the 1960s finally ended in the chaos of Vietnam and Watergate, a cabal of rich industrialists, business chiefs, wide-eyed libertarians and right-wing economic radicals were waiting, determined to claw back everything they saw as rightfully theirs. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLargely out of sight, they rapidly built and funded a new empire of think tanks and academic institutions and professional organisations, lobbying and political groups, using them to transform politics, media, finance, the legal system and US laws to reinvent and control the political economy. A throwback to the robber barons of a century earlier, they sold the remade system to the people as a nostalgic return to traditional American values. Within a decade, America’s flourishing forward-thinking vision was incarcerated by the unchecked financial accumulation and political power of the super-rich. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNow, the moneymen are running the show. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn this hugely entertaining and deeply researched cultural and economic exposé, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author Kurt Andersen maps the rich history of intricate networks, unlikely connections and dark truths which are controlling a nation, revealing how on earth America got to where it is now – and what it might do to win its progressive future back.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEssential, absorbing, infuriating, full-of-facts-you-didn't-know, saxophonely written. This is one of those situations where the book is better than the review, so you should read it... a radicalized moderate's moderate case for radical change. * Anand Giridharadas, The New York Times Book Review *\u003cbr\u003eNostalgia is the antithesis of history.  Anderson brilliantly exposes how nostalgia — the strategic oversimplification of our past — has erased complexity and friction from our country’s narrative to serve a single goal: to preserve the status quo for the benefit of those in power. As such, \u003ci\u003eEvil Geniuses\u003c\/i\u003e documents how history and nostalgia are engaged in a hand to hand combat that may determine our future. * Ken Burns, director of The Civil War and The Roosevelts: An Intimate History *\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eEvil Geniuses\u003c\/i\u003e is Kurt Andersen at his riveting best - a genuinely original exploration of the forces that have shaped today's economy and society, and what can be done to repair the damage. A route map out of the strange season of pandemic. * Matthew D'Ancona, editor and partner of Tortoise Media and author of Post-Truth *\u003cbr\u003eElegantly written, full of insight, and ultimately optimistic, \u003ci\u003eEvil Geniuses\u003c\/i\u003e challenges America to do better, to be better. A wry look at what went wrong and sober thinking about what needs to happen now. If you want to know why America is where it is and how it can change, this is your book. * Justin Webb, presenter of BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme *\u003cbr\u003eThis is the one book everyone must read. . . With lucid writing and head-snapping insights, Kurt Andersen explores how the right and big business, with unabashed greed, deliberately reengineered our economy. To fix that will require understanding the roots of the problem. . .  A triumph. * Walter Isaacson, author of Steve Jobs and Leonardo da Vinci *","brand":"Ebury Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47851600413015,"sku":"9781529108101","price":11.69,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781529108101.jpg?v=1710639784"},{"product_id":"the-league-of-wives-9781472131782","title":"The League of Wives","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFeatured in \u003ci\u003eStylist\u003c\/i\u003e''s guide to 2019''s best non-fiction books\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe true story of the fierce band of women who battled Washington - and Hanoi - to bring their husbands home from the jungles of Vietnam.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn 12 February, 1973, one hundred and sixteen men who, just six years earlier, had been high flying Navy and Air Force pilots, shuffled, limped, or were carried off a huge military transport plane at Clark Air Base in the Philippines. These American servicemen had endured years of brutal torture, kept shackled and starving in solitary confinement, in rat-infested, mosquito-laden prisons, the worst of which was The Hanoi Hilton.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMonths later, the first Vietnam POWs to return home would learn that their rescuers were their wives, a group of women that included Jane Denton, Sybil Stockdale, Louise Mulligan, Andrea Rander, Phyllis Galanti, and Helene Knapp. These women, who formed The National League of Families, would never have called themselves \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLee [has] uncovered an amazing forgotten history . . . stirring detail . . . thanks to Lee's impressive research, their [the wives'] voices can be heard by those who embraced titles like \u003ci\u003eHidden Figures\u003c\/i\u003e (2016) and \u003ci\u003eThe Glass Universe\u003c\/i\u003e (2016). Book clubs should line up for this one; it begs for discussion * Booklist *\u003cbr\u003eInspirational work . . . In this beautifully told history, Lee unearths the contributions of everyday women who not only saved their husbands but influenced military culture * Publishers Weekly *\u003cbr\u003eThis unputdownable story of strength and determination is a must-read * Library Journal *\u003cbr\u003eExhilarating and inspiring * Washington Post *\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Little, Brown Book Group","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47851687346519,"sku":"9781472131782","price":15.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781472131782.jpg?v=1710642149"},{"product_id":"freedom-9781472141439","title":"Freedom","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn this timely and very readable new work, Walvin focuses not on abolitionism or the brutality and suffering of slavery, but on resistance, the resistance of the enslaved themselves - from sabotage and absconding to full-blown uprisings - and its impact in overthrowing slavery. He also looks that whole Atlantic world, including the Spanish Empire and Brazil.   \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn doing so, he casts new light on one of the major shifts in Western history in the past five centuries. In the three centuries following Columbus''s landfall in the Americas, slavery became a critical institution across swathes of both North and South America. It saw twelve million Africans forced onto slave ships, and had seismic consequences for Africa. It led to the transformation of the Americas and to the material enrichment of the Western world. It was also largely unquestioned. Yet within a mere seventy-five years during the nineteenth century slavery had vanished from the Americas: it declined, collapsed and \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOver the years, probably no one has done as much as James Walvin to popularise the history of slavery and abolition. 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Since graduating from Oxford, he has worked as an editorial consultant on a number of works of history, and written three bestselling books. He now lives with his family in east London.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCompelling, wonderful . . . \u003ci\u003eThe Sugar Barons\u003c\/i\u003e is an exemplary book; history as it should be written * Independent *\u003cbr\u003eGripping . . . a compendium of greed, horrible ingenuity and wickedness, but also a fascinating and thoughtful social history -- William Dalrymple\u003cbr\u003eA shocking tale of corruption and brutality ... an admirable and gripping history * Sunday Times *\u003cbr\u003eVery impressive - a meticulously researched piece of work, and so engagingly written ... what a story! -- Andrea Levy, author of Small Island and Long Song\u003cbr\u003eA tumultuous rollercoaster of a book ... Mr Parker tells an extraordinary, neglected and shameful history with gusto * Economist *","brand":"Cornerstone","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48732297068887,"sku":"9780099558453","price":11.69,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780099558453.jpg?v=1719996309"},{"product_id":"in-america-9780099578734","title":"In America","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn 1960 John Steinbeck and his dog Charley set out in their green pickup truck to rediscover the soul of America, visiting small towns and cities from New York to New Orleans.The trip became \u003ci\u003eTravels With Charley\u003c\/i\u003e, one of his best-loved books.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHalf a century on, Geert Mak sets off from Steinbeck’s home.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhere Steinbeck generally avoided the hubbub of big cities, Mak balances descriptions of the rural plains and towns that symbolize the country's early origins with fascinating sections on urban growth and decay... \u003cb\u003eAn ambitious and enjoyable take on America's story\u003c\/b\u003e * Times Literary Supplement *\u003cbr\u003eRambling, thoughtful, often funny... \u003cb\u003eWonderful\u003c\/b\u003e * Guardian *\u003cbr\u003e[A] smart, deep-rooted state of the nation report from Main Street, USA * The Times *\u003cbr\u003ePerfect for armchair travellers * Choice Magazine *\u003cbr\u003eThe lyrical story of two journeys interwoven with a broad history and witty observations about the changes of place and people over the past 50 years -- Julia Richardson * Daily Mail *","brand":"Vintage Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48732309717335,"sku":"9780099578734","price":13.49,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780099578734.jpg?v=1719996359"},{"product_id":"battle-cry-of-freedom-9780140125184","title":"Battle Cry of Freedom","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJames McPherson is Professor Emeritus of American History at Princeton University. \u003ci\u003eBattle Cry of Freedom\u003c\/i\u003e won the Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction in 2003.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe definitive study, meticulous in its scholarship and compulsive in its readability * Financial Times *\u003cbr\u003eMcPherson is wonderfully lucid... Above all, everything is in a living relationship with everything else ... Omitting nothing important, whether military, political or economic, he yet manages to make everything he touches drive the narrative forward ... historical writing of the highest order * The New York Times *\u003cbr\u003eA distinguished contribution to American history ... He has succeeded brilliantly. He has written what will surely become the standard one-volume history of the great conflict which forged America as a united nation * Independent *\u003cbr\u003eAbsolutely brilliant ... McPherson has fresh approaches to the war's background, the four years of struggle and the aftermath * Washington Post Book World *\u003cbr\u003eMcPherson wears with equal ease the hats of biographer, economist, sociologist and military historian .. Probably the best single-volume history of America's Civil War yet written * Economist *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePrologue: from the halls of Montezuma. The United States of  midcentury; Mexico will poison us; an empire for slavery; slavery, rum and Romanism; the crime against Kansas; mudsills  and greasy mechanics for A. Lincoln; the revolution of 1860; the counterrevolution of 1861; facing both ways - the upper south's dilemma; amateurs go to war; farewell to the 90 Days' War; blockade and beachead - the Salt-Water War, 1861-1862; the River War in 1862; the sinews of war; Billy Yank's chickhominy blues; we must free the slaves or be ourselves subdued; carry me back to Old Virginny; John Bull's Virgina Reel; three rivers in winter, 1862-1863; fire in the rear; long remember - the summer of '63; Johnny Reb's Chattanooga Blues; when this cruel war is over; if it takes all summer; after four years of failure; we are going to be wiped off the Earth; South Carolina must be destroyed; we are all Americans. Epilogue: to the shoals of victory.","brand":"Penguin Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48732344877399,"sku":"9780140125184","price":17.09,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780140125184.jpg?v=1719996499"},{"product_id":"the-penguin-history-of-the-usa-new-edition-9780140252552","title":"The Penguin History of the USA New Edition","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis new edition of Brogan''s superb one-volume history - from early British colonisation to the Reagan years - captures an array of dynamic personalities and events.  In a broad sweep of America''s triumphant progress. Brogan explores the period leading to Independence from both the American and the British points of view, touching on permanent features of ''the American character'' - both the good and the bad. He provides a masterly synthesis of all the latest research illustrating America''s rapid growth from humble beginnings to global dominance.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Penguin History of the USA - Hugh Brogan       A Note of Thanks\u003cbr\u003eNote for the Revised Edition\u003cbr\u003eAcknowledgments\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBook One: The Settlement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e1. Prelude c. 30,000 BC-C. AD 1600\u003cbr\u003e2. The Roots of English Colonization\u003cbr\u003e3. The Planting of Virginia 1607-76\u003cbr\u003e4. The Planting of New England 1604-c.1675\u003cbr\u003e5. Indians 1492-1920\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBook Two: The Old Order and the American Revolution\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e6. Imperial Britain 1660-1763\u003cbr\u003e7. Thirteen Colonies c. 1675-1763\u003cbr\u003e8. The Waking of the Revolution 1759-66\u003cbr\u003e9. The Road to Ruin 1766-75\u003cbr\u003e10. 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Unfinished Business 1954-68\u003cbr\u003e26. The Crisis of the New Order 1963-74\u003cbr\u003e27. A World Restored? 1977-89\u003cbr\u003eA Note on Further Reading\u003cbr\u003eIndex","brand":"Penguin Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48732350710103,"sku":"9780140252552","price":16.14,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780140252552.jpg?v=1719996520"},{"product_id":"incidents-in-the-life-of-a-slave-girl-9780140437959","title":"Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA haunting, evocative recounting of her life as a slave in North Carolina, and her final escape and emancipation, Jacobs'' narrative, written between 1853 and 1858 and published in 1861, is one of the most important books ever written documenting the traumas and horrors of slavery in the antebellum South.","brand":"Penguin Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48732369518935,"sku":"9780140437959","price":8.54,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780140437959.jpg?v=1719996588"},{"product_id":"the-conquest-of-new-spain-9780140441239","title":"The Conquest of New Spain","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eVivid, powerful and absorbing, this is a first-person account of one of the most startling military episodes in history: the overthrow of Montezuma''s doomed Aztec Empire by the ruthless Hernan Cortes and his band of adventurers. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBernal Díaz del Castillo, himself a soldier under Cortes, presents a fascinatingly detailed description of the Spanish landing in Mexico in 1520 and their amazement at the city, the exploitation of the natives for gold and other treasures, the expulsion and flight of the Spaniards, their regrouping and eventual capture of the Aztec capital.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe expedition of Francisco Hernandex de Cordoba; the expedition of Juan de Grijalva; the expedition of Hernando Cortes - preparations; the voyage; Dona Marina's story; a pause on the coast; the stay at Cempoala; the foundation of Vera Cruz; the march to Cingapacinga and return of Cempoala; events at Vera Cruz - the destruction of the ships; the Tlascalan campaign; peace with Tlascala - embassies from Mexico; the march to Mexico; the entrance into Mexico; the stay in Mexico; Montezuma's captivity; Cortes in difficulties; the flight from Mexico; Cortes collects fresh strength; expeditions around the lake; the siege and capture of Mexico.","brand":"Penguin Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48732371190103,"sku":"9780140441239","price":11.69,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780140441239.jpg?v=1719996593"},{"product_id":"democracy-in-america-and-two-essays-on-america-9780140447606","title":"Democracy in America and Two Essays on America","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eOne of the most influential political texts ever written on America, and an indispensable authority on the nature of democracy \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn 1831 Alexis de Tocqueville, a young French aristocrat and civil servant, made a nine-month journey through eastern America. The result was \u003ci\u003eDemocracy in America\u003c\/i\u003e, a monumental study of the strengths and weaknesses of the nation''s evolving politics. Tocqueville looked to the flourishing democratic system in America as a possible model for post-revolutionary France, believing its egalitarian ideals reflected the spirit of the age. This edition, the only one that contains all Tocqueville''s writings on America, includes the rarely translated ''Two Weeks in the Wilderness'', an evocative account of Tocqueville''s travels among the Iroquois and Chippeway, and ''Excursion to Lake Oneida''. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTranslated by Gerald Bevan with an Introduction and Notes by Isaac Kramnick\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“No better study of a nation’s institutions and culture than Tocqueville’s \u003ci\u003eDemocracy in America\u003c\/i\u003e has ever been written by a foreign observer.” –\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“The Bradley edition of Tocqueville’s classic is the best now available in English.” –Charles A. Beard\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Professor Bradley’s edition should remain the standard one for our time.” –F. O. Matthiessen\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith an Introduction by Alan Ryan\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChronology; further reading; translator's notes; democracy in America, notes; \"Two Weeks in the Wilderness\"; \"Excursion to Lake Oneida\".","brand":"Penguin Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48732377219415,"sku":"9780140447606","price":14.24,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780140447606.jpg?v=1719996617"},{"product_id":"colossus-the-rise-and-fall-of-the-american-empire-9780141017006","title":"Colossus The Rise and Fall of the American Empire","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eIs America the new world empire? Presidents from Lincoln to Bush may  have denied it but, as Niall Ferguson''s brilliant and provocative book  shows, the US is in many ways the greatest imperial power of all time.  What''s more, it always has been an empire, expanding westwards  throughout the nineteenth century and rising to global dominance in the  twentieth. But is today''s American colossus really equipped to play  Atlas, bearing the weight of the world on its shoulders? The United  States, Ferguson reveals, is an empire running on empty, weakened by  chronic defecits of money, manpower and political will. When the New  Rome falls, he warns, its collapse may come from within.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e''One of the timeliest and most topical books to have appeared in recent years''  \u003ci\u003eLiterary Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e''Yet  another tour de force from a writer who displays all his usual gifts of  forceful polemic, unconventional intelligence and elegant prose ...  guaranteed to spark fierce debate''  \u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eColossus confirms Niall Ferguson's standing as one of the most incisive writers of history, politics and economics today * Sunday Telegraph *\u003cbr\u003eOne of the timeliest and most topical books to have appeared in recent years * Literary Review *\u003cbr\u003eYet another tour de force from a writer who displays all his usual gifts of forceful polemic, unconventional intelligence and elegant prose ... guaranteed to spark fierce debate * Irish Times *\u003cbr\u003eA bravura exploration of why Americans are not cut out to be imperialists but nonetheless have an empire. 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A story with a cast of amazing characters from George III to George Washington, to soldiers and their families, this exhilarating book is one of the great pieces of historical narrative.","brand":"Penguin Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48732393701719,"sku":"9780141021713","price":15.29,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780141021713.jpg?v=1719996687"},{"product_id":"america-empire-of-liberty-9780141033679","title":"America Empire of Liberty","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt was Thomas Jefferson who envisioned the United States as a great ''empire of liberty.'' In the first new one-volume history in two decades, David Reynolds takes Jefferson''s phrase as a key to the saga of America - helping unlock both its grandeur and its paradoxes. He examines how the anti-empire of 1776 became the greatest superpower the world has seen, how the country that offered liberty and opportunity on a scale unmatched in Europe nevertheless founded its prosperity on the labour of black slaves and the dispossession of the Native Americans. He explains how these tensions between empire and liberty have often been resolved by faith - both the evangelical Protestantism that has energized U.S. politics since the foundation of the nation and the larger faith in American righteousness that has impelled the country''s expansion. Reynolds'' account is driven by a compelling argument which illuminates our contemporary world.","brand":"Penguin Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48732401205591,"sku":"9780141033679","price":17.09,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"rivers-of-gold-9780141034485","title":"Rivers of Gold","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe first part of his trilogy on the Spanish Empire, Hugh Thomas''s \u003ci\u003eRivers of Gold\u003c\/i\u003e brings the rise of Spain''s global empire vividly to life, capturing the spirit of an ebullient age. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  Inspired by hopes of both riches and of converting native people to Christianity, the Spanish adventurers of the fifteenth century convinced themselves that an Earthly Paradise existed in the Caribbean. This is the story of the hundreds of conquistadors who set sail on the precarious journey across the Atlantic - taking with them wheat, the horse, the guitar and the wheel as well as guns, malaria and slaves - to create an empire that made Spain the envy of the world. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  ''Affirms Hugh Thomas''s record as one of the most productive and wide-ranging historians of modern times'' \u003cbr\u003e  \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  ''Splendid ... bold and strong in its outlines, rich in fasinating details'' \u003cbr\u003e  Paul Johnson, \u003ci\u003eLiterary Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  ''So steeped is he in the spirit of the time, so familiar with its people and places that we almost feel he must have been there at the time'' \u003cbr\u003e  \u003ci\u003eSunday Telegraph\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  ''A vivid, dramatic and compelling narrative'' \u003cbr\u003e  Arthur Schlesinger, Jr\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  ''As a historian, Thomas is master of the big picture ... 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The second volume of his planned trilogy on the Spanish Empire, \u003ci\u003eThe Golden Age: The Spanish Empire of Charles V\u003c\/i\u003e was published in 2011.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"As a historian, Thomas is master of the big picture ! Rivers of Gold sweeps us restlessly on\" - Jonathan Keates,  Spectator  'As an intelligent and incisive narrative the book would be hard to better... It is unusual to finish so long a book wishing for more' Sunday Telegraph","brand":"Penguin Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48732401828183,"sku":"9780141034485","price":17.09,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780141034485.jpg?v=1719996722"},{"product_id":"cuba-9780141034508","title":"Cuba","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrom award-winning historian Hugh Thomas, \u003ci\u003eCuba: A History\u003c\/i\u003e is the essential work for understanding one of the most fascinating and controversial countries in the world.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  Hugh Thomas''s acclaimed book explores the whole sweep of Cuban history from the British capture of Havana in 1762 through the years of Spanish and United States domination, down to the twentieth century and the extraordinary revolution of Fidel Castro. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  Throughout this period of over two hundred years, Hugh Thomas analyses the political, economic and social events that have shaped Cuban history with extraordinary insight and panache, covering subjects ranging from sugar, tobacco and education to slavery, war and occupation. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  Encyclopaedic in range and breathtaking in execution, \u003ci\u003eCuba\u003c\/i\u003e is surely one of the seminal works of world history.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  ''An astonishing feat ... the author does more to explain the phenomenon of Fidel''s rise to power than anybody else has done so\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Penguin Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48732401926487,"sku":"9780141034508","price":17.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780141034508.jpg?v=1719996722"},{"product_id":"the-penguin-history-of-latin-america-new-edition-9780141034751","title":"The Penguin History Of Latin America New Edition","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNow fully updated to 2009, this acclaimed history of Latin America tells its turbulent story from Columbus to Chavez. Beginning with the Spanish and Portugese conquests of the New World, it takes in centuries of upheaval, revolution and modernization up to the present day, looking in detail at Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, Chile and Cuba, and gives an overview of the cultural developments that have made Latin America a source of fascination for the world.   'A first-rate work of history ... His cool, scholarly gaze and synthesizing intelligence demystify a part of the world peculiarly prone to myth-making ... This book covers an enormous amount of ground, geographically and culturally'  Tony Gould, Independent on Sunday\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Penguin History of Latin AmericaPreface\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePart One: The Age of Empire\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e1. Discovery and Conquest\u003cbr\u003e2. Indians and Iberians\u003cbr\u003e3. Spain in America\u003cbr\u003e4. 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Identity and Modernity: Literary and Cultural Developments II\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePart Four: Towards a New Era\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e16. Globalization and Reform: An Overview\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eStatistical Appendix\u003cbr\u003eFurther Reading\u003cbr\u003eMaps\u003cbr\u003eGlossary of Key Terms\u003cbr\u003eIndex of Subjects\u003cbr\u003eIndex of Names\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Penguin Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48732402254167,"sku":"9780141034751","price":15.29,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780141034751.jpg?v=1719996724"},{"product_id":"a-world-on-fire-9780141040585","title":"A World on Fire","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e''No two nations have ever existed on the face of the earth which could do each other so much good or so much harm''\u003cbr\u003ePresident Buchanan, State of the Nation Address, 1859\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eA World on Fire\u003c\/i\u003e tells, with extraordinary sweep, one of the least known great stories of British and American history. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs America descended into Civil War, British loyalties were torn between support for the North, which was against slavery, and defending the South, which portrayed itself as bravely fighting for its independence. 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She even shows how one of the most famous set-piece naval encounters of the War was fought, remarkably, in the English Channel. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eForeman tells this epic yet intimate story of enormous personalities, tense diplomacy and torn loyalties as history in the round, captivating her readers with the experience of total immersion in this titanic conflict.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAmanda Foreman's magnificent book provides a completely fresh perspective on the first great modern conflict. Weaving together a vast panoply of people and events, it dramatically brings alive this extraordinary period on British and American history -- Antony Beevor\u003cbr\u003eAmbitiously conceived, impressively researched and gracefully written, Amanda Foreman has crafted a narrative rich in detail, anecdote, insight and personalities. It puts a human face - many human faces - on a brutal conflict remorselessly descending into an inhuman total war -- Brian Jenkins\u003cbr\u003eA tour de force, a work of extreme virtuosity both in the research and the telling * Bloomberg News *","brand":"Penguin Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48732406710615,"sku":"9780141040585","price":18.7,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780141040585.jpg?v=1719996742"},{"product_id":"team-of-rivals-9780141043722","title":"Team of Rivals","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe bestselling and prize-winning study of one of the most legendary American Presidents in history, \u003ci\u003eTeam of Rivals\u003c\/i\u003e by Doris Kearns Goodwin is the book that inspired Barack Obama in his presidency.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen Barack Obama was asked which book he could not live without in the White House, his answer was instant: Team of Rivals. This monumental and brilliant work has given Obama the model for his presidency, showing how Abraham Lincoln saved America by appointing his fiercest rival to key cabinet positions. As well as a thrilling piece of narrative history, it''s an inspiring study of one of the greatest leaders the world has ever seen.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e''A wonderful book . . . a remarkable study in leadership'' Barack Obama\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e''A portrait of Lincoln as a virtuosic politician and managerial genius'' The New York Times\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e''I have not enjoyed a history book as much for years'' Robert Harris\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDoris Kearns Goodwin is the doyenne of US presidential historians, and one of \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA wonderful book ... a remarkable study in leadership -- Barack Obama\u003cbr\u003eThe most uplifting book that I have read in the last two decades. Sensational -- Jon Snow\u003cbr\u003eI have not enjoyed a history book as much for years -- Robert Harris * The Observer (Books of the Year) *\u003cbr\u003eA  fabulously engrossing, exciting narrative in the grand old style ... overflowing with colour and character -- Dominic Sandbrook\u003cbr\u003eA brilliant book ... I couldn't get enough of it -- Alex Ferguson\u003cbr\u003eGoodwin's narrative abilities are on full display here. A portrait of Lincoln as a virtuosic politician and managerial genius -- Michiko Kakutani * New York Times *\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Penguin Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48732409954647,"sku":"9780141043722","price":14.24,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780141043722.jpg?v=1719996754"},{"product_id":"blood-and-land-9780141976303","title":"Blood and Land","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e''A history of resilience ... sweeping, comprehensive ... it''s a story that has been waiting to be told'' \u003ci\u003eGuardian\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e''An  account sorely needed ... a kaleidoscopic view of Native American  history, refreshing and rollicking, and not unlike its fractured  reality'' \u003ci\u003eStandpoint\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBlood and Land\u003c\/i\u003e is a dazzling, panoramic account of the history  and achievements of Native North Americans, and why they matter today.  It is about why no understanding of the wider world is possible without  comprehending the original inhabitants of the United States and Canada:  Native Americans, First Nations and Arctic peoples.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis highly  personal book, based on years of travel and first-hand research in North  America, introduces a deeply complex story, of myriad identities and  determined ethnicities - from the desert Southwest to the high Arctic,  from first contact between Europeans and Native Americans to the  challenges of Native leadership today. Instead of \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eResisting the tendency toward generalisation that is the inherent danger of thematic survey, King emphasises singularity, contrast and diversification ... the early sections of the chapter on language and literature contain the most lucid and succinct discussion of the nature, origin and diversification of Native American languages - a subject central to the understanding of Native American history - that I have ever read ... [an] excellent panoramic survey -- Ciaran Brady * Irish Times *\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBlood and Land\u003c\/i\u003e is an account - at least from my American perspective - sorely needed...general histories of Native America are difficult to write and King does a superlative job -- David Bahr * Standpoint *\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBlood and Land \u003c\/i\u003eis to be commended for its ambition. The subjects covered are fascinating ... an eminently readable work -- Karen Jones * BBC History Magazine *\u003cbr\u003eA panoramic portrait ...a delight for the browsers and sifters among us who may be more engaged by the stories of early 20th century Kikapoo travelling snake-oil salesmen than by the minutiae of constitutional haggling and treaty-making -- Melanie McGrath * Evening Standard *\u003cbr\u003eKing sees through clear and intelligent eyes, with a scholarship that is deep, wide, and liberated from cliché or stereotype, the vast complexities and nuances that motivate and shape not only the past but, even more important, the present and future of the first citizens of North America. -- W. Richard West, Jr. * Founding Director, Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian *\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Penguin Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48732497215831,"sku":"9780141976303","price":15.29,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780141976303.jpg?v=1719997143"},{"product_id":"brazil-a-biography-9780141976198","title":"Brazil A Biography","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEngrossing ... eye-opening ... an enormously refreshing treat -- Dominic Sandbrook * Sunday Times *\u003cbr\u003eWith great skill the authors have managed to combine clarity and consistency, substance and  fluency, historical precision and a text that is a joy to read * Lira Neto *\u003cbr\u003eA thoughtful and profound journey into the soul of Brazil...The Brazil that emerges from this book is, indeed, a fascinating, complex, multicoloured, contradictory and challenging organism, more like a living being than a political, cultural and geographical entity -- Laurentino Gomes * Folha de São Paulo *\u003cbr\u003eCoinciding with the election of the far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, this epic history of the world's sixth most populous country is a shocking, dramatic and utterly engrossing read. The details of Brazil's history, from the 19th-century empire to the suicide of the quasi-fascist dictator Getulio Vargas, are largely unknown to British readers, but that only makes its dark story all the more fascinating. * The Sunday Times, Books of the Year *\u003cbr\u003eDetailed and deeply reasoned . . . Illuminating, engrossing, and consistently thoughtful. -- Larry Rohter * The New York Review of Books *\u003cbr\u003eCompelling and insightful . . . One of Schwarcz and Starling's great strengths is their dissection of changing racial identity. -- Geoff Dyer * Financial Times *\u003cbr\u003eEvocative . . . Schwarcz and Starling adopt what they call a biographical approach: an attempt to tell the collective stories of the generations of Brazilians that have lived . . . They achieve this with flair in their rich evocations of colonial and imperial Brazil . . . Rich and absorbing. -- Patrick Wilcken * The Times Literary Supplement *","brand":"Penguin Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48732497248599,"sku":"9780141976198","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"conquistadores-9780141982380","title":"Conquistadores","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNAMED A BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020 BY \u003ci\u003eTHE SUNDAY TIMES,\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eTIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT, THE TABLET \u003c\/i\u003eAND \u003ci\u003eTHE LADY\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e''This book is a terrific read ... I could not put it down'' Matthew Restall, \u003ci\u003eLiterary Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe ''conquistadores'', the early explorers and settlers of Spanish America, have become the stuff of legends and nightmares. In their own time, they were glorified as heroic adventurers, spreading Christian culture and helping to build an empire unlike any the world had ever seen. Today, they stand condemned for their cruelty and exploitation, as men who decimated the ancient civilizations of the Aztecs and the Incas, and carried out horrific atrocities in their pursuit of gold and glory.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eConquistadores\u003c\/i\u003e, Mexican historian Fernando Cervantes cuts through the layers of myth and fiction to immerse the reader in the world of the late-medieval imperialist. It is a world as unfamiliar to us as the Indigenous peoples of the New World were to the conquistadores themselves. Drawing upon a wide range of sources including diaries, letters, chronicles and treatises, Cervantes reframes the story of the Spanish conquest of the New World, set against the political and intellectual landscape from which its main actors emerged. At the heart of the story are the conquistadores, whose epic ambitions and moral contradictions defined an era.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom Columbus to Cortés, Pizarro and beyond, the explorers we think we know come alive in this thought-provoking and illuminating account of a period that irrevocably altered the course of world history.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e''Enlightening ... \u003ci\u003eConquistadores \u003c\/i\u003emakes for fascinating reading'' Jude Webber, \u003ci\u003eFinancial Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLively, complex, compelling\u003c\/b\u003e ... Cervantes is too good a historian to try to whitewash the half-century of conquistador activities that is his focus. Atrocities accompanied conquistadores wherever they went, and Cervantes seldom shies away from detailing and condemning them ... \u003cb\u003eThis book is a terrific read ... I could not put it down.\u003c\/b\u003e -- Matthew Restall * Literary Review *\u003cbr\u003eThe arrival of the Spanish conquistadors in the Americas is one of the most exciting stories in history. \u003cb\u003eFernando Cervantes retells the story with learning and gusto\u003c\/b\u003e, and is excellent on the wider context ... Blood flows at every turn, yet he persuasively argues that the conquistadors have been greatly misunderstood, and\u003cb\u003e invites us to think again about one of the past's greatest turning points.\u003c\/b\u003e -- Dominic Sandbrook * Sunday Times *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eEnlightening\u003c\/b\u003e ... For a vivid portrayal of a clash of very different cultures, each equally astonishing to the other, and a group of men who \"whatever their myriad faults and crimes ... succeeded more or less through their own agency, in fundamentally transforming Spanish and European conceptions of the world in barely half a century\", \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eConquistadores\u003c\/i\u003e makes for fascinating reading.\u003c\/b\u003e -- Jude Webber * Financial Times *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSuperb\u003c\/b\u003e ... \u003ci\u003eConquistadores\u003c\/i\u003e tells the story of the discovery and conquest of the New World, and tells it very well. His portraits of Cortés, Pizarro, Hernando de Soto and the other conquistadors are \u003cb\u003eas vivid as one could wish.\u003c\/b\u003e -- Daniel Johnson * The Critic *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSuperlative\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003e...\u003c\/i\u003e subtly recasts Columbus, Cortés and Pizarro as ambiguous figures rooted in medieval ideas of holy war as much as in greed for gold. -- David Abulafia * Times Literary Supplement *\u003cbr\u003eCervantes places the conquest of the Americas in Spain's political context ... \u003cb\u003ea rich portrait of a period that is almost unimaginable today\u003c\/b\u003e ... a persuasive reassessment. -- Daniel Rey * The Spectator *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA superb new look at the conquistadors that puts them in their true context.\u003c\/b\u003e -- Simon Sebag Montefiore\u003cbr\u003eA veritable compendium on the Spanish conquest of the Americas ... the book is welcome, and it most certainly meets its goal of presenting the colonisers as real people ... \u003cb\u003eProfessor Cervantes is a talented man, and his book is staggeringly thorough.\u003c\/b\u003e -- Camilla Townsend * BBC History Magazine *\u003cbr\u003eCervantes skilfully constructs a complex story, packed with disturbing nuance, which obliterates that simplistic narrative of brutal conquistadors subduing innocent indigenes. \u003cb\u003eThe depth of research in this book is astonishing, but even more impressive is the analytical skill Cervantes applies to his discoveries.\u003c\/b\u003e He is equally at home in cultural, literary, linguistic, artistic, economic and political history. All this sophisticated scholarship could so easily result in an unwieldy book, easy to admire, but difficult to read. \u003cb\u003eCervantes, however, conveys complex arguments in delightfully simple language, and most importantly knows how to tell a good story.\u003c\/b\u003e -- Gerard DeGroot * The Times *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eI found it impossible to put down \u003ci\u003eConquistadores: A New History\u003c\/i\u003e by Fernando Cervantes.\u003c\/b\u003e The Spanish conquerors of the Americas, usually despised as brutal men driven only by greed for gold, are shown to be more sophisticated, often more respectful of the dignity of the indigenous people than their British equivalents. The friars, Franciscan and Dominican, play a key role in these dramatic events, with emergence of a new understanding of universal human rights. -- Timothy Radcliffe * The Tablet *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eOne of the best crossover academic books I've read for a long time.\u003c\/b\u003e It's approachable, but breaks new ground in its assessment of the Spanish conquerors of Latin and Central America. \u003cb\u003eCervantes pitches it perfectly\u003c\/b\u003e, immersing readers in the mental world of these historical figures, tracing the connections between their ideas and the reality it created. -- Rory Rapple * The Tablet *\u003cbr\u003eFernando Cervantes has written \u003cb\u003ea superb account of a world-changing half-century, interweaving narrative and analysis to compelling effect\u003c\/b\u003e. The conquistadors were ruthless men, and did unspeakable things, but Cervantes wants us to understand them, rather than merely condemn. His book brilliantly illuminates a world-view which was in some ways closer to that of the indigenous peoples the conquistadors overpowered than it is to ours. -- Peter Marshall, author of Heretics and Believers: A History of the English Reformation\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWith reason, evidence, common sense, uncompromising candour and disciplined imagination Fernando Cervantes makes the conquistadores believable.\u003c\/b\u003e He guides us expertly through the moral labyrinth of empire, amid warts and wonders, sins and saints, crimes and creativity. -- Felipe Fernández-Armesto, author of Out of Our Minds: What We Think and How We Came To Think It\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA brilliant account of the men, from Columbus to Pizarro, who conquered and settled most of Central and South America.\u003c\/b\u003e Fernando Cervantes tells a complex, subtle and persuasive story of their actions. It is a story not only of simple, brutal, conquest - but also of cooperation, of shifting alliances, of the infiltration of Europeans into regions which had for long been zones of almost ceaseless conflict, and of prolonged, if ultimately frustrated, attempts to build a society which would fuse European and indigenous legal, social and political systems. \u003cb\u003eThe entire history of European imperialism and colonization is in urgent need of complete revision. Conquistadors is an evocative, courageous, and immensely readable beginning.\u003c\/b\u003e -- Anthony Pagden, author of The Enlightenment: And Why It Still Matters\u003cbr\u003eWritten with \u003cb\u003enarrative flair and meticulous erudition\u003c\/b\u003e, this splendid book strips away the stubborn fantasies and prejudices which tend to characterise accounts of the Spanish conquest of the Americas. Drawing on up-to-date scholarship, it describes the late-medieval mindset of the conquistadors and analyses the sophisticated political culture of the Spanish Monarchy to show how, from the violent encounters of mutually alien peoples, there emerged multi-ethnic and culturally diverse societies which proved to be surprisingly resilient and stable over three hundred years. \u003cb\u003eThis is an indispensable contribution to our understanding of the historical roots of our globalized world. \u003c\/b\u003e -- Edwin Williamson, author of The Penguin History of Latin America","brand":"Penguin Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48732501705047,"sku":"9780141982380","price":14.24,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780141982380.jpg?v=1719997164"},{"product_id":"franklin-d-roosevelt-a-political-life-9780141986593","title":"Franklin D. Roosevelt A Political Life","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrom the acclaimed author of  \u003ci\u003eJohn F. Kennedy: An Unfinished Life, \u003c\/i\u003ethe biography of one of America''s greatest presidents, Franklin D. Roosevelt.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e''Meticulously researched and authoritative, heroically objective and  wide-angled ... 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Roosevelt is with us again in Dallek's outstanding cradle-to-grave study -- Douglas Brinkley * Washington Post *\u003cbr\u003eA landmark work that deserves to be placed on the same shelf as those of Arthur Schlesinger Jr., James MacGregor Burns, and William E. Leuchtenburg -- Richard Moe","brand":"Penguin Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48732506882391,"sku":"9780141986593","price":17.09,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780141986593.jpg?v=1719997183"},{"product_id":"god-save-texas-9780141987002","title":"God Save Texas","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e''This is a funny, pointed love letter to Texas, at once elegiac and clear-eyed'' Ben Macintyre, \u003ci\u003eThe Times \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of \u003ci\u003eThe Looming Tower, God Save Texas\u003c\/i\u003e is a journey through the most controversial state in America.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTexas is a Republican state in the heart of Trumpland that hasn''t elected a Democrat to a statewide office in more than twenty years; but it is also a state in which minorities already form a majority (including the largest number of Muslim adherents in the United States). The cities are Democrat and among the most diverse in the nation. Oil is still king but Texas now leads California in technology exports and has an economy only somewhat smaller than Australia''s.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLawrence Wright has written an enchanting book about what is often seen as an unenchanting place. Having spent most of his life there, while remaining deeply aware of its oddities, Wright is as charmed by Texan foibles and landscapes as\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Penguin Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48732507570519,"sku":"9780141987002","price":10.44,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780141987002.jpg?v=1719997188"},{"product_id":"capitalism-in-america-9780141989310","title":"Capitalism in America","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis book snaps, crackles and pops ... Readers will emerge from this heady blend of economic, business, and political history with a sense of exhilaration that so much of the American experience could be described so vividly and insightfully -- Robert Gordon * Financial Times *\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eCapitalism in America\u003c\/i\u003e makes a strong case, with some wonderful insights into business history. Innovation, spread to the masses, is indeed the engine of capitalist economies. * The Economist *\u003cbr\u003eA superbly written book ... the tone is businesslike but culturally savvy - with sociological themes from \"America's urban nightmare\" of the seventies and eighties to \"the rising share of working women\" handled with sensitivity and skill ... \u003ci\u003eCapitalism in America\u003c\/i\u003e is an inspiring, rip-roaring read - like the astonishing story it describes. -- Liam Halligan * The Daily Telegraph *","brand":"Penguin Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48732510585175,"sku":"9780141989310","price":13.49,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780141989310.jpg?v=1719997201"},{"product_id":"hitlers-american-gamble-9780141991849","title":"Hitlers American Gamble","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e''History at its scintillating best ... hard-hitting, revelatory and superbly researched'' Andrew Roberts, author of \u003ci\u003eChurchill: Walking with Destiny\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e ''A rare achievement ... sure to become an instant classic'' John Lewis Gaddis, Yale University\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/b\u003eThis gripping book dramatizes the extraordinarily compressed and terrifying period between the surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and Hitler''s declaration of war on the United States. 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Truly eye-opening, myth-busting history. * Aspects of History *\u003cbr\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eHitler's American Gamble\u003c\/i\u003e, Brendan Simms and Charlie Laderman \u003cb\u003egrippingly retell the story of five days that not only shook but also shaped the world\u003c\/b\u003e... All students of both World War II and the Holocaust will learn, as I did, from their careful use of neglected documents and their attention to 'counterfactuals' that, for contemporaries, were at least as likely as what actually happened. -- Niall Ferguson\u003cbr\u003eOffers \u003cb\u003efine, well-researched insights \u003c\/b\u003einto the psyches of leaders who made decisions that changed the course of world history ... For readers seeking a deeper understanding of the realpolitik that drove Germany to war against America, \u003ci\u003eHitler's American Gamble\u003c\/i\u003e offers \u003cb\u003ean outstanding narrative.\u003c\/b\u003e -- Jonathan W. Jordan * World War 2 Magazine *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA rare achievement\u003c\/b\u003e: a microhistory that's global in scope. Filled with fresh insights, excitingly written, and meticulously documented, \u003ci\u003eHitler's American Gamble \u003c\/i\u003eis \u003cb\u003esure to become an instant classic.\u003c\/b\u003e -- John Lewis Gaddis\u003cbr\u003eBrendan Simms and Charlie Laderman show how Hitler's mad decision to declare war on the United States on December 11, 1941 proved suicidal for the Axis, ensured a global catastrophe, and would radically redefine how World War II would end. 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