In this incredible companion to the second and third seasons of Netflix's acclaimed series The Crown, renowned biographer and the show's historical consultant Robert Lacey takes us through the real history that inspired the drama. Covering two tumultuous...

Every December, a huge Christmas tree arrives in Trafalgar Square. Bedecked in lights, it is a shimmering, festive beacon in the heart of London. But even more enchanting than the twinkling decorations and scented pine is the story behind the tree; a story of...

As a humble barman at the M25 Orbital raves, Kirk Field witnessed the moment acid house exploded. Inspired by media lies to start writing the truth about what he saw unfolding, Kirk became a 'raving' reporter for the clubbers' bible Mixmag, covering the...

"A unique 'A to Z' biography from music journalist and Queen biographer Mark Blake that will shed new light on the story of the biggest rock band of all time. The story of Queen is rich with anecdotes, trivia, humour and tragedy - accompanied by some of the...

"In How to produce Comedy Bronze, legendary TV producer Jon Plowman lifts the hood on the comedy industry so you can peer inside and wonder how any of it ever got made in the first place. In a career spanning 30 years Jon has learned (almost) everything there...

The moments in life of "knowing". On Bognor Beach, with Grandpa England, she had "known" that he, and Papa, and she, would carry something on, something given, something bigger than themselves. Lilibet: a carefree child, a lover of horses and dogs, devoted to...

"The definitive autobiography by renowned Island Records founder Chris Blackwell, looking back across his phenomenal life and career. As the founder of Island Records, fabled music producer Chris Blackwell has discovered and worked with some of the most...

"With her canon of best-selling singles, electrifying stage performances and iconic music videos, Britney Spears is undoubtedly a modern pop superstar. But her story has long been clouded by society's dark obsession with beauty, youth and fame - a relentless...

The little-known true story of a Nazi plot to kill Winston Churchill, President Franklin Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin at the height of World War II, and how it was averted. In 1943 only three men stood in Hitler's way; Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin. As the...

'There is time and then there is Broadmoor time' Broadmoor. Few place names in the world have such chilling resonance. For over 150 years, it has contained the UK's most violent, dangerous and psychopathic. Since opening as an asylum for the criminally insane...

England's villages have survived, developed, persisted and thrived over hundreds of years. Entirely new villages are still being built today. But when did the first villages appear and why is this form of settlement so enduring and endearing? What makes a...

"Blending autofiction and the essay, The Bear Woman takes us on a journey of feminism and literary detective work that spans centuries and continents. In the 1540s, a young French noblewoman, Marguerite de la Rocque, was abandoned by her guardian in the Gulf...

Sent to France with the Royal Flying Corps at just 17, and later a member of the famous 56 Squadron, Cecil Lewis was an illustrious and passionate fighter pilot of the First World War, described by Bernard Shaw in 1935 as 'a thinker, a master of words, and a...

Longlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction For centuries much of Europe was in the hands of the very peculiar Habsburg family. An unstable mixture of wizards, obsessives, melancholics, bores, musicians and warriors, they saw off - through luck,...

Today Vegemite is recognised around the world, but when the salty black paste was first produced in 1923 the public wasn't interested. In fact, it took another 15 years and a world war before we embraced it. Vegemite shares the fascinating tale of Cyril...

After victory in World War II, Britain was a relieved but also a profoundly traumatized country. Simon Winder, born into this nation of uncertain identity, fell in love (as many before and since) with the man created as the antidote, a quintessentially British...

There are many reasons to be fascinated by Germany: forests, architecture and fairy tales, not to mention its history and inhabitants' penchant for very peculiar food. Our distant and often maligned cousin, this is a place in which innumerable strange...

David Marr was shocked to discover forebears who served with the brutal Native Police in the bloodiest years on the frontier. Killing for Country is the result - a soul-searching Australian history. This is a richly detailed saga of politics and power in the...

Over 400 million people around the world have been diagnosed with diabetes. Before the discovery of insulin, diabetes was treated through diet, from eating purely meat to the reliance on fats, and repeated fasting. After two centuries of conflicting medical...

In AD 843, the three surviving grandsons of the great Emperor Charlemagne met at Verdun. After years of bitter squabbles over who would inherit the family land, they finally decided to divide the territory and go their separate ways. In a moment of staggering...

Bangka Island, 1942. Vivian Bullwinkel was just 26 when Japanese soldiers marched her and her fellow nurses into the shallow waters of a remote beach to be executed. Miraculously, Vivian would be the lone survivor - and she committed the rest of her life to an...

An ache, a pain, a mysterious lump, a strange sensation in some part of your body, the feeling that something is not right. The fear that something is, in fact, very wrong. These could be symptoms of illness. But they could also be the symptoms of hypochondria...

Read by the author, Dorian Lysnkey. 'I was blown away by this book. The staggering range of references, the razor-sharp analysis, the wisdom, left me gasping out loud at times. Lynskey also somehow manages to make a book about the end of the world feel . . ....

eAudiobook

Literary Theory for Robots reveals the hidden history of modern machine intelligence, taking listeners on a spellbinding journey from medieval Arabic philosophy to visions of a universal language, past Hollywood fiction factories, and missile defense systems...

Philippa Langley took the world by storm when, against all the odds and a seven-year investigation, she discovered the grave of King Richard III (1452-1485) in a Leicester car park. A king finally laid to rest, the rediscovery and reburial of Richard III was...

'One of the most perceptive and thought-provoking books yet written about the multiple intersecting crises that are now upending our once-familiar world. . . Essential reading for these turbulent times.' Amitav Ghosh, author of The Great Derangement Dougald...

The dark story behind the bright lights of Tinseltown From the outside, Hollywood starlet Lana Turner seemed to have it all--a thriving film career, a beautiful daughter, and the kind of fame and fortune that most people could only dream of. But when the...

From the medieval souks of Tabriz, to the mysterious island of Caldihe, where sheep were said to grow on trees, Anthony Bale brings history alive in A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages, inviting the reader to travel across a medieval world punctuated with...

Have you ever wondered why there are so few success stories of women in business leadership? Or maybe you've wondered what life is really like on the other side of The Glass Ceiling? The world of work is supposedly changing, embracing diversity - yet are the...

'In the beginning was the Word,' says the Gospel of John, and this sentence - and the words of all four gospels - are central to the teachings of the Christian church. They have shaped Western art, literature and language, and the Western mind. Yet in the...

This is a neglected history. Not a sweeping, definitive, exhaustive history of the world but something quieter, more intimate and particular. A single journey, picked out in 101 objects, through the fascinating, too-often-overlooked, manifold histories of...

As scientists confidently look forward to average life expectancies hitting 100+ years in some Western societies, it's easy to forget how precarious our grasp on good health has been. It is a struggle no better demonstrated than by the myriad and extraordinary...

Acclaimed historian Alison Weir looks into the life of the first Tudor queen, revealing the woman behind the image Elizabeth of York would have ruled England, but for the fact that she was a woman. One of the key figures of the Wars of the Roses, daughter of...

Brought to you by Penguin. What do three murderers, Karl Marx's daughter and a vegetarian vicar have in common? They all helped create the Oxford English Dictionary. The Oxford English Dictionary has long been associated with elite institutions and Victorian...

From Paleolithic flax to 3D knitting, explore the global history of textiles and the world they weave together in this enthralling and educational guide.The story of humanity is the story of textiles -- as old as civilization itself. Since the first thread was...

Evocatively read by the author, Tom Chatfield. 'Combining compelling storytelling with erudite, compassionate and often profound insight about the human condition, this book will transform how you navigate the world.' - Richard Fisher, author of The Long View...

"Debra Dank has created an extraordinary mosaic of vivid episodes that move about in time and place to tell an unforgettable story of country and people. There is great pain in these pages, and anger at injustice, but also great love, in marriage and in...

Brought to you by Penguin. Four Hundred Souls is an epoch-defining history of African America, the first to appear in a generation, told by ninety leading Black voices.The story begins with the arrival of twenty Ndongo people on the shores of the first British...

"The story of Messalina, third wife of the emperor Claudius and one of the most notorious women to have inhabited the Roman world. The image of the empress Messalina as a ruthless, sexually insatiable schemer, derived from the work of Roman historians such as...

Brought to you by Penguin. Frantz Fanon's urgent, dynamic critique of the effects of racism on the psyche is a landmark study of the black experience in a white world. Drawing on his own life and his work as a psychoanalyst to explore how colonialism's...

The epic story of the imperial rivalry between two of the greatest empires of the ancient world - Parthian and Persian - and how they rose and eventually fell. The Roman empire shaped the culture of the western world against which all other great powers are...

Today, Tipperary-born priest Patrick Ryan cuts a modest but strong figure, to the layperson. A man of God who has been entrusted with the confessions of hundreds of earnest parishioners. But in fact his story is dark, dramatic, and pivotal to Irish history, on...

An epic account of the decades-long battle to control the world's most critical resource--microchip technology Power in the modern world - military, economic, geopolitical - is built on a foundation of computer chips. America has maintained its lead as a...

In Heroes, Rebels and Radicals of Convict Australia, our master storyteller Jim Haynes has collected a fascinating cast of characters who embody the resourcefulness, bravery, defiance, successes and tragedies of the convict era, men and women who forged the...

Read by the author, Robert Hardman.'A superb, fascinating account of the new King, his court and the first year of his reign. Elegantly written by the most authoritative of royal historians writing today, it is deeply researched, impeccably sourced and filled...

One of NPR's 11 Books to Look Forward to in 2024One of Good Morning America's 15 New Books to Read for the New Year"Legacy is both a compelling memoir and an edifying analysis of the inequities in the way we deliver healthcare in America. Uché Blackstock is a...

An illuminating and thought-provoking examination of the uniquely American institution of marriage, from the Colonial era through the #MeToo age. Perfect for fans of Rebecca Solnit and Rebecca Traister. Americans hold marriage in such high esteem that we push...

This highly revelatory book, based on original research and completely new analysis, presents a compelling new suspect as the most notorious serial killer of all time. Using a different analytical approach, for the first time, Sarah Bax Horton identifies a...

The love story of Zippa and Tony is nothing without the context of the Second World War. The war introduced them - they met as blackout wardens in London. It gave them darkened streets to wander in, hand in hand, then, by sending Tony away to officer training...

Brought to you by Penguin.A portrait of a radical age via the writers who gather around a publisher's dining table - from William Wordsworth to Mary WollstonecraftOnce a week, in late eighteenth-century London, writers of contrasting politics and personalities...

We are all too familiar with the stories of Jews who were tortured and killed in concentration camps throughout the Third Reich. But less is known about the persecution of Polish prisoners housed in Majdanek, a concentration and extermination camp on the...

Through the eyes of two frontline journalists comes a gripping narrative history of the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement centered around a cast of core activists, culminating in the 2019 mass protests and Beijing's brutal crackdown. Hong Kong was an experiment...

Brought to you by Penguin.From the author of The Emperor of All Maladies, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, and The Gene, a #1 New York Times bestseller, comes his most spectacular book yet, about the fundamental unit of life. Rich with Mukherjee's revelatory and...

Award-winning music journalist and author Stuart Nicholson takes the listener on an entertaining journey from jazz's early stirrings in America's south through to the present day, when almost every country in the world has its own vibrant jazz scene. En route...

THE MODERN-DAY SURVIVAL BIBLE FROM EX-SPECIAL FORCES SOLDIER AND NUMBER ONE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OLLIE OLLERTON Do you know how to thrive, not just survive? Can you build a fire? Administer critical first aid? Could you stay alive out in the wilderness? Fend off...

Punk protagonist, legendary drinker, Irish musical icon. The complete and extraordinary journey of the Pogues's notorious frontman from outcast to national treasure has never been told-until now. A Furious Devotion: The Life of Shane MacGowan vividly recounts...

In his gritty and inspirational memoir, Jack Riewoldt reveals all about his remarkable AFL career and his personal journey of growth off the field. Jack grew up in picturesque Tasmania, playing sport with his family and admiring his older cousin Nick. When...

The compelling story of Martin Luther King's life and achievements has become simplified and domesticated in a way that fails to do full justice to his radical vision and importance. Now, in King, we get the most comprehensive and complete portrait ever...

It's time to take your seat for a dinner party like no other. Discover the long, long history of the dildo. Hear James Joyce celebrate the beauty of his wife's farts. And you'll never guess Albert Einstein's thoughts on marital relations. Kinky History draws...

A stirring account of how music bears witness to history and carries forward the memory of the wartime pastIn 1785, when the great German poet Friedrich Schiller penned his immortal "Ode to Joy," he crystallized the deepest hopes and dreams of the European...

At the age of thirty, Rory Stewart was appointed coalition deputy Governor of two provinces in the Marsh region of southern Iraq. He kept a journal of his experiences struggling to control assassinations and tribal conflict, rebuild the region's infrastructure...

Said is best known for describing and critiquing "Orientalism", which he perceived as a constellation of false assumptions underlying Western attitudes toward the East. In Orientalism Said claimed a "subtle and persistent Eurocentric prejudice against...

The explosive new book from longtime royal journalist Omid Scobie and author of the international blockbuster Finding Freedom, Endgame a penetrating investigation into the current state of the British monarchy. An unpopular king, a power-hungry heir to the...

When Kashmir Hill stumbled upon Clearview AI, a mysterious startup selling an app that claimed it could identify anyone using just a snapshot of their face, the implications were terrifying. The app could use the photo to find your name, your social media...

Capturing everyday lives and exceptional dreams, novels have held up a mirror to the nation, reflecting the good and the bad. Touching on colonial invasion, the bush myth, world wars, mass migration, the recognition of Indigenous sovereignty and the emergence...

This nostalgic and absorbing memoir tells the story of a real-life female police detective in post-war Britain, as she navigates a man's world. It's 1956, and the Berkshire Constabulary has never had a woman detective before. That is, until bright and...

"An absolutely essential addition to the history of the Catholic Church, whose involvement in New World slavery sustained the Church and, thereby, helped to entrench enslavement in American society."--Annette Gordon-Reed, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The...

The hidden history of one of the world's greatest inventors, a man who disrupted the status quo and then disappeared into thin air on the eve of World War I--this book answers the hundred-year-old mystery of what really became of Rudolf Diesel. September 29,...

Rachel Maddow traces the fight to preserve American democracy back to World War II, when a handful of committed public servants and brave private citizens thwarted far-right plotters trying to steer our nation toward an alliance with the Nazis. Inspired by her...

Czechoslovakia, October 1937. Vast crowds have gathered to watch the threatened nation's most prestigious sporting contest: the Grand Pardubice steeplechase. Notoriously dangerous, the race is considered the ultimate test of manhood and fighting spirit. The...

The definitive account of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and the enduring legacy of Timothy McVeigh, leading to the January 6 insurrection--from acclaimed journalist Jeffrey Toobin.Timothy McVeigh wanted to start a movement. Speaking to his lawyers days after...

The visionary behind the bestselling phenomenon The Fourth Turning looks once again to America's past to predict our future in this startling and hopeful prophecy for how our present era of civil unrest will resolve over the next ten years--and what our lives...

An elegant blend of "polemic, industrial history, nautical writing, elegy, and ecology" (The Scotsman), The Two-Headed Whale charts the tragic history of the post-war whaling industry alongside the author's thrilling memoir of sailing the Antarctic. In 2016,...

It's time for a childbirth revolution.Childbirth has always been, and always will be, a significant rite of passage that transforms a woman into a mother. However, the modern approach to maternity care fails women, families and care providers with outdated...

Brought to you by Penguin.For most of its existence German-speaking Europe has been splintered into innumerable states - some substantial (such as Austria and Prussia) and some consisting of just a few Alpine meadows. Its military experience has also been...

Brought to you by Penguin.Over the last three centuries, the West rose to dominate the planet. Then, suddenly, around the turn of the millennium, history reversed. Faced with economic stagnation and internal political division, the West has found itself in...

Brought to you by Penguin.THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER - NOW UPDATED WITH FOUR NEW CHAPTERSA gripping and explosive account of Vladimir Putin's tyranny, charting his rise from spy to tsar, exposing the events that led to his invasion of Ukraine and his...

Brought to you by Penguin. Hay fever. Peanut allergies. Eczema. Billions of people worldwide have some form of allergy; millions have one severe enough to seriously endanger their health. And over the past decade, the number of people diagnosed with allergy...

Picking up where the New York Times bestseller Betrayal left off, Tired of Winning explores how Donald Trump remade the Republican Party in his own image?and the wreckage he?s left in his wake.? Packed with new reporting, Tired of Winning: Donald Trump and the...

It is generally accepted that the European Renaissance began in Italy. However, a historical transformation of similar magnitude also took place in northern Europe at the same time. This 'Other Renaissance' was initially centred on the city of Bruges in...

We meet Athene, who sprang fully formed from her father's head: goddess of war and wisdom, guardian of Athens. We run with Artemis, goddess of hunting and protector of young girls (apart from those she decides she wants as a sacrifice). Here is Aphrodite,...

Wayne Bennett is the greatest rugby league coach Australia has ever had. He has won seven premierships and is the greatest man manager the game has known. He is a living contradiction - a self-professed introvert who can hold an audience in the palm of his...

The moving memoir of a scientist coming of age as an immigrant in America who finds her calling at the forefront of the AI revolution.Wired called Dr. Fei-Fei Li "one of a tiny group of scientists--a group perhaps small enough to fit around a kitchen...

For Service, the great unanswered question is how to reconcile the two vital narratives that underpin the extraordinary but troubled events of 1917. One puts the blame squarely on Tsar Nicholas II and on Alexander Kerensky's provisional government that deposed...

When Ray Dalio, billionaire founder of Bridgewater Associates, the world's largest hedge fund, announced in October 2022 that he was stepping down from the company he founded forty-seven years ago, the news made headlines around the world. Dalio achieved...

Charles Wheeler, the BBC's longest-serving foreign correspondent, was one of Britain's greatest news reporters. For more than four decades, he reported for radio and television from most of the world's trouble spots. Present at many of the key episodes of the...

What if everything we've been told about addiction is wrong? One of Johann Hari's earliest memories is of trying to wake up one of his relatives and not being able to. As he grew older, he realised there was addiction in his family. Confused, he set out on a...

An "extraordinary" (The New York Times) memoir from the daughter of sharecroppers in East Texas who became the first Black president of an Ivy League university--an uplifting story of girlhood and the power of family, community, and the classroom to transform...

The Thirty Years War devastated seventeenth-century Europe, killing nearly a quarter of all Germans and laying waste to towns and countryside alike. Peter Wilson offers the first new history in a generation of a horrifying conflict that transformed the map of...

On the morning of 12 October 1654, in the Dutch city of Delft, a sudden explosion was followed by a thunderclap that could be heard more than seventy miles away. Carel Fabritius - now known across the world for his exquisite painting, The Goldfinch - had been...

Imagine a world without sight. Is it dark and gloomy? Is it terrifying and isolating? Or is it simply a state of not seeing, which we have demonised and sentimentalized over the centuries? And why is blindness so frightening? In this fascinating historical...

Normal Women is a radical reframing of our nation's story, told not with the rise and fall of kings and the occasional queen, but through social and cultural transition, showing the agency, persistence and effectiveness of women in society - from 1066 to...

Co-opted by the British military, archaeologist and adventurer Thomas Edward Lawrence became involved in the 1916 Arab Revolt, fighting alongside guerilla forces and made a legendary 300-mile journey through blistering heat. He wore Arab dress, and strongly...