History

This is a moving true account of European society on the brink of war. A witty yet moving narrative worked up from sketched documentary (read more)

This is a moving true account of European society on the brink of war. A witty yet moving narrative worked up from sketched documentary traces and biographical fragments, 1913 is an intimate cultural portrait of a world that is about to change forever. The stuffy conventions of the nineteenth century are receding into the past, and 1913 heralds a new age of unlimited possibility.

Kafka falls in love; Louis Armstrong learns to play the trumpet; a young seamstress called Coco Chanel opens her first boutique; Charlie Chaplin signs his first movie contract; and new drugs like cocaine usher in an age of decadence. Yet everywhere there is the premonition of ruin - the number 13 is omnipresent, and in London, Paris, Vienna, Berlin, Trieste, artists take the omen and act as if there were no tomorrow, their brief coincidences of existence telling of a darker future. In a Munich hotel lobby, Rilke and Freud discuss beauty and transience; Proust sets out in search of lost time; Stravinsky celebrates the Rite of Spring with industrial cacophony; and while Kirchner paints Berlin's throbbing, hectic metropolis, in Munich an Austrian postcard painter by the name of Adolf Hitler sells his conventional cityscapes.

Told with Illies' characteristic mixture of poignant evocation and laconic irony, 1913 is the story of the year that shaped the last century. (hide)

The Victorian era has dominated the popular imagination like no other period, but these myths and stories also give a very distorted (read more)

The Victorian era has dominated the popular imagination like no other period, but these myths and stories also give a very distorted view of the 19th century. The early Victorians were much stranger that we usually imagine, and their world would have felt very different from our own and it was only during the long reign of the Queen that a modern society emerged in unexpected ways. Using character portraits, events, and key moments, Paterson brings the real life of Victorian Britain alive - from the lifestyles of the aristocrats to the lowest ranks of the London slums.This includes the right way to use a fan, why morning visits were conducted in the afternoon, what the Victorian family ate and how they enjoyed their free time, as well as the Victorian legacy today - convenience food, coffee bars, window shopping, mass media, and celebrity culture.

Praise for Dicken's London: 'Out of the babble of voices, Michael Paterson has been able to extract the essence of London itself. Read this book and re-enter the labyrinth of a now-ancient city' - Peter Ackroyd. (hide)

Pub Date:28/02/2015 - In WW2 information leaflets and posters proliferated. Soldiers were bombarded with Field Regulations, airmen (read more)

Pub Date:28/02/2015 - In WW2 information leaflets and posters proliferated. Soldiers were bombarded with Field Regulations, airmen with the latest updates about airborne early warning, bomb sights and radio navigation and sailors with material that helped them identify enemy aircraft and submarines and told them how to operate the new ship board weapons to destroy them. An abundance of familiar slogans exhorted the population to do the utmost: 'Go To IT!', 'Come Into The Factories', 'Keep Calm and Carry On', 'Dig For Victory', 'Lend A Hand on the Land', 'Walk When You Can'.

Other messages warned of the consequences of irresponsible behaviour: 'Careless Talk Cost Lives', 'Loose Lips Sink Ships', 'Keep It Under Your Hat' and 'Be Like Dad, Keep Mum', the latter illustrating just how much social mores have, thankfully, changed in the last 75 years. This book is concerned with the plethora of printed ephemera that was designed to educate, instruct, inform and entertain. Such original material can still be bought and is easy to store - the posters also often making attractive items for display - but as with all other authentic historical material supply is finite and examples of wartime publications in first class condition command a high price. (hide)

'History clings tight but it also kicks loose,' writes Simon Schama at the outset of this, the first book in his three-volume journey (read more)

'History clings tight but it also kicks loose,' writes Simon Schama at the outset of this, the first book in his three-volume journey into Britain's past. 'Disruption as much as persistence is its proper subject. So although the great theme of British history seen from the twentieth century is endurance, its counter-point, seen from the twenty-first, must be alteration.' Change - sometimes gentle and subtle, sometimes shocking and violent - is the dynamic of Schama's unapologetically personal and grippingly written history, especially the changes that wash over custom and habit, transforming our loyalties. (hide)

In this introductory guide, Knud Jespersen traces the process of disintegration and reduction that helped to form the modern Danish (read more)

In this introductory guide, Knud Jespersen traces the process of disintegration and reduction that helped to form the modern Danish state, and the historical roots of Denmark's international position. Beginning with the Reformation in the sixteenth century, Jespersen explains how the Denmark of today was shaped by wars, territorial losses, domestic upheavals, new methods of production, and changes in thought. Focusing on the interplay between history, politics and economics, this illuminating text offers an insider's view of Danish identity formation over the last centuries.

Published:24 Jul 2018 (hide)

'By seeing London, I have seen as much of life as the world can show.' - Samuel Johnson It is the people who make London what it (read more)

'By seeing London, I have seen as much of life as the world can show.' - Samuel Johnson It is the people who make London what it is. The men and women living within its walls, with all their successes and failures, their loves and lies, their dramas and indulgences. Taking us from the sixteenth century to the present day, London author David Long introduces us to fifty of the most eccentric, revolutionary, bloodthirsty and memorable characters to have walked London's streets.

Many are familiar names, but others remain largely unknown. From a house lived in by both Handel and Hendrix to Queen Victoria's rat catcher, an emperor in exile and real-life tales of derring-do, A History of London in 50 Lives is a unique take on the English capital and on some of the more remarkable characters who have called it home. (hide)

In a radical reappraisal of Iran's modern history, Ervand Abrahamian traces the country's traumatic journey from the mid-nineteenth (read more)

In a radical reappraisal of Iran's modern history, Ervand Abrahamian traces the country's traumatic journey from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day, through the discovery of oil, imperial interventions, the rule of the Pahlavis, and the birth of the Islamic Republic. The first edition was named the Choice Outstanding Academic Title in 2009. This second edition brings the narrative up to date, with the Green uprisings of 2009, the second Ahmadinejad administration, the election of Rouhani, and the Iran nuclear deal.

Ervand Abrahamian, who is one of the most distinguished historians writing on Iran today, is a compassionate expositor, and at the heart of the book is the people of Iran, who have endured and survived a century of war and revolution.

Published:31 Oct 2018
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The ebook age has taken 'the book' to a turning point. But in fact, casting off old technologies and taking on new ones has been (read more)

The ebook age has taken 'the book' to a turning point. But in fact, casting off old technologies and taking on new ones has been part of the history of the book since Egyptian times. At this crucial time for the future of books as we know them today, this volume tells the story of the book from the very beginning: From inscriptions on tombs to the first writings on papyrus; how scrolls gave way to the first bound 'codex' books in Roman times; from exclusive and expensive hand-scribed books, to the creation of movable type, and the invention of printing for the masses; and from the printed book to the digital book, the ebook reader...and beyond.

Illustrating this story with lavish photography of some of the most treasured artefacts from the world's historic collections, A History of the Book in 100 Books traces mankind's very long quest to communicate ideas and knowledge. (hide)

This succinct account of the United States' history gives a clear, introductory overview of the nation from European settlement in (read more)

This succinct account of the United States' history gives a clear, introductory overview of the nation from European settlement in 1492 through colonial times, the Revolution, Western expansion, slavery, the Civil War and the wars of the 20th century. The study of each era incorporates social, cultural, economic, religious and political history, giving an insight into the many facets of American life. Fully revised throughout, this new edition features fresh material on technological change, sport, and themes of prosperity, consumerism and leisure.

The chapter on contemporary America has been thoroughly updated to include current issues, such as Black Lives Matter, the legalisation of gay marriage and the 2016 Presidential Election. Essential reading for anyone wishing to understand the evolution of this remarkable nation, A History of the United States provides a foundation for the study of American society from its inception right up to the present day.

Published:18 Jun 2017
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Nature, money, work, care, food, energy, and lives: these are the seven things that have made our world and will shape its future. (read more)

Nature, money, work, care, food, energy, and lives: these are the seven things that have made our world and will shape its future. In making these things cheap, modern commerce has transformed, governed, and devastated Earth. In A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things, Raj Patel and Jason W.Moore present a new approach to analyzing today's planetary emergencies. Bringing the latest ecological research together with histories of colonialism, indigenous struggles, slave revolts, and other rebellions and uprisings, Patel and Moore demonstrate that throughout history, crises have always prompted fresh strategies to make the world cheap and safe for capitalism.

Published:12 Sep 2018 (hide)