This second volume of Sapiens: A Graphic History, the full-color graphic adaptation of Yuval Noah Harari’s #1 New York Times bestseller, focuses on the Agricultural Revolution—when humans fell into a trap we’ve yet to escape: working harder and harder with diminishing returns. What if humanity’s major woes—war,...

The international bestselling author returns with an exploration of one of the grandest obsessions of the twentieth century'The Bomber Mafia is a case study in how dreams go awry. When some shiny new idea drops from the heavens, it does not land softly in...

The Roman Empire was a remarkable achievement. It had a population of sixty million people spread across lands encircling the Mediterranean and stretching from drizzle-soaked northern England to the sun-baked banks of the Euphrates in Syria, and from the Rhine to the North African...

This brief history of America will span the earliest migrations to the present, reflecting Paul S. Boyer's interests in social, intellectual, and cultural history, including popular culture and religion. It will reflect his personal view of American history, in which a sense of paradox...

The massive disorder and economic ruin following the Second World War inevitably predetermined the scope and intensity of the Cold War. But why did it last so long? And what impact did it have on the United States, the Soviet Union, Europe, and the...

Against the backdrop of unprecedented concern for the future of health care, this Very Short Introduction surveys the history of medicine from classical times to the present. Focussing on the key turning points in the history of Western medicine, such as the advent of...

How did we get from the Big Bang to today's staggering complexity, in which seven billion humans are connected into networks powerful enough to transform the planet? And why, in comparison, are our closest primate relatives reduced to near-extinction? Big History creator David Christian...

In The Emperor of All Maladies, Siddhartha Mukherjee, doctor, researcher and award-winning science writer, examines cancer with a cellular biologist's precision, a historian's perspective, and a biographer's passion. The result is an astonishingly lucid and eloquent chronicle of a disease humans have lived with...

Historical background and architectural details for each of the castles are accompanied by a beautiful color photograph. Contains an introduction on England's castles—history, description of classification of building type with examples. Includes details on the property's custodianship, whether cared for by the National Trust or...

The phrase "silk road" evokes vivid scenes of merchants leading camel caravans across vast stretches to trade exotic goods in glittering Oriental bazaars, of pilgrims braving bandits and frozen mountain passes to spread their faith across Asia. Looking at the reality behind these images,...

The ancient Egyptians are an enduring source of fascination - mummies and pyramids, curses and rituals have captured the imagination of generations. We all have a mental picture of ancient Egypt, but is it the right one? How much do we really know about...

A handy guide to around 140 of Ireland’s most dramatic castles and strongholds, all of which are open to the public, with structures from across the whole island of Ireland. A handy 8-page map of all locations featured is included. Historical background and architectural...

Rafah, a town at the southernmost tip of the Gaza Strip, is a squalid place. Raw concrete buildings front rubbish-strewn alleys. The narrow streets are crowded with young children and unemployed men. Situated on the border with Egypt, swaths of Rafah have been reduced...

Otherworldly, provocative, and strange, Audrey Niffenegger’s art is a vital a part of her vision as her bestselling novels The Time Traveler’s Wife and Her Fearful Symmetry.  Awake in the Dream World is a mid-career retrospective of Nifffenegger’s work, reflecting her talent for cultivating a captivating narrative exclusively...

A prominent Viennese psychiatrist before the war, Viktor Frankl was uniquely able to observe the way that he and other inmates coped with the experience of being in Auschwitz. He noticed that it was the men who comforted others and who gave away their...

'This is a funny, pointed love letter to Texas, at once elegiac and clear-eyed' Ben Macintyre, The Times From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Looming Tower, God Save Texas is a journey through the most controversial state in America. Texas is a Republican...

WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZEONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW'S 10 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEARA NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERA NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FINALISTA major book about the future of the world, blending intellectual and natural history and field reporting into a powerful...

The maverick philosopher returns to explore today's ideological, political and economic battles, and asks whether radical change is possible. In these troubled times, even the most pessimistic diagnosis of our future ends with an uplifting hint that things might not be as bad as...

Why must we believe that God is dead? Can we accept that traditional morality is just a 'useful mistake'? Did the principle of 'the will to power' lead to the Holocaust? What are the limitations of scientific knowledge? Is human evolution complete or only...

The definitive biography of King Charles III. '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,...

'A writer of genius' - William DalrympleCan anyone really own a culture? This magnificent account argues that the story of global civilisations is one of mixing, sharing, and borrowing.It shows how art forms have crisscrossed continents over centuries to produce masterpieces. From Nefertiti's lost...

*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 Times_______________From the international bestselling author of The Silk Roads comes a major history of how a changing climate has dramatically...

'Spellbinding ... a pitch-perfect treasure' LoveReading4KidsSet your sails east with this stunningly original new history of the world.Peter Frankopan, number one bestselling author and historian, explores the connections made by people, trade, disease, war, religion, adventure, science and technology in this extraordinary book about how...

Is white privilege real? Does American history begin in 1619 or 1776? Why has left-wing antisemitism grown? How racist is the working class? Who benefits most, when anti-racists speak in racial terms?These very different questions have all emerged from today's heated debates around race,...

You should go to a street corner and get down on your knees and tell the whole world: "I have sinned."Raskolnikov is a poor student living in St Petersburg. Desperate to escape his poverty, he murders his pawnbroker and her sister, and flees with...

The classic personal account of Watson and Crick’s groundbreaking discovery of the structure of DNA, now with an introduction by Sylvia Nasar, author of A Beautiful Mind.By identifying the structure of DNA, the molecule of life, Francis Crick and James Watson revolutionized biochemistry and won...

This richly illustrated Tiny Folio™ volume surveys British painting, watercolors, and sculpture from the sixteenth century to the present.With masters such as William Blake, William Hogarth, George Stubbs, Thomas Gainsborough, Joseph Mallord William Turner, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, James McNeill Whistler, John Singer Sargent, Henry...

The people of Central Europe cannot be separated from European history; they cannot exist outside it; but they represent the wrong side of this history; they are its victims and outsiders.'In a moment of historic threat and uncertainty in mainland Europe, this collection, makes...

The contribution of the Ancient Greeks to modern western culture is incalculable. In the worlds of art, architecture, myth, literature, and philosophy, the world we live in would be unrecognizably different without the formative influence of Ancient Greek models.Ancient Greek civilization was defined by...

What is the philosophy of religion? How can we distinguish it from theology on the one hand and the psychology/sociology of religious belief on the other? What does it mean to describe God as "eternal"? And should religious people want there to be good...

'This is a miracle of a book' George Lamming'Compelling. Stuart Hall's story is the story of an age' Owen Jones 'Sometimes I feel I was the last colonial'This is the story, in his own words, of the extraordinary life of Stuart Hall: writer, thinker...

Europe is facing its greatest refugee crisis since the Second World War, yet the institutions responding to it remain virtually unchanged from those created in the post-war era. Going beyond the scenes of desperation which have become all-too-familiar in the past few years, Alexander...

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948) was one of the few men in history to fight simultaneously on moral, religious, political, social, economic, and cultural fronts. During his time as a lawyer in South Africa he developed his strategy of non-violence: the idea of opposing unjust...

This concise, accessible introduction provides an analytical narrative of the main events and developments in Soviet Russia between 1917 and 1936. It examines the impact of the revolution on society as a whole--on different classes, ethnic groups, the army, men and women, youth. Its...

We are all classicists--we come into touch with the classics on a daily basis: in our culture, politics, medicine, architecture, language, and literature. What are the true roots of these influences, however, and how do our interpretations of these aspects of the classics differ from their...

Immanuel Kant is arguably the most influential modern philosopher, but is also one of the most difficult. In this illuminating Very Short Introduction, Roger Scruton--a well-known and controversial philosopher in his own right--tackles his exceptionally complex subject with a strong hand, exploring the background...

Very Short Introductions:Brilliant, Sharp, InspiringThe Cold War dominated international life from the end of World War II to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. But how did the conflict begin? Why did it move from its initial origins in Postwar Europe to...

The life of William Shakespeare, Britain's greatest dramatist, was inextricably linked with the history of London. Together, the great writer and the great city came of age and confronted triumph and tragedy. Triumph came when Shakespeare's company, the Chamberlain's Men, opened the Globe playhouse...

A reissue of the beautifully illustrated and authoritative biography of Frida Kahlo, publishing in time for a major London exhibition Frida is the story of one of the twentieth century's most extraordinary women, the painter Frida Kahlo. Born near Mexico City, she grew up...

This is a story studded with extraordinary achievements and historic moments, from the building of the pyramids and the conquest of Nubia, through Akhenaten's religious revolution, the power and beauty of Nefertiti, the glory of Tutankhamun's burial chamber, and the ruthlessness of Ramesses, to...

Finalist for the Cundill History PrizeONE OF PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEARNAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY The Wall Street Journal and NPR“Superb … A vivid and richly detailed story … worth reading by everyone.” -The New York Times Book ReviewFrom the bestselling author...

On 1 August, 1990, British Airways Flight 149 departed from Heathrow airport, destined for Kuala Lumpur. It never made it there, and neither did its nearly 400 passengers. Instead, Flight 149 stopped to refuel in Kuwait, as Iraqi troops amassed on the border -...

The first global history of comics around the world from the late 1960s to the present day Comics, manga, bandes dessinées, fumetti, tebeo, historietas… no matter the name, they have been a powerful medium across four continents for decades. This is the history of...

From the bestselling author of SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome, the fascinating story of how images of Roman autocrats have influenced art, culture, and the representation of power for more than 2,000 yearsWhat does the face of power look like? Who gets commemorated in art and...

A concise, accessible introduction to Paul Cézanne's portraitureThis beautifully illustrated book features twenty-four masterpieces in portraiture by celebrated French artist Paul Cézanne (1839–1906), offering an excellent introduction to this important aspect of his work.Arranged chronologically and spanning five decades, featured portraits range from the...

A thought-provoking history of papyrus paper—from its origins in Egypt to its spread throughout the world—revealing how it helped usher in a new era of human history.Throughout our entire history, humans have always searched for new ways to share information. This innate compulsion led...

When Tony Viramontes' work appeared in the late 1970s, his hard and direct style of drawing was a marked contrast to the prevailing soft-pastel school of fashion illustration. He scored immediate success, rapidly acquiring the kind of prestigious editorial commissions normally given to photographers,...