Marten organised the trial of Charles I. During the years he spent in the Tower awaiting execution, he wrote letters to his mistress Mary Ward, which were stolen and used in an attempt to ex... 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.
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 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
The heady world described by Waugh - but, besides the fun and aristocrats, there were men with shellshock, women reading for degrees, and a false sense of security as Hitler rose to power.
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
By looking at the surviving remains of eleven ships, from a prehistoeric prow to the propellor of an ocean liner, TM has written a fascinating maritme history of Britain.
The story of one of the most daring raids of WW2, after which 5 VCs were awarded. GW argues that the raid was misconceived and that its object was only attained by the astonishing bravery of... read more
A sweeping and original history of the connections between espionage and show business, co-written by CA, the authorised historian of MI5, and Green, an historian and theatre producer.
That venerable and dedicated historian of ancient India travelled half a century ago to northern and north-western China to work at the cave sites of Maijishan and Dunhuang; based on her dia... read more
A revisionist account of one of Ireland's darkest chapters - the Civil War of 1922-1923 - which stresses how, a century on, modern Irish politics are still partly defined by its divisive leg... read more
MG's absorbing new micro-history focuses on a Crucible-esque event in Springfield, Mass. in 1651, when a young couple were condemned by their peers as witches. Drawing on detailed primary so... read more
Scholarly history of the Wannsee conference in 1942, when the Nazi leadership met at Heydrich's behest to discuss the 'final solution to the Jewish question'.
Daughter of James I & VI, she briefly became Queen of Bohemia before being deposed along with her husband, Frederick V, Elector Palatine. This fine new biography of 'the Winter Queen' portra... read more