In these essays, about a quarter of them previously unpublished, Eric Hobsbawm reflects upon the theory, practice and development of history and its relevance to the modern world. These wide-ranging papers reflect Professor Hobsbawm's lifelong concern with the relations between past, present and future. They deal, among many ... read more

The Ottoman Empire has exerted a long, strong pull on Western minds and hearts. Over six hundred years the Empire swelled and declined; the royal line bent, but never broke, from Osman, born in a desert tent around 1280 to Abdul Mecid, dying in a Paris flat in 1942. Its precipitous rise from a dusty fiefdom in the foothills o... read more

Antonia Fraser takes a sympathetic look at the lives of Henry VIII's wives. Taking each in turn, she portrays them as women of spirit, and looks beyond their tragic ends. Paperback (B-Format)

More than 400 years after her death, Mary Queen of Scots remains one of the most romantic and controversial figures in British history. This reissue of her biography explores all areas of her life, particularly her time in France, her marriages, imprisonment and her execution at the age of 44. Paperback (B-Format)

Jeffrey Sachs draws on his remarkable 25 years' experience to offer a thrilling and inspiring vision of the keys to economic success in the world today. Marrying vivid storytelling with acute analysis, he sets the stage by drawing a conceptual map of the world economy and explains why, over the past 200 years, wealth and pove... read more

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Post liberation Paris - an epoch charged with political and conflicting emotions. Liberation was greeted with joy but marked by recriminations and the trauma of purges. The feverish intellectual arguments of the young took place amidst the mundane reality of hunger and fuel shortages. This is a stunning historical account of ... read more

In 1945 Germany was a nation in tatters. Swathes of its population were despairing, homeless, bombed-out and on the move. Refugees streamed towards the West and soldiers made their way home, often scarring the villages they passed through with parting shots of savagery. Politically the country was neutered, carved into zones ... read more

When it was first published in 1964, The Lucky Country caused a sensation. Horne took Australian society to task for its philistinism, provincialism and dependence. The book was a wake-up call to an unimaginative nation, an indictment of a country mired in mediocrity and manacled to its past. The book still remains illuminati... read more

In many countries, internet censorship has become one of the key human rights issues of the twenty-first century.Best-selling author Antony Loewenstein conducts a searching examination of the ways the internet is threatening the rule of some of the planet's most repressive governments, including in countries such as Iran, Sau... read more

Illuminating, engrossing and full of surprises, "The Discovery of France" is a literary exploration of a country few will recognize; from maps and migration to magic, language and landscape, it's a book that reveals the 'real' past of France to tell the whole story - and history - of this remarkable nation. 'With gloriously a... read more

In 1924, George Mallory and Sandy Irvine disappeared into the clouds encircling the peak of Everest. Whether they were the first men to reach the top of the Earth's highest mountain remains a mystery. They never returned from their ill-fated expedition. Seventy-five years later, the then-unknown mountaineer Conrad Anker made ... read more

Presents an examination of the effects of hyperconsumerism on contemporary life that provides a comprehensive look at how choices affect the balance between work and life in society. Using past experiences, the author explores issues that concern many and asks the question, Is it possible to have too much choice?

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The story of the world-famous monument and the extraordinary world's fair that introduced it In this first general history of the Eiffel Tower in English, Jill Jonnes-acclaimed author of "Conquering Gotham"-offers an eye- opening look not only at the construction of one of the modern world's most iconic structures, but also ... read more

On 2 May, 1536, in an act unprecedented in English history, Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII's second wife, was imprisoned in the Tower of London. On 15 May, she was tried and found guilty of high treason and executed just four days later. Mystery surrounds the circumstances leading up to her arrest - did Henry VIII instruct Thomas Cr... read more

They were the black sheep of aristocracy and this is their story. From stately homes to the prisons of wartime Britain; from the House of Lords to Edwardian asylums; from the Ritz and the Dorchester to East End dives, Splendour and Squalor tells the fascinating stories of three of Britain's most illustrious aristocratic dy... read more

The arms race, on the run up to the Second World War, followed the faultless logic of paranoia. Before the First World War, the Great Powers measured the strength of their rivals by comparing the size of armies and navies, and the money spent on them. Afterwards, having learned the lessons of 'total war', they looked at the c... read more

A tale of battles and empire-building, of bitter rivalry and destruction, and of the great civilisation of Carthage city, which played key role in shaping European culture and history.

For over three thousand years, the Mediterranean Sea has been one of the great centres of world civilisation. From the time of historical Troy until the middle of the nineteenth century, human activity here decisively shaped much of the course of world history. David Abulafia's "The Great Sea" is the first complete history of... read more

The Ottoman Empire has exerted a long, strong pull on Western minds and hearts. Over six hundred years the Empire swelled and declined; the royal line bent, but never broke, from Osman, born in a desert tent around 1280 to Abdul Mecid, dying in a Paris flat in 1942. Its precipitous rise from a dusty fiefdom in the foothills o... read more