How we search for meaning in our futures, as revealed by the divine, occult or supernatural, from ancient prophets to the end of days. What will happen to us next? From the earliest beginnings of human civilization, people have se…

An essential overview of great kingdoms in African history and their legacies, written by world-leading experts. From the ancient Nile Valley to the savannas of medieval West Africa, the highlands of Ethiopia and on to the forests…

New York City entered 1986 as a city reborn, with record profits on Wall Street sending waves of money splashing across Manhattan and bringing a once-bankrupt and reeling city back to life. But it also entered 1986 as a city divid…

From bestselling historian Katja Hoyer comes a gripping story of life during the rise and reign of Hitler through the eyes of the people of Weimar*One of the most anticipated books of 2026 according to the Sunday Times, Financial …

Golden ages are marked by periods of spectacular cultural flourishing, scientific exploration, technological achievement and economic growth: Ancient Greece gave us democracy and the rule of the law; out of Abbasid Baghdad came al…

In 1960s Paris, the high-life and the low-life go hand in hand. It is a time of glamour, sports cars, casinos and night clubs with a cast of actresses, petty criminals, high-level gangsters and compromised politicians. And with Fr…

What's exciting about a piece of bread 4,000 years old? Or some pots of paint abandoned in the eruption at Pompeii? Why should we be bothered with the distant past anyway? What's the point?The life, art and literature of ancient G…

Murakami tells the true story behind an act of terrorism that turned an average Monday morning into a national disaster. In spite of the perpetrators' intentions, the Tokyo gas attack left only twelve people dead, but thousands we…

Are intellectuals merely the servants of special interests or do they have a larger responsibility? In these wide-ranging essays, one of our most brilliant and fiercely independent public thinkers addresses this question with extr…

In the ancient world the magicians of Egypt were considered the best. But was magic harmless fun, heartfelt hope, or something darker? Whether you needed a love charm, a chat with your dead wife, or the ability to fly like a bird,…

Bestselling author Philip Matyszak explores how the Greeks and Romans used magic, who performed it – and why. Magic was everywhere in the ancient world. The supernatural abounded, turning flowers into fruit and caterpillars into b…

Twentieth-century Japanese printmaking—especially the refined art of shin hanga (new prints)—has long remained underappreciated. This expanded and revised edition of Shin Hanga. New Prints of Japan (1900–1960) sets out to change t…

After the fall of France in June 1940, only Britain stood between Hitler and total victory. Desperate for allies, Winston Churchill did all he could to bring the United States into the conflict, drive the Soviet Union and Nazi Ger…

The first dedicated study of the cat-and-mouse struggle between a British cryptographer at Bletchley Park, and an Austrian SS officer responsible for the mass killings of thousands of Russian and Polish Jews. The account of how Ni…

From the master storyteller behind 2023's critically acclaimed KILLING THATCHERA Rebel and a Traitor is the story of a rogue imperial consul who sought to forge a new nation in the middle of a war - and the mercurial spy chief who…

The house at 38 Londres Street in Santiago, Chile, is home to the legacies of two men whose personal stories span continents, nationalities and decades of atrocity: Augusto Pinochet, President of Chile, and Walther Rauff, a Nazi S…

This illustrated introduction offers a fresh approach to the history of the Islamic world from its origins to the present day. Told in six chapters, arranged both chronologically and thematically, and richly enhanced with outstand…

An authoritative visual history of one of the world’s oldest and most vibrant cultures, drawing on South Asian art and artefacts from prehistory to the present. Arranged chronologically, and abundantly illustrated with expertly se…

This illustrated introduction to the history of China offers a fresh understanding of China’s progress from the Neolithic age to the present. Told in six chapters arranged chronologically, through art, artefacts, people and places…

A step-by-step guide to becoming and being a samurai. It is 1615, and the Samurai, Japan’s elite fighting class, are at the zenith of their powers. Trained in every manner of combat, from sword-fighting and archery to karate and j…

A book of Greek myths with a twist! Readers step into the shoes of a legendary hero to solve mazes, crack codes and untangle the riddles that bring lavishly illustrated retellings of classic tales to life. Readers take on their ve…

A compelling and vivid narrative history of one of the founding civilizations of the modern world, the Byzantine empire, evocatively told through the lives of its 92 emperors. Based in the great city of Constantinople (modern-day …

A unique re-interpretation of the city of ancient Rome and its empire, using the tools offered by the latest information technology and graphic design. Packed with cleverly designed graphics, charts and diagrams, Ancient Rome: Inf…

A history of the Japanese archipelago through its material artefacts over fifteen millennia. This spirited visual account of life in the Japanese archipelago spans over 15,000 years, revealing the stories behind an intriguing sele…

A new take on Southeast Asia’s complex history, expertly told through art objects and cultural artefacts dating from the Neolithic Age to the present. Southeast Asia is home to numerous world heritage sites. Through engaging texts…

The word ‘samurai’ stands for ideals of courage, honour, self-sacrifice and loyalty. Yet much of the common understanding is imaginative fiction. This book explores the concept from medieval reality, through early modern changes, …

US President Harry Truman evidently understood the terrifying power of atomic weaponry, but no one could have realised its full potential when he ordered the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. Those military attack…

In Mythica Emily Hauser tells, for the first time, the extraordinary stories of the real women behind some of the western world’s greatest legends. Following in their footsteps, digging into the history behind Homer’s epic poems, …

How could the Nazis have committed the crimes they did?Why did they willingly – often enthusiastically – oversee mass murder?How did ordinary Germans tolerate the removal of Jewish people?And how do we ensure it never happens agai…

The disappearance of the Hohenzollern family from the history of Germany in November 1918 as the Kaiser fled into Dutch exile is one of the most startling, rapid instances of a once all-powerful royal family becoming almost overni…