History Books

Book SynopsisThe true story of Sir John Franklin's fateful expedition in HMS Erebus and HMS Terror of the North-West Passage in 1845, and the eventual discovery of the ships'' wrecks in 2014 and 2016.In 1845, British explorer Sir John Franklin set out on a voyage to find the North-West Passage--the sea route linking the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific. The expedition was expected to complete its mission within three years and return home in triumph but the two ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, and the 129 men aboard them disappeared in the Arctic. The last Europeans to see them alive were the crews of two whaling ships in Baffin Bay in July 1845, just before they entered the labyrinth of the Arctic Archipelago.The loss of this British hero and his crew, and the many rescue expeditions and searches that followed, captured the public imagination, but the mystery surrounding the expedition's fate only deepened as more clues were found. How did FranklTrade ReviewA must-read for any history buff. You're sure to be gripped by the tale of endurance, heroism and tragedy. * Lifeboat *This is an undemanding book that brings the story to life through paintings and photographs, as well as an accessible text. * Sailing Today *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1 The North-West Passage 2 Sir John Franklin 3 HMS Erebus and HMS Terror 4 The Members of Sir John Franklin’s Erebus and Terror Expedition 5 Expedition Life 6 Searching for Franklin 7 McClintock Discovers the Fate of the Franklin Expedition 8 Disaster Revisited 9 Finding Erebus and Terror 10 Answers and Questions

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Book SynopsisFrom the New York Times bestselling author of The American Story and How to Lead and host of PBS’s History with David Rubenstein—David Rubenstein interviews living American presidents and top historians and journalists who reflect on the US presidency, including Joe Biden, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Maggie Haberman, Ron Chernow, and more.For years, bestselling author David M. Rubenstein has distilled the contours of American democracy through conversations with noted leaders and historians. In The Highest Calling, he offers an enlightening overview of arguably the single most important position in the world: the American presidency. Blending history and anecdote, Rubenstein chronicles the journeys of the presidents who have defined America as it exists now, what they envision for its future, and their legacy on the world stage. Drawing from his own experience in the Carter administration, he engages

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Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD SHORTLISTED FOR THE JAMES TAIT BLACK PRIZE 2020 At the dawn of the twentieth century, black women in the US were carving out new ways of living. The first generations born after emancipation, their struggle was to live as if they really were free. These women refused to labour like slaves. Wrestling with the question of freedom, they invented forms of love and solidarity outside convention and law. These were the pioneers of free love, common-law and transient marriages, queer identities, and single motherhood - all deemed scandalous, even pathological, at the dawn of the twentieth century, though they set the pattern for the world to come. In Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments, Saidiya Hartman deploys both radical scholarship and profound literary intelligence to examine the transformation of intimate life that they instigated. With visionary intensity, she conjures their worlds, their dilemmas, their defiant brilliance.Trade ReviewOne of our most brilliant contemporary thinkers ... She's a theorist and writer who actually changes what's possible in my thought patterns -- Claudia RankineInfuses the history of black women and queer radicals with incredible life and urgency. She basically invents a new genre -- Carmen Maria Machado * New Statesman *I was inspired, surprised and deeply moved....[Hartman's] mode is intimate, radical and always alive to the details. -- Leslie Jamison * New York Times Book Review *This is scholarship as art * New Inquiry *Exhilarating....A rich resurrection of a forgotten history....[Hartman's] rigor and restraint give her writing its distinctive electricity and tension....This kind of beautiful, immersive narration exists for its own sake but it also counteracts the most common depictions of black urban life from this time. -- Parul Sehgal * New York Times *Ambitious, original... a beautiful experiment in its own right, to be set beside the many attempts at living free that Hartman here chronicles with a keen sense of history, imagination, and love. * Maggie Nelson, author of The Argonauts *Wayward Lives is a startling, dazzling act of resurrection... These remarkable black women were shamed, scorned, criminalized, studied, diagnosed and then erased from history. Yet now, Hartman challenges us to see, finally, who they really were: beautiful, complex, and multidimensional-whole people - who dared to live by their own rules, somehow making a way out of no way at all. * Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow *With urgency and compassion, Hartman rescues the lives of young black women from the margins of history. Wayward Lives is a series of adventure stories that take the reader through the travails and triumphs of a multitude of black women, as they negotiate the perilous path of self-discovery at the turn of the twentieth century. In her impeccably researched new book, Hartman breathes glorious life into these true survival tales with the precision and invention of a master storyteller. * Lynn Nottage, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Sweat and Ruined *Fantastic, really amazing ... daring -- Hari KunzruWayward Lives unsorts the archive looking for the errant, the unruly, the gorgeously disarranged paths of fugitive black girls. Fleeing from respectability, the good, the right and the true, the black girls that interest Hartman are everyday revolutionaries or what she calls 'chorines, bulldaggers, aesthetical negroes, socialists, lady lovers, pansies and anarchists.' This book is a love song to the wayward, a riotous poem, a lyrical homage to the minor. It changes the way we do history, the way we constitute the political, and makes resistance newly visible in the ordinary. This book changes everything. * Jack Halberstam, author of Female Masculinity and The Queer Art of Failure *Saidiya Hartman tells a mesmerizing story with a multitude of women as its heroines, lifting up invisible black seekers within the cities of one hundred years ago to the light of memory and tribute. She uses the weapons of lyric and literature to steal 'colored women' away from the grasp of white lawmen and the clinical gaze, and along the way gives history what it lacks and wants-black women as secret agents of destiny, deep lives from the unnamed crowd, and underground sinners as the true sponsors of social change. * Edward Ball, author of Slaves in the Family *A masterpiece... The wayward lives and beautiful experiments in which Professor Hartman is interested can only be described and illuminated in wayward and experimental ways-not in analytic detachment but by joining the experiment, by engaging in its hard-won freedoms, its autonomous profligacies, its shifting directions... Hartman radically reimagines the very idea of the portrait... A truly great and groundbreaking book. * Fred Moten, professor of performance studies, New York University *Lyrical and novelistic....This passionate, poetic retrieval of women from the footnotes of history is a superb literary achievement * Publisher's Weekly *How to honour the soft liquid rigour, the sharp vast tenderness, of a writer like Saidiya Hartman? ... For those of us who turn to the archive seeking comfort, looking for old ways of looking at new things, for redress to our subjugated history - this book is a balm and a pedagogic tool. Wayward Lives is a book that wants you to live. -- Imani Robinson and Ebun Sodipo * Wasafiri *Lyrical and highly readable ... Hartman opens a window onto a form of resistance less well documented than the protests led by organised labour and civil rights campaigners * Literary Review *

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Book SynopsisHenrietta is a true original. Clever, vivacious and interested in everything, she managed to balance the demands of high profile public life with that of a caring mother. She was the home-schooled daughter of a bankrupt Earl and more than just a little bit in love with her handsome wayward brother, but had been married off to a plump pudding of a man, the nabob Edward Clive, governor of Madras. And her partial escape was to ride across southern India (in a vast tented caravan propelled by dozens of elephants, camels and a hundred bullock carts) and write home. For centuries this account, the first joyful description of India by a British woman, remained unread in a Welsh castle. Fortunately it was transcribed by a Texan traveller, who went on to splice this already evocative memoir with complementary sections from the diary of Henrietta's precocious daughter, the 12-year old Charly and images of their artist companion, Anna Tonelli. The resulting labour of love and scholarship is Birds of Passage, a unique trifocular account of three very different women travelling across southern India in the late 18th century, in the immediate aftermath of the last of the Mysore Wars between Tipoo Sahib and the Raj. Half a generation later, the well travelled Charly would be chosen as tutor for the young princess Victoria, the First Empress of India.

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Book SynopsisThe story of the struggle to control Gaza, from the mid-19th century to the present.

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Book SynopsisStephen Greenblatt is Cogan University Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University. He is the author of fifteen books, including The Swerve: How the World Became Modern, which won the National Book Award and a Pulitzer Prize, as well as the New York Times bestseller Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare and the classic university text Renaissance Self-Fashioning. A prize-winning author and celebrated scholar, he has been studying, thinking and writing about Renaissance literature for his entire working life.Trade ReviewSuperbly readable... An exciting story, and Greenblatt tells it with his customary clarity and verve -- Robert Douglas-Fairhurst * Daily Telegraph *Superb history ... this concise, learned and fluently written book tells a remarkable story -- Charles Nicholl * Observer *Dazzling * Guardian *In this outstandingly constructed assessment of the birth of philosophical modernity, renowned Shakespeare scholar Greenblatt deftly transports reader to the dawn of the Renaissance...Readers from across the humanities will find this enthralling account irresistible * Library Journal *More wonderfully illuminating Renaissance history from a master scholar and historian (starred review) * Kirkus Reviews *

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Book SynopsisThe first authorized copy of this mysterious, much-speculated-upon, one-of-a-kind, centuries-old puzzleTrade Review“For the first time, a complete reproduction [of] The Voynich Manuscript, has been published, featuring essays exploring what is known about the book and extra-wide margins so readers can record their responses to its beguiling, beautiful strangeness.”—Nina MacLaughlin, Boston Globe“For people who like a good historical mystery, this first authorized publication of the fifteenth- or sixteenth-century Voynich Manuscript will fascinate.”—Rebecca Onion, Slate“Handsome and well-produced. . . This facsimile and the accompanying series of essays give a clear sense of the current state of knowledge on the manuscript and reveal the findings of new research.”—H. R. Woud Huysen, Times Literary Supplement“The Voynich MS has inspired generations of enthusiasts dedicated to deciphering it. . . . This beautiful facsimile will make it available for many more people to become enticed and entranced by it.”—David V. Barrett, Fortean Times“The Voynich Manuscript, a volume edited by the library’s curator Raymond Clemens, revivifies this tantalising artefact. . . . Wide margins are deliberately provided for readers’ notes on their own ideas. ‘Bonne chance!,’ writes Clemens. I’ll second that.”—Andrew Robinson, Nature“Perhaps studying these pages in the hope of unlocking secrets is to miss the point. It’s almost as though the book exists in order to make the inquiry into its existence possible.”—Jamie Martin, London Review of Books“As handsome a new book as you could own. This medieval beauty has it all: fold-out sections, delicate illustrations of plants, astrological charts, what look to be alchemical recipes. . . . But the main thing about it—the thing that makes publishing it so quixotic—is that it’s a book you can’t actually read. Nobody can.”—Sam Leith, Prospect“Sumptuous facsimile reproduction. . . . Jennifer Rampling’s judiciously skeptical essay . . . is a careful deconstruction of over-excited theories.”—Kathryn Murphy, Apollo“This new book, reproducing the entire Voynich Manuscript, is a godsend. While the essays offer valid clues to the manuscript’s age and relation to late medieval science, the manuscript itself stubbornly refuses to yield its secrets.”—Roger S. Wieck, Department of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts, Morgan Library & Museum“A book worthy of its subject in every way. Clemens and his collaborators have done an extraordinary job teasing out some of the secrets and wonders of the enigmatic Voynich Manuscript in ways that will make this volume an invaluable resource for many years to come.”—Bruce Holsinger, author of A Burnable Book“Many hands have held Voynich’s now-eponymous book over the centuries . . . yet none of them have managed convincingly to solve its mysteries.”—Deborah Harkness, from the Introduction

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Book SynopsisWhen was the last time you spoke to a stranger?In our cities, we barely acknowledge one another on public transport, even as rates of loneliness skyrocket. Online, we carefully curate who we interact with. In our politics, we are increasingly consumed by a fear of people we''ve never met. But what if strangers, long believed to be the cause of many of our problems, were actually the solution?In The Power of Strangers, Joe Keohane discovers the surprising benefits that come from talking to strangers, examining how even passing interactions can enhance empathy, happiness and cognitive development, ease loneliness and isolation, and root us in the world, deepening our sense of belonging. Warm, witty, erudite and profound, this deeply researched book will make you reconsider how you perceive and approach strangers, showing you how talking to strangers isn''t just not a way to live, it''s a way to survive.Trade Review'In a thrilling, immersive journey across time and continents, Keohane upends everything we thought we knew about the people we don't know' -- Will Storr, author of The Science of Storytelling'Keohane draws on an abundance of new research in social psychology which finds that connecting with strangers helps to dispel partisanship and categorical judgments, increase social solidarity and make us more interested in and hopeful about our lives' * Guardian *'There is a hint of Bill Bryson about the author Joe Keohane: he wears his knowledge lightly and his exuberant curiosity leads him to inform his readers of a vast array of random, intriguing facts - so once you start reading you may find that you don't want to stop' * Independent *Joe Keohane has changed my life. The very thought of talking to strangers has always given me mild nausea and stress sweats. But after reading this book, I've been converted. Joe has inspired me to push through the awkwardness and reap the benefits: A more open and curious mind, less loneliness and depression. This book is an important tool in rescuing our tribal, smartphone-obsessed world. If you see me on the street, please say hi so we can discuss it -- AJ Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically'Rare is the book that delivers on the promise of a big answer to an even bigger question, but Joe Keohane's The Power of Strangers does just that. This lively, searching work makes the case that welcoming "others" isn't just the bedrock of civilization, it's the surest path to the best of what life has to offer' -- Ayad Akhtar, author of Homeland Elegies'This is one of those remarkable books you may not realize you're going to love (or need) until you're well into it. Is it a work of psychology, philosophy, anthropology, history, cultural studies, self-help? All of the above! The Power of Strangers is deeply and gamely researched, lucidly and engagingly written (as if by a pal), informative, thought-provoking, playful, useful and possibly life-changing. What a great way to start the post-pandemic' -- Kurt Andersen, author of Evil Geniuses'Reading this book is like taking a college course that becomes a cult favorite because the witty, enthusiastic professor makes the topic seem not only entertaining, but essential. Possibly life-changing ideas supported with extensive sociological research, lively storytelling, and contagious jollity' * Kirkus *'An eye-opening account blending sociology and self-help. After this enlightening and uplifting exploration, readers will undoubtedly view strangers in a different way' * Library Journal *'This perceptive and rather chatty offering considers the sociological research behind why human beings are so averse to making connections with strangers, and why it's so important to do so. Journalist Keohane is a good storyteller and great proponent of engaging with the unknown, extolling the informational, emotional, and psychological benefits of talking to new people. This authoritative, thoroughly entertaining read comes along just at the right time,and will help readers re-engage after their long quarantines' * Booklist *'The lesson (...) is that the easing of restrictions is not just a coveted opportunity to reconnect with those you love and resemble. It also restores a freedom, long taken for granted, even if a little used, to come to know the profoundly different' * Economist *

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Book SynopsisExam Board: AQA, Edexcel, OCR & WJECLevel: A-levelSubject: HistoryFirst Teaching: September 2015First Exam: June 2016This is an OCR endorsed resource.Give your students the best chance of success with this tried and tested series, combining in-depth analysis, engaging narrative and accessibility. Access to History is the most popular, trusted and wide-ranging series for A-level History students.This title:- Supports the content and assessment requirements of the 2015 A-level History specifications- Contains authoritative and engaging content- Includes thought-provoking key debates that examine the opposing views and approaches of historians- Provides exam-style questions and guidance for each relevant specification to help students understand how to apply what they have learntThis title is suitable for a variety of courses including:-

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Book SynopsisThis is beautifully slipcased presented collector’ s edition of the best selling title, The Lost World of Bletchley Park, a comprehensive illustrated history of this remarkable place, from its prewar heyday as a country estate, its wartime requisition and how it became the place where modern computing was invented and the German Enigma code was cracked, to its post-war dereliction and then rescue towards the end of the twentieth century as a museum. Removable memorabilia includes: 1938 recruiting memo with a big tick against Turing’ s name Churchill’ s ‘ Action this day’ letter giving code breakers extra resources Handwritten Turing memos Top Secret Engima decryptions, about the sinking of the Bismark, German High Command’ s assessment of D-Day threat and the message announcing Hitler’ s suicide A wealth of everyday items such as call-up papers, security notices and propoganda posters Newly redesigned interiors with 25% new content, high end slipcase package featuring removable facsimile documents, this is an essential purchase for everyone interested and wanting to experience the place where code-breaking helped to win the war.Trade ReviewIllustrated Book of the Month ‘Less a book than an adventure€¦ Even better, the book covers not only the wartime life of Bletchley Park, but also brings the story right up to date with material on the renovation of the buildings and on famous visitors to the site.’ Illustrated Book of the Month ‘Less a book than an adventure… Even better, the book covers not only the wartime life of Bletchley Park, but also brings the story right up to date with material on the renovation of the buildings and on famous visitors to the site.’ 5*'This collection provides a fascinating insight into [the Bletchley characters’] work… Thumbing through this slipcased collector’s edition will make you feel as if you are holding history in your hands.’‘this fascinating book brings to life the invaluable work done...But there is also an insight into the origins of Bletchley Park itself’‘Unforlding the maps, memos and Enigma decryptions adds a powerful and evocative dimension to this impressive chronicle… This marvelous account makes compelling reading.’‘an introduction to the place and the people who made the magic happen, and how they lived their covert lives.’‘5*. This collection provides a fascinating insight into [the Bletchley characters’] work… Thumbing through this slipcased collector’s edition will make you feel as if you are holding history in your hands.’ * How it Works magazine *'This fascinating book brings to life the invaluable work done...But there is also an insight into the origins of Bletchley Park itself’ * Who do you think you are magazine *

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Book SynopsisTHE 25th ANNIVERSARY EDITION WITH A NEW FOREWORD FROM WILLIAM DALRYMPLE''A book to read, reread, then read again to your children'' Independent on Sunday ''Once embarked upon the journey of the book, one is loath, sometimes unable to turn back'' Sunday Times''A book that makes the reader sit in a trance, lost in passionate desire to pack a suitcase and go to the fabulous place'' The Spectator The legendary story of how one man''s actions led to the birth of New York - and the beginning of the British Empire. In 1616, English adventurer Nathaniel Courthope stepped ashore on a remote island in the East Indies on a secret mission - to persuade the islanders of Run to grant a monopoly to England over their nutmeg, a fabulously valuable spice. This infuriated the Dutch, who were determined to control the world''s supply. For five years Courthope and his band of thirty men were besieged by a force one hundred times greater. His heroism set in motion a series of events that led to England owning Manhattan, culminating in the creation of New York and the launch of the British Empire. Beautifully told, Nathaniel''s Nutmeg is a modern classic of adventure, ambition and exploration.Trade ReviewA magnificent piece of popular history . . . This is a book to read, reread, then read again to your children * Nicholas Fearn, Independent on Sunday *Beautifully touching ... To write a book that makes the reader sit in a trance, lost in his passionate desire to pack a suitcase and go to the fabulous place - that, in the end, is something one would give a sack of nutmeg for. * Philip Hensher, The Spectator *Giles Milton tells his adventurous and sometimes grisly tale with relish ... The thoroughness and intelligence of his research underpins the lively confidence with which he deploys it. * John Spurling, Times Literary Supplement *A truly gripping tale... His research is impeccable... Once embarked upon the journey of the book, one is loath, sometimes unable... to turn back and abandon it. * Martin Booth, The Sunday Times *Milton has a terrific eye for the kind of detail that can bring the past vividly to life * The Spectator *

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Book SynopsisFirst published in 1967, Ernest Cole’s House of Bondage has been lauded as one of the most significant photobooks of the twentieth century, revealing the horrors of apartheid to the world for the first time and influencing generations of photographers around the globe. Reissued for contemporary audiences, this edition adds a chapter of unpublished work found in a recently resurfaced cache of negatives and recontextualizes this pivotal book for our time. Cole, a Black South African man, photographed the underbelly of apartheid in the 1950s and ’60s, often at great personal risk. He methodically captured the myriad forms of violence embedded in everyday life for the Black majority under the apartheid system—picturing its miners, its police, its hospitals, its schools. In 1966, Cole fled South Africa and smuggled out his negatives; House of Bondage was published the following year with his writings and first-person account. This edition retains the powerful story of the original while adding new perspectives on Cole’s life and the legacy of House of Bondage. It also features an added chapter—compiled and titled “Black Ingenuity” by Cole—of never-before-seen photographs of Black creative expression and cultural activity taking place under apartheid. Made available again nearly fifty-five years later, House of Bondage remains a visually powerful and politically incisive document of the apartheid era.

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Book SynopsisQuiet your mind and colour your way to peace, while nurturing your love of Tudor history.Trade ReviewA stunningly intricate colouring book that no Tudor fan should be without! -- Hayley Nolan

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Book SynopsisOriginally published separately, Weber's 'Science as a Vocation' and 'Politics as a Vocation' stand as the classic formulations of his positions on two related subjects that go to the heart of his thought: the nature and status of science and its claims to authority; and the nature and status of political claims and the.Trade Review[Owen and Strong] beautifully weave together the historical, philosophical, academic and personal circumstances that shaped Weber's world-view and these efforts reward the reader with a nuanced and thorough understanding. . . . Students, and even established academics, will benefit tremendously from this new edition. Rating: ***** --Jeffrey Roberts, University of Kent, in Political Studies Review

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Book SynopsisFocuses on the Dutch East India Company’s clashes with Tokugawa Japan over diplomacy, violence, and sovereignty.Trade ReviewClulow provides a superb study of the establishment of the relationship between the Dutch East India Company and the Tokugawa shogunate in the 17th and early 18th centuries... Well-researched and well-written... Highly recommended. CHOICE Not only a thoroughly researched political and economic history, but... a fascinating maritime adventure as well... Highly recommended. Northern Mariner Well-researched and tightly argued study... Clulow's book makes a most valuable and welcome contribution to a fresh understanding of the history of the VOC and the European presence in Early Modern Asia. -- Michael Facius H-Soz-u-Kult This carefully documented analysis of difficult primary sources is unquestionably a contribution to the field and an important resource for better understanding early modern Japan, its foreign relationships, and the formative years of the joint-stock companies in Asia. American Historical Review Clulow's book makes a most valuable and welcome contribution to a fresh understanding of the history of the VOC and the European presence in Early Modern Asia, as well as to the ongoing debate about the characteristics of the global "early modern." Rezensiert fur geschichte.transnational An engaging, tightly knit, and timely study of the origins of the Dutch East India Company's experience in Tokugawa Japan. Journal of Japanese Studies Both a gold mine for scholars... and a great model for students who take classes on transnational communication... An inspiring study. H-War A provocative achievement in scholarship and one strongly recommended for devoted instructors of world history. Education About Asia Clulow offers an excellent analysis of how the VOC adapted itself... The Company and the Shogun is a welcome contribution to the field of international relations in pre modern East Asia. -- Nam-lin Hur Japan Review A fascinating reassessment of previously held assumptions about international relations in 17th-century Japan. The Japan Times Original, well written, and provocative in the best sense of the word... The Company and the Shogun is a seminal work, one that offers a bold new vision of the intersection of Japanese and global history in the seventeenth century. Monumenta Nipponica Well-written, clearly argued, solidly based on Japanese and Dutch sources...a valuable reminder of the limited influence of European colonial powers in the early modern world. Sixteenth Century Journal A focused and well-researched book... It is a welcome addition to literature. Business History Review This engrossing monograph offers a succinct and original interpretation of the early encounter between the fledging Dutch East India Company (VOC) and the Tokugawa Shogunate. Economic History Review Commendable and highly engaging. History: Review of New Books A superb analysis of the VOC's changing relationship with Japan's political and mercantile elites. Low Countries Historical Review A most valuable contribution to Japanese political history. The International Journal of Maritime HistoryTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Archival Sources Introduction: Taming the Dutch Part 1. Diplomacy 1. Royal Letters from the Republic 2. The Lord of Batavia 3. The Shogun's Loyal Vassals Part 2. Violence 4. The Violent Sea 5. Power and Petition Part 3. Sovereignty 6. Planting the Flag in Asia 7. Giving Up the Governor Conclusion: The Dutch Experience in Japan Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThis study of the evolving uniforms and personal equipment used by US ground forces in the Korean War features new full-color artwork and previously unpublished photographs. In June 1950, US soldiers and Marines deployed in the Korean War were dressed and equipped largely as they had been in the closing stages of World War II, but by 1953 major innovations had transformed their appearance. Featuring eight pages of specially commissioned artwork alongside carefully chosen photographs, some never previously published, this study charts the evolution of the US troops' uniforms and gear through three years of bitter fighting. The deployment of a US expeditionary force in Korea entailed uniform and equipment shortages and resulted in widespread improvisation among the troops. The rapid movement of the first stages of the conflict made resupply very difficult, a situation compounded by the need for cold-weather clothing. In 1951, the beginnings of position warfare offered the opportunity for soldiers and Marines to customize their uniforms and gear. Flak jackets were introduced in both services. The infantryman's basic load lightened substantially, with men on the line often requiring little more than their fatigues, flak vest, and helmet. All of these developments are explained and depicted in this fully illustrated study from an authority of the uniforms and personal gear of the Korean War period.

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Book SynopsisA Short History of Byzantium is renowned historian, and author of A History of Venice, John Julius Norwich''s classic history of Byzantium Constantine the Great moved the seat of Roman power to Constantinople in AD 330 and for eleven brutal, bloody centuries, the Byzantine Empire became a beacon of grand magnificence and depraved decadence . . .Here then are the centuries dominated by ferocious arguments over the nature of Christ and his Church. By knowledge, where scholars and scribes preserved the heritage of the ancient world. By emperors like Justinian the Great and Basil the Bulgar-Slayer - men pious, heroic or monstrous. By creativity, as art and architecture soared to new heights. In this abridgement of his celebrated trilogy, John Julius Norwich provides the definitive introduction to the savage, scintillating world of Byzantium.''Norwich has the gift of historical perspective, as well as clarity and wit. Few can tell a goo

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Book SynopsisRunes employ many techniques from informal scratchings to sophisticated inlaid designs on weapons, or the exquisite relief carvings of the Franks Casket. This book tells the story of runes from their mysterious origins, their development as a script, to their use and meaning in the modern world.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Deft, witty and totally compelling" Time Out

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Book SynopsisFrederick Douglass's Narrative recounts his life as a slave in Maryland and escape to freedom in 1838. An important slave autobiography, it is significant both for what it tells us about slave life and about its author. It is here reprinted with contexualizing source material and other writings by Douglass, as well as an introduction discussing its literary and historical significance.Trade ReviewA huge amount is packed into a slim volume. If you'd like to know more about Frederick Douglass, this is an excellent place to start. * Vulpes Libris *

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Book SynopsisA passionate history of Judaism; a world unfolding across many continents and five centuries by one of our greatest and internationally bestselling historians.Belonging is a magnificent cultural history abundantly alive with energy, character and colour. From the Jews' expulsion from Spain in 1492 it tells the stories not just of rabbis and philosophers but of a poetess in the ghetto of Venice; a boxer in Georgian England; a general in Ming China; an opera composer in nineteenth-century Germany. The story unfolds in Kerala and Mantua, the starlit hills of Galilee, the rivers of Colombia, the kitchens of Istanbul, the taverns of Ukraine and the mining camps of California. It sails in caravels, rides the stage coaches and the railways; trudges the dawn streets of London, hobbles along with the remnant of Napoleon's ruined army. The Jewish story is a history that is about, and for, all of us. And in our own time of anxious arrivals and enforced departures, the Jews' search for a home is more startlingly resonant than ever. A magnificent achievement' Jonathan Freedland, Guardian An extraordinary cultural journey, filled with astonishingly colourful and outrageous characters Schama delivers a superb and thrilling ride, both inspirational and tragic' Simon Sebag Montefiore, Mail on SundayTrade ReviewA magnificent achievement… [a] parade of bustlingly vital characters from across the globe ... all painted in luminous colour… By offering such a throbbing cavalcade of characters, Schama is defying several key assumptions, even stereotypes, about Jewish history and Jews themselves… Above all, while much Jewish history can read like a sorrowful trudge through disaster, plague and pogrom, Schama’s book teems with life rather than death -- Jonathan Freedland * Guardian *Magisterial ... the product of a world-class historian at the peak of his creative powers … rich, ornate, intensely evocative and sensory. With astonishing range and extraordinary synthesising powers, Schama captures the drama of Jewish history. * Financial Times *A rich melody that soars above the ground bass of prejudice and persecution … Schama has made himself the leading virtuoso of our time. This second volume of this trilogy is an affirmation of faith in the grand narrative … Its familiar and familial tone proclaims the author’s unapologetic mission to play his part in the story of the Jews by bringing their history alive… [A] glittering gemstone of a book -- Daniel Johnson * The Times *So beautifully written it regularly takes your breath away, it is a book far greater than the sum of its parts. Daunted by its colossal size, I started reading with some trepidation; I finished filled with wonder and delight. -- Abigail Green * Times Literary Supplement *An extraordinary cultural journey, filled with astonishingly colourful and outrageous characters … Schama delivers a superb and thrilling ride, both inspirational and tragic. -- Simon Sebag Montefiore * Mail on Sunday *

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Book SynopsisIntroduces students of ancient history to the various ways in which coins can help illuminate the history of the Roman republic, with over 200 larger-than-life-size illustrations and detailed captions. Demystifies the more technical aspects of the field of numismatics and culminates in a how-to guide for further research for non-specialists.Table of Contents1. Money; 2. Monuments; 3. Mutinies?; 4. Mobilization; Index.

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Book SynopsisThe nation-state and the colonial state have always been the same thing: the ethnic and religious majorities of the former created only through the violent “minoritization” inherent in the latter. Assessing cases from the United States to Eastern Europe, Israel, and Sudan, Mahmood Mamdani suggests a radical solution: the state without a nation.Trade ReviewDemonstrates how a broad rethinking of political issues becomes possible when Western ideals and practices are examined from the vantage point of Asia and Africa. -- Pankaj Mishra * New York Review of Books *Argues for a wider, political approach to understanding historical violence rather than an individual, criminal one. Mamdani examines everything from the treatment of Native Americans to Nazism to South African apartheid. It is a complex and at times painful book, but history is often complex and painful, and trying to understand it is one of our few real paths to progress. -- Candice Millard * New York Times *Over half a century, Mamdani has carved out a reputation as a forceful and articulate critic of political modernity’s supposed peace-bringing qualities…Neither Settler nor Native is [his] most comprehensive exploration yet of the subject of majority–minority relations. In a comparative analysis of five countries…he locates the origin story of contemporary postcolonial political violence far back in history. -- Francis Wade * The Baffler *Mamdani makes a compelling case… Although the book’s scope is ambitious…it has a clear starting point: the invention of indirect rule as a technique of modern colonial governance…Mamdani draws on the details of his case studies to formulate some broad lessons for decolonizing politics today—most importantly, disaggregating the nation from the state and creating more inclusive forms of democratic politics in the wake of identity-based strife. -- Hari Ramesh * Boston Review *Provocative, elegantly written…with the aim of understanding the sources of the extreme violence that has plagued so many postcolonial societies. -- Fara Dabhoiwala * New York Review of Books *This book compels the reader to rethink the origin and development of the nation-state and its replication as inseparable from European colonialism, beginning with the establishment of the Spanish state through racialized ethnic cleansing and the 1492 deportations of Jews and Moors. In elegant prose with no wasted words or jargon, this original and brilliant work argues that the United States created the template for settler-colonialism, providing the model upon which the South African apartheid regime and the Israeli state were patterned, a model also used by the Nazi regime that adopted US race theory and catastrophic ethnic cleansing. The book provides not only profound historical analysis but also deeply researched descriptions of the current US and Israeli regimes of settler-colonialism and more. -- Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, author of An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United StatesBrilliant! A deeply learned account of the origins of our modern world. Situating the beginnings of the nation-state in the settler-colonial practice of creating permanent minorities, Mamdani illustrates how this damaging political logic continues into our own era, resulting far too often in today’s extraordinary political violence. Through his own elegant contrarianism, Mamdani rejects the current focus on human rights as the means to bring justice to the victims of this colonial and postcolonial bloodshed. Instead, he calls for a new kind of political imagination, one that will pave the way for a truly decolonized future. Joining the ranks of Hannah Arendt’s Imperialism, Frantz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth, and Edward Said’s Orientalism, this book is destined to become a classic text of postcolonial studies and political theory. -- Moustafa Bayoumi, Brooklyn College, City University of New YorkNeither Settler nor Native analyzes seemingly disparate political histories to illuminate the intertwined logic of colonial statecraft and nation-building, the legacy of which was the violent manufacture of permanent majorities and minorities the world over. This is a masterwork of historical comparison and razor-sharp political analysis, with grave lessons about the pitfalls of forgetting, moralizing, or criminalizing this violence. Mamdani also offers a hopeful rejoinder in a revived politics of decolonization, not as romantic revolution but a renewed art of politics. Decolonization uses the tools of political engagement and negotiation to unsettle inherited identities, to convert perpetrators and victims into survivors, natives and settlers into citizens, nation-states into inclusive democracies. -- Karuna Mantena, Columbia UniversityA powerfully original argument, one that supplements political analysis with a map for our political future. -- Faisal Devji, University of OxfordAn urgent intervention in contemporary politics. In a searing critique of the nation-state, Mamdani persuasively argues that there will be no decolonization, no democracy, no peace until we de-link the association between the ‘nation’ and state power. -- Nandita Sharma * The Wire *Mamdani [is] one of the most perceptive and savviest analysts of postcolonial African history…A major achievement. A veritable testimony to the strength and resources of political thought that is a boon to his students and admirers, and to every other reader not enchanted by the discourses of the powers-that-be. -- S. Parvez Manzoor * Muslim World Book Review *

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Book SynopsisEmpower yourself with the guidance and spells of the Orishas. What if you could control what the reality around you returns by controlling the energies you sent to the Universe in actions, words and thoughts? What if you could become the creator of you own happiness, changing the reality around you and achieving your dreams with the power of African Gods and Goddesses? Through African magical traditions and its resemblance with Latin America, the Orishas spirituality and the lessons of the Odus are part of a growing daily process in which magic happens when we start to assume self-responsibility for our choices in life. Once we understand that what happens to us in the present is a consequence of our past choices (or the lack of them), we begin to connect with the holy source of all happiness and joy, becoming conscious and able to create the life we dreamt about. That's what you'll find in the rituals and meditations from African Gods Oracle: a self-transformation tool from which you can ask the Orishas about the goals and anguishes of your life and get the Odus answers that will lead you to success.

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Book SynopsisA visually stunning and beautifully written celebration of park life around the world. Parks are an absolutely essential part of modern life. From the author who brought you Lido, here are 50 of the world's greatest parks – but not just a list of the examples we already know. Yes, we'll tell you about those storied greats such as Central Park in New York and Phoenix Park in Dublin, but we'll also take you to the Philippines, to Australia, to provincial Britain and around the world to show you the most historic and the most interesting, the newest and most cutting-edge that mix the best of nature and architecture. We'll explore what you can find there, who goes there, why they are important, and how parks respond to their environments, including ones over a road, on old rail lines or in Berlin's former airport. Examples include: • Freeway Park, Seattle, USA: a bizarre and brilliant brutalist park over a motorway. • Ibirapuera Park, São Paulo, Brazil: this one contains amazing galleries and theatres. • Holyrood Park, Edinburgh, UK: mountains within a city. • Adelaide's parks, Australia: unique in that the entire city centre is enclosed by parks. and many, many more. Illustrated with glorious photographs throughout, this book is a fascinating record of the world's most interesting and innovative parks, and the people who use them – you'll want to visit them all.Trade Review‘Gorgeously illustrated … the captivating entries on parks in Europe, the Far East, America and Australasia will have you hungering for travel. “Skive off, say no to grafting, join everyone else in the park,” Beanland rightly advises.’ Independent ‘A timely reminder of our need for nature, wherever we are’ ELLE Decoration ‘[A] joyous celebration of our green urban havens, captured here with sumptuous photography and charming reflections on the parks featured.’ The Field 'Explores some of the world’s most spectacular parks and how city green spaces have become an essential part of public life.' Express Esther Marshall

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Book Synopsis'Magisterial' - The Financial TimesAn updated edition of Ramachandra Guha's India After Gandhi with new material that explains the major events, policy shifts and controversies of the past decade, placing them in their proper sociological and historical context and setting out the author's justifiable concerns for the decline of democracy in India.Born against a background of privation and civil war, divided along lines of caste, class, language and religion, independent India emerged, somehow, as a united and democratic country. Ramachandra Guha’s hugely acclaimed book tells the full story – the pain and the struggle, the humiliations and the glories – of the world’s largest and least likely democracy.While India is sometimes the most exasperating country in the world, it is also the most interesting. Ramachandra Guha writes compellingly of the myriad protests and conflicts that have peppereTrade ReviewFinally, here is a history of democratic India that is every bit as sweeping as the country itself. A magisterial work * Financial Times *Guha has given democratic India the rich, well-paced history it deserves * Washington Post *An insightful, spirited and elegantly crafted account of India since 1947. * Times Literary Supplement *India after Gandhi is a magnificently told history of the world's largest democracy. It is a riveting story with unforgettable characters and towering challenges, immense greatness and extraordinary venality, soaring hopes and profound disappointment. * India Today *It is a formidable undertaking to write in a single volume a history of this vast country ... Keeping in proportion the separate elements of so huge and sprawling a history calls for the finest judgement .... Guha rises noble to the challenges: his history is as comprehensive, balanced and elegantly crafted as any reasonable reader could expect. * Spectator *

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Book Synopsis'Heresy is a brilliant book' - The Times'Enthralling' - The Sunday Telegraph‘In the beginning was the Word,’ says the Gospel of John. This sentence – and the words of all four gospels – is central to the teachings of the Christian church and has shaped Western art, literature and language, and the Western mind.Yet in the years after the death of Christ there was not merely one word, nor any consensus as to who Jesus was or why he had mattered. There were many different Jesuses, among them the aggressive Jesus who scorned his parents and crippled those who opposed him, the Jesus who sold his twin into slavery and the Jesus who had someone crucified in his stead.Moreover, in the early years of the first millennium there were many other saviours, many sons of gods who healed the sick and cured the lame. But as Christianity spread, they were pronounced unacceptable – even heretical &nda

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Book SynopsisA compelling history of the Black Death that scoured Europe in the mid 14th-century killing twenty-five million people. It was one of the worst human disasters in history.The bodies were sparsely covered that the dogs dragged them forth and devoured themAnd believing it to be the end of the world, no one wept for the dead, for all expected to die.' Agnolo di Turo, Siena, 1348In just over a thousand days from 1347 to 1351 the ''Black Death'' travelled across medieval Europe killing thirty per cent of its population. It was a catastrophe that touched the lives of every individual on the continent. The deadly Y. Pestis virus entered Europe in October 1347 by Genoese galley at Messina, Sicily. In the spring of 1348 it was devastating the cities of central Italy, by June 1348 it had reached France and Spain, and by August England. At St Mary's, Ashwell, Hertfordshire, an anonymous hand carved the following inscription for 1349: Wretched, terrible, destructive year, the remnants of the peoplTrade Review‘Kelly is a fair-minded and reliable guide, with a gift for providing racy and vivid background for those who know nothing of the Middle Ages.’ Independent on Sunday ‘There has never been a better researched, better written or more engaging account of the worst epidemic the world has ever known than this.’ Simon Winchester, author of ‘The Professor and the Madman and Krakatoa’ ‘Kelly approaches the story of the greatest tragedy in history like a forensic detective who must first recreate the life of the victims before examining their deaths. While writing with a keen eye for the telling details of the past, Kelly’s book might also be a warning about our own future.’ Jack Weatherford, author of ‘Genghis Khan’

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Book SynopsisThe global turmoil of the late 1980s and early 1990s severely tested every analyst and commentator. Few wrote with such insight as Christopher Hitchens about the large events - or with such discernment and wit about the small tell-tale signs of a disordered culture. First published in 1993, the writings in For the Sake of Argument range from the political squalor of Washington to the twilight of Stalinizm in Prague, from the Jewish quarter of Damascus in the aftermath of the Gulf War to the embattled barrios of Central America. Hitchens provides re-assessments of Graham Greene, P. G. Woodhouse and C. L. R. James, and his rogues' gallery gives us portraits of Henry Kissinger, Mother Theresa and P. J. O'Rouke. The addition of pieces on political assassination in America, as well as a devastating indictment of the evisceration of politics by pollsters and spin doctors, and an entertaining celebration of booze and fags, complete this outstanding collection from a writer of unequalled talent.Trade ReviewDisplays the intelligence, invective and stubborn common sense Mr Hitchens brings to his commentaries, be they about the political scene in Washington, the soap-opera travail of the British Royal family or a novel by George Eliot. * New York Times *Hitchens rejoices without inhibition in the pleasure of hating and knows that satire is murder by other means... A pen like this is more lethal than most swords. * The Observer *The fiercely independent-minded Hitchens provides reams of fuel for intellectual conflagration, couched in the luxurious excess of humour... progressive journalism as it was meant to be. * The Nation *The test of this kind of book is for the reader to be able to open it anywhere and be drawn into the argument; it's a test that Hitchens passes time and time again... He can be devilishly funny, but he is also capable of writing with acid seriousness. * Independent on Sunday *Table of Contents1: Where Were You Standing? 2: On the Imagination of Conspiracy 3: Contempt for the Little Colony 4: The State Within the State 5: Voting in the Passive Voice 6: The Hate that Dare Not Speak Its Name 7: A Pundit Who Need Never Dine Alone 8: Hard on the Houseboy 9: New Orleans in a Brown Shirt 10: Rioting in Mount Pleasant 11: Billionaire Populism 12: The Clemency of Clinton 13: Clinton as Rhodesian 14: Bill's Bills in Miami 15: Realpolitik in the Gulf: A Game Gone Tilt 16: Churchillian Delusions 17: No End of a Lesson 18: Befriending the Kurds 19: Arise, Sir Norman 20: Jewish in Damascus 21: Songs Fit For Heroes 22: Hating Sweden 23: Squeezing Costa Rica 24: The Saviour 25: Tio Sam 26: The Autumn of Patriarch 27: Third Thoughts 28: Cretinismo Eroico 29: The Twilight of Panzerkommunismus 30: Police Mentality 31: On the Road to Timsoara 32: Bricks in the Wall 33: The Free Market Cargo Cult 34: Now Neo-conservatives Perish 35: Appointment in Sarajevo 36: 'Society' and Its Enemies 37: Credibility Politics: Sado-Monetarist Economics 38: Union Jackshirt: Ingham's Conservative Chic 39: Neil Kinnock: Defeat Without Honour 40: Bribing and Twisting 41: How's the Vampire? 42: Charlie's Angel 43: Unhappy Families 44: Princess of Dysfunction 45: New York Intellectuals and the Prophet Outcast 46: Clubland Intellectuals 47: The 'We' Fallacy 48: Shouting Anarchy 49: Politically Correct 50: Friend of Promise 51: Booze and Fags 52: Nixon: Maestro of Resentment 53: Kissinger: A Touch of Evil 54: Berlin's Mandate for Palestine 55: Ghoul of Calcutta 56: The Life of Johnson 57: A Grave Disappointment All Round 58: Too Big For His Boot 59: P.J. O'Rourke: Not Funny Enough 60: Not Funny Enough (2) 61: Warhol in One Dimension 62: Siding with Rushdie 63: Goya's Radical Pessimism 64: Degenerate Art 65: James Baldwin: Humanity First 66: Updike on the Make 67: P.G. Wodehouse in Love, Poverty and War 68: Greene: Where the Shadow Falls 69: Kazuo Ishiguro 70: Victor Serge 71: C.L.R James 72: In Defence of Daniel Deronda

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Book SynopsisShortlisted for the 2024 Wolfson History PrizeA Telegraph and Der Spiegel Book of the YearSueddeutsche Zeitung''s Number One Most Important Political Book of 2023Die Zeit, ZDF, Deutschlandfunk, taz Number One, Best Non-Fiction Books December 2023 and January 2024A Telegraph and Der Spiegel Book of the YearSueddeutsche Zeitung''s Number One Most Important Political Book of 2023Die Zeit, ZDF, Deutschlandfunk, taz Number One, Best Non-Fiction Books December 2023 and January 2024A groundbreaking new history of the people at the centre of Europe, from the Second World War to todayIn 1945, Germany lay in ruins, morally and materially. The German people stood condemned by history, responsible for a horrifying genocide and a war of extermination. But by 2015 Germany looked to many to be the moral voice of Europe, welcoming almost one million refugees. At the same time, it pursued a controversially rigid fiscal discipline and made energy deals with a dictator. Many people have asked how Germany descended into the darkness of the Nazis, but this book asks another vital question: how, and how far, have the Germans since reinvented themselves?Trentmann tells the dramatic story of the Germans from the middle of the Second World War, through the Cold War and the division into East and West, to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunited nation''s search for a place in the world. Their journey is marked by extraordinary moral struggles: guilt, shame and limited amends; wealth versus welfare; tolerance versus racism; compassion and complicity. Through a range of voices - German soldiers and German Jews; environmentalists and coal miners; families and churches; volunteers, migrants and populists - Trentmann paints a remarkable and surprising portrait over 80 years of the conflicted people at the centre of Europe.

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Book SynopsisPeter Englund (Author) Peter Englund is a historian, journalist and member of the Swedish Academy, which awards the Nobel Prize in Literature.He is the author of ten books, most recently The Beauty and the Sorrow: An Intimate History of the First World War, and has won various literary prizes for his work including the August prize for the best Swedish book of the year and the Sela Lagerlof Literary Prize.Peter Graves (Translator) Peter Graves was born in Wales. He studied German and Swedish at the University of Aberdeen and later taught Scandinavian languages, literature and culture at the universities of Aberdeen and Edinburgh. He has been awarded a number of prizes for his translation work.

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Book SynopsisNew York Times BestsellerThis American Book Award winning title about Native American struggle and resistance radically reframes more than 400 years of US history  A New York Times Bestseller and the basis for the HBO docu-series Exterminate All the Brutes, directed by Raoul Peck, this 10th anniversary edition of An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States includes both a new foreword by Peck and a new introduction by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz.Unflinchingly honest about the brutality of this nation’s founding and its legacy of settler-colonialism and genocide, the impact of Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz’s 2014 book is profound. This classic is revisited with new material that takes an incisive look at the post-Obama era from the war in Afghanistan to Charlottesville’s white supremacy-fueled rallies, and from the onset of the pandemic to the election of President Biden. Writing from the perspective

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Book Synopsis1215 – the penultimate year of the reign of a king with the worst reputation of any in our history – saw England engulfed by crisis. Weakened by the loss of Normandy, King John faced insurrection by his disgruntled barons. With the assistance of the Archbishop of Canterbury, they drew up a list of their demands. In June, in a quiet Thames-side water-meadow, John attached his regal seal – under oath – to a charter that set limits on regal power. In return, the barons renewed their vows of fealty. Groundbreaking though 'Magna Carta' was, it had scant immediate impact as England descended into civil war that would still be raging when John died the following year. Dan Jones's vivid account of the vicissitudes of feudal power politics and the workings of 13th-century government is interwoven with a exploration of the lives of ordinary people: how and where they worked, what they wore, what they ate, and what role the Church played in their lives.Trade ReviewWonderfully engaging... commanding and piercingly insightful. His book is packed with moments that make you stop in your tracks' * Daily Telegraph *A very colourful and entertaining volume * The Bookbag *Jones has a terrific eye for humanising stories and the telling detail... it is the snapshots of life as it was lived that make this book so engaging' * Daily Telegraph *An insightful overview of the state of England 800 years ago * History Revealed Book of the Month *Jones expertly guides us through this turbulent period and sheds fascinating light on life in Plantagenet England * The Irish Mail *Jones writes in a very readable style * Battlefield Magazine *Jones is to be congratulated for telling his story with panache and originality. He deserves to be widely read * BBC History Magazine *

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Book SynopsisFor more than two thousand years the people of St Kilda remained remote from the world. Their society was viable, utopian even; but in the nineteenth century the islands were discovered by missionaries, do-gooders and tourists, who brought with them money, disease and despotism. In 1930, the few remaining islanders were evacuated, no longer able to support themselves.An exploration of the life and death of the remote Hebridean society, Island on the Edge of the World is a moving account of human endeavour.Trade ReviewA story like a marvellous pebble, wet from the sea, strange and comic like all things out of step with time, sad as the old songs the women sang, splendidly told * * Sunday Times * *Reawakened my awe at the strangeness of our world -- WILL SELFA profound moral for our time . . . A beautiful, well-written book * * Washington Post * *A fascinating book . . . Charles Maclean is an excellent writer . . . he describes the story of St Kilda with powerful compassion -- MAGNUS MAGNUSSONAn evocative study of the island * * Scotsman * *Excellent * * Esquire * *

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“Captivating and clearly written book about, among other things, ancient manuscript production with focus on the Chester Beatty and Bodmer Papyri, but also discussing the Nag Hammadi and Medinet Madi codices and a recent find such as Codex Tchacos. With many illustrations and excellent indices.”—Johannes van Oort, Brill journal Vigiliae Christianae“A stimulating introduction to working with early Christian manuscripts.”—Thomas Johann Bauer, Zeitschrift für Antikes Christentum“Nongbri is to be congratulated for his ability to synthensize large amounts of data and present a clear and cogent picture of the issues in manuscript study.”—Sean A. Adams, Journal for the Study of the New Testament“There is much to commend in this wonderful rich and informative book about books. Nongbri’s discussion should be of interest for all scholars of the New Testament writings.”—Paul Foster, Expository TimesFinalist for the 2019 PROSE awards, Theology and Religious Studies categoryWinner of the 2019 Ramirez Family Award for Most Significant Scholarly Book, presented by the Texas Institute of LettersWinner of the 2019 George A. and Jean S. DeLong History Book Prize sponsored by the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing (SHARP)Winner of the 2019 Best Book Relating to the New Testament Award, sponsored by the Biblical Archaeology Society“With a skeptical eye, a large amount of original archival research, a comprehensive command of the bibliography, and fine critical judgment, this essential book takes apart most of what has been claimed for generations about early Christian manuscripts. This is the best available broad treatment of its subject and is certain to have a wide audience.”—Roger S. Bagnall, New York University;“Breath-taking. . . . With its spectacular archival research and clear, level-headed thinking, this book is a model of scholarship. As a result of Nongbri’s research, we know both more and less about these important early Christian books.”—AnneMarie Luijendijk, Princeton University“Nongbri offers an engaging account of early Christian manuscripts and their modern discoverers, interpreters, and publicists. His lucid narrative offers useful guidance about what can and cannot be known about these important relics.”—Harold W. Attridge, Yale University“In a study that is erudite, persuasive, and massively documented, Brent Nongbri explodes many of the dominant assumptions of early Christian textual scholars. This is a must read for anyone interested in the ‘archaeology’ of Christian manuscripts.”—Bart D. Ehrman, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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Book SynopsisRevolution, the fourth volume of Peter Ackroyd's enthralling History of England begins in 1688 with a revolution and ends in 1815 with a famous victory. In it, Ackroyd takes readers from William of Orange's accession following the Glorious Revolution to the Regency, when the flamboyant Prince of Wales ruled in the stead of his mad father, George III, and England was – again – at war with France, a war that would end with the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo.Late Stuart and Georgian England marked the creation of the great pillars of the English state. The Bank of England was founded, as was the stock exchange, the Church of England was fully established as the guardian of the spiritual life of the nation and parliament became the sovereign body of the nation with responsibilities and duties far beyond those of the monarch. It was a revolutionary era in English letters, too, a time in which newspapers first flourished and the English novel was born. It was an era in which coffee houses and playhouses boomed, gin flowed freely and in which shops, as we know them today, began to proliferate in our towns and villages. But it was also a time of extraordinary and unprecedented technological innovation, which saw England utterly and irrevocably transformed from a country of blue skies and farmland to one of soot and steel and coal.Trade ReviewAckroyd is a fascinating mix of a 19th-century narrative historian and modern social analyst. Elements of thisbook seem very old-fashioned and formal - in a good way. Yet the author eschews the detached third person preferred by stuffy professionals, favouring instead a more intimate "you" that brings the reader into the dark alleys of industrial towns to sniff the urine, vomit and suppurating sores of industrial England. Those perfect sentences are scattered throughout. -- Gerard DeGroot * The Times *Table of ContentsSection - i: List of illustrations Chapter - 1: What do you think of predestination now? Chapter - 2: A bull or a bear? Chapter - 3: The idol of the age Chapter - 4: Hay day Chapter - 5: The prose of gold Chapter - 6: Waiting for the day Chapter - 7: The great Scriblerus Chapter - 8: The Germans are coming! Chapter - 9: Bubbles in the air Chapter - 10: The invisible hand Chapter - 11: Consuming passions Chapter - 12: The What D’Ye Call It? Chapter - 13: The dead ear Chapter - 14: Mother Geneva Chapter - 15: The pack of cards Chapter - 16: What shall I do? Chapter - 17: Do or die Chapter - 18: The violists Chapter - 19: A call for liberty Chapter - 20: Here we are again! Chapter - 21: The broad bottom Chapter - 22: The magical machines Chapter - 23: Having a tea party Chapter - 24: The schoolboy Chapter - 25: The steam machines Chapter - 26: On a darkling plain Chapter - 27: Fire and moonlight Chapter - 28: The red bonnet Chapter - 29: The mad kings Chapter - 30: The beast and the whore Chapter - 31: A Romantic tale Chapter - 32: Pleasures of peace Section - ii: Further reading Index - iii: Index

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Book SynopsisThe brilliant untold story of three daughters of diplomacy: Anna Roosevelt, Sarah Churchill, and Kathleen Harriman, glamorous, fascinating young women who accompanied their famous fathers to the Yalta Conference with Stalin in the waning days of World War II.With victory close at hand, the Yalta conference was held across a tense week in February 1945 as Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin attempted to agree on an end to the war, and to broker post-war peace.In Daughters of Yalta, Catherine Katz uncovers the dramatic story of the three young women who travelled with their fathers to the Yalta conference, each bound by fierce ambition and intertwined romances that powerfully coloured these crucial days. Kathleen Harriman, twenty-seven, was a champion skier, war correspondent, and daughter to US Ambassador to Russia Averell Harriman. She acted as his translator and arranged much of the conference's fine detail. Sarah Churchill, an actress-turned-RAF officer, was devotTrade Review‘A vivid portrait of one of history’s great international summits through the eyes of three young women, each a daughter of a key participant. We get the inside story, and learn the compelling details that bring history to life’Erik Larson ‘A stirring account of one momentous week that would unleash fifty years of tyranny for half of Europe and plunge the world into the Cold War … A marvellous and extraordinary work that reveals the human experience of the conference, with all its tragedy, love, betrayal, and even humour’Julian Fellowes ‘A revelation. It’s a story of World War II, the origins of the Cold War, a key moment in diplomatic history, but above all a coming-of-age tale about three fascinating women in an extraordinary time.’Jeffrey Toobin ‘Both intimate and sweeping … vividly captures a little known story against the backdrop of a very big one. Meticulously researched and emotionally gripping.’Amy Pascal ‘Yet more proof that behind every great man is an army of exceptional women. We need their stories told; so three cheers for Catherine Katz’Amanda Foreman ‘Making superb use of unpublished diaries and letters, Katz demonstrates how illness, clandestine romance and fraying political relationships ran alongside the tortured negotiations that would shape the post-conflict world … The women’s keyhole perspective of these momentous negotiations humanises the Yalta summit as never before, shedding new insight on the minute-by-minute tensions of international diplomacy at a time when the future of millions depended on the outcome’Spectator ‘This entertaining history is packed with vivid personalities, jockeying aides and insider observations about a pivotal moment in history’New York Times Book Review ‘The research is impressive … It is a riveting read and the detail is fascinating … Oh, to have been a fly on the wall’Anne de Courcy, Daily Telegraph

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Book SynopsisAn in-depth look at the development history of Mazda's rotary power plant, and the model timelines of the vehicles these engines powered. You will discover how one small Japanese automaker remained independent and became famous by using a unique and pioneering engine. This book examines the commercial ups and downs in North America, using rotaries to become a high performance icon and V8 alternative, and charting the racetrack achievements of Mazda rotary racers around the world, including in home-country Japan. The story also reveals the pollution control and fuel economy challenges facing Mazda as they strove to keep rotary engines in production to satisfy high performance fans globally.Trade Reviewa definitive look at this entertaining and highly individualistic cars, which has never been told in this much detail before. - Jim Donnelly On WheelsTable of Contents1 Mazda's Sporty Cosmo 110S 2 Rico, the family rotary 3 RX-2 Mazda's Midsize Rotary 4 RX-3 Mazda's grand family rotary! 5 RX-4 The Big Sports Rotary! 6 The RX-5, REPU of Roadpacer Rotary Trio! 7 The original RX-7 8 FC RX-7 Hirsohima chases Zuffehnausen! 9 FD RX-7 The Great Entertainer 10 RX-8 The Family Rotary 11 Appendices

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Book SynopsisThe compelling and provocative history of world government, from acclaimed author Mark MazowerShortlisted for the RUSI 2013 Duke of Wellington Medal for Military LiteratureIn 1815 the shocked and exhausted victors of the decades of fighting that had engulfed Europe for a generation agreed to a new system for keeping the peace. Instead of independent states changing sides, doing deals and betraying one another, a new, collegial ''Concert of Europe'' would ensure that the brutal chaos of the Napoleonic Wars never happened again.Mark Mazower''s remarkable new book recreates two centuries of international government - the struggle to spread values and build institutions to bring order to an anarchic and dangerous state system.Trade ReviewMazower has strengthened his claim to be the preeminent historian of a generation ... On rare occasions, a work of history emerges that not only fundamentally refashions our understanding of the past, it enables us to reassess the present and, with luck, influence our future. I advise everyone who is concerned about our precarious situation to learn from and absorb Mazower's remarkable achievement -- Misha GlennyA significant contribution to historical scholarship, with the chapters on the 19th century's remarkable swirl of politics, ideas and organisations being particularly original and valuable ... Simply for giving us this lucid account, Mazower deserves our gratitude. But Governing the World is also an intriguing read because of the strong argument he places within it ... This new work certainly gave this reviewer an awful lot to think about - to an author, there may be no greater praise than that -- Paul Kennedy * Financial Times *Governing Europe, and then the whole world ... this idea has found its perfect chronicler in Mark Mazower, whose perceptions are cosmopolitan, humane, learned, and properly skeptical. What is more, his history is written in clear, elegant prose. Essential reading not just for historians, but anyone interested in the troubled world we live in -- Ian BurumaA prodigious work: a master historian's reconstruction of how individuals and nations since 1815 have sought to promote national interests in ever more complicated international settings. A dramatic, novel account of ideas and institutions in collision with hard realities. Indispensable also for its full and subtle account of American policies since 1917, always with a fine touch for the hitherto neglected person or little noticed moment that illuminates historic processes. Profound, relevant, and morally instructive - and a pleasure to read -- Fritz SternThis is a book that needed to be written ... [Governing the World] is truly illuminating ... The story is a fascinating one, and Mazower tells it with authority and verve -- Adam Zamoyski * Literary Review *The idea of global government has entranced the world for centuries. Mark Mazower's brilliant book shows how much effort has gone into this idea - and how futile it has mostly been in an era of individualism and growing divisiveness -- Alan BrinkleyMazower is a man of immense erudition, a real scholar ... [A] remarkable book ... Reading him is like being lectured by the best left-wing professor you'll ever have. Or like reading the best foreign affairs writer the Guardian or the Nation has to offer ... You can learn a lot from him * Standpoint *

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

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Book SynopsisA BRILLIANT BIOGRAPHICAL ANTHOLOGY FROM ONE OF THE WORLD'S FOREMOST HISTORICAL NOVELISTS. Beautifully illustrated with rare portraits, The Women of the Cousins' War provides an accurate account of Elizabeth Woodline (The White Queen), Margaret Beaufort (The Red Queen), and Jacquetta (Lady Rivers) - the subjects of the first three novels in Philippa's beloved Cousins' War series. In this exciting addition to the Philippa Gregory ouevre, Philippa writes revealingly about the differences between history and fiction and examines the gaps in the historical record with the help of the two leading historical experts in their field who helped Philippa to research the novels. 'An engrossing introduction to three courageous matriarchs who shaped English history.'Publisher's Weekly

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewThe book is a very valuable contribution… Highly recommended. -- Carol Joyce Blumberg * International Statistical Review *A well-written and thoughtful reflection on the doing of causal inference from one of causal inference’s noted experts. -- Jameson A. Quinn and Luke W. Miratrix * Journal of the American Statistical Association *The author’s voice is an important element in the book’s success. Rosenbaum is consistently clear and direct, and seems at times to be speaking directly to the reader. His excellent set of examples (twenty-five of them altogether) bring the more theoretical discussions to life. -- William J. Satzer * MAA Reviews *A treasure trove of considerations and strategies for making causal inferences from observational studies and experiments. The book is a joy to read and contains interesting material for readers at all levels of experience with causal inference. -- Dylan S. Small * Observational Studies *Rosenbaum is a gifted expositor, and as a result, this book is an outstanding introduction to the topic for anyone who is interested in understanding the basic ideas and approaches to causal inference. -- Joel B. Greenhouse and Edward H. Kennedy * Psychometrika *A researcher seeking instruction in the sophisticated use of [statistical significance] techniques may want to consult Observation and Experiment. -- James Ryerson * New York Times Book Review *Rosenbaum’s book is, as would be expected, a carefully and precisely written treatment of its subject, reflecting superb statistical understanding, all communicated with the skill of a master teacher. -- Stephen M. Stigler, author of The Seven Pillars of Statistical Wisdom

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Book SynopsisAn authoritative account of Ancient Rome, its political and military history, art, architecture and culture, sumptously illustrated throughout with 1000 photographs and reproductions, chronicling the story of the most important and influential civilisation the world has ever known.Table of ContentsIntroduction 6 Part One The Rise and Fall of Rome 8 The Archetypal Empire 10 Timeline 14 Rome: The World’s First Superpower 18 Chapter I: An Empire of Force and Law 20 Legendary Beginnings 22 The Conquest of Italy 24 The Growth of Empire 26 Victory Abroad, Discord at Home 28 The End of the Republic 30 Peace Restored: The First Emperors 32 The Flavians and “The Five Good Emperors” 34 Crisis and Catastrophe 36 Reconstruction and Revival 38 The Fall of the West 40 Chapter II: Great Romans 42 Great Roman Generals 44 Julius Caesar 48 Pompey 50 Mark Antony 51 The Historians’ View 52 Roman Philosophers 54 Rome’s Enemies 56 Cicero: The Peaceful Roman 60 Chapter III: The Emperors 62 Emperors of Rome 64 Augustus: The First Roman Emperor 66 Organizers of Empire 68 Best of Emperors 70 Evil Emperors 72 Saviours of the Empire 76 Constantine the Great 80 Women Behind the Throne 82 Chapter IV: Governing the Empire 84 A Self-governing Confederacy 86 The Oligarchical Republic 88 Rome’s Ruling Classes 90 The Secret Workings of Roman Politics 94 The Principate: A Monarchy in Disguise 96 Republican Extortion, Imperial Probity 98 Taxation 100 Chapter V: Rome and the Law 102 Law in the Early Republic 104 How the Laws Worked in Times of Crisis 106 The Great Imperial Codifications 108 Police and Secret Police 110 Punishment 112 Chapter VI: Foreign Policy 114 Early Beginnings: The Conquest of Italy 116 Ruler by Default 118 Defensible Frontiers: The Rhine and the Danube 120 Defensible Frontiers: Asia 122 Client and Buffer States 124 Reliance on the Germans 126 At the Empire’s Extremities: Egypt 128 At the Empire’s Extremities: Britain 130 the power of rome 132 Chapter VII: The Roman Army 134 The People’s Army 136 Battle Hardening 138 The Fall of the Republic 140 Legions and Principate 142 Army of the Later Empire 144 Chapter VIII: Inside the Army 146 Organizing the Legion 148 Centurions and Officers 150 Training and Discipline 152 Pay and Conditions 154 Auxiliary Troops 156 Pitching Camp 158 Roads, Canals and Bridges 160 Fleets and Ships 162 Chapter IX: Arms and the Men 164 Armour 166 Arms 168 Artillery 170 Siege Warfare 172 Triumphs and Ovations 174 Permanent Fortifications 176 Great Forts of the Later Empire 178 City Walls 180 Chapter X: The Great Wars 182 Marching and Fighting 184 The Punic Wars 186 Conquering the Greeks 188 Caesar’s Conquest of Gaul 190 The Last Civil Wars 192 Along the Elbe 194 Conquest of Lowland Britain 196 Agricola’s Northern Campaigns 198 Trajan’s Campaigns 200 Chapter XI: Defending the Empire 204 The Dilemmas of Defence 206 Natural Frontiers 208 Colonies and Settlements 214 The Jewish Revolt 216 Siege of Masada 218 Chapter XII: Decline and Fall 220 The 3rd-century Crisis 222 The Eastern Problem 224 Foreign Invasions 226 Loss and Recapture of the East 228 The Splintering Empire 230 The First Recovery 232 The Tetrarchs’ Achievements 234 Constantine 236 Constantine’s Heirs 238 Britain Regained and Abandoned 240 The Gothic Problem 242 The Fatal Winter 244 The Sack of Rome 246 The Fall of Rome 248 Why Rome Fell 250 Part Two The Roman World 254 Rome’s Enduring Legacy 256 Timeline 260 Rome: the first world city 264 Chapter XIII: Building the City of Rome 266 Building Early Rome 268 The Later Republic 270 Augustus and his Heirs 272 Nero and the Flavians 274 Trajan and Hadrian 276 Rome in the Later Empire 278 Rome – The Christian City 280 Chapter XIV: Building Techniques and Styles 282 Building Materials 284 Vaults, Arches, Domes 286 Building Practices and Techniques 288 Architectural Styles and Language 290 Chapter XV: Public Buildings 292 The Forum Romanum 294 The Imperial Forum 296 Rome’s Basilicas and the Senate House 298 Temples: The Republic and the Early Principate 300 Temples: The Pantheon and After 302 Building the Theatres 304 Amphitheatres and the Colosseum 306 Aqueducts and Sewers 310 Imperial Baths 312 Circuses 316 Triumphal Arches 318 Triumphal Columns 320 Churches 322 Chapter XVI: Imperial Palaces 324 The Palaces of Augustus and his Heirs 326 Nero’s Golden Palace 328 The Palatine: Palace of the Emperors 330 Chapter XVII: Housing for Rich and Poor 334 The Domus: Houses of the Rich 336 Insulae: The First Apartments 338 Tiberius’ Villa at Capri 340 Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli 342 Villas of the Rich in Italy 346 Piazza Armerina 348 Diocletian’s Palace at Split 350 Villas of the Empire: British Villas 352 Chapter XVIII: Cities of the Empire 354 Pompeii and Herculaneum 356 Ostia and Portus 360 Contrasting Cities: Carthage and Timgad 362 Lepcis Magna: An Emperor’s Birthplace 364 Athens: A Glorious Past 366 Trier: The Rome of the North 368 Ephesus: Wonder of the World 370 Vanished Cities of the East 372 Nîmes and Arles: Cities of Gaul 374 Romano-British Cities 376 Roman arts and society 378 Chapter XIX: Literature 380 The First Roman Writers 382 Augustus’ Poets Laureate 384 Catullus and the Elegiac Poets 386 Ovid and Later Silver Age Poets 388 Great Prose Writers 390 Novelists and Satirists 392 Late Roman Writers 394 Literature and Literacy 396 Chapter XX: The Arts 398 The Etruscans and the Early Republic 400 Art in the Later Republic 402 Augustus and the Classical Revival 404 The Roman Zenith 406 Hadrian and the Greek Revival 408 Art of the Later Empire 410 Furniture 412 Chapter XXI: Religion and Mythology 414 The Capitoline Gods 416 Venus, Vulcan and Other Gods 420 Emperor Worship and the Goddess Roma 422 Bacchus and Cybele 424 New Gods from the East 426 Cult of the Sun 428 Christianity: Tribulation to Triumph 430 Chapter XXII: Sport and Games 432 Gladiatorial Combats 434 The Great Games 436 Wild Beast Games 438 At the Circus: Chariot Races 440 At the Theatre: Farce, Mime and Pantomime 442 Games and Exercises 444 Chapter XXIII: Science, Technology & the Economy 446 Strabo and Graeco-Roman Geography 448 Astronomy 450 Water Mills 452 Steam Engines 454 Medical Principles and Practice 456 Perils of Urban Life: Plagues, Flood and Fire 458 Trade, Ships and Navigation 460 Passages to India 462 Farming 464 Chapter XXIV: People of Rome 466 Marriage, Divorce and the Power of the Father 468 Roman Women 470 Children: Education and Upbringing 472 Slaves and Freedmen 474 Aspects of Slavery 476 Business and Commerce 478 Leisure and Holidays 480 Dinner Parties 482 Food for Rich and Poor 484 Wine and Vineyards 486 Rome the Great Consumer 488 Tunics and Togas 490 Hairstyles and Cosmetics 492 Erotic Love 494 Funerals and the Afterlife 496 Index 500 Acknowledgements 510

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Book SynopsisDNA research is one of the most important and rapidly advancing areas in modern science and the practical use of DNA testing in genealogy is one of its most exciting applications. This accessible, wide-ranging introduction, the first British publication in this field, has been revised in a completely new edition with new topics and illustrative case studies. It offers a clear and practical way into the subject, explaining the scientific discoveries and techniques and how it can be used by genealogists to gain an insight into their ancestry. The subject is complex and perhaps difficult for traditional genealogists to understand but, with the aid of this book, novices who are keen to take advantage of it will be able to interpret test results and use them to help answer genealogical questions which cannot be answered by documentary evidence alone. It will also appeal to those with some experience in the field because it places the practical application of genetic genealogy within a wid

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Parker’s highly detailed but also immensely readable book has come far closer to that than any previous account of the most enigmatic of Spanish kings."—Anthony Pagden, New York Times Book Review on The Grand Strategy of Philip II"He is at pains to know Philip through the testimony of his friends, foes, courtiers and his own words and this authoritative, intelligently revisionist biography must stand now as the primary reference."—Iain Finlayson, Times"Parker has managed to navigate the archival whirlpools with remarkable flair. His admiration for his subject is evident on almost every page, yet the book is no whitewash. We are constantly made aware of the possibility that Philip might be deceiving us."—Fernando Cervantes, TLS"[T]he world’s outstanding historian of Philip II, his court, his problems and tragedies . . . Imprudent King is readable and broad-minded, as well as being scholarly . . . Parker has given us a really magnificent biography, whose documentation is impeccable while never heavy."—Hugh Thomas, The Spectator"There is no Anglophone historian who knows more about Philip II than Geoffrey Parker. In this soaring biography, which draws on a cache of recently discovered documents as well as the enormous back catalogue of archival deposits, he paints a compelling, even-handed portrait of the most powerful man in 16th-century Europe. Parker informs us that Philip’s handwriting is hard to read. It is no easier to decipher his legacy. It seems that he didn’t kill his son Don Carlos (whatever the Verdi opera tries to tell you) but he was not averse to removing other obstacles. He continues to fascinate –- if you are in the market for a nuanced study bolstered by a lifetime of study, Parker is your man and this is, for me, the historical biography of the year."—Jonathan Wright, The Herald (Scotland)"Geoffrey Parker’s biography of Philip II of Spain is superb."—Jonathan Wright, The Tablet"Highly recommended . . . has plenty of sound content while being highly readable."—Brian Buxton, Journal of the Tyndale SocietySelected as an Outstanding Academic Title 2015 by Choice"The first global empire, a master historian, and a wealth of new archival documents provide the essential elements for this terrific biography of Philip II as both statesman and man. Parker has brought Philip to life and, with him, the challenges of ruling an early modern empire."—Stuart Schwartz, author of All Can Be Saved: Religious Tolerance and Salvation in the Iberian Atlantic World"Geoffrey Parker, one of the world’s leading early modern scholars and, most certainly, the greatest authority on Philip II, has written a remarkable, erudite, thoroughly researched, and thoughtful book. Imprudent King benefits from the exhaustive research undertaken for his monumental, ‘definitive’ study of Philip II published in Spanish, but Parker’s deployment of close to 3,000 new documents permits a very different understanding of Philip II’s successes and failures. This, together with Parker’s unique gift as a historian, makes Imprudent King a profound, original and engaging new interpretation of the king’s life and of the manner in which he wrestled with the almost hopeless task of managing the first truly world empire."—Teofilo F. Ruiz, author of Spanish Society, 1400-1600

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