British History

More than 170,000 British prisoners of war (POWs) were taken by German and Italian forces during the Second World War. Conditions were tough. Rations were meagre. The days dragged, and there was a constant battle against boredom. The men, but not officers, had to work, often at heavy labour. Guests of the Third Reich will provide an overview of what daily life was like for prisoners, from staging theatre productions to keep morale up to working allotments and planning audacious escape attempts.

In this absorbing new entry in the acclaimed New York Times bestselling series, Scotland Yard’s Ian Rutledge is caught up in a twisted web of vengeance and murder. On the north coast of Cornwall, an apparent act of mercy is repaid by an arrest for murder. Four young women have been accused of...

Packed full of incident and insight, No Cunning Plan is a funny, self-deprecating and always entertaining memoir by Sir Tony Robinson. Sir Tony Robinson is a much-loved actor, presenter and author with a stellar career lasting over fifty years. In this autobiography he reveals how the boy from...

Out of a sidelined, colonial-era expedition in Africa comes a new history of cruelty, deception, and adventure from the acclaimed author of The Lost Pianos of Siberia. In 1879, King Leopold II of Belgium launched an ambitious plan to plunder Africa’s resources. The key to cracking open the...

The British Museum devoted itself to acquiring historical artifacts that showcased the influence and prestige of the British Empire, as well as the facilities in which to house them, surviving wars, financial challenges, controversies, and political pressures. In the process, it became one of the British Empire’s greatest cultural jewels, and to this day, it holds the distinctions of being the world’s first national public museum and the most venerated museum of its kind in Britain.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Raising Atlantis and The Atlantis Prophecy comes an explosive new international thriller jam-packed with political and prophetic intrigue. Beneath the city of God, a centuries-old secret awaits. And every power on earth wants it. The adventure begins...

The magnificent follow-up to Wild Swans, the multimillion copy, internationally bestselling sensation that traces the history of modern China through the true stories of three generations of courageous women in one family. “AT THE AGE OF FIFTEEN MY GRANDMOTHER became the concubine of a warlord...

The heroines of Lauren Willig's bestselling Pink Carnation series have engaged in espionage all over nineteenth-century Europe. In the sixth stand-alone volume, our fair English heroine travels to India, where she finds freedom—and risk—more exciting than she ever imagined. Everyone warned...

Step back in time and explore the captivating battles, clans, Highlanders, myths, and legends that have shaped Scotland from ancient times to the present day. Through vivid storytelling, this audiobook transports you to the heart of Scotland’s past, uncovering the customs and traditions of its clans—from fierce Highland warriors to cunning Lowland politicians—and how their actions forged a national identity.

"Pleasingly subversive."--New York Times Book Review “A perfect mix of slow-burn romance, geopolitical maneuvering and sisterly antics.”—The Washington Post One of Library Journal's Best Romances of 2023! A BookList Editor's Pick of 2023! A forbidden love between a Mexican heiress and a...

After the untimely death of Prince Albert, the Queen and her nation were plunged into a state of grief so profound that this one event would dramatically alter the shape of the British monarchy. For Britain had not just lost a prince: during his 20-year marriage to Queen Victoria, Prince Albert had increasingly performed the function of King in all but name. The outpouring of grief after Albert's death was so extreme that its like would not be seen again until the death of Princess Diana 136 years later.

Taking a similar approach to his successful If Rome Hadn't Fallen, Timothy Venning explores the various decision points in a fascinating period of British history and the alternative paths that it might have taken. Dr. Timothy Venning starts within an outline of the process by which much of Britain came to be settled by Germanic tribes after the end of Roman rule, as far as it can be determined from the sparse and fragmentary sources. He then moves on to discuss a series of scenarios, which might have altered the course of subsequent history dramatically.

When uprisings against colonial rule broke out across the world after 1945, Britain responded with overwhelming and brutal force. Although this period has conventionally been dubbed "postwar," it was punctuated by a succession of hard-fought, long-running conflicts that were geographically diffuse, morally ambiguous, and impervious to neat endings or declarations of victory. Age of Emergency traces facts and feelings about violence as torture, summary executions, collective punishments, and other ruthless methods were employed in "states of emergency."

Born on Christmas Day, 1936, Princess Alexandra's birth was almost overshadowed by the abdication of her uncle, King Edward VIII. Yet public affection for this new addition to the Royal Family has only grown during a lifetime of dedicated royal service. In this biography, Helen Cathcart chronicles the first thirty years of Princess Alexandra's life, from the tragic death of her father when she was just five years old to her wartime childhood at Badminton living with her grandmother Queen Mary.

"Firewatching and Nighthawking are comparable with the best of Michael Connelly’s Bosch books and James Lee Burke’s Robicheaux novels, and – naturally – Ian Rankin; but there’s an elegiac quality here that reminds me of Kate Atkinson’s Jackson Brodie titles and the Dublin Murder...

Experience history as a glorious and uproarious comedy of errors. Murderers, schemers, traitors, fools, thieves, oligarchs, and torturers make up the real history of Britain's "nobility" and their misdeeds, this Victorian bestseller was written by one of the founders of Punch narrated with wicked wit by Charles Featherstone.

The Story of the Country House is an authoritative and vivid account of the British country house, exploring how they have evolved with the changing political and economic landscape. Clive Aslet reveals the captivating stories behind individual houses, their architects, and occupants and paints a vivid picture of the wider context in which the country house in Britain flourished and subsequently fell into decline before enjoying a renaissance in the 21st century.

A groundbreaking account of how Britain became the base of operations for the exiled leaders of Europe in their desperate struggle to reclaim their continent from Hitler, from the New York Times bestselling author of Citizens of London and Those Angry Days When the Nazi blitzkrieg rolled over...

When he died in 1820, King George III had presided over the longest reign by a monarch in England’s history and ruled the British Empire during one of its most turbulent and important periods, but he was remembered by the unappealing sobriquets "The Mad King” and ”The King Who Lost America".

The fantasy novel you've always wished Jane Austen had written Shades of Milk and Honey is exactly what we could expect from Jane Austen if she had been a fantasy writer:Pride and Prejudice meets Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. It is an intimate portrait of a woman, Jane, and her quest for love...