A meticulous history of a Highland family that acquired huge estates in Pembrokeshire by marriage and in Carmarthenshire by an inheritance. Undoubtedly academic, rather disappointingly illus... read more
A facsimile edition of Carmontelle's original, illustrated presentation of the 8-hectare garden he designed for the Duc de Chartres in 1779, on the cusp of the French Revolution. It had an i... read more
A study of the beginnings of the idea of the 'modern artist'. Not set in Paris or New York, as you might expect, but London among the students at the Royal Academy between 1769 to 1830.
An immense and authoritative account that draws attention to Stalin's similarities with Hitler; their primary difference being that Stalin was a more successful murderous predator.
By the author of 'The Moor's Last Stand', a biography of Boabdil, whose sigh, looking back at the beautiful Granada he had fled, still resonates. Illustrated.
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.
Macartney's 1793 mission was a failure, but the Dutch were better informed. This new study argues that the Qing court was not arrogant and narrow-minded, as the English concluded, but was in... read more
A biography of the man so vividly presented in Robert Edric's 2008 novel 'In Zodiac Light': the poet and composer who, following his experiences as a soldier in WW1, was confined to an asylu... read more
This remarkable volume was published by the Memorial Human Rights Centre, a Russian civil rights group . It tells the stories of 16 men - mostly members of the intelligentsia, and loyal Sovi... read more
Published by Yale, this is a fascinating and original exploration of the influence of the newly popular guitar on the Romantics and on culture in the early C19th.