Global History

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...

Destiny toys with us all, but Anita Garibaldi is a force to be reckoned with. Forced into marriage at sixteen, Anita feels trapped in a union she does not want. But when she meets the leader of the Brazilian resistance, Giuseppe Garibaldi, in 1839, everything changes. Swept into a passionate affair with the idolised mercenary, Anita's life is suddenly consumed...

The story of our Universe, from its beginning in the first milliseconds of the Big Bang right up to our present moment and beyond, told in a gripping narrative. We have entered a new age of exploration and discovery, enabling us to probe ever more distant reaches of space and greatly advance our knowledge of the Universe. Today, telescopes peer...

The Twentieth-Century World, 1914 to the Present introduces students to six distinct historical themes in 20th-century history: politics, economics, religion, technology, migration, and the environment. Each theme is set within a social and cultural history framework that emphasises the commonalities and diversity in human experiences throughout the modern era. This is a genuinely global textbook that takes a non-nationalistic approach...

The Mosquito Pocket Manual collates authentic period sources, including pilot's notes and other Air Ministry publications, to provide a unique guide to this iconic aircraft. The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito was a British multi-role combat aircraft with a two-man crew that served during and after the Second World War. It was one of few operational front-line aircraft of the era...

A highly illustrated account of the Pacific operation that was, at the time, the longest shore-to-shore amphibious assault in history. Following the capture of Tarawa in November 1943, American eyes turned to the Marshall Islands. These were the next vital stepping-stone across the Pacific towards Japan, and would bring the islands of Guam and Saipan within the reach of US...

In Britain, we have lost touch with the Great War. Our overriding sense now is of a meaningless, futile bloodbath in the mud of Flanders—of young men whose lives were cut off in their prime for no evident purpose. But by reducing the conflict to personal tragedies, however moving, we have lost the big picture: the history has been distilled...

A monumental work of history that reveals the Ottoman dynasty's important role in the emergence of early modern Europe. The Ottomans have long been viewed as despots who conquered through sheer military might, and whose dynasty was peripheral to those of Europe. The Last Muslim Conquest transforms our understanding of the Ottoman Empire, showing how Ottoman statecraft was far more...

Explore the most baffling puzzles, conundrums and secrets from throughout the ages. The world is full of grey areas, enigmas and unsolved mysteries, which can fascinate, intrigue and occasionally annoy in equal measure. From the gruesome murders committed by Jack the Ripper to the mystery of the missing Nazi gold, this book sheds light on these questions, some of which...

THE TIMES BEST HISTORY BOOK OF 2023 A BOOK OF THE YEAR PICK FOR THE TIMES, SUNDAY TIMES, BBC HISTORY MAGAZINE, GUARDIAN, INDEPENDENT AND FINANCIAL TIMES A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK | AN INSTANT #2 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'Humanity has transformed the Earth: Frankopan transforms our understanding of history' Financial Times 'Vast, learned and timely work' Sunday...

'Very beautiful and illuminating' – Mariella Frostrup Edward Brooke-Hitching, author of the international bestseller The Phantom Atlas, delivers an atlas unlike any other. The Devil’s Atlas is an illustrated guide to the heavens, hells, and lands of the dead as imagined throughout history by cultures and religions around the world. Packed with colourful maps, paintings, and captivating stories, the reader...

Early in the 18th century, Pierre Taillandier, a Jesuit professor and astronomer, penned a letter chronicling his epic two-and-a-half-year journey from his home in Lyon, France, to his mission in French India. He sailed westward across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and eventually into the Bay of Bengal. Along the way, he reflected upon the people and religions he encountered,...

In October 1962, when the Soviet Union deployed nuclear missiles in Cuba, the most dangerous confrontation of the Cold War ensued, bringing the world close to the brink of nuclear war. Over two tense weeks, U.S. president John F. Kennedy and Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev managed to negotiate a peaceful resolution to what was nearly a global catastrophe. Drawing on...

The top five Sunday Times bestseller. 'Breathtaking' Daily Mail. 'Astonishing' Sun. 'Shimmering' Spectator. 'Extraordinary' Daily Telegraph. The Colour of Time spans more than a hundred years of world history from the reign of Queen Victoria and the US Civil War to the Cuban Missile Crisis and beginning of the Space Age. It charts the rise and fall of empires, the...

'A gripping and illuminating picture of how strongmen have deployed violence, seduction, and corruption' - Daniel Ziblatt, co-author of How Democracies Die 'A timely analysis of how a certain kind of charisma delivers political disaster' - Timothy Snyder, author of On Tyranny Ours is the age of the strongman. Countries from Russia to India, Turkey to America are ruled by...

From calls to arms to demands for peace, and from cries of freedom to words of inspiration, this stirring anthology captures the voices of prophets and politicians, rebels and tyrants, soldiers and statesmen, placing them in historical context. With over a million copies already sold, this completely revised and updated pocket edition includes speeches by those that have truly shaped...

The M4 Sherman tank was the mainstay of the Western allies between 1942 and 1945. Fast and modern, it was better than most of the tanks Britain had to offer. The American Chief of Staff claimed in November 1943 that it had been hailed widely as 'the best tank on the battlefield today'. However, by the time of the Normandy...

Reparations for Slavery and the Slave Trade discusses one of the most appalling atrocities of the modern era: slavery and the Atlantic slave trade. Despite the profound impact and enduring legacy of these practices, no former slave society in the Americas has provided reparations to former slaves or their descendants. Ana Lucia Araujo demonstrates that calls for reparations have persisted...

An essential record from the Second International, assembled by Under the Socialist Banner. At its height, the Second (Socialist) International (1889-1914) represented the majority of organised workers in the world, with the revolutionary goal of overthrowing capitalism. Its major accomplishments—such as the eight-hour day and International Women's Day—remain a testimony to its lasting influence around the world. In this important...

The mere mention of red hair or red-headedness conjures vivid associations. Stereotypes range from the fun-loving scatterbrain Lucille Ball to the largely mythologised Viking savage. There are the fiery-tempered shrews or penitent prostitutes (Mary Magdalene is almost always depicted as a redhead), and comic foils and long-suffering sidekicks, like Danny Partridge (The Partridge Family), Ron Weasley (Harry Potter), Jimmy Olsen...

A timely groundbreaking book in the vein of Derrick Bell's Faces at the Bottom of the Well, one of the country's foremost voices on reparations, offers a radical and vital new framework going beyond the current debate over this controversial issue. For over a century, the idea of reparations for the descendants of enslaved Black Americans has divided the United...

The most important and dramatic carrier battle of World War II, which completely changed the fortunes of both Japan and America. One of the most important naval battles in history, Midway was fought barely six months after the devastating Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The badly damaged USS Yorktown was repaired in just 48 hours and, with Enterprise and Hornet,...

This book examines the LaGG family of fighters, which were among the first modern piston-engined interceptors made available to the Red Air Forces in early 1941 and proved far better fighters than their radial-engined predecessors. Despite technical maladies and political interference from Moscow, the LaGG-3 matured into an effective fighter when flown to its strengths at low level. Many early...

The 1941 Japanese Pacific onslaught saw the defeat of Allied forces on all fronts, with the Philippines, Netherlands East Indies, and Commonwealth possessions falling under their control. During 1942-43, the Japanese consolidated their gains and redeployed forces in an attempt to break the Southern Lifeline between America and Australia. These plans were affected by the defeat at Midway, which forced...

The Seven Years’ War was the pinnacle of 18th-century warfare, with dramatic campaigns and battles, famous leaders, and a wide variety of colourful uniforms. Compared with the later Napoleonic Wars, tactics were simpler, armies more professional, and battles tended to be smaller. Using these quick-to-learn rules, players can bring this period to the tabletop, recreating anything from a small skirmish...

A highly illustrated description of the battles, hardships and eventual evacuation that these men had to go through, in this comprehensive guide to the Gallipoli landings. The Gallipoli expedition of 1915, the brainchild of Winston Churchill, was designed to knock the Turkish Empire out of the First World War and open a supply route to Russia. The campaign is characterised...

In the 1780s, the Habsburg monarch Joseph II decreed that henceforth German would be the language of his realm. His intention was to forge a unified state from his vast and disparate possessions, but his action had the opposite effect, catalysing the emergence of competing nationalisms among his Hungarian, Czech, and other subjects, who feared that their languages and cultures...

A startling new oral history of the turning point of World War 2 - D-Day. 6 June 1944 - the day Allied forces crossed the Channel and began fighting their way into Nazi-occupied Northwest Europe. Initiated by airborne units and covered by air and naval bombardment, the Normandy landings were the most ambitious combined airborne and amphibious assault ever attempted....

From the author of Fake History, Otto English, comes a shocking yet hilarious look at ten of the greatest liars from our past, examining these previously unquestioned idols and exposing what they were trying to hide. 'A brilliant book.' James O'Brien Was Che Guevara really a revolutionary hero? Should Mother Teresa be honoured as a saint? Is Henry V actually...

Everyday Life in Early Imperial China by Michael Loewe delves into the significant aspects of life during the Han period. This era was pivotal as it laid the groundwork for the primary political, economic, cultural, and social structures that would come to define imperial China. The book offers a comprehensive exploration of how these foundational elements were established and their...

Disgrace is the first truly global history of sexual violence. The book explores how sexual violence varies widely across time and place, from nineteenth-century peasant women in Ireland who were abducted as a way of forcing marriage, to date-raped high-school students in twentieth-century America, and from girls and women violated by Russian soldiers in 1945 to Dalit women raped by...

An unforgettable 3,000-year-old journey—from Mesopotamian clay tablets trying to predict the future, to Tudor book-hunters and Nazi bonfires, and on into the dangers of our increasingly digital existence, Burning the Books shows how the preservation of knowledge is vital for the survival of civilisation itself. 'A wonderful book, full of good stories and burning with passion' SUNDAY TIMES, BOOKS OF...

An illustrated history of how the British fighter developed, both single- and two-seaters. At the outset of World War I, the British possessed some 110 assorted aircraft, used predominantly for visual reconnaissance. With the emergence of faster and more agile single-seaters, the Allies and their adversaries engaged in a race to develop genuinely effective fighters equipped with fixed forward-firing machine...

Badly Behaved Women is the illustrated story of the past 100 years of the women's movement, from suffrage, alleged bra burning and the politics of hair to Beyoncé, body positivity and #MeToo. In the early twentieth century, through ceaseless dedication and fearless campaigning, the women's movement achieved what had previously been unimaginable: a woman's right to vote. Four waves of...

The medium bomber 'workhorse' of the Ninth Air Force, Martin's much-maligned B-26 Marauder recovered from its poor start with the Eighth Air Force to go on and equip no less than eight bomber groups in the ETO. Although initially dubbed 'the widow maker', a change of tactics from low- to medium-level bombing for the Marauder soon improved the crews' chances...

Assassins have been killing the powerful and famous for at least three thousand years. Personal ambition, revenge, and anger have encouraged many to violent deeds, like the Turkish sultan who had nineteen of his brothers strangled or the bodyguards who murdered a dozen Roman emperors. More recently, new motives have emerged, such as religious and political fanaticism, revolution, and liberation,...

Trace the history of the world in over 500 easy-to-follow maps, from the dawn of humanity to the present day. Organized chronologically, A History of the World in 500 Maps tells a clear, linear story, bringing together themes as diverse as religion, capitalism, warfare, geopolitics, popular culture, and climate change. Meticulously rendered maps chart the sequence of broad historical trends,...

For much of human history, the motive force behind war, conquest, social conflict, and world exploration has been the drive to acquire gold. From the ancient world of Croesus to the wealthy dynasties of Renaissance Italy, from the earliest European explorations into Africa, America, and Asia to the gold rushes of the nineteenth century and the banking crises that lay...

A Historian for All Seasons highlights Geoffrey Bolton as the most versatile and widely travelled historian of his generation in Australia. As a scholar, teacher, and commentator, Bolton enriched the understanding of the country's regional mosaic, notable figures, and others equally revealing. His work explored the natural environment, social patterns, and political life, making significant contributions to the field. Bolton...

How has human response to genocide evolved over time? What effect has it had on our understanding of the cause and consequences of genocide? Spanning 2,800 years of human history, A Cultural History of Genocide offers the first comprehensive, interdisciplinary overview of genocide from ancient times to the present day. With six highly illustrated volumes all written by leading scholars,...

A brilliant recreation of the golden age of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia – its landscapes, peoples, conflicts, power structures, and political geography. The eighth century has long been a neglected backwater in English history: a shadowland between the death of Bede and the triumphs of Ælfred. But before the hegemony of Wessex, the kingdom of Mercia—spread across a broad...

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE With an introduction by her biographer, Mark Bostridge 'Remains one of the most powerful and widely read war memoirs of all time' GUARDIAN 'Vera Brittain's heart-rending account of the way her generation's lives changed is still as shocking and moving as ever' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH 'A heartbreaking account of the impact of the First World War...

Nicholas & Alexandra is the internationally famous biography from Pulitzer Prize-winner Robert Massie. Massie shows conclusively how the personal curse of the young heir's haemophilia, and the decisive influence it brought Rasputin, became fatally linked with the collapse of Imperial Russia. As an engrossing account of one of the century's most dramatic episodes—and an intimate portrait of two people caught...

History's Strangest Deaths, the debut book from Riley Knight, host of the popular podcast Half-Arsed History, highlights the many and varied ways that people have met their end over the years, from the foolish to the absurd. From a classical Greek playwright killed by a tortoise dropping out of the sky to an ancient Chinese duke falling into a toilet;...

A comic tour of history's greatest mistakes and how they have shaped our world, packed with reckless rulers, hare-brained plans, monumental mistakes, and disastrous accidents. We all make mistakes, but rarely do they change the course of human history. From break-ups that ended empires to naps that sank ships, 10 Mistakes That Changed History is the hilarious retelling of some...

Magnificent. Narrative history at its vivid and compelling best — Fergal Keane The first major history of the International Brigades: a tale of blood, ideals and tragedy in the fight against fascism. The Spanish Civil War was the first armed battle in the fight against fascism, and a rallying cry for a generation. Over 35,000 volunteers from sixty-one countries around...

In the twelfth century, Pisa was a powerhouse of global trade, a city that stood at the centre of Medieval Europe. But Pisa had a problem. It was running out of coins. In the face of a looming financial crisis, the city’s rulers and its moneylenders forged a deal that laid the foundations of the modern state and of present-day...

Most things you know about science and religion are myths or half-truths that grew up in the last years of the nineteenth century and remain widespread today. The true history of science and religion is a human one. It’s about the role of religion in inspiring, and strangling, science before the scientific revolution. It’s about the sincere but eccentric faith...

Our world has innumerable boundaries, ranging from the obvious—like an ocean—to subtle differences in language or climate. Most of us cross invisible lines all the time, but don't stop to consider them. In Invisible Lines, geographer Maxim Samson presents 30 such unseen boundaries, intriguing and unexpected examples of the myriad ways in which we collectively engage with and experience the...

Four writers. Four dictators. One world, changed out of all recognition. Engineers of Human Souls is an intimate and shocking shadow history of creative vanity in a time that turned writers - once the faithful servants of authority - into figures of political consequence. Maurice Barres, who first wielded the politics of identity. Gabriele D'Annunzio, whose poetry became a blueprint...

An epic history of how the so-called 'barbarians of the steppes' shaped the modern world. 'This is a history of epic scope that brings together the empires of the steppe land with the caravan cities of the Silk Road and imperial China' — Martyn Rady, author of The Middle Kingdoms 'A sweeping account of forty-five centuries of nomadic tribes' —...

Widely hailed for its "sweeping, sobering account of the American past" (New York Times Book Review), Jill Lepore's one-volume history of America places truth itself—a devotion to facts, proof, and evidence—at the centre of the nation's history. The American experiment rests on three ideas—"these truths," Jefferson called them—political equality, natural rights, and the sovereignty of the people. But has the...

A COMPANION TO GLOBAL HISTORICAL THOUGHT A Companion to Global Historical Thought provides an overview of the development of historical thinking from the earliest times to the present, directly addressing issues of historiography in a globalized context. Questions concerning the global dissemination of historical writing and the relationship between historiography and other ways of representing the past have become important...

A History of Ideas is an unusual sort of history book: a history of ideas - and not just any old ideas, ideas from across time and space that are best suited to healing, enchanting and reviving us. It's a collection of humanity's very best thoughts on how to approach the challenges and joys of being alive. Along the way,...

When our ancestors came down from the trees, they brought the trees with them and remade the world. A stunning book on the incalculable debt humanity owes wood… John Carey, The Sunday Times How did the descendants of small arboreal primates manage to stand on our own two feet, become top predators, and take over the world? In The Wood...

The Burning Earth by Sunil Amrith is a brilliant, paradigm-shifting global survey of how human history has reshaped the planet, and vice versa over the last 500 years. In this paradigm-shifting global history, Amrith twins the stories of environment and Empire, of genocide and eco-cide, and of the expansion of human freedom and its costs. Drawing on an extraordinarily rich...

Rollicking and informative, Reprehensible: Polite Histories of Bad Behaviour is your guide through some of the most shameful behaviour indulged in by humanity’s most celebrated figures, as told by Mikey Robins, one of Australia’s most loved comedians. It is often said that we live in an era of constant outrage, but we are definitely not the inventors of outrageousness. Let’s...

My only complaint is that it was so fascinating I wish it had been longer. What a story! — Philip Mansel Berlin is Europe’s most fascinating and exciting city. The great movements that have shaken Europe, from the Reformation to Marxism, have their origins in Berlin’s streets. With its unique dialect, exceptional museums, experimental cultural scene, its liberated social life...

The year 2022 marks the 200th anniversary of the establishment of the penal settlement at Macquarie Harbour. This convict penal settlement, located on the isolated, primeval, and rugged west coast of Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania), quickly gained a reputation as an ‘Earthy Hell’. Colonial historian John West succinctly recorded in 1852: ‘The name Macquarie Harbour is associated exclusively with remembrance...

Learn how the Australian government used the guise of national interest to forge a false account of the Indonesian invasion of East Timor. The Indonesian invasion of East Timor in 1975 led to a prolonged conflict, severe human rights abuses, and a large loss of life. From 1975 to 1983, the Indonesian military's campaign of 'encirclement and annihilation' destroyed rural...

A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER Stunning, photographic King Charles III memorabilia gift for royal fans. As the nation celebrates the coronation of a new monarch, The Sun looks back on 100 moments in the life of the man who would be king. The longest heir apparent in British history, King Charles has lived a remarkable life during his 70-year wait to...

As he did for Abraham Lincoln and John Quincy Adams, award-winning biographer Fred Kaplan offers a fresh, illuminating look at the life of Thomas Jefferson and his contributions as a writer. In this unique biography, Fred Kaplan emphasises Thomas Jefferson’s genius with language and his ability to use the power of words to inspire and shape a nation. A man...

The definitive history of coronations and the Royal Family, from acclaimed writer Roy Strong. ‘What is the finest sight in the world? A Coronation.What do people talk most about? A Coronation.What is delightful to have passed? A Coronation.’— Horace Walpole, 1761 As a boy of sixteen, Roy Strong watched the grand procession carrying Queen Elizabeth II to her coronation. The...

This overview of the 1930s is the story of the dark, dishonest decade, child of one world war and parent of the next, that determined the course of the 20th century. The Dark Valley examines the great powers—USA, Germany, Italy, France, Britain, Japan, Spain, and Russia—and takes the reader through ten years dominated by the Great Depression and political turmoil,...

I often wonder how many people can pinpoint the exact moment that their lives were changed irrevocably: smashed, redefined, uncategorised and forever divorced from the normal comprehension of their peers. In Melbourne, in the spring of 1980, Jacqueline Pascarl, then a trusting 17-year-old, met a young architecture student called Bahrin. They fell in love, made plans to marry, and travelled...

The Great War: 1914-1918 was the first truly global conflict, and it changed the course of world history. In this magnum opus, critically-acclaimed historian Peter Hart examines the conflict in every arena around the world, in a history that combines cutting edge scholarship with vivid and unfamiliar eyewitness accounts, from kings and generals to ordinary soldiers. He focuses in particular...

The forest primeval, the river of life, the sacred mount — read Landscape and Memory to have these explained... Landscape and Memory is a history book unlike any other. In a series of journeys through space and time, it examines our relationship with the landscape around us — rivers, mountains, forests — the impact each of them has had on...

The extraordinary life and legacy of legendary journalist Cokie Roberts—a trailblazer for women—remembered by her friends and family. Through her visibility and celebrity, Cokie Roberts was an inspiration and a role model for innumerable women and girls. A fixture on national television and radio for more than 40 years, she also wrote five bestselling books focusing on the role of...

A War on Global Poverty provides a fresh account of U.S. involvement in campaigns to end global poverty in the 1970s and 1980s. From the decline of modernisation programmes to the rise of microcredit, Joanne Meyerowitz looks beyond familiar histories of development and explains why antipoverty programmes increasingly focused on women as the deserving poor. When the United States joined...

History is a rich, varied and fascinating subject, so it's rare to find the whole lot in one book... until now. The History of the World in Bite-Sized Chunks pulls it all together, from the world's earliest civilisations in 3500 BC to the founding of the United Nations in 1945, passing by the likes of Charlemagne, the Ottoman Empire and...

An astonishing, inspiring (and occasionally gruesome) history of transplant surgery, rich in untold stories and unsung heroes. We think of transplant surgery as one of the medical wonders of the modern world, but it's a lot older than you think. As ancient as the pyramids, its history is even more surprising. In Spare Parts, cultural historian Paul Craddock takes us...

A spellbinding look at the history of the world through the stories of twelve carpets Beautiful, sensuous, and enigmatic, great carpets follow power. Emperors, shahs, sultans, and samurai crave them as symbols of earthly domination. Shamans and priests desire them to evoke the spiritual realm. The world's 1% hunger after them as displays of extreme status. And yet these seductive...

An epic history of money, trade and development since 1933. In 1933, Keynes reflected on the crisis of the Great Depression that arose from individualistic capitalism: "It is not intelligent, it is not beautiful, it is not just, it is not virtuous - and it doesn't deliver the goods... But when we wonder what to put in its place, we...

Big History professor and bestselling author of Origin Story tells you everything you need to know about the future in this ambitious, interdisciplinary book, taking in history, philosophy, theology, physics, biology, chemistry, and, of course, futurology... Every second of our lives—whether we're looking both ways before crossing the street, celebrating the birth of a baby, or moving to a new...

Hurricane Katrina. The Indian Ocean Tsunami. Killer Tornadoes. Planet Earth's extremes of weather are making news as never before, and now Life explains why, in a book that collects some of the greatest photographs of natural disasters ever assembled. From earthquakes to tornadoes, lightning to tsunamis, Life: Natures Fury illuminates the hidden natural forces that shape our lives in splendid...

Historical Records of Australia is a basic and vital source for early Australian history. The publication of Volume VIII of this series is of relevance in recently developed historical areas such as Aboriginal Studies and of continuing relevance to legal, administrative, and social history. The project began in 1914 with 33 volumes being published up until 1925 but was then...

A sparkling exploration of the four cardinal directions, by the acclaimed author of A History of the World in 12 Maps. North, south, east and west—almost all societies use the four cardinal directions to orientate themselves, to understand who they are by projecting where they are. For millennia, these four directions have been the foundation of our navigation and exploration...

A Pipeline Runs Through It is the origin story of our modern oil age, offering a fresh, comprehensive, in-depth look at the social, economic, political, and geopolitical forces involved in our transition to this era. It tells an extraordinary story, from the pre-industrial history of petroleum through to large-scale production in the mid-19th century and the development of a dominant,...

A sweeping natural history of how rivers have shaped the course of civilisation. Rivers have opened frontiers, defined borders, supported trade, generated energy and fed billions. Most of our greatest cities stand on riverbanks or deltas, and our quest for mastery has spurred staggering advances in engineering, science, and law. Rivers and their topographic divides have shaped the territories of...

'A bold, ambitious and truly wonderful history of the world that shows the vital importance of tropical forests to life on Earth' - Peter Wohlleben, author of The Hidden Life of Trees Jungle is a new and ambitious history of the world, telling the remarkable story of the world's tropical forests from the arrival of the first plants millions of...