100,000+ Books, Games & Puzzles in-stock 🇳🇿

Overnight NZ-wide delivery on in-stock orders 🚀

The Rest is History

The official book from the makers of the hit podcast
3.75 goodreads logo

Ratings/reviews counts are updated frequently.

Check link for latest rating.
( 1,893 ratings, 217 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
The Rest is History is a fascinating exploration of pivotal moments and figures throughout history, presented in an engaging and accessible manner. Written by the minds behind the popular podcast, it offers a diverse array of historical narratives, blending expert insights with lively storytelling. The book aims to intrigue readers by examining both well-known and lesser-known historical events with unique perspectives.
Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$3899
AVAILABLE WITH SUPPLIER Ships from our Auckland warehouse within 4-6 weeks

Found a better price? Request a price match

Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might like this book if you're fascinated by unexpected stories and intriguing tales from history that are both informative and entertaining. This book offers a lively exploration of historical events with a fresh perspective, making complex topics accessible and engaging for history enthusiasts.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Make room Herodotus, stand down Bede, pipe down Pepysthere’s a new history book in town.

From the chart-topping podcast The Rest is History, a whistle-stop tour through the past – from Alexander the Great to Tolkien, the Wars of the Roses to Watergate. The nation’s favourite historians, Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook, take on the most curious moments in history, answering the questions we didn’t even think to ask:

  • Did the Trojan War actually happen?
  • What was the most disastrous party in history?
  • Was Richard Nixon more like Caligula or Claudius?
  • How did a hair appointment almost blow Churchill’s cover?
  • Why did the Nazis believe they were descended from Atlantis?

Whether it is sending historical figures to Casa Amor in a series of Love Island, ranking history’s most famous eunuchs and pigeons (including Winkie, the unsung hero of the Second World War), or debating the meaning of greatness, there is nothing too big or too small for Tom and Dominic to unpick.

So run your Egyptian milk bath, strap up your best Spartan sandals, and prepare for a journey down the highways and byways of the human past...

WATERSTONES' BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: HISTORY

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

The Rest is History is praised for being a fun and engaging read, combining humour with extensive historical knowledge. The book presents an idiosyncratic and light-hearted approach that makes history enjoyable and accessible, similar to its podcast counterpart. It's noted for being educational without being overly didactic, offering curious insights into history in a clever way. Ideal for history buffs and those looking for an entertaining way to learn about historical events.

Book Hero reading reviews

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781526667748

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 26 October 2023

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 153.0mm

Height: 234.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 432

About the Author

Tom Holland is the author of a range of books on ancient and early medieval history. He has translated Herodotus and Suetonius, presented TV documentaries on subjects ranging from dinosaurs to the Islamic State, and been described by The Times as ‘a leading English cricketer’. Dominic Sandbrook was educated at Oxford, St Andrews and Cambridge, and was an academic at Sheffield before becoming a writer. He is best known for his histories of Britain since the 1950s, most recently Who Dares Wins, as well as a series of history books for younger readers, Adventures in Time. He has presented many documentaries on BBC Two and Radio 4, and is a columnist for The Times and book critic for the Sunday Times.

Also by Dominic Sandbrook

View all
  • The Rest is History
    NOW WITH A FUN PUB QUIZ 'An idiosyncratic ride through history' Independent 'Holland and Sandbrook have pretty much reinvented popular history for the modern age' The Times The nation’s favourite historians, Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook, take on the most curious moments in history, answering the questions we didn’t even think to ask... - What was the most disastrous party...
    Paperback
    $2200
    Elsewhere:
    $2699
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Adventures in Time: Alexander the Great
    Join Alexander the Great on a journey to the end of the world, in the third book in a thrilling new children's history series. His mind was clear. It was time to go east. Time to march into Asia, to confront the Persians and to meet his destiny . . . Alexander has one wild dream—to rule the world. And...
    Paperback
    $2300
    Elsewhere:
    $2499
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Who Dares Wins
    The fascinating story of how Margaret Thatcher, Princess Diana and the SAS changed the world. The early 1980s were the most dramatic, colourful and controversial years in our modern history. Margaret Thatcher had come to power in 1979 with a daring plan to reverse Britain's decline. But as factories closed their doors, dole queues lengthened and the inner cities exploded...
    Paperback
    $2900
    Elsewhere:
    $3200
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • The Rest is History Returns
    The Instant Sunday Times Bestseller The second bestselling book from 'the most joyous and brain-enhancing podcast out there' (The Times) - also including puzzles and a quiz! Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook bring you an alphabetical miscellany, taking on some of history’s best and most bizarre moments. Charge forth against the traitors of the American Revolution, journey through Baghdad to...
    Paperback
    $2699
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Adventures in Time: Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile
    Journey back to Ancient Egypt with the celebrated children's history series. Born into the richest dynasty in the world, young Cleopatra has always dreamed of glory and empire. And when she defeats her brother and sister to become Pharaoh of Egypt, she is certain the gods have chosen her for greatness. But then Julius Caesar's war-fleet sails into her harbour...
    Paperback
    $2300
    Elsewhere:
    $2499
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Adventures in Time: The Fall of the Aztecs
    Travel back to a vanished world with the celebrated children's history series. The Aztec Empire had been blessed by the gods. Its pyramid temples were warmed by the sun, its fields were thick with corn, its bustling marketplaces were full of feathers, pottery and jewellery. But the Emperor Montezuma was troubled by terrifying omens. And when Spanish sailors landed on...
    Paperback
    $2100
    Elsewhere:
    $2300
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Adventures in Time: The Second World War
    Travel back to a world at war with the thrilling children's history series. Everything was ready. The air was thick with excitement. This was D-Day . . . Prepare to enter the most dramatic conflict the world has ever seen, as historian Dominic Sandbrook takes us on a spine-tingling, heart-stopping adventure. We witness the Second World War first-hand through the...
    Paperback
    $2300
    Elsewhere:
    $2499
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Adventures in Time: The Six Wives of Henry VIII
    Journey back to the world of the Tudors with the celebrated children's history series. Winter has come; and in a far distant land, a warrior queen is expecting a child... Step through these pages into the Tudor world—a dangerous place where one misstep could cost your life. Through the eyes of Henry VIII's six very different queens, from a brave...
    Paperback
    $2300
    Elsewhere:
    $2499
    Backorder
    Ships mid August
  • Adventures in Time: Nelson, Hero of the Seas
    Enter a fearsome battle across the seas with the latest instalment in the hit children's history series. The world is at war, and oceans have become battlefields. Napoleon Bonaparte, tyrant of France, has crushed one country after another. Now his cruel eyes are fixed on Britain. Only one man can stop him - Horatio Nelson. Young Horatio Nelson went to...
    Paperback
    $2400
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Adventures in Time: The First World War
    Travel back to the trenches with the fourth book in the thrilling children's history series. 'The whistles blew, the cheers went up, and thousands of men were scrambling up into the rolling fields of No Man's Land . . .' Travel back in time to the First World War, as historian Dominic Sandbrook takes us from the soaring heights of...
    Paperback
    $3000
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Jeeves Again
    A joyful collection of twelve short stories inspired by Jeeves and Wooster, featuring Frank Skinner, Roddy Doyle, Alan Titchmarsh and many more. 'Full of fizz and variety' - Sunday Times 'Jolly good fun' - i Paper 'Whip-smart' - Daily Mail 'Fun and frolics for the festive season' - Saga Magazine Featuring huge names from literature, comedy and beyond - including...
    Hardback
    $4500
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Rest is History Returns
    THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'The world's most successful history podcast . . . Holland and Sandbrook have pretty much reinvented popular history for the modern age' The Times From the podcast legends who brought you The Rest is History comes The Rest is History Returns! This time Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook bring you an alphabetical miscellany, taking on...
    Hardback
    $5499
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks

Also by Dr Tom Holland

View all
  • The Rest is History
    NOW WITH A FUN PUB QUIZ 'An idiosyncratic ride through history' Independent 'Holland and Sandbrook have pretty much reinvented popular history for the modern age' The Times The nation’s favourite historians, Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook, take on the most curious moments in history, answering the questions we didn’t even think to ask... - What was the most disastrous party...
    Paperback
    $2200
    Elsewhere:
    $2699
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • The Rest is History Returns
    The Instant Sunday Times Bestseller The second bestselling book from 'the most joyous and brain-enhancing podcast out there' (The Times) - also including puzzles and a quiz! Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook bring you an alphabetical miscellany, taking on some of history’s best and most bizarre moments. Charge forth against the traitors of the American Revolution, journey through Baghdad to...
    Paperback
    $2699
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • The Rest is History Returns
    THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'The world's most successful history podcast . . . Holland and Sandbrook have pretty much reinvented popular history for the modern age' The Times From the podcast legends who brought you The Rest is History comes The Rest is History Returns! This time Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook bring you an alphabetical miscellany, taking on...
    Hardback
    $5499
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Rest is History Returns
    THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'The world's most successful history podcast . . . Holland and Sandbrook have pretty much reinvented popular history for the modern age' The Times From the podcast legends who brought you The Rest is History comes The Rest is History Returns! This time Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook bring you an alphabetical miscellany, taking on...
    Paperback
    Sold Out

Also by Goalhanger Podcasts

View all
  • The Rest is History
    NOW WITH A FUN PUB QUIZ 'An idiosyncratic ride through history' Independent 'Holland and Sandbrook have pretty much reinvented popular history for the modern age' The Times The nation’s favourite historians, Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook, take on the most curious moments in history, answering the questions we didn’t even think to ask... - What was the most disastrous party...
    Paperback
    $2200
    Elsewhere:
    $2699
    In Stock
    Ships today

More from History & Military

View all
  • Saving Elli
    One child. Two years in hiding. Three lives in mortal danger. In Nazi-occupied Amsterdam, near Anne Frank's house, another Jewish girl is hidden. Her name is Elli. Her father has been executed at Mauthausen concentration camp. Her mother is fleeing for her life. Elli is next. To save her, resistance couple Frits and Jo Hakkens must risk everything, concealing her...
    Paperback
    $3299
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • The Spy and the Traitor
    The Spy and the Traitor by Ben Macintyre is a spellbinding Cold War thriller that unravels the true story of Oleg Gordievsky, a KGB double agent who risked everything to aid the British in the battle against Soviet oppression. In meticulously researched detail, Macintyre paints a vivid portrait of espionage, double-crossing, and unparalleled bravery, giving readers a riveting glimpse into...
    Paperback
    $2100
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    (2)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • New Release
    Suicidal Empathy
    The bestselling author of The Parasitic Mind shows why empathy in politics leads to civilizational collapse. What happens when a society elevates victimhood to a virtue and decides that punishment is cruel? You get the disease Dr. Gad Saad calls suicidal empathy. And the West may be terminally infected. In his new book, Suicidal Empathy, Saad unleashes a blistering critique...
    Paperback
    $3099
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Man's Search For Meaning
    Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl is a profound, thought-provoking memoir and psychological exploration that delves into the harrowing experiences of life in Nazi concentration camps, intertwined with the author’s groundbreaking theories on existential psychology. The book is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit, offering a beacon of hope and a roadmap for finding purpose...
    Paperback
    $1800
    Elsewhere:
    $2100
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Betrayal
    ‘Tom Bower is the Inspector Morse of investigative biographers, a fluent, phlegmatic storyteller and a master of intricacies.’ Sunday Times The British Crown is in crisis, with constitutional threats at home and abroad. At a landmark moment in royal history, can King Charles overcome the scandals that blight the Royal family? Can the broken bonds between the Houses of Sussex...
    Paperback
    $3499
    Elsewhere:
    $3999
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Signed
    New Release
    The Chief and the Empire
    The Chief and the Empire uncovers the extraordinary true tale of Te Tai Tokerau rangatira Te Pahi - the first influential Māori leader to cross the Tasman - whose curiosity about the Pākehā world forged alliances, saved lives, and ultimately cost him his own. On a visit to Sydney in 1805, Te Pahi was feted as a celebrity, building close...
    Paperback
    $3200
    Elsewhere:
    $3999
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Discipline
    Silence is complicity, but how do we confront the cost of speaking up? Sydney, May 2021. Ashraf is an academic whose career and personal life are in freefall. Hannah is a young journalist struggling to honour the voices of her community. When a Year 12 Al-Bayinnah College student is arrested for protesting a university's ties to an Israeli weapons manufacturer,...
    Paperback
    $4000
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Shattered Lands
    'A sparkling debut by an outstanding young historian' – PETER FRANKOPAN 'This book is a revelation … both original and important' – MISHAL HUSAIN A history of modern South Asia told through five partitions that reshaped it. As recently as 1928, a vast swathe of Asia – India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Burma, Nepal, Bhutan, Yemen, Oman, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, and...
    Paperback
    $3699
    Elsewhere:
    $4500
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Goliath’s Curse
    Goliath’s Curse by Luke Kemp offers a radical retelling of human history through the lens of collapse, delving into what this means for our uncertain future. This narrative spans from the dawn of our species to the urgent existential threats of the twenty-first century and beyond. It's grounded in the latest research and a comprehensive database of more than 440...
    Paperback
    $2999
    Elsewhere:
    $4000
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • New Release
    The Good Settler
    ‘Where once I saw a view as I drove around the Taranaki coast along State Highway 45, I now see confiscated land from an invasion road. The creation story I used to subscribe to, the one in which hard-working people came here and settled the land, now jars. Weirdly, even the lawn looks different. The form of things just won’t...
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3999
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Banjara
    A powerful literary debut from an astonishing new Kiwi voice, focusing on the Indo-Fijian indenture system and how it affected generations across the Pacific.Rajasthan 1888: Avani Rathod, a nomad of the Banjara community, is summoned to teach a blue-eyed colonial officer the trees of her region, but instead is misled into indenture to the sugarcane plantations of Fiji. While on...
    Paperback
    $3099
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    (2)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • This Way Up
    The debut book from the YouTube sensation and all-round cartographical nerds, The Map Men! In their long-awaited debut, YouTube’s Map Men bring their highly infectious enthusiasm for everything map-related to the printed page for the very first time, in a brilliantly entertaining and eye-catching tome. Packed with humour and fascinating facts, This Way Up takes a deep dive into the...
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3999
    In Stock
    Ships today

Why buy from us?

Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!

Service & Delivery

Service & Delivery

Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 100,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.

Auckland Bookstore

Auckland Bookstore

We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.

Our Gifting Service

Our Gifting Service

Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.