History

Although in a way, history is being made every day, some stand out in the memory or learning more than others. These are the days that had the most impact on the people who witnessed them and the greatest consequences for society in the months and years to follow. These are the discoveries that opened up eyes to a wider world, the decisions and acts that steered people from one possible future to another, and the disasters that shocked people into working together for support and community. Man has always recorded history, from the creation of Alexandria, the Roman empire and the ancient classical world, to the calendar, and the first newspaper.

ISBN: 9781844036158

OCTOBER 2008

An insightful and gripping account of thegreatest airbornebattle in history.InSeptember 1944, the river Rhine was a serious barrier to the advancing Allied armies in the West who were intent on charging Berlin and ending the war. Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery decided to utilise the First Allied Airborne Army consisting of British, American and Polish troops. Codenamed Operation Market Garden", 40,000 paratroopers were dropped behind enemy lines while ground forces linked to relieve them. But, due to bad weather and German resistance, the operation failed.In March 1945, asecond attempt was planned: Operation Varsity Plunder". Again Montgomery led the assault and ground troops were employed to make the river crossing while paratroopers dropped to secure the east bank of the Rhine. This time the plan worked. Despite extremely heavy fighting the combined airborne and ground forces achieved their objectives, cracking the German line.

ISBN: 9780755336364

AUGUST 2008

In November 2008 the United States will elect a new President. But the imminent collapse of twenty years of Republican conservativism means the country is already conducting an intense self-examination about the trajectory of its history; how it came to find itself in multiple crises and how an America that began as 'the last, best hope of earth' came to be so suspected and vilified around much of the world. "The American Future: A History", written by an author who has spent half his life there, takes the long view of how the United States has come to this anguished moment of truth about its own identity as a nation and its place in the world.In each of the chapters devoted to the most compelling issues facing Americans now - the projection of power ("American war"); race, immigration and the problematic promise of e pluribus unum ("American skin"); the intensity of religious conviction in public life ("American fervour"); the mystique of American land and its battles with the imperatives of profit ('American Plenty'- Schama traces the deep history of the present crisis. Cumulatively the chapters build into a history of American exceptionalism - the 'American difference' that means so much to its people but which has led it into calamities as well as triumphs. "The American Future: A History" argues that if you want to know what is truly at stake, you need to absorb these stories and understand this history - for understanding is the condition of hope.

ISBN: 9781847920003

On 16 May 1943, nineteen Lancaster bomber crews gathered at a remote RAF station in Lincolnshire for a mission of extraordinary daring and high risk - a night raid on three crucial and heavily defended dams deep in the German industrial heartland. The raiders would have to fly across occupied Europe at a perilously low level and drop their bombs at a mere 60 feet above the water to destroy the dam walls. Eight planes never returned. Bestselling author Max Arthur has collected together first-hand accounts of the preparation, practise, experimentation and the raid itself, and the sense of emptiness and loss at RAF Scampton when 56 men failed to return. From RAF personnel to German civilians who witnessed the raid, this landmark oral history collection paints a moving and personal picture of one of the most famous operations of the Second World War.

ISBN: 9781905264339

OCTOBER 2008

No empire has been larger or more diverse than the British Empire. At its apogee in the 1930s, 42 million Britons governed 500 million foreign subjects. Britannia ruled the waves and a quarter of the earth's surface was painted red on the map. Where Britain's writ did not run directly, its influence, sustained by matchless industrial and commercial sinews, was often paramount. Yet no empire (except the Russian) disappeared more swiftly. Within a generation this mighty structure sank almost without trace, leaving behind a scatter of sea-girt dependencies and a ghost of empire, the British Commonwealth of nations. Equally, it can be claimed that Britain bequeathed its former colonies economic foundations, a cultural legacy, a sporting spirit, a legal code and a language more ubiquitous than Latin ever was.In a book of unparalleled scholarship, Piers Brendon presents the story of the decline and eclipse of British might, the major historical event in the closing stages of the second millennium. Full of vivid particulars, brief lives, telling anecdotes, comic episodes, symbolic moments and illustrative vignettes, "The Decline and Fall of the British Empire" evokes remote places as well as distant times. From the war for American independence, the end of the Raj, the 'scram out of Africa' and the unfinished business of the Falklands and Hong Kong to the new 'informal' empire of the United States, this is a comprehensive and engaging account.

ISBN: 9780712668460

"Faces of World War II" pays tribute to all who fought and died, and won and lost for greater human rights and freedom. Structured by year, the book includes images of the major events from Blitzkrieg to the Battle of Britain, from the invasion of Poland to Pearl Harbour. With over 17 million people perishing during the course of the conflict, brutality, suffering and slaughter are inevitably shown, and these pictures take their place alongside poignant and uplifting scenes of civilians, nurses and doctors fighting their own battles, and the endless task of clearing the battlefields and the brief moments of respite.This book remarkably captures the reality of war: the suffering, the toil and the hopelessness, as well as the mundane aspects of a world turned upside down in those seven fateful years. From enforced confinement to trench warfare and mechanisation, "Faces Of World War II" shows every aspect of this very modern war, in images that will inform, shock, move, but always engage.

ISBN: 9781844036264

OCTOBER 2008

With over a million casualties, the Somme was the most brutal battle of the First World War. It is a clash that even now, over 90 years later, remains seared into the national consciousness, conjuring up images of muddy trenches and young lives tragically wasted. Its first day, July 1st 1916 - on which the British suffered 57,470 casualties, including 19,240 dead - is the bloodiest day in the history of the British armed forces to date. On the German side, an officer famously described it as 'the muddy grave of the German field army'. By the end of the battle, the British had learned many lessons in modern warfare while the Germans had suffered irreplaceable losses, ultimately laying the foundations for the Allies' final victory on the Western Front.Drawing on a wealth of material from the vast Imperial War Museum Sound Archive, "Forgotten Voices of the Somme" presents an intimate, poignant, sometimes even bleakly funny insight into life on the front line: from the day-to-day struggle of extraordinary circumstances to the white heat of battle and the constant threat of injury or death. Featuring contributions from soldiers of differing backgrounds, ranks and roles, many of them previously unpublished, this is the definitive oral history of this unique and terrible conflict.

ISBN: 9780091926274

For a lot of people, one of their first questions when they visit a great historic building is 'how the heck did they build that all that time ago? How did they manage to lift all that stone and wood up to such a great height?' In Fred Dibnah's "Buildings of Britain", we get Fred Dibnah's own distinctive answer to this question, as he takes us to some of the country's most famous and historic monuments, castles, cathedrals, abbeys, great houses and engineering marvels. One of Fred's great passions was architecture, engineering and the craft skills of builders, carpenters, stonemasons and structural engineers.His interest was not in architectural theory but in the practicalities of how things were built and with the help of his beautifully executed drawings he was very good at giving simple, vivid explanations of how things like great medieval castles and abbeys were built at a time when technology was limited and there were no power tools, no concrete, no steel, no engines and no heavy machinery. From Peterborough Cathedral to St Paul's and from the Humber Bridge to the Blackpool Tower, the book will take us on a tour of Britain's great historic buildings with a very unique and charismatic guide - Fred Dibnah.

ISBN: 9780593061718

From King Harold to Elizabeth II, this fascinating and unique book offers a view of the oddities, quirks, origins and stories behind the history of Britain that has made the country what it is today. Starting, quite literally at the beginning, the reader is taken on an unorthodox tour through the lesser known nuggets of British history. "The History of Britain Pocket Companion" provides the reader with a fascinating range of notes, quotes, facts and stats.The market for this book is huge: Britons have always been fond of looking backwards and now is no exception. The television schedules are brimming with history programmes and the rise of the celebrity historian continues.This book is packed with hundreds of nuggets of information; an indispensable addition to your bookshelf. It is a part of a highly collectable series. Sales of the original Companions series are in excess of 150,000 copies. It features: elastic closure, back pocket, and blank pages for notes.

ISBN: 9781862058224

The ultimate work of historical reference * With exclusive essay by Richard Overy * Presented in a new, highly-readable format, the narrative edition of The Times Complete History of the World traces the origins of the world right up to the present day with unrivalled authority. Also contains a 32-page section of photographs of the most important and iconic images of our world. With fully-up-to-date content including material on Iraq, Afghanistan, terrorism and the environment, as well as a new and exclusive essay from the editor, Richard Overy, on 'The State of the World', this edition is the most complete and readable record of our world yet. From cavemen to the Cold War, from Alexander the Great to global warming, from warfare through the ages to the great voyages of exploration, The Times Complete History of the World is the book that has all the answers, the detail and the authoritative text in one breathtaking single historical source.

ISBN: 9780007280902

OCTOBER 2008

Ninety years after the cessation of gunfire on the Western Front, the Imperial War Museum pays tribute to the memory of those who fought its battles with a major new exhibition. The exhibition focuses on remembrance, honouring the lives of the men and women who suffered the war's atrocities and this lavishly illustrated book is an arresting complement to it. Using letters, diary entries and eye-witness accounts, respected historian Robin Cross presents a compelling narrative of the war through the personal stories of its heroes. Including archive material published here for the first time, iconic photographs and artefacts that so strikingly evoke the Great War, this powerful and extraordinary book vividly brings its horrors and heroics to life with startling immediacy and poignancy. As the last of the veteran generation gradually fade from view, this remarkable book pays homage to their memory and provides new insights into a war which still resonates and fascinates today.

ISBN: 9780091925307

'A highly readable and intelligent narrative account ...Anyone with the slightest interest in the English parish church...will be intrigued, informed and enchanted by this lucid, and occasionally provocative account' - "Country Life". 'The writing is concise, uncluttered, clear. Even when you know the history, you still turn the pages, wanting to find out what small but telling detail he has uncovered next' - "The Times". This fascinating and beautifully illustrated little history is a celebration of the English country church - and a passionate plea for its preservation. In his engaging account Roy Strong tells the dramatic story of the English parish church, from the first temporary buildings erected in Anglo-Saxon times to its uncertain future in the twenty-first century.From the arrival of the missionaries from Ireland and Rome, who erected crosses in the country to mark the places where they preached, to the beautiful architecture and rich spirituality of medieval Catholicism; from the cataclysm of the Reformation, which replaced the splendour of ritual with the preaching of the Word, to the age of the 'squarson', the gentrified cleric we meet in the novels of Jane Austen: Roy Strong takes us on a journey - historical, social and spiritual - to explore what men and women experienced through the age when they went to church on Sunday.

ISBN: 9781844138302

The Royal Navy to which Admiral Lord Nelson sacrificed his life depended on thousands of sailors and marines to man the great wind-powered wooden warships. Drawn from all over Britain and beyond, often unwillingly, these ordinary men made the navy invincible through skill, courage and sheer determination. Yet their contribution is frequently overlooked, while the officers became celebrities. JACK TAR gives these forgotten men a voice in an exciting, enthralling, often unexpected and always entertaining picture of what their life was really like during this age of sail. Through personal letters, diaries and other manuscripts, the emotions and experiences of these people are explored, from the dread of press-gangs, shipwreck and disease, to the exhilaration of battle, grog, prize money and prostitutes. JACK TAR is an authoritative and gripping account that will be compulsive reading for anyone wanting to discover the vibrant and sometimes stark realities of this wooden world at war.

ISBN: 9781408700549

OCTOBER 2008

The Romans founded Londinium in AD 50 but the earliest human remains in the Thames valley, once the realm of mammoths and polar bears, date back to 450,000 BC. Following through the impacts of invasions, revolts and epidemics ranging from the Black Death to cholera, this book shows how, against all the odds, a small malarial settlement turned into Europe's most successful city. Full of evidence gathered from the Museum of London's extensive archaeological work and written in thematic chapters that explore the changing aspects of life over the last three thousand years and across a variety of maps old and new, "London" shines a fascinating light on everything from costermongers to the Krays, the building of the Embankment to the destruction of the Blitz.There are contemporary cartoons and paintings, artefacts that range from the Mayor's golden coach to a leather Roman bikini found in the mud of the Thames and the museum's own vivid reconstructions of ancient markets, temples and bathhouses, making the daily lives of Londoners and the city's chequered history come alive in this book as never before.

ISBN: 9781846141256

Ever wondered why the floors in our terraced houses are different heights? Or what the landscape round where you live looked like before it was built on? And did you know you can date a building by its window sills? A LUST FOR WINDOW SILLS tells us why and how. Harry Mount takes us on an engrossing tour of the nation's architecture, exploring the quirks, foibles and tiny details that make our buildings unique, and revealing the fascinating stories and anecdotes behind them along the way. We see every historic building style in Britain in one hour's walk across London, from the Norman apse of St Bartholomew's in Smithfield to the National Gallery's Sainsbury Wing, via Gothic in Holborn, Sir Christopher Wren in the City and the Knights Templar at Temple. A trip up the M4 reveals some of our greatest country houses, while a visit to Stonehenge, Avebury and Silbury Hill is a journey back to the Bronze Age. This book is a lively, entertaining and affectionate portrait of our history and the Britain we live in today.

ISBN: 9781408700907

Although Sir Edwin Lutyens is commonly celebrated for his large houses for wealthy clients, much of his work was designed in connection with the First World War and remains relatively unknown and unpublished. Lutyens was the Chief Architect for the then Imperial War Graves Commission and his work, comprising war memorials, war cemeteries on the Western Front and individual graves and memorials, was largely instrumental in setting the standards for the British and Commonwealth war cemeteries that are admired by all those who visit them. In addition to the Cenotaph in Whitehall and the nation's largest war memorial - the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme at Thiepval, Lutyens created a further fifty-five memorials in Britain and abroad. The beautiful war memorial at Sapldin has never appeared in any book on the architect's work and the cemeteries at Monchy and Croisilles in Frances barely make it into the pages of battlefield guides, let alone into books about architecture. Gerald Gliddon and Timothy John Skelton of the Lutyens Trust describe the variety of these moving works, explaining the stories behind them.

ISBN: 9780711228788

OCTOBER 2008

Of all the civilisations existing in the year 1000, that of Western Europe seemed the unlikeliest candidate for future greatness. Compared to the glittering empires of Byzantium or Islam, the splintered kingdoms on the edge of the Atlantic appeared impoverished, fearful and backward. But the anarchy of these years proved to be, not the portents of the end of the world, as many Christians had dreaded, but rather the birthpangs of a radically new order. MILLENNIUM is a stunning panoramic account of the two centuries on either side of the apocalyptic year 1000. This was the age of Canute, William the Conqueror and Pope Gregory VII, of Vikings, monks and serfs, of the earliest castles and the invention of knighthood, and of the primal conflict between church and state. The story of how the distinctive culture of Europe - restless, creative and dynamic - was forged from out of the convulsions of these extraordinary times is as fascinating and as momentous as any in history.

ISBN: 9780316732451

SEPTEMBER 2008

This is a fascinating and poignant collection of photographs and first-hand accounts documenting everyday life on Britain's home front during WWII.Collected here are the stories of the men, women and children left at home who dug for victory, knitted for victory, waved goodbye to loved ones, accommodated strangers, went out to work and who provided invaluable support to the troops on the frontline.Accounts of mass evacuations during the 'phoney war', blackouts and camaradarie in the shelters sit alongside heart-warming tales of personal victories, tragic stories of loss and confusion and detailed accounts of the destruction of major cities, towns and villages.Diary extracts, archive documents, letters, propaganda and personal memories are vividly brought to life with revealing and often breathtaking images, exposing the extraordinary lives of these ordinary citizens during the people's war.

ISBN: 9780276443916

Alistair Cooke was the greatest of all twentieth century reporters of life in America to the rest of the world. Published to celebrate the centenary of his birth, this book presents the cream of his writings on the events that shaped modern American history, from the end of the Second World War through to the assassination of John Kennedy and of Bobby Kennedy (Cooke was actually present), the moon landings and the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Almost all the material is previously unpublished in book form - transcripts of his legendary Letters from America, long-forgotten reports in the Guardian (whose correspondent in New York he was for 25 years) and other freshly discovered writings. The book is illustrated throughout in full colour with iconic photographs of the events Cooke is describing.

ISBN: 9781846140471

No electricity, no gas, no flushing toilet...and no tractor! Could you survive a year on a Victorian farm? In this fascinating time-traveling experiment Lion Television, with the BBC, follow a team of historians who will spend a year recreating farm life in 1885. Accompanying the series, this book follows the team as they try to run a farm using only materials and resources that would have been available to them in the Victorian era.This was a crucial period in the history of Britain - rapid industrialization had radically changed life in the cites but rural communities used a mixture of centuries-old and pioneering modern practices. Packed with informative text and photographs from the farm year, this book reveals exactly what the Victorians, ate, wore, how they managed their animals, farmed the land and organized their lives. In-depth features describe revolutionary advances in more detail, including new inventions, new breeding methods and advances in agricultural science. Practical projects allow you to join the historians in rediscovering Victorian crafts, cookery and homecare.Providing a real insight into life on a Victorian farm, this series is also a fascinating reminder of how history comes full circle. The organic diet of 1885, use of natural products for cleaning and healthcare and interests in crafts and gardening are of increasing relevance today as we look for a more responsible way of living over 120 years later.This is the official book to accompany the new BBC2 6-part primetime series, "Tales From the Victorian Farm". It includes extensive photography of the farm workers' experiences. Diary entries offer a personal take on this historical experiment. Join in Victorian life with authentic recipes and practical projects.

ISBN: 9781862058217

OCTOBER 2008

In "World War II: Behind Closed Doors", award-winning documentary-maker and historian Laurence Rees brings us a gripping new history of World War II - one that is full of surprises, even for those who think they know the history. Drawing on material only available since the opening of archives in the East, Rees re-examines the key decisions made by Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt during the war. And as the truth about Stalin's earlier friendly relationship with the Nazis is laid bare, a devastating and surprising picture of the Soviet leader emerges - one that is deeply embarrassing for many Russians.The emotional core of the book is the amazing new testimony obtained from nearly a hundred separate witnesses from the period. Former Soviet secret policemen talk frankly for the first time about their repressive work; Allied seamen reveal how they braved the Arctic convoys; and Red Army veterans talk of how they killed Germans in hand-to-hand fighting on the Eastern Front. Accompanying a major six-part BBC2 history series, this enthralling narrative is a mix of high politics - including the inside story of the Allies' meetings at Tehran, Yalta and Potsdam - and the dramatic personal experiences of those on the ground who bore the consequences of their decisions.

ISBN: 9780563493358

SEPTEMBER 2008