Biography

For more than three decades, Madonna has been generating headlines and topping charts. Now J. Randy Taraborrelli has written the (read more)

For more than three decades, Madonna has been generating headlines and topping charts. Now J. Randy Taraborrelli has written the definitive biography of one of the richest and most successful pop stars in the world, whose music has constantly evolved and who has remained relevant even as she hits her sixtieth year.

From the driven, ambitious young woman struggling to get a break in New York to the outrageous pop diva and more spiritual mother, the changing faces of Madonna are revealed. We see her relationships with men like Basquiat, Tupac, Prince and Warren Beatty, and what happened in her marriages to Sean Penn and Guy Ritchie. We see her embracing motherhood. (hide)

The enthralling Sunday Times-bestselling biography of the shepherd boy who changed the world with his revolutionary engineering and (read more)

The enthralling Sunday Times-bestselling biography of the shepherd boy who changed the world with his revolutionary engineering and whose genius we still benefit from todayThomas Telford's name is familiar; his story less so. Born in 1757 in the Scottish Borders, his father died in his infancy, plunging the family into poverty. Telford's life soared to span almost eight decades of gloriously obsessive, prodigiously productive energy.

Few people have done more to shape our nation. A stonemason turned architect turned engineer, Telford invented the modern road, built churches, harbours, canals, docks, the famously vertiginous Pontcysyllte aqueduct in Wales and the dramatic Menai Bridge. His constructions were the greatest in Europe for a thousand years, and - astonishingly - almost everything he ever built remains in use today. (hide)

Not For Turning is the first volume of Charles Moore's authorized biography of Margaret Thatcher, the longest serving Prime Minister (read more)

Not For Turning is the first volume of Charles Moore's authorized biography of Margaret Thatcher, the longest serving Prime Minister of the twentieth century and one of the most influential political figures of the postwar era.

Charles Moore's biography of Margaret Thatcher, published after her death on 8 April 2013, immediately supercedes all earlier books written about her. At the moment when she becomes a historical figure, this book also makes her into a three dimensional one for the first time. (hide)

Bringing to life one of the most complex characters in European history Stefan Zweig based his biography of Marie Antoinette, who (read more)

Bringing to life one of the most complex characters in European history Stefan Zweig based his biography of Marie Antoinette, who became the Queen of France at the age of fifteen, on the correspondence between her and her mother, and her great love the Count Axel von Fersen. Zweig analyzes the chemistry of a woman's soul from her intimate pleasures to her public suffering as a Queen under the weight of misfortune and history. Zweig describes Marie Antoinette in the King's bedroom, in the enchanted and extravagant world of the Trianon, and with her children.

And in his account of 'The Revolution', he describes her resolve during the failed escape to varennes, her imprisonment in the Conciergerie and her final tragic destiny under the guillotine. Zweig's account has been the definitive biography of Marie Antoinette since its publication, inspiring Antonia Fraser and the recent film adaptation. Stefan Zweig (1881-1942) was born in Vienna, into a wealthy Austrian-Jewish family. (hide)

'A compelling biography of one of the greatest men of the modern age. Stanford is particularly brilliant on the tensions inside Luther's (read more)

'A compelling biography of one of the greatest men of the modern age. Stanford is particularly brilliant on the tensions inside Luther's private and spiritual life. This is a very fine book, written with a flourish.' Melvyn Bragg The 31st of October 2017 marks the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther pinning his 95 'Theses' - or reform proposals - to the door of his local university church in Wittenberg.

Most scholars now agree that the details of this eye-catching gesture are more legend than hammer and nails, but what is certainly true is that on this day (probably in a letter to his local Archbishop in Mainz), the Augustinian Friar and theologian issued an outspokenly blunt challenge to his own Catholic Church to reform itself from within - especially over the sale of 'indulgences' - which ultimately precipitated a huge religious and political upheaval right across Europe and divided mainstream Christianity ever after. A new, popular biography from journalist Peter Stanford, looking at Martin Luther from within his Catholic context, examining his actual aims for Catholicism as well as his enduring legacy - and where he might fit within the church today. 'Peter Stanford makes the life of Luther into a thrilling narrative, told from a modern Catholic perspective' Antonia Fraser (hide)

Karl Marx was the first theorist of a truly global capitalism, and remains perhaps its most trenchant critic. This clear and innovative (read more)

Karl Marx was the first theorist of a truly global capitalism, and remains perhaps its most trenchant critic. This clear and innovative book, from one of the leading contemporary experts on Marx's thought, gives us a fresh overview of his ideas by framing them within concepts that remain topical and alive today, from class struggle and progress to democracy and exploitation. Taking Marx's work in his pamphleteering, journalism, speeches, correspondence and published books as central to a renewed understanding of the man and his politics, both his life experience and our contemporary political engagements are brought vividly to life.

Published:8 Dec 2017 (hide)

Nevil Maskelyne (1732-1811) was a hugely significant figure in the worlds of British science and maritime exploration. His high international (read more)

Nevil Maskelyne (1732-1811) was a hugely significant figure in the worlds of British science and maritime exploration. His high international standing and wide influence have in many ways been unfairly overlooked as his story has come to be dominated by his role in the campaign waged by John Harrison, the clockmaker, for a larger reward for his pioneering marine timekeepers. Maskelyne was, however, involved in all the key projects of eighteenth-century astronomy.

These included ambitious expeditions to observe the transits of Venus, experiments designed to establish the shape and 'weight' of the Earth, the remaking of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, and the survey of new lands on voyages of scientific exploration. The essays in this volume allow us to appreciate Maskelyne's role in these projects and to gain a new perspective on the decisions he made with the Board of Longitude. They reveal a conscientious individual, close to friends and family, with a deep sense of commitment to his work and those who depended on him for a living.
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The savage beauty of his creative vision stunned and shocked the fashion world for over 15 years, with his avant-garde theatricality (read more)

The savage beauty of his creative vision stunned and shocked the fashion world for over 15 years, with his avant-garde theatricality leading many to call him the enfant terrible of British fashion. He created fashion moments which have not faded from memory, like David Bowie's Union Jack coat from 1996, Sarah Jessica Parker's tartan Met Gala dress from 2006, and Lady Gaga in those alien armadillo shoes in the Bad Romance video clip in 2009. But before he was Alexander McQueen, he was Lee Alexander McQueen, the boy from London who dreamed of becoming a fashion designer.
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Charlotte Crosby has been one of the UK's best-loved TV stars since she burst onto the celeb scene in 2011 with Geordie Shore. Laugh-out-loud (read more)

Charlotte Crosby has been one of the UK's best-loved TV stars since she burst onto the celeb scene in 2011 with Geordie Shore. Laugh-out-loud hilarious, genuine, and a proper Geordie, Charlotte's popularity has even seen her crowned winner of 2013's Celebrity Big Brother. With her trademark humour and warmth, in ME ME ME Charlotte takes us on a very unique journey through her eventful teenage years (where literally nothing is off limits!), her attempts at holding down jobs (and booze), the life-changing experience of Geordie Shore, the truth about Gaz and his parsnip, and her inspiring weight-loss triumph.

Full of drawings, doodles, and Charlotte's personal photos, this will be unlike any other celebrity autobiography on the market. Extremely personal, insanely honest and pant-wettingly funny. (hide)

** Please note this book is being reprinted and we are awaiting new stock, but aren't yet sure when it will arrive. "" One of the (read more)

** Please note this book is being reprinted and we are awaiting new stock, but aren't yet sure when it will arrive. ""

One of the Guardian's TOP TEN READS for Christmas'This book is inspired!!!' Nadiya Hussain'[It's] beautiful, like Dawn, and stuffed full of goodies' Jo BrandThis is Dawn French's fabulous new non-fiction book for 2017, and it's totally interactive: take a lovely ramble through the year together with Dawn. Think of it as Dawn's diary, personalized by you . .

. perfection. I can't count the amount of diaries I have crammed full with entries in January, that then fizzle out as the other months pile in.

One of my teenage diaries has fulsome fizzing reports of every single conversation, thought and feeling about every friend, every crush, every meal, every argument until mid-March, when the entry on the 18th simply reads, 'Washed hair.' Thank god, this isn't that. This book is a way for us to tell the story of a year together. Feel free to write your appointments in it, lists, thoughts and reminders of, say, who to kill, and when, and in what order. (hide)