October 2019 marks the 250th anniversary of Captain James Cook’s first landfall in New Zealand. One Hundred Days that Mapped a Nation marks this historic occasion by looking at Cook’s intrepid journeys to New Zealand and the Pacific that were unpreceden... read more

What are the 1,000 events, through all time and from all places, that have been most influential in shaping the world in which we live today? From that starting point, the book's creators - a team of veteran writers and editors - have developed a volume rich in con... read more

Bill Fawcett, author of 100 Mistakes That Changed History (Penguin, 2010), offers a new compendium of 101 mammoth mistakes - from the ill-fated rule of Emperor Darius III to the equally ill-fated search for WMDs in Iraq - that will, unfortunately, never be forgotten by history.

Tricked by two men offering him a job as a musician in New York State in 1841, Solomon Northup was drugged and kidnapped. His life in jeopardy, he was forced to assume a new name and fake past. Taken to Louisiana on a disease-ridden plague ship, he was initially sold to a cotton planter. In the twelve... read more

On 8 February 1421 the largest fleet the world had ever seen sailed from its base in China. The ships, 500 foot long junks made from the finest teak and mahogany, were led by Emperor Zhu Di's loyal eunuch admirals. Their mission was 'to proceed all the way t... read more

Getty Images has one of the most important photo collections in the world. The fascinating black-and-white and color photographs in this volume lead observers through almost two centuries of the history of photo journalism. Including both everyday life and the grandest events, the ideals and fears of ... read more

One of the best-known figures of British history, collective memory of Henry VIII presents us with the image of a corpulent, covetous, and cunning king whose appetite for worldly goods met few parallels, whose wives met infamously premature ends, and whose religion was ever political in intent... read more

The story of the love affair between Wallis Simpson and King Edward VIII, and his abdication in order to marry the divorcee, has provoked fascination and discussion for decades. However, the full story of the couple's links with the German aristocracy and Hitler has until now remained untold. Meticulo... read more

Adam Zamoyski's bestselling account of Napoleon's invasion of Russia and his catastrophic retreat from Moscow, events that had a profound effect on European history. In 1812 the most powerful man in the world assembled the largest army in history and marched on... read more

As the United States marks the 150th anniversary of our defining national drama, 1861 presents a gripping and original account of how the Civil War began. 1861 is an epic of courage and heroism beyond the battlefields. Early in that fateful year, a second American revolution unfolded, inspiring a new ... read more

Forever in the shadow of the war which followed, 1913 is usually seen as little more than the antechamber to apocalypse. Our perspectives narrowed by hindsight, the world of that year is reduced to its most frivolous features - last summers in grand aristocratic residences, a flurry of extravagant soc... read more