Geschiedenis

Honored for their idiosyncratic and imaginative works, the surrealists marked a pivotal moment in the history of modern art in Britain— pioneering the Surrealist movement between World War I and II. Many artists banded together to form the British Surrealist Group, while others carved their own, independent paths.Here, best-selling author and surrealist artist Desmond Morris—one of the last surviving members of this important art movement—draws on his personal memories and experiences to present the intriguing life stories, complex love lives, and groundbreaking works of this wild and curious set of artists. From the rebelliousness of Leonora Carrington to the beguiling Eileen Agar and the “brilliant” Ceri Richards, Morris brings his subjects’ triumphs as well as their shortcomings to the fore.Laced with his inimitable wit, and profusely illustrated by images of the artists and their artworks, Morris’s vivid account reflects the movement’s strange, rebellious, and imaginative nature. Featuring thirty- four surrealists—some famous, some now largely forgotten—Morris’s intimate book takes us back in time to a generation that allowed its creative unconscious to drive their passions in both art and life.

A SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLER

'With his customary literary flair and capacity to master and mobilize very many and varied sources, Jonathan Dimbleby gives us the best single-volume account of the Barbarossa campaign to date' Andrew Roberts, author of Churchill: Walking with Destiny

'Like a fast-moving juggernaut of horror, Dimbleby's Barbarossa is a page-turning descent into Hell and back. Part warning, part fable, but all too true, this fresh and compelling account of Hitler's failed invasion of the Soviet Union should be on everyone's reading list for 2021' Dr Amanda Foreman, author of A World on Fire

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Operation Barbarossa, Hitler's invasion of Russia in June 1941, aimed at nothing less than a war of extermination to annihilate Soviet communism, liquidate the Jews and create Lebensraum for the German master race. But it led to the destruction of the Third Reich, and was cataclysmic for Germany with millions of men killed, wounded or registered as missing in action. It was this colossal mistake -- rather than any action in Western Europe -- that lost Hitler the Second World War.

Drawing on hitherto unseen archival material, including previously untranslated Russian sources, Jonathan Dimbleby puts Barbarossa in its proper place in history for the first time. From its origins in the ashes of the First World War to its impact on post-war Europe, and covering the military, political and diplomatic story from all sides, he paints a full and vivid picture of this monumental campaign whose full nature and impact has remained unexplored.

At the heart of the narrative, written in Dimbleby's usual gripping style, are compelling descriptions of the leaders who made the crucial decisions, of the men and women who fought on the front lines, of the soldiers who committed heinous crimes on an unparalleled scale and of those who were killed when the Holocaust began. Hitler's fatal gamble had the most terrifying of consequences.

Written with authority and humanity, Barbarossa is a masterwork that transforms our understanding of the Second World War and of the twentieth century.

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'Superb. . . stays with you long after you have finished' Henry Hemming, bestselling author of Our Man in New York

'A chilling account of war at its worst' Bear Grylls

**WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE**

'A book of big questions, and big answers' Yuval Noah Harari, bestselling author of Sapiens

Why has human history unfolded so differently across the globe? And what can it teach us about our current crisis?

Jared Diamond puts the case that geography and biogeography, not race, moulded the contrasting fates of Europeans, Asians, Native Americans, sub-Saharan Africans, and aboriginal Australians.

An ambitious synthesis of history, biology, ecology and linguistics, Guns, Germs and Steel is a ground-breaking and humane work of popular science that can provide expert insight into our modern world.

'The most absorbing account on offer of the emergence of a world divided between have and have-nots... Never before put together so coherently, with such a combination of expertise, charm and compassion' The Times

An enlightening account of how the Japanese tea ceremony influences so much of Japanese life and culture.

LONGLISTED FOR THE HISTORICAL WRITERS' ASSOCIATION NON-FICTION CROWNA SUNDAY TIMES NON-FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR'Timely ... a long and engrossing survey of the library' FT'A sweeping, absorbing history, deeply researched' Richard Ovenden, author of Burning the BooksFamed across the known world, jealously guarded by private collectors, built up over centuries, destroyed in a single day, ornamented with gold leaf and frescoes or filled with bean bags and children's drawings - the history of the library is rich, varied and stuffed full of incident.In this, the first major history of its kind, Andrew Pettegree and Arthur der Weduwen explore the contested and dramatic history of the library, from the famous collections of the ancient world to the embattled public resources we cherish today. Along the way, they introduce us to the antiquarians and philanthropists who shaped the world's great collections, trace the rise and fall of fashions and tastes, and reveal the high crimes and misdemeanours committed in pursuit of rare and valuable manuscripts.

Discover the stories of 100 women and men whose activities in the 19th century laid the foundations of modern China. Through telling the lives of one hundred significant individuals, this book explores how China transformed from dynastic empire to modern republican nation during the period 1796 to 1912. Both famous and surprisingly little-known women and men are brought together in eight thematic sections that bring to life the complexities of China’s path to modernity. Featured figures include the Dowager Empress Cixi, the power behind the throne of the Qing dynasty for fifty years; Yu Rongling, the aristocratic daughter of a Qing diplomat who trained in Paris with Isadora Duncan and is now seen as one of the founders of modern dance in China; Shi Yang, the most powerful woman pirate in the world, celebrated in popular culture as a female icon; the Manchu-Chinese Duanfang, a lynchpin of late Qing government and an avid collector of international art, murdered by his own troops in the 1911 Revolution that ended dynastic rule; Luo Zhenyu, a pioneer of Chinese archaeology whose discoveries and research empirically confirmed the antiquity of Chinese civilization; and many others. Written by an international team of specialists, this book populates the landscapes of modern Chinese history with extraordinary individuals, making sense of the drama and creativity of the country’s ‘long 19th century’.

Imagining England’s Past takes a long look at the country’s invented histories, from the glamorous to the disturbing, from the eighth century to the present day. England has long built its sense of self on visions of its past. What does it mean for medieval writers to summon King Arthur from the post-Roman fog; for William Morris to resurrect the skills of the medieval workshop and Julia Margaret Cameron to portray the Arthurian court with her Victorian camera; or for Yinka Shonibare in the final years of the twentieth century to visualize a Black Victorian dandy? By exploring the imaginations of successive generations, this book reveals how diverse notions of the past have inspired literature, art, music, architecture and fashion. It shines a light on subjects from myths to mock-Tudor houses, Stonehenge to steampunk, and asks how – and why – the past continues so powerfully to shape the present. Not a history of England, but a history of those who have written, painted and dreamed it into being, Imagining England's Past offers a lively, erudite account of the making and manipulation of the days of old. Praise for Imagining England's Past 'Susan Owens conjures our imagined past with such vivacity and lyricism that I can see the dawn mist rising over fabled fields and hear the tread of fictional histories on the worn stairs of yesteryear. Packed full of myths, stories, poems and paintings I found this book impossible to put down!' Charlotte Mullins, broadcaster, art critic and author of A Little History of Art

The story of the British Empire is a familiar one: Britain came, it saw, it conquered, forging a glorious world empire upon which the sun never set. In fact, far from being the tale of a single nation imposing its will upon the world, the British Empire found itself reshaped by the tenacious resistance of the powerful Indigenous and non-European people it encountered. From ill-advised ventures in Ireland to the failure to curtail North African Corsair states all the way to the collapse of commercial operations in East Asia, British attempts to create an imperial enterprise often ended in embarrassment and even disaster.

In this book, David Veevers looks beyond the myths of triumph and into the realities of British misadventures in the early days of Empire, meeting the extraordinary people across the world who were the real forces to be reckoned with. From the Emperors who determined the expansion of the English East India Company, to the West African kings who resisted English entreaties and set the terms of the lucrative slave trade, to the Paramount Chiefs in America who fought to expunge European forces from their homelands, The Great Defiance retells the story of early Empire from the perspective of the Indigenous and non-European people who held the fate of the British in their hands.

Is een nieuwe Amerikaanse Burgeroorlog op komst, met de democratie als inzet?

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'A burst of springtime joy' Daily Telegraph 'A springboard for ideas about art, space, time and light' The Times 'Lavishly illustrated' Guardian David Hockney reflects upon life and art as he experiences lockdown in rural Normandy An uplifting manifesto that affirms art’s capacity to divert and inspire, Spring Cannot be Cancelled draws on a wealth of conversations and correspondence between the late David Hockney and art critic Martin Gayford, in which the artist reflects upon life as he self-isolates in rural France. Their exchanges span nature, food, art, opera, fairy tales and more, and are illustrated by a selection of Hockney’s Normandy iPad drawings and paintings alongside works by other artists, including van Gogh, Monet and Bruegel. We see how Hockney is propelled ever forward by his infectious enthusiasms and sense of wonder, still utterly absorbed by the themes that have fascinated him for decades: light, colour, space, perception, water, trees. He has much to teach us, not only about how to see... but about how to live.

A timely re-examination of European engagements with indigenous art and the presence of indigenous art in the contemporary art world. The arts of Africa, Oceania and native America famously inspired twentieth-century modernist artists such as Picasso, Matisse and Ernst. The politics of such stimulus, however, have long been highly contentious: was this a cross-cultural discovery to be celebrated, or just one more example of Western colonial appropriation? This revelatory book explores cross-cultural art through the lens of settler societies such as Australia and New Zealand, where Europeans made new nations, displacing and outnumbering but never eclipsing native peoples. In this dynamic of dispossession and resistance, visual art has loomed large. Settler artists and designers drew upon Indigenous motifs and styles in their search for distinctive identities. Yet powerful Indigenous art traditions have asserted the presence of First Nations peoples and their claims to place, history and sovereignty. Cultural exchange has been a two-way process, and an unpredictable one: contemporary Indigenous art draws on global contemporary practice, but moves beyond a bland affirmation of hybrid identities to insist on the enduring values and attachment to place of Indigenous peoples.

THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER

'Magnificent, vivid, moving, superb' Max Hastings, Sunday Times
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This is the closest you will ever get to war - the taste, the smell, the noise and the fear

The Normandy Landings that took place on D-Day involved by far the largest invasion fleet ever known. The scale of the undertaking was awesome and what followed was some of the most cunning and ferocious fighting of the war. As casualties mounted, so too did the tensions between the principal commanders on both sides. Meanwhile, French civilians caught in the middle of these battlefields or under Allied bombing endured terrible suffering. Even the joys of Liberation had their darker side.

Antony Beevor's inimitably gripping narrative conveys the true experience of war. He lands the reader on the beach alongside the heroes whose stories he so masterfully renders in their full terrifying glory.
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'A thrilling story, with all Beevor's narrative mastery' Chris Patten, Financial Times

'Beevor's D-Day has all the qualities that have made his earlier works so successful: an eye for telling and unusual detail, an ability to make complex events understandable, and a wonderful graphic style' Ian Kershaw, Guardian, Books of the Year

'D-Day's phenomenal success is both understandable and justified' James Holland

'D-Day is a triumph . . . on almost every page there's some little detail that sticks in the mind or tweaks the heart. This is a terrific, inspiring, heart-breaking book' Sam Leith, Daily Mail

Cornelius von Baerle lives only to cultivate the elusive black tulip and win a magnificent prize for its creation. But when his powerful godfather is assassinated, the unwitting Cornelius becomes caught up in a deadly political intrigue. Falsely accused of high treason by a bitter rival, Cornelius is condemned to life in prison. His only comfort is Rosa, the jailer's beautiful daughter, who helps him concoct a plan to grow the black tulip in secret. As Robin Buss explains in his informative introduction, Dumas infuses his story with elements from the history of the Dutch Republic (including two brutal murders) and Holland's seventeenth-century "tulipmania" phenomenon.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

The gods and goddesses of ancient Egypt, worshipped for over half of recorded history, are among the most fascinating and complex of any civilization. Here is a comprehensive and authoritative guide to the deities that lay at the heart of Egyptian religion and society. It examines the evolution, worship and eventual decline of the numerous gods and goddesses – from minor household figures such as Bes and Taweret to the all-powerful deities Amun and Re – that made Egypt the most completely theocratic society of the ancient world, and made Egyptians, according to Herodotus, ‘more religious than any other people’.

This handy guide to Egyptian mythology explores how the ancient Nile-dwellers explained the world around them. It delves into the origins of life, the creation and evolution of the world, and the reigns of the gods on earth, before introducing us to the manifestations of Egypt’s deities in the natural environment; the inventive ways in which the Egyptians dealt with the invisible forces all around them; and the trials and tribulations of the life hereafter. This is the perfect introduction for modern readers to the mysteries of Egyptian mythology.

The 500-year story of how, and why, our homes have come to be what they are, from the bestselling author of The Victorian City and The Victorian House.

Lust for Life is the classic fictional re-telling of the incredible life of Vincent Van Gogh.

“Vincent is not dead. He will never die. His love, his genius, the great beauty he has created will go on forever, enriching the world… He was a colossus… a great painter… a great philosopher… a martyr to his love of art. “

Walking down the streets of Paris the young Vincent Van Gogh didn’t feel like he belonged. Battling poverty, repeated heartbreak and familial obligation, Van Gogh was a man plagued by his own creative urge but with no outlet to express it. Until the day he picked up a paintbrush.

Written with raw insight and emotion, follow the artist through his tormented life, struggling against critical discouragement and mental turmoil and bare witness to his creative journey from a struggling artist to one of the world’s most celebrated artists.

Created specifically for fans of Japanese cool culture, A Geek in Japan is one of the most iconic, hip, and concise cultural guides available.

'Richly impressive, hard to surpass' William Boyd
'A notable account of an epic human experience' Max Hastings
‘James Holland brings every inch of this battle vividly to life’ History Revealed
‘This excellent book…The Savage Storm reinforces Holland’s reputation as certainly the busiest and probably the most popular military historian of the second world war working today’ Spectator
‘A must for anyone wanting to better understand the brutal campaign… thoroughly deserves a place on the bookshelf’ Soldier Magazine
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From the bestselling author of Brothers in Arms comes the story of the most pivotal Allies campaign of World War II.

With the invasion of France the following year taking shape, and hot on the heels of victory in Sicily, the Allies crossed into Southern Italy in September 1943. They expected to drive the Axis forces north and be in Rome by Christmas. And although Italy surrendered, the German forces resisted fiercely and the swift hoped-for victory descended into one of the most brutal battles of the war.

Even though shipping and materiel were already being safeguarded for the D-Day landings, there were still huge expectations on the progress of the invading armies, but those shortages were to slow the advance with tragic consequences. As the weather closed in, the critical weeks leading up to Monte Cassino would inflict a heavy price for every bloody, hard fought mile the Allied troops covered.

Chronicling those dark, dramatic months in unflinching and insightful detail, The Savage Storm is unlike any campaign history yet written. James Holland has always recounted the Second World War at ground level, but this version telling brings the story vividly to life like never before. Weaving together a wealth of letters, diaries, and other incredible documents, Holland traces the battles as they were fought - across plains, over mountains, through shattered villages and cities, in intense heat and, towards the end, frigid cold and relentless rain - putting readers at the heart of the action to create an entirely fresh and revealing telling of this most pivotal phase of the war.
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Praise for James Holland

'Impeccably researched and superbly written' Observer
'Holland has something new to say.... Filled with insight and detail' Neil Oliver
'James Holland is the best of the new generation of WW2 historians' Sebastian Faulks
'[A] captivating and dramatic account. . . Drawn from letters and diaries, Holland’s immersive narrative is told through the eye-level perspectives... Readers will be enthralled' Publishers Weekly
‘A remarkable achievement by a historian at the height of his powers. Holland has successfully illustrated both the significance and the savagery of the Italian campaign... through a powerful and compelling narrative’ Military History Matters

By pairing classic paintings with contemporary captions, Men to Avoid in Art and Life perfectly captures those relatable moments when a man very graciously explains to a woman a subject about which he knows considerably less than she does.

The bestselling author of The King in the North turns his attention to the obscure era of British history known as 'the age of Arthur'.

'Not just a valuable book, but a distinctive one as well' Tom Holland, Sunday Times

'An accessible and illuminating book' Gerard de Groot, The Times

'A fascinating picture of Britain's new-found independence' This England

Somewhere between the departure of the Roman legions in the early fifth century and the arrival of Augustine's Christian mission at the end of the sixth, the kingdoms of Early Medieval Britain were formed. But by whom? And out of what?

The First Kingdom is a skilfully wrought investigation of this mysterious epoch, synthesizing archaeological research carried out over the last forty years to tease out reality from the myth. Max Adams presents an image of post-Roman Britain whose resolution is high enough to show the emergence of distinct political structures in the sixth century – polities that survive long enough to be embedded in the medieval landscape, recorded in the lines of river, road and watershed, and memorialized in place names.

A vast archive of documents, unread since the sixteenth century, revises the portrait of Philip II, Spain’s best-known king"A superbly informed narrative of Philip II’s long career as Europe’s most powerful king."—Henry Kamen, Little Reviews"This authoritative, intelligently revisionist biography must stand now as the primary reference."—Iain Finlayson, The Times Philip II (1527-1598) is not only the most famous king in Spanish history, but one of the most famous monarchs in English history: the man who married Mary Tudor and later launched the Spanish Armada against her sister Elizabeth I. This compelling biography of the most powerful European monarch of his day begins with his conception (1526) and ends with his ascent to Paradise (1603), two occurrences surprisingly well documented by contemporaries. Eminent historian Geoffrey Parker draws on four decades of research on Philip as well as a recent, extraordinary archival discovery—a trove of 3,000 documents in the vaults of the Hispanic Society of America in New York City, unread since crossing Philip’s own desk more than four centuries ago. Many of them change significantly what we know about the king. The book examines Philip’s long apprenticeship; his three principal interests (work, play, and religion); and the major political, military, and personal challenges he faced during his long reign. Parker offers fresh insights into the causes of Philip’s leadership failures: was his empire simply too big to manage, or would a monarch with different talents and temperament have fared better?

An epic adventure: from the Vikings to the Enlightenment, from barbaric outpost to global hub, this book tells the dazzling history of northern Europe's transformation by sea.

'Pye writes like a dream. Magnificent' Jerry Brotton, author of A History of the World in Twelve Maps
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This is a story of saints and spies, of anglers and pirates, traders and marauders - and of how their wild and daring journeys across the North Sea built the world we know.

When the Roman Empire retreated, northern Europe was a barbarian outpost at the very edge of everything. A thousand years later, it was the heart of global empires and the home of science, art, enlightenment and money. We owe this transformation to the tides and storms of the North Sea.

Boats carried food and raw materials, but also new ideas and information. The seafarers raided, ruined and killed, but they also settled and coupled. With them they brought new tastes and technologies - books, science, clothes, paintings and machines. Drawing on an astonishing breadth of learning and packed with human stories and revelations, this is the epic drama of how we came to be who we are.
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'A closely-researched and fascinating characterisation of the richness of life and the underestimated interconnections of the peoples all around the medieval and early modern North Sea' Chris Wickham, author of The Inheritance of Rome: A History of Europe from 400 to 1000

'Elegant writing and extraordinary scholarship . . . Miraculous' Hugh Aldersey-Williams, author of Periodic Tales and Anatomies

'Bristling, wide-ranged and big-themed . . . at its most meaningful, history involves a good deal of art and storytelling. Pye's book is full of both' Russell Shorto, New York Times

'For anyone, like this reviewer, who is tired of medieval history as a chronicle of kings and kingdoms, knights and ladies, monks and heretics, The Edge of the World provides a welcome respite' Prof Patrick J Geary, Wall Street Journal

This stunning facsimile hardback edition in a slipcase includes the definite edition of The Diary with an exclusive introduction written by Buddy Elias, who was Anne Frank's beloved first cousin:

'This is by far the most beautiful Diary worldwide. I am absolutely thrilled and very moved that my foreword is in it.' Buddy Elias

Reproduced in the same square size of the original notebook that Anne was given for her 13th birthday with a facsimile red-check cover design. Produced to a high spec with head and tail bands, designed and printed endpages and two 4-colour printed family photo insets.

The Diary of a Young Girl is a timeless true story to be rediscovered by each new generation. For young readers and adults it continues to bring to life Anne's extraordinary courage and struggle throughout her ordeal.

In July 1942, thirteen-year-old Anne Frank and her family, fleeing the horrors of Nazi occupation, went into hiding in an Amsterdam warehouse. Over the next two years Anne vividly describes not only the daily frustrations of living in such close quarters, but also her thoughts, feelings and longings as she grows up. Her diary ends abruptly and tragically when, in August 1944, Anne and her family were all finally betrayed.
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank remains the single most poignant story to emerge from the Second World War, and her diary has come to symbolize not only the horrors of the Holocaust but the strength of the human spirit in adversity.

As we approach the bicentenary of the abolition of the Atlantic trade, Walvin has selected the historical texts that recreate the mindset that made such a savage institution possible - morally acceptable even. Setting these historical documents against Walvin's own incisive historical narrative, the two layers of this extraordinary, definitive account of the Atlantic slave trade enable us to understand the rise and fall of one of the most shameful chapters in British history, the repercussions of which the modern world is still living with.

REVISED AND UPDATED EDITION

'Masterly . . . a wonderfully alert and moving portrait' Mail on Sunday

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Two artistic giants. One small house.

From October to December 1888 a pair of at the time largely unknown artists lived under one roof in the French provincial town of Arles. Paul Gauguin and Vincent Van Gogh ate, drank, talked, argued, slept and painted in one of the most intense and astonishing creative outpourings in history. Yet as the weeks passed Van Gogh buckles under the strain, fought with his companion and committed an act of violence on himself that prompted Gauguin to flee without saying goodbye to his friend.

The Yellow House is an intimate portrait of their time together as well as a subtle exploration of a fragile friendship, art, madness, genius behind a shocking act of self-mutilation that the world has sought to explain ever since.

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'Gayford's fascinating depiction of the Odd Couple of art history is both moving and riveting' Daily Mail

'Profoundly absorbing. Gayford has reconstructed these tumultuous weeks . . . the reader lives them day by day, almost minute by minute. Delightful, utterly fascinating' Independent on Sunday

LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION
WATERSTONES' BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: HISTORY
The boldly original, dramatic intertwined story of Catherine de’ Medici, Elisabeth de Valois and Mary, Queen of Scots – three queens exercising power in a world dominated by men.

'Alluring, gripping, real: an astonishing insight into the lives of three queens' ALICE ROBERTS
'Takes us into the hearts and minds of three extraordinary women' AMANDA FOREMAN
'Conveys the vitality of the past as few books do. An enviable tour de force' SUZANNAH LIPSCOMB

Catherine de’ Medici, Elisabeth de Valois and Mary, Queen of Scots lived together at the French court for many years – years that bound them to one another through blood and marriage, alliance and friendship, love and filial piety. When they scattered to different kingdoms, they would learn that to rule was to wage a constant war against the deeply entrenched misogyny of the sixteenth century. A crown could exalt a young woman. Equally, it could destroy her.

Young Queens masterfully weaves the personal stories of these three queens into one, revealing their hopes, dreams, desires and regrets at a time when even the most powerful women lived at the mercy of the state.

Move over, Renoir! And put down that brush! Here's everything you need to create 12 iconic works of art—by Vermeer, Van Gogh, Monet, Michelangelo, and more—one sticker at a time. New in the bestselling Paint By Sticker series.

Learn about key movements like impressionism, cubism and symbolism in The Art Book.

Part of the fascinating Big Ideas series, this book tackles tricky topics and themes in a simple and easy to follow format. Learn about Art in this overview guide to the subject, brilliant for novices looking to find out more and experts wishing to refresh their knowledge alike! The Art Book brings a fresh and vibrant take on the topic through eye-catching graphics and diagrams to immerse yourself in.

This captivating book will broaden your understanding of Art, with:

- More than 80 of the world's most remarkable artworks
- Packed with facts, charts, timelines and graphs to help explain core concepts
- A visual approach to big subjects with striking illustrations and graphics throughout
- Easy to follow text makes topics accessible for people at any level of understanding

The Art Book is a captivating introduction to painting, drawing, printing, sculpture, conceptual art, and performance art - from ancient history to the modern day - aimed at adults with an interest in the subject and students wanting to gain more of an overview. Here you'll discover more than 80 of the world's most groundbreaking artworks by history's most influential painters, sculptors and artists, through exciting text and bold graphics.

Your Art Questions, Simply Explained

This fresh new guide examines the ideas that inspired masterpieces by Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Klimt, Matisse, Picasso, and dozens more! If you thought it was difficult to learn about the defining movements, The Art Book presents key information in a clear layout. Find out about subject matters, techniques, and materials, and learn about the talented artists behind the great works, through superb mind maps and step-by-step summaries.

The Big Ideas Series

With millions of copies sold worldwide, The Art Book is part of the award-winning Big Ideas series from DK. The series uses striking graphics along with engaging writing, making big topics easy to understand.

'Superb ... likely to become a classic' Observer

In the summer of 1914 most of Europe plunged into a war so catastrophic that it unhinged the continent's politics and beliefs in a way that took generations to recover from. The disaster terrified its survivors, shocked that a civilization that had blandly assumed itself to be a model for the rest of the world had collapsed into a chaotic savagery beyond any comparison. In 1939 Europeans would initiate a second conflict that managed to be even worse - a war in which the killing of civilians was central and which culminated in the Holocaust.

To Hell and Back tells this story with humanity, flair and originality. Kershaw gives a compelling narrative of events, but he also wrestles with the most difficult issues that the events raise - with what it meant for the Europeans who initiated and lived through such fearful times - and what this means for us.

A sweeping cultural and economic history of porcelain, from the eighteenth century to the present

'A fabulous story, superbly told' Max Hastings


The bloodbath at Waterloo ended a war that had engulfed the world for over twenty years. It also finished the career of the charismatic Napoleon Bonaparte. It ensured the final liberation of Germany and the restoration of the old European monarchies, and it represented one of very few defeats for the glorious French army, most of whose soldiers remained devoted to their Emperor until the very end.

Extraordinary though it may seem much about the Battle of Waterloo has remained uncertain, with many major features of the campaign hotly debated. Most histories have depended heavily on the evidence of British officers that were gathered about twenty years after the battle. But the recent publication of an abundance of fresh first-hand accounts from soldiers of all the participating armies has illuminated important episodes and enabled radical reappraisal of the course of the campaign. What emerges is a darker, muddier story, no longer biased by notions of regimental honour, but a tapestry of irony, accident, courage, horror and human frailty.

An epic page turner, rich in dramatic human detail and grounded in first-class scholarly research, Waterloo is the real inside story of the greatest land battle in British history, the defining showdown of the age of muskets, bayonets, cavalry and cannon.

Drawing on his own experiences and inspirations - from staging his first exhibition in his tiny Zurich kitchen in 1986 to encounters with artists, exhibition makers and thinkers - Hans Ulrich Obrist looks to inspire all those engaged in the creation of culture.

Moving from meetings with artists to the creation of the first public museums in the 18th century, recounting the practice of inspirational figures such as Diaghilev, skipping between exhibitions, continents and centuries, Ways of Curating argues that curation is far from a static practice. Driven by curiosity, at its best it allows us to create the future.

WINNER OF THE WOLFSON HISTORY PRIZE 2020

A SUNDAY TIMES, FINANCIAL TIMES, THE TIMES AND BBC HISTORY MAGAZINE BOOK OF THE YEAR

For most of human history, the seas and oceans have been the main means of long-distance trade and communication between peoples - for the spread of ideas and religion as well as commerce. This book traces the history of human movement and interaction around and across the world's greatest bodies of water, charting our relationship with the oceans from the time of the first voyagers. David Abulafia begins with the earliest of seafaring societies - the Polynesians of the Pacific, the possessors of intuitive navigational skills long before the invention of the compass, who by the first century were trading between their far-flung islands. By the seventh century, trading routes stretched from the coasts of Arabia and Africa to southern China and Japan, bringing together the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific and linking half the world through the international spice trade. In the Atlantic, centuries before the little kingdom of Portugal carved out its powerful, seaborne empire, many peoples sought new lands across the sea - the Bretons, the Frisians and, most notably, the Vikings, now known to be the first Europeans to reach North America. As Portuguese supremacy dwindled in the late sixteenth century, the Spanish, the Dutch and then the British each successively ruled the waves.

Following merchants, explorers, pirates, cartographers and travellers in their quests for spices, gold, ivory, slaves, lands for settlement and knowledge of what lay beyond, Abulafia has created an extraordinary narrative of humanity and the oceans. From the earliest forays of peoples in hand-hewn canoes through uncharted waters to the routes now taken daily by supertankers in their thousands, The Boundless Sea shows how maritime networks came to form a continuum of interaction and interconnection across the globe: 90 per cent of global trade is still conducted by sea. This is history of the grandest scale and scope, and from a bracingly different perspective - not, as in most global histories, from the land, but from the boundless seas.

A magnet for trade and travellers from all over the world, stylish, cosmopolitan Amsterdam is a city of dreams and nightmares, of grand civic architecture and legendary beauty, but also of civil wars, bloody religious purges, and the tragedy of Anne Frank.

In this fascinating examination of the city's soul, part history, part travel guide, Geert Mak imaginatively recreates the lives of the early Amsterdammers, and traces Amsterdam's progress from waterlogged settlement to a major financial centre and thriving modern metropolis

'Action-packed, brilliantly unique' – Andy Weir, author of The Martian

A compulsive, mind-bending exploration of memory and what it means to be human, Recursion is a breathtaking thriller from the author of Dark Matter, Blake Crouch.

At first, it looks like a disease.

An epidemic that spreads through no known means, driving its victims mad with memories of a life they never lived.

But the force that’s sweeping the world is no pathogen. It’s just the first shockwave, unleashed by a stunning discovery – and what’s in jeopardy is not just our minds.

In New York City, Detective Barry Sutton is closing in on the truth – and in a remote laboratory, neuroscientist Helena Smith is unaware that she alone holds the key to this mystery . . . and the tools for fighting back.

Together, Barry and Helena will have to confront their enemy – before they, and the world, are trapped in a loop of ever-growing chaos.

'Recursion takes mind-twisting premises and embeds them in a deeply emotional story about time and loss and grief and most of all, the glory of the human heart' – Gregg Hurwitz, author of Orphan X

Readers are blown away by Recursion . . .

'An unbelievably good read'

'Mind-blowing, brilliant, enthralling and gripping from beginning to end'

'The stakes are colossal, the characters are the perfect propelling forces of the story, and the big reveals are placed at exactly the right moments'

'I couldn't put it down, I had to know what happened next'

'Crouch, an already phenomenal author, just keeps getting better'

THE 25th ANNIVERSARY EDITION WITH A NEW FOREWORD FROM WILLIAM DALRYMPLE

'A book to read, reread, then read again to your children' Independent on Sunday

'Once embarked upon the journey of the book, one is loath, sometimes unable to turn back' Sunday Times

'A book that makes the reader sit in a trance, lost in passionate desire to pack a suitcase and go to the fabulous place' The Spectator

The legendary story of how one man's actions led to the birth of New York - and the beginning of the British Empire.

In 1616, English adventurer Nathaniel Courthope stepped ashore on a remote island in the East Indies on a secret mission - to persuade the islanders of Run to grant a monopoly to England over their nutmeg, a fabulously valuable spice. This infuriated the Dutch, who were determined to control the world's supply. For five years Courthope and his band of thirty men were besieged by a force one hundred times greater. His heroism set in motion a series of events that led to England owning Manhattan, culminating in the creation of New York and the launch of the British Empire.

Beautifully told, Nathaniel's Nutmeg is a modern classic of adventure, ambition and exploration.

The first detailed survey of Swedish artist Hilma af Klint’s groundbreaking Tree of Knowledge series

“Revelatory and sublime. . . . Her work remains conceptually open enough for viewers to draw their own conclusions, insert their own meaning and feel transported to other glorious worlds.” —The New York Times
One of the most inventive artists of the twentieth century, af Klint was a pioneer of abstraction. Her first forays into nonobjective painting preceded the work of Kandinsky and Mondrian and radically mined the fields of science and religion. Deeply interested in spiritualism and philosophy, af Klint developed an iconography that explores esoteric concepts in metaphysics, as demonstrated in Tree of Knowledge. This rarely seen series of works on paper renders orbital, enigmatic forms, visual allegories of unification and separateness, darkness and light, beginning and end, life and death, and spirit and matter.

Published on the occasion of the exhibition Hilma af Klint: Tree of Knowledge at David Zwirner, New York, in 2021 and David Zwirner, London, in 2022, this book features a text by the art historian Susan Aberth examining af Klint’s spiritual and theosophical influences. With a conversation between curator Helen Molesworth and the US Poet Laureate Joy Harjo discussing connections between Tree of Knowledge and Native theories, the publication broadens the scope of philosophical interpretations of af Klint's timeless work. Also included is a newly commissioned essay by the celebrated af Klint scholar Julia Voss, a contribution by the artist Suzan Frecon, and a text by art historian Max Rosenberg that further develops the conversation around why af Klint’s work was not recognized in its time.

'A witty, gossipy, sparkling history, full of bright jewels of anecdote... Magnificent Rebels is a triumph' THE TIMES, Book of the Week

'Extraordinary... A thrilling intellectual history that reads like a racy, intelligent novel, with a cast of unforgettable characters' SUNDAY TIMES

'Magnificent Rebels is a magnificent book: a revelation which could easily become an obsession' SPECTATOR

'A thrilling page-turner, by turns comical & tragic... My book of the year so far' TOM HOLLAND

'Elegantly written, deeply researched and totally gripping' SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE

In the 1790s an extraordinary group of friends changed the world. Disappointed by the French Revolution's rapid collapse into tyranny, what they wanted was nothing less than a revolution of the mind. The rulers of Europe had ordered their peoples how to think and act for too long. Based in the small German town of Jena, through poetry, drama, philosophy and science, they transformed the way we think about ourselves and the world around us. They were the first Romantics.

Their way of understanding the world still frames our lives and being.We're still empowered by their daring leap into the self. We still think with their minds, see with their imagination and feel with their emotions. We also still walk the same tightrope between meaningful self-fulfilment and destructive narcissism, between the rights of the individual and our role as a member of our community and our responsibilities towards future generations who will inhabit this planet. This extraordinary group of friends changed our world. It is impossible to imagine our lives, thoughts and understanding without the foundation of their ground-breaking ideas.

The perfect Father's Day gift

Tolkien's works are punctuated by dramatic and explosive battles. Men versus Orcs, Elves versus Sauron, Goblins versus Dwarves - the history of Middle-earth has seen some of the greatest characters pitted against each other time and time again. From the iconic battle of Helm's Deep to the Destruction of Isengard, The Battles of Tolkien analyzes each battle in depth, with clear maps showing the lay of the land, and exactly how and where the armies attacked. This is essential reading for anyone who loves Tolkien's works and wants to explore the wars within them.




This work is unofficial and is not authorized by the Tolkien Estate or HarperCollins Publishers.

Starry Night is a fascinating, fully illustrated account of Van Gogh's time at the asylum in Saint-Remy, during which he created some of his most iconic pieces of art.

Despite the challenges of ill health and asylum life, Van Gogh continued to produce a series of masterpieces – cypresses, wheatfields, olive groves and sunsets during his time there. This fascinating and insightful work from arts journalist and Van Gogh specialist Martin Bailey examines his time there, from the struggles that sent him to the asylum, to the brilliant creative inspiration that he found during his time here.

He wrote very little about the asylum in letters to his brother Theo, so this book sets out to give an impression of daily life behind the walls of the asylum of Saint-Paul-de-Mausole and looks at Van Gogh through fresh eyes, with newly discovered material.

An essential insight into the mind of a flawed genius, Starry Night is indispensable for those who wish to understand the life of one of the most talented and brilliant artists to have put paintbrush to canvas.

Virgin by Design is the official publication volume celebrating 50 years of daring innovation and creativity at Virgin, presenting the stories, the people and the work that went into the building and shaping of a much-loved and globally respected brand. More than a retrospective, it gets to the heart of the values that make the Virgin brand so unique, communicating how those values resonate with people today – and will continue to do so in the future. Based on in-depth research and interviews with all the key people who have played a part in Virgin’s companies past and present, Virgin by Design is organized into ten chapters – each with fully illustrated case studies – that provide a sense of how hard work and brilliant ideas have resonated with audiences worldwide. Spanning the full 50-year period from Virgin’s beginnings as a record store to its bold future in space tourism with Virgin Galactic, it also embraces Virgin’s broad diversity in terms of its global presence as a brand, its mission and purpose to change business for good, and in its offerings across multiple sectors, including travel, banking, health and fitness, communications and entertainment. Virgin by Design is packed with the wit, verve, spirit of adventure and ‘how it was done’ insights that will make it a must-have publication.

Ancient Rome matters.Its history of empire, conquest, cruelty and excess is something against which we still judge ourselves. Its myths and stories - from Romulus and Remus to the Rape of Lucretia - still strike a chord with us. And its debates about citizenship, security and the rights of the individual still influence our own debates on civil liberty today.SPQR is a new look at Roman history from one of the world's foremost classicists. It explores not only how Rome grew from an insignificant village in central Italy to a power that controlled territory from Spain to Syria, but also how the Romans thought about themselves and their achievements, and why they are still important to us. Covering 1,000 years of history, and casting fresh light on the basics of Roman culture from slavery to running water, as well as exploring democracy, migration, religious controversy, social mobility and exploitation in the larger context of the empire, this is a definitive history of ancient Rome.SPQR is the Romans' own abbreviation for their state: Senatus Populusque Romanus, 'the Senate and People of Rome'.

Chanel's combination of tradition, originality and style has always made it the most seductive of brands. Here the House of Chanel opens its private archives, revealing a galaxy of brilliant designs created by Coco Chanel from the 1920s onwards, and now reinterpreted to become the motifs for brand new garments, accessories and beauty products. Inspired by the House's signature fragrance, the legendary ‘Chanel No 5’, the book explores five central themes – the suit, the camellia, jewelry, fragrances and make-up, and the little black dress – and follows the threads from past to present to show how these key items have been rediscovered and reinvented by fashion designers working in the footsteps of their illustrious predecessors. This visual journey is enhanced by previously unpublished archive photographs and original drawings by Karl Lagerfeld, as well as glorious images from some of the greatest names in fashion photography. Dazzling clothes, intricate accessories, beautiful models and timeless design leave no doubt as to the lasting fame of the brand and embody everything that has come to symbolize the magic of Chanel.

'Fascinating, masterful ... gems scattered throughout the book' Peter Frankopan, Spectator

'Quirkily original but also scholarly and authoritative, to be read for pleasure and serious reflection' Telegraph

*The dramatic history of Europe's shape-shifting centre, from the author of The Habsburgs*

Central Europe is not just a space on a map but also a region of shared experience - of mutual borrowings, impositions and misapprehensions. From the Roman Empire onwards, it has been the target of invasion from the east. In the Middle Ages, Central Europeans cast their eastern foes as 'the dogmen'. They would later become the Turks, Swedes, Russians and Soviets, all of whom pulled the region apart and remade it according to their own vision.

Competition among Europe's Middle Kingdoms yielded repeated cultural effervescences. This was the first home of the High Renaissance outside Italy, the cradle of the Reformation, the starting point of the Enlightenment, Romanticism, the symphony and modern nationalism. It was a permanent battleground too for religious and political ideas.

Most recent histories of Central Europe confine themselves to the lands in between Germany and Russia, homing in on Poland, Hungary, and what is now the Czech Republic. This new history embraces the whole of Central Europe, including the German lands as well as Ukraine and Switzerland. The story of Europe's Middle Kingdoms is a reminder of Central Europe's precariousness, of its creativity and turbulence, and of the common cultural trends that make these lands so distinctive.

Make sure to check out the other installments in this unparalleled collection of historical information on The Legend of Zelda franchise with the New York Times best selling The Legend of Zelda: Art & Artifacts and The Legend of Zelda: Encyclopedia. Also look for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild — Creating a Champion for an indepth look at the art, lore, and making of the best selling video game!


Dark Horse Books and Nintendo team up to bring you The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia, containing an unparalleled collection of historical information on The Legend of Zelda franchise. This handsome hardcover contains never-before-seen concept art, the full history of Hyrule, the official chronology of the games, and much more! Starting with an insightful introduction by the legendary producer and video-game designer of Donkey Kong, Mario, and The Legend of Zelda, Shigeru Miyamoto, this book is crammed full of information about the storied history of Link's adventures from the creators themselves! As a bonus, The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia includes an exclusive comic by the foremost creator of The Legend of Zelda manga — Akira Himekawa!

The first truly global history of work, an upbeat assessment from the age of the hunter-gatherer to the present day “Beginning in the hunting-and-gathering past, this long view of work shows how little has changed over millennia. Progressing through the rise of cities, wages and markets for labour, it traces a perennial cycle of injustice and resistance—and the age-old desire for more.”—The Economist, “Best Books of 2021” “Absolutely fascinating. . . . Lucassen’s own compassion shines through this magisterial book.”—Christina Patterson, The Guardian We work because we have to, but also because we like it: from hunting-gathering more than 700,000 years ago to the present era of zoom meetings, humans have always worked to make the world around them serve their needs. Jan Lucassen provides an inclusive history of humanity’s busy labor throughout the ages. Spanning China, India, Africa, the Americas, and Europe, Lucassen looks at the ways in which humanity organizes work: in the household, the tribe, the city, and the state. He examines how labor is split between men, women, and children; the watershed moment of the invention of money; the collective action of workers; and the impact of migration, slavery, and the idea of leisure. From peasant farmers in the first agrarian societies to the precarious existence of today’s gig workers, this surprising account of both cooperation and subordination at work throws essential light on the opportunities we face today.

The perfect introduction to the world of Japanese myth and legend. This is a smart and succinct guide to the rich tradition of Japanese mythology, from the earliest recorded legends of Izanagi and Izanami, their divine offspring and the creation of Japan, to medieval tales of vengeful ghosts, through to the modern-day reincarnation of ancient deities as the heroes of mecha anime. While many around the world love Japan’s cultural exports, few are familiar with Japan’s unique mythology - enriched by Shinto, Buddhism and regional folklore. Mythology remains a living, evolving part of Japanese society, and the ways in which the people of Japan understand their myths are very different today even from a century ago, let alone over a millennium into the past. Offering much more than any competing overview of Japanese mythology, The Japanese Myths not only retells the ancient stories but also considers their place within the patterns of Japanese religions, culture and history, helping readers to understand the deep links between past and present in Japan, and the ways these myths live and grow. Joshua Frydman takes the very earliest written myths in the Kojiki and the Nihonshoki as his starting point, and from there traces Japan’s mythology through to post-war State Shinto, the rise of the manga industry in the 1960s, J-horror and modern-day myths. Reinventions and retellings of myth are present across all genres of contemporary Japanese culture, from its auteur cinema to renowned video games such as Okami. This book is for anyone interested in Japan, as knowing its myths allows readers to understand and appreciate its culture in a new light.

The lively and revealing correspondence that Vincent van Gogh maintained with his art-dealer brother Theo is famous as a source of insight into the mind of one of the most celebrated artists of all time. But what of Anna, Lies and Willemien van Gogh, with whom Vincent had intimate and sometimes turbulent relationships? It was an argument with his oldest sister, Anna, in the aftermath of their father’s death that provoked Vincent to leave the Netherlands and never return. The Van Gogh siblings grew up at a time when long-distance travel by train first became possible. As each went their own way, following work and study to London, Paris, Brussels and beyond, they maintained the close relationships forged in their youth in the Netherland’s idyllic countryside by sending candid and personal letters. In this thoughtful and unprecedented biographical history, Willem-Jan Verlinden delves into previously unpublished correspondence in the Van Gogh family archives to bring Vincent’s three sisters out from their brothers’ shadow, poignantly portraying their dreams, disappointments and grief. The oldest sister, Anna, worked as a governess in England as a young woman before marrying a Dutch industrialist. The second sister, Lies, fell into poverty in spite of her literary aspirations and was forced to sell many of her brother’s paintings. Willemien, the third sister, was an active participant in the first feminist wave. She visited the studio of Edgar Degas in Paris with Theo and discussed art enthusiastically with her painter brother. She and Vincent also shared their struggles with mental health, which for Willemien resulted in institutionalization for the second half of her life. With great clarity and empathy, The Van Gogh Sisters captures a moment of profound social, economic and artistic change. The sisters’ intimate discussions of poetry and books, love, personal ambition and the opportunities afforded them broaden our understanding of this dramatic era in European history when the feminist movement was emergent and idealists of all stripes climbed the barricades in pursuit of revolution. With 132 illustrations, 21 in colour

A rich visual history celebrating a century of the magazine’s publication, Architectural Digest at 100 presents the best from the pages of the international design authority.

Introduction by Amy Astley, Architectural Digest editor in chief * Foreword by Anna Wintour

“A survey of how Americans have lived—and how American life has changed—over the past 100 years.” —Los Angeles Times

“Celeb Décor to Envy.” —Variety

Architectural Digest’s editors have delved into the archives and culled years of rich material covering a variety of subjects. Ranging freely between present and past, the book features the personal spaces of dozens of private celebrities like Barack and Michelle Obama, David Bowie, Truman Capote, David Hockney, Michael Kors, and Diana Vreeland.

It also includes the work of top designers and architects like Frank Gehry, David Hicks, India Mahdavi, Peter Marino, John Fowler, Renzo Mongiardino, Oscar Niemeyer, Axel Vervoordt, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Elsie de Wolfe.

Also included are stunning images from the magazine’s history by photographers such as Bill Cunningham, Horst P. Horst, Simon Upton, Francois Dischinger, Francois Halard, Julius Shulman, and Oberto Gili.

“Written in the elevated quality that only the editors of Architectural Digest can master so well, [this] is the world’s newest guide to the best and brightest designs to inspire your next big home project.” —The Editorialist

The Monocle Book of JapanThe Monocle Book of Italy

The best thing about rules is that you can break them: here are over 100 mantras for anyone interested in creating great art.

What can we learn from great artists? When we hold their practices up to the light, what do we see – and how might those encounters reshape our own thinking about art?

Delving into the attitudes, working practices and mantras of artists hailing from the eighteenth century to the present day, Art Rules distills over 100 insights into the lives of artists inside the studio and out. This book is animated by questions: How do artists think about creativity? What forms can process take? How might artists craft a personal definition of success?

Drawing upon art historical research and artist interviews, the accessible takeaways on these virtuosos’ varied practices pack a punch. This lively compendium offers up a wealth of perspectives from an international, intergenerational group of artists working across media.Art historical heavyweights including Louise Bourgeois, Marcel Duchamp, Frida Kahlo and Henri Matisse appear alongside relatively newer names such as Kerry James Marshall, Ana Mendieta and Mika Rottenberg, as well as exciting artists on the rise like Emilie Louise Gossiaux and Madeline Hollander.

Some of the insights may seem more practical, while others trend conceptual; some may unearth existing knowledge, while others may come as a surprise; some will stay with you forever, while others you’ll only need to try once. Art Rules allows readers to either dip in at random or read from cover to cover for lessons in how great artists think, make and work.

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 selected objects, this superb new overview connects today’s India with its past. Early chapters uncover prehistoric objects from 1.5 million years ago, examine artefacts from the Indus Civilization, and follow the emergence and transmission of Buddhism, Jainism, Hinduism and Sikhism, as well as the incoming religions of Zoroastrianism, Islam and Christianity. During the medieval era, skills related to temple-building and sculpture-production in stone and bronze developed. From this remote period up to the present day, pilgrimage has been an important part of the spread of social, political and religious ideas. With the rise of the Mughals, the last Muslim dynasty of India, India once more became a leading economic power. The development of a distinct Mughal style can be traced in paintings, hardstone carving and metalwork. Following the advent of Europeans in India in the early Mughal period, trade in spices, textiles and other luxury goods increased. Later, in the 19th century, under British rule, much of South Asia became part of a national and international trade complex that saw Indian goods exported throughout the world. Modernism and political independence in the 20th century saw the fresh assertion of Indian culture through cinema, dance and music. An extraordinary range of history and culture is presented here, from the splendour of dynastic empires to the rural, and tribal life of the subcontinent. This is a compelling visual history of some of the world’s oldest cultures.

**THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER**

Foreword by Tom Hanks.

The book that inspired Steven Spielberg’s acclaimed TV series, and its sequel, Masters of the Air.

In Band of Brothers, Stephen E. Ambrose pays tribute to the men of Easy Company, a crack rifle company in the US Army. From their rigorous training in Georgia in 1942 to the dangerous parachute landings on D-Day and their triumphant capture of Hitler’s ‘Eagle’s Nest’ in Berchtesgaden. Ambrose tells the story of this remarkable company. Repeatedly sent on the toughest missions, these brave men fought, went hungry, froze and died in the service of their country. Celebrating the 25th anniversary since the original publication, this reissue contains a new foreword from Tom Hanks who was an executive producer on the award-winning HBO series.

A tale of heroic adventures and soul-shattering confrontations, Band of Brothers brings back to life, as only Stephen E. Ambrose can, the profound ties of brotherhood forged in the barracks and on the battlefields.

‘History boldly told and elegantly written . . . Gripping’ Wall Street Journal

‘Ambrose proves once again he is a masterful historian . . . spellbinding’ People

**An International Bestseller**

Fake news about the past is fake history.

Did Hugo Boss design the Nazi uniforms?
Did medieval people think the world was flat?
Did Napoleon shoot the nose off the Sphinx?
*Spoiler Alert* The answer to all those questions is no.

From the famous quote 'Let them eat cake' - mistakenly attributed to Marie Antoinette - to the apocryphal horns that adorned Viking helmets, fake history continues to shape the story we tell about who we are and how we got here. With doctored photographs, AI-generated images and false claims about the past circulating in the news and on social media, separating fact from fiction seems harder than ever before.

Jo Hedwig Teeuwisse, better known as The Fake History Hunter, is on a one-woman mission to hunt down fake history and reclaim the truth for the rest of us.

In this fascinating and illuminating book, Teeuwisse debunks 101 myths so you can correct your friends and family, and arm yourself with the tools to spot and debunk fake history wherever you encounter it.

A History Today Book of the Year

Finalist for the Lambda Literary Award

'A beautiful, brilliant, lively book that weaves together fascinating and moving examples with thoughtful analysis. Both heartfelt and rigorous, entertaining and scholarly, Before We Were Trans invites us to expand our sense of communities - past and present - in welcoming ways, rather than contracting them and policing their borders' MEG-JOHN BARKER, author of Gender: A Graphic Guide

'Celebrates trans history, whilst acknowledging the reality of what it means to live within our community with joy and kindness. In-depth research and personal stories tie Before We Were Trans up into a true treat for the mind' JAMIE WINDUST, author of In Their Shoes

Across the world today, people of all ages are doing fascinating, creative, messy things with gender. These people have a rich history - but one that is often left behind by narratives of trans lives that focus on people with stable, binary, uncomplicated gender identities. As a result, these stories tend to be recent, binary, stereotyped, medicalised and white.

Before We Were Trans is a new and different story of gender, that seeks not to be comprehensive or definitive, but - by blending culture, feminism and politics - to widen the scope of what we think of as trans history by telling the stories of people across the globe whose experience of gender has been transgressive, or not characterised by stability or binary categories.

Transporting us from Renaissance Venice to seventeenth-century Angola, from Edo Japan to North America, the stories this book tells leave questions and resist conclusions. They are fraught with ambiguity, and defy modern Western terminology and categories - not least the category of 'trans' itself. But telling them provides a history that reflects the richness of modern trans reality more closely than any previously written.

Before We Were Trans is a history and celebration of gender in all its fluidity, ambiguity and complexity.

From Classical times to the 19th century, the great quest to discover and define the intoxicating diversity of the natural world attracted a host of intrepid thinkers and explorers. Aristotle and Linnaeus set out to classify nature; Joseph Banks and von Humboldt made perilous journeys to collect and record it. Antony van Leeuwenhoek discovered bacteria with a homemade microscope and James Hutton revealed the immense age of the Earth. Mary Anning hunted fossils; others insects, birds and plants. Georges Cuvier pondered extinction, and Charles Darwin proclaimed the origin of species. With their radical thinking and commitment to close observation, these pioneers laid foundations for the specialist scientists of today. Here thirty-nine of them are brought vividly to life by an array of experts, with illustrations from the unmatched archive of the Natural History Museum, London.

THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

'Holland, who co-hosts the podcast The Rest Is History, is at his best when having fun with Rome's bloody history' The Times

'A book for lovers of traditional, grand sweep narrative history' Sunday Times

The definitive history of Rome's golden age - antiquity's ultimate superpower at the pinnacle of its greatness

The Pax Romana has long been revered as a golden age. At its peak, the Roman Empire stretched from Scotland to Arabia, and contained perhaps a quarter of humanity. It was the wealthiest and most formidable state the world had yet seen.

Beginning in 69AD, a year that saw four Caesars in succession rule the empire, and ending some seven decades later with the death of Hadrian, Pax presents a dazzling history of Rome at the height of its power. From the gilded capital to realms beyond the frontier, historian Tom Holland portrays the Roman Empire in all its predatory glory. Vivid scene follows vivid scene: the destruction of Jerusalem and Pompeii, the building of the Colosseum and Hadrian's Wall, the conquests of Trajan. Vividly sketching the lives of Romans both ordinary and spectacular, from slaves to emperors, Holland demonstrates how Roman peace was the fruit of unprecedented military violence.

A stunning portrait of Rome's glory days, this is the epic history of the pax Romana.

PAX was a Sunday Times bestseller 16/07/23

An illustrated selection of Van Gogh’s letters, forming an extraordinary window into the life and creative thinking of one of the world’s most iconic artists. Vincent van Gogh’s letters have long been prized as some of the most valuable documents in the world of art. Not only do they throw light on Van Gogh’s own complex and intriguing character, they enlighten the whole creative process as seen through his eyes. Here we can observe Van Gogh’s thoughts and opinions at first hand, as well as his close ties with his brother Theo, his sometimes troubled relationships with friends and fellow artists, his personal doubts and fears, and above all his overriding passion for his art. This is not only an immense treasure trove of biographical and art-historical information, it provides a lasting pleasure as a personal written testimony to a life consecrated to art. Vincent van Gogh: A Life in Letters belongs on the shelves of every reader in search of self-revelatory documents of one of the greatest creative minds.

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 butterflies. Magic packed a cloud of water vapour with energy enough to destroy a house with one well-aimed thunderbolt. It was everyday magic, but it was still magical. Philip Matyszak takes readers into that world. He shows us how to make a love potion or cast a curse, how to talk to the dead and how to identify and protect oneself from evil spirits. He takes us to a world where gods, like humans, were creatures of space and time; where people could not just talk to spirits and deities, but could even themselves become divine; and where divine beings could fall from – or be promoted to – full godhood. Ancient Magic offers us a new way of understanding the role of magic, looking at its history in all of its classical forms. Drawing on a wide array of sources, from Greek dramas to curse tablets, lavishly illustrated throughout, and packed with information, surprises, lore and learning, this book offers an engaging and accessible way into the supernatural for all.

Rozsika Parker's re-evaluation of the reciprocal relationship between women and embroidery has brought stitchery out from the private world of female domesticity into the fine arts, created a major breakthrough in art history and criticism, and fostered the emergence of today's dynamic and expanding crafts movements.

The Subversive Stitch is now available again with a new Introduction that brings the book up to date with exploration of the stitched art of Louise Bourgeois and Tracey Emin, as well as the work of new young female and male embroiderers. Rozsika Parker uses household accounts, women's magazines, letters, novels and the works of art themselves to trace through history how the separation of the craft of embroidery from the fine arts came to be a major force in the marginalisation of women's work. Beautifully illustrated, her book also discusses the contradictory nature of women's experience of embroidery: how it has inculcated female subservience while providing an immensely pleasurable source of creativity, forging links between women.

From the bestselling author of The Templars.
'Voyages, battles, sieges and slaughter: Dan Jones's tumultuous and thrilling history of the crusades is one of the best' SUNDAY TIMES.

'A powerful story brilliantly told. Dan Jones writes with pace, wit and insight' HELEN CASTOR.

'A fresh and vibrant account of a conflict that raged across medieval centuries' JONATHAN PHILLIPS.

Dan Jones, best-selling chronicler of the Middle Ages, turns his attention to the history of the Crusades – the sequence of religious wars fought between the late eleventh century and late medieval periods, in which armies from European Christian states attempted to wrest the Holy Land from Islamic rule, and which have left an enduring imprint on relations between the Muslim world and the West.

From the preaching of the First Crusade by Pope Urban II in 1095 to the loss of the last crusader outpost in the Levant in 1302-03, and from the taking of Jerusalem from the Fatimids in 1099 to the fall of Acre to the Mamluks in 1291, Crusaders tells a tale soaked in Islamic, Christian and Jewish blood, peopled by extraordinary characters, and characterised by both low ambition and high principle.

Dan Jones is a master of popular narrative history, with the priceless ability to write page-turning narrative history underpinned by authoritative scholarship. Never before has the era of the Crusades been depicted in such bright and striking colours, or their story told with such gusto.

PRAISE FOR THE TEMPLARS:

'A fresh, muscular and compelling history of the ultimate military-religious crusading order, combining sensible scholarship with narrative swagger' SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE.

'Dan Jones has created a gripping page-turner out of the dramatic history of the Templars' PHILIPPA GREGORY.

'The story of the Templars, the ultimate holy warriors, is an extraordinary saga of fanaticism, bravery, treachery and betrayal, and in Dan Jones they have a worthy chronicler. The Templars is a wonderful book!' BERNARD CORNWELL.

'Told with all Jones's usual verve and panache, this is a dramatic and gripping tale of courage and stupidity, faith and betrayal' MAIL ON SUNDAY.

'This is another triumphant tale from a historian who writes as addictively as any page-turning novelist' OBSERVER.

'The Templars is exhilarating, epic, sword-swinging history' TLS.

'Jones carries the Templars through the crusades with clarity and verve. This is unabashed narrative history, fast-paced and full of incident... Jones tells their story extremely well' SUNDAY TIMES.

In 1957 the American artist Robert Motherwell made an unexpected claim: "I have only known two painting milieus well … the Parisian Surrealists, with whom I began painting seriously in New York in 1940, and the native movement that has come to be known as 'abstract expressionism,' but which genetically would have been more properly called 'abstract surrealism.'"Surrealists in New YorkThe impact of Max Ernst, André Masson, Louise Bourgeois and other noted émigrés on the work of Motherwell, Pollock, Mark Rothko, and the American avant-garde has for too long been quietly written out of art history. Drawing on first-hand documents, interviews, and archive materials, Charles Darwent brings to life the events and personalities from this crucial encounter, revealing a fascinating new perspective on the history of the art of the twentieth century.

An enjoyable, accessible exploration of the legacy of ancient Greece today, across our daily lives and all forms of popular culture Our contemporary world is inescapably Greek. Whether in a word like “pandemic,” a Freudian state of mind like the “Oedipus complex,” or a replica of the Parthenon in a Chinese theme park, ancient Greek culture shapes the contours of our lives. Ever since the first Roman imitators, we have been continually falling under the Greeks’ spell. But how did ancient Greece spread its influence so far and wide? And how has this influence changed us? Tony Spawforth explores our classical heritage, wherever it’s to be found. He reveals its legacy in everything from religion to popular culture, and unearths the darker side of Greek influence—from the Nazis’ obsession with Spartan “racial purity” to the elitism of classical education. Paying attention to the huge breadth and variety of Hellenic influence, this book paints an essential portrait of the ancient world’s living legacy—considering to whom it matters, and why.

What can the fall of Rome teach us about the decline of the West today? A historian and a political economist, both experts in their field, investigate

Over the last three centuries, the West rose to dominate the planet. Then, suddenly, around the turn of the millennium, history reversed. Faced with economic stagnation and internal political division, the West has found itself in rapid decline.

This is not the first time the global order has witnessed such a dramatic rise and fall. The Roman Empire followed a similar arc from dizzying power to disintegration - a fact that is more than a strange historical coincidence. In Why Empires Fall, historian Peter Heather and political economist John Rapley use this Roman past to think anew about the contemporary West, its state of crisis, and what paths we could take out of it.

In this exceptional, transformative intervention, Heather and Rapley explore the uncanny parallels - and productive differences - between the two cases, moving beyond the familiar tropes of invading barbarians and civilizational decay to learn new lessons from ancient history. From 399 to 1999, the life cycles of empires, they argue, sow the seeds of their inevitable destruction. The era of western global domination has reached its end - so what comes next?

First published in 1967, Ernest Cole’s House of Bondage has been lauded as one of the most significant photobooks of the twentieth century, revealing the horrors of apartheid to the world for the first time and influencing generations of photographers around the globe. Reissued for contemporary audiences, this edition adds a chapter of unpublished work found in a recently resurfaced cache of negatives and recontextualizes this pivotal book for our time.

Cole, a Black South African man, photographed the underbelly of apartheid in the 1950s and ’60s, often at great personal risk. He methodically captured the myriad forms of violence embedded in everyday life for the Black majority under the apartheid system—picturing its miners, its police, its hospitals, its schools. In 1966, Cole fled South Africa and smuggled out his negatives; House of Bondage was published the following year with his writings and first-person account. This edition retains the powerful story of the original while adding new perspectives on Cole’s life and the legacy of House of Bondage. It also features an added chapter—compiled and titled “Black Ingenuity” by Cole—of never-before-seen photographs of Black creative expression and cultural activity taking place under apartheid. Made available again nearly fifty-five years later, House of Bondage remains a visually powerful and politically incisive document of the apartheid era.

The stories of the gods and goddesses of ancient Greece are sprawling, dramatic and wonderfully strange; their lives intertwine with mortals and their behaviours fluctuate wildly from benevolent to violent, from didactic to fickle, from loving to enraged.

Greek Myths: Gods and Goddesses is part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, cloth-bound, pocket-sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover.

Classicist and author Jean Menzies captures the magic of Greek myths by drawing on a wide variety of vivid retellings from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, which bring to life the stories of Zeus, Athena, Poseidon, Hermes, Pandora and many more. Coupled with her own entertaining commentary, this is the perfect book for learning about the world of the Greek deities and a treat for all fans of Greek mythology.

Discover even more mythology with Greek Myths: Heroes and Heroines edited by Jean Menzies.

In 2024 is de Erasmusprijs toegekend aan Amitav Ghosh!

De winning van nootmuskaat als parabel voor de huidige milieucrisis, onthult hoe de uitputting van de aarde begon in de tijd van de VOC.

‘Het oude Rome in vijftig monumenten’ van Archeoloog Paul Roberts is een prachtig geïllustreerde rondreis langs alle gebouwen en monumenten die het oude Rome vormden.

A gentle and philosophical look at the events of 2020, and how we can deal with the challenges that life throws us in general. A book to share with the friends and family that we have been missing.

1974 was a year of major changes around the world. The roots of many aspects of today's societies which we take for granted lie in the 1970s and particularly in this, the pivotal year of the decade....

With film rights snapped up by an Oscar winning Hollywood production company, rights sold in a world record 43 territories, and rave blurbs from David Baldacci, Lee Child and A.J. Finn, The Silent Patient is the international, multimillion-copy bestseller that you need to read this year.

'A fascinating exploration of human greed and self-delusion and also a tribute to our ageless search for beauty' DEBORAH MOGGACH.

In 1630s' Holland thousands of people, from the wealthiest merchants to the lowest street traders, were caught up in a frenzy of buying and selling. The object of the speculation was not oil or gold, but the tulip, a delicate and exotic bloom that had just arrived from the east. Over three years, rare tulip bulbs changed hands for sums that would have bought a house in Amsterdam: a single bulb could sell for more than £300,000 at today's prices. Fortunes were made overnight, but then lost when, within a year, the market collapsed.

Mike Dash recreates this bizarre episode in European history, separating myth from reality. He traces the hysterical boom and devastating bust, bringing to life a colourful cast of characters, and beautifully evoking Holland's Golden Age.