Robin Hood is England's greatest folk hero. Everyone knows the story of the outlaw who robbed from the rich and gave to the poor. Nick Rennison's highly entertaining book begins with the search for the historical Robin. Was there ever a real Robin Hood? Rennison looks at the candidates who have been proposed over the years, from petty...

Benjamin Franklin's Enlightenment world of philosophy, spectacle and electricity

A masterful introduction to world mythology, shedding light on the impact it has had on cultures past and present and untangling the complex web of deities, monsters and myths.

On 20 November 1820, just south of the equator, the whaling ship Essex, spotted and pursued a shoal of sperm whales.