Collection: Adult Non Fiction - History

Inspired by antique maps and the mapmakers' global vision, this book presents the past as a single narrative in which European history is an offshoot of Asian history. The author explains that the dominating ethos of the modern West owes more to hordes of Asian nomads who colonised Europe than to...

"We tend to imagine Western Civilisation as a golden thread, leading through the centuries from classical antiquity to the countries of the modern West - a cultural genealogy that connects Plato to NATO. It is an idea often invoked in the speeches of politicians and the rhetoric of journalists, a...

Established in 1918-19, in the wake of Germany's catastrophic defeat in the First World War and the revolution that followed swiftly on its heels, the Weimar Republic ushered in widespread social reform, a radical cultural flowering and the most democratic conditions the German people had ever kn...

"Media and public discussion tends to understand Russian politics as a direct reflection of Vladimir Putin's seeming omnipotence or Russia's unique history and culture. Yet Russia is remarkably similar to other autocracies--and recognizing this illuminates the inherent limits to Putin's power. We...

"In his signature eloquent prose, backed up by thorough research, Russell Freedman tells the story of Austrian-born Hans Scholl and his sister Sophie. They belonged to Hitler Youth as young children, but began to doubt the Nazi regime. As older students, the Scholls and a few friends formed the W...

The story of 144 Brigade's defence of Wormhoudt and Bambecque must rank in importance alongside the defence of Cassel and Hazebrouck by 145 Brigade. Brigadier Norman's composite brigade was the final piece in the jigsaw of defence on the western flank of the Dunkerque Corridor; it held the line s...