Revolutions, uprisings, rebellions Books

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Book SynopsisThe Monk (1796) is a masterpiece of Gothic fiction and the first horror novel in English literature. It tells of the pious monk Ambrosio's descent into depravity, his passion leading to rape, blasphemy, black magic, incest, and murder. Its sensational story also reflects the terrors of the French Revolution.

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Book Synopsis''People can only be free in relation to one another.''Three exhilarating and inspiring essays in which the great twentieth-century political philosopher argues that there can be no freedom without politics, and no politics without freedom.One of twenty new books in the bestselling Penguin Great Ideas series. This new selection showcases a diverse list of thinkers who have helped shape our world today, from anarchists to stoics, feminists to prophets, satirists to Zen Buddhists.

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Book SynopsisEvery Thursday morning in a living room in Iran, over tea and pastries, eight women meet in secret to discuss forbidden works of Western literature. As they lose themselves in the worlds of Lolita, The Great Gatsby and Pride and Prejudice, gradually they come to share their own stories, dreams and hopes with each other, and, for a few hours, taste freedom. Azar Nafisi''s bestselling memoir is a moving, passionate testament to the transformative power of books, the magic of words and the search for beauty in life''s darkest moments.Trade ReviewEngrossing, fascinating, stunning -- Margaret AtwoodI was enthralled and moved -- Susan SontagAnyone who has ever belonged to a book group must read this book -- Geraldine BrooksVivid, often heroic and sometimes funny ... Nafisi's rather wonderful book touches a beauty of its own -- Paul Allen * Guardian *Remarkable ... an eloquent brief on the transformative power of fiction * The New York Times *

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Book SynopsisWhy did the 1917 American Red Cross Mission to Russia include more financiers than medical doctors? Rather than caring for the victims of war and revolution, its members seemed more intent on negotiating contracts with the Kerensky government, and subsequently the Bolshevik regime. In a courageous investigation, Antony Sutton establishes tangible historical links between US capitalists and Russian communists. Drawing on State Department files, personal papers of key Wall Street figures, biographies and conventional histories, Sutton reveals: the role of Morgan banking executives in funneling illegal Bolshevik gold into the US; the co-option of the American Red Cross by powerful Wall Street forces; the intervention by Wall Street sources to free the Marxist revolutionary Leon Trotsky, whose aim was to topple the Russian government; the deals made by major corporations to capture the huge Russian market a decade and a half before the US recognized the Soviet regime; and, the secret sponsoring of Communism by leading businessmen, who publicly championed free enterprise. "Wall Street and the Bolshevik Revolution" traces the foundations of Western funding of the Soviet Union. Dispassionately, and with overwhelming documentation, the author details a crucial phase in the establishment of Communist Russia. This classic study - first published in 1974 and part of a key trilogy - is reproduced here in its original form. (The other volumes in the series include "Wall Street and the Rise of Hitler" and a study of Franklin D. Roosevelt's "1933 Presidential election in the United States").Trade Review'Sutton comes to conclusions that are uncomfortable for many businessmen and economists. For this reason his work tends to be either dismissed out of hand as 'extreme' or, more often, simply ignored.' - Richard Pipes, Baird Professor Emeritus of History, Harvard University (quoted from Survival Is Not Enough: Soviet Realities and America's Future)Table of ContentsPreface Chapter I: The Actors on the Revolutionary Stage Chapter II: Trotsky Leaves New York to Complete the Revolution Woodrow Wilson and a Passport for Trotsky Canadian Government Documents on Trotsky's Release Canadian Military Intelligence Views Trotsky Trotsky's Intentions and Objectives Chapter III: Lenin and German Assistance for the Bolshevik Revolution The Sisson Documents The Tug-of-War in Washington Chapter IV: Wall Street and the World Revolution American Bankers and Tsarist Loans Olof Aschberg in New York, 1916 Olof Aschberg in the Bolshevik Revolution Nya Banken and Guaranty Trust Join Ruskombank Guaranty Trust and German Espionage in the United States, 1914-1917 The Guaranty Trust-Minotto-Caillaux Threads Chapter V: The American Red Cross Mission in Russia - 1917 American Red Cross Mission to Russia - 1917 American Red Cross Mission to Rumania Thompson in Kerensky's Russia Thompson Gives the Bolsheviks $1 Million Socialist Mining Promoter Raymond Robins The International Red Cross and Revolution Chapter VI: Consolidation and Export of the Revolution A Consultation with Lloyd George Thompson's Intentions and Objectives Thompson Returns to the United States The Unofficial Ambassadors: Robins, Lockhart, and Sadoul Exporting the Revolution: Jacob H. Rubin Exporting the Revolution: Robert Minor Chapter VII: The Bolsheviks Return to New York A Raid on the Soviet Bureau in New York Corporate Allies for the Soviet Bureau European Bankers Aid the Bolsheviks Chapter VIII: 120 Broadway, New York City American International Corporation The Influence of American International on the Revolution The Federal Reserve Bank of New York American-Russian Industrial Syndicate Inc. John Reed: Establishment Revolutionary John Reed and the Metropolitan Magazine Chapter IX: Guaranty Trust Goes to Russia Wall Street Comes to the Aid of Professor Lomonossoff The Stage Is Set for Commercial Exploitation of Russia Germany and the United States Struggle for Russian Business Soviet Gold and American Banks Max May of Guaranty Trust Becomes Director of Ruskombank Chapter X: J.P. Morgan Gives a Little Help to the Other Side United Americans Formed to Fight Communism United Americans Reveals "Startling Disclosures" on Reds Conclusions Concerning United Americans Morgan and Rockefeller Aid Kolchak Chapter XI: The Alliance of Bankers and Revolution The Evidence Presented: A Synopsis The Explanation for the Unholy Alliance The Marburg Plan Appendix I: Directors of Major Banks, Firms, and Institutions Mentioned in This Book (as in 1917-1918) Appendix II: The Jewish-Conspiracy Theory of the Bolshevik Revolution Appendix III: Selected Documents from Government Files of the United States and Great Britain Selected Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisTHE SUNDAY TIMES HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEAR 2022WINNER OF THE POL ROGER DUFF COOPER PRIZE FOR NON-FICTIONSHORTLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE Eleven years when Britain had no king.In 1649 Britain was engulfed by revolution.On a raw January afternoon, the Stuart king, Charles I, was executed for treason. Within weeks the English monarchy had been abolished and the useless and dangerous' House of Lords discarded. The people, it was announced, were now the sovereign force in the land. What this meant, and where it would lead, no one knew.The Restless Republic is the story of the extraordinary decade that followed. It takes as its guides the people who lived through those years. Among them is Anna Trapnel, the daughter of a Deptford shipwright whose visions transfixed the nation. John Bradshaw, the Cheshire lawyer who found himself trying the King. Marchamont Nedham, the irrepressible newspaper man and puppet master of propaganda. Gerrard Winstanley, who strove for a Utopia of common owTrade Review‘Her narrative brims with life, colour, humour and humanity … A dazzling achievement, and I loved every page’ Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times ‘In this ceaselessly fascinating account of one of the most epochal events in the country’s history, the deserved winner of the Pol Roger Duff Cooper prize, Anna Keay skilfully delves beneath the well-worn cliches about the Commonwealth and brings a time of quiet, uncertain and ultimately fruitless revolution to vivid life. It is hard to imagine a better examination of the Protectorat’ Alexander Larman, Observer ‘This is an exceptional book about an exceptional time … meticulously researched and deftly drawn character studies … A triumph’ John Adamson, author of The Noble Revolt ‘An exceptional feat of imaginative engagement. Never have the kingless years been made so vivid, and never has vividness contributed so much to the understanding of them. Keay has brought off an ingenious literary experiment… An entrancing achievement’ Blair Worden, TLS ‘Wonderful…. Tells the story of how the British and Irish people came to be who they are’ Clive Myrie ‘Deft, confident, deeply learned and provocative’ Rory Stewart ‘[A] vivid panorama … Keay conjures up with nuance and panache the single most fascinating decade in the history of Britain and Ireland, revealing it to be at once weirdly ancient and strangely modern’ Paul Lay, The Times ‘Keay offers us a world turned upside down; but also a world made real. That’s a remarkable achievement’ Adrian Tinniswood, Sunday Telegraph ***** ‘Readers both expert and casual will revel in seeing this period brought to noisy, brash, colourful [life] by the skilled pen of a natural storyteller’ Aspects of History

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Book SynopsisIn July 1917, when the Provisional Government issued a warrant for his arrest, Lenin fled from Petrograd; later that year, the October Revolution swept him to supreme power. In the short intervening period he spent in Finland, he wrote his impassioned, never-completed masterwork The State and Revolution. This powerfully argued book offers both the rationale for the new regime and a wealth of insights into Leninist politics. It was here that Lenin justified his personal interpretation of Marxism, savaged his opponents and set out his trenchant views on class conflict, the lessons of earlier revolutions, the dismantling of the bourgeois state and the replacement of capitalism by the dictatorship of the proletariat. As both historical document and political statement, its importance can hardly be exaggerated.Translated and edited with an introduction by Robert ServiceTable of ContentsPart 1 Class society and the state: the state as the product of the irreconcilability of class contradictions; special bodies of armed men, prisons, etc.; the state as an instrument for the exploitation of the oppressed class; the "withering away" of the state and violent revolution. Part 2 The state and revolution - the experience of 1848-51: the eve of the revolution; the revolution in summary; the presentation of the question by Marx in 1852. Part 3 The state and revolution - the experience of the Paris Commune of 1871 - Marx's analysis: what was heroic about the Communards' attempt?; with what is the smashed state machine to be replaced?; the eradication of the parliamentarianism; organization of the unity of the nation; the destruction of the parasite state. Part 4 Continuation - supplementary clarifications by Engels: the housing question; the polemic with the anarchists; letter to Bebel; critique of the draft of the Erfurt Programme; the 1891 Preface to Marx's "The Civil War in France"; Engels on the overcoming of democracy. Part 5 The economic basis for the withering away of the state: the presentation of the question by Marx; the transition from capitalism to Communisim; the first phase of Communist society; the higher phase of Communist society. Part 6 The vulgarization of Marxism by the opportunists: Plekhanov's polemic with the Anarchists; Kautsky's polemic with the opportunists; Kautsky's polemic with Pannekoek. Part 7 The experience of the Russian Revolutions of 1905 and 1917.

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Book SynopsisThis book examines key cases of terrorist violence to show that the invention of terrorism was linked to the birth of modernity in Europe, Russia and the United States, rather than to Tsarist despotism in 19th century Russia or to Islam sects in Medieval Persia. Combining a highly readable historical narrative with analysis of larger issues in social and political history, the author argues that the dissemination of news about terrorist violence was at the core of a strategy that aimed for political impact on rulers as well as the general public. Dietze's lucid account also reveals how the spread of knowledge about terrorist acts was, from the outset, a transatlantic process. Two incidents form the book's centerpiece. The first is the failed attempt to assassinate French Emperor Napoléon III by Felice Orsini in 1858, in an act intended to achieve Italian unity and democracy. The second case study offers a new reading of John Brown's raid on the arsenal at Harpers Ferry in 1859, as a decisive moment in the abolitionist struggle and occurrences leading to the American Civil War. Three further examples from Germany, Russia, and the US are scrutinized to trace the development of the tactic by first imitators. With their acts of violence, the "invention" of terrorism was completed. Terrorism has existed as a tactic since then and has essentially only been adapted through the use of new technologies and methods.Trade Review"The book builds an extraordinarily careful argument about the specificities of context in the 1850s and 60s necessary to an understanding of how terrorism as a distinctive body of political thinking and practice arrived in the modern world, focusing on the field of understanding that coalesced around "freedom, nation and violence" in the epoch framed by the French Revolution and Revolutions of 1848. It does not fall into common trap of the available literatures, viz. to approach the 'genealogies' from an excessively presentist point of view. Instead, Dietze approaches the 1850s and 60s as a generative crucible for the conjunction of ideas and influences that need to be very carefully historicized as such if we're to have any chance of understanding the subsequent intellectual and political histories concerned. In its willingness to engage explicitly and at length with the literatures in political science as well as the writing theoretically about terrorism in general, Dietze's book has unusual strength for a historian."The book is impressively "transnational" in the terms that have become aspiringly normative for so many theoretically self-aware and ambitious historians during the past decade.""Dietze brilliantly makes these familiar and well-established histories and perceptions strange.""Another vital and original aspect of the study is its emphasis on media history and the particular characteristics of the mid 19th century public sphere -- BOTH in terms of the circulatory conditions needed for the transnational quality of the history she's trying to reconstruct AND for the key argument she's making about impact and reception. In other words, this is partly an argument about mechanics and the particular means of transmission and circulation. But it's also about the ontological grounds of political thought and political agency created out of this remarkable transnational circuitry." -- Geoff Eley, Karl Pohrt Distinguished University Professor of Contemporary History at the University of MichiganThis book may well revolutionize our understanding of the origins of terrorism in the 19th century. In highly original fashion, it closely links together the actions of terrorists in France, Russia, and the United States and shows how between 1858 and 1866 two key terrorists influenced three copycats who altogether ignited the explosion of modern terrorism. The depth of Dietze's research, drawing upon archives not only in Europe and the United States, but also in Russia, is staggering. A must read for anyone interested in the history of terrorism. -- Richard Bach Jensen, Louisiana Scholars’ College at Northwestern State University, author of The Battle against Anarchist Terrorism

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Book SynopsisWhen should we revolt? A life-changing insight into violent political change by one of the world''s greatest political thinkers and author of surprise recent bestseller The Origins of Totalitarianism.''More than any thinker it was Arendt who identified how movements of ideas, racial theories, people and methods ... ultimately disfigured the twentieth century.'' David Olusoga''Arendt''s most profound legacy is in establishing that one has to consider oneself political as part of the human condition. What are your political acts, and what politics do they serve?'' Guardian''How could such a book speak so powerfully to our present moment? The short answer is that we, too, live in dark times.'' Washington Post (on The Origins of Totalitarianism)On Revolution is world-famous political thinker Hannah Arendt''s classic exploration of a phenomenon that has radically res

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewAn impressive exploration of Iran's development since 1979 into an unpredictable pseudo-democracy ... [a] calm and literate portrait of the Islamic Republic * Guardian *If you were to read only one book on present-day Iran you could not do better than this ... Axworthy revokes the sound and fury of the revolution itself -- Ervand Abrahamian * Times Higher Education *Balances scholarly precision with narrative flair ... Axworthy does the best job so far of describing the Iran-Iraq war ... Axworthy's analytical approach helps him demystify a revolutionary regime that has needed to feed off myths. He revisits, and convincingly reinterprets, defining moments of the Islamic republic ... [with] scholarly rigour and first-class analysis. Anyone interested in this most complex of revolutions would do well to read [this book] * Economist *Packed with gobbets of information and policy advice on how to deal with Iran * Telegraph *[A] meticulously fair and scholarly work ... passages from Iranian authors little known in the west as well as references to both popular and arthouse cinema bring depth [and] richness ... moving and vivid ... a very fine work that deserves to be read by anyone interested in the Middle East -- Jason Burke * Observer *Axworthy is a true Iranophile, learned in history and literature ancient and modern ... [A] subtle, lucid, and well-proportioned history ... his method casts theocracy in a refreshingly cold light, and embosses the Islamic Republic's well-established subordination of faith to power * Spectator *In this lucid, nicely written and well-paced work, Michael Axworthy provides a compelling overview of contemporary Iran and its relations with the outside world ... [Axworthy's] perspective is far more persuasive, and interesting, than the neocon line that has dominated the Iran debate * Independent *

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Book Synopsis'A revolutionary book' Sunday Times 'A pulsating account' Peter Frankopan *A SPECTATOR AND NEW STATESMAN BOOK OF THE YEAR* How did the People’s Republic of China transform from a backwater economy in the 1970s into the world superpower of today? Drawing on hundreds of previously unseen archival documents, award-winning historian Frank Dikötter recasts our understanding of an era that both the regime and foreign admirers alike celebrate as an economic miracle. In a fascinating tale spanning five decades, he examines the country’s economic transformation alongside the regime’s determined suppression of dissent, its increasing hostility towards the West and its development into a thoroughly entrenched dictatorship led by Xi Jinping – one equipped with a sprawling security apparatus and the most sophisticated surveillance system in the world. ‘Essential reading for anyone who wants to know what has shaped today’s China and what the Chinese Communist Party’s choices mean for the rest of the world’ New Statesman ‘A blow-by-blow account of the uneven, reactive and sometimes chaotic course of economic policies . . . An important corrective’ Financial Times ‘Dikötter has been mining Chinese primary sources for decades . . . A clear-eyed and detailed account’ ObserverTrade ReviewPRAISE FOR THE PEOPLE'S TRILOGY: Together, these three books constitute a major contribution to scholarship on modern China, one that is unequalled, certainly in the English language * Literary Review *Harrowing and brilliant ... This is the book that changes your life -- Ben Macintyre * The Times *Dikötter's achievement in this book is remarkable * Sunday Times *A brilliant and powerful account ...This excellent book is horrific but essential reading for all who want to understand the darkness that lies at the heart of one of the world's most important revolutions * Guardian *Powerful ... Bold and startling ... Dikötter must be admired for the manner in which he puts a human scale on the enormous barbarities of the communist takeover of China. We cannot begin to understand modern China without being aware of the blood-drenched tale Dikötter so ably relates -- Kwasi Kwarteng * Evening Standard *A mesmerizing account of the communist revolution in China, and the subsequent transformation of hundreds of millions of lives through violence, coercion and broken promises. The Chinese themselves suppress this history, but for anyone who wants to understand the current Beijing regime, this is essential background reading -- Anne ApplebaumDikötter performs here a tremendous service by making legible the hugely controversial origins of the present Chinese political order -- Tim Snyder A remarkable work of archival research. Dikötter rarely, if ever, allows the story of central government to dominate by merely reporting a top-down directive. Instead, he tracks down the grassroots impact of Communist policies ... In so doing, he uncovers astonishing stories of party-led inhumanity and also popular resistance ... Dikötter sustains a strong human dimension to the story by skillfully weaving individual voices through the length of the book * Financial Times *Startling ... Dikötter's work has aimed to demolish almost every claim to truth or virtue the Chinese Communist party ever made. He combines a vivid eye for detail with a historian's diligence in the archives. Powerful ... Dikötter is unsparing in his account of the effects of the communist rule * Observer *Magnificent ... This brilliant book leaves no doubt that Mao almost ruined China and left a legacy of paranoia that still grips its modern dictatorship under the latest autocrat, Xi Jinping -- Michael Sheridan * Sunday Times *

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Book SynopsisHelen Rappaport is a historian with a specialism in the nineteenth century. She is the author of numerous books, including Four Sisters, Ekaterinburg: The Last Days of the Romanovs and Magnificent Obsession: Victoria, Albert and the Death that Changed the Monarchy. She is also the author, with Roger Watson, of Capturing the Light.Trade ReviewRappaport is insightful in her analysis of Alexandra's vulnerability [and] illuminates the precise influence of Grigori Rasputin . . . An astoundingly intimate tale of domestic life lived in the crucible of power. * Observer *[Rappaport] brings to Four Sisters an encyclopedic knowledge of the minutiae of Nicholas and Alexandra's family life . . . Four Sisters is a study in unity. It demonstrates resoundingly the strength of family ties. * The Telegraph *A well-written gem . . . a fascinating, in-depth and comprehensively researched study of the imperial daughters. * Daily Express *Evocative and beautifully researched and told, this is narrative history at its best. * Bookseller *Poignant [and] well written ... Rappaport's sensitive portrayal of the doomed sisters draws the reader into an attachment to each one. * Mail on Sunday *One of the greatest skills a historian can possess is to make readers feel as if they have stepped back in time to witness the characters, places and events they describe. In her stunning composite biography, Helen Rappaport achieves this to dazzling and, at times, almost unbearably poignant effect. -- Tracy Borman * BBC History Magazine *

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Book SynopsisA 2022 BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR: Sunday Times * Irish Times * Spectator * Financial Times * Telegraph * Aspects of History ‘The history book you need if you want to understand modern Russia' ANNE APPLEBAUM ‘A magnificent, magisterial thousand year history of Russia . . . by one of the masters of Russian scholarship' SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE ‘A great historian at the peak of his powers' WILLIAM DALRYMPLE '[An] excellent short study’ MAX HASTINGS, SUNDAY TIMES ‘If you really want to understand Putin’s Russia today, anchored in its past of myths, then you simply have to read Figes’s superb account’ ANTONY BEEVOR 'A lucid chronological journey that ably illustrates how narratives from the nation’s past have been used to shape its autocratic present’ OBSERVER 'A valuable, instructive overview' INDEPENDENT ------------------------- From the great storyteller of Russia, a spellbinding account of the stories that have shaped the country’s past – and how they can inform its present. No other country has been so divided over its own past as Russia. None has changed its story so often. How the Russians came to tell their story, and to reinvent it as they went along, is a vital aspect of their history, their culture and beliefs. To understand what Russia’s future holds – to grasp what Putin’s regime means for Russia and the world – we need to unravel the ideas and meanings of that history. In The Story of Russia, Orlando Figes brings into sharp relief the vibrant characters that comprise Russia’s rich history, and whose stories remain so important in making sense of the world’s largest nation today – from the crowning of sixteen-year-old Ivan the Terrible in a candlelit cathedral, to Catherine the Great, riding out in a green uniform to arrest her husband at his palace, to the bitter last days of the Romanovs. Beautifully written and based on a lifetime of scholarship, The Story of Russia is a major and definitive work from the great storyteller of Russian history: sweeping, suspenseful, masterful. ------------------------- PRAISE FOR ORLANDO FIGES ‘An outstanding historian and writer, he brings distant history so close that you could feel its heartbeat’ KARL OVE KNAUSGAARD 'Figes knows more about Russia than any other historian' MAX HASTINGS, SUNDAY TIMESTrade ReviewFiges’s book is an absorbing and enlightening read, a triumph of concision, analysis and insight * Daily Mail *A deeply impressive and deeply immersive book . . . The author sets out to reveal Russia’s history, its people’s perception of their past and the manifold ways in which those in power manipulate both events and legend to shape the present. It is a saga of multi-millennial identity politics * Spectator *To understand Putin's paranoia, read this book on Russia's history * Telegraph *A lucid chronological journey that ably illustrates how narratives from the nation’s past have been used to shape its autocratic present * Observer *If you really want to understand Putin’s Russia today, anchored in its past of myths, then you simply have to read Figes’s superb account in The Story of Russia -- Antony BeevorFiges’s book is an absorbing and enlightening read, a triumph of concision, analysis and insight * Daily Mail *An indispensable survey of more than 1,000 years of history shows how myth and fact mix dangerously in the tales this crucial country tells about itself * Guardian *A magnificent, magisterial thousand year history of Russia . . . its tsars and tyrants, wars and massacres, ideas and dreams vividly drawn, its analysis of Russian power and empire essential reading today -- Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of THE ROMANOVS and STALIN: THE COURT OF THE RED TSARAn expert on Russia delivers a crucially relevant study . . . A lucid, astute text that unpacks the myths of Russian history to help explain present-day motivations and actions * Kirkus (starred review) *Urgent and revelatory and brilliantly told, it’s all the things you pray a book will be when you first pick it up -- Peter MorganExcellent short study -- Max Hastings * Sunday Times *The historian’s latest work on Russia is a lucid chronological journey that ably illustrates how narratives from the nation’s past have been used to shape its autocratic present -- Angus Macqueen * Observer *Figes skilfully assesses the evolution of the forms of government and society that inhibited the development of controls of the tsar * BBC History Magazine *Accessible and epic . . . A great introduction to an enthralling subject * History Revealed *An impressive account of the ideas, myths and ideologies that have shaped that country and the way its people interpret the past . . . Figes’s book offers a valuable, instructive overview * Independent *Anyone who wants to detox from Putin’s mythomanic claims about Russia’s history and what it means for today’s world will find some relief in The Story of Russia . . . Figes presents Russia’s history in a straightforward manner * Irish Independent *Valuable book * Irish Times *[An] imaginative sweep and a capacity to encapsulate in a memorable way * TLS *Orlando Figes provides valuable lessons about the importance of mythologizing the country’s past in his sweeping new survey of Russian history * New York Times *Sweeping and concise . . . It is a skilled piece of compression * Tablet *This is a brilliant condensation – his analysis of Soviet Russia is superb – of a seriously complex tale * Spectrum *The Story of Russia combines profound knowledge and understanding of the longer, deeper structural processes of history with the personal experience of an author seeking to understand what is happening on the ground today * Financial Times *Orlando Figes’s latest book provides fascinating insights into this contemporary conundrum. The Story of Russia is a truly incisive and important dissection of Russia’s troubled past, both real and mythical, but it also provides a crucial context for understanding the present * Jewish Chronicle *This book is a timely reminder of the malign uses to which history can be put * Politics Home *A brilliantly concentrated meditation on the power of myth and history, and the ability of both to form and deform and guide and misguide the present. Thoughtful, nuanced and above all persuasive, it shows how we are all trapped in the loops and coils of myth, memory and forgetting, and demonstrates the urgent need for historians to remember, and insist on the truth -- William Dalrymple, Books of the Year * Spectator *Beautifully brief, The Story of Russia shows centuries of regimes that revisit their past to manipulate the future, and eternally start from the wrong place acting in venal self-interest rather than the true national interest -- Best Books of 2022 * Financial Times *Given the news, Orlando Figes’s short book could hardly be better timed ... His story abounds in strange and memorable characters, from emperors to writers. But it’s the sheer sweep that impresses most, as he turns a potentially grim and overwhelming subject into a delightfully brisk and enjoyable read -- Best History Books of 2022 * Sunday Times *To understand Russia’s autocratic present, you must examine its past – although Russia’s perception of that past is ever-shifting. Its founding myths have shaped its history right up to the present. “Russia is a country held together by ideas rooted in its distant past, histories continuously reconfigured and repurposed to suit its present needs -- Best Non-fiction of 2022 * Irish Times *The Story of Russia by Orlando Figes (Bloomsbury, £25) looks 900 years earlier, to the national myths that Putin exploited in his invasion of Ukraine. “The country’s past will be reinvented by the Russian state as its needs change,” Figes observes -- Best History Books of 2022 * Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisIn a city on the brink of violence just after the First World War, can one boy make his way through the night and save his father?

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Book Synopsis''James is a titan of twentieth-century politics and culture'' Sunday Times''The Black Jacobins is not only a groundbreaking historical work; it is a masterpiece in storytelling and analysis'' Gary YoungeThe iconic study of the Haitian revolution, by one of the most important historians of the twentieth centuryC. L. R. James''s pioneering account of the 1791 San Domingo slave revolt and the creation of the republic of Haiti changed the way colonial history was written. By putting the experiences of the slave rebels, led by Toussaint L''Ouverture, centre stage, James made them agents of their own story. His work, written as part of the fight to end colonialism in Africa, helped inspire radical liberation movements worldwide, from Black Power to Castro''s revolution in the Caribbean.With an Introduction by Christienna FryarTrade ReviewThe black Plato of our generation ... the founding father of African emancipation. * The Times *The Black Jacobins is not only a groundbreaking historical work; it is a masterpiece in story-telling and analysis. -- Gary YoungeContains some of the finest and most deeply felt polemical writing against slavery and racism ever to be published. * Time Out *The Black Jacobins is one of the great books of the twentieth century ... one that wrote the history of a people supposedly without history. -- Catherine HallJames is, quite simply, the outstanding West Indian of the twentieth century. -- Caryl PhillipsA starting point and an intellectual inspiration ... a classic of masterly historical writing. -- James WalvinJames is not afraid to touch his pen with the flame of ardent personal feeling - a sense of justice, love of freedom, admiration for heroism, hatred for tyranny - and his detailed, richly documented and dramatically written book holds a deep and lasting interest. -- New York TimesRevolutionarily, the book abandoned the old narrative of black victimhood in favour of accenting the agency of the formerly enslaved who, fuelled by a desire for liberty, fought to achieve autonomy. -- Colin Grant * Prospect *The standard and the main text through which the Haitian revolution is studied ... a book I've read back to back many times ... An incredibly brilliant book, an undeniably magnificent contribution to scholarship. -- Akala's Great ReadsReading and rereading The Black Jacobins, I am struck by its incredible wit and humanity, and James' determination to write a history of slavery in the Caribbean in which people of African descent appear as thinking, feeling human agents - in other words, as the protagonists of their own history and not background characters in an essentially European story. -- Dr Liam J. Liburd, Assistant Professor of Black British History, Durham University

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Book SynopsisThis book explores the lives and deaths of over 300 men, women and children buried in Dublin’s Glasnevin Cemetery who died due to the War of Independence and Civil War. Detailed research brings their stories together for the first time with first-hand accounts of those who witnessed and participated in these historical conflicts. Through the exploration of seemingly ordinary burial records, extraordinary events are revealed. Unfolded are stories of ambushes, informers, assassinations, spies, executions, raids, mutiny and bombings, together with ordinary members of the public, caught up in extraordinary events.

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Book SynopsisLONGLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE 2018 NEW STATESMAN BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2017''The kind of vision the world needs right now...Pankaj Mishra shouldn''t stop thinking'' Christopher de Bellaigue, Financial Times''This is the most astonishing, convincing, and disturbing book I''ve read in years'' Joe Sacco''Urgent, profound and extraordinarily timely'' John BanvilleHow can we explain the origins of the great wave of paranoid hatreds that seem inescapable in our close-knit world - from American ''shooters'' and ISIS to Trump, from a rise in vengeful nationalism across the world to racism and misogyny on social media? In Age of Anger, Pankaj Mishra answers our bewilderment by casting his gaze back to the eighteenth century, before leading us to the present.He shows that as the world became modern those who were unable to fulfil its promises - freedom, stability and prosperity - were increasingly susceptible to demagogues. The many who came late to this new world or were left, or pushed, behind, reacted in horrifyingly similar ways: intense hatred of invented enemies, attempts to re-create an imaginary golden age, and self-empowerment through spectacular violence. It was from among the ranks of the disaffected that the militants of the 19th century arose - angry young men who became cultural nationalists in Germany, messianic revolutionaries in Russia, bellicose chauvinists in Italy, and anarchist terrorists internationally.Today, just as then, the wider embrace of mass politics, technology, and the pursuit of wealth and individualism has cast many more millions adrift in a literally demoralized world, uprooted from tradition but still far from modernity - with the same terrible resultsMaking startling connections and comparisons, Age of Anger is a book of immense urgency and profound argument. It is a history of our present predicament unlike any other.Trade ReviewUrgent, profound and extraordinarily timely -- John BanvilleThis is the most astonishing, convincing, and disturbing book I've read in years * Joe Sacco *Incisive and scary.. a wake-up call -- Nick Fraser * Guardian *Far from reassuring... his vision is unusually broad, accommodating and resistant to categorisation. It is the kind of vision the world needs right now...Pankaj Mishra shouldn't stop thinking. -- Christopher de Bellaigue * Financial Times *This is a framework that pushes aside conventional, familiar divisions of left and right to focus on the profound sense of dislocation and alienation that spawned (and still spawns) movements ranging from fascism to anarchism to nihilism...a short book into which a lot of intellectual history has been packed. -- Laura Miller * Slate *Stimulating... thought-provoking -- Richard Evans * Guardian *A valuable book. Mishra's ideas are bold and initially discomfiting - it's a challenge to look over the head of the latest terrorist and try to dispassionately trace his rage back to Voltaire - but it's undeniably good to stretch intellectual muscles and test your own prejudices. Mishra invites us to hear the ugly, muffled shouts beneath the "drumbeat" of Western civilisation. -- Julie McDowall * Sunday Herald *Mishra reads like a brilliant autodidact, putting to shame the many students who dutifully did the reading for their classes but missed the incandescent fire and penetrating insight in canonical texts... no one has discerned better than Mishra just how far we still are from the top. -- Samuel Moyn * New Republic *Around the world, both East and West, the insurrectionary fury of militants, zealots and populists has overturned the post-Cold-War global consensus. Where does their rage come from, and where will it end? One of the sharpest cultural critics and political analysts releases his landmark "history of the present -- Boyd Tonkin * Newsweek *An original attempt to explain today's paranoid hatreds...Iconoclastic...Mr. Mishra shocks on many levels. * Economist *Along with quotations from Voltaire, Rousseau, and other familiar figures of Western Civ, Age of Anger includes observations from Iranian, Chinese, Indian, Japanese, and other nations' scholars; their perspectives complement Mishra's deep understanding of global tensions....In probing for the wellspring of today's anger he hits on something real -- Peter Coy * Bloomberg Businessweek *Provocative...We'll need new philosophical frameworks to understand the phenomenon of political anger in a global perspective; what's fascinating about Mishra's novel reading is that it draws on familiar philosophical and literary touchstones while turning them on their head...A brilliant work -- Eric Banks * Bookforum *A disturbing but imperatively urgent analysis -- Bryce Christensen * Booklist *A probing, well-informed investigation of global unrest calling for 'truly transformative thinking' about humanity's future * Kirkus Reviews *Sensitive and illuminating....Makes a powerful case for the influence of a certain group of anti-rational and anti-commercial ideas which have influenced our world.,..Mishra's contribution is to show us how these ideas have become 'viral' and what that means for all of us. -- Jonathan Steinberg * The Spectator *Incisive...Age of Anger, which was completed after the Brexit vote but before Trump's victory, reminds us that the dialectical movement between these two poles - between a desire to be oneself and a desire to belong to something larger than oneself - has been a feature of Western political life since the Enlightenment -- Justin E.H. Smith * Harper’s *Pankaj Mishra's Age of Anger...exemplifies his characteristic eloquence and erudition...Leaders who are struggling to process the present backlash against core aspects of globalization would do well to heed Mishra's plea to "remember the irreducible human being, her or his fears, desires, and resentments." -- Ali Wyne * The National Interest *An impressively probing and timely work...Highly engaging * Publishers Weekly *Scintillating...Age of Anger looks an awful lot like a masterwork. We're only a few weeks into 2017, but one of the books of the year is already here -- Christopher Bray * The Tablet *

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Book Synopsis''He thought he could see, in a flash, the future of the Rougon-Macquart family, a pack of wild satiated appetites in the midst of a blaze of gold and blood.''Set in the fictitious Provençal town of Plassans, The Fortune of the Rougons tells the story of Silvère and Miette, two idealistic young supporters of the republican resistance to Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte''s coup d''état in December 1851. They join the woodcutters and peasants of the Var to seize control of Plassans, opposed by the Bonapartist loyalists led by Silvère''s uncle, Pierre Rougon. Meanwhile, the foundations of the Rougon family and its illegitimate Macquart branch are being laid in the brutal beginnings of the Imperial regime.The Fortune of the Rougons is the first in Zola''s famous Rougon-Macquart series of novels. In it we learn how the two branches of the family came about, and the origins of the hereditary weaknesses passed down the generations. Murder, treachery, and greed are the keynotes, and just as the EmpireTrade ReviewReading Brian Nelson's Introduction to The Fortune of the Rougons is a real treat. * Lisa Hill, ANZLitLovers *The edition I read was the Oxford World's Classics translation by Brian Nelson and it's excellent ... as an introduction [to Zola] this has been such an inspiring read. * Desperate Reader *

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Book SynopsisThe thrilling history of Parliament's 'fiery spirits,' whose actions lead to the trial and execution of the king and the declaration of an English republic

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Book SynopsisOne of the great landmarks of modern history writing, Simon Schama''s Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution is the most authoritative social, cultural and narrative history of the French Revolution ever produced. ''Monumental ... provocative and stylish, Simon Schama''s account of the first few years of the great Revolution in France, and of the decades that led up to it, is thoughtful, informed and profoundly revisionist'' Eugen Weber, The New York Times Book Review ''The most marvellous book I have read about the French Revolution'' Richard Cobb, The Times ''Dazzling - beyond praise - He has chronicled the vicissitudes of that world with matchless understanding, wisdom, pity and truth, in the pages of this marvellous book'' Bernard Levin, Sunday Times ''Provides an unrivalled impression of the currents and contradictions which made up this terrible sequence of events'' Antony Beevor

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Book SynopsisThe Magic Lantern is one of those rare books that capture history in the making, written by an author who was witness to some of the most remarkable moments that marked the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe. Timothy Garton Ash was there in Warsaw, on 4 June, when the communist government was humiliated by Solidarity in the first semi-free elections since the Second World War. He was there in Budapest, twelve days later, when Imre Nagy - thirty-one years after his execution - was finally given his proper funeral. He was there in Berlin, as the Wall opened. And most remarkable of all, he was there in Prague, in the back rooms of the Magic Lantern theatre, with Václav Havel and the members of Civic Forum, as they made their 'Velvet Revolution'.Trade ReviewIn the future, there will probably be streets in Warsaw, Prague and Budapest bearing the name of Timothy Garton Ash -- Karel Kyncl * Independent *A wonderful combination of first-class reporting, brilliant political analysis and reflection. * New York Times Book Review *[Garton Ash's] own involvement in these events, intellectual and emotional, is of such intensity that he can speak... from the inside as well as from the outside. Yet the sense of historic dimension... is never lost. And the quality of the writing places it clearly in the category of good literature. * George Kennan *Along with the historian's long view, Garton Ash has an eye and an ear for the telling detail. * Washington Post Book World *Table of Contents1: Witness and History 2: Warsaw: The First Election 3: Budapest: The Last Funeral 4: Berlin: Wall's End 5: Prague: Inside the Magic Lantern 6: The Year of Truth 7: Thirty Years On: Time for a New Liberation?

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In February of 1917 Russia was a backward, autocratic monarchy, mired in an unpopular war; by October, after not one but two revolutions, it had become the world's first workers' state, straining to be at the vanguard of global revolution. How did this unimaginable transformation take place?In a panoramic sweep, stretching from St Petersburg and Moscow to the remotest villages of a sprawling empire, Miéville uncovers the catastrophes, intrigues and inspirations of 1917, in all their passion, drama and strangeness. Intervening in long-standing historical debates, but told with the reader new to the topic especially in mind, here is a breathtaking story of humanity at its greatest and most desperate; of a turning point for civilisation that still resonates loudly today. China Miéville tells the extraordinary story of this pivotal moment in history.

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Book SynopsisIn the struggle for a better world, setbacks are inevitable. Defeat can feel overwhelming at times, but it has to be endured. How then do the people on the front line keep going? To answer that question, Hannah Proctor draws on historical resources to find out how revolutionaries and activists of the past kept a grip on hope.Burnout considers despairing former Communards exiled to a penal colony in the South Pacific; exhausted Bolsheviks recuperating in sanatoria in the aftermath of the October Revolution; an ex-militant on the analyst’s couch relating dreams of ruined landscapes; Chinese peasants engaging in self-criticism sessions; a political organiser seeking advice from a spiritual healer; civil rights movement activists battling weariness; and a group of feminists padding a room with mattresses to scream about the patriarchy. Jettisoning self-help narratives and individualizing therapy talk, Proctor offers a different way forward - neither denial nor despair.

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Book Synopsis*WINNER OF THE WOLFSON HISTORY PRIZE 2023**A NEW YORKER BOOK OF THE YEAR*''The best book about the subject I have ever read'' Max Hastings, Sunday TimesA sweeping history of occupation and resistance in war-torn Europe, from the acclaimed author of The Eagle UnbowedAcross the whole of Nazi-ruled Europe the experience of occupation was sharply varied. Some countries - such as Denmark - were within tight limits allowed to run themselves. Others - such as France - were constrained not only by military occupation but by open collaboration. In a historical moment when Nazi victory seemed permanent and irreversible, the question ''why resist?'' was therefore augmented by ''who was the enemy?''.Resistance is an extraordinarily powerful, humane and haunting account of how and why all across Nazi-occupied Europe some people decided to resist the Third Reich. This could range from open partisan warfare in theTrade ReviewThe best book about the resistance I have ever read. It addresses the story with scholarly objectivity and an absolute lack of sentimentality ... it is marvellous to read a study of such breadth and depth, which reaches balanced judgments. -- Max Hastings * Sunday Times *Ground-breaking ... a superb, myth-busting survey of the many ways in which the subjugated peoples of Europe tried to fight back. -- Saul David * Daily Telegraph *A full and nuanced account of all the different forms of resistance... a timely book. * Times Literary Supplement *Eminently readable ... subtle, multilayered and kaleidoscopic ... Kochanski's gripping account of the activities of the resistance includes, as might be expected, tales of derring-do and extraordinary courage as well as tragedy, betrayal and Nazi barbarism. -- Andrew Stuttaford * Wall Street Journal *This ambitious history offers the first unified picture of resistance against Nazi Germany in the many countries it invaded ... Dispensing with heroics and highlighting the imperfect, human nature of the underground, [Kochanski] nevertheless depicts a vital defence of dignity, spirit, and the future, mounted against all odds. * New Yorker *Halik Kochanski's Resistance reads less like a work of history and more like a chronicle of a partisan war foretold ... her scrupulous scholarship, and her refusal to romanticize the grim, grimy work of being a resister, does make Resistance something of a primer for the many Ukrainians now fighting to undermine Russian authority. -- Yuliya Tymoshenko * Project Syndicate *This history of resistance in the Second World War is as moving as it is comprehensive. * The Critic *An excellent comparative study of wartime resistance in all its forms. * BBC History *

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Book SynopsisShakespeare's Henry IV lamented Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown'. It was true of that king's reign and of many others before and after. From Hereward the Wake's guerilla war, resisting the Norman invasion of William the Conqueror, through the Anarchy, the murder of Thomas Becket, the rebellions of Henry II's sons, the deposition of Edward II, the Peasants' Revolt and the rise of the over-mighty noble subject that led to the Wars of the Roses, kings throughout the medieval period came under threat from rebellions and resistance that sprang from the nobility, the Church and even the general population. Serious rebellions arrived on a regular cycle throughout the period, fracturing and transforming England into a nation to be reckoned with. Matthew Lewis seeks to examine the causes behind the insurrections and how they influenced the development of England from the Norman Conquest until the Tudor period. Each rebellion's importance and impact is assessed both individually and as part of a larger movement to examine how rebellions helped to build England.

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Book SynopsisUnrivalled in scope and brimming with human drama, A People's Tragedy is the most vivid, moving and comprehensive history of the Russian Revolution available today.'A modern masterpiece' Andrew MarrOpening with a panorama of Russian society, from the cloistered world of the Tsar to the brutal life of the peasants, A People's Tragedy follows workers, soldiers, intellectuals and villagers as their world is consumed by revolution and then degenerates into violence and dictatorship. Drawing on vast original research, Figes conveys above all the shocking experience of the revolution for those who lived it, while providing the clearest and most cogent account of how and why it unfolded.Illustrated with over 100 photographs and now including a new introduction that reflects on the revolution's centennial legacy, A People's Tragedy is a masterful and definitive record of one of the most important events in modern history.'The most moving account of the Russian Revolution since Doctor Zhivago' IndependentTrade ReviewA modern masterpiece -- Andrew MarrCombines dramatic power, absorbing narrative and magisterial scholarship – a magnificent tour de force -- Christopher Andrew * Sunday Telegraph *The most moving account of the Russian Revolution since Doctor Zhivago -- Lucasta Miller * Independent *This book is not just a history; it is an item of history -- Neal Ascherson * Independent on Sunday *A People’s Tragedy will do more to help us understand the Russian Revolution than any other book I know -- Eric Hobsbawm * London Review of Books *Orlando Figes’s chronicle of the final days of Tsarism and the violent Bolshevism that arose from its ruins is an epic in size, scope and insight, and a classic in its genre… A People’s Tragedy succeeds most in capturing the sheer popular immensity of the upheavals in 1917-18, with all of Russia rising up first against the Tsar and then, with the onset of civil war, against itself. With its perfect balance of analysis and anecdote, A People’s Tragedy is surely among the most readable books on the Russian Revolution and the decades of tumult that made it possible – or inevitable -- Brad Davies * Independent *

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Book SynopsisCapitalism has transformed the world and increased our productivity, but at the cost of enormous human suffering. Our shared values equality and fairness, democracy and freedom, community and solidarity can both provide the basis for a critique of capitalism, and help to guide us towards a socialist and democratic society. In this elegant book, Erik Olin Wright has distilled decades of work into a concise and tightly argued manifesto analyzing the varieties of anti-capitalism, assessing different strategic approaches, and laying the foundations for a society dedicated to human flourishing. How to Be an Anticapitalist is an urgent and powerful argument for socialism, and a unparalleled guide to help us get there. Another world is possible.Trade Review"Deserves to be widely read. In 150-odd pages, Wright makes the case for what's wrong with capitalism, what would be better, and how to achieve it. This is the rare book that can speak to both the faithful and the unconverted. You could buy it for your skeptical uncle or your militant cousin: there is something here for the reader who needs persuading that another world is possible, and the reader who wants ideas for bringing that world into being." --Ben Tarnoff, Guardian "His ideas captured the imagination of audiences, intellectuals and activists across the globe ... Wright reinvented the meaning of socialism." --New York Times "Erik Olin Wright was a visionary writer gifted with the imagination to foresee what life after capitalism might look like, but he was much more than that. He embodied an entire way to think about capitalism and the world: clear, precise, and free of bullshit. This book, his last, should be an indispensable reference point for those who want to change the world for the better." --Bhaskar Sunkara, founder and publisher of Jacobin magazine "Erik will be remembered as the most important theorist of class in the second half of the twentieth century, and the greatest Marxist sociologist of his time." --Vivek Chibber, author of Postcolonial Theory and the Specter of Capital "Possessed of an unlimited capacity to render his ideas precise and simple, without diluting them, Erik gave activists a vision of a collective project to which each could contribute. Given the resurgent interest in 'socialism' among a new generation of thinkers and activists, Erik had an ever-increasing following." --Michael Burawoy, from the afterword "[An] eloquent and accessible volume." --Tom Mayer, Colorado Daily

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Book Synopsis''The greatest history of an event I know'' - C.L.R. JamesRegarded by many as among the most powerful works of history ever written, The History of the Russian Revolution offers an unparalleled account of one of the most pivotal and hotly debated events in world history. This book presents, from the perspective of one of its central actors, the profound liberating character of the early Russian Revolution.Originally published in three parts, Trotsky''s masterpiece is collected here in a single volume. It is still the most vital and inspiring record of the Russian Revolution ever published.

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Book SynopsisThe French Revolution marks the foundation of the modern political world. It was in the crucible of the Revolution that the political forces of conservatism, liberalism and socialism began to find their modern form, and it was the Revolution that first asserted the claims of universal individual rights, on which our current understandings of citizenship are based. But the Terror was, as much as anything else, a civil war, and such wars are always both brutal and complex. The guillotine in Paris claimed some 1,500 official victims, but executions of captured counter-revolutionary rebels ran into the tens of thousands, and deaths in the areas of greatest conflict probably ran into six figures, with indiscriminate massacres being perpetrated by both sides.The story of the Terror is a story of grand political pronouncements, uprisings and insurrections, but also a story of survival against hunger, persecution and bewildering ideological demands, a story of how a state, even withTrade ReviewDavid Andres s' important new book is a major contribution in our efforts to rethink the French Revolution . . . It is also exceptionally well-written * Timothy Tacket, author of BECOMING A REVOLUTIONARY AND WHEN THE KING TOOK FLIGHT *Commendably fair and even-handed . . . A lucid study * Munro Price, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH *The most authoritative treatment we are likely to have for many years * William Doyle, INDEPENDENT *A meticulous account . . . stands beside Simon Schama's Citizens * LITERARY REVIEW *

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Book SynopsisRobert Service is a Fellow of the British Academy and of St Antony's College, Oxford. He has written several books, including the highly acclaimed Lenin: A Biography, Russia: Experiment with a People, Stalin: A Biography and Comrades: A History of World Communism, as well as many other books on Russia's past and present. His book Trotsky: A Biography was awarded the 2009 Duff Cooper Prize. Married with four children, he lives in London.Trade ReviewBrilliant, original and compelling -- Saul David * Evening Standard *The best book yet on Nicholas after his abdication -- Dominic Lieven * Financial Times *A myth-busting account of the final months of the ruler’s life, from abdication to execution * Guardian *Detailed and painstakingly researched -- Peter Conradi * Sunday Times *A clear-eyed portrait of Nicholas and his limitations . . . an essential corrective * TLS *

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Book SynopsisIn 1482, Abu Abdallah Muhammad XI became the twenty-third Muslim King of Granada. He would be the last. This is the first history of the ruler, known as Boabdil, whose disastrous reign and bitter defeat brought seven centuries of Moorish Spain to an end. It is an action-packed story of intrigue, treachery, cruelty, cunning, courtliness, bravery and tragedy. Basing her vivid account on original documents and sources, Elizabeth Drayson traces the origins and development of Islamic Spain. She describes the thirteenth-century founding of the Nasrid dynasty, the cultured and stable society it created, and the feuding which threatened it and had all but destroyed it by 1482, when Boabdil seized the throne. The new Sultan faced betrayals by his family, factions in the Alhambra palace, and ever more powerful onslaughts from the forces of Ferdinand and Isabella, monarchs of the newly united kingdoms of Castile and Aragon. By stratagem, diplomacy, courage and strength of will Boabdil prolonged his reign for ten years, but he never had much chance of survival. In 1492 Ferdinand and Isabella, magnificently attired in Moorish costume, entered Granada and took possession of the city. Boabdil went into exile. The Christian reconquest of Spain, that has reverberated so powerfully down the centuries, was complete.Trade ReviewA lively biography ... [Drayson's] account revels in the high drama and spectacular gore of Boabdil's story, which are in plentiful supply. -- Dan Jones * Sunday Times *Charming and eye-opening ... Drayson does a splendid job of putting flesh on Boabdil's story -- Giles Tremlett * Guardian *Does justice to Boabdil's life and illuminates the lessons he offers. It is rare today to find a historian with a talent for brevity. In just 180 pages Drayson tells an enthralling and terribly sad story, while forcing the reader to reflect on the nature of heroism. -- Gerard DeGroot * Times *With elegant prose, her book clearly reconstructs the complicated politics of Granada and brings back to life a historical figure shrouded in mystery and legend. Her book is a pleasure to read and an excellent introduction to anyone wishing to delve into the twilight of Muslim Spain. -- Francis Soyer * BBC History Magazine *From her Cambridge vantage point, Dr Drayson retells this familiar but dramatic story. Her book is part history, part biography, and wholly readable...It would be a good book to read on a tren de alta velocidad speeding from Madrid to the south. -- Andrew Breeze * The Tablet *

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Book SynopsisA Spectator and Prospect Book of the YearWinner of the American Library in Paris Book Award'Ceaselessly interesting, knowledgeable and evocative' - Spectator'A fresh way to write history' - Alan Johnson'An amused, erudite homage to France . . . ambitious and original' - The Times_____Original, knowledgeable and endlessly entertaining, France: An Adventure History is an unforgettable journey through France from the first century BC to the present day.Drawn from countless new discoveries and thirty years of exploring France on foot, in the library and across 30,000 miles on the author’s beloved bike, it begins with Gaulish and Roman times and ends in the age of #MeToo, Black Lives Matter, the Gilets Jaunes and Covid-19.From the plains of Provence to the slums and boulevards of Paris, events and themes of French history may be familiar – Louis XIV, the French Revolution, the French Resistance, the Tour de France – but all are presented in a shining new light by Graham Robb.Frequently hilarious, always surprising, this is a a vivid, living history of one of the world’s most fascinating nations, it will make even seasoned Francophiles wonder if they really know that terra incognita which is currently referred to as ‘France’._____‘Packed full of discoveries’ - The Sunday Times'A gorgeous tapestry of insights, stories and surprises' - Fintan O'Toole'A rich and vibrant narrative . . . clear-eyed but imaginative storytelling' - Financial Times'Full of life' - ProspectTrade ReviewA stunning history of France... Graham Robb deserves to be a national treasure. * Spectator *A quirky chronicle of our neighbour . . . a witty, free-ranging homage to the French people. * The Times *Robb's concise and fast-paced writing pedals along with never a dull paragraph . . . a dazzling and moving contribution to a long tradition. * Sunday Times *Traverses the ages from Gaul to the gilets jaunes and the pandemic . . . a compelling guide. * Times Literary Supplement *History on two wheels and in four dimensions. * Wall Street Journal *A rich and vibrant narrative. * Financial Times *Some books seem to spring from a whole lifetime and Graham Robb's France is one of those special creations... Robb's sparkling prose, sly wit and intellectual exuberance make for a gorgeous tapestry of insights, stories and surprises. * Fintan O'Toole *With joy, curiosity and more than a dash of ambition, Robb brings 2,000 years of French history to life. * Washington Post *

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Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE DUFF COOPER PRIZE 2021SHORTLISTED FOR THE RUNCIMAN AWARD 2022A NEW STATESMAN AND TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT BOOK OF THE YEAR 2021''Deserves to remain the standard treatment of the subject in English for many decades to come'' Roderick Beaton, Times Literary SupplementIn the exhausted, repressive years that followed Napoleon''s defeat in 1815, there was one cause that came to galvanize countless individuals across Europe and the United States: freedom for Greece.Mark Mazower''s wonderful new book recreates one of the most compelling, unlikely and significant events in the story of modern Europe. In the face of near impossible odds, the people of the villages, valleys and islands of Greece rose up against Sultan Mahmud II and took on the might of the imperial Ottoman armed forces, its Turkish cavalrymen, Albanian foot soldiers and the fearsome Egyptians. Despite the most terrible disasters, they helTrade ReviewThe Greek Revolution offers the best and fullest explanation, to date, for a series of events whose effects would change the entire geopolitics of Europe. Written with compassion and understanding for the human cost of that achievement, it deserves to remain the standard treatment of the subject in English for many decades to come. -- Roderick Beaton * Times Literary Supplement *Exquisite detail, altogether impressive ... a cornucopia of revolution. -- Gerard DeGroot * The Times *Compelling and disturbing, enriched by many new sources and excellent colour illustrations, and paying attention to the role of Ottomans and Albanians as well as Greeks, Mazower's book will become the standard account of this crucial revolution. -- Philip Mansel * The Spectator *An engaging combination of fast-flowing narrative and insightful analysis. -- Tony Barber * Financial Times *Encyclopaedic ... superbly subtle and thorough. -- Julian Evans * Daily Telegraph *With vivid detail, impeccable scholarship and great nuance, Mazower shows how the modern idea of the nation emerges out of the complex, sometimes random and often messy interactions between a plurality of agents ... An illuminating account of both the unifying power of myths about the past, and the dangers inherent when such myths are connected to political reality. -- Lea Ypi * New Statesman *As the subtitle of Mark Mazower's new book maintains, events in Greece 200 years ago helped shape modern Europe. His elegant and rigorous account also holds lessons for modern geopolitics: about the galvanising effects of violence, the role of foreign intervention and the design flaws in dreams. * The Economist *An epic narrative, both scholarly, breathlessly page-turning and packed with hauntingly romantic characters. Few historians dig so deep or with such sympathy into what history felt like to those living through it ... anyone in search of an opera plot should scour these drama-packed pages. -- Noonie Minogue * The Tablet *Broad in scope and colorful in detail, this is a masterful portrait of a historic watershed. ... [A] sweeping history of Greece's 1821 war of independence against the Ottoman Empire. [Mazower] recounts the revolution's inception among Greek emigrés with an idealistic dream of Hellenic nationalism and its actuality as a murky, eight-year struggle fought mainly by peasants and warlords who were motivated less by patriotism than by religious hatred of Muslims, factional vendettas, and mercenary self-interest ... A lucid, elegantly written, and often gripping account. * Publishers Weekly *On the bicentennial of the Greek revolution, a prominent scholar tracks the historical detail and enormous international significance of the improbable, largely grassroots uprising against the Ottoman Empire. Mazower, a Columbia professor and winner of the Wolfson Prize for History who has written extensively about Greece and the Balkans, ably ties together the many disparate threads of this complex history of Greek independence. ... An elucidating history that is relevant to understanding the geopolitics of Greece today. * Kirkus Reviews *

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Book SynopsisThis Revolution and Dictatorship: Russia 1917-1953 Revision Guide is part of the bestselling Oxford AQA History for A Level series developed by Sally Waller. Written to match the new AQA specification, this series helps you deepen your historical knowledge and develop vital analytical and evaluation skills. This revision guide offers the clearly structured revision approach of Recap, Apply, and Review to prepare you for exam success. Step-by-step exam practice strategies for all AQA question types are provided (including Source Analysis and essays linked to Key Concepts), as well as well-researched, targeted guidance based on what we now know from the new AQA examiner''s reports on Russia. Our original author team is back, offering expert advice, AS and A Level exam-style questions and Examiner Tips. Contents checklists help monitor revision progress; example student answers and suggested activity answers help you review your own work. This guide is perfect for use alongside the Studen

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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 SynopsisA daring critique of communism and how it had gone wrong behind the Iron Curtain, Camus' essay examines the revolutions in France and Russia, and argues that since they were both guilty of producing tyranny and corruption, hope for the future lies only in revolt without revolution. Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization and helped make us who we are.

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Book SynopsisThe principles of the French Revolution remain the only possible basis for a just society -- even if, after more than two hundred years, they are more contested than ever before. In A New World Begins, Jeremy D. Popkin offers a riveting account of the revolution that puts the reader in the thick of the debates and the violence that led to the overthrow of the monarchy and the establishment of a new society. We meet Mirabeau, Robespierre, and Danton, in all of their brilliance and vengefulness; we witness the failed escape and execution of Louis XVI; we see women demanding equal rights and black slaves wresting freedom from revolutionaries who hesitated to act on their own principles; and we follow the rise of Napoleon out of the ashes of the Reign of Terror.Based on decades of scholarship, A New World Begins is the definitive treatment of the French Revolution.

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Book SynopsisJames Connolly (1868-1916) was one of the leaders in Ireland's quest for freedom from British rule in 1916. This biography is an accurate and well-researched portrayal both of the man and the uprising. Part of the Sixteen Lives series of biographies of all sixteen men executed for their role in the rebellion.

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'A racily written, well-researched and heart-warming account' Scots MagazineToo many historians have ignored the role of women in the '45. This book aims to redress the balance. Damn' Rebel Bitches takes a totally fresh approach to the history of the Jacobite Rising by telling fascinating stories of the many women caught up in the turbulent events of 1745-46. Drawn from original documents and letters, Maggie Craig brings their stories to life in this often touching and always engrossing reframed history.'A modern classic' The Herald 'Bold and argumentative...resounds with authority' Scotland on Sunday

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Book SynopsisA TIMES HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEARFrom the preeminent historian of 20th century Spain Paul Preston, Architects of Terror is a new history of how paranoia, conspiracy and anti-Semitism was used to justify the military coup of 1936 and enabled the construction of a dictatorship built on violence and persecution.It is the previously untold story of how antisemitic beliefs were weaponised to justify and propagate the Franco overthrow of liberal Spain.The Spanish military coup of 1936 was launched to overturn the social and economic reforms of the democratic Second Republic, and its educational and cultural challenges to the established order. The consequent civil war was fought in the interests of the landowners, industrialists, bankers, clerics and army officers whose privileges were threatened. However, a central justification for a war that took the lives of around 500,000 Spaniards was that it was being fought to combat an alleged scheme for world domination by a non-existent Jewish- MasTrade Review A TIMES HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEAR ‘Deeply researched and revealing . . . Preston’s study is based on both profound knowledge and shrewd human understanding’ Daily Telegraph, five-star review ‘Preston’s great skill lies in carefully dissecting these vile characters…This book reveals Preston at the peak of his powers; he’s an enormous intellect and a great storyteller’ The Times, Gerald DeGroot Praise for A People Betrayed (2020) A Financial Times Best History Book of 2020 ‘For decades, Paul Preston has been one of the English-speaking world’s premier historians of modern Spain. His latest book, dealing with the controversial topic of corruption in Spanish politic, public administration and business, is particularly good on the Franco dictatorship and post-Franco democratic era’ Financial Times ‘Fascinating … The depth of the book’s research cannot be faulted and the examples of grand malfeasance and political corruption are extraordinary … Buried in the narrative lies ample treasure … I applauded Preston’s heroic feat.’ Times ‘Tremendously rich and learned … Preston is one of Britain’s finest historians … This book, massively researched … Powerful, persuasive and utterly fascinating – makes for harrowing reading’ Sunday Times ‘A magisterial study of [Spain’s] turbulent past, seen through the optic of those apparently ineradicable twins: corruption and political incompetence … Races along in a riveting fashion, replete with eye-catching and often blackly humorous anecdotes …Preston’s narrative combines his gift for cogent, summarising clarity and for telling details …Preston has written an admirable book – a lively, comprehensive history of modern Spain.’ Guardian

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewVivid and compelling * Economist *Guevara was a figure of epic proportions. These diaries, stark and moving, will be his most enduring monument * Observer *

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