'A sweeping historical survey that spans two millennia' WALL STREET JOURNAL

The definitive history of Rome and its citizens.

Rome is often remembered for its spectacular collapse. Yet for more than two thousand years – through civil wars, plagues, invasions and religious upheaval – the Roman state survived, adapted and reinvented itself. From a muddy settlement on the banks of the Tiber to the glittering court of Constantinople, this is the sweeping, untold story of a civilisation that refused to fall.

The Romans tells the first truly complete history of Rome in all its epic scale: the Punic Wars, the fall of the republic to the rise of Christianity, Alaric's sack of Rome, the emergence of Islam and the Crusades that would ultimately bring the empire to an end. It is also the story of diverse men and women who shaped the empire: African emperors, Byzantine intellectuals, and ordinary citizens whose loyalty together made it the most resilient state the world has ever seen.

“Grossman combines a journalist's eye with a novelist's empathy” Spectator

June 22, 1941: Launch of Operation Barbarossa. Hitler invades the Soviet Union. Vasily Grossman soon begins a new career as a war reporter.

During the next four years, he covers all the major battles of the Eastern Front, from Stalingrad to Berlin, crafting brutally vivid reports that were read by millions of soldiers and civilians alike. And, as the war draws to a close, he was one of the first to expose the horrors of the Treblinka death camp.

Grossman had a remarkable memory and the ability to win the trust of men and women from all walks of life: snipers, generals, fighter pilots, peasants, soldiers in a Soviet penal battalion and German prisoners of war. And his ability to write so vividly, and with such understanding, about world-changing events while they were still unfolding may well be unique.

This collection brings together the best of the forty-nine articles he wrote for the Red Star newspaper, often in newly unearthed versions that have not been distorted by censors. It demonstrates more clearly than ever what an extraordinary amount Grossman witnessed during only a few years.

Translated from the Russian by Robert and Elizabeth Chandler
Introductory material, notes and editorial apparatus by Robert Chandler and Julia Volohova

'The perfect observer of a UK in crisis' JAMES HAWES

Welcome to the Kingdom of Contradictions.

Global yet insular, tolerant yet suspicious, proudly pragmatic yet profoundly sentimental. The United Kingdom inspires fierce loyalty and endless argument. Ten years after Brexit, it is as divided as ever.

After twenty years of studying Britain, German historian Helene von Bismarck offers an affectionate and insightful portrait of the United Kingdom as seen by an outsider. From the enduring fantasy of Britain as a self-sufficient island to the profound devotion to a global monarchy; from imperial amnesia to modern multiculturalism, she explores the paradoxes and myths that shape British identity.

Clear-eyed and witty, Fantastic Kingdom is a letter from a friend, revealing why the question of what unites the country has never mattered more than now, at a time of dramatic geopolitical change when liberal democracy is under attack. Looking backwards into history, and outwards into the global context, she closes the gap between how Britain understands itself and how it is seen abroad.

The coast means something different to everyone.

It’s a place of pleasure and reckless pursuits, of fishing, fearless endeavours and a crashing, rugged beauty. The coast is, and always has been, our first line of defence and our springboard to other cultures.

Through the lens of 100 carefully selected objects, this treasure chest of a book delves into the myriad ways our coastlines have shaped, and been shaped by, our history, culture, and identity. From Roman lighthouses to rosary beads, knitted jumpers to Viking slave shackles, each object serves as a portal to a unique story.

Sally Coulthard’s engaging narrative goes far beyond the traditional seaside holiday to illuminate the coast’s role as a first line of defence, a site of trade, and a catalyst for cultural exchange. Readers will discover how the coast has influenced our beliefs, economy, and even our domestic lives. And, looking out to sea, this book will show how Britain’s story is anchored to those of our European neighbours and of faraway lands.

From one of Britain’s finest historians of material culture, this book vividly captures the enduring magic and significance of our shores. Whether it’s smugglers’ underpants or sailor’s hoaxes, whale vomit or pickled puffin – it all washes up on the British coast…

Drawing upon sources in German, Russian, Italian, Hungarian, Romanian and English, 1942: Hitler's Gamble describes the spring and summer campaigns in the Soviet Union and Africa which crowned the Axis forces with fresh laurels. Impressive victories were won at Kharkov, Sevastopol and Tobruk. Axis powers were then on the cusp of victory in Egypt, the Caucasus and Stalingrad until the seemingly unstoppable juggernaut was brought to a halt in the autumn of 1942.

Based upon 15 years of research in archives, museums and libraries across Europe, this is a unique account of this critical year in World War II. No other history has looked at the Eastern and North African theatres in conjunction, masterfully illustrating how the crushing gains on both fronts would be lost by the end of the year.

Richard Hargreaves shines a light on the little studied areas of the war such as the aftermath of Tobruk and challenges traditional German-centric accounts of the Caucasus campaign. Strategy and the hubris of Hitler and his generals is brilliantly illustrated but so too are the lives and deaths of ordinary soldiers caught up in these extraordinary events.

'Deeply researched, smart, poignant, and witty.' – Karen Bloom Gevirtz, author of The Apothecary's Wife

Women have been fighting for control over their bodies for thousands of years. From Neolithic hunter-gatherers to the reversal of Roe v. Wade, this is their story.

Acclaimed cultural historian Lucy Inglis takes the reader on an epic journey through the stories of women over hundreds of thousands of years. From ancient Mesopotamian birthing practices to the lost contraceptives of Ancient Rome and the strange story of the feminists who fought for the right to forget childbirth, this is a truly sweeping history that explores the competing ideologies and lived realities that have shaped so many lives.

Lucy Inglis charts the battle for control throughout history over reproduction, birth and women’s bodies – a fight still raging in many places across the world. With birth rates falling and infant mortality in many societies on the rise once more, this bold and timely book raises vital questions about how we think about motherhood and pregnancy today. Lucy Inglis has spent over a decade researching the history of childbirth, drawing on new and unseen sources from a wide-ranging array of disciplines.

Charting the powerful interests and dedicated scientists that have shaped women’s maternal experiences, this is a must-read for anyone who wishes to understand how we all came to be here.

At 8:15 a.m. on August 6th, 1945, the Japanese port city of Hiroshima was struck by the world's first atomic bomb. Built in the US by the top-secret Manhattan Project and delivered by a B-29 Superfortress, a revolutionary long-range bomber, the weapon destroyed large swaths of the city, instantly killing tens of thousands. The world would never be the same again.

The Hiroshima Men's unique narrative recounts the decade-long journey towards this first atomic attack. It charts the race for nuclear technology before, and during the Second World War, as the allies fought the axis powers in Europe, North Africa, China, and across the vastness of the Pacific, and is seen through the experiences of several key characters: General Leslie Groves, leader of the Manhattan Project alongside Robert Oppenheimer; pioneering Army Air Force bomber pilot Colonel Paul Tibbets II; the mayor of Hiroshima, Senkichi Awaya, who would die alongside over eighty-thousand of his fellow citizens; and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist John Hersey, who travelled to post-war Japan to expose the devastation the bomb had inflicted upon the city, and in a historic New Yorker article, described in unflinching detail the dangers posed by its deadly after-effect, radiation poisoning.

This thrilling account takes the reader from the corridors of the White House to the laboratories and test sites of New Mexico; from the air war above Nazi Germany and the savage reconquest of the Pacific to the deadly firebombing air raids across the Japanese Home Islands. The Hiroshima Men also includes Japanese perspectives – a vital aspect often missing from Western narratives – to complete MacGregor's nuanced, deeply human account of the bombing's meaning and aftermath.

‘A must-read for those fascinated by the decline and fall of the USSR and the emergence of a new Russia’ – Mark Galeotti, author of Forged in War

From the acclaimed author of Kremlin Winter and Blood on the Snow, a dramatic and expertly researched account of an extraordinary moment in Russia’s recent history: the August Coup.

In the summer of 1991, a group of eight plotters came together to overthrow Mikhail Gorbachëv, then the president of the USSR. These ruthless conspirators, who occupied positions of high office, declared a state of emergency to restore stability through authoritarian rule. The reality turned out to be a shambolic failure which hastened the fall of the USSR and a pivotal shift from communism to capitalism.

Beginning with a minute-by-minute re-enactment of Gorbachëv’s capture in his holiday home in Crimea, Robert Service follows the plot from its inception to its humiliating collapse. The troubling side effects of Gorbachëv’s well-meant reforms in the Soviet Union – business fraud, government corruption, organized crime and interethnic conflict – increased exponentially, and a New Russia was born. Fathered by Boris Yeltsin, it brought lamentably less benefit to the Russian economy or its people than he had promised.

Linking the years from the coup itself to today’s Russia under Vladimir Putin, The August Coup is a thoroughly compelling and original chronicle of a moment that changed Russian and global politics forever.

'Kim Willis is an expert storyteller' Emma Gannon

Through the threads of folklore, mythology, memoir, history and landscape, No Fair Maidens identifies a better way of being for modern women, and crafts a new vision for Britain where women are – and always were – a force of nature.

As Kim Willis drifts from the traditional path of marriage and motherhood, she yearns for a new set of stories to light her way. Here, she is pulled towards the source of the Severn, hearing whispers of ancient matriarchs: shape-shifting enchantresses, scaly nymphs and goddesses who once commanded our lands.

These are no fair maidens, but powerful warrioresses and animalistic beasts, snaking along the edges of watery places where we meet the otherworld in the shadows.

As she uncovers the ancient myths hidden in the rugged landscapes of the British Isles, the stories of women like Arianrhod, Melusine and Cerridwen awaken a forgotten power.

Journeying from the Severn to Skye, Eryri to Northumberland, Kim discovers new magic in the tales of old, unveiling forgotten truths about grief and healing, while charting a new course through sisterhood and sexuality, fertility and freedom.

'This book is an act of excavation, and an act of remembering.'