In a particularly elegant diplomatic gesture, the Caliph Harun al-Rashid sent an elephant to Aachen in 802 AD. This fresh perspective draws on many Arabic sources.
A new and updated edition of the great French historian's 1990 Europe: A History of Its Peoples. First published in 1990, this has now been brought up to date, from the fall of the Iron Curt... read more
A huge work of scholarship that brings the late C5th/early C6th world to life. Theoderic stabilised Italy and extended his kingdom to include parts of France, the Iberian peninsula and the w... read more
Where did refugees from the American and French Revolutions go? This remarkable historical perspective shows how opening doors can be more profitable than closing borders.
The European revolutions of 1848 and their aftermath, explored through a series of set-pieces by the renowned historian, author of The Sleepwalkers and Iron Kingdom.
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
An ironic moment, perhaps, for a major new biography of the man who first uttered, 'The lamps are going out all over Europe' (August, 1914)... Grey remains the longest-ever serving Foreign S... read more
A superb account of how European imperialism in Asia was undermined by a network of ingenious radicals, who used printing presses, global travel and the colonisers' languages to spread their... read more
Translated from the German, this is a substantial book on the man who led Europe out of the Napoleonic chaos; the father of realpolitik, according to Kissinger.
The brilliant Princeton historian guides us through the relationship between magic and the Renaissance, demystifying the Magus' relationship with science, art, and engineering in early-moder... read more
Contacts and connections as the drivers of cultural change: the West was built on far more than the values of ancient Greece and Rome, as per the Victorian paradigm. Erudite and compelling.