Europe

READ BY THE AUTHOR The bestselling author of The Parasitic Mind shows why empathy in politics leads to civilizational collapse. What happens when a society elevates victimhood to a virtue and decides that punishment is cruel? You get the disease Dr. Gad Saad calls suicidal empathy. And the West...

This is the story of what could happen next. What If Reform Wins is a chilling and deeply researched scenario that takes us day-by-day, minute-by-minute through a world in which Reform has the opportunity to put their policies into practice, from deporting 600,000 people to leaving the ECHR, abandoning net zero and ending the BBC's license fee. How will people fight back against mass deportations and fracking? And will this self-described 'ill-disciplined pirate ship' survive the rigors of government?

'Scintillating ... a thrill ride through the filthy streets and dank rooms of Georgian England where the lies and deceptions that fooled a nation were born' Hallie Rubenhold, author of The Five Here lies Fanny Lynes, whose whispers from beyond the grave set London alight with scandal. Here...

Brought to you by Penguin. In the summer of 1940, Britain was under siege. Poland, Belgium, Holland, Norway and France had already fallen, and the British army had been routed on the continent, leading to the chaotic evacuation at Dunkirk. In the rubble of the Allie’s crumbled defence...

This sweeping saga takes us from the banks of the River Oder as the Red Army begins it relentless drive towards the still beating heart of the Third Reich: Berlin. Only the Seelow Heights stood between the Soviet forces and the capital. Over the course of three days in May 1945 almost one million Soviet troops would attack these final entrenched positions.

In 410 CE, Roman rule of Britain collapsed, bringing a centuries-long occupation to an end. A century later, Britain was dividing into two areas with contrasting cultures, an expansive "Anglo-Saxon" south and east, and a shrinking Celtic west and north. How did this transition happen? And why did the customs of the Germanic incomers prevail in England, unlike elsewhere in Europe? In this account, Nicholas J. Higham addresses these questions head on. Higham draws on archaeological evidence and contemporary literature, including the writings of Gildas, to reconsider the accepted narrative.

Read by Rory Kinnear (Black Mirror, James Bond, Toxic Town) From political journalist Daniel Trilling, If We Tolerate This is a vital look at Britain's alarming shift towards far-right politics and what can be done to reverse it. The language of the far right is now in the mouths of our...

A comprehensive and detailed look into the Scottish Highlands. Alistair Moffat tells the extraordinary story of the Highlands in the most detailed book ever written about this remarkable part of Scotland. This is the story of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland as it has never been told before...

Beginning on the night in November 1963 when his mum took him to see the Beatles live at Manchester’s ABC Cinema, Mike Pickering takes the listener through sixty years of clubs, clothes, gigs, record labels, football matches and politics. Pickering has lived through decades of rapid change in popular music. As an influential DJ he introduced house music into the legendary Haçienda. He signed Happy Mondays and James to Factory Records before working with Kasabian, Gossip and Calvin Harris at Sony.

In her brilliantly and creatively researched book, Lucy Worsley takes us through the bedroom, bathroom, living room, and kitchen, covering the history of each room and exploring what people actually did in bed, in the bath, at the table, and at the stove—from sauce stirring to breast-feeding, teeth cleaning to masturbating, getting dressed to getting married—providing a compelling account of how the four rooms of the home have evolved from medieval times to today, charting revolutionary changes in society.

The remarkable, moving story of Prince Philip's mother by eminent biographer Hugo Vickers, updated in this new edition - for fans of Kingmaker and The Lives and Deaths of the Princesses of Hesse Princess Alice, mother of Prince Phillip, was something of a mystery figure even within her own...

The definitive portrait of Kate Middleton, the beloved and private Princess of Wales, tracing her stunning rise from working-class roots to queen-in-waiting, from #1 New York Times bestselling royal biographer Christopher Andersen. Kate is one of the most photographed, most talked about, most...

From prehistory to the modern era, our coastline has shaped Britain, not only physically but socially, economically and culturally. Far from being at the margins of national interests, the coast has been at the heart of the British people's most important endeavours and central to era-defining national events. From artifacts lost by hunter-gatherers in a land beneath the sea to bustling medieval ports, smugglers' caves, early seaside resorts, fortifications and secret bases, the coast is resplendent with fascinating history to explore and enjoy.

Themistocles (524–459 BC) came of age just as a newly democratic and empowered Athens was emerging. He would become an instrumental political and military figure, fighting in the Battle of Marathon; persuading Athenians to expand their fleet; and engineering the Athenians' defeat of the...

Ein geteilter Kontinent. Ein Krieg, der die Welt neu formte. Der Dreißigjährige Krieg (1618 –1648) begann als erbitterter Religionskonflikt innerhalb des zersplitterten Heiligen Römischen Reiches – doch er sollte sich zu einem der verheerendsten und tiefgreifendsten Kriege der europäischen Geschichte ausweiten. Was als Auseinandersetzung zwischen protestantischen und katholischen Staaten begann, entwickelte sich bald zu einem brutalen Machtkampf, der die großen Königreiche Europas mit hineinzog und Millionen Todesopfer forderte.

In 1940, Winston Churchill famously set in motion the Special Operations Executive. With only the moon to guide their way, the daring pilots of 161 Squadron constantly faced danger: their locations could be discovered, German night-fighters and flak had to be contended with and, of course, they dealt with the worst of European weather. Despite these extra risks, these Special Duties pilots were remarkably successful.

'Well-researched and enthralling, Peter Ricketts brings the wartime Foreign Office to life.’ – Tim Bouverie 'The gripping story of how the men and women of the Foreign Office secured Britain's victory in the Second World War and created a new international order.' – Professor Helen...

Intorno alle stragi del 1993, nonostante i trent'anni trascorsi e le numerose sentenze giunte all'ultimo grado di giudizio, permangono ancora molti misteri e opacità. Tanto che sono tuttora in corso inchieste sui «concorrenti esterni» per la collocazione delle bombe esplose a Firenze, Milano e Roma che causarono dieci morti e centosei feriti. A ricostruire le inchieste nei particolari ed evidenziarne il rilievo è ora questo libro che segue il filo rosso che porta agli assassini di Falcone e Borsellino ma anche a quello di don Pino Puglisi.

Neue Funde entschlüsseln die Vergangenheit: Das wahre Leben der Wikinger – so, wie es noch nie erzählt wurde. Hier werden die Geschichten der Anderen erzählt – Kinder, Versklavte, Seher, Handwerker, Reisende und Schriftsteller –, die das nordische Mittelalter prägten. Eleanor Barraclough lässt ihre Welt durch Alltagsfunde lebendig werden: einen geliebten Kamm, eine zornige Botschaft auf Holz, Kinderkritzeleien auf Birkenrinde. So entsteht ein faszinierendes Bild einer Kultur, die sich von Skandinavien bis nach Byzanz und ins Kalifat erstreckte.

Finally Understand Greek Mythology Without the Confusion, Family Trees, or Boring LecturesYou’ve heard the names. Zeus. Medusa. Hercules. Athena. But if someone asked you to explain who they were, how they’re connected, or what actually happened in the Trojan War… would you be able to? Greek mythology is everywhere. It appears in movies, books, video games, psychology, and everyday language. Yet for many people, the stories feel tangled, overwhelming, or only half-remembered from school. This audiobook was written for people who want clarity.

Throughout its existence, Russia has been a hybrid empire shaped by both Europe and Asia. Focusing on the formation of the Russian state between the sixteenth and the mid-nineteenth centuries, renowned historian Michael Khodarkovsky examines Russia's structural similarities with its neighbors in Asia―the Ottoman, Persian, Mughal, and Chinese empires. While most historians have noted the transformations that brought Russia closer to modern European societies, the Russian empire's shared characteristics with its non-European counterparts remain poorly understood.

In October 1894, the torn fragments of an unsigned memo containing military secrets were retrieved by a cleaning lady from the waste paper basket of Colonel Maximilien von Schwartzkoppen of the German embassy in Paris. When French intelligence discovered they harboured a spy in their midst, Captain Dreyfus, on slender evidence, was charged with selling military secrets to the Germans, found guilty of treason by unanimous verdict and sentenced to life imprisonment on the notorious Devil's Island.

Amid the upheaval in the Islamic world following Muhammad’s death, the Umayyad Caliphate lasted for less than a century, but it spent that time becoming one of the most influential of the major caliphates. Its official existence was from 661-750, and the rulers were the male members of the Umayyad dynasty, roughly translated from Arabic as the “Sons of Umayyah.” Its primary base of power was in Syria following the creation of a dynastic, hereditary rule headed by one of Syria’s long-lasting governors, Muawiya ibn Abi Sufyan.

Forgotten Rebels, Fierce Women, and Untold Legends. No king of Scots could be crowned without a MacDuff present. It wasn't just tradition, it was law. So when Robert the Bruce rose to claim the throne, and the noble houses had either fled or bent the knee to England, one woman from Clan MacDuff risked everything. She crowned him herself—defying the English, breaking convention, and altering the fate of a nation. This is just one of many bold, hidden stories waiting to be uncovered.

Das England des 16. Jahrhunderts war eine brutale Welt, geprägt von politischen Intrigen, religiösen Kämpfen und grassierenden Seuchen. Und dennoch wurde das elisabethanische Zeitalter zu einer überragenden Blütezeit der englischen Literatur. Ihr Wegbereiter war Christopher Marlowe: Im gleichen Jahr wie William Shakespeare wurde er als Sohn eines Schusters geboren. Allen Widrigkeiten zum Trotz erkämpfte er sich ein Stipendium in Cambridge, ließ sich in den Spionagedienst der Königin verwickeln und schuf einige der spektakulärsten Meisterwerke der englischen Literatur.