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On the 250th anniversary of America''s founding - a landmark history of the US Constitution for a troubling new era. The US Constitution is among the oldest constitutions in the world - and one of the most difficult to amend. Although nearly twelve thousand amendments have been proposed since 1789, only twenty-seven have ever been ratified. Tellingly, the Constitution has not been meaningfully amended since 1971. Without amendment, the risk of political violence rises. So does the risk of constitutional change by presidential power. Leading Harvard historian Jill Lepore captures the stories of generations of ordinary people who have attempted everything from abolishing the Electoral College to guaranteeing environmental rights, hoping to mend their nation. Recounting the history of America through centuries of efforts to realize the promise of the Constitution, we witness how nearly all those bids have failed.We the People is the sweeping account of a struggle, arguing that the Constitution was never intended to be preserved, but was expected to be gradually altered. At a time when the risk of political violence is all too real, it hints at the prospects for a better, amended America.

''The true and fascinating story of Easter Island and its amazing statues'' KEN FOLLETTWhere did they come from? How did they get there? Why did they carve the island’s colossal iconic statues – and how? What happened to the civilisation they created?These are just a few of the questions about Easter Island, or Rapa Nui, that have puzzled generations.Europeans first encountered the Islanders in the early eighteenth century, bringing back astonishing tales from one of the most remote inhabited places on Earth. They told fantastic stories of lost continents, cannibalism, giants and aliens. Thor Heyerdahl claimed that the island was discovered by pale-skinned sailors from South America, ignoring the rightful claims of the greatest explorers the world has ever known. Recently, the idea that Islanders cut down all the trees, causing mass starvation and social collapse, has been espoused by scientists, broadcasters and politicians. Now, in archaeologist Mike Pitts’s superb investigation, Island at the Edge of the World, he provides authoritative new insights into what really happened.Using the latest scientific and archaeological research, plus a huge range of historical accounts, Pitts builds a fascinating new portrait of the Islanders’ story. In particular, Pitts revives the life work of Katherine Routledge, who spent sixteen months on the island in 1914-15, surviving revolution and war, assembling a priceless but largely ignored archive of excavations and interviews - and whose legacy reveals the rapacious interference that spawned generations of false histories. Many questions still remain, but this is the most compelling and comprehensive account yet published of the extraordinary story of Easter Island.

Delve into the history, politics, literature and popular culture that defined the Cold War era. Matching superb narrative storytelling with scholarly analysis and visually stunning photography from the archives of the Imperial War Museum, this book gives a fascinating insight into a period that shaped the fabric of British society.The Cold War defined the history of Britain in the second half of the twentieth century as much as it did that of the US and the Soviet Union. Cold War Britain is an exploration into the multifaceted dimensions of Britain’s experience during the Cold War era. By weaving together history, politics, literature, and popular culture, this book invites readers to immerse themselves in the vibrant tapestry of Cold War Britain, offering fresh insights and perspectives into how this global conflict shaped the fabric of British society.Chapter One: OriginsDive into the tumultuous aftermath of World War II, where Britain grappled with its status as a world power amidst economic devastation. Explore pivotal moments such as the carving up of Europe and the influential voices of figures like Orwell and Churchill in defining the Cold War era.Chapter Two: The Special RelationshipUncover the deep political and cultural ties between the UK and the USA, navigating through testing times that nevertheless strengthened their bond. Examine how this special relationship influenced Britain’s Cold War trajectory.Chapter Three: The BombEngage in the debates surrounding Britain’s pursuit of an independent nuclear deterrent, amidst the backdrop of cloak-and-dagger intrigue epitomised by the Cambridge Spies. Explore the moral dilemmas and strategic imperatives that shaped Britain’s nuclear policy.Chapter Four: The Peace MovementDelve into the grassroots movements advocating for peace amidst Cold War tensions. Through oral histories and archival photographs, witness the voices and faces of those who sought to challenge the status quo, examining the establishment of CND, Aldermaston, and Greenham Common.Chapter Five: Hot WarsExplore Britain’s entanglements in global conflicts with a Cold War context, from Cyprus and Korea to Northern Ireland and the Falklands. How did Britain avoid the quagmire of Vietnam? Uncover the geopolitical complexities and ideological battles that defined these conflicts.Chapter Six: Popular CultureExperience the Cold War through the lens of popular culture, from the dystopian visions of George Orwell to the glamorous espionage of James Bond. Explore how cultural artifacts reflected and influenced public perceptions of the Cold War era.Chapter Seven: Endings and LegaciesNavigate through the tumultuous events that marked the end of the Cold War, from Thatcher and Gorbachev to the fall of the Berlin Wall. Reflect on the lasting legacies of this era and examine how institutions like the Imperial War Museums interpret and commemorate the Cold War.

A Sunday Times Book of the Week ''A thrilling episode from England’s medieval history.'' Dan Jones, The Sunday TimesAn engrossing history of the pivotal year when the future of England was secured.In 1215 King John had agreed to the terms of Magna Carta, but then reneged on his word, plunging the kingdom into war. Rebellious barons offered the throne to the French prince Louis and set off a chain of events that almost changed the course of English history.Louis arrived in May 1216, was proclaimed king in London, and by the autumn had half of England under his control. However, the choice of a French prince had enormous repercussions: now not merely an internal rebellion, but a war in which the defenders were battling to prevent a foreign takeover. John’s death in October 1216 left the throne in the hands of his 9-year-old son, Henry, and his regent, William Marshal, which changed the face of the war again, for now the king trying to fight off an invader was not a hated tyrant but an innocent child.1217 charts the nascent sense of national identity that began to swell. Three key battles would determine England’s destiny. The fortress of Dover was besieged, the city of Lincoln was attacked, and a great invasion force set sail and, unusually for the time, was intercepted at sea. Catherine Hanley expertly navigates medieval siege warfare, royal politics, and fighting at sea to bring this remarkable period of history to life.

''An astonishing true story of courage, love and betrayal, told with the verve of a thriller. Freedland is a master''MICK HERRON''This remarkable book reads like a novel . . . The narrative style is gripping; the morality searing. This is how the best history books will be written in the future''ANDREW ROBERTS''The Traitors Circle rivals Freedland''s superb The Escape Artist. Totally gripping and timely''JONATHAN DIMBLEBY''Haunting and heart-poundingly suspenseful . . . Freedland''s powerful story-telling has intense resonance in today''s darkening world''SINCLAIR MCKAY''As tense as a thriller yet perceptive, thoughtful and thoroughly researched''KATJA HOYERWhen the whole world is lying, someone must tell the truth.Berlin, 1943. A group of high-society anti-Nazi dissenters meet for a tea party one late summer afternoon. They do not know that, sitting around the table, is someone poised to betray them all to the Gestapo - revealing their secret to the Nazis'' most ruthless detective.They form a circle of unlikely rebels, drawn from the German elite: two countesses, a diplomat, an intelligence officer, an ambassador''s widow and a pioneering headmistress. Meeting in the shadows, rescuing Jews or plotting for a future Germany freed from the Führer''s rule, what unites them is a shared loathing of the Nazis, a refusal to bow to Hitler and the courage to perform perilous acts of resistance. Or so they believe.How did a group of brave, principled rebels, who had successfully defied Adolf Hitler for more than a decade, come to fall into such a lethal trap? And who betrayed them?Undone from within and pursued to near-destruction by one of the Reich''s cruellest men, they showed a heroism that raises a question with new urgency for our time: what kind of person does it take to risk everything and stand up to tyranny?

In The Rock of the Land, acclaimed journalist Ahmad Vall Dine delivers a riveting account of Afghanistan's relentless resistance against foreign dominations. From the Soviet invasion to the recent U.S. withdrawal, Val Dine intertwines meticulous research with personal narratives, unveiling the nation's enduring spirit amidst perpetual conflict. This compelling work not only chronicles historical events but also delves into the human stories behind the headlines, offering readers an intimate understanding of Afghanistan's geopolitical landscape and the cyclical nature of its struggles.

When Sir Keir Starmer visited Donald Trump in the White House and produced a letter from King Charles inviting the president for a second state visit, it was a gesture that spoke volumes about the continuing importance of the monarchy for Britain''s international relations. It was also a vivid illustration of the relationship between Buckingham Palace and 10 Downing Street.Power and the Palace lifts the lid on the mysterious power dynamic at the heart of the British state: the secretive and little understood relationship between the monarchy and the government. In vivid, page-turning prose, Valentine Low examines the extraordinary political life of Queen Victoria, who exerted her will in a way that no monarch has done since, the effect that had on her son Edward VII, and the turbulent and fascinating political times of George V. We are taken behind the scenes of the wartime meetings between George VI and Winston Churchill (the origin of the weekly audience) and discover how Elizabeth II played a crucial role in modernising - and saving - the monarchy.At the heart of the book are the famous meetings between sovereign and prime minister. Low shows how, from Victoria and Benjamin Disraeli to Elizabeth II and Margaret Thatcher, personal chemistry proved just as important as the constitutional relationship.Based on nearly 100 interviews with senior politicians, top civil servants, royal aides and constitutional experts, Power and the Palace rewrites our understanding of the political power of the monarchy.

Writers and poets, academics and art critics, mathematicians and experimental scientists, churchmen and politicians, women of strong opinions gather for a summer weekend in the 1870s.Is it real, or is it a fantas? ne thing’s sure: their debates – about life’s aims, rural and urban living, love and money, civilization and belief, the social framework, the past, the present and the future take us to the heart of the Victorian dream and its reality: the idea that their society exemplified ‘Progress’.What did ‘Progress’ mean? Were things (and which things) getting better? What did ‘better’ mean? And for who? he history of the world before the Victorians, from Aberdeen to Africa, showed a particular form of equality for almost everyone: an equality of poverty and no prospects, with kindness often in short supply. Victorians wanted to change that world, thought they were changing it, did change it. They did it in a human way: a melange of muddle, vision, certainty, doubt, too slow for many, too fast for some. Yet their changes were decisive both for creating the modern world, but also for revealing the dilemmas attached to mass living in urban, technological societies, as well as the moral flaws in imposing one civilization’s or one person’s beliefs on another. Most remarkably of all, the upheaval in making major transitions in every area of life, which produced revolutions and violence across Europe, in the Americas and in Asia, was carried out – at least in Britain itself – almost entirely peacefully.The past will always be a foreign country for those unwilling to engage with its people. Whether viewing the lives of rulers or the ruled, ''Being Victorian'' corrects innumerable preconceptions.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2024 HISTORICAL WRITERS’ ASSOCIATION NON-FICTION CROWN AWARD''It’s quite a feat to write an account of England’s most famous battle that makes the reader feel like they’re experiencing history that is fresh, new and exhilarating.'' Dan Snow This groundbreaking study by Mike Livingston, as featured on History Hit''s Agincourt, presents a new interpretation of Henry V''s great victory.From Shakespeare’s ‘band of brothers’ speech to its appearances in numerous films, Agincourt rightfully has a place among a handful of conflicts whose names are immediately recognized around the world. Renowned medieval historian Mike Livingston provides a new look at this famous battle, with a foreword by world famous historic novelist Bernard Cornwell.Agincourt takes us back to the original sources, including the French battle plan that still survives today, to give a new interpretation, one that challenges the traditional site of the battlefield itself. It is a thrilling new history that not only rewrites the battle as we know it, but also provides fresh insights into the men who fought and died there.

From climate change to far-right politics, a captivating look at the Netherlands’ modern challenges—and a homage to the timeless ingenuity of the Dutch.From deeply unpromising marshy beginnings, the Netherlands grew into a naval, imperial, artistic, cultural, economic, scientific, agricultural and footballing superpower. How did it get there? Journalist Nicholas Walton paints a vivid portrait of one of the world’s most remarkable places. Drawing on interviews and his own years living in the Netherlands, as well as Dutch history and popular culture, he tells a story of floods and riots, engineering brilliance and wartime treachery. Through ten walks around their towns and cities, fields and beaches, he reveals how the Dutch built a system that organised politics and tamed the water. But now, the country faces an unpredictable future: sea levels are rising, and extreme weather is swelling the rivers that cut across this flat land. At the same time, farmers are protesting with their tractors on the streets and voters are voicing their discontent over everything from immigration and inequality to a dysfunctional housing market. Amid the existential challenges of the twenty-first century, Orange Sky, Rising Water asks whether the extraordinary Dutch success story can continue—or will the country, its people and its way of life be swept away?

Septimius Severus was Rome''s black emperor. Born in the blistering heat of a North African spring in Leptis Magna AD 145, he died in the freezing cold of a northern British winter in York in AD 211. A giant of an emperor, whose career can be counted in superlatives, Severus was in power at the height of Rome''s might. He led the largest army to ever campaign in Britain, comprising 50,000 men, part of a Roman military establishment which peaked at 33 legions under his rule.Born into the richest family, in the richest part of the Roman Empire, Severus monumentalised his rule across the empire. He visited - and often fought in - every region. Where he did, he left a mighty legacy in the built environment, for example in Rome where much of the Forum Romanum and most of the imperial palaces are Severan. In North Africa, his hometown of Leptis Magna is all Severan, as are the Roman cities at the Atlas mountains. In London, the land walls that still define the City''s Square Mile were delineated under his rule. Visitors to the under croft at York Minster can stand where he died. Septimius Severus was one of the greatest warrior emperors, a hard man who almost died in battle several times and whose attitude is reflected in his deathbed advice to two sons: ''Be of one mind with your family, enrich the soldiers, and despise the rest.''

France is the only country that never decolonised its colonies, emotionally, financially or strategically. In the aftermath of losing the Second World War, notwithstanding de Gaulle''s attempts to convince his people otherwise, the French knew the game was up. (The Resistance fighters were heroes; but heroes are lonely.) For France, after 1945, the Second World War blended into the early Cold War, which Paris jumped into the day before it began. It fought in Indochina, and lost again. The independence war dragged on in Algeria. Then France lost there, too--painfully, with millions of its ordinary citizens expelled to a homeland that many of them hardly knew. But Sub-Saharan Africa was still there. France produced a postcolonial antidote: ''Françafrique'', France''s sphere of influence (or ''backyard'') over its former West and Central African colonies. France loved Africa. Some Frenchmen died for ''Françafrique''; others made millions from it. The entire toxic edifice is now crumbling away. Young Africans are happy about this--but not so many of their parents, who often live in France. In his inimitable style, Gérard Prunier recounts a tragic transcultural saga, with one leg in the past and one in the future: the end of ''Françafrique''.

''Tony is the real deal.'' Andy McNabSierra Leone, 2000.While on patrol as part of a peacekeeping mission, eleven British soldiers are kidnapped.The captors are a dangerous rebel group known as the West Side Boys. Fuelled by alcohol and drugs, the behaviour of the rebels is notoriously unpredictable. How long the soldiers have, no one knows. Rescuing them becomes the British military''s highest priority, and so they bring in the SAS for Operation Barras, a mission that will go down in special forces history.After negotiations break down, there are fears that the men being held in the compound could be executed at any moment, but there is no easy way in to save them. The only option is to shock the enemy on their home turf. A plan is put in place. The ambush begins.Told from the perspectives of multiple people involved in the operation, and with Tony Hoare''s expert insight into the forces, this is a heart-pounding retelling of one of the SAS''s most dangerous missions.

For more than thirty years Francesco Lotoro, an Italian pianist and composer has been on an odyssey to recover music written by the inmates of Adolf Hitler''s concentration camps and the gulags of Stalin''s Soviet Union. Between 1933, the year of the opening of the Dachau Lager in Germany, to Stalin''s death in 1953 when thousands of Soviet prisoners were released, Lotoro pieces together the human stories of survivors whose only salvation was their love of music.Across three decades of relentless investigation, his findings as captured in Lost Music of the Holocaust are extraordinary and historically important. Lotoro unearthed over eight thousand unpublished works of music, ten thousand documents (microfilms, diaries, notebooks, and recordings on phonographic recordings), as well as locating and interviewing many survivors who in a previous life had been trained musicians and composers. Be it a symphony, an opera, a simple folk song or even a gypsy melody, Lotor has travelled the globe to track them down. Many pieces were hastily scribbled down ow whatever the composer could find: food wrappings, a vegetable sack and even a train ticket stub. To avoid discover by camp guards, Lotoro even discovered forgotten pieces of code inmates had invented to hide their real meaning - music. In many cases, the composers would be murdered in the gas chambers or worked to death, not knowing whether their music would be heard by the world. Until now.Their stories and their music adds colour and humanity to the horrors of the Holocaust and of Stalin''s oppressive rule. It is a journey into music and history that reveals a new way of telling the darkest chapters of the twentieth century whilst shining a light on the beauty that could still be created amidst the horrors endured.

A Waterstones and BBC History Magazine Best Book of the Year The Aspects of History Book of the Year 2025 'Terrific – full of drama … it has profoundly altered my understanding of the Second World War' PATRICK BISHOP FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF SBS COMES AN EPIC HISTORY OF THE ALLIED VICTORY IN NORTH AFRICA DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR. On 8 November 1942, British and American troops invaded French North Africa as part of Operation Torch, the largest amphibious operation of the war to date. The Germans responded by flooding troops into Tunisia and the stage was set for one of the most decisive clashes of the war. For months the outcome hung in the balance. The Allies failed to capture Tunis before Christmas, and early in the New Year the legendary German commander Erwin Rommel ( the ‘ Desert Fox ’) inflicted a series of crushing defeats on inexperienced American troops in the mountain passes of central Tunisia. But once the two Allied armies – the First and the Eighth – had joined hands in southern Tunisia in early April, the defeat of Axis forces was inevitable. The end came on 13 May when the remnants of the First Italian Army surrendered to British troops in northern Tunisia, leaving the Allies ‘ masters of the North African shores ’. It was, with Guadalcanal in the Pacific and Stalingrad in Russia, one of three Axis defeats in early 1943 that changed the course of the war. Historians have recognized the significance of the others, but not Tunisia which they have either ignored or characterized ( as the Americans did at the time ) as a sideshow. Yet it ended Axis sea power in the Mediterranean, destroyed more than 2,400 Axis aircraft ( 40 per cent of the Luftwaffe ’ s strength ), and resulted in the surrender of over 250,000 German and Italian troops, more than were captured at Stalingrad. Such was the scale of their defeat that the German public wryly dubbed it ‘ Tunisgrad ’. It was the first campaign fought by the Anglo-American alliance, and would determine how and where the Allies would fight for the rest of the war. It was where America first brought to bear the full weight of its industrial strength, and where the Allies learned, after early setbacks, how to defeat the Germans with a combination of air, land and sea power. It featured many of the great commanders of the Second World War, including ‘ Ike ’ Eisenhower, George S. Patton Jr, Omar N. Bradley, Harold Alexander, Bernard Montgomery and Erwin Rommel. But the campaign ’ s chief significance is that it extinguished any lingering hopes in Italy that the war could be won and led, inexorably, to the dissolution of the Axis in Europe. By destroying the Axis it marked, for Hitler, the beginning of the end. Tunisgrad is the first comprehensive 360-degree history, told from the perspective of all the combatants, and ranging in focus from politicians and senior commanders to ordinary servicemen fighting in and over the mountains of Tunisia, and across the Mediterranean. Using a variety of first-hand sources, it restores the campaign to its rightful place as a defining moment of the war

1973: The incredible true story of the Blythe Star disaster, which left ten men, shipwrecked and alone, on the wild Southern Ocean off Tasmania. Almost two weeks later they were found on a remote trail on a southern peninsula, and their story would stun the nation ... and leave a powerful legacy in its wake. When the coastal freighter MV Blythe Star left Hobart on a routine trip, Mick Doleman was an 18-year-old deckhand working alongside nine other crewmen, all accustomed to the dangers of the sea. But nothing could prepare them for what happened less than 24 hours later. In the early morning, the Blythe Star started listing, and swiftly sank. Miraculously, all the crewmen escaped, only to be crammed into a tiny life raft at the mercy of the ocean. The ship's sinking sparked the largest sea and air search at the time, but the crew remained lost – and soon they were given up for dead. Twelve days later, three ravaged and starving men, including Mick, found help on a remote logging trail in heavy bush on the Tasman Peninsula. Their story was shocking, and set the country alight with questions about their plight. How had they disappeared without trace? How had they survived the un-survivable? This is an extraordinary story of human endurance in one of the most challenging environments on earth, written by Piia Wirsu, the producer and narrator of 'From the Dead', the award-winning season of the ABC podcast Expanse, with Mick Doleman, now the only surviving crewmember of the Blythe Star, who became a global influence in maritime safety.

In 1405, a family left their home in the Mongolian steppe and moved to China. This daring decision, taken at a time of dramatic change in eastern Eurasia, paved the way for 250 years of unlikely success at the Ming court. Winning recognition for military skill and loyalty, the family later known as the Wu gained a coveted title of nobility and became members of the capital elite until the dynasty's collapse in 1644. By tracing the individual fortunes of a single family, David Robinson offers a fresh and accessible perspective on the inner workings of Ming bureaucracy. He explores how the early-modern world's most developed state sought to balance the often contradictory demands of securing ability and addressing difference, a challenge common to nearly all polities.

A fascinating and beautifully illustrated journey across the world and through the centuries in search of the sea monster.‘They rave for food with unceasing frenzy, being always ahungered and never abating the gluttony of their terrible maw.’ Pliny the ElderThis absorbing exploration of the sea monster in all its tentacular forms is a deep dive into the world of sirens, mermaids, Scylla and kraken from 3C BCE to the modern day. Told through writings from ancient myths, early scientific natural histories and iconic literature, tales are intertwined with wonderful engravings, diagrams and paintings. These accounts give a unique perspective on the histories of societies and cultures around the world, taking in significant events like the Age of Sail, the Enlightenment and Darwinian evolution.With their excess size, claws, tentacles and bloodlust, monsters represent our greatest fears: the unknown, the dark, the natural world and even ourselves. As stories passed from generation to generation, they were analogues for dangerous weather events, foreign invaders, enemy nations, physical phenomena and real animals.Prema Arasu brings together excerpts from Beowulf, Moby-Dick and many other works by authors such as Homer, HP Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe, Jules Verne, HG Wells… Each is brought to life with an introduction and beautifully gory artwork, making this a gorgeous book that’s sure to draw you in and drag you down…

Poor boy. Dark star. Spy. Transgressor. Genius. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Will in the World reveals the daring and subversive life of Christopher Marlowe – Shakespeare’s contemporary, inspiration, and rival.’A rigorous and sparkling exploration of what makes an artist …. Essential and addictive reading’ MAGGIE O''FARRELLIn brutally repressive Elizabethan England, artists are frightened into dull conventionality; foreigners are suspect; popular entertainment largely consists of coarse spectacles, animal fights, and hangings. Into this crude world comes an ambitious cobbler’s son from Canterbury with an uncanny ear for Latin poetry – a torment for most schoolboys, yet for a few, a secret portal to beauty, visionary imagination, transgressive desire, and dangerous scepticism.What Christopher Marlowe finds on the other side of that door, and what he does with it, brings about a spectacular explosion of English literature, language, and culture, enabling the success of his collaborator and rival, William Shakespeare.With propulsive narrative flair and brilliant literary criticism, Stephen Greenblatt reconstructs the youthful involvement with the queen’s spy service that shaped Marlowe’s brief, troubling life and gave us his Tamburlaine and Faustus – dramatic masterpieces on power and its costs. And with detailed historical insight, Greenblatt explores how the people Marlowe knew, and the transformations they wrought, birthed the economic, scientific, and cultural power of the modern world – involving Faustian bargains with which we reckon still.