iBookstore Top World History Ebooks

Chart of the most popular and best selling world history ebooks at the Apple iBookstore.

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History Ebook Best Sellers

Top World History Ebooks

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1968 - Mark Kurlansky Cover Art

1968

1968 The Year That Rocked the World by Mark Kurlansky

In this monumental new book, award-winning author Mark Kurlansky has written his most ambitious work to date: a singular and ultimately definitive look at a pivotal moment in history. With 1968 , Mark Kurlansky brings to teeming life the cultural and political history of that world-changing year of social upheaval. People think of it as the year of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Yet it was also the year of the Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy assassinations; the riots at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago; Prague Spring; the antiwar movement and the Tet Offensive; Black Power; the generation gap, avant-garde theater, the birth of the women’s movement, and the beginning of the end for the Soviet Union. From New York, Miami, Berkeley, and Chicago to Paris, Prague, Rome, Berlin, Warsaw, Tokyo, and Mexico City, spontaneous uprisings occurred simultaneously around the globe. Everything was disrupted. In the Middle East, Yasir Arafat’s guerilla organization rose to prominence . . . both the Cannes Film Festival and the Venice Biennale were forced to shut down by protesters . . . the Kentucky Derby winner was stripped of the crown for drug use . . . the Olympics were a disaster, with the Mexican government having massacred hundreds of students protesting police brutality there . . . and the Miss America pageant was stormed by feminists carrying banners that introduced to the television-watching public the phrase “women’s liberation.” Kurlansky shows how the coming of live television made 1968 the first global year. It was the year that an amazed world watched the first live telecast from outer space, and that TV news expanded to half an hour. For the first time, Americans watched that day’s battle–the Vietnam War’s Tet Offensive–on the evening news. Television also shocked the world with seventeen minutes of police clubbing demonstrators at the Chicago convention, live film of unarmed students facing Soviet tanks in Czechoslovakia, and a war of starvation in Biafra. The impact was huge, not only on the antiwar movement, but also on the medium itself. The fact that one now needed television to make things happen was a cultural revelation with enormous consequences. Thoroughly researched and engagingly written–full of telling anecdotes, penetrating analysis, and the author’s trademark incisive wit– 1968 is the most important book yet of Kurlansky’s noteworthy career.

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The Lost Empire of Emanuel Nobel - Douglas Brunt Cover Art

The Lost Empire of Emanuel Nobel

The Lost Empire of Emanuel Nobel Romanovs, Revolutionaries, and the Forgotten Titan Who Fueled the World by Douglas Brunt

Instant New York Times Bestseller! Why did one of the world’s most successful business titans, an oil magnate who rivaled the Rockefellers and the Rothschilds, disappear from history? The author of the acclaimed bestseller The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel has the enthralling answer. With the exception of the tsar, Emanuel Nobel was likely the wealthiest man in early 20th-century Russia, and one of the wealthiest in the world. Over three generations, he and his family grew the Russian petroleum industry into a behemoth that surpassed even John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil. The Nobels imported the best practices from America and improved on them, transforming every aspect of the industry. Though Emanuel’s uncle Alfred would become world famous thanks to his creation of the Nobel Prize, the even more successful Nobels in Russia have been largely forgotten. The reason why is one of history’s most gripping untold stories. Working in the oil fields of southern Russia at the same time as Emanuel was a troubled young man from a peasant family in Georgia. Though educated to be a priest, he took a different path when he discovered the revolutionary ideas of Karl Marx. In and out of prison in Siberia, charismatic and committed, always at the center of a fight, this young man would become known to the world as Joseph Stalin, a leader of the Bolshevik Revolution and eventually one of the most brutal dictators in history. Directly in Stalin’s crosshairs was Emanuel Nobel, who represented everything Stalin despised about capitalism. As the world turned upside down, Emanuel began to plan a life-or-death escape from Russia. But would he make it out in time? And what would be the fate of the immense empire he and his family had built? Sweeping across more than a hundred years of history, from the dawn of the Victorian Age to World War I to the Russian Revolution and beyond, this captivating book chronicles one of the most influential men in history, a man whose name has been stricken from memory, and returns him thrillingly to life.

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A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson Cover Art

A Short History of Nearly Everything

A Short History of Nearly Everything 2.0 by Bill Bryson

THE #1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER, UPDATED FOR 2025 • A wonder-filled quest to understand everything that has happened in the history of the Earth, from the Big Bang theory to the rise of civilization and beyond—revised to reflect the last two decades of scientific advancement “Brims with strange and amazing facts . . . destined to become a modern classic of science writing.”— The New York Times How did we get from being nothing at all to where we are today? How did the age of the dinosaurs eventually give way to the age of the iPhone? In this completely revised update to the international phenomenon A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson returns to answer these questions and many more. Bryson brings a groundbreaking account of life itself to a new generation of readers, as he takes subjects often passed off as boring and incomprehensible and renders them accessible, fascinating, and outright amusing to anyone who’s ever wondered about the world around them. Introducing readers to a diverse cast of the world’s most impressive archaeologists, paleontologists, physicists, astronomers, anthropologists, and mathematicians—from their offices and laboratories to dig sites and field camps—Bryson embarks on a journey to discover answers to the biggest questions about the universe and ourselves. A Short History of Nearly Everything is a profoundly enlightening, surprisingly humorous, and charmingly clever adventure into the realm of human knowledge, as only Bryson can render it. His revamped Short History is a thrilling journey through time and space, and his writing will make readers both new and old see the world in a whole new way.

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The Penguin History of the World - J M Roberts & Odd Arne Westad Cover Art

The Penguin History of the World

The Penguin History of the World 6th edition by J M Roberts & Odd Arne Westad

This is a completely new and updated edition of J. M. Roberts and Odd Arne Westad's widely acclaimed, landmark bestseller The Penguin History of the World . For generations of readers The Penguin History of the World has been one of the great cultural experiences - the entire story of human endeavour laid out in all its grandeur and folly, drama and pain in a single authoritative book. Now, for the first time, it has been completely overhauled for its 6th edition - not just bringing it up to date, but revising it throughout in the light of new research and discoveries, such as the revolution in our understanding of many civilizations in the Ancient World. The closing sections of the book reflect what now seems to be the inexorable rise of Asia and the increasingly troubled situation in the West. About the authors: J.M. Roberts , CBE, published The Penguin History of the World in 1976 to immediate acclaim. His other major books include The Paris Commune from the Right , The Triumph of the West (which was also a successful television series), The Penguin History of Europe and The Penguin History of the Twentieth Century . He died in 2003. Odd Arne Westad , FBA, is Professor of International History at the London School of Economics. He has published fifteen books on modern and contemporary international history, among them The Global Cold War , which won the Bancroft Prize, and Decisive Encounters , a standard history of the Chinese civil war. He also served as general co-editor of the Cambridge History of the Cold War . Reviews 'A work of outstanding breadth of scholarship and penetrating judgements. There is nothing better of its kind' Jonathan Sumption, Sunday Telegraph 'A stupendous achievement' A.J.P. Taylor 'A brilliant book ... the most outstanding history of the world yet written' J.H. Plumb

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A World Undone - G. J. Meyer Cover Art

A World Undone

A World Undone by G. J. Meyer

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Drawing on exhaustive research, this “masterful narrative history” ( Booklist ) details how World War I reduced Europe’s mightiest empires to rubble, killed twenty million people, and cracked the foundations of our modern world. “Thundering, magnificent . . . [ A World Undone ] is a book of true greatness that prompts moments of sheer joy and pleasure. . . . It will earn generations of admirers.” —The Washington Times On a summer day in 1914, a nineteen-year-old Serbian nationalist gunned down Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo. While the world slumbered, monumental forces were shaken. In less than a month, a combination of ambition, deceit, fear, jealousy, missed opportunities, and miscalculation sent Austro-Hungarian troops marching into Serbia, German troops streaming toward Paris, and a vast Russian army into war, with England as its ally. As crowds cheered their armies on, no one could guess what lay ahead in the First World War: four long years of slaughter, physical and moral exhaustion, and the near collapse of a civilization that until 1914 had dominated the globe. Filled with stunning insight and unforgettable scenes of courage, tragedy, and outrage, A World Undone is an extraordinary portrait of human folly and bravery on the grandest scale. G. J. Meyer breathes life into the past, challenging conventional wisdom as he reexamines some of the greatest misconceptions about the war—and offers a vision of history as we have never seen it before.

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The Day the World Came to Town - Jim Defede Cover Art

The Day the World Came to Town

The Day the World Came to Town 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland by Jim Defede

The True Story Behind the Events on 9/11 that Inspired Broadway’s Smash Hit Musical Come from Away, Featuring All New Material from the Author When 38 jetliners bound for the United States were forced to land at Gander International Airport in Canada by the closing of U.S. airspace on September 11, the population of this small town on Newfoundland Island swelled from 10,300 to nearly 17,000. The citizens of Gander met the stranded passengers with an overwhelming display of friendship and goodwill. As the passengers stepped from the airplanes, exhausted, hungry and distraught after being held on board for nearly 24 hours while security checked all of the baggage, they were greeted with a feast prepared by the townspeople. Local bus drivers who had been on strike came off the picket lines to transport the passengers to the various shelters set up in local schools and churches. Linens and toiletries were bought and donated. A middle school provided showers, as well as access to computers, email, and televisions, allowing the passengers to stay in touch with family and follow the news. Over the course of those four days, many of the passengers developed friendships with Gander residents that they expect to last a lifetime. As a show of thanks, scholarship funds for the children of Gander have been formed and donations have been made to provide new computers for the schools. This book recounts the inspiring story of the residents of Gander, Canada, whose acts of kindness after the 9/11 attacks have touched the lives of thousands of people and been an example of humanity and goodwill. This unforgettable story of compassion and community details: The Real Come from Away Story: Discover the incredible true events behind the hit Broadway musical—a story of how a small town of 10,000 people welcomed nearly 7,000 stranded passengers into their lives. Overwhelming Kindness: How striking bus drivers abandoned their picket lines, townspeople cooked feasts around the clock, and neighbors stripped their own linen closets to provide comfort for thousands of strangers. Stranded Passengers: Follow the stories of the travelers—from mayors and corporate CEOs to a state trooper and a worried mother—who found unexpected safety and friendship in the middle of nowhere. Lasting Friendships: Learn how the bonds formed during those four days led to lifelong connections, international scholarship funds, and a powerful, enduring example of goodwill in the face of terror.

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A History of the World in 6 Glasses - Tom Standage Cover Art

A History of the World in 6 Glasses

A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage

New York Times Bestseller * The inspiration for the TV series starring Dan Aykroyd "There aren't many books this entertaining that also provide a cogent crash course in ancient, classical and modern history." -Los Angeles Times Beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and Coca-Cola: In Tom Standage's deft, innovative account of world history, these six beverages turn out to be much more than just ways to quench thirst. They also represent six eras that span the course of civilization-from the adoption of agriculture, to the birth of cities, to the advent of globalization. A History of the World in 6 Glasses tells the story of humanity from the Stone Age to the twenty-first century through each epoch's signature refreshment. As Standage persuasively argues, each drink is in fact a kind of technology, advancing culture and catalyzing the intricate interplay of different societies. After reading this enlightening book, you may never look at your favorite drink in quite the same way again.

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The Storm of War - Andrew Roberts Cover Art

The Storm of War

The Storm of War A New History of the Second World War by Andrew Roberts

“Gripping. . . . splendid history. A brilliantly clear and accessible account of the war in all its theaters. Roberts’s prose is unerringly precise and strikingly vivid. It is hard to imagine a better-told military history of World War II.” –New York Times Book Review Andrew Roberts's acclaimed new history has been hailed as the finest single-volume account of this epic conflict. From the western front to North Africa, from the Baltic to the Far East, he tells the story of the war—the grand strategy and the individual experience, the brutality and the heroism—as never before. Meticulously researched and masterfully written, The Storm of War illuminates the war's principal actors, revealing how their decisions shaped the course of the conflict. Along the way, Roberts presents tales of the many lesser-known individuals whose experiences form a panoply of the courage and self-sacrifice, as well as the depravity and cruelty, of the Second World War.

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Sapiens - Yuval Noah Harari Cover Art

Sapiens

Sapiens Uma breve história da humanidade by Yuval Noah Harari

Na nova edição do livro que conquistou milhões de leitores ao redor do mundo, Yuval Noah Harari questiona tudo o que sabemos sobre a trajetória humana no planeta ao explorar quem somos, como chegamos até aqui e por quais caminhos ainda poderemos seguir. O planeta Terra tem cerca de 4,5 bilhões de anos. Numa fração ínfima desse tempo, uma espécie entre incontáveis outras o dominou: nós, humanos. Somos os animais mais evoluídos e mais destrutivos que jamais viveram. Sapiens é a obra-prima de Yuval Noah Harari e o consagrou como um dos pensadores mais brilhantes da atualidade. Num feito surpreendente, que já fez deste livro um clássico contemporâneo, o historiador israelense aplica uma fascinante narrativa histórica a todas as instâncias do percurso humano sobre a Terra. Da Idade da Pedra ao Vale do Silício, temos aqui uma visão ampla e crítica da jornada em que deixamos de ser meros símios para nos tornarmos os governantes do mundo. Harari se vale de uma abordagem multidisciplinar que preenche as lacunas entre história, biologia, filosofia e economia, e, com uma perspectiva macro e micro, analisa não apenas os grandes acontecimentos, mas também as mudanças mais sutis notadas pelos indivíduos. "Interessante e provocador. Nos traz a sensação de quão breve é o tempo em que estamos nesta Terra." — Barack Obama "Recomendo Sapiens a qualquer pessoa que esteja interessada na história e no futuro de nossa espécie." — Bill Gates "Uma incrível investigação para compreender o passado, situar o presente e pensar para onde iremos. Num momento de crise civilizatória, a obra de Harari é um convite à reflexão." — Djamila Ribeiro "Sapiens não só trata das questões mais importantes da história de nossa espécie como é escrito numa linguagem vívida e inesquecível." — Jared Diamond "O livro de Yuval Noah Harari é muito bom. Fui surpreendido por pontos de vista que nunca tinha imaginado." — Leandro Karnal "O modo como Harari narra a história de nós, humanos, e enxerga nosso futuro é arrebatador." — Natalie Portman "Sapiens é uma exploração fascinante sobre como aquilo que nos torna humanos é muito mais do que uma biologia notável: é o mundo mental que construímos em conjunto." — Suzana Herculano-Houzel

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Worlds of Islam - James McDougall Cover Art

Worlds of Islam

Worlds of Islam A Global History by James McDougall

A sweeping global history of Islam, tracing the 1,400-year evolution of a diverse community of faith and its place in the modern world “Anyone who wants to understand not just the past of Islam but its present and future should read  Worlds of Islam .”—Reza Aslan, author of No god but God From its birth in seventh-century Arabia, Islam has been a faith on the move. Over the span of a thousand years, armies, missionaries, and merchants carried it to the edges of Europe, the coasts of Southeast Asia, and the remote interior of China. By the nineteenth century, Islam encompassed a world of great diversity, from Muslim-ruled empires to new nations where Muslims lived out their faith among many others. As empires fell and new superpowers rose, Muslims proved to be as adaptable and dynamic as modernity itself. In Worlds of Islam , historian James McDougall explores Islam’s origins and transformations as Muslims adapted to changing times and conditions, from Late Antiquity to the digital age. In the twentieth century, while monarchs in the Gulf asserted dynastic privilege and fundamentalists in Egypt and Pakistan preached social morality, revolutionaries from Algeria to Indonesia fought for national self-determination, and activists in North America and Europe campaigned for civil liberties and social justice. Sweeping and authoritative, Worlds of Islam narrates the epic story of how Muslims emerged as a community, built empires, traversed the globe, came to number in the billions, and became modern.

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The Savage Wars Of Peace - Max Boot Cover Art

The Savage Wars Of Peace

The Savage Wars Of Peace Small Wars And The Rise Of American Power by Max Boot

"Anyone who wants to understand why America has permanently entered a new era in international relations must read [this book] . . . Vividly written and thoroughly researched." -- Los Angeles Times America's "small wars," "imperial war," or, as the Pentagon now terms them, "low-intensity conflicts," have played an essential but little-appreciated role in its growth as a world power. Beginning with Jefferson's expedition against the Barbary pirates, Max Boot tells the exciting stories of our sometimes minor but often bloody landings in Samoa, the Philippines, China, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Mexico, Russia, and elsewhere. Along the way he sketches colorful portraits of little-known military heroes such as Stephen Decatur, "Fighting Fred" Funston, and Smedly Butler. This revised and updated edition of Boot's compellingly readable history of the forgotten wars that helped promote America's rise in the lst two centuries includes a wealth of new material, including a chapter on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and a new afterword on the lessons of the post-9/11 world.

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Hell and Other Destinations - Madeleine Albright Cover Art

Hell and Other Destinations

Hell and Other Destinations A 21st-Century Memoir by Madeleine Albright

“Richly detailed. . . an intimate portrait of a diplomat.” —New Yorker From the seven-time New York Times bestselling author and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright—among history's most admired and tireless public servants—a revealing, funny, and inspiring reflection on the challenge of continuing one’s career far beyond the normal age of retirement In 2001, when Madeleine Albright was leaving office as America’s first female secretary of state, interviewers asked her how she wished to be remembered. “I don’t want to be remembered,” she answered. “I am still here and have much more I intend to do. As difficult as it might seem, I want every stage of my life to be more exciting than the last.” In that time of transition, the former Secretary considered the possibilities: she could write, teach, travel, give speeches, start a business, fight for democracy, help to empower women, campaign for favored political candidates, spend more time with her grandchildren. Instead of choosing one or two, she decided to do it all. For nearly twenty years, Albright was in constant motion, navigating half a dozen professions, clashing with presidents and prime ministers, learning every day. After leaving the State Department, she blazed her own trail—and gave voice to millions who yearned for respect, regardless of gender, background, or age. Hell and Other Destinations reveals this remarkable figure at her bluntest, funniest, most intimate, and most serious. It is the tale of our times anchored in lessons for all time, narrated by an extraordinary woman who had a matchless zest for life. This unforgettable memoir about life’s third act offers timeless lessons on leadership, resilience, and public service: An American Stateswoman’s Story: Go behind the scenes with America’s first female Secretary of State as she navigates a new chapter, clashing with presidents and prime ministers long after leaving office. Life Beyond Retirement: Discover how Albright redefined her career after 60, proving her own words that "every stage of my life [should] be more exciting than the last." A Champion for Women’s Empowerment: A powerful narrative of blazing a new trail and giving voice to millions of women who yearned for respect, regardless of gender, background, or age. Timeless Lessons on Leadership: From starting a business to teaching and fighting for democracy, Albright shares candid, funny, and inspiring reflections on a life of tireless public service.

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Coolie Traffic and Kidnapping. - Don Aldus Cover Art

Coolie Traffic and Kidnapping.

Coolie Traffic and Kidnapping. by Don Aldus

The GENERAL HISTORICAL collection includes books from the British Library digitised by Microsoft. This varied collection includes material that gives readers a 19th century view of the world. Topics include health, education, economics, agriculture, environment, technology, culture, politics, labour and industry, mining, penal policy, and social order.

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The Lessons of History - Will Durant Cover Art

The Lessons of History

The Lessons of History by Will Durant

A concise survey of the culture and civilization of mankind, The Lessons of History is the result of a lifetime of research from Pulitzer Prize–winning historians Will and Ariel Durant. With their accessible compendium of philosophy and social progress, the Durants take us on a journey through history, exploring the possibilities and limitations of humanity over time. Juxtaposing the great lives, ideas, and accomplishments with cycles of war and conquest, the Durants reveal the towering themes of history and give meaning to our own.

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Data Empire - Roopika Risam Cover Art

Data Empire

Data Empire The Power of Information to Organize, Control, and Dominate by Roopika Risam

BARACK OBAMA’S 2026 SUMMER READING PICK An NPR, New Scientist, Nautilus, and Next Big Idea Club Best Book of the Month “Here is the new history of mankind demanded by our times.” —Jaron Lanier, author of Who Owns the Future? “A must-read.”—NPR, “15 Books Our Critics Can’t Wait to Read This Summer” “Essential reading for understanding the opportunities and dangers of the technological revolution now transforming our world.” —Jonathan Kennedy, author of Pathogenesis From clay tablets to the algorithmic state, a groundbreaking new lens on human history arguing that information has always been the seed of power, for readers of Nexus and The Age of Surveillance Capitalism. Long before writing existed, at the dawn of civilization in Mesopotamia, rulers pressed marks into clay to keep track of land, people and grain. To rule, they had to keep count. It is no accident, then, that the first written name in human history was neither a god nor a king, but an accountant. As ships and navigation expanded our horizons, a new age of European empires took control of more than 80 percent of the world’s surface using censuses, maps and ledgers to decide who belonged, who owed, and who could be sacrificed. Today, we live in the third great era, when trading our information for access can feel harmless or inevitable – yet from targeted advertising to border policing and mass surveillance, data shapes the course of our lives. With our earliest tools like ancient cave markings and knotted strings, to colonial record-keeping and the algorithmic state, Data Empire reveals how data has always been the seed of power: a technology of control that has shaped civilizations and upheld empires. Empire was never just about weapons or ships. It was built on collecting information on us, to rule us. Both a sweeping history and a sharp critique, Data Empire is a call to recognize the power data holds—and to imagine what resistance looks like in an age defined by it. In looking at the history of data, readers will understand: Data made civilization possible: Long before algorithms and AI, systems of counting, recording, and organizing information enabled everything from agriculture to taxation. The infrastructures of data are as old as cities themselves, and they are the precondition for large-scale human coordination. Every system of data is also a system of power: From clay tablets in Mesopotamia to colonial censuses to modern databases, data determines who is visible, who is legible, and who can be governed. The modern data state was built in moments of crisis: In the twentieth century, governments became vast information-processing systems. What we now think of as "data” was created in response to economic collapse and geopolitical conflict. The “data” we know now is built on much older inequalities: Today’s digital systems inherit the logics of earlier recordkeeping regimes, including those shaped by colonialism, racial classification, and forms of government that extract from land and from populations. The biases we see in algorithms are not new but continuations of a long history. We are living through a transformation in who controls data—and therefore power: For most of history, data infrastructures were largely state-driven. Today, they are increasingly owned and operated by private corporations, even as they structure public life. This shift raises urgent questions about accountability, sovereignty, and the future of public life.

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Over the Edge of the World - Laurence Bergreen Cover Art

Over the Edge of the World

Over the Edge of the World Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe by Laurence Bergreen

“A first-rate historical page turner.” — New York Times Book Review The acclaimed and bestselling account of Ferdinand Magellan’s historic 60,000-mile ocean voyage. Ferdinand Magellan's daring circumnavigation of the globe during the Age of Discovery was a three-year odyssey filled with sex, violence, and amazing adventure. Now in Over the Edge of the World Updated Edition , prize-winning biographer and journalist Laurence Bergreen entwines a variety of candid, firsthand accounts, bringing to life this groundbreaking and majestic tale of maritime history and discovery that changed both the way explorers would henceforth navigate the oceans and history itself. Now updated to include a new introduction commemorating the 500th anniversary of Magellan’s voyage. This riveting work of narrative history reveals: First Circumnavigation: The astonishing true story of the three-year, 60,000-mile odyssey that proved the world was round—a journey of mutiny, violence, and unbelievable hardship. A Gripping True Adventure: Discover the sex, storms, and starvation that plagued the 260 sailors who set out from Spain, and the dark secrets of the handful of gaunt survivors who returned. The Age of Sail: Drawn from candid, firsthand accounts, this majestic tale brings the sixteenth-century world of discovery to life, changing history and navigation forever. Historical Biography: A fascinating portrait of Ferdinand Magellan, the driven, visionary, and brutal captain who became a man without a country to complete his quest.

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The Ascent of Money - Niall Ferguson Cover Art

The Ascent of Money

The Ascent of Money A Financial History of the World: 10th Anniversary Edition by Niall Ferguson

The 10th anniversary edition, with new chapters on the crash, Chimerica, and cryptocurrency "[An] excellent, just in time guide to the history of finance and financial crisis."  — The Washington Post "Fascinating."  —Fareed Zakaria,  Newsweek In this updated edition, Niall Ferguson brings his classic financial history of the world up to the present day, tackling the populist backlash that followed the 2008 crisis, the descent of "Chimerica" into a trade war, and the advent of cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, with his signature clarity and expert lens.   The Ascent of Money reveals finance as the backbone of history, casting a new light on familiar events: the Renaissance enabled by Italian foreign exchange dealers, the French Revolution traced back to a stock market bubble, the 2008 crisis traced from America's bankruptcy capital, Memphis, to China's boomtown, Chongqing. We may resent the plutocrats of Wall Street but, as Ferguson argues, the evolution of finance has rivaled the importance of any technological innovation in the rise of civilization. Indeed, to study the ascent and descent of money is to study the rise and fall of Western power itself.

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The March of Folly - Barbara W. Tuchman Cover Art

The March of Folly

The March of Folly From Troy to Vietnam by Barbara W. Tuchman

Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Barbara W. Tuchman, author of the World War I masterpiece The Guns of August, grapples with her boldest subject: the pervasive presence, through the ages, of failure, mismanagement, and delusion in government.   Drawing on a comprehensive array of examples, from Montezuma’s senseless surrender of his empire in 1520 to Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, Barbara W. Tuchman defines folly as the pursuit by government of policies contrary to their own interests, despite the availability of feasible alternatives. In brilliant detail, Tuchman illuminates four decisive turning points in history that illustrate the very heights of folly: the Trojan War, the breakup of the Holy See provoked by the Renaissance popes, the loss of the American colonies by Britain’s George III, and the United States’ own persistent mistakes in Vietnam. Throughout The March of Folly, Tuchman’s incomparable talent for animating the people, places, and events of history is on spectacular display.   Praise for The March of Folly   “A glittering narrative . . . a moral [book] on the crimes and follies of governments and the misfortunes the governed suffer in consequence.” —The New York Times Book Review   “An admirable survey . . . I haven’t read a more relevant book in years.” —John Kenneth Galbraith, The Boston Sunday Globe   “A superb chronicle . . . a masterly examination.” —Chicago Sun-Times

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The Lost Cities of El Norte - Peter Stark Cover Art

The Lost Cities of El Norte

The Lost Cities of El Norte Coronado’s Quest, the Unconquered West, and the Birth of American Indian Resistance by Peter Stark

"Peter Stark is a uniquely gifted storyteller.” –DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN By the bestselling author of Astoria, a thrilling and masterfully crafted narrative of "one of history’s classic sagas of adventure and first contact" (Hampton Sides): Conquistador Francisco Coronado’s expedition across 2,500 miles of the vast, unconquered North American interior—“El Norte Misterioso." In 1540, the grandest exploring expedition ever assembled in the Americas paraded north from the ruins of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan, a glittering column of 2,000 men heading into the unknown. Their destination was El Norte Misterioso —The Mysterious North, present-day United States—where fabulous cities of gold were rumored to shine beyond the horizon. Two years later, survivors began stumbling back, half dead. Lost to poisoned arrows, brutal deserts, starvation, cold, desertion, and countless other hardships, 90% of those who left would never return. Led by Francisco Coronado and backed by the full weight of the Spanish empire, the superpower of its day, they had expected to seize the land, steal its riches, and subjugate its peoples, just as they had so recently done to the mighty Aztec and Inca empires. But instead they encountered the unconquered American West, populated by complex societies of indigenous nations, masters of a vast and unforgiving landscape who fiercely resisted this European “incursion” onto their lands. Coronado and his people traversed 2,500 miles of unmapped terrain, ranging across the present-day U.S. states of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, and finally Kansas. They were the first Europeans to gaze upon the Grand Canyon and the Rocky Mountains; made first contact with the Puebloan peoples; crossed the Sonoran Desert and the Great Plains, where they encountered endless herds of bison and the nomadic tribes who followed them. After leading the largest exploring cavalcade ever assembled in the New World, wearing his gilded armor and bobbing plume, Coronado retreated back to Mexico City two years later accompanied only by a hundred or so hangers-on and carried on a litter, a broken man. America’s Southwest and Plains would remain unconquered for the next 300 years. A Reading the West Bestseller! A Pacific Northwest Independent Bestseller!

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Escape From Davao - John D. Lukacs Cover Art

Escape From Davao

Escape From Davao The Forgotten Story of the Most Daring Prison Break of the Pacific War by John D. Lukacs

On April 4, 1943, ten American prisoners of war and two Filipino convicts executed a daring escape from one of Japan’s most notorious prison camps. The prisoners were survivors of the infamous Bataan Death March and the Fall of Corregidor, and the prison from which they escaped was surrounded by an impenetrable swamp and reputedly escape-proof. Theirs was the only successful group escape from a Japanese POW camp during the Pacific war. Escape from Davao is the story of one of the most remarkable incidents in the Second World War and of what happened when the Americans returned home to tell the world what they had witnessed.   Davao Penal Colony, on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, was a prison plantation where thousands of American POWs toiled alongside Filipino criminals and suffered from tropical diseases and malnutrition, as well as the cruelty of their captors. The American servicemen were rotting in a hellhole from which escape was considered impossible, but ten of them, realizing that inaction meant certain death, planned to escape. Their bold plan succeeded with the help of Filipino allies, both patriots and the guerrillas who fought the Japanese sent to recapture them. Their trek to freedom repeatedly put the Americans in jeopardy, yet they eventually succeeded in returning home to the United States to fulfill their self-appointed mission: to tell Americans about Japanese atrocities and to rally the country to the plight of their comrades still in captivity. But the government and the military had a different timetable for the liberation of the Philippines and ordered the men to remain silent. Their testimony, when it finally emerged, galvanized the nation behind the Pacific war effort and made the men celebrities.   Over the decades this remarkable story, called the “greatest story of the war in the Pacific” by the War Department in 1944, has faded away. Because of wartime censorship, the full story has never been told until now. John D. Lukacs spent years researching this heroic event, interviewing survivors, reading their letters, searching archival documents, and traveling to the decaying prison camp and its surroundings. His dramatic, gripping account of the escape brings this remarkable tale back to life, where a new generation can admire the resourcefulness and patriotism of the men who fought the Pacific war.

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The World - Simon Sebag Montefiore Cover Art

The World

The World A Family History of Humanity by Simon Sebag Montefiore

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A magisterial world history unlike any other that tells the story of humanity through the one thing we all have in common: families • From the author of The Romanovs A Best Book of the Year: The New Yorker, Smithsonian “ Succession meets Game of Thrones .” — The Spectator • “The author brings his cast of dynastic titans, rogues and psychopaths to life...An epic that both entertains and informs.” — The Economist, Best Books of the Year Around 950,000 years ago, a family of five walked along the beach and left behind the oldest family footprints ever discovered. For award-winning historian Simon Sebag Montefiore, these poignant, familiar fossils serve as an inspiration for a new kind of world history, one that is genuinely global, spans all eras and all continents, and focuses on the family ties that connect every one of us. In this epic, ever-surprising book, Montefiore chronicles the world’s great dynasties across human history through palace intrigues, love affairs, and family lives, linking grand themes of war, migration, plague, religion, and technology to the people at the heart of the human drama. It features a cast of extraordinary diversity: in addition to rulers and conquerors, there are priests, charlatans, artists, scientists, tycoons, gangsters, lovers, husbands, wives, and children. There is Hongwu, the beggar who founded the Ming dynasty; Ewuare, the Leopard-King of Benin; Henry Christophe, King of Haiti; Kamehameha, the conqueror of Hawaii; Zenobia, the Arab empress who defied Rome; Lady Murasaki, the first female novelist; Sayyida al-Hurra, the Moroccan pirate-queen. Here too are moderns such as Indira Gandhi, Margaret Thatcher, Barack Obama, Vladimir Putin, and Volodymyr Zelensky. Here are the Caesars, Medicis and Incas, Ottomans and Mughals, Bonapartes, Habsburgs and Zulus, Rothschilds, Rockefellers and Krupps, Churchills, Kennedys, Castros, Nehrus, Pahlavis and Kenyattas, Saudis, Kims and Assads. These powerful families represent the breadth of human endeavor, with bloody succession battles, treacherous conspiracies, and shocking megalomania alongside flourishing culture, moving romances, and enlightened benevolence. A dazzling achievement as spellbinding as fiction, The World captures the whole human story in a single, masterful narrative.

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The Age of Voltaire - Will Durant & Ariel Durant Cover Art

The Age of Voltaire

The Age of Voltaire The Story of Civilization, Volume IX by Will Durant & Ariel Durant

The Story of Civilization, Volume IX: A history of civilization in Western Europe from 1715 to 1756, with special emphasis on the conflict between religion and philosophy. This is the ninth volume of the classic, Pulitzer Prize-winning series.

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A Little History of the World - E. H. Gombrich & Clifford Harper Cover Art

A Little History of the World

A Little History of the World by E. H. Gombrich & Clifford Harper

The international bestseller: E. H. Gombrich’s sweeping history of the world, for the curious of all ages   “All stories begin with ‘Once upon a time.’ And that’s just what this story is all about: what happened, once upon a time.” So begins A Little History of the World , an engaging and lively book written for readers both young and old. Rather than focusing on dry facts and dates, E. H. Gombrich vividly brings the full span of human experience on Earth to life, from the stone age to the atomic age. He paints a colorful picture of wars and conquests; of grand works of art; of the advances and limitations of science; of remarkable people and remarkable events, from Confucius to Catherine the Great to Winston Churchill, and from the invention of art to the destruction of the Berlin Wall.   For adults seeking a single-volume overview of world history, for students in search of a quick refresher course, or for families to read and learn from together, Gombrich’s Little History enchants and educates.

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A Little History of the World - E. H. Gombrich Cover Art

A Little History of the World

A Little History of the World Illustrated Edition by E. H. Gombrich

E. H. Gombrich's Little History of the World , though written in 1935, has become one of the treasures of historical writing since its first publication in English in 2005. The Yale edition alone has now sold over half a million copies, and the book is available worldwide in almost thirty languages. Gombrich was of course the best-known art historian of his time, and his text suggests illustrations on every page. This illustrated edition of the Little History brings together the pellucid humanity of his narrative with the images that may well have been in his mind's eye as he wrote the book. The two hundred illustrations—most of them in full color—are not simple embellishments, though they are beautiful. They emerge from the text, enrich the author's intention, and deepen the pleasure of reading this remarkable work. For this edition the text is reset in a spacious format, flowing around illustrations that range from paintings to line drawings, emblems, motifs, and symbols. The book incorporates freshly drawn maps, a revised preface, and a new index. Blending high-grade design, fine paper, and classic binding, this is both a sumptuous gift book and an enhanced edition of a timeless account of human history.

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The Woman Who Smashed Codes - Jason Fagone Cover Art

The Woman Who Smashed Codes

The Woman Who Smashed Codes A True Story of Love, Spies, and the Unlikely Heroine Who Outwitted America's Enemies by Jason Fagone

National Bestseller  NPR Best Book of the Year “Not all superheroes wear capes, and Elizebeth Smith Friedman should be the subject of a future Wonder Woman movie.” —The New York Times Joining the ranks of Hidden Figures and In the Garden of Beasts, the incredible true story of the greatest codebreaking duo that ever lived, an American woman and her husband who invented the modern science of cryptology together and used it to confront the evils of their time, solving puzzles that unmasked Nazi spies and helped win World War II. In 1916, at the height of World War I, brilliant Shakespeare expert Elizebeth Smith went to work for an eccentric tycoon on his estate outside Chicago. The tycoon had close ties to the U.S. government, and he soon asked Elizebeth to apply her language skills to an exciting new venture: code-breaking. There she met the man who would become her husband, groundbreaking cryptologist William Friedman. Though she and Friedman are in many ways the "Adam and Eve" of the NSA, Elizebeth’s story, incredibly, has never been told. In The Woman Who Smashed Codes, Jason Fagone chronicles the life of this extraordinary woman, who played an integral role in our nation’s history for forty years. After World War I, Smith used her talents to catch gangsters and smugglers during Prohibition, then accepted a covert mission to discover and expose Nazi spy rings that were spreading like wildfire across South America, advancing ever closer to the United States. As World War II raged, Elizebeth fought a highly classified battle of wits against Hitler’s Reich, cracking multiple versions of the Enigma machine used by German spies. Meanwhile, inside an Army vault in Washington, William worked furiously to break Purple, the Japanese version of Enigma—and eventually succeeded, at a terrible cost to his personal life. Fagone unveils America’s code-breaking history through the prism of Smith’s life, bringing into focus the unforgettable events and colorful personalities that would help shape modern intelligence. Blending the lively pace and compelling detail that are the hallmarks of Erik Larson’s bestsellers with the atmosphere and intensity of The Imitation Game, The Woman Who Smashed Codes is page-turning popular history at its finest.

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The Story of the Jews, - Simon Schama Cover Art

The Story of the Jews,

The Story of the Jews, Finding the Words 1000 BC-1492 AD by Simon Schama

In this magnificently illustrated cultural history—the tie-in to the PBS and BBC series The Story of the Jews —Simon Schama details the story of the Jewish experience, from their beginnings as an ancient tribal people to the opening of the New World in 1492. It is a story like no other: an epic of endurance against destruction, of creativity in oppression, joy amidst grief, the affirmation of life against the steepest of odds. This epic of world history spans the millennia and the continents—from India to Andalusia and from the bazaars of Cairo to the streets of Oxford. It takes you to unimagined places: to a Jewish kingdom in the mountains of southern Arabia; a Syrian synagogue glowing with radiant wall paintings; the palm groves of the Jewish dead in the Roman catacombs. And its voices ring loud and clear, from the severities and ecstasies of the Bible writers to the love poems of wine bibbers in a garden in Muslim Spain. In The Story of the Jews, the Talmud burns in the streets of Paris, massed gibbets hang over the streets of medieval London, a Majorcan illuminator redraws the world; candles are lit, chants are sung, mules are packed, ships loaded with spice and gems founder at sea. And a great story of Jewish history unfolds. Not—as often imagined—of a culture apart, but of a Jewish world immersed in and imprinted by the peoples among whom they have dwelled, from the Egyptians to the Greeks, from the Arabs to the Christians. Which makes the story of the Jews everyone’s story, too. Ancient and Medieval History: From a surprising Jewish kingdom in the mountains of southern Arabia to the burning of the Talmud in the streets of Paris. Art and Culture: Discover a Syrian synagogue glowing with radiant wall paintings, love poems from Muslim Spain, and the work of a Majorcan illuminator who redrew the world. Stories of Resilience: An epic of endurance against destruction, of joy amidst grief, and the affirmation of life against the steepest of odds. Companion to the PBS/BBC Series: Go deeper into the magnificently illustrated cultural history seen in the acclaimed documentary series, The Story of the Jews .

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The Life of Greece - Will Durant Cover Art

The Life of Greece

The Life of Greece The Story of Civilization, Volume II by Will Durant

The Story of Civilization, Volume II: A history of Greek civilization from the beginnings, and of civilization in the Near East from the Death of Alexander to the Roman Conquest. This is the second volume of the classic Pulitzer Prize-winning series.

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World War One: History in an Hour - Rupert Colley Cover Art

World War One: History in an Hour

World War One: History in an Hour by Rupert Colley

Love history? Know your stuff with History in an Hour. The ‘Great War’, from July 1914 to November 1918, was without parallel. It brought to an end four dynasties, ignited revolution, and forged new nations. It introduced killing on an unprecedented scale, costing an estimated nine million lives. It was the war that destroyed any notion of romance or chivalry in battle; it pulled in combatants from nations across the globe and shattered them, body and mind. The War involved all of the world’s great powers – the Central Powers, dominated by Germany and Austria-Hungary; the Triple Entente, lead by Britain, France and Russia; and America. World War One: History in an Hour explains the unprecedented battles on land, sea and in the air and describes the Home Front, espionage, and the politics behind them. This, for the first time in history, was ‘total war’. Love history? Know your stuff with History in an Hour… Reviews ‘If the past is a foreign country, History in an Hour is like a high-class tour operator, offering delightfully enjoyable short breaks in the rich and diverse continent of our shared past’ Dominic Sandbrook ‘The practice of History is ever-evolving, and the History In An Hour idea brings it back up to date for the digital age’ Andrew Roberts, Bookseller ‘This is genius’ MacWorld.com About the author Rupert Colley was a librarian in Enfield for 22 years until September 2011. A history graduate, he launched the original History In An Hour in 2009 with a website, blog and ‘World War Two In An Hour’ as an iPhone app. He then expanded it to Kindle, iBooks and into the USA with a series of titles, and enlisted new writers by encouraging guest bloggers on the website. History In An Hour was acquired by Scott Pack for HarperPress in 2011.

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Knowing What We Know - Simon Winchester Cover Art

Knowing What We Know

Knowing What We Know The Transmission of Knowledge: From Ancient Wisdom to Modern Magic by Simon Winchester

“A delightful compendium of the kind of facts you immediately want to share with anyone you encounter . . . . Simon Winchester has firmly earned his place in history . . . as a promulgator of knowledge of every variety, perhaps the last of the famous explorers who crisscrossed the now-vanished British Empire and reported what they found to an astonished world.”  — New York Times From the creation of the first encyclopedia to Wikipedia, from ancient museums to modern kindergarten classes—this is award winning writer Simon Winchester’s brilliant and all-encompassing look at how humans acquire, retain, and pass on information and data, and how technology continues to change our lives and our minds. With the advent of the internet, any topic we want to know about is instantly available with the touch of a smartphone button. With so much knowledge at our fingertips, what is there left for our brains to do? At a time when we seem to be stripping all value from the idea of knowing things—no need for math, no need for map-reading, no need for memorization—are we risking our ability to think? As we empty our minds, will we one day be incapable of thoughtfulness?  Addressing these questions, Simon Winchester explores how humans have attained, stored, and disseminated knowledge. Examining such disciplines as education, journalism, encyclopedia creation, museum curation, photography, and broadcasting, he looks at a whole range of knowledge diffusion—from the cuneiform writings of Babylon to the machine-made genius of artificial intelligence, by way of Gutenberg, Google, and Wikipedia to the huge Victorian assemblage of the Mundanaeum, the collection of everything ever known, currently stored in a damp basement in northern Belgium.  Studded with strange and fascinating details, Knowing What We Know is a deep dive into learning and the human mind. Throughout this fascinating tour, Winchester forces us to ponder what rational humans are becoming. What good is all this knowledge if it leads to lack of thought? What is information without wisdom? Does Rene Descartes’s Cogito, ergo sum—“I think therefore I am,” the foundation for human knowledge widely accepted since the Enlightenment—still hold?  And what will the world be like if no one in it is wise?

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The Reformation - Will Durant Cover Art

The Reformation

The Reformation The Story of Civilization, Volume VI by Will Durant

The Story of Civilization, Volume VI: A history of European civilization from Wyclif to Calvin: 1300–1564. This is the sixth volume of the classic, Pulitzer Prize–winning series. An engrossing volume on the European Reformation by Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Will Durant The sixth volume of Durant’s acclaimed Story of Civilization , The Reformation chronicles the history of European civilization from 1300 to 1564. In this masterful work, you will encounter: -The schism within the Roman Catholic Church and the formation of early Protestantism -The theology of Martin Luther and his societal impact -The rise of Humanism and the life of Desiderius Erasmus -The royal monarchies of England, France, Spain, and Italy -The imperial conquests of Christopher Columbus and the discovery of the Americas -The Bohemian revolution of Eastern Europe, the unification of Russia, and the rise of the Ottoman Empire -The teachings of John Calvin -The Counter-Reformation of the 16th century

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Rousseau and Revolution - Will Durant & Ariel Durant Cover Art

Rousseau and Revolution

Rousseau and Revolution The Story of Civilization, Volume X by Will Durant & Ariel Durant

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize A history of civilization in France, England, and Germany from 1756, and in the remainder Europe from 1715 to 1789.

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The Age of Napoleon - Will Durant & Ariel Durant Cover Art

The Age of Napoleon

The Age of Napoleon The Story of Civilization, Volume XI by Will Durant & Ariel Durant

The eleventh and final volume of the classic, Pulitzer Prize–winning series The Story of Civilization, covering Napoleon ’s reign and a history of European civilization from 1789 to 1815. A bold, comprehensive journey through history as a study of human nature, beginning with the chaos of the French Revolution and the improbable rise of Napoleon Bonaparte, The Age of Napoleon explores how power, belief, luck, and circumstance—not ideals—shape civilizations. Drawing on examples from every continent, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Will Durant argues that history reveals enduring patterns: religion, though repeatedly challenged by reason, proves indispensable to social cohesion; equality is an illusion incompatible with civilization, which has always depended on power, hierarchy, and the leadership of narrow-minded but decisive individuals; and progress is fragile as barbarism waits patiently at the edges, ready to reclaim what civilization forgets to defend. Even greatness offers no protection from oblivion, as time erases nearly every name it once celebrated. Clear-eyed, provocative, and deeply humane, this work shows why history matters—not to flatter our hopes, but to teach us how rare stability is, how quickly it can vanish, and how fortunate we are to live when we do.

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The Renaissance - Will Durant Cover Art

The Renaissance

The Renaissance The Story of Civilization, Volume V by Will Durant

The Story of Civilization, Volume V: A history of civilization in Italy from 1304-1576. This is the fifth volume of the classic, Pulitzer Prize-winning series.

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The Age of Faith - Will Durant Cover Art

The Age of Faith

The Age of Faith The Story of Civilization, Volume IV by Will Durant

The Story of Civilization, Volume IV: A history of medieval civilization—Christian, Islamic, and Judaic—from Constantine to Dante: A.D. 325-1300. This is the fourth volume of the classic, Pulitzer Prize-winning series.

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The Mapmaker's Wife - Robert Whitaker Cover Art

The Mapmaker's Wife

The Mapmaker's Wife A True Tale of Love, Murder, and Survival in the Amazon by Robert Whitaker

In the early years of the 18th century, a band of French scientists set off on a daring, decade-long expedition to South America in a race to measure the precise shape of the earth. Like Lewis and Clark's exploration of the American West, their incredible mission revealed the mysteries of a little-known continent to a world hungry for discovery. Scaling 16,000foot mountains in the Peruvian Andes, and braving jaguars, pumas, insects, and vampire bats in the jungle, the scientists barely completed their mission. One was murdered, another perished from fever, and a third-Jean Godin-nearly died of heartbreak. At the expedition's end, Jean and his Peruvian wife, Isabel Gramesón, became stranded at opposite ends of the Amazon, victims of a tangled web of international politics. Isabel's solo journey to reunite with Jean after their calamitous twenty-year separation was so dramatic that it left all of 18th-century Europe spellbound. Her survival-unprecedented in the annals of Amazon exploration-was a testament to human endurance, female resourcefulness, and the power of devotion.Drawing on the original writings of the French mapmakers, as well as his own experience retracing Isabel's journey, acclaimed writer Robert Whitaker weaves a riveting tale rich in adventure, intrigue, and scientific achievement. Never before told, The Mapmaker's Wife is an epic love story that unfolds against the backdrop of "the greatest expedition the world has ever known." 

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Rome 1960 - David Maraniss Cover Art

Rome 1960

Rome 1960 The Olympics That Changed the World by David Maraniss

From the New York Times bestselling author of Clemente and When Pride Still Mattered , the blockbuster story of the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, seventeen days that helped define the modern world. Legendary athletes and stirring events are interwoven into a suspenseful narrative of sports and politics at the Rome games, where Cold War propaganda and spies, drugs and sex, money and television, civil rights and the rise of women superstars all converged to forever change the future of the Olympics. Using the meticulous research and sweeping narrative style that have become his trademark, Maraniss reveals the rich palette of character, competition, and meaning that gave Rome 1960 its impactful and unique essence.

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The Age of Reason Begins - Will Durant & Ariel Durant Cover Art

The Age of Reason Begins

The Age of Reason Begins The Story of Civilization, Volume VII by Will Durant & Ariel Durant

The Story of Civilization, Volume VII: A history of European civilization in the period of Shakespeare, Bacon, Montaigne, Rembrandt, Galileo, and Descartes: 1558-1648. This is the seventh volume of the classic, Pulitzer Prize-winning series.

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The Age of Louis XIV - Will Durant & Ariel Durant Cover Art

The Age of Louis XIV

The Age of Louis XIV The Story of Civilization, Volume VIII by Will Durant & Ariel Durant

The Story of Civilization, Volume VIII: A history of European civilization in the period of Pascal, Moliere, Cromwell, Milton, Peter the Great, Newton, and Spinoza: 1648-1715. This is the eighth volume of the Pulitzer Prize-winning series.

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1914: History in an Hour - Rupert Colley Cover Art

1914: History in an Hour

1914: History in an Hour by Rupert Colley

Love history? Know your stuff with History in an Hour. In 1914 the world changed. Europe’s great powers were dragged, one by one, into a war by Serbian conflict which affected very few of them directly. At least it would resemble the short sharp battles of the previous century, many thought – fought with military bands, horsemen, and swift victories. But 1914 proved to be different, a watershed, as old notions of war were trampled in the mud. ‘1914: History in an Hour’ is the indispensable overview of the year that marked the end of the Belle Époque and the shocking birth of modern mechanised warfare. It became a war of unimaginable horror, fought with terrifying new weapons that produced death on an industrial scale, a war that involved so many nations and reached into the fabric of their societies. 1914 shaped the First World War, and the years beyond. Reviews ‘If the past is a foreign country, History in an Hour is like a high-class tour operator, offering delightfully enjoyable short breaks in the rich and diverse continent of our shared past.’ Dominic Sandbrook ‘The practice of History is ever-evolving, and the History In an Hour idea brings it back up to date for the digital age. Colley writes in an attractively readable style, and manages to convey the huge story that is WWII in a logical and accessible manner’ Andrew Roberts, Bookseller ‘This is genius’ MacWorld.com About the author Rupert Colley was a librarian in Enfield for 22 years until September 2011. A history graduate, he launched the original History In An Hour in 2009 with a website, blog and ‘World War Two In An Hour’ as an iPhone app. He then expanded it to Kindle, iBooks and into the USA with a series of titles, and enlisted new writers by encouraging guest bloggers on the website. History In An Hour was acquired by Scott Pack for HarperPress in 2011.

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People Who Changed The World - Rodney Castleden Cover Art

People Who Changed The World

People Who Changed The World by Rodney Castleden

Some people in history seem to have been born to transform the world. Each person in this book made a totally original and individual contribution which had a significant long term impact on the world. His or her actions had a lasting effect on a great many lives at a profound level, which makes it a most compelling read. CONTENTS: PART ONE: THE ANCIENT WORLD including Moses, Pythagoras, Buddha, Confucius, Plato, Aristotle, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Jesus Christ, Attila the Hun. PART TWO: MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE including Mohammed, William the Conqueror, Genghis Khan, Marco Polo Leonardo da Vinci, William Shakespeare PART THREE:THE ENLIGHTENED WOLRD including Cardinal Richelieu, Oliver Cromwell, Isaac Newton, James Cook, George Washington, Mozart, Horatio Nelson. PART FOUR: THE NINETEENTH CENTURY including Napoleon, Duke of Wellington, Beethoven, Abraham Lincoln, Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens,  Karl Marx, Tolstoy, Thomas Edison, Oscar Wilde PART FIVE: THE MODERN WORLD including Sigmund Freud, Frank Lloyd Wright, Gandhi,  Lenin, Churchill, Einstein, Picasso, Hitler, Walt Disney, John F Kennedy, Nelson Mandela, Marilyn Monroe, Fidel Castro,  Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Bill Gates, Tim Berners-Lee, Osama Bin Laden. 

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The Breath of the Gods - Simon Winchester Cover Art

The Breath of the Gods

The Breath of the Gods The History and Future of the Wind by Simon Winchester

“As our climate changes, the force of the wind is set to grow. By looking to the past and the future, Winchester examines the twinned possibilities alive in this bluster: the power of the wind to tear our world apart and its ability to help us travel farther and do more.” — The Washington Post "Epic . . . . A splendidly written account of an unseeable force." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review) New York Times bestselling author Simon Winchester returns with a thought-provoking history of the wind, written in his edifying and entertaining style. What is going on with our atmosphere? The headlines are filled with news of devastating hurricanes, murderous tornadoes, and cataclysmic fires affecting large swaths of America. Gale force advisories are issued on a regular basis by the National Weather Service. In 2022, a report was released by atmospheric scientists at the University of Northern Illinois, warning that winds—the force at the center of all these dangerous natural events—are expected to steadily increase in the years ahead, strengthening in power, speed, and frequency. While this prediction worried the insurance industry, governmental leaders, scientists, and conscientious citizens, one particular segment of society received it with unbridled enthusiasm. To the energy industry, rising wind strength and speeds as an unalloyed boon for humankind—a vital source of clean and “safe” power. Between these two poles—wind as a malevolent force, and wind as savior of our planet—lies a world of fascination, history, literature, science, poetry, and engineering which Simon Winchester explores with the curiosity and vigor that are the hallmarks of his bestselling works. In The Breath of the Gods , he explains how wind plays a part in our everyday lives, from airplane or car travel to the “natural disasters” that are becoming more frequent and regular. The Breath of the Gods is an urgently-needed portrait across time of that unseen force—unseen but not unfelt—that respects no national borders and no vessel or structure in its path. Wind, the movement of the air, is seen by so many as a heavenly creation and generally a thing of essential goodness. But when it flexes its invisible muscles, all should take care and be very afraid.

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The Testaments Of The Twelve Patriarchs - Rutherford H. Platt Cover Art

The Testaments Of The Twelve Patriarchs

The Testaments Of The Twelve Patriarchs by Rutherford H. Platt

The Testaments Of The Twelve Patriarchs Edited by Rutherford H. Platt This is a popularized translation of the OT pseudepigrapha, quasi-Biblical writings which never achieved canonical status (or inclusion in any of the official Apocrypha). This isn't to say that these documents are forgeries, just that for one reason or another they were not considered part of the Biblical text by the first millenium (C.E.) compilers.

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Leningrad - Anna Reid Cover Art

Leningrad

Leningrad The Epic Siege of World War II, 1941-1944 by Anna Reid

On September 8, 1941, eleven weeks after Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa, his brutal surprise attack on the Soviet Union, Leningrad was surrounded. The siege was not lifted for two and a half years, by which time some three quarters of a million Leningraders had died of starvation. Anna Reid's Leningrad is a gripping, authoritative narrative history of this dramatic moment in the twentieth century, interwoven with indelible personal accounts of daily siege life drawn from diarists on both sides. They reveal the Nazis' deliberate decision to starve Leningrad into surrender and Hitler's messianic miscalculation, the incompetence and cruelty of the Soviet war leadership, the horrors experienced by soldiers on the front lines, and, above all, the terrible details of life in the blockaded city: the relentless search for food and water; the withering of emotions and family ties; looting, murder, and cannibalism- and at the same time, extraordinary bravery and self-sacrifice. Stripping away decades of Soviet propaganda, and drawing on newly available diaries and government records, Leningrad also tackles a raft of unanswered questions: Was the size of the death toll as much the fault of Stalin as of Hitler? Why didn't the Germans capture the city? Why didn't it collapse into anarchy? What decided who lived and who died? Impressive in its originality and literary style, Leningrad gives voice to the dead and will rival Anthony Beevor's classic Stalingrad in its impact.

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The Age of the Renaissance - A history of Europe during the 15th and 16th centuries - J.B. Bury & T.F. Tout Cover Art

The Age of the Renaissance - A history of Europe during the 15th and 16th centuries

The Age of the Renaissance - A history of Europe during the 15th and 16th centuries by J.B. Bury & T.F. Tout

The one thing common to the whole Italian Renaissance was the worship of beauty. It was the aesthetic against the ascetic. In this exclusive study, that is, in art, the Italians speedily attained the highest perfection that has been reached by man. And it was reached almost simultaneously in many parts of Italy, Rome, Florence, Milan, and Venice. First, it was the triumph of classical over medieval models, and the suppression of Gothic. Then it was the outbreak of modern painting, beyond all models, medieval or ancient, in a generation of men remarkable for originality. Rome, which had adopted the new learning under the impulse of Nicholas V, went over also to the new art and became its metropolis. It was the ripest and most brilliant work of the time, and it was employed to give expression to religious ideas, and to decorate and exalt the dignity of the Papacy, with its headquarters at the Vatican. The man who conceived how much might be done by renascent art to give splendor to the Church at the moment when its terrestrial limits were immeasurably extended, and its political power newly established, was Julius II. In 1505 Emmanuel of Portugal, inspired by the prodigies of that epoch of discovery, and by the language of recent canonists, addressed him in these terms: “Receive, at last, the entire globe, thou who art our god.” Julius, who, by the energy of his will and his passion for posthumous fame, was the true son of the Renaissance, asked Michael Angelo to construct a monument worthy of a pontiff who should surpass all his predecessors in glory. When the design proved too gigantic for any existing Church, he commanded Bramante to pull down the Basilica of Constantine, which for a thousand years had witnessed the dramatic scenes of ecclesiastical history, the coronation of Charlemagne, the enthronement of the dead Formosus, the arrest of Paschal, and to erect in its place a new and glorified St. Peter’s, far exceeding all the churches of the universe in its dimensions, in beauty, in power over the imagination of men. The ruthless destruction indicates the tone of the new era. Old St. Peter’s was not only a monument of history, but a sepulcher of saints. Julius was not inspired by the Middle Ages. Under him the Papacy was preparing for a new career, less spiritual than what once had been, more politic and secular and splendid, under new stars. He had Bramante, Michael Angelo, Rafael, San Gallo, Peruzzi, a concentration of artistic genius such as had never been, not produced by Rome itself, but attracted from every quarter by the master of Rome. What had been, one hundred years before, a neglected provincial town, became the center of European civilization by the action of the Popes, and principally of one ambitious Pope. The Vatican paintings were largely political, commemorating the sovereign more than the priest, until St. Peter’s was designed to exhibit the sublime grandeur and unity of the universal Church, and the authority of its head upon earth. It was the crowning triumph of the Renaissance. When he was dying, Julius said that the masses are impressed not by what they know, but by what they see. He transmitted to his successors the conception of a Church to be the radiant center of religion and of art for mankind; and we shall see that this was, after all, a disastrous legacy…

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My Appeal to the World - His Holiness the Dalai Lama & Sofia Stril-Rever Cover Art

My Appeal to the World

My Appeal to the World by His Holiness the Dalai Lama & Sofia Stril-Rever

His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama is the foremost spokesperson for the people of the Tibetan Plateau—although his home is in India, in the Himalayan foothills, where he has been forced to live in exile since 1959. As a Buddhist monk, his main focus has been the spiritual life, and the leadership of his people in exile, ensuring their survival and preserving their unique Buddhist culture, while appealing to the world to stop the destruction of their homeland and the six million Tibetans oppressed within it. Every March 10th, from 1961 until 2011, in commemoration of the greatest uprising of the Tibetan people against the Chinese military occupation, the Dalai Lama delivered an appeal to the world on behalf of his people. Each statement is a heartfelt call to recognize the truth and the factual reality of Tibet’s history and situation; a cry for help, a plea for justice, and a pledge of determination to withstand the worst and to overcome. In these annual addresses, he began to articulate and fully express his overarching appeal to humanity. All of the Dalai Lama’s March 10th speeches, at their most poignant and eloquent, are collected here, introduced and historically contextualized by Sofia Stril-Rever, an author and scholar of Tibetan history and culture and Buddhist spirituality who has long served as his French translator. Here in this book is his appeal to us all. The people of all nations have heard it and have tried to help, but their governments still have not dared to stand up effectively for justice on behalf of the Tibetan people and for recognition of the basic human rights to which we all are entitled. The question therefore remains: Who will finally respond to this appeal in time to prevent the ultimate disaster that is looming on the roof of the world?

46

A Guide to Manila and the Philippines with Spanish Vocabulary. - Anonymous Cover Art

A Guide to Manila and the Philippines with Spanish Vocabulary.

A Guide to Manila and the Philippines with Spanish Vocabulary. by Anonymous

The GENERAL HISTORICAL collection includes books from the British Library digitised by Microsoft. This varied collection includes material that gives readers a 19th century view of the world. Topics include health, education, economics, agriculture, environment, technology, culture, politics, labour and industry, mining, penal policy, and social order.

47

El helenismo - Ernesto Ballesteros Arranz Cover Art

El helenismo

El helenismo by Ernesto Ballesteros Arranz

eBook Interactivo. Esta tercera etapa histórica del espíritu heleno es la de su decadencia final pero no por ello debemos prestarle menos atención que a las dos anteriores, porque sigue poseyendo una gran madurez creadora de la que se han alimentado todos los grandes estilos europeos de Roma y el Renacimiento europeo, como se verá en posteriores colecciones.

48

Normal Women - Philippa Gregory Cover Art

Normal Women

Normal Women Nine Hundred Years of Making History by Philippa Gregory

“An amazing read.” —The Los Angeles Times The #1 New York Times bestselling historical novelist delivers her magnum opus—a landmark work of feminist nonfiction that radically redefines our understanding of the extraordinary roles ordinary women played throughout British history. AN INDIE BESTSELLER Did you know that there are more penises than women in the Bayeux Tapestry? That the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 was started and propelled by women who were protesting a tax on women? Or that celebrated naturalist Charles Darwin believed not just that women were naturally inferior to men, but that they’d evolve to become ever more inferior? These are just a few of the startling findings you will learn from reading Philippa Gregory’s Normal Women. In this ambitious and groundbreaking book of women's history, she tells the story of England over 900 years, for the very first time placing women—some fifty per cent of the population—center stage. Using research skills honed in her work as one of our foremost historical novelists, Gregory trawled through court records, newspapers, and journals to find: highwaywomen beggars murderers brides housewives pirates female husbands hermits The “normal women” you will meet in these pages went to war, ploughed the fields, campaigned, wrote, and loved. They rode in jousts, flew Spitfires, issued their own currency, and built ships, corn mills and houses. They committed crimes or treason, worshipped many gods, cooked and nursed, invented things, and rioted. A lot. A landmark work of social history, scholarship, and storytelling, Normal Women chronicles centuries of social and cultural change—from 1066 to modern times—powered by the determination, persistence, and effectiveness of women. *INCLUDES ILLUSTRATIONS THROUGHOUT AND A FULL-COLOR INSERT* “An expansive, inclusive and elegantly woven nonfiction account of the lives of women in England from the Norman Conquest to the modern day. To describe it as merely a retelling is to undermine a core principle: This is a history of women in England, yes, but it is also a history of England, full stop. . . . At more than 500 pages, with extensive endnotes and a 30-page index, Normal Women is a behemoth you may be inclined to skim, until you realize you’re actually luxuriating in every word.” —The New York Times

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World War 1 - History Nerds Cover Art

World War 1

World War 1 by History Nerds

World War I is a sweeping and immersive account of the global conflict known as the Great War and the First World War, a catastrophe that engulfed Europe and much of the world from 1914 to 1918. Beginning with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, this comprehensive history traces how rising nationalism, imperial rivalry, and militarism drew the Allied Powers and the Central Powers into total war. Follow the mobilization of the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, Britain, France, and Russia as the conflict expanded across continents. Experience the brutal realities of trench warfare on the Western Front, including the Battle of the Somme and the Battle of Verdun, alongside the ill-fated Gallipoli campaign and the vast struggle on the Eastern Front. Discover how submarine warfare, the sinking of the Lusitania, and the entry of the United States under President Woodrow Wilson transformed the balance of power. Beyond the battlefield, this book explores the collapse of empires, the Russian Revolution, and the political upheaval that reshaped Europe and the Middle East. Examine the Armistice of 11 November 1918 and the Treaty of Versailles, whose harsh terms would help set the stage for World War II. Through meticulous research and vivid storytelling, World War I examines military strategy, technological innovation — including machine guns, tanks, and chemical weapons — and the profound social changes brought about by total war, from women's suffrage movements to shifting global alliances. Perfect for readers of military history, twentieth-century history, and international relations, this authoritative yet accessible narrative reveals how the First World War redrew borders, toppled monarchies, and transformed the modern world.

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A Short History of Nearly Everything: Special Illustrated Edition - Bill Bryson Cover Art

A Short History of Nearly Everything: Special Illustrated Edition

A Short History of Nearly Everything: Special Illustrated Edition by Bill Bryson

This new edition of the acclaimed bestseller is lavishly illustrated to convey, in pictures as in words, Bill Bryson’s exciting, informative journey into the world of science. In A Short History of Nearly Everything , the bestselling author of A Walk in the Woods and The Body,  confronts his greatest challenge yet: to understand—and, if possible, answer—the oldest, biggest questions we have posed about the universe and ourselves. Taking as his territory everything from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization, Bryson seeks to understand how we got from there being nothing at all to there being us . The result is a sometimes profound, sometimes funny, and always supremely clear and entertaining adventure in the realms of human knowledge, as only Bill Bryson can render it. Now, in this handsome new edition, Bill Bryson’s words are supplemented by full-color artwork that explains in visual terms the concepts and wonder of science, at the same time giving face to the major players in the world of scientific study. Eloquently and entertainingly described, as well as richly illustrated, science has never been more involving or entertaining.

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