From the Bible to Simon Schama, a huge investigation of how the writing of history influences the record of human experience, and therefore its development.
Hugely enjoyable and widely researched, this will be accompanied by the happy sound of gender stereotypes being liberated from their historic chains...
The editor of the New Statesman takes a handful of news stories from the last two decades, and reflects on what they mean for England as a nation. A compassionate and readable analysis of h... read more
Finally a new edition of this splendid book, which sheds light on the decadent, complex history of this venerable road. Within years of Wilde praising its 'wonderful possibilities', and Whis... read more
Elizabeth Anscombe, Mary Midgley, Iris Murdoch & Philippa Foot: they got to know one another as Oxford students during WW2, and went on to have huge influence on subsequent decades.
Having escaped the massacre at Katyn, Czapski was interned and lived to write these essays on some of those who were murdered, as well as pieces on Blok, Soutine, and others. He was the mode... read more
An atmospheric, creepy thriller set in a remote valley in northern Italy, where a writer, investigating an apparent drowning many years before, is hampered by superstition.
A detailed portrait of the Jewish families whose collecting dominated the art world, and of their pillaging by the Nazis and the subsequent attempts at restitution.
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
The story of three friendships made when the author lived in Herat in the 1970s; after the Communist coup, Russian occupation and civil war, she was able to pick up the threads of those frie... 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.
He left his young family in the '60s for sex, drugs, and enlightenment with the cult of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh; he would reappear from time to time, bringing chaos in his wake.
Five piercingly brilliant essays on stories from the margins, art, Black history, and the crossroads of Africa and Asia as well as with the West. First work of non-fiction by an author much ... read more
An unflinching look at Britain's past, showing how the empire was built - and depended on - institutionalised, racialised violence. The Pulitzer-winner argues that the empire only waned when... read more
Another glorious, imaginative picture book from the Fan brothers: something - who knows what but undoubtedly a treasure - falls from the sky and becomes an object much curiosity to a group o... read more
A foray into the rich but slender vein of European art history devoted to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. During the 50 years in question, the region experienced successive Tsarist rule, Germ... read more
A revisionist account by the distinguished historian, which argues that Magellan was less of a hero and more of a treacherous, irresponsible, tyrannical adventurer.
A traditional rock climber for a decade or more, Fleming describes the dance between the self and the rock and its electrifying charge. It's also, for her, the ultimate way to connect with n... read more
The "inner darkness of the commercial age", with its self-confident hypocrisy and inability to "connect", confronts Bloomsbury-esque ideals and characters in this intimate masterpiece from 1... read more
Forster is always undoing, and no less so in this account of the remote princely court of Dewas in Madhya Pradesh, where he visited and worked as private secretary to the Maharajah in the ea... read more
An epic historical novel about political and moral divides in 19th America, approached through the raucous, ill-starred family of John Wilkes Booth. By the author of We Are All Completely Be... read more