Royalty & Religion Biographies

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...

Four centuries ago, a Muslim woman ruled an empire. Nur Jahan, daughter of a Persian noble and widow of a subversive official, became the twentieth and most cherished wife of the Emperor Jahangir. Nur ruled the vast Mughal Empire alongside her husband, leading troops into battle, signing imperial orders, and astutely handling matters of the state. Acclaimed historian Ruby Lal...

An authoritative life of Edward the Confessor, the monarch whose death sparked the invasion of 1066. "In putting flesh back on Edward’s bones Licence has brought a new succession story to popular attention."—Leanda de Lisle, The Times “This fine biography of Edward the Confessor is both entertaining and elegiac.” —Nicholas Vincent, The Tablet One of the last kings of Anglo-Saxon...

The first scholarly biography of Levi Yitshak of Berdychiv in English in over thirty-five years. Defender of the Faithful explores the life and thought of Levi Yitshak of Berdychiv (1740–1809), one of the most fascinating and colorful Hasidic leaders of his time. It is an intellectual and religious biography, a reading of the development of his thought and career. Featuring...

From the prizewinning Jewish Lives series, a reexamination of the biblical David, legendary warrior, poet, and king, by one of America’s most respected rabbis. "An excellent study of the most fascinating character in the Old Testament."—Wall Street Journal "A portrait of David that is vibrant and nuanced, full of the complications that marked his life."—Jewish Week Of all the figures...

A seminal biography of Cnut, the underappreciated eleventh-century Scandinavian warlord-turned-Anglo-Saxon monarch who united the English and Danish crowns to forge a North Sea empire. "A gripping and revelatory biography of Britain's Danish conqueror." — Simon Sebag Montefiore, The Week Historian Timothy Bolton offers a fascinating reappraisal of one of the most misunderstood of the Anglo-Saxon kings: Cnut the Great, the...

A feminist reinterpretation of the myths surrounding Cleopatra casts new light on the Egyptian queen and her legacy. “A lucid and persuasive reinterpretation. Readers won’t see Cleopatra the same way again.”—Publishers Weekly “Where Prose really sparkles: her critiques of the cultural depictions of Cleopatra.”—Allison Arieff, San Francisco Chronicle The siren passionately in love with Mark Antony, the seductress who allegedly...

A revealing new portrait of John Calvin that captures his human complexity and the sixteenth-century world in which he fought his personal and theological battles. During the glory days of the French Renaissance, young John Calvin (1509–1564) experienced a profound conversion to the faith of the Reformation. For the rest of his days, he lived out the implications of that...

In a brief life that led to a violent end, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel (1906–1947) rose from desperate poverty to ill-gotten riches, from an early-twentieth-century family of Ukrainian Jewish immigrants on the Lower East Side to a kingdom of his own making in Las Vegas. In this captivating portrait, author Michael Shnayerson sets out not to absolve Bugsy Siegel but rather...

From one of the world’s foremost authorities on Sigmund Freud comes a strikingly original biography of the father of psychoanalysis. Becoming Freud is the story of the young Freud—Freud up until the age of fifty—that incorporates all of Freud’s many misgivings about the art of biography. Freud invented a psychological treatment that involved the telling and revising of life stories,...

The story of the prophet Elijah’s transformation from fierce zealot to compassionate hero and cherished figure in Jewish folklore “In a series on Jewish Lives, this volume is about the Jewish life—the one that goes on forever. Becoming Elijah blends meticulous scholarship with bold literary and poetic imagination. Don’t miss it!”—Arthur Green, author of Judaism for the World "The author’s...

A great theatre critic brings twentieth-century playwright Arthur Miller's dramatic story to life with bold and revealing new insights. "Lahr's cogent analyses are revelatory... He does not reduce the work to the life, but shows how it explains the life from which it emerges."—Willard Spiegelman, Wall Street Journal New Yorker critic Lahr shines in this searching account of the life...

This revelatory book shows how the influential and controversial Empress Dowager Cixi used art and architecture to establish her authority. Empress Dowager Cixi (1835–1908), who ruled China from 1861 until her death in 1908, is a subject of fascination and controversy, at turns vilified for her political manoeuvring and admired for modernising China. In addition to being an astute politician,...

Little known in America but venerated as a martyr in Iran, Howard Baskerville was a twenty-two-year-old Christian missionary from South Dakota who travelled to Persia (modern-day Iran) in 1907 for a two-year stint teaching English and preaching the gospel. He arrived in the midst of a democratic revolution—the first of its kind in the Middle East—led by a group of...

An imaginative reassessment of Æthelred, one of medieval England’s most maligned kings and a major Anglo-Saxon figure. The Anglo-Saxon king Æthelred "the Unready" (978–1016) has long been considered to be inscrutable, irrational, and poorly advised. Infamous for his domestic and international failures, Æthelred was unable to fend off successive Viking raids, leading to the notorious St. Brice’s Day Massacre in...

A riveting exploration of the brilliant, combative, and controversial “Father of the Nuclear Navy” “A superb and even-handed treatment of a complex, brilliant, and driven admiral who inspired both awe and loathing across the Navy he fundamentally reshaped.”—Admiral James Stavridis, former Supreme Commander, NATO, and author of 2034 Known as the “Father of the Nuclear Navy,” Admiral Hyman George Rickover...

A biography of the rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, who became a symbol of the marriage between religion and social justice “When I marched in Selma, I felt my legs were praying.” So said Polish-born American rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907–1972) of his involvement in the 1965 Selma civil rights march alongside Martin Luther King, Jr. Heschel, who spoke with a...

The story of Abraham, the first Jew, portrayed as two lives lived by one person, paralleling the contradictions in Judaism throughout its history. In this new biography of Abraham, Judaism's foundational figure, Anthony Julius offers an account of the origins of a fundamental struggle within Judaism between scepticism and faith, critique and affirmation, thinking for oneself and thinking under the...

The Swan King is the biography of one of the most enigmatic figures of the 19th century, described by Verlaine as 'the only true king of his century'. A man of wildly eccentric temperament and touched by a rare, imaginative genius, Ludwig II of Bavaria is remembered both for his patronage of Richard Wagner and for the fabulous palaces which...

This compelling book begins on the 2nd of August 1793, the day Marie Antoinette was torn from her family’s arms and escorted from the Temple to the Conciergerie, a thick-walled fortress turned prison. It was also known as the “waiting room for the guillotine” because prisoners only spent a day or two here before their conviction and subsequent execution. The...

Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen (1898) is an autobiography by Lili'uokalani. Published in 1898, the book was written in the aftermath of Lili'uokalani's attempt to appeal on behalf of her people to President Grover Cleveland, a personal friend. Although it inspired Cleveland to demand her reinstatement, the United States Congress published the Morgan Report in 1894, which denied U.S. involvement...

From a trusted advisor and devoted friend of Mother Teresa comes a "powerful" (The Washington Free Beacon) firsthand account of the miraculous woman behind the saint and a book that is "rich in reflection on contemporary sanctity" (George Weigel). Mother Teresa was one of the most admired women of the 20th century, and her memory continues to inspire charitable work...

Jesus comes to life in this fascinating modern biography excerpted from The Urantia Book. Many of these historical stories are familiar to readers of the New Testament, but dozens are new, including the missing years not found in the Bible. Here, you discover Jesus presented as never before, both as divine Son and human hero whose matchless life inspires, comforts,...

The dramas of courtly love have captivated centuries of readers and dreamers. Yet it’s too often dismissed as something which only existed in books – just the usual legends of King Arthur, told and retold in thousands of ways. Not so. In this ground-breaking history, Sarah Gristwood reveals the way chivalric romance made and marred the Tudor dynasty. From Henry...

Explore 500 years of the British royal family and how their portrayal has developed throughout the ages through beautiful artworks from the National Portrait Gallery's Collection. The Royals: Tudors to Windsors features some of the earliest works in the National Portrait Gallery's Collection alongside their most recent acquisitions. This beautiful publication includes a timeline of key events and is illustrated...

Royal expert and TV historian Kate Williams opens the doors to 30 palaces, castles, and houses that have been connected with the British royals over the centuries. Well known for her expert insights in the media and on countless royal documentaries, Kate takes you on a tour of the UK’s most fascinating palaces, past and present, to unveil the scandalous...

Delightfully informal family photographs of The Queen as a young girl, as a young wife and mother, on holiday and enjoying the company of her children and dogs are joined by more formal images illustrating the official life of the monarch on grand state occasions, such as the Coronation, the State Opening of Parliament, and Trooping the Colour—not to mention...

The Queen 1926-2022 by Orange Hippo! offers an intimate look at Queen Elizabeth II, who was much more than Britain's oldest or longest-serving monarch. Admired around the world for her serenity, wisdom, and unwavering devotion to duty, she was a rock of stability in turbulent, changing times. Served by no less than 15 prime ministers, her extraordinary reign saw her...

Matthew Dennison's elegant and magisterial biography of Her late Majesty, updated following the death of Elizabeth II and the accession of King Charles III. 'A worthy and balanced overview of the Queen's life. Dennison is especially good on her childhood... quietly, tactfully, tastefully reverent.' The Times The death of Queen Elizabeth II on 8 September 2022 was more than just...

Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth II has reigned for 64 years, longer than any British monarch in history. During that time, the Queen has endured the ups and downs that long life will bring. She was a beacon of hope during and after the Second World War, in difficult times when the world faced a precarious future. She has served...

Britain's most authentically prophetic voice - Daily Telegraph The choice with which humankind is faced is between the idea of power and the power of ideas. From his appointment as Chief Rabbi in 1991, through to his death in November 2020, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks made an incalculable contribution not just to the religious life of the Jewish community but...

For the first time, all 70 of the Queen's Christmas speeches are published together in full, along with six additional feature speeches made at significant points in her life. Organised by decade, each chapter opens with a narrative essay on the key events that follow, providing an important contextual backdrop to the speeches. From times of national and global turmoil...

For seventy years, Queen Elizabeth ruled over an institution and a family. During her lifetime, she was constant in her desire to provide a steady presence and to be a trustworthy steward of the British people and the Commonwealth. In the face of her uncle's abdication, in the uncertainty of the Blitz, and in the tentative exposure of her family...

The Man the Anzacs Revered by Daniel Reynaud tells the story of William McKenzie, a once-famous figure among the Anzacs, celebrated for his dedicated work on Gallipoli and in France. McKenzie served as a Salvation Army Chaplain, a type of non-combatant officer who was usually regarded with little respect. Despite this, McKenzie's strong stance against booze, brothels, betting, and bad...

A major new account of the most intensely creative years of Luther's career, The Making of Martin Luther takes a provocative look at the intellectual emergence of one of the most original and influential minds of the sixteenth century. Richard Rex traces how, in a concentrated burst of creative energy in the few years surrounding his excommunication by Pope Leo...

The Lost Queen is described as "a good story, embracing character, emotion and drama... refreshing," according to The Times. "A splendidly sympathetic and sparky portrait... Wittily written and rich in detail," notes Miranda Seymour. Despite Catherine of Braganza's crucial place in British history and that of its Empire, she has since been overshadowed by stories of the king's many mistresses...

Muhammad's was a life of almost unparalleled historical importance; yet for all the iconic power of his name, the intensely dramatic story of the prophet of Islam is not well known. In The First Muslim, Lesley Hazleton brings him vibrantly to life. Drawing on early eyewitness sources and on history, politics, religion, and psychology, she renders him as a man...

HarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics. The Confessions of Saint Augustine describes Saint Augustine’s conversion to Christianity and is the basis for his reputation as one of Christianity's most influential thinkers.

Are you or someone you love desperate for a miracle? As witnessed through Scripture, the God who was and is and is to come has been performing miracles from the beginning of time—so you can trust that Jesus wants to do something miraculous in your life today. In this follow-up to his book Mysteries of the Messiah, Rabbi Jason Sobel...

'Love and scandal are the best sweeteners of tea.' - Henry Fielding George Orwell once said that the British love a really good murder. He might also have said that the only thing the British love more than a good murder is a really good scandal, and best of all are the political and sexual scandals that take place in...

The incredible story of a controversial rock star, his secret addiction to methamphetamines, and his miraculous salvation through Jesus Christ. Candid and inspiring, Save Me from Myself is a rock 'n' roll journey unlike any other.

Daily Mail Best History Book of the Year; Spectator Best Book of the Year It is generally accepted that Queen Victoria reigned but did not rule. This couldn’t be more wrong. In Queen Victoria and Her Prime Ministers, Anne Somerset masterfully traces Victoria’s political evolution, from headstrong teenager to seasoned octogenarian. This book demonstrates her passionate involvement in state affairs,...

A revised edition of a compelling photographic history of Queen Elizabeth II's life and reign. This book is a photographic portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, from her first official photograph as a baby in 1926 to her Platinum Jubilee in 2022. Each of the book's chapters begins with a text by bestselling historian and biographer Philip Ziegler, covering the key...

The definitive biography of King Charles with exclusive material and insight from a source close to the King himself.

'To Charles, being monarch has nothing to do with power - he believes his role is to lead. It is up to others whether they choose to follow.' When Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II died in September 2022, it sent shockwaves around the world. The longest reigning and oldest monarch, at ninety-six years of age, she had just publicly celebrated...

"I loved—and to a slightly uncomfortable degree related to—this book." Charles Bethea, staff writer at The New Yorker Funny, perceptive, and deeply personal, Mediocre Monk follows Grant Lindsley's rocky journey toward spiritual growth—one that ultimately leads him to places he never imagined. After the sudden death of a friend, Grant Lindsley abandons his corporate job to train as a monk...

Love Is a Journey is the remarkable story of Albino Luciani, known to the world as Pope John Paul I, from his harrowing birth to his tragic death just 33 days into his 1978 pontificate—the shortest pontificate in history. After years of dedicated archival research, and after interviewing dozens of figures in the Catholic hierarchy, as well as Pope John...

When Robert Francis Prevost OSA appeared on the loggia of St. Peter’s on 8th May 2025, he surprised the world. The first North American pope is a quiet man few had heard of, following the legacy of one of the most media savvy pontiffs in history. Yet, with subtle gestures, Pope Leo has shown that he is a bridge-builder, a...

"As a major fan and promoter of Julian of Norwich, whom I call 'my favourite mystic', it is genuinely exciting to find such a faithful but freeing translation of Julian's long-lost Showings. Now they are no longer lost—for anyone!" -Fr. Richard Rohr, O.F.M., Center for Action and Contemplation In this contemporary translation of one of the most beloved and influential...

This autobiography traces Francis X. Clooney's intellectual and spiritual journey from middle-class American Catholicism to a lifelong study of Hinduism. It explains how he came to fashion comparative theology as a way of learning interreligiously that is boldly intellectual and deeply personal and practical, lived out in intersections of his roles as theologian and scholar of Hinduism, as professor and...

Best known today as a fine composer, the twelfth-century German abbess Hildegard of Bingen was also a religious leader and visionary, a poet, naturalist, and writer of medical treatises. Despite her cloistered life, she had strong, often controversial views on sex, love, and marriage too—an astonishing woman in her own age, whose book of apocalyptic visions, Scivias, would alone have...

Henry VIII was one of the most volatile and unpredictable monarchs in English history. Despite his famously explosive temper, his overbearing bluster, and his appalling disregard for human life, he also proved himself at times to be a caring husband, a loyal friend, a compassionate ruler, and a pious believer as well. Henry VIII: A Reference Guide to His Life...

Alone in a foreign land, Viking warrior Einar must choose his loyalties in the face of war. The gripping new instalment in the Whale Road Chronicles. For the first time, Einar and the Wolf Coats find themselves divided, on opposing sides in a time of warfare: the Wolf Coats in Ireland, and Einar in the Saxon domains of England. Einar...

The explosive new book from longtime royal journalist Omid Scobie, author of the international blockbuster Finding Freedom, Endgame is a penetrating investigation into the current state of the British monarchy. An unpopular king, a power-hungry heir to the throne, a queen willing to go to great lengths to preserve her image, and a prince forced to start a new life...

“Jones’ remarkable story is impossible to put down." —Booklist "Shocking, sad and hopeful." —The Minneapolis Star Tribune “This gripping story of survival, resilience, and hope is one I will not soon forget.” —Ruth Wariner, New York Times Bestselling Author, The Sound of Gravel For fans of Educated and The Sound of Gravel, The Dirt Beneath Our Door tells the remarkable...

A mother's celebration of the power and wonder of lifelong reading Zibby Owens, My Most Anticipated Books 2025 In Children of the Book, Ilana Kurshan reveals how literature weaves an invisible thread through the tapestry of family life. Kurshan, a mother of five living in Jerusalem, struggles to balance her passion for books with her responsibilities as a parent. Gradually,...

A revelatory new biography of Thomas Jefferson, focusing on his ethical and spiritual life “Kidd’s biography may well be the best treatment of Jefferson’s religious and moral life available, and certainly it is among the few to take those two subjects seriously while carefully avoiding hagiography or anachronism. It deserves a wide readership.”—Miles Smith, National Review “Set aside everything you...

'If a house could gossip, this is the book that Hampton Court would whisper. An enjoyable and readable stroll through 500 years of Hampton Court history: royal residents, common visitors, thieves, invaders and ghosts’ PHILIPPA GREGORY For centuries, Hampton Court has been a place of power, scandal and intrigue: a stage for events that shaped the nation. The Palace raises...

A thought-provoking, authoritative biography of one of history’s most maligned rulers: France’s Louis XVI “The definitive contribution to our understanding of Louis XVI as a man and a monarch.”—P. M. Jones, English Historical Review “Monumental. . . . Scholars probing the mysteries of the late Old Regime and French Revolution will be working in its shadow for many years to...

A compelling history of the Ptolemies, the decline of Egypt, and the rising power of the Roman Empire The Ptolemaic era, Egypt's last and one of its longest dynasties, was in many ways a gilded age. Its early rulers restored and even expanded Egyptian power. Over a span of 300 years, the period was witness to intellectual enlightenment, imaginative state-building,...

A new look which fundamentally overturns our understanding of this famously "out of touch" queen. “Presents Marie-Antoinette as much more than a symbol whose meaning is in the eye of her beholder . . . neither martyr nor voluptuary but rather a serious participant in politics.” — Lynn Hunt, New York Review of Books “Splendid. . . . Masterly. ....

A prominent scholar explores King Arthur’s historical development, proposing that he began as a fictional character developed in the ninth century. According to legend, King Arthur saved Britain from the Saxons and reigned over it gloriously sometime around A.D. 500. Whether or not there was a “real” King Arthur has all too often been neglected by scholars; most period specialists...

The tragic life of Julian, the last non-Christian emperor of Rome, by award-winning author Philip Freeman. Flavius Claudius Julianus, or Julian the Apostate, ruled Rome as sole emperor for just a year and a half, from 361 to 363, but during that time he turned the world upside down. Although a nephew of Constantine the Great, the first Christian emperor...

NOW A MAJOR APPLE+ TV SERIES 'Magnificent' ANTHONY BOURDAIN 'Irresistible' HUGH FEARNLEY-WHITTINGSTALL 'A classic' DAMIAN BARR From historian and screenwriter, Ian Kelly, comes the legendary story of Carême, the original celebrity chef. Recounting the fairy-tale-like rise of Antonin Carême from Parisian orphan to a household name synonymous with culinary luxury, Carême offers a unique conflation of historical biography, social history...

The most impactful lessons of Paramahansa Yogananda paired with thoughtful analysis and modern applications in an elegant and accessible format Paramahansa Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi is a spiritual classic that has inspired millions, offering profound insights into meditation, self-realisation, and universal truth. Blending deeply personal storytelling with transformative metaphysical wisdom, Yogananda's memoir is a journey through the extraordinary—introducing timeless...

Diana was the very essence of compassion, of duty, of style, of beauty. All over the world she was a symbol of selfless humanity. All over the world, a standard bearer for the rights of the truly downtrodden, a very British girl who transcended nationality. Someone with a natural nobility who was classless and who proved in the last year...

Exploring beyond the banal newspaper headlines that have caricatured our future king over the years, Robert Jobson's biography provides a fresh insight into the extraordinary life of HRH Charles, Prince of Wales, as he passes his seventieth birthday at a watershed in the history of the modern British monarchy. Based on extensive fresh material and resources, the book debunks the...

Charles III: The Making of a King highlights the most important portraits of King Charles III from the National Portrait Gallery's Collection. Charles III: The Making of a King celebrates King Charles III in the year of his coronation. Follow Charles' life from a baby, his investiture as Prince of Wales, to becoming king through the National Portrait Gallery's collection...

"I put it to William, particularly, that if you find someone you love in life, you must hang on to that love and look after it. You must protect it." Diana, Princess of Wales Kate Middleton's life story seems like a modern-day fairy-tale. An attractive, clever, and ambitious girl from unexceptional beginnings meets and falls in love with a wealthy...

Approaching the Stuart courts through the lens of the queen consort, Anna of Denmark, this study is underpinned by three key themes: translating cultures, female agency, and the role of kinship networks and genealogical identity for early modern royal women. Illustrated with a fascinating array of objects and artworks, the book follows a trajectory that begins with Anna's exterior spaces...

The Tudors is a fascinating new look at the artistic legacy of the Tudor dynasty, revealing their influence on the arts in Renaissance England and beyond. Ruling successively from 1485 through 1603, the five Tudor monarchs changed England indelibly, using the visual arts to both legitimise and glorify their tumultuous rule—from Henry VII’s bloody rise to power, through Henry VIII’s...

The tragic life of Julian, the last non-Christian emperor of Rome, by award-winning author Philip Freeman. "When we think of ancient Rome, it's impossible not to think of Christianity, one of its most notable exports—but what if it hadn't been? This is the question provoked by classicist Philip Freeman in Julian, an appealing new entry in Yale's Ancient Lives series,...

Jesus and John Wayne is a sweeping, revisionist history of the last seventy-five years of white evangelicalism, revealing how evangelicals have worked to replace the Jesus of the Gospels with an idol of rugged masculinity and Christian nationalism—or, in the words of one modern chaplain, with "a spiritual badass." As acclaimed scholar Kristin Du Mez explains, the key to understanding...

"There are few historians working today who know so much and write so well. Taken together, the two volumes of Henry III . . . set a gold standard for medieval royal biography."—Dan Jones, Times (UK) "A superb work of scholarship, the fruit of a lifetime's study of the subject. It is elegantly written, consistently shrewd and always good-humoured."—Jonathan Sumption,...

From one of the world’s leading Buddhist scholars, a deeply researched and unprecedented portrait of the Buddha Like Jesus and Muhammad, the Buddha is one of the most significant figures in history. But is he a historical figure? In this revelatory book, The Buddha, Donald S. Lopez Jr. explores this question and considers what is at stake in the answer....

Perpetua by Sarah Ruden offers an intimate and human portrait of Perpetua, a third-century woman author who was idealised as a Christian martyr. On March 7, 203, in the monumental amphitheatre at Carthage, Vibia Perpetua was one of five Christians who met their deaths after refusing to venerate the Roman emperor Septimius Severus and his son. Perpetua stood out from...

From an award-winning biographer, a riveting and deeply researched portrait of Mormonism's charismatic founder. Joseph Smith Jr. (1805–1844) was one of the most successful and controversial religious leaders of nineteenth-century America. He published the Book of Mormon and started what would become the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He built temples, founded a city-state in Illinois, ran for...

The first non-fiction book from the comedy legend – an irresistible, family-friendly deep dive into the murky lives of the British monarchy. Willie, Willie, Harry, Stee, Harry, Dick, John, Harry three. One, two, three Neds, Richard Two, Henries, four, five, six, then who? Charlie Higson has always been interested in the story of the fabled English monarchy: from the b*stardly...