Humanities

Lives of the Stoics explores Stoic philosophy through the lives of its most influential practitioners, from Zeno and Cato to Seneca, Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius. Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman present short, accessible biographies that show how these thinkers applied Stoic principles to real...

What is the price of progress? In this tale of innovation and obsession Gladwell revisits one of the bloodiest attacks of the Second World War to show what happens when technological inventions slip out of our control. Weaving together the stories of a group...

These essays, reviews and articles illuminate the life and work of one of the most individual writers of this century - a man who created a unique literary manner from the process of thinking aloud and who elevated political writing to an art.

'Interesting and provocative... It gives you a sense of how briefly we've been on this Earth' Barack ObamaWhat makes us brilliant? What makes us deadly? What makes us Sapiens?One of the world's preeminent historians and thinkers, Yuval Noah Harari challenges everything we know about being...

When the Inter-Continental Hotel opened in Kabul in 1969, it reflected the hopes of the country: a glistening white edifice that embodied Afghanistan's dreams of becoming an affluent, modern power. Five decades later, and the Inter-Continental is a dilapidated, shrapnel-damaged shell. It has endured...

The book for people who like history but don't care what actually happened! This radical reappraisal of human history will change the way you look at the past. In this expansive yet abridged volume, academic pariah and pseudo-historian Fin Taylor re-writes the human story,...

From the award-winning podcast The Rest is History and Sunday Times bestselling authors Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook comes a riotous deep dive into history’s biggest heroes and most notorious villains Welcome to a shadowy realm where the divide between the noble and the...

Cinnamon has travelled through kitchens, courts and trading networks for centuries. Nira Wickramasinghe traces the spice’s global history, paying particular attention to Sri Lanka, colonial power, labour and the communities behind a prized commodity. This cultural history connects taste and everyday consumption with empire,...

Journalist Ben Machell investigates stories of ghosts and supernatural encounters, speaking with people who have experienced events they struggle to explain. The book explores belief, evidence, fear and the cultural stories that gather around the unknown. Rather than asking readers to accept a single...

In Courage Is Calling, Ryan Holiday explores courage as a fundamental virtue and a quality that can be developed through everyday choices. Drawing on Stoic philosophy and examples from historical figures, leaders, scientists and activists, he examines how people can overcome fear, stand up...

Agatha Christie’s Complete Secret Notebooks brings together for the first time Secret Notebooks and Murder in the Making, two volumes that explore the fascinating contents of her 73 notebooks. This includes illustrations, deleted extracts, unused ideas, two unpublished Poirot stories and a lost Miss...

Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot is a detailed companion to one of detective fiction’s most famous characters. Anne Hart explores Hercule Poirot’s origins, personality, tastes, relationships and remarkable detective career, drawing on his appearances across Agatha Christie’s novels and short stories. The book follows Poirot...

A new investigation from Dr Mark Aldridge, exploring a lifetime of Agatha Christie's Miss Jane Marple. In Agatha Christie's Marple: Expert on Wickedness, 'Agathologist' Dr Mark Aldridge looks at nearly a century of St Mary Mead's most famous resident and uses his own detective...

The Daily Stoic Journal is a guided journal designed to help readers bring Stoic philosophy into everyday life through regular reflection and writing. Drawing on ideas from Epictetus, Seneca and Marcus Aurelius, it combines quotations, explanations and daily prompts focused on wisdom, resilience, self-management...

Journalist Monisha Rajesh takes readers on a global journey aboard some of the world’s most spectacular night trains. From Austria’s Nightjet and the Caledonian Sleeper to the Santa Claus Express, Orient Express and Andean Explorer, she explores the romance, humour and unexpected experiences of...

In Queens and Kings, bestselling historian Lucy Worsley takes readers behind the doors of Britain’s royal palaces to explore a thousand years of monarchy from a uniquely personal perspective. Drawing on her twenty years as Chief Curator of Historic Royal Palaces, she brings rulers,...

Between the Waves: The Hidden History of a Very British Revolution 1945–2016 by Tom McTague is a sweeping history of Britain's turbulent relationship with Europe. Tracing the ideas, personalities and political battles that shaped Britain after the Second World War, McTague explores the country's...

Drawing from long-hidden files and eye-witness testimony, this page-turning slice of military history from the bestselling author of SAS Brothers in Arms unravels the extraordinary true story of one of the SAS' most secret operations: seizing a train to liberate a concentration camp. So secret was...

In Emperor of Rome, Mary Beard explores the lives, power and public image of the emperors who ruled the Roman Empire from Julius Caesar to Alexander Severus. Rather than presenting a straightforward succession of rulers, Beard examines what it actually meant to be emperor...