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10 Mistakes That Changed History

The Reckless Rulers, Monumental Mishaps and Disastrous Decisions That Have Shaped Our World.

by Paul Coulter ...

From breakups that ended empires to naps that sank ships, 10 Mistakes That Changed History reveals how overlooked historical errors are responsible for some of the most era-defining events of the past.Featuring many of the most recognisable characters and episodes in history, from Cleopatra to the sinking of the Titanic, comedian and historian Paul Coulter reframes our understanding of these ... Read more

£0.99

From breakups that ended empires to naps that sank ships, 10 Mistakes That Changed History reveals how overlooked historical errors are responsible for some of the most era-defining events of the past.Featuring many of the most recognisable characters and episodes in history, from Cleopatra to the sinking of the Titanic, comedian and historian Paul Coulter reframes our understanding of these
... Read more
Alexandria

The City that Changed the World: 'Monumental' – Daily Telegraph

by Islam Issa ...

'Fascinating and important' Natalie Haynes, author of Stone Blind 'Monumental and vividly imagined' DAILY TELEGRAPH 'Wonderfully entertaining' SUNDAY TIMESA SUNDAY TIMES AND TLS BOOK OF THE YEAROn a sparsely populated Egyptian coastline, Alexander the Great sketched his vision of a metropolis into the sand. Situated on the cusp of three co... ... Read more

Was £3.99 Now £0.99

'Fascinating and important' Natalie Haynes, author of Stone Blind 'Monumental and vividly imagined' DAILY TELEGRAPH 'Wonderfully entertaining' SUNDAY TIMESA SUNDAY TIMES AND TLS BOOK OF THE YEAROn a sparsely populated Egyptian coastline, Alexander the Great sketched his vision of a metropolis into the sand. Situated on the cusp of three co...
... Read more
Goliath’s Curse

The History and Future of Societal Collapse

by Luke Kemp ...

**A radical retelling of human history through collapse – from the dawn of our species to the urgent existential threats of the twenty-first century and beyond.** FEATURED IN THE NEW BBC SERIES CIVILISATIONS: RISE AND FALL ****** THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER **‘A brilliant, utterly convincing account of the evolution of human society and why we are probably reaching humanity's end days’ HENRY MARSH ... Read more

£5.99

**A radical retelling of human history through collapse – from the dawn of our species to the urgent existential threats of the twenty-first century and beyond.** FEATURED IN THE NEW BBC SERIES CIVILISATIONS: RISE AND FALL ****** THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER **‘A brilliant, utterly convincing account of the evolution of human society and why we are probably reaching humanity's end days’ HENRY MARSH
... Read more
Dynasty

The Rise and Fall of the House of Caesar

by Tom Holland ...

'A masterly account of this first wicked century of the Roman Empire' Sunday Times'Holland does not just tell the story of the reign of the Julio-Claudian family. He knits the history of ancient Rome into his narrative - its founding myths, the fall of the republic, the religious superstitions - with a skill so dextrous you don't notice the stitching. Dynasty is both a formidable effort to compile ... Read more

£6.99

'A masterly account of this first wicked century of the Roman Empire' Sunday Times'Holland does not just tell the story of the reign of the Julio-Claudian family. He knits the history of ancient Rome into his narrative - its founding myths, the fall of the republic, the religious superstitions - with a skill so dextrous you don't notice the stitching. Dynasty is both a formidable effort to compile
... Read more
21 Lessons for the 21st Century

'Truly mind-expanding... Ultra-topical' Guardian

by Yuval Noah Harari ...

**THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER**In twenty-one bite-sized lessons, Yuval Noah Harari explores what it means to be human in an age of bewilderment.How can we protect ourselves from nuclear war, ecological cataclysms and technological disruptions? What can we do about the epidemic of fake news or the threat of terrorism? What should we teach our children?The world-renowned historian and intellectual ... Read more

£6.99

**THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER**In twenty-one bite-sized lessons, Yuval Noah Harari explores what it means to be human in an age of bewilderment.How can we protect ourselves from nuclear war, ecological cataclysms and technological disruptions? What can we do about the epidemic of fake news or the threat of terrorism? What should we teach our children?The world-renowned historian and intellectual
... Read more
The End of History and the Last Man

by Francis Fukuyama ...

A LANDMARK WORK OF POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. A GLOBAL BESTSELLER. STILL AS RELEVANT TODAY.With the fall of Berlin Wall in 1989 the threat of the Cold War which had dominated the second half of the twentieth century vanished. And with it the West looked to the future with optimism but renewed uncertainty.The End of History and the Last Man was the first book to offer a picture of what the new century ... Read more

£3.99

A LANDMARK WORK OF POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. A GLOBAL BESTSELLER. STILL AS RELEVANT TODAY.With the fall of Berlin Wall in 1989 the threat of the Cold War which had dominated the second half of the twentieth century vanished. And with it the West looked to the future with optimism but renewed uncertainty.The End of History and the Last Man was the first book to offer a picture of what the new century
... Read more
The Weirdest People in the World

How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous

by Joseph Henrich ...

'A landmark in social thought. Henrich may go down as the most influential social scientist of the first half of the twenty-first century' MATTHEW SYEDDo you identify yourself by your profession or achievements, rather than your family network? Do you cultivate your unique attributes and goals? If so, perhaps you are WEIRD: raised in a society that is Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and ... Read more

£8.99

'A landmark in social thought. Henrich may go down as the most influential social scientist of the first half of the twenty-first century' MATTHEW SYEDDo you identify yourself by your profession or achievements, rather than your family network? Do you cultivate your unique attributes and goals? If so, perhaps you are WEIRD: raised in a society that is Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and
... Read more
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

by David Womersley, Edward Gibbon ...

Spanning thirteen centuries from the age of Trajan to the taking of Constantinople by the Turks, DECLINE & FALL is one of the greatest narratives in European Literature. David Womersley's masterly selection and bridging commentary enables the readerto acquire a general sense of the progress and argument of the whole work and displays the full variety of Gibbon's achievement. ... Read more

£1.99

Spanning thirteen centuries from the age of Trajan to the taking of Constantinople by the Turks, DECLINE & FALL is one of the greatest narratives in European Literature. David Womersley's masterly selection and bridging commentary enables the readerto acquire a general sense of the progress and argument of the whole work and displays the full variety of Gibbon's achievement.
... Read more
The Bone Chests

Unlocking the Secrets of the Anglo-Saxons

by Cat Jarman ...

A TIMES HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEAR‘A diligent historian and a superb writer’ THE TIMESA gripping new history of the making of England as a nation.In December 1642, during the Civil War, Parliamentarian troops stormed Winchester Cathedral and smashed ten beautifully decorated wooden chests to the ground, using the bones inside as missiles to shatter the cathedral’s stained glass windo... ... Read more

Was £6.99 Now £4.99

A TIMES HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEAR‘A diligent historian and a superb writer’ THE TIMESA gripping new history of the making of England as a nation.In December 1642, during the Civil War, Parliamentarian troops stormed Winchester Cathedral and smashed ten beautifully decorated wooden chests to the ground, using the bones inside as missiles to shatter the cathedral’s stained glass windo...
... Read more
Love Child

A Genealogist's Guide to the Social History of Barbados

by L.E. Salazar ...

Truth is stranger than fiction. Take yourself on a journey to early Barbados, the place where many of the founding fathers of colonial America with thousands of settlers sojourned and catch a glimpse of early colonial life. If you like to think for yourself this book will be your compass as you uncover the secret connection of the people known as 'Red Legs' or Red Shanks in North America; and ... Read more

£6.35

Truth is stranger than fiction. Take yourself on a journey to early Barbados, the place where many of the founding fathers of colonial America with thousands of settlers sojourned and catch a glimpse of early colonial life. If you like to think for yourself this book will be your compass as you uncover the secret connection of the people known as 'Red Legs' or Red Shanks in North America; and
... Read more
India

A History

by John Keay ...

The most authoritative and highly regarded single-volume history of India – from ancient time to the modern day. Five millennia of the sub-continent’s social, economic, political and cultural history are interpreted by one of our finest writers on India and the Far East.India’s history begins with a highly advanced urban civilisation in the Indus valley, regressing to a tribal and pastoral ... Read more

£6.99

The most authoritative and highly regarded single-volume history of India – from ancient time to the modern day. Five millennia of the sub-continent’s social, economic, political and cultural history are interpreted by one of our finest writers on India and the Far East.India’s history begins with a highly advanced urban civilisation in the Indus valley, regressing to a tribal and pastoral
... Read more
Sapiens

A Brief History of Humankind: The multi-million copy bestseller

by Yuval Noah Harari ...

'Interesting and provocative... It gives you a sense of how briefly we've been on this Earth' Barack ObamaWhat makes us brilliant? What makes us deadly? What makes us Sapiens?One of the world's preeminent historians and thinkers, Yuval Noah Harari challenges everything we know about being human.Earth is 4.5 billion years old. In just a fraction of that time, one species among countless others has ... Read more

£6.99

'Interesting and provocative... It gives you a sense of how briefly we've been on this Earth' Barack ObamaWhat makes us brilliant? What makes us deadly? What makes us Sapiens?One of the world's preeminent historians and thinkers, Yuval Noah Harari challenges everything we know about being human.Earth is 4.5 billion years old. In just a fraction of that time, one species among countless others has
... Read more
Nexus

The Sunday Times bestselling history about humans, technology and AI from the author of Sapiens

by Yuval Noah Harari ...

‘If you read only one non-fiction book this year, consider this one’ TOM HANKS‘If there’s one book that I would urge everyone to read – it is Nexus’ STEPHEN FRYThe mind-blowing story of how information networks – from the stone age to AI - have shaped our world from the #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of SapiensStories brought us together.Books ... ... Read more

£6.99

‘If you read only one non-fiction book this year, consider this one’ TOM HANKS‘If there’s one book that I would urge everyone to read – it is Nexus’ STEPHEN FRYThe mind-blowing story of how information networks – from the stone age to AI - have shaped our world from the #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of SapiensStories brought us together.Books ...
... Read more
A History of the World

by Andrew Marr ...

Fresh, exciting and vividly readable, this is popular history at its very best.Our understanding of world history is changing, as new discoveries are made on all the continents and old prejudices are being challenged. In this truly global journey, political journalist Andrew Marr revisits some of the traditional epic stories, from classical Greece and Rome to the rise of Napoleon, but surrounds ... Read more

£7.99

Fresh, exciting and vividly readable, this is popular history at its very best.Our understanding of world history is changing, as new discoveries are made on all the continents and old prejudices are being challenged. In this truly global journey, political journalist Andrew Marr revisits some of the traditional epic stories, from classical Greece and Rome to the rise of Napoleon, but surrounds
... Read more
The Shortest History of Democracy

by John Keane ...

'DEMOCRACY HAS A LONG, EVENTFUL PAST. DOES IT HAVE A FUTURE?The roots of democracy stretch back beyond Athens to Syria- Mesopotamia and the Indian subcontinent, where citizens’ assemblies held privilege and power to account over 3,000 years before the French Revolution. In this timely and illuminating new global history, John Keane (‘one of the world’s leading political thinkers’ ,The Times) gets ... Read more

£8.45

'DEMOCRACY HAS A LONG, EVENTFUL PAST. DOES IT HAVE A FUTURE?The roots of democracy stretch back beyond Athens to Syria- Mesopotamia and the Indian subcontinent, where citizens’ assemblies held privilege and power to account over 3,000 years before the French Revolution. In this timely and illuminating new global history, John Keane (‘one of the world’s leading political thinkers’ ,The Times) gets
... Read more
The Enlightenment

The Pursuit of Happiness 1680-1790

by Ritchie Robertson ...

'The best single-volume study of the Enlightenment that we have' Literary ReviewThe Enlightenment is one of the formative periods of Western history, yet more than 300 years after it began, it remains controversial. It is often seen as the fountainhead of modern values such as human rights, religious toleration, freedom of thought, scientific thought as an exemplary form of reasoning, and ... Read more

£8.99

'The best single-volume study of the Enlightenment that we have' Literary ReviewThe Enlightenment is one of the formative periods of Western history, yet more than 300 years after it began, it remains controversial. It is often seen as the fountainhead of modern values such as human rights, religious toleration, freedom of thought, scientific thought as an exemplary form of reasoning, and
... Read more
Daughters of Britannia

The Lives and Times of Diplomatic Wives (Text Only)

by Katie Hickman ...

This edition does not include illustrations.An authoritative and entertaining account by one of our most talented writers of the courageous and unusual women who have been the backbone of the British Empire and foreign service.‘English ambassadresses are usually on the dotty side and leaving their embassies drives them completely off their rockers’ – Nancy MitfordFrom the first exploratory ... Read more

£4.99

This edition does not include illustrations.An authoritative and entertaining account by one of our most talented writers of the courageous and unusual women who have been the backbone of the British Empire and foreign service.‘English ambassadresses are usually on the dotty side and leaving their embassies drives them completely off their rockers’ – Nancy MitfordFrom the first exploratory
... Read more
Fifth Sun

A New History of the Aztecs

by Camilla Townsend ...

In November 1519, Hernando Cortés walked along a causeway leading to the capital of the Aztec kingdom and came face to face with Moctezuma. That story--and the story of what happened afterwards--has been told many times, but always following the narrative offered by the Spaniards. After all, we have been taught, it was the Europeans who held the pens. But the Native Americans were intrigued by the ... Read more

£9.17

In November 1519, Hernando Cortés walked along a causeway leading to the capital of the Aztec kingdom and came face to face with Moctezuma. That story--and the story of what happened afterwards--has been told many times, but always following the narrative offered by the Spaniards. After all, we have been taught, it was the Europeans who held the pens. But the Native Americans were intrigued by the
... Read more
Proto

How One Ancient Language Went Global

by Laura Spinney ...

*A GUARDIAN, NEW STATESMAN, PROSPECT AND WATERSTONES BEST BOOK OF 2025*'The fascinating story of ancient words … new revelations await' The Guardian'A magisterial feat' New Scientist________________________________One ancient language transformed our world. This is its story.Star. Stjarna. Stare. Thousands of miles apart, people look up at the nigh... ... Read more

£4.99

*A GUARDIAN, NEW STATESMAN, PROSPECT AND WATERSTONES BEST BOOK OF 2025*'The fascinating story of ancient words … new revelations await' The Guardian'A magisterial feat' New Scientist________________________________One ancient language transformed our world. This is its story.Star. Stjarna. Stare. Thousands of miles apart, people look up at the nigh...
... Read more
Lineages of the Absolutist State

by Perry Anderson ...

Series series Verso World History
Forty years after its original publication, Lineages of the Absolutist State remains an exemplary achievement in comparative history. Picking up from where its companion volume, Passages from Antiquity to Feudalism, left off, Lineages traces the development of Absolutist states in the early modern period from their roots in European feudalism, and assesses their various trajectories. Why didn't ... Read more

£9.71 or Free with Kobo Plus

Forty years after its original publication, Lineages of the Absolutist State remains an exemplary achievement in comparative history. Picking up from where its companion volume, Passages from Antiquity to Feudalism, left off, Lineages traces the development of Absolutist states in the early modern period from their roots in European feudalism, and assesses their various trajectories. Why didn't
... Read more
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 ... Read more

£1.99

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
... Read more
A Million Years in a Day

A Curious History of Daily Life

by Greg Jenner ...

'A wonderful idea, gloriously put into practice. Greg Jenner is as witty as he is knowledgeable' - Tom Holland'You will love Greg Jenner's jolly account of how we have more in common with our ancestors than we might think ... all human life is here, amusingly conveyed in intriguing nuggets of gossipy historical anecdote' - Daily MailEvery day, from the moment our alarm clock wakes us in the ... Read more

Was £5.99 Now £2.99

'A wonderful idea, gloriously put into practice. Greg Jenner is as witty as he is knowledgeable' - Tom Holland'You will love Greg Jenner's jolly account of how we have more in common with our ancestors than we might think ... all human life is here, amusingly conveyed in intriguing nuggets of gossipy historical anecdote' - Daily MailEvery day, from the moment our alarm clock wakes us in the
... Read more
Empires of the Steppes

The Nomadic Tribes Who Shaped Civilisation

by Kenneth W. Harl ...

An epic history of how the so-called 'barbarians of the steppes' shaped the modern world.'A rollercoaster of historical narration' History Today'This is a history of epic scope that brings together the empires of the steppe land with the caravan cities of the Silk Road and imperial China' Martyn Rady, author of The Middle Kingdoms'A sweeping account of forty-five centuries of nomadic tribes'<... ... Read more

£7.82

An epic history of how the so-called 'barbarians of the steppes' shaped the modern world.'A rollercoaster of historical narration' History Today'This is a history of epic scope that brings together the empires of the steppe land with the caravan cities of the Silk Road and imperial China' Martyn Rady, author of The Middle Kingdoms'A sweeping account of forty-five centuries of nomadic tribes'<...
... Read more
Revolting

The riotously funny new history book for adults from the bestselling author of Horrible Histories and A History of Britain in Ten Enemies

by Terry Deary ...

A globetrotting, laugh-out-loud funny history for grown-ups from the multi-million copy bestselling author.It is a truth universally acknowledged that the rich and powerful always look after their own and the working people are always revolting.But every now and again, a new group actually manages to seize power, and it changes history.In his new book, Revolting, bestselling Horrible Histories ... Read more

£3.99

A globetrotting, laugh-out-loud funny history for grown-ups from the multi-million copy bestselling author.It is a truth universally acknowledged that the rich and powerful always look after their own and the working people are always revolting.But every now and again, a new group actually manages to seize power, and it changes history.In his new book, Revolting, bestselling Horrible Histories
... Read more

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