History Books
Ebury Publishing The Concise Untold History of the United States
Book SynopsisOscar-winning director Oliver Stone and historian Peter Kuznick examine the dark side of American history from the beginning of the twentieth century right up to the Obama administration. Looking at American intervention in foreign conflicts in Latin American, Asia and the Middle East, including taking part in covert operations and interfering to overthrow elected leaders in favour of right-wing dictators, they ask whether US involvement around the globe is about democratic ideals, or political and economic gain. From Hiroshima and Nagasaki to the Watergate scandal and the transformation of America into a national security state, The Concise Untold History lays bare how US presidents have ignored the constitution and international law to influence the course of world events for the interest of the few.Based on the critically acclaimed documentary series of the same name, this book compellingly unmasks the shocking and unforgettable truth behind the American EmTrade ReviewBlockbusting history -- Andrew Collins
£14.24
Ebury Publishing Parachute Infantry
Book SynopsisDavid Kenyon Webster left Harvard to join the paratroopers, training at Camp Toccoa, Georgia. He could have used the influence of his wealthy family to land a comfortable desk job, but he was determined to do his duty and to see the war from the point of view of an ordinary soldier. He parachuted into Normandy the night before the D-Day landings and later into Holland as part of Operation Market Garden, going on to participate in the capture of Hitler's Eagle's Nest at the end of the war. After the war Webster worked as a journalist. On 9 September 1961, he went missing while shark fishing off the coast of California. His body was not found. His memoir remained unpublished until Stephen Ambrose discovered it, using it as a key source for his book Band of Brothers and later the series. It was Ambrose's championing of the work that led to its eventual publication.Trade ReviewGutsy, sometimes bemused and sometimes angry … it bites and hangs on * New York Times *[A] first-rate, skillfully written soldier's story * Booklist *Beautifully written and perfectly evokes life and battle in a parachute infantry company * Washinton Post *He understood the ties that bind men in battle have more to do with brotherhood and its obligations than ties to God or country * Kirkus Review *Perfectly pitched ... an authentic witness to the combat experience * Booklist *
£15.29
Ebury Publishing The Scarlet Sisters
Book SynopsisOh my goodness another girl Mrs Swain!' Clara's normal iron composure broke and she screamed, No! That's not the bloody deal!'And that is how my nanna, Bertha Swain, entered the world.When Helen Batten's marriage breaks down, she starts on a journey of discovery into her family's past and the mysteries surrounding her enigmatic nanna's early life. What she unearths is a tale of five feisty red heads struggling to climb out of poverty and find love through two world wars. It's a story full of surprises and scandal a death in a workhouse, a son kept in a box, a shameful war record, a clandestine marriage and children taken far too soon. It's as if there is a family curse. But Helen also finds love, resilience and hope crazy wagers, late night Charlestons and stolen kisses. As she unravels the story of Nanna and her scarlet sisters, Helen starts to break the spell of the past, and sees a way she might herself find love again.Trade ReviewFascinating ... a moving account of survival * Yours *Fascinating ... a moving account of survival * Yours *This fascinating delve into family history reveals the ways in which women’s lives have – and haven’t – changed * Readers Digest *
£11.69
Vintage Publishing A Secret Country
Book SynopsisExpatriate journalist and film-maker John Pilger writes about his homeland with life-long affection and a passionately critical eye. In this fully updated edition of A Secret Country, he pays tribute to a little known Australia and tells a story of high political drama.Trade ReviewReminiscent of a sabre-toothed, unexpurgated Dickens -- Robert Carver * New Statesman *A moving account of the abuse of human rights in Australia, all the more valuable because it is written by an Australian writer -- Graham GreenePilger is a first-rate dissident journalist... Presents a harsh narrative of class, race and power; of the oppression and resistance, the betrayal and amnesia, that lie behind the sunny illustions of the Australian self-image -- Robert HughesThis is a patriotic book in the best sense, written in the belief that Australia deserves not old bromides and stereotypes, but the respect of critical appraisal... A necessary book for those of us who believe in the redeeming power of truth * Daily Telegraph *Pilger's Australia is so different from the image conveyed abroad by films and TV soap operas, so different indeed from the way many Australians see themselves, as to be another country...but none of it alters one starkly apparent fact - he still loves the place. * Sunday Express *
£13.49
Cornerstone The Lords Of Avaris
Book SynopsisThe Lords of Avaris is one man''s journey in search of the legendary origins of the Western World. Our story begins in a small rock-cut tomb below the desolate ruin-mound of Jericho in the Jordan Valley. This is the start of an epic journey of discovery, in the Homeric mould, which ranges across the ancient lands and archaeological sites of the Mediterranean. From Joshua''s Jericho to Romulus'' Rome, the true chronicle of our pre-Christian past is uncovered revealing an extraordinary historical picture, previously unimagined by scholars. The epic legends of the West, which permeate the writings of Greece and Rome, appear to have been based on the exploits of genuine historical figures and actual events. There really was an ''Heroic Age'' of brazen-clad warriors, the last of which fought before the walls of Troy, just as described in Homer''s Iliad. At the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age - two thousand years before the assassination of Julius Trade ReviewIt is refreshing to find an approach that genuinely seeks to see the 'big picture'. The book is extremely well-produced. It is an intriguing thesis' * Ancient Egypt *A scholarly and persuasive account. * The Good Book Guide *
£15.29
Cornerstone The Temple And The Lodge
Book SynopsisIn this enthralling historical detective story, the authors of The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail trace the flight after 1309 of the Knights Templar from Europe to Scotland, where the Templar heritage was to take root, and would be perpetuated by a network of noble families.Trade Review'A worthy conclusion to their investigations into secret societies ancient and modern' * Sunday Times *'Meticulously researched and annotated and well worth reading' * Oxford Times *
£15.29
Cornerstone Devils Advocate
Book Synopsis________________________For decades, John Humphrys has been at the beating heart of the BBC''s news division.From the 9 O''Clock News desk to his marathon 32-year stint on the Today Programme, Humphrys has had a remarkable career as a journalist, steering the coverage of stories and issues that have defined multiple generations of British life. If the country has a pulse, John Humphrys is the man whose finger is firmly on it.In Devil''s Advocate, Humphrys draws on his immense experience to detail the huge, sweeping changes that have overtaken Britain during his career. From the thorny geopolitical questions of the UK''s relationship with Europe and America to the subtler ways our national social and moral values have changed, Humphrys sees a deep unease at the heart of a divided union, and identifies what truly links us all: consumer populism.As our lives and media become increasingly commercialised, the fabric of daily life begins toTrade ReviewOne of the most brilliant journalists in the country * Daily Mail *Peerless reporting ... sharp and instructive ... wonderfully acidic about people when he thinks they deserve it * Observer *A national institution * Sunday Times *Playing devil's advocate is the function he performs better than anyone else anywhere ... an excellent and amusing read * New Statesman *Written from the battlefield ... Humphrys has written an important book * Irish Times *
£14.39
Cornerstone Uriels Machine
Book SynopsisChristopher Knight was born in 1950, and has a degree in advertising and graphic design. He is chairman of a marketing and advertising agency and is a Freemason.Robert Lomas was born in 1947 and has a degree in electrical engineering. He has worked on the guidance systems for Cruise missiles, and was involved in the early development of home computers. He is a Freemason and lectures on Masonic history.Trade ReviewA Plausible explanation of how prehistoric societies could have developed astronomical observatories such as Stonehenge for practical reasons * Sunday Times *The book is superb... the insights that it opens in a series of varied fields, tying them in logically to each other, is very lucid * Howie Firth, Director of the Orkney Science Festival *
£11.69
Vintage Publishing The Jaguar Smile
Book SynopsisSalman Rushdie is the author of ten novels, one collection of short stories, three works of non-fiction, and the co-editor of The Vintage Book of Indian Writing. In 1993 Midnight's Children was judged to be the Best of the Booker, the best novel to have won the Booker Prize in its forty year history. The Moor's Last Sigh won the Whitbread Prize in 1995 and the European Union's Aristeion Prize for Literature in 1996. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres.Trade ReviewStirring and original * New York Times *A vivid and probing introduction for perplexed outsiders * Newsday *Salman Rushdie's extraordinary book...is a masterpiece of sympathetic yet critical reporting, graced with his marvellous wit, quietly assertive style, odd and yet always revealing experiences -- Edward Said
£9.49
Vintage Publishing Country Of My Skull
Book SynopsisThe first free elections in South Africa''s history were held in 1994. Within a year legislation was drafted to create a Truth and Reconcilliation Commission to establish a picture of the gross human rights violations committed between 1960 and 1993. It was to seek the truth and make it known to the public and to prevent these brutal events ever happening again. From 1996 and over the following two years South Africans were exposed almost daily to revelations about their traumatic past. Antije Krog''s full account of the Commission''s work using the testimonies of the oppressed and oppressors alike is a harrowing and haunting book in which the voices of ordinary people shape the course of history.WINNER OF SOUTH AFRICA''S SUNDAY TIMES ALAN PATON AWARDTrade ReviewOne of the best books of the year * The Economist *No one will tell us more about the struggle for the Afrikaner's soul; for this book, like the events it reports, is an act of redemption * Daily Telegraph *Krog's account of the hearings, which recorded 20,000 statements from victims and nearly 8,000 applications for amnesty, is vivid and impassioned * Mail on Sunday *Whatever it is that makes a major lasting work of non-fiction, it is here * Observer *Her accounts are so powerful, her resilience, humour and compassion so engaging...to have written this book is heroic * Sunday Times *
£11.69
Cornerstone Biohazard
Book Synopsis''We thought we had lived through the terror of a nuclear war, but something far more ominous was brewing in the Soviet Union - a biological Armageddon from which no one would escape. Dr Alibek has emerged from the world''s deadliest labs to tell a story that is as important as it is chilling. Sometimes the truth is far worse than fiction. No one can afford not to read this book.'' Robin Cook ''As the top scientist in the Soviet Union''s biowarfare program and the inventor of the world''s most powerful anthrax, Dr Ken Alibek has stunned the highest levels of the U.S. government with his revelations. Now, in a calm, compelling, utterly convincing voice, he tells the world what he knows. Modern biology is producing weapons that in killing power may exceed the hydrogen bomb. Ken Alibek describes them with the intimate knowledge of a top weaponeer.'' Richard PrestTrade ReviewIn the West Alibek has been shocked by the flippancy and the alarming level of complaceny regarding biological weapons. He felt it was his duty to try to dispel such ignorance. By writing this book he has succeeded brilliantly in achieving this aim. * Literary Review *For those . who thought we were crying wolf when we tried to tell you that there really was a Soviet biological weapons programme that threatened our security, this book will make uncomfortable reading. * New Scientist *
£14.39
Cornerstone From Eden To Exile
Book SynopsisAs the leading figure in New Archaeology, David Rohl has been at the forefront of the movement to discover the archaeological evidence for events described in the Old Testament which we have come to think of as myths. His previous books, Test of Time and Legend presented the arguments and counter-arguments. In From Eden to Exile this discursive approach is replaced by historical storytelling, which follows the sequence of events from the rise of Neolithic civilisation in a region now part of Iran which inspired the story of the Garden of Eden, through Noah, Abraham and the sojourn in Egypt, to the fall of Jericho, the dual kingdoms of the Promised Land and lastly, the exile in Babylon, where the stories of the Old Testament were collated into something very like their present form. A fascinating history book that will appeal to anyone with an interest in ancient history, religion and archaeology.Trade ReviewDavid Rohl's real achievement is the way in which he pieces the evidence together in a coherent, properly magnificent story, the first of all stories, for the first time * Sunday Times *When it comes to exploring, David Rohl makes Indiana Jones look like an under-achiever ... Rohl is Britain's highest profile Egyptologist * Daily Express *David Rohl ... stood the accepted chronology of ancient Egypt on its head by claiming that shortening the pharaonic time line by up to three hundred years results in perfect matches between Egyptian history and biblical narratives ... He argued his case in a controversial best seller A Test of Time and the subsequent TV series 'Pharaohs and Kings' which made him Britain's highest-profile archaeologist and the centre of much scholarly feuding * Jerusalem Report *
£12.99
Cornerstone At the Tomb of the Inflatable Pig
Book SynopsisParaguay - the name conjures up everything most exotic and extreme in South America. It''s a place of hellish jungles, dictators, fraudsters and Nazis, utopian experiments, missionaries and lurid coups. It''s not a place for the timid tourist. It doesn''t even have its own guidebook. But Paraguay, as revealed in this outstanding new travel book, is among the most beautiful and captivating countries in the world. The beguiling Paraguayans, despised and feared by their neighbours, are unfathomable. They adore Diana, Princess of Wales, as if she were still alive and hundreds volunteered to fight for Britain in the Falklands War. Their politics are Byzantine but when the Vice-President is murdered, they call in Scotland Yard. Discover more about the unique traditions of South American culture through this fascinating piece of travel journalism.Trade ReviewA glorious travel book - Edward Marriot * The Sunday Times *[Gimlette's] account is so rich in anecdotes, so suffused in color and dialect that we are left with a sense of having somehow inhaled all this Paraguayan history and then experienced it through a nightmare or a dream. Gimlette has given us a cast of characters as vivid as any by Dickens or Waugh * New York Times *Full of surprises, this is a riveting read * Sunday Telegraph *Off the wall title, and a great off centre enjoyment, with a smashing, entertaining piece of writing... * Manchester Evening News *John Gimlette's extraordinary book, part history, part travelogue, is so vivid that nobody reading it is ever likely to forget the country. - Max Davidson * Daily Telegraph *
£14.39
Cornerstone A Test Of Time Volume OneThe BibleFrom Myth to
Book SynopsisBy employing the same basic methodologies used to establish the currently accepted chronology, it has been possible for a group of young archaeologists, including David Rohl, to create a New Chronology which resolves many of the problems permeating ancient world studies. In particular, one model has been developed which has major implications for Old Testament research. Through the revision of the master chronology of ancient Egypt they have unlocked the key to biblical history - the epic events of the Bible really did happen as recorded in the Books of Genesis, Exodus, Judges, Samuel, Kings and Chronicles - the problem was that we had previously been looking for them in completely the wrong place in time.Many of the conundrums of the past are explained, and legendary figures such as Joseph, Moses, David and Solomon find their true political setting. Exodus and Conquest will be restored to history and the magic of legend will begin to make its great comebackTrade ReviewThe New Book of Revelations... A scholarly theory that has set the academic world on its ear * Sunday Times *The Bible, it seems, is back in business * Daily Mail *When it comes to exploring, David Rohl makes Indiana Jones look like an under-achiever... Rohl is Britain's highest profile Egyptologist * Daily Express *
£15.29
Vintage Publishing Venice
Book SynopsisPeter Ackroyd is an award-winning historian, biographer, novelist, poet and broadcaster. He is the author of the acclaimed non-fiction bestsellers London: The Biography, Thames: Sacred River and London Under; biographies of figures including Charles Dickens, William Blake, Charlie Chaplin and Alfred Hitchcock; and a multi-volume history of England. He has won the Whitbread Biography Award, the Royal Society of Literature's William Heinemann Award, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, the Guardian Fiction Prize, the Somerset Maugham Award and the South Bank Prize for Literature. He holds a CBE for services to literature.Trade ReviewYet another wonderful biography of a city -- Lesley McDowell * The Independent on Sunday *He is brilliant on beginnings... Ackroyd covers an immense amount of ground with verve and elegance * Independent on Sunday *Ackroyd tells the story well...where he excels is in his descriptions...he writes beguilingly * Guardian *Ackroyd is hugely intelligent and formidably industrious; there can be few people, Venetian or foreign, who know Venice better than he... It is full of good things * Daily Telegraph *Elegant... Interweaving psychogeographical investigation with history, picking out defining characteristics which were present from its earliest days * Scotsman *
£17.09
Vintage Publishing Little Wilson and Big God
Book SynopsisThese are Anthony Burgess''s candid confessions: he was seduced at the age of nine by an older woman; whilst serving in Gibraltar in World War II he was thrown into jail on VE Day for calling Franco names; he once taught a group of Nazi socialites that the English equivalent of ''heil'' was ''sod'' and had them crying ''Sod Hitler''. Little Wilson and Big God moves from Moss Side to Malaya recalling Burgess''s time as an education officer in the tropics, his tempestuous first marriage, his struggles with Catholicism and the beginning of his prolific writing life. Wise, self-deprecating and bristling with incident, this is a first-class memoir.Trade ReviewPacked, provocative and masterly -- Sebastian FaulksLike the best of Burgess' novels, the book has terrific pace and vivacity... It is the story of a sort of Unlucky Jim * LA Times *
£14.24
Vintage Publishing Six Wives
Book SynopsisDivorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survivedCATHERINE OF ARAGON: the pious Spanish Catholic who suffered years of miscarriages and failed to produce a male heir... ANNE BOLEYN: the pretty, clever, French-educated Protestant whose marriage to Henry changed England forever...JANE SEYMOUR: the demure and submissive contrast to Anne Boleyn''s radical and vampish style... ANNE OF CLEVES: ''the mare of Flanders'' whose short marriage to the overweight Henry followed a farcical ''beauty contest''...CATHERINE HOWARD: the flirtatious teenager whose adulteries made a fool of the ageing king... CATHERINE PARR: the shrewd, religiously radical bluestocking who outlived him...In this dazzling study, David Starkey gives us a richly textured picture of daily life at the Tudor Court from the woman''s point of view. Above all, he establishes the interaction of the private and the public, and demonstrates how the Queens of Henry VIII were central in deTrade ReviewA tribute to Starkey's narrative drive, his puckish wit and sharp discrimination * Sunday Times *Relentlessly scholarly...Starkey's is the best study of Henry's wives ever published... A masterly and persuasive narrative which never loses its grip over the story or the reader * Evening Standard *High-powered history pithily expressed... This study of Henry VIII's women shows David Starkey at his best * Sunday Telegraph *So gripping that one finishes it wishing it were even longer... The punchy style adopted by Starkey is perfectly suited to the story he has to tell * Mail on Sunday *Starkey keeps the narrative alive with a combination of sound chronology, peppery opinion and startling detail... Six Wives provides an intriguing new perspective on this key period in English history * Daily Telegraph *
£17.09
Vintage Publishing The Reckoning The Murder of Christopher Marlowe
Book SynopsisIn 1593, the brilliant and controversial young playwright Christopher Marlowe was stabbed to death in a Deptford lodging house. The circumstances were shady, the official account - a violent quarrel over the bill, or ''recknynge'' - long regarded as dubious.For the first time tracing Marlowe''s shadowy political and intelligence dealings, Charles Nicholl uncovers critical new evidence about that fatal day. Also providing an enthralling revelation of the extraordinary underworld of Elizabethan crime and espionage, the ''secret theatre'', Nicholl penetrates four centuries of obscurity to expose a complex and chilling story of entrapment and betrayal.Trade ReviewAn absorbing detective story with many twists and dark secrets. It is a passionate tale that haunts the imagination -- Michael Sheldon * Daily Telegraph, Books of the Year *Remarkable...for the first time reveals the true mystery of his death... Extraordinary * The Times *A book full of wit, scholarship and ingenuity... Extraordinary -- Colm Toibin * Irish Times *A remarkable academic thriller, a brilliant recontruction -- Michael Coveney * Observer *This book blows open the world of Elizabethan espionage, and presents the most comprehensive case yet for disbelieving the official inquest * Independent *
£13.49
Vintage Publishing Curry
Book SynopsisCurry tells the story of an array of familiar Indian dishes and the people who invented, discovered, cooked and ate them. Curry is vivid, entertaining and delicious.Fascinating and meticulously researchedlayers historical fact with mouth-watering dinner table gossip' Meera Syal, The TimesThis imaginative book tells the history of India and its rulers through their food. It follows the story of curry as it spread from the courts of Delhi to the balti houses of Birmingham.Curry is the product of India''s long history of invasion. In the wake of the Mughal conquerors, an army of cooks brought Persian recipes to northern India; in the south, Portugese spice merchants introduced vinegar marinades and the chillies they had recently discovered in the New World; the British soon followed, with their passion for roast meat accompanied by cauliflowers and beans. When these new ingredients were mixed with native spices, they produced tTrade ReviewMarvellous and well-illustrated...based on exhaustive research and full of intriguing nuggets of information -- Chandak Sengoopta * Independent *A beautifully balanced book, melding historical fact with modern anecdotes... It's the definitive history of curry * Mail on Sunday *Fascinating and meticulously researched... layers historical fact with mouth-watering dinner table gossip of maharajah's epicurean excesses -- Meera Syal * The Times *Original and highly entertaining * Daily Mail *
£11.69
Vintage Publishing Things My Mother Never Told Me
Book SynopsisIn his masterpiece of family literature, And When Did you Last See Your Father?, Blake Morrison''s mother appears as an intriguing but mostly silent figure. This is her startling and touching story - and a son''s search to discover the truth about the remarkable Kerry girl who qualified as a doctor in Dublin in 1942, worked in British hospitals throughout the war, and then reinvented herself again to adapt to a quieter post-war family life. At the heart of the book there''s a passionate wartime love affair, seen through the frank, funny, furious letters his parents wrote during their courtship. It evokes a surprising picture of life and love in WWII. From the obstacles the lovers faced, to their moments of hilarity and joy Things My Mother Never Told Me is a revealing and poignant anatomy of family conflict, love, war, and finally marriage. Kim Morrison emerges quietly, magically from the shadows, a determined heroine for our times.Trade Review[Morrison's] prose has the diamond cut of a poet's eye, and his story is suffused with warmth and longing-he has brought [his mother] vividly to life in an outstanding work of family literature * Independent *Honest, funny and touching, this is a loving tribute from a son to his mother * Sunday Mirror *Morrison constructs the book beautifully, as always... Fine writing and expert editing...with Morrison's usual virtues of unsentimental observation and expert storytelling * Sunday Times *A marvellous example of what a zen-like act of sustained attention can do to honour and illuminate the ordinary... It has a universality * Evening Standard *A scintillating read... Not only a fine evocation of the period, but also a fascinating study of a marriage * GQ *
£14.39
Vintage Publishing Modernism
Book SynopsisPeter Gay is Sterling Professor of History Emeritus at Yale University and former director of the New York Public Library's Center for Scholars and Writers. He is the author of more than twenty-five books, including the National Book Award winner, The Enlightenment, the best-selling Weimar Culture, and the widely translated Freud: A Life for Our Time.Trade ReviewBeautifully written, wide-ranging and psychologically acute, Modernism: The Lure of Heresy is a celebration of the subversive energies that decisively transformed art and culture in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. At once bracingly intelligent and elegiac, Gay's magisterial book is richly rewarding for anyone who wants to understand the fractured world we have all inherited -- Stephen GreenblattSuperbly researched and well recounted. The extent to which many [modernists] "sold out" to their wealthy patrons, adopting the values they once scorned, makes for some engrossing reading * Scotsman *Highly readable, well-illustrated...an intelligent and exciting account of creative individuals and the times in which they worked... An enormous achievement * New Statesman *An exhaustive and lively summary -- James Urquhart * Financial Times *Written... with a polymathematical verve which carried me with him to the end -- Nicholas Bagnall * Sunday Telegraph *
£16.19
Vintage Publishing Web Of Deceit
Book SynopsisIn his explosive new book, Mark Curtis reveals a new picture of Britain''s role in the world since 1945 and in the ''war against terrorism'' by offering a comprehensive critique of the Blair government''s foreign policy. Curtis argues that Britain is an ''outlaw state'', often a violator of international law and ally of many repressive regimes. He reasons not only that Britain''s foreign policies are generally unethical but that they are also making the world more dangerous and unequal. The Web of Deceit describes the staggering gulf that has arisen between New Labour''s professed commitment to upholding ethical values and the reality of current policies. It outlines the new phase in global intervention, the immorality of British policy in Afghanistan, Kosovo, Iraq and Indonesia and support for repressive governments in Israel, Russia, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Curtis also reveals Britain''s acquiescence in the Rwanda genocide and economic policies in the World Trade OTrade ReviewScrupulously, relentlessly...rescues the historical and documentary record from a web of distortion and self-serving illusion -- Noam ChomskyThe picture of British policies that Curtis reveals should serve as a call to action for those who hope to understand the world that has been shaped by Western power, and to overcome the injustice and suffering that is, in no small measure, its cruel legacy -- Noam ChomskyA searing indictment of British Foreign policy -- C. R. Sridhar * Blogcritics.org Politics *
£17.09
Vintage Publishing Eichmann
Book SynopsisDavid Cesarani is Research Professor in History at Royal Holloway, University of London. His publications include Justice Delayed: How Britain Became a Refuge for Nazi War Criminals, Arthur Koestler: The Homeless Mind and, most recently, Eichmann: His Life and Crimes, which won the 2006 US National Jewish Book Award for History. He has written and edited several books exploring the relationship between Britain, British Jews, and Zionism including The 'Jewish Chronicle' and Anglo-Jewry and The Making of Modern Anglo-Jewry.Trade ReviewA powerful and revelatory book * Independent *A penetrating and compelling study * Sunday Telegraph *Excellent and thorough * Guardian *A perceptive and intelligent new account - David Cesarani comes closer than anyone to solving the puzzle of what made Eichmann do what he did * Literary Review *Meticulous and admirably balanced * Times Literary Supplement *
£14.24
Random House Perkin
Book SynopsisThe story of Perkin Warbeck is one of the most compelling mysteries of English history. A young man suddenly emerged claiming to be Richard of York, the younger of the Princes in the Tower. As such, he tormented Henry VII for eight years. He tried three times to invade England and behaved like a prince. Officially, however, he was proclaimed to be Perkin Warbeck, the son of a Flemish boatman. A diplomatic pawn, he was used by the greatest European rulers of the age for their own purposes. All who dealt with him gave him the identity they wished him to have: either the Duke of York or a jumped-up lad from Flanders. It is possible that he was neither. It is also possible that, by the end, even he did not really know who he was. In Perkin Ann Wroe tells again a marvellous tale that is on the brink of being forgotten. She also dissects the official cover story. In doing so she delves into the secret corners of European history and produces a portrait of the late fifteenth century that is bTrade ReviewExtraordinary... Perkin is a masterclass in how biography can breathe life into the darkest and most inert pockets of the past * Guardian *An unforgettable book... The best book I have ever reviewed in these pages * Mail on Sunday *Gripping... With Perkin, Wroe has breathed new life into an obscure figure * Daily Mail *A book that captures the temper of an age * Financial Times *Rewards every moment of attention * Sunday Telegraph *
£16.19
Cornerstone After The Victorians
Book SynopsisWhen this book begins, in the reign of Edward VII, Great Britain commands the mightiest empire the world has ever seen. By the time it ends, with the Coronation of Elizabeth II, Britain has emerged victorious from a world war, but ruined as a world power. How did Britain''s power and influence decline? This is one of the questions which A. N. Wilson seeks to answer in his masterly follow-up to The Victorians.Trade ReviewNo review can do justice to the richness, liveliness and sheer fun of this book. Wilson has written one of the books of the year -- John Charmley * Guardian *Argumentative, thought-provoking and very well-written -- Andrew Roberts * Daily Telegraph *He shows that the issues which dominate our headlines - immigration, Iraq, religious tolerance - have their roots in decisions made, or not made, as long ago as the Twenties ... A compelling read -- Kathryn Hughes * Mail on Sunday *The practised columnist's ability to provoke new thoughts with an original and opinionated argument is evident on nearly every page... Coherent and absorbing -- Michael Grove * The Times *A page-turner, lambent with fascination... One of the best things about the book is the use Wilson makes of the period's reflection in its fecund literature. And, indeed, his masterly piece of history is a work of literature too -- A.C. Grayling * Financial Times *
£17.84
Random House Diana Mosley
Book SynopsisDiana Mosley was one of the most fascinating and controversial figures of recent times. For some, she was a cult; for many, anathema. Born in 1910 Diana was the most beautiful and the cleverest of the six Mitford sisters. She was eighteen when she married Bryan Guinness, of the brewing dynasty, by whom she had two sons. After four years, she left him for the fascist leader, Oswald Mosley, and set herself up as Mosley''s mistress - a course of action that horrified her family and scandalised society. In 1933 she took her sister Unity to Germany; soon both had met the new German leader, Adolf Hitler. Diana became so close to him that when she and Mosley married in 1936 the ceremony took place in the Goebbels drawing room and Hitler was guest of honour. She continued to visit Hitler until a month before the outbreak of war; and afterwards, for many, years, refused to believe in the reality of the Holocaust. This gripping book is a portrait of both an extraordinary individual and the stranTrade ReviewI defy anyone not to be interested in this book...convincing and compelling. De Courcy's book takes the ruthless moon goddess of 20th-century myth and turns her into a human being, and that is more than many biographies would have done * Independent on Sunday *Moseley undoubtedly led a fascinating - if frequently unsavoury - life. This gripping biography tells her unique story * Red *Anne de Courcy has a riveting tale to tell and she does it with an ergomatic deftness that is enviable. Bold lady; compelling book * Literary Review *
£15.29
Cornerstone The Trojan War
Book SynopsisDid the Trojan War really happen?Spectacular new archaeological evidence suggests that it did. Recent excavations and newly translated Hittite texts reveal that Troy was a large, wealthy city allied with the Hittite Empire. Located at the strategic entrance to the Dardanelles, the link between the Aegean and Black Sea, it was a tempting target for marauding Greeks, the Vikings of the Bronze Age. The Trojan War may have been the inevitable consequence of expanding Greek maritime commerce.Written by a leading expert on ancient military history, the true story of the most famous battle in history is every bit as compelling as Homer''s epic account - and confirms many of its details. In The Trojan War, master storyteller Barry Strauss puts legend into its historical context, without losing its poetry and grandeur.Trade ReviewImaginative, sympathetic and plausible -- Bettany HughesAn exciting tale written in a lively style that brings Homer's heroes and the world in which they lived to vibrant and colourful life -- Donald KaganStrauss's brilliant interweaving of the mythic and the modern archaeological records makes for exhilarating [...] reading * The Scotsman *Consumed in one of those burning-the-midnight-oil situations... I really enjoyed it -- Michael WoodA military epic of the first order, weaving together fact and fiction in a beguiling tapestry of blood, guts, gore - and terrible feminine beauty -- Paul Cartledge, professor of Greek History, Cambridge University
£11.69
Vintage Publishing Bright Young People
Book SynopsisBright Young People/ Making the most of our youth/ They talk in the Press of our social success/ But quite the reverse is the truth. [Noel Coward]The Bright Young People were one of the most extraordinary youth cults in British history. A pleasure-seeking band of bohemian party-givers and blue-blooded socialites, they romped through the 1920s gossip columns. Evelyn Waugh dramatised their antics in Vile Bodies and many of them, such as Anthony Powell, Nancy Mitford,Cecil Beaton and John Betjeman, later became household names. Their dealings with the media foreshadowed our modern celebrity culture and even today,we can detect their influence in our cultural life.But the quest for pleasure came at a price. Beneath the parties and practical jokes was a tormented generation, brought up in the shadow of war, whose relationships - with their parents and with each other - were prone to fracture. For many, their progress through the ''serious'' Thirties, wheTrade ReviewTaylor writes with such skill and aplomb that it's impossible not to be swept along by the intelligence and observations * Guardian *Shrewd and absorbing in his analysis of the way Waugh and Nancy Mitford promoted the world they would soon skewer in fiction * Sunday Times *Moving and always entertaining -- Jane Stevenson * Daily Telegraph *The depth and integrity of Taylor's research can only inspire awe and admiration. * Sunday Express *D J Taylor's enthusiasm, delivered with the zeal of a recent convert, proves there is fascination even in empty living and that the Bright Young Brigade of the 1920s are just as worthy of a book or two as Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, Tamara Beckwith, Calum Best and all the flapping 'It-people' of our own generation -- Alexander Waugh * Literary Review *
£12.34
Vintage Publishing The Mayflower Generation
Book SynopsisA Times History Book of the Year The voyage of the Mayflower is one of the seminal events in world history. But the story did not end with her arrival on the frozen coast of New England in 1620. In an epic history, Rebecca Fraser relates one ordinary family's extraordinary response to the challenges of life in America. Despite the intense physical trials of living in the New World, Edward Winslow found America exotic and enticing. His remarkable friendship with Massasoit, the King of the Wampanoags, is part of the legend of Thanksgiving. Yet, fifty years later, Edward's son Josiah was commanding the New England militias against Massasoit's son in King Philip's War. A fast-paced intensely human portrait, The Mayflower Generation reveals the contradictions between generations as they made the painful decisions that determined the future of America.Trade ReviewCaptivating, scholarly and addictively readable… Rebecca Fraser has the rare gift of being able to marshal and communicate a mountainous quantity of often original research in such a deft and elegant manner that it never becomes indigestible or irrelevant. [...] When a sidestep outside her rigorous chronological account is required, she executes it nimbly, without breaking her stride. If she reaches a period of scanty evidence, she admits it, and her suggestions carry the conviction of expertise. Everything is rooted in provable fact, much of it new -- Sue Gaisford * Financial Times *Rebecca Fraser tells this familiar story with wonderful immediacy; the Winslows come across not as strange characters from the distant past, but as real people with passions and anxieties familiar to us all -- Gerard De Groot * The Times *It is engagingly written and often compelling. There is an eye for memorable detail… The later account of “King Philip’s war” is both graphic and gripping… The author is a careful researcher, fair and level-headed. She is also an excellent painter of characters; in judging them, she looks as their deeds with contemporary mores in mind… Even if the Mayflower shelf is a crowded one, this is a book that deserves its place on it * The Economist *[Fraser] has threaded the important historiographical innovations seamlessly into her text, paying more attention than hitherto to the experiences of early colonial women, and drawing on the lessons of ethno-history in her portrayal of Indian tribes... A brilliant combination of synthesis and original research arriving in good time for the celebration of the quincentenary of the Mayflower -- Mark Bostridge * The Spectator *Fascinating… Rebecca Fraser commands a sprawling canvas, beginning in 1595 with the birth of Edward Winslow and ending in 1704 with the death of Peregrine White… Edward Winslow’s excitement at arriving in Leiden, with its free-thinking university, is vividly captured. So, too, are the perils of the Mayflower’s voyage… There is also a rich sense of the enormous possibilities offered by the New World… This is a thrilling story, admirably told -- Anthony Gardner * Tablet *
£11.69
Cornerstone Hells Gorge
Book Synopsis2014 is the 100-year-anniversary of the panama canal: one of the most extraordinary engineering feats in world history.Hell''s Gorge traces a heroic dream that spanned four centuries: to build a canal linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.The human cost was immense: in appalling working conditions and amid epidemics of fever, tens of thousands perished fighting the jungle, swamps and mountains of Panama, a scale of attrition comparable to many great battles.Matthew Parker explores the fierce geo-political struggle behind the heroic vision of the canal, and the immense engineering and medical battles that were fought. But he also weaves in the stories of the ordinary men and women who worked on the canal, to evoke everyday life on the construction and depict the battle on the ground deep in ''Hell''s Gorge''. Using diaries, memoirs, contemporary newspapers and previously unseen private letters, he draws a vivid picture of the heart-breaking struggle onTrade ReviewAn epic tale of human folly and endeavour, beautifully told and researched -- John le CarréMatthew Parker has picked a fascinating subject and written a book worthy of it ... It is peopled with a host of characters, some heroic, others corrupt, almost all out of the ordinary. There isn't a dull page -- Allan Massie * Daily Telegraph *Parker's epic story, from the 18th century to the present day, is awesome * The Times *Parker has written the Panama story for a new generation. He quotes extensively from letters and diaries of ordinary workers writing home to their families. And it is their heartfelt views on the conditions in which they lived and worked that really bring this book to life * The Economist *Parker's great forte in Panama Fever is to bring this complex story to life through a succession of vivid characters * Sunday Telegraph *
£15.29
Cornerstone Charles Camilla
Book SynopsisGyles Brandreth's is a varied career, from his role as Lord Commissioner of the Treasury in John Major's government to Children's publisher with Andre Deutsch. Brandreth's Breaking the Code: Westminster Diaries has been described as 'by far the best political diary of recent years, far more perceptive and revealing than Alan Clarke's' Times. His last book, Philip and Elizabeth: Portrait of a Marriage, published by Century, was a Sunday Times bestseller. He lives with his family in London.Trade ReviewBOOK OF THE YEAR ... Riveting, gossipy and touching * Mail on Sunday *Could this be the best book ever written about the Royal Family? ... A masterpiece. * Sunday Express *Utterly fascinating * Andrew Marr, Start the Week *Highly accomplished ... there is much here to entertain and inform * Sunday Telegraph *Completely fascinating - written by the man who really knows * Richard and Judy *
£13.49
Cornerstone Gandhi and Churchill
Book SynopsisMohandas Gandhi and Winston Churchill: India''s moral leader and Great Britain''s greatest Prime Minister. Born five years and seven thousand miles apart, they became embodiments of the nations they led. Both became living icons, idolized and admired around the world. Today, they remain enduring models of leadership in a democratic society.Yet the truth was Churchill and Gandhi were bitter enemies throughout their lives. This book reveals, for the first time, how that rivalry shaped the twentieth century and beyond. For more than forty years, from 1906 to 1948, Gandhi and Churchill were locked in a tense struggle for the hearts and minds of the British public, and of world opinion. Although they met only once, their titanic contest of wills would decide the fate of nations, continents, peoples, and ultimately an Empire.Here is a sweeping epic with a fascinating supporting cast, and a brilliant narrative parable of two men whose great successes were always haunted by personal failure - and whose final moments of triumph were overshadowed by the loss of what they held most dear.Trade ReviewYou finish Gandhi & Churchill knowing that you can evaluate the world today, particularly modern India, with more knowledge and insight * USA Today *Exquisitely detailed ... replete with stories underscoring the gulf between Churchill's robust realism and Gandhi's ascetic utopianism * Washington Times *The rivalry between Winston Churchill and Mohandas Gandhi could hardly have been played for higher stakes. The future of British India hung upon the outcome of their 20-year struggle ... Herman has researched Gandhi & Churchill meticulously and written it fluently * Wall Street Journal *An insightful and engaging interpretation of a common history * Time Out *Herman's dual biography artfully depicts the personalities of the two men ... [and] takes careful account of the constellation of modern and antimodern currents of late Victorian thought in situating these vastly influential figures in a fascinating narrative of their times * Publishers Weekly *
£13.49
Vintage Publishing Bad Faith
Book SynopsisBad Faith tells the story of one of history''s most despicable villains and conmen - Louis Darquier, Nazi collaborator and ''Commissioner for Jewish Affairs'', who dissembled his way to power in the Vichy government and was responsible for sending thousands of children to the gas chambers. After the war he left France, never to be brought to justice. Early on in his career Louis married the alcoholic Myrtle Jones from Tasmania, equally practised in the arts of fantasy and deception, and together they had a child, Anne whom they abandoned in England. Her tragic story is woven through the narrative. In Carmen Callil''s masterful, elegiac and sometimes darkly comic account, Darquier''s rise during the years leading up to the Second World War mirrors the rise of French anti-Semitism. Epic, haunting, the product of extraordinary research, this is a study in powerlessness, hatred and the role of remembrance.Shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize.Trade ReviewA superb exploration of the fractured mind of French anti-Semitism -- Simon Heffer * Literary Review *The story she has uncovered is so strange and powerful that it would be an unusual reader who was not profoundly moved -- Kathryn Hughes * Mail on Sunday *A work of phenomenally thorough, generous and humane scholarship....Callil understands anguish, and lays bare its causes with clarity and precision. Bad Faith exemplifies what Primo Levi called the 'continuous intellectual and moral effort' that is the only adequate response to the events described here -- Hilary Spurling * Daily Telegraph *Bad Faith is a book of passion and anger which, nonetheless, manages to keep its head as a significant work of history -- Mark Bostridge * Independent on Sunday *We cannot know what Anne Darquier would have thought of Callil's book, but my guess is that she would have been as moved, astonished and impressed as any other reader -- Ruth Scurr * The Times *
£16.19
Vintage Publishing Negro with a Hat Marcus Garvey
Book SynopsisDiscover the definitive biography of Marcus Garvey ''Grant is an accomplished storyteller and writes with an elegance leavened by wit and cynicism that makes this book eminently readable'' Guardian At one time during the first half of the twentieth century, Marcus Garvey was the most famous black man on the planet. Hailed as both the ''black Moses'' and merely ''a Negro with a hat'', he masterminded the first International Convention of the Negro Peoples of the World, began the Universal Negro Improvement Association and captivated audiences with his powerful speeches and audacious ''Back to Africa'' prograTrade ReviewA brisk and well-researched biography... A splendidly colourful book * Daily Telegraph *Gripping and sympathetic...monumental...Grant writes with the quiet authority of a historian who has done a colossal amount of research... and knows the smells and tastes of this period as if he had lived through it. He is slow to pass judgement, but when he does so, the verdict carries real weight... His history reads like a first-rate novel... Grant's book is a fine and valuable monument to [Garvey's] memory -- Kevin Jackson * New Statesman *Grant is an accomplished storyteller and writes with an elegance leavened by wit and cynicism that makes this book eminently readable -- Margaret Busby * Guardian *In this superb new biography, Colin Grant portrays Garvey as a showman-ideologue [and] is to be congratulated on this scholarly, well-written account * Sunday Telegraph *Engrossing...Writing in a concise, expressive style...drawing on gargantuan research...Grant meticulously chronicles Garvey's eventful odyssey and sheds light on his revolutionary thinking and formidable public speaking...he shows Garvey's heady triumphs and crushing disappointments, his complexity, his paradoxes * Independent on Sunday *
£10.44
Vintage Publishing China Witness Voices from a Silent Generation
China Witness is the personal testimony of a generation whose stories have not yet been told. Here the grandparents and great-grandparents of today sum up in their own words - for the first and perhaps the last time - the vast changes that have overtaken China''s people over a century. The book is at once a journey by the author through time and place, and a memorial to those who have lived through war and civil war, persecution, invasion, revolution, famine, modernization, Westernization - and have survived into the 21st century. We meet everyday heroes, now in their seventies, eighties and nineties, from across this vast country - a herb woman at a market, retired teachers, a legendary ''double-gun woman'', Red Guards, oil pioneers, an acrobat, a female general, a lantern maker, taxi drivers, and more- those whose voices, as Xinran says, ''will help our future understand our past''.
£15.29
Vintage Publishing Wheeler S Magnetic North
Book Synopsis''Sara Wheeler is the literary maestro of the earth''s frozen regions... The prose is startling and sharp-edged as the icy landscapes themselves'' Financial TimesSmashing through the Arctic Ocean with the crew of a Russian icebreaker, herding reindeer across the tundra with Lapps and shadowing the Trans-Alaskan pipeline with truckers, Sara Wheeler discovers a complex and ambiguous land belonging both to ancient myth and modern controversy. The Magnetic North is an adroit combination of history, science and reflection in which Wheeler meditates on the role of the Arctic: fragmented lands which fed imaginations long before the scientists and oilmen showed up (not to mention desperado explorers who ate their own shoes). The Magnetic North tells of all this, plus gulag ghosts, old and new Russia, colliding cultures and bioaccumulated toxins in polar bears.''A stylish and engaging account of some of the world''s most Trade ReviewA wise, provoking and zestful chronicle, poetic, often tragic and always engaging. Wheeler, a prolific raconteur of distant places, has created the finest book on the Arctic since Hugh Brody's The Other Side of Eden -- Rory MacLean * Sunday Times *An excellent narrator, intelligent, amusing, poetic and down to earth -- Fergus Fleming * Literary Review *Her adventurous spirit, tireless intelligence, and joy shine through...a rare and precious talent -- Roger Hutchinson * Scotsman *Beautiful and terrifying * The Times *Wheeler's book teaches a lot about what is happening in the far north, which is valuable -- Kathleen James * Guardian *
£10.44
Cornerstone Ekaterinburg
Book SynopsisA vivid and compelling account of the final thirteen days of the Romanovs, counting down to the last, tense hours of their lives.On 4 July 1918, a new commandant took control of a closely guarded house in the Russian town of Ekaterinburg. His name was Yakov Yurovsky, and his prisoners were the Imperial family: the former Tsar Nicholas, his wife Alexandra, and their children, Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia and Alexey. Thirteen days later, at Yurovsky''s command, and on direct orders from Moscow, the family was gunned down in a blaze of bullets in a basement room.This is the story of those murders, which ended 300 years of Romanov rule and began an era of state-orchestrated terror and brutal repression.Trade ReviewStunning, chilling and poignant, this is how history books should be written. * Alison Weir *That perfect but rare blend of history, sense of place, human tragedy, drama and atmosphere -- Susan HillHelen Rappaport brilliantly assembles the intricacies of the story in untroubling prose with some colourful re-imaginings to make this account utterly compelling. * Daily Telegraph *To coincide with the anniversary (of the death's of the Romanovs), their last wretched days have been chronicled in an explosive new book. Using previously overlooked documents and witness accounts, it tells the story of the family's final moments in unprecedented detail. * Daily Mail *A deeply touching anniversary tribute * Independent on Sunday *
£9.49
Vintage Publishing Great Hatred Little Room
Book SynopsisMaking peace in Northern Ireland was the greatest success of the Blair government, and one of the greatest achievements in British politics since the Second World War. This book demonstrates how the events in Northern Ireland have valuable lessons for those seeking to end conflict in other parts of the world.Trade ReviewFascinating and fast-moving... an extraordinary book * Observer *A powerful contribution to the history of Anglo-Irish relations * Literary Review *A fascinating book. No-one else could provide such an insider's account, for he was the only one to be involved in the detail of every tortuous step * Sunday Telegraph *Jonathan Powell has produced one of the half-dozen best books on the Troubles... He was the ultimate insider... Powell writes in a personal manner, with deft character sketches * Independent *This is the best-informed rough draft of history so far written by someone who was on the roller-coaster ride to a settlement * The Times *
£11.69
Vintage Publishing 1759
Book SynopsisFrank McLynn is a highly regarded historian, who specializes in biographies and military history. He has written over 20 books, including critically acclaimed biographies of Napoleon and Richard the Lionheart. Other books include 1066, Stanley, Marcus Aurelius and The Road Not Taken. He is a graduate of Wadham College, Oxford, and London University, where he obtained his doctorate.Trade ReviewA marvellous book: elegantly written, convincingly argued and packed with fascinating detail... it will do much to restore 1759 to its rightful place among the great years of British history -- Saul David * Sunday Times *An erudite and delightful literary and philosophical romp * Herald *McLynn's feisty and highly personal take on the pivot point of the Seven Years War adds fresh perspectives to the old story -- Stephen Brumwell * Times Literary Supplement *A stylish and fascinating account of the first global struggle * New Statesman *Splendid * Guardian *
£11.69
Vintage Publishing Mary Queen of Scots
Book SynopsisOn the night of 10 February 1567 an explosion devastated the Edinburgh residence of Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley, second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots. For this reason Elizabeth I had opposed his family's longstanding wish to marry him to Mary Stuart, who herself claimed to be the rightful queen of England.Trade ReviewI’m impressed by an intellect that can assimilate such a wealth of material and turn it into a cohesive narrative. * Waitrose Weekend *A monumental piece of historical detective work * Observer *Weir tells the famous story grippingly, with clarity and paceAn engrossing historical whodunnit combined with a richly textured portrait of an age * Scotland on Sunday *Valuable, conscientious and thoughtful * Sunday Times *
£13.49
Vintage Publishing Frederick the Great
Book SynopsisWITH AN INTRODUCTION BY KATE WILLIAMSFrederick II of Prussia attempted to escape his authoritarian father as a boy, but went on to become one of history''s greatest rulers. He loved the flute, and devoted hours of study to the arts and French literature, forming a long-lasting but turbulent friendship with Voltaire. He was a military genius and enlarged the borders of his empire, but he also promoted religious tolerance, economic reform and laid the foundation for a united Germany. Nancy Mitford brings all these contradictions and achievements to sparkling life in an fascinating, intimate biography.Trade ReviewHe is everything I like, brave, funny, no nonsense, marvellous taste, common sense, interested in everything -- Nancy Mitford on Frederick II of PrussiaThe unmistakable Mitford trill, in whose light, bright cadences an entire hard-to-shock and easy-to-bore view of life is made manifest -- Zoe Heller * Daily Telegraph *Elegant and entertaining * Chicago Tribune *Witty and atmospheric * Sunday Times *[Her books] have the air of having been talked on to the page, in a voice as direct and intimate and clear as a child's -- Laura Thompson * Daily Telegraph *
£9.99
Vintage Publishing The Bridge A Journey Between Orient and Occident
Book SynopsisIstanbul''s Galata Bridge has spanned the Golden Horn since the sixth century AD, connecting the old city with the more Western districts to the north. But the bridge is a city in itself, peopled by merchants and petty thieves, tourists and fishermen, and at the same time a microcosmic reflection of Turkey as the link between Asia and Europe. Geert Mak introduces us to the cigarette vendors and the best pickpockets in Europe, to the pride of the cobbler and the tea-seller''s homesickness, and interweaves their stories with vignettes illuminating the extraordinary history of Istanbul and Turkey. Charming and learned, The Bridge is a delightful book from the author of the acclaimed international bestseller In Europe.Trade ReviewThis gem of a history book is slim enough to squeeze into the smallest piece of carry-on luggage but contains a wealth of stories about Istanbul's famous Galata bridge...Weaving the long history of the bridge with those who populate it today, the sensitive Mak shines a light on contemporary Turkey and its changing relationship with the rest of Europe * Sunday Telegraph *Geert Mak introduces us to the city's denizen and history, stressing the symbolic importance of the bridge to a nation that sees itself as the meeting place between Europe and Asia * London Review of Books *Geert Mak's thoughtful travelogue sketches out Istanbul's past, and provides a touching portrait of its present inhabitants... his thoughtful, beautifully written book is suffused with respect for the richness of the individual life * Independent *Stories from the heart of a travelogue written with sympathy and acute observation * Financial Times *Part history lesson, part cultural essay, The Bridge's slender size does not diminish it's riches -- Viola Fort * Guardian *
£10.99
Vintage Publishing Rough Crossings
Book SynopsisRough Crossings is the astonishing story of the struggle to freedom by thousands of African-American slaves who fled the plantations to fight behind British lines in the American War of Independence. With gripping, powerfully vivid story-telling, Simon Schama follows the escaped blacks into the fires of the war, and into freezing, inhospitable Nova Scotia where many who had served the Crown were betrayed in their promises to receive land at the war''s end. Their fate became entwined with British abolitionists: inspirational figures such as Granville Sharp, the flute-playing father-figure of slave freedom, and John Clarkson, the ''Moses'' of this great exodus, who accompanied the blacks on their final rough crossing to Africa, where they hoped that freedom would finally greet them.Trade ReviewThis brilliant book by the leading historian of our times about a subject of great significance will delight professional historians and entrance the reading public. Rough Crossings succeeds in all respects. It is a 'tour de force' and a landmark in historical scholarship * Times Higher Education Supplement *Schama's gift for plunging us into the very centre of the action, whether in Charleston, London or on the African coast, makes reading an exhilarating experience * Daily Telegraph *Brilliant and deeply moving * Observer *Schama has a remarkable ability to stare into the anonymous faces in the crowd and to pluck them from historical obscurity. Rough Crossings gives voice to people who have, until now, remained mere names on duty lists -- James WalvinOne only has to dip into Rough Crossings to appreciate the command of detail that lies behind his apparently effortless ability to come up with the right quotation or description * Times Literary Supplement *
£17.09
Cornerstone Tower
Book SynopsisNigel Jones is a former deputy editor of History Today and BBC History magazines who is now a full-time historian and biographer. He has written books on subjects as diverse as Rupert Brooke, Patrick Hamilton and Nazi Germany, appeared on historical documentaries on BBC TV and radio and written and reviewed for most national newspapers. He conducted the author interviews for the Daily Mail Book Club; and reads for serialisation for the Daily Mail. His reviews appear frequently in the Sunday Telegraph, Literary Review and History Today. He lives near Brighton in East Sussex with his partner and three children. Tower is his most ambitious project to date.Trade ReviewA riveting, pacy and vivid chronicle of the Tower's turbulent past -- Alison WeirIn the hands of Nigel Jones we have an excellent contemporary guide, providing the right mix of scholarship and storytelling, insight and narrative pace, to offer a cracking history of the Tower. * Sunday Express *A breezy account of the Tower's past is full of surprises . . . Nigel Jones knows how to tell a tale with just enough detail to make the story work in any period since the 11th century . . . thrilling history. * Sunday Telegraph *In writing about the Tower's glory days, Nigel Jones has produced a wonderfully rollicking history of England itself. Told with relish, it should be a godsend to any history teacher who needs to hold the attention of his pupils. * Daily Mail *Much as I love books on Britain's past, it is a long time since I found one which enthralled me as much as the 400 pages of this volume. Jones tells the colourful story in an equally lively fashion, and the two sections of black and white plates, from the Bayeux Tapestry to the Krays, are well chosen. An epic history - and an epic read indeed. * Bookbag *
£13.49
Cornerstone Letters to My Grandchildren
Book SynopsisAs a diarist I have chronicled the time through which I have lived in meticulous detail: but all that is history. What matters now is the future for those who will live through it.The past is the past but there may be lessons to be learned which could help the next generation to avoid mistakes their parents and grandparents made.Certainly at my age I have learned an enormous amount from the study of history - not so much from the political leaders of the time but from those who struggled for justice and explained the world in a way that shows the continuity of history and has inspired me to do my work.Normality for any individual is what the world is like on the day they are born. The normality of the young is wholly different from the normality of their grandparents.It is the disentangling of the real questions from the day to day business of politics that may make sense for those who take up the task as they will do.Every generation has to fTrade ReviewThere is a portrait here of a good man whose extraordinary enthusiasm for the world is both incredibly undiminished and endearing * The Times *A charming introduction to Benn's work * Socialist Review *Inspiring and tremendously moving * Good Book Guide *There is a passion in Benn's writing and speaking that far transcends the miserable aspirations of most contemporary politicians -- Paul Foot * The Guardian *
£9.49
Vintage Publishing Inconvenient People
Book SynopsisThis highly original book brilliantly exposes the phenomenon of false allegations of lunacy and the dark motives behind them in the Victorian period.Gaslight tales of rooftop escapes, men and women snatched in broad daylight, patients shut in coffins, a fanatical cult known as the Abode of Love The nineteenth century saw repeated panics about sane individuals being locked away in lunatic asylums. With the rise of the mad-doctor' profession, English liberty seemed to be threatened by a new generation of medical men willing to incarcerate difficult family members in return for the high fees paid by an unscrupulous spouse or friend. Sarah Wise uncovers twelve shocking stories, untold for over a century and reveals the darker side of the Victorian upper and middle classes their sexuality, fears of inherited madness, financial greed and fraudulence and chillingly evoke the black motives at the heart of the phenomenon of the inconvenient person.'' A fine social history of the people who contested their confinement to madhouses in the 19th century, Wise offers striking arguments, suggesting that the public and juries were more intent on liberty than doctors and families' Sunday TelegraphTrade ReviewExcellent -- Kathryn Hughes * Guardian *A fine social history of the people who contested their confinement to madhouses in the 19th century, Wise offers striking arguments, suggesting that the public and juries were more intent on liberty than doctors and families * Sunday Telegraph *Action-packed and entertaining… [A] marvellous book -- Christopher Hirst * i *Fascinating… It has enough tragedy, comedy, farce and horror to fill a dozen fat novels, and enough bizarre characters to people them -- Suzi Feay * Financial Times *Wise is a terrific researcher and storyteller. Here she has woven a series of case studies into a fascinating history of insanity in the 19th century -- Kate Summerscale * Guardian Books of the Year *
£13.49
Random House Dear Zari
Book SynopsisZarghuna Kargar was born in Kabul in 1982. When civil war erupted across Afghanistan, she and her family escaped to Pakistan, and it was there that Zarghuna attended a journalism course organised by the BBC. Then in 2001 her family sought asylum in the UK, and she started working for the BBC World Service Pashtu Section. She joined the team on the groundbreaking programme Afghan Woman's Hour as producer and presenter in 2004, until it was discontinued in 2010. Zarghuna now works on current affairs programmes for the BBC Afghan Service. She lives in London.Trade ReviewA poignant celebration of human resilience -- Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite RunnerRemarkable...heart-rending...astonishing * The Times *An absorbing collection of life stories...their bravery and resilience shines through * Independent on Sunday *Harrowing and heart-warming * Sunday Telegraph *Heart-rending...harrowing... In each case, though, the resilience of the human spirit shines through * Metro *
£999.99
Random House An Island in Time
Book SynopsisGeert Mak is a jounalist and historian, and one of Holland's bestselling writers; his prizewinning books include Amsterdam and In Europe.Translated by Ann Kelland.Trade ReviewEloquent * Guardian *Movingly relevant * Irish Times *Mak is good on the pulse of the village, its ebb and flow as people come and go, but running throughout the book is a genuine anger that this is a meritorious way of life we are too eager to dismiss -- Lesley McDowell * Independent of Sunday *A big subject, neatly summarized, in which he also studies the changes in people's values that take place when they move to big cities, and the role now played by incomers in village life -- Alastair Mabbott * Herald *Nowhere has the silent rural revolution been described more beautifully and with mroe feeling * Volkskrant *
£15.29
