History & Classics
It's a Don's Life
Mary Beard
Britain's best known classicist speaks her mind on the ancient, and modern, worlds. A wide-ranging selection from her 'best hit' blog.
Pompeii
Mary Beard
'Much of what you think you know about Pompeii may turn out, on reading this eye-opening book, to be wrong. The town was not full of brothels (Be…
Vermeer's Hat
Timothy Brook
As a record-breaking, rapturously reviewed exhibition at the Rijksmuseum gathers together more paintings by Vermeer than have ever been shown in the s…
The Templars
Michael Haag
The definitive guide to Templars' history, legends and mysteries – and the belief that their hand can be seen in everything from the Cathar heres…
Stonehenge
Rosemary Hill
Stonehenge is the most famous prehistoric monument in Europe and is visited by hundreds of thousands of people every year. 'Impressively research…
The Forbidden City
Geremie Barme
At the heart of Beijing lies the great walled compound of the Forbidden City, whose changing fortunes have run parallel with China's dramatic his…
Cleopatra
Joyce Tyldesley
The Romans regarded her as 'fatale monstrum', a tyrant to be crushed. Pascal said the shape of her nose changed the history of the world. Sh…
Shopping, Seduction & Mr Selfridge
Lindy Woodhead
The men who created the first department stores – what Zola called 'great cathedrals of shopping' – made vast fortunes, but no one understoo…
Nella Last's Peace
Patricia Malcolmson
Picking up where bestseller Nella Last's War left off, this fascinating and unique diary of 1945-48 delves into the private life of housewife, mo…
The Rosetta Stone
John Ray
The Rosetta Stone has been in the British Museum for 200 years and is the single most visited object in the entire collection. A pharaoh's forgot…
Our Longest Days: A people's history of the Second World War
Sandra Koa Wing
A powerful, detailed and warming story of the Second World War – told through the previously unheard voices of those (such as Nella Last) who describe…
Nella Last's War
Richard Broad
A classic of wartime literature…highly engaging, very moving. All Home Front life is here, especially the kitchen sink
Medici Money
Tim Parks
Tim Parks proves a delightful guide to both the Florentine Renaissance and the family history of one of Europe's greatest dynasties. In Medici Mo…
The Transformation Of Ireland 1900-2000
Diarmaid Ferriter
This is a landmark book, full of insight and intelligent judgement and sheer diligent research, which deals with the complexity of the Irish revolutio…
The Alhambra
Robert Irwin
This highly readable study provides both a welcome demystification and a fascinating reinterpretation
The Universe, The Gods And Mortals
Jean-Pierre Vernant
Storytelling at its best … A rich treasury for all readers
Vigor Mortis
Kate Berridge
From Diana to Damien Hirst, this is a provocative account of how and why we have tamed the thing we most fear. The end of the death taboo is arguably…
The Perfect Heresy
Stephen O'Shea
Eight hundred years ago, the Cathars, a group of heretical Christians from all walks of society, high and low, flourished in what is now the Languedoc…
Caen
Alexander McKee
Eyewitness accounts and skilfully woven reconstructions of the Battle of Caen, one of the darkest struggles of World War Two.