This is likely to be one of the best of the many books we will see about the context and impact of Covid, from the great social historian of postwar Britain. (The eponymous 'duty of care' is... read more
The rise of Suleyman the Magnificent is told with a clever balance of the close (viziers, lovers, military commanders) and the distant (Venice, popes, emperors, Christendom and its interneci... read more
An elegant exploration of how British Prime Ministers, from Eden to Blair and beyond, have engaged in the Middle East under the misconception that they could help solve disputes because they... read more
The Gibson family of the Scilly Isles photographed shipwrecks for four generations in the C19th and C20th - an extraordinary archive that is now held at the National Maritime Museum in Green... read more
From Byzantium to England, the Normans achieved an extraordinary ascendancy in the C11th. This study draws particular attention to dynastic relations and to the role of women in what has hit... read more
Incredible though it seems, in the closing years of the GDR the Stasi trained operatives to become poets in order to infiltrate literary circles. Years of sleuthing has yielded this remarkab... read more
We heard about Molotov's library in Rachel Polonsky's superb Molotov's Magic Lantern (£12.99). Now we have a portrait of Stalin through the books he read - and he was an avid reader all his... read more
A fascinating examination of how the prevailing causes of death have changed through history. It is a story of growing medical knowledge and social organisation, and is refreshingly optimist... read more
Founded by mavericks in 1922, it evolved through the war, the invention of television and subsequent massive cultural changes. Whatever its problems, it is an extraordinary institution, and ... read more
In 1864 the Austrian Archduke Maximilian went to assume a distant throne. The operatic episode ended in his death by firing squad, famously memorialised by Manet.
What distinguished 'art' from 'Art' ? Types of display, collecting, certain kinds of knowledge becoming matters of profession, etc. A specialised and fascinating study that puts the subject ... read more
Looks at the dwindling communities of Christians still living in the birthplace of the early church. From Lebanon to Iraq, JdiG records the rituals and customs of these dispersed but endurin... read more
A global history of jurisprudence by an Oxford anthropologist. FP shows how European legal ideas came to dominate other ancient legal traditions, whether Mayan, Indian or Chinese, with the r... read more
Political debate in India is still divided along lines that can be traced to Nehru's ideas and the foundation of the Republic. This assessment of the exchanges and ideological battles betwee... read more
Following on from his The Prime Ministers, here is a series of essays on all 46 presidents of the USA by various academics, journalists, politicians and historians.
While some parish churches still form the centre of their communities, many others are in terminal decline. RM, who grew up in a parsonage before becoming an archeologist, combines personal ... read more
Explores the competing psychologies that underlay the political and cultural struggle between the US and the USSR, in particular the fear and paranoia that all parties - from JFK to the Russ... read more
Teaching at the Royal College of Art from 1948-1975, he had enormous influence on a generation of British artists. He was also a significant artist in his own right, best known for his vivid... read more