Before the East India Company took hold, the dazzling Mughal courts received a raggle-taggle caravan of C16th and C17th merchants, priests and adventurers.
Ambassador for Henry VIII, Lord Protector of Edward VI, queen-maker and marriage broker for Mary, Paget continued to wield influence at Elizabeth I's court. He kept his head - by a whisker -... 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
More ships were lost to shipwreck than in battle during the Napoleonic Wars. This is a valuable study of the Hydrographic Office and its intrepid sailors, who gathered the intelligence that ... read more
Borman's careful research shows that Anne's tragedy, intellect and family had a profound influence on Elizabeth throughout her life. A dazzling turn of the Tudor prism.
The dismantling of the welfare state in the UK was well under way before the Covid assault. Bunting has been researching this for five years, speaking to nurses, doctors, palliative care tea... read more
The 'special relationship' was dreamt up by Churchill to keep Britain afloat geopolitically when faced with the loss of empire. Buruma takes a shrewd look at Churchill and FDR, JFK and Macm... read more
Unjustly ejected from the Liberal government in 1915 as a 'German sympathiser', Haldane's influence on many of our institutions was great, and lasting.
By examining their individual backgrounds, Clark shows that Ramsay MacDonald's new cabinet represented a radical departure in its representation of Britain's social classes.
Portraits, tapestries, sculpture, armour, manuscripts and objects from this artistically cosmopolitan court: Flemish weavers, German painters, Florentine sculptors... all in the service of d... read more
This intriguing analysis shows how the British secret services grew from the real threat of Queen Victoria's assassination, and intensified during the Abdication crisis.
An account of the many Scots involved in Arctic exploration, including the search for the North-West Passage: in particular John Ross, James Clark Ross, John Richardson, John Rae and their h... read more
The pioneering struggle of early C20th women gardeners, who were excluded from the profession on account of their sex by such august bodies as the RHS. Fiona Davidson's previous book was The... read more
Neutral for fifty years in his work for the BBC, now he tells us what he thinks and thought about all those prime ministers, presidents, elections and scandals.
Explores the tension between opposing views of the 1960s - as a period of joyful, necessary liberation and experiment or a time when authority was undermined and gave way to a pernicious, pe... read more
The story of one of the most tumultuous moments in British history, which analyses how James I's rule was haunted by Elizabethan political norms and values.
A society's way of dealing with death can be very revealing. Here, the distinguished historian of Victorian Britain and the domestic sphere shows how their behaviour around death offers deep... read more
Prominent in both Thatcher and Major's cabinets, the author is a shrewd observer of the corridors of power, with their surprising chicanes and U-turns.
The clandestine manoeuvres of one branch of military intelligence, responsible for saving thousands of lives. Airey Neave, Jimmy Langley, Sam Derry and Mary Lindell emerge as central figures... read more
A new edition of this pioneering account of England's large black community in the C18th - from freed slaves to prosperous citizens. (First published 1995.)