Global History

The revolutionary Wilhelm Steinitz (1836-1900) considered himself to be in the vanguard of an emerging, late-19th century 'Modern' school. This school embraced a new, essentially scientific vitality in its methods of research, analysis, evaluation, planning, experiment, and even belligerent fight. Steinitz, who dominated the chess world in the shadow of a more directly attacking, openly tactical and combinative, so-called 'romantic'...

The Imperium series continues in this asymmetric card-based civilisation building game for 1–4 players, charting the rise and fall of fourteen of the greatest civilisations from history. Formidable adversaries are arrayed against you. Your people stand ready. History beckons. In your hands lies the destiny of one of the most storied peoples of history. Under constant threat of attack, you...

Drawn from NPR Music’s acclaimed, groundbreaking series Turning the Tables, the definitive book on the vital role of Women in Music—from Beyoncé to Odetta, Taylor Swift to Joan Baez, Joan Jett to Dolly Parton—featuring archival interviews, essays, photographs, and illustrations. Turning the Tables, launched in 2017, has revolutionised recognition of female artists, whether it be in best album lists or...

The egg is a paradox—both alive and not alive—and a symbol as old as culture itself. In this wide-ranging and delightful journey through its natural and cultural history, Lizzie Stark explores the egg's deep meanings, innumerable uses, and metabolic importance through a dozen dazzling specimens. From Mali to Finland, mythologies around the globe have invested the egg with powers of...

A pioneering political voice, with charisma and power that rivalled many of her male contemporaries, Clodia of Rome was a pivotal figure in the late Roman Republic until a murder trial, rife with corruption, catalysed her fall from grace. Taking readers inside the courtroom to follow the trial and Clodia's family's tumultuous political history, Douglas Boin brings a modern perspective...

At his death in 323 BC, Alexander the Great ruled an empire stretching from the Balkans to India, yet the best accounts we have of his life were written hundreds of years after his death. Alexander the Great presents new translations of the most important ancient writings on Alexander's life and legacy. Substantial extracts from Greek and Latin authors are...

All tequilas are mezcals; all mezcals are made from agaves; and every bottle of mezcal is the remarkable result of collaborations among agave entrepreneurs, botanists, distillers, beverage distributors, bartenders, and more. How these groups come together in this "spirits world" is the subject of this fascinating new book by the acclaimed ethnobotanist Gary Paul Nabhan and the pioneering restaurateur David...

At last! The long-awaited graphic version of the multi-million copy bestselling corrective to American history myths—adapted by the famed National Book Award-winning artist behind John Lewis's March trilogy. Named one of the Best Art Books of the Year by Hyperallergic Winner of The Society of Midland Authors "Children's Reading Round Table Award" for Children's Nonfiction Since its first publication in...

Humans just want to be happy, yes? After all, that’s what life’s all about. Well ... no. It turns out that, for a huge chunk of history, feeling good was the furthest thing from our minds. Expecting life to be fun and fulfilling (or, if all else fails, fine) is actually a very recent phenomenon. And there’s every reason to...

Revisit favourite characters and magical locations from the epic movie musical in Wicked: The Faces & Places of Oz. Go on a journey through the most exciting locations in Oz, from the thatched cottages of Munchkinland to the marbled fountains of Emerald City. Along the way, meet the cast of characters that bring Oz to life—from the enchanting Elphaba Thropp...

Inspired by Wondery’s hit podcast Against the Odds—learn how to survive whatever nature can throw at you through gut-twisting true stories of survival on the brink. How to Survive Against the Odds places you at the centre of fifteen real life-or-death scenarios. Each story explores the physiological responses of the human body under unbearable conditions, how to counteract them, and...

100 Photos that Changed the World: a powerful visual narrative of humanity through the images that shaped our history. A visual journey through two centuries of history: this book collects one hundred iconic photographs that captured crucial moments in human history. From world wars to space exploration, civil rights movements to climate change, each image is a window into the...

Unfurling a tapestry of surprising and historically overlooked figures spanning forty centuries and six continents, historian Matthew Lockwood narrates lives filled with imagination and wonder, curiosity, connection, and exchange. Familiar icons of exploration like Pocahontas, Columbus, Sacagawea, and Captain Cook find new company in the untold stories of people usually denied the title "explorers," including immigrants, indigenous interpreters, local guides,...

A compelling examination of the rise of Islam as a global historical actor Until the nineteenth century, Islam was understood as a set of beliefs and practices. But after Muslims began to see their faith as a historical actor on the world stage, they needed to narrate Islam's birth anew as well as to imagine its possible death. Waning Crescent...

In the Seven Years' War (1756-1763), two European rivalries—between England and France and between Prussia and Austria—collided to spark a global conflagration. In the United States, it is known as the French and Indian War, a precursor to the Revolutionary War. In India, by contrast, it marked a new stage on the path toward British colonial rule. The war saw...

Reevaluates Nicolaus Steno's contributions to anatomy and early modern science, examining his interdisciplinary interests in their historical context. Nicolaus Steno (1638–1686) was a renowned anatomist in his lifetime. He reformed the anatomical understanding of glands, argued that the heart was a muscle, renamed the so-called female testicles as ovaries, and developed a mathematical model for understanding muscle contraction—discoveries that were...

A revelatory account of the "wonder drug" theriac, which became a powerful tool in the hands of medical and political authorities at the height of the Italian Renaissance. From the 1490s, one of the most influential remedies to circulate in Europe was the "wonder drug" theriac. Although it had been in use for centuries, theriac gained special importance in the...

Going against the grain, this refreshing book argues for a non-ideological portrait of the Enlightenment as having been, above all else, a self-critical enterprise. The Enlightenment has come under substantial attack over the past several years, with some going so far as to recommend leaving its thinkers—and their Eurocentric prejudices—behind. On the other hand, the most orthodox defenders of the...

In this book, Molly Geidel traces the rise and fall of the development film, an overlooked film genre that circulated widely in the Americas from the 1940s through the 1970s. Development films, often short documentaries, were made at the behest of state agencies, global governance organisations, and private corporations to link capitalist conceptions of economic growth to improved quality of...

The first global history of the epic early days of the iron railway Railways, in simple wooden or stone form, have existed since prehistory. But from the 1750s onward, the introduction of iron rails led to a dramatic technological evolution—one that would truly change the world. In this rich new history, David Gwyn tells the neglected story of the early...

The story of the long fight for freedom of African captives rescued from the illegal slave trade only to be forced back into bondage. The Bonds of Freedom tells the forgotten story of people seized from slave ships by maritime patrols, "liberated," then forced into bonded labour between 1807 and 1880. Using extensive archival research from Sierra Leone, South Africa,...

Sweet potatoes were among the American crops Christopher Columbus brought back to Europe—where they were thought to be an aphrodisiac. In China, this versatile root became a staple that fueled rapid population growth. Introduced to Japan to stave off famine, sweet potatoes later sustained the country's imperial expansion. Because this hardy plant can thrive in almost any soil, it has...

A revelatory new history of Britain's industrial revolution and the exploitation that enabled it Was Britain's industrial revolution the result of its machines, which produced goods with miraculous efficiency? Was it the country's natural abundance, which provided coal for its engines, ores for its furnaces and food for its labourers? Or was it Britain's colonies, where a brutalised enslaved workforce...

How colonialism shaped the Scottish Enlightenment's conception of race and humanity In the decades after 1750, an increasing number of former medical students from the University of Edinburgh construed humanity as a subject of both intellectual curiosity and colonial interest. They drew on a shared educational background, blending medicine with natural history and moral philosophy, in a range of encounters...

Parting Gifts of Empire narrates an untold story of how Arabs and South Asians in the twentieth century sought to decolonise their minds. The histories of Palestine and India—both partitioned by the British Empire—were intimately linked. In the face of the same imperially created chasm, intellectuals in Africa and Asia reinvigorated centuries of shared histories to forge new horizons, new...

An original history of the popular movement against the War on Terror—the greatest case of "we told you so" in modern political history. Just after 9/11, President George W. Bush climbed the rubble where the World Trade Center had stood. Surrounded by shouts of anger, he said, "The people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon!"...

A concise and highly readable biography…[Hancock's] legacy is very much worth our remembering. -Wall Street Journal King Hancock is a vastly enjoyable work of popular history that wears its impressive scholarship lightly. It deftly explains the wider forces that unravelled the colonists' close bonds with the mother country. The book also features an almost tactile account of what it was...

A foremost Kant expert takes us on a lively tour through the revolutionary ideas of the founder of modern philosophy. Immanuel Kant is undoubtedly the most important philosopher of the modern era. His Critique of Pure Reason, "categorical imperative," and conception of perpetual peace in the global order decisively influenced both intellectual history and twentieth-century politics, shaping everything from the...

New Yorker Best Book of the Year Foreign Affairs Best Book of the Year "Grindle's passionate book, including extensive research in Mexico, will ensure that [Zelia Nuttall] is never forgotten." -British Museum Magazine "[A] beautifully crafted biography." -Foreign Affairs "What a woman! And what a fabulous life to unearth. Zelia Nuttall was incredibly smart, determined, a divorced single mother in...

The conquest that begot the Roman Empire. Caesar (C. Iulius, 102-44 BC), a statesman and soldier, defied the dictator Sulla; served in the Mithridatic wars and in Spain; entered Roman politics as a "democrat" against the senatorial government; was the real leader of the coalition with Pompey and Crassus; conquered all Gaul for Rome; attacked Britain twice; was forced into...

The biblical image of David and Goliath fittingly captures the nature of the war that Russia, the world's largest country by surface area, unleashed on neighbouring Ukraine. While Ukraine is the largest country on the European continent, it is almost thirty times smaller than Russia and has only over a quarter of Russia's population. Yet, Ukraine's stubborn resistance proves that...

A bold new account of Europe's plight as it faces political fracture, economic stagnation, and external challenges from the U.S., China, and Russia. Today, Europe finds itself in a fast-changing, polarised world dominated by Chinese-American rivalry. The European Union and its surrounding non-member states, despite initial successes after the fall of the Berlin Wall, have failed to implement a strategy...

During the interwar years, Vietnamese society witnessed a rapid change in the way women looked. Rejecting the model of a sequestered maiden with blackened teeth and long hair, they embraced a vivid palette of colours—and a colourful lifestyle to match. Before the war, Vietnam would have seemed like an unlikely place for a beauty industry to thrive. Virtuous young women...

A pre-eminent scholar of Islamic history chronicles the rise of the Mevlevis, the influential Sufi community founded by Rumi. The thirteenth-century Persian poet and scholar Rumi is revered to this day. However, less attention has been paid to the Sufi community he founded: the Mevlevis, sometimes called the "Whirling Dervishes." Centered on the descendants of Rumi and the disciples of...

Today, many readers could easily list thirty classic authors, or thirty classic works of art, literature, music, philosophy, or science. But would they be able to name thirty classic works of history? In spite of history's outsized influence in the world of ideas, the books that made—and remade—the history we know so well are often forgotten. In this panoramic book,...

One of the government’s former behavioural scientists reveals how you can do what you want, whilst everybody tries to influence you into doing what they want. Influence makes you think what you think and do as you do. You use it to change the thoughts and behaviours of others – just as others use it to change yours. We have...

A visually stunning history of global conflict from 1914 to 1945, from Dan Jones and Marina Amaral – the team who created The Colour of Time. 'The events of the first and second world wars are brought to vivid, startling life thanks to Amaral's skill at colourising contemporary images' Observer. The epic, harrowing and world-changing story – in words and...

A plain-English guide to Britons in battle, from the Roman invasion to the ongoing Iraqi war Charging through Britain's military past, this accessible guide brings to life the battles and wars that shaped the history of Britain—and the world. British Military History For Dummies profiles commanders, explains strategies and tactics, and covers key developments in weaponry and technology.

A revelatory intellectual biography of Tocqueville, told through his wide-ranging travels—most of them, aside from his journey to America, barely known. It might be the most famous journey in the history of political thought: in 1831, Alexis de Tocqueville sailed from France to the United States, spent nine months touring and observing the political culture of the fledgling republic, and...

The story of a poor man and radical activist who fought to revive the French Revolution, and whose failure heralded the republic’s defeat “Very much a book for our times. Mason’s retelling of the trial of Gracchus Babeuf and the French Revolution shows how democracies end. Historians of revolutions and all those concerned with the arc of social justice movements...

Few public officials have provoked such intense controversy as Henry Kissinger. During his time in the Nixon and Ford administrations, he came to be admired and hated in equal measure. Notoriously, he believed that foreign affairs ought to be based primarily on the power relationships of a situation, not simply on ethics. He went so far as to argue that...

The first full biography of the fearless and brilliant Maria Yudina, a legendary pianist who was central to Russian intellectual life Maria Yudina was no ordinary musician. An incredibly popular pianist, she lived on the fringes of Soviet society and had close friendships with such towering figures as Boris Pasternak, Pavel Florensky, and Mikhail Bakhtin. Legend has it that she...

The first comprehensive biography of Mary Granville Delany—the artist and court insider whose flower collages, in particular, continue to inspire widespread admiration. “Biographer Clarissa Campbell Orr immerses you in the minutiae of Mary’s life” —Constance Craig-Smith, Daily Mail Mary Granville Delany (1700-1788), perhaps best known simply as Mrs Delany, is best remembered for her captivating paper collages of flowers, but...

“Thrilling . . . With deep research and suspenseful storytelling, Mr. Randall reminds us that America’s pre-eminence in the aviation industry was never assured and that it took a race of unlikely heroes to bring the dream of world flight to the public imagination.” — Wall Street Journal “David K. Randall has conjured the first air race to circumnavigate the...

"A superb biographical portrait and work of historical analysis. Let us hope that it will serve if not as a manual then at least as an inspiration—good statesmanship is needed more than ever." —Brendan Simms, Wall Street Journal "Brilliantly refreshes our understanding of Metternich and his era. [He] was an intellectual in politics of a kind now rare." —Christopher Clark,...

A rollicking portrait of the paradoxical patriot, whose measured pragmatism helped make American independence a reality. Americans are surprisingly more familiar with his famous signature than with the man himself. In this spirited account of John Hancock's life, Brooke Barbier depicts a patriot of fascinating contradictions—a child of enormous privilege who would nevertheless become a voice of the common folk;...

The fascinating untold story of one scientist’s pursuit of a legendary surfer in his quest to define human nature, written with the compelling drama and narrative insight of Why Fish Don’t Exist and The Lost City of Z. Deep in the archives of New York’s American Museum of Natural History sits a wardrobe filled with fifty plaster casts of human...

Late one night in December 2008, police arrived at the home of Liu Xiaobo—China's leading dissident, a key figure in the pro-democracy manifesto Charter 08—and took him away. When Liu won the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize as a political prisoner, the award was bestowed on an empty chair. Inside China, the regime sought to erase every trace of his existence....

Late one night in December 2008, police arrived at the home of Liu Xiaobo—China's leading dissident, a key figure in the prodemocracy manifesto Charter 08—and took him away. When Liu won the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize as a political prisoner, the award was bestowed on an empty chair. Inside China, the regime sought to erase every trace of his existence....

The first serious full-length biography of former Ugandan president Idi Amin, modern Africa’s most famous dictator. "A nuanced and sophisticated examination of one of the most misunderstood, and caricatured, figures in modern African history. . . . Gripping, empathic, and deeply researched."—Richard Reid, University of Oxford “Sharply written, forensically researched. . . . A meticulous re-examination of Amin’s life.”—Paul Kenyon,...

Henrietta Szold by Francine Klagsbrun is a comprehensive exploration of the life and work of Henrietta Szold, the founder of Hadassah and a pivotal figure in Zionism. Henrietta Szold (1860–1945) is celebrated as the founder of Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America, which rapidly became one of the most successful Zionist groups. In her work with Hadassah, Szold employed...

The story of the circle of scientists, poets and dissidents who discovered laughing gas—and forever changed our understanding of the mind An unlikely circle of doctors, chemists, poets and political radicals formed a group round the maverick physician Thomas Beddoes. In the closing years of the eighteenth century, he founded the first modern medical institute, the Pneumatic Institute in Bristol....

An entirely original account of Victoria’s relationship with the Raj, which shows how India was central to the Victorian monarchy from as early as 1837. "A widely and deeply researched, elegantly written, and vital portrayal of [Queen Victoria’s] place in colonial Indian affairs.”—Journal of Modern History In this engaging and controversial book, Miles Taylor shows how both Victoria and Albert...

In the highbrow literary circles of the mid-twentieth century, a father and son spread seductive accounts of a mystical Middle East. Claiming to come from Afghanistan, Ikbal and Idries Shah parlayed their assumed identities into careers full of drama and celebrity, writing dozens of books that influenced the political and cultural elite. Pitching themselves as the authentic voice of the...

A deep look into Charles de Gaulle's personality and upbringing and how these factors influenced the creation of the Fifth Republic in France. Charles de Gaulle, saviour of France's honour in 1940 and founder of the Fifth Republic, was a man and leader of deep contradictions. A conservative and a Catholic from a monarchist family, he restored democracy on his...

Jun and Hong were scions of a once great southern Chinese family. Each other's best friend, they grew up in the 1930s during the final days of Old China before the tumult of the twentieth century brought political revolution, violence, and a fractured national identity. By a quirk of timing, at the end of the Chinese Civil War, Jun ended...

A major new biography of Antoine Barnave—the politician and writer who advocated for a constitutional monarchy in revolutionary France Antoine Barnave was one of the most influential statesmen in the early French Revolution. He was a didactic man of austere morals and vaulting ambition who dressed as an English dandy, running up considerable tailor’s bills. Before his execution at age...

In 1913, an unlikely friendship blossomed between Henry Ford and famed naturalist John Burroughs. When their mutual interest in Ralph Waldo Emerson led them to set out in one of Ford's Model Ts to explore the Transcendentalist's New England, the trip would prove to be the first of many excursions that would take Ford and Burroughs, together with an enthusiastic...

A fanciful collection featuring gorgeous detailed imagery of the world’s most fabulous insects Discover the Titan of the Amazon, the “antosaur,” fabulous butterflies with birdlike wings, and even more of the world’s most unbelievable insects in this collectible volume. Richly illustrated and written by eminent entomologists, The Wonder Cabinet of Fabulous Insects unveils 50 insects (from among the million hopefuls)...

Laced with illustrations of undergarments both prosaic and exotic, a global expose of the hidden meaning of knickers, lingerie, and everything in between. The Virtues of Underwear unravels the intimate narratives woven into the fabric of our most personal garments. From the first loincloths to the intricate layers of shapewear, the narrative explores the concealed world of underwear as a...

James Watson and Francis Crick's 1953 discovery of the double helix structure of DNA is the foundation of virtually every advance in our modern understanding of genetics and molecular biology. But how did Watson and Crick do it, and why were they the ones who succeeded? In truth, the discovery of DNA's structure is the story of five towering minds...

James Watson and Francis Crick's 1953 discovery of the double helix structure of DNA is the foundation of virtually every advance in our modern understanding of genetics and molecular biology. But how did Watson and Crick do it—and why were they the ones who succeeded? In truth, the discovery of DNA's structure is the story of five towering minds in...

For the first time, the story of how and why we have plumbed the mysteries of reading, and why it matters today. Reading is perhaps the essential practice of modern civilisation. For centuries, it has been seen as key to both personal fulfilment and social progress, and millions today depend on it to participate fully in our society. Yet, at...

The Newsmongers unfolds the seedy history of tabloid journalism, from the first printed 'Strange Newes' sheets of the sixteenth century to the sensationalism of today's digital age. The narrative weaves from Regency gossip writers through New York's 'yellow journalism' battles to the 'sex and sleaze' Sun of the 1970s; and from the Brexit-backing populism of the Daily Mail to the...

An examination of how Western visions of endless future growth have contributed to the global environmental crisis For centuries, the West has produced stories about the future in which humans use advanced science and technology to transform the earth. Michael Rawson uses a wide range of works that include Francis Bacon’s New Atlantis, the science fiction novels of Jules Verne,...

The Great Adaptation tells the story of how scientists, governments, and corporations have tried to deal with the challenge that climate change poses to capitalism by promoting adaptation to the consequences of climate change, rather than combating its causes. From the 1970s, neoliberal economists and ideologues have used climate change as an argument for creating more “flexibility” in society, that...

Ever been struck dumb when speaking in public? You might be suffering from glossophobia. Do your book-buying habits verge on bibliomania? Do you recoil in arachnophobic horror at the sight of a spider - or twitch with nomophobia when you misplace your mobile phone? Our fears and compulsions often feel like part of our deepest selves - yet they're bound...

Follow an epic animal race, a quest for a disembodied hand, and an emu egg hunt in constellation stories from diverse cultures. "Aveni skillfully guides us around the awesome night sky through the imagination of different peoples around the world, past and present. A wonderful treasury of cultural astronomy."—Jacqueline Mitton, author of Zoo in the Sky We can see love,...

The majestic and mysterious salmon… Over the centuries, salmon have been a vital resource, a dietary staple and an irresistible catch. But there is so much more to this extraordinary fish. As Mark Kurlansky reveals, salmon persist as a barometer for the health of our planet. Centuries of our greatest assaults on nature can be seen in their harrowing yet...

'A work of remarkable scope' - Guardian FT Best science books of 2018 Primate Change has been adapted into a radio series for the BBC WORLD SERVICE. This is the road from climate change to primate change. Primate Change is a wide-ranging, polemical look at how and why the human body has changed since humankind first got up on two...

Nevertheless comprises essays on Machiavelli and on Pascal. The ambivalent connection between the two parts is embodied by the comma (,) in the subtitle: Machiavelli, Pascal. Is this comma a conjunction or a disjunction? In fact, both. Ginzburg approaches Machiavelli’s work from the perspective of casuistry, or case-based ethical reasoning. For as Machiavelli indicated through his repeated use of the...

Finalist for the Lambda Literary Awards in the LGBTQ Studies category: a landmark account of the seismic changes brought to twentieth-century culture by gay and lesbian networks "An avalanche of stories, ribald gossip, and lengthy asides . . . collectively confirm the book’s central thesis: gay culture, or at least gays and lesbians, did indeed liberate the modern world."—Booklist In...

Shifts the conversation from abstract "global warming" to the deeply human impacts of heat—and how our efforts to keep cool have made the problem worse. Despite the flames of record-breaking temperatures licking at our feet, most people fail to fully grasp the gravity of environmental overheating. What acquired habits and conveniences allow us to turn a blind eye with an...

More than fifty years after his death, Albert Einstein's vital engagement with the world continues to inspire others, spurring conversations, projects, and research in the sciences as well as the humanities. Einstein for the 21st Century shows us why he remains a figure of fascination. In this wide-ranging collection, eminent artists, historians, scientists, and social scientists describe Einstein's influence on...

Rachel Laudan tells the remarkable story of the rise and fall of the world's great cuisines—from the mastery of grain cooking some twenty thousand years ago, to the present—in this superbly researched book. Probing beneath the apparent confusion of dozens of cuisines to reveal the underlying simplicity of the culinary family tree, she shows how periodic seismic shifts in "culinary...

Through this extraordinary selection of photographs and accompanying text, we follow elephants on their journey from Ancient Rome to Coney Island and beyond. Across battlefields and city bridges, in railroad cars and circus rings, adored, applauded and at times brutally mistreated, elephants have truly come to town. When Elephants Come to Town captures the 'soul' of the pachyderm and man's...

Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. Bread is an object that is always in the process of becoming something else: flour to grain, grain to dough, dough to loaf, loaf to crumb. Bread is also often a figure or vehicle of social cohesion: from the homely image of “breaking...

An evocative and richly illustrated exploration of flowers and how, over the centuries, they have given us so much sustenance, meaning, and pleasure. “From the meaning of carnations in Sex and the City to the use of sunflowers in the cleanup of Chernobyl, from Henry VIII’s ban on saffron dye in Ireland to the modernist reinventions of roses, this is...

The Anatomists' Library is a fascinating chronological collection of the best anatomical books from six centuries, charting the evolution of both medical knowledge and illustrated publishing. There is a rich history of medical publishing across Europe, with outstanding publications from Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, the UK, and also many from Persia and Japan. Because of the high value...

A deeply researched history of assassination in the modern world, from Franz Ferdinand to Osama bin Laden Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Leon Trotsky, Reinhard Heydrich, Mahatma Gandhi, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Indira Gandhi, Benazir Bhutto, Osama bin Laden, Qasem Soleimani: assassination—the murder of a specific individual by an organised conspiracy in pursuit of political ends—has rarely failed to grip...