History

On Saturday 29 September 1923, the Palestine Mandate became law and the British Empire reached what would prove to be its maximum territorial extent, covering a scarcely credible quarter of the world's land mass, containing 460 million people. But the tide was beginning to turn. This book is a ne...

In February 1942 RAF intelligence was baffled by a newly-identified radar network on the coast of Nazi-occupied Europe, codenamed Würzburg. The brilliant scientist Dr RV Jones proposed an assault to capture key components. The nearest accessible enemy set stood upon a steep cliff at Bruneval in ...

'Pax' is the third in a trilogy of books narrating the history of the Roman Empire. The series that began with 'Rubicon', and continued with 'Dynasty', now arrives at the period which marks the apogée of the pax Romana. It provides a portrait of the ancient world's ultimate superpower at war and...

This is a book about the coming of age of four women born in China in the 1980s and 1990s, dreaming of better futures. It is about Leiya, who wants to escape the fate of the women in her village. Still underage, she bluffs her way on to the factory floor. It is about June, who at fifteen sets wha...

When the history of British codebreaking is told, the story is often a men-only preserve. That perception completely ignores the fact that the vast majority of codebreakers were in fact women. And foremost among them was one who is largely unknown to the public, and whose activities were a secret...

Tom Fort celebrates a quintessential cornerstone of any village in Britain - the shop - in this case a century-old hardware shop his daughter-in-law bought eighteen months before the pandemic struck the UK to run herself in their beautiful Berkshire village, outside of Reading. The family's dream...

Created during the Second World War, the SAS was a small band of men brought together in the North African desert. They were the toughest and brightest of their cohort, the most resilient, most capable in close combat and most careful in surveillance. Winning approval for this radical new form of...

At the outset of the twentieth century, the management of the British countryside was the preserve of powerful aristocratic estates, the ground worked by labourers toiling in time-honoured tradition. Through wartime, post-war reconstruction and four decades embroiled in European countryside polic...

'Shoulder to Shoulder' is a love letter to the pioneers of solidarity and coalition. Offering a new global look at our histories of standing together and opening the door to moments where we worked through difference to build a better future for everyone. Jake Hall takes us into the world of thes...

The UK is grappling with big questions about belonging, equality, and the legacies of Empire and Colonialism. We've been here before. Embracing a broader history that encompasses all British people, 'The Shoulders We Stand On' is fundamental to a better understanding of the past and gives many mo...