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'Fluently written and convincingly argued, Blood and Iron is a brilliant account of an important period of history, and one that marks the arrival of a major new talent.' - Daily Telegraph'The best biography of the Second Reich in years ... It will undoubtedly become the essential account of this vitally important part of European history.' - Andrew Roberts'Outstanding, authoritative and gripping.' - Simon Sebag MontefioreBefore 1871, Germany was not yet a nation but simply an idea. Otto von Bismarck had a formidable task at hand. How would he bring thirty-nine individual states under the yoke of a single Kaiser, convincing proud Prussians, Bavarians and Rhinelanders to become Germans? Once united, could the young European nation wield enough power to rival the empires of Britain and France – all without destroying itself in the process?In a unique study of five decades that changed the course of modern history, Katja Hoyer tells the story of the German Empire from its violent beginnings to its calamitous defeat in the First World War. This often-startling narrative is a dramatic tale of national self-discovery, social upheaval and realpolitik that ended, as it started, in blood and iron.

The City of Light has long provided an allure for an artist’s keen eye, but within these pages Paris’s boutique stores, cosy cafes, old-world book shops, breathtaking landmarks and more are all waiting to be brought to life with your creativity.Discover tranquil pockets of beauty in the world’s most romantic city and take your imagination on a journey along its prettiest passages. Featuring intricate hand-drawn line illustrations and handy palette guides, this is the perfect book to help you unwind and colour the calm into your day.

This revised fourth edition of The Archaeology of Disease focuses on reconstructing the origin, evolution, and history of disease as seen mainly through human skeletons from archaeological sites. In addition, this edition addresses new concepts in medicine and explores the challenges faced by individuals and populations, including their children. Integrating conceptual frameworks from bioarchaeology, medical history, and clinical health, the authors take a long view of disease over thousands of years to examine how frequencies of disease have changed over time in relation to epidemiological transitions.They further investigate the risk of disease in populations at specific time periods and geographic locations. As a result, they provide a better understanding of the impact of health problems on our ancestors and present ethical considerations for palaeopathologists around the world when working with human remains using both archaeological and historical evidence.

She was the great-grandmother of Europe. Her descendants sit on thrones across the continent to this day. But Princess Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg was all but written out of history.‘Fascinating, rigorously researched and vividly told...[a] groundbreaking biography.’ - Dr Anna Whitelock‘An invaluable study of the little-known Princess without whom the course of British and European history would have been so very different.’ – Robert HardmanIn 1846, the eyes of the British royal family fall on the small village of Pfeffelbach in western Germany. It is here, in a church that is crumbling before them, that the mother of Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s husband, was laid to rest and forgotten about. And it is time to bring her home.Married off at 16 to the 33-year-old Duke Ernst Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Louise bore two sons, Ernst and Albert, but her unhappy marriage led to her banishment, divorce, and loss of her children. She died alone at just 31, her reputation destroyed by court gossip and political intrigue. Was she a fallen woman, or a victim of royal machinations? And was Prince Albert truly Ernst’s son?Princess Louise played a crucial role in the rise of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, but while her son Albert entered history, she was removed from it. Based on a decade of original research, A Royal Outcast is the first English-language biography to explore the life and legacy of Princess Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg – the woman the royal family tried to bury to save Prince Albert’s reputation.

THE FIVE-DAY WORKING WEEK MUST CHANGE: HERE’S HOW.‘Fingers crossed that this book will shake up the five-day working week.’ - Sir Christopher Pissarides, 2010 Nobel Laureate in EconomicsFriday is the New Saturday makes a compelling, provocative and timely case for societal change. Drawing on an eclectic range of economic theory, history and data, Dr Pedro Gomes argues that a four-day working week will bring about a powerful economic renewal for the benefit of all society. It will stimulate demand, productivity, innovation and wages, whilst reducing unemployment and crushing populist movements. The arguments come from both the left and right of the political spectrum to show that a polarised society can still find common ground.In the 1800s, people in the West worked six days each week, resting on Sundays. In the 1900s, firms began to give workers Saturdays off as well, realising that a two-day weekend helped the economy. In the 2000s, Friday will become the new Saturday, and we will never look back.

‘... brings the medieval world vividly to life, recreating the always fascinating and sometimes dangerous world in which Joanna moved.’ - All About HistoryRichard the Lionheart travelled to far-flung realms, went on crusade, met kings and popes, and exerted a great deal of influence on the world around him … and so did his sister.The sons of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine have been the subject of much historical attention, but their daughters have been curiously overlooked. The youngest of them, Joanna, led a particularly extraordinary life full of adventure and danger – and not a little controversy – that was more than a match for those of any of her brothers, including the famed Lionheart himself.Lionessheart is Joanna’s story, and also an exploration of the wider world of the twelfth century as seen through the eyes of a woman who was a princess and a pioneer, a warrior and a wife, a captive and a queen.

Born in 1904, von Mellenthin joined the Seventh Cavalry Regiment in 1924. In 1935, he began his general staff training and in 1939 was an intelligence officer. By the end of the war, he had risen in rank to Major General and was Chief of General Staff, Fifth Panzer Army, on the Western Front. Active in the Polish campaign of 1939, the conquest of France, the Balkans, the desert with Rommel, as well as in Russia, at Stalingrad and Kursk, he was in a unique position to write Panzer Battles, having been present at every major panzer campaign. In 1944, he was moved to the Western Front under Field Marshall von Rundstedt. Captured in 1945 by the Americans, he moved to South Africa after the war and became an executive for a major German airline.

The remains of the world’s most famous passenger liner, RMS Titanic, were discovered off the coast of Newfoundland in 1985, seventy-three years after it sank. Since then there have been numerous deep-water expeditions to the wreck site, yet little has ever been revealed about the details of these operations.Now, in this fully updated book, Eugene Nesmeyanov recounts all the major Titanic expeditions from 1985 to 2021, taking us on a journey alongside the scientists, cinematographers and other specialists who have visited the legendary wreck 2½ miles below the surface of the North Atlantic. A thorough analysis of the sophisticated technical equipment used is presented, along with historical, biological and other scientific findings, and rare material from official archives and private collections.

Some 66 million years ago, an asteroid some seven miles across slammed into the Earth, leaving a geologic wound over 50 miles in diameter. In the terrible mass extinction that followed, more than half of known species vanish seemingly overnight. But this worst single day in the history of life of Earth was as critical for us as it was for the dinosaurs, as it allowed for evolutionary opportunities that were closed for the previous 100 million years. In The Last Days of the Dinosaurs, Riley Black walks readers through what happened in the days, the years, the centuries and the million years after the impact. Life’s losses were sharp and deeply felt, but the hope carried by the beings that survived sets the stage for the world as we know it now.

‘The pipes kept playing, for you and meThey kept on saying, we’ll soon be freeAnd your soul will never fade awayYou’ll live forever, when the pipers play’The Great Highland Bagpipes have taken soldiers to the heights of bravery and driven their enemies to the depths of despair. The history of this martial instrument is full of stirring tales of pipers inspiring troops in battle, even continuing to play after being wounded. Based on author Patrick King’s award-winning films, When the Pipers Play combines historical research with exclusive interviews which trace the crucial role of the military piper.Through remarkable and vivid first-hand accounts from veterans, including the last surviving piper to play in battle, this book tells how the war pipes have been heard in anger across the world. Even now, the bagpipes remain the one primal element in the sophistication of modern warfare.This is a history of an instrument of war and its place in the traditions of the Scottish regiments, as well as Irish and Commonwealth forces. Military pipers have now become the sole custodians of centuries of tradition, where the deeds of their ancestors are commemorated in the tunes of glory.This is their story.

History has not been kind to Clara Wieck Schumann. A child prodigy, she was lauded as a ‘genuine artist’ by Paganini and noted as playing ‘with the strength of six boys’ by Goethe, and her virtuosic talent blossomed into an impressive career that spanned sixty years. During that time, she played thousands of concerts across Europe, and her original melodies were featured in famous works by such luminaries as Brahms and Liszt. So why is this ‘queen of the piano’ missing from the lists of the greatest composers of all time?Despite her unmistakable talent, she is now almost solely defined by the men she was associated with: the wife of Robert Schumann, the muse of Johannes Brahms. Was this a result of a society’s and her own internalised misogyny, or were there more intentional attempts to obscure Clara’s achievements?In Madame Composer, Sarah Fritz finally puts Clara back at the heart of the classical canon. From uncovering the Nazi propaganda that purposefully buried her achievements to revealing the personal power she once had in the musical world, Fritz paints a triumphant and striking portrait of a cultural icon who changed the course of music history.

‘A serious and scholarly study of the role of the queen consort in medieval English political life.’ – Sunday Telegraph‘A useful collection of sources.’ – Annual Bulletin of Historical Literature‘A good read … shows [the medieval queens] as real people, not as the idealised heroines of romance, nor as faceless nonentities.’ – The RicardianWhile the role and character of England’s medieval and Tudor kings are well documented, surprisingly little attention has been paid to their often powerful and influential consorts. Letters of the Queens of England allows the queens to speak for themselves through their own correspondence, with each letter set in context alongside a general introduction on the role of the queen in medieval and Tudor England.Encompassing virtually every English queen from Matilda of Scotland to Katherine Parr, many of whom have been neglected by historians as faceless consorts, these letters reveal the queens’ character and power. They portray these women as considerable political figures in their own right, and as strong and intelligent members of society.Illustrated throughout and complemented by genealogical and marriage tables, this is an excellent reference source and a fascinating introduction to the foremost women of medieval and Tudor England.

‘The ancient jewels of the crown are heirloomes and shall descend to the next successor and are not devisable by testament.’ – Sir Edward CokeGeneva, April 1987. The staid Swiss town is awash with limousines, journalists and minor European aristocracy. All the best hotels and restaurants are bursting at the seams. Caviar, truffles and foie gras are in short supply, while champagne is flooding the market at ridiculously high prices.They are all focused on one place: Sotheby’s auction house, which is preparing to host the ‘auction of the century’ – that of the late Duchess of Windsor’s jewellery collection.But where did this treasure trove come from? And was it ever really the Duchess’ at all?Questions have circulated around the collection’s murky provenance since the moment Wallis Simpson stepped onto the scene; now The King’s Loot looks to find the answers. Drawing on eyewitness interviews, contemporary accounts and previously unpublished sources, Richard Wallace – who was there at that notorious Swiss auction – delves into the mystery surrounding this hoard.

Tyburn Fields is the best known site of execution in London, but London may be aptly named the executioner's city, so many were the places where executions could and did occur.London:The Executioner's City reveals the capital as a place where the bodies of criminals defined the boundaries of the city and heads on poles greeted patrons on London Bridge. The ubiquity of crime and punishment was taken for granted by countless generations of the capital's inhabitants, though it seems to have done little to stem the tide of criminality that has always threatened to engulf the city.The book is a powerful evocation of the dark side of London's history, where the great and not so good, the poor and helpless, the cruel and the idealistic crowd together to be punished in public. A King and more than one Queen, heretics, archbishops, pirates, poisoners, plotters, murderers and a cook executed for selling putrid fish met death by hanging, beheading, burning or boiling in London, and on most occasions the crowd roared its approval. David Brandon and Alan Brooke's book is a vivid picture of capital punishment in a capital that seems to have thrived on executions.

Sacrifice, like death, is one of the great taboo subjects of modern society. The notion that human sacrifice, murder most horrid and even cannibalism could be considered a most holy act is almost inconceivable. Yet the evidence for human sacrifice in north-west Europe, deriving from both archaeology and the testimony of Classical writers of the first centuries BC/AD, has to be confronted.This is the challenge of this original, but often disturbing, book. It brings together a wealth of archaeological, anthropological and historical evidence that has not been previously available is a valuable asset to scholars.

Humorous tales, cautionary tales, tall tales, fairy tales, heroic tales – the depths of Swedish folklore hold all of the above and more besides.From cunning folk and helpful Tomtar, to sinister Näcken and the Stallos of Sami legend (and with plenty of romance and derring-do in-between), this book covers centuries' worth of Sweden’s folk tales, telling stories that have never been translated into English as well as several oral tales published in writing for the first time.

We don’t normally associate Scotland with vampires, but there is a hidden history of folklore surrounding the undead – if you only know where to look.From the Pagan baobhan-sith of the Highlands and a sixteenth-century stranger that was suspected of being a vampire in Galloway, to a vampire that was terrorising wildlife in Lochmaben in the 90s, the vampire is alive … or rather, undead … and well in Scottish history and culture. This is a unique exploration of Scottish history and of a horror hero.

‘A fresh look at the author’s enduring grip on our imagination.’ – SUNDAY MIRRORLondon had a special place in Agatha Christie’s heart. In her childhood, she would visit the capital to stay with her Auntie Grannie; as an adult, she owned several homes in the city. A reoccurring location in her stories, London is where Poirot and Hastings, and Tommy and Tuppence reside, and even Miss Marple cannot resist a trip up to town to shop in its department stores.Avoid red herrings, examine the clues to discover several of her former homes, use your little grey cells to detect where she worked during the Second World War, and probe where the former ‘Detection Club’ met. Gather the evidence to reveal the fashionable restaurants, luxury hotels and other locations that she and her characters frequented.On completion of your investigation, your denouement will reveal the final twist: just how important London was to Agatha and her stories.

Josef Goebbels, Hermann Goring, Heinrich Himmler, Rudolph Hess, Albert Speer and Karl Donitz. These were the men who smoothed Adolf Hitler's path to power and became the perpetrators of a reign of terror unparalleled in history. They were the supporters and executives at Hitler's regime, carrying out his orders with deadly efficiency. This radical new assessment of power under the swastika reveals many unknown facts and gives a unique but disturbing glimpse behind the scenes of the Nazi state.an TV journalist and presenter Guido Knopp has unearthed a wealth of new material about the Third Reich. Based on meticulous research and countless interviews, this is essential reading for anyone interested in Hitler and the Second World War.

Travel for pleasure developed greatly in the 18th century, and here Jeremy Black examines travel on the Continent, the so-called "Grand Tour". He considers not only the standard destinations of France and Italy, but also the Low Countries, Germany, Switzerland and the Balkans. The modes of transport are described in detail, along with the range of accommodation, the food and drink, the pleasures and the hazards of travel, ranging from sex and sensibility to debt and dysentery, as well as the effects of the French Revolution on the British tourist. Jeremy Black includes extensive quotations from eighteenth-century tourist correspondence, including neglected manuscript collections, to build up a vivid and frequently amusing picture of travel experiences of British aristocrats on the continent.

For millennia, mankind has devised ingenious and diabolical means of inflicting pain on fellow human beings. This deplorable but seemingly universal trait has eaten away at mankind’s very claim to civilisation. Despite how repugnant the practice of torture appears to us today, for at least 3,000 years it formed part of most legal codes throughout Europe and the Far East. The Big Book of Pain is an exploration of the systematic use throughout the ages of various means of punishment, torture, coercion and torment. It takes the reader into the Ancient Roman Coliseum, the medieval dungeon, the Inquisitional interrogation, the auto-da-fe, the witch-trial, and the worst of prisons. It is a shocking and compelling study of the shameful methods and motives of the torturer and the executioner, and of the heinous duty they have performed through the ages.

The Nazis’ dream of a world dominated by legions of Aryan ‘supermen’, forged in battle and absolutely loyal to Hitler, was epitomised by the Waffen-SS. Created as a supreme military élite, it grew to become Nazi Germany’s ‘second army’, an immense force totalling almost one million men by the end of the War.An astonishing fact about the SS is that thousands of its members were not German. Men stepped forward from almost every nation in Europe — for many, sometimes complex reasons — that included hatred of Bolshevism and nationalist sentiment or even straightforward anti-Semitism. Foremost amongst them were Scandinavians from Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland. Thousands were recruited from 1940 onwards and fought with distinction on the Russian Front.They served at first in national legions but were then brought together in the Wiking Panzer Division and the Nordland Panzer-grenadier Division. In Hitler’s Vikings, Jonathan Trigg details the battles these men fought and what inspired them to join the Waffen-SS, based wherever possible on interviews with surviving veterans. Many of the photographs reproduced here have never before been published. Hitler’s ‘Vikings’ were amongst the last men still fighting in the ruins of Berlin in 1945 — their story is truly remarkable.

‘This is one of those brilliant books where there is an amazing fact on every page showing just how much science underpins our everyday world.’ – Mark Miodownik, author of It’s a Gas: The Magnificent and Elusive Elements that Expand our WorldHave you ever found yourself wondering how to brew the perfect cup of coffee, finally rid your garden of snails or how to pull off a seamless Mexican wave? Well, wonder no more. Grounded in cutting-edge scientific research, this entertaining book answers these questions and many more, and explains what physics can reveal about so many seemingly ordinary aspects of your daily routine, from cooking breakfast and walking the dog to playing games and watching a film.So, whether you’re navigating rush-hour traffic, choosing the best seat on a plane, or just trying to win at rock, paper, scissors, Physics Around the Clock shows that physics isn’t just about lab experiments and equations – it’s relevant to everything you do and is happening all around you, every second of every day.

They don't make 'bad' cars any more, right? Well, maybe not, but there have been some real clunkers in years gone by, and this is the first book to celebrate them in all their awful glory. In this new edition, Giles Chapman presents to you "The Worst Cars Ever Sold", containing hundreds of rare pictures of these unreliable, rusty, hideous-looking and just plain mad machines, and thousands of fascinating and entertaining facts about them - some will surprise you, others you'll be all too familiar with. This book will take you back in time to when the family jalopy never failed to let you down, or that banger you bought from the local paper revealed its true character the moment you drove it - behold the worst cars ever sold and enjoy!

On the night of 14–15 April 1912, Titanic, a brand-new, supposedly unsinkable ship, the largest and most luxurious vessel in the world at the time, collided with an iceberg and sank on her maiden voyage. Of the 2,208 people on board, only 712 were saved. The rest perished in the icy-cold waters of the North Atlantic, and the tragedy has fascinated and perplexed the world ever since.This stunning book tells the story of not just the Titanic, but also of its sister ships, Olympic and Britannic. Maritime experts J. Kent Layton, Tad Fitch, and Bill Wormstedt tell the stories of these legendary liners with a compelling narrative alongside original artwork from up-and-coming artists, bringing to life the design, construction and service of the ships together with the wrecks of the ill-fated Titanic and Britannic.From the cold, starry night when Titanic collided with her iceberg to the tragic wartime loss of Britannic and the impressive reliability of the long-lived Olympic, this cinematic and immersive new study captures all of the glory and drama of the Olympic-class age and allows readers to visualise Titanic and her sisters like never before.

Within these pages you will find New York City’s artsy enclaves, chic boutiques and gorgeous eateries, all waiting to be brought to life with your colors. Discover hidden pockets of beauty in the world’s most famous city and take your imagination on a journey along its prettiest streets.Featuring intricate hand-drawn line illustrations and handy neighborhood tips, this is the perfect book to help you unwind and color your way to peace and calm.

Opened in 1907, in Weybridge, Surrey, Brooklands was the world’s first purpose-built motor-racing circuit. It was famous for its high speeds and the credo, ‘The right crowd and no crowding.’ But it was open only to men. After being permitted to compete in just two races, women were banned from all competitive participation by the Brooklands Automobile Racing Club. It was not until the 1930s that they were once again allowed to race on equal terms.The decade before the Second World War was the heyday for the remarkable women drivers who became known as the Brooklands Belles. A group of talented and determined women, who refused to stay in the passenger seat in the male-dominated world of early motorsport, fearlessly challenged the authorities and what was expected of women at the time.The Brooklands Belles tore up the rule book. They lit up the Brooklands social scene and took the increasingly dangerous track by storm. Their exploits captured the public’s imagination as they brought an intoxicating mixture of glamour, thrilling entertainment and often death-defying skill to the famous banked track, breaking both records and accepted social conventions of the time.

At the age of seventeen, Kenneth McAlpine ran away from the Repton school to join Churchill's new elite special force, the Royal Marine Commandos. As the youngest member of the youngest commando force, after three months he found himself fighting on the beaches of Normandy. In We Died With Our Boots Clean, McAlpine tells his own unique story of World War II and his highly eventful military career. From an unusual encounter with Montgomery and Patton, a concerted attempt to kill a sergeant major and his best friend’s arrest for swearing at the Queen of Holland, McAlpine paints a fascinating picture of commando life and the harsh training that prepared soldiers for frontline combat in an elite unit. Full of absorbing anecdotes such as his time in a military prison and a rescue operation at a concentration camp, this book is an essential part of a World War II enthusiast’s library.

‘I wish you a Merry Xmas but no compliments of the season’ – Jane AustenChristmas comes up time and time again in Jane Austen’s books, from childish chaos in Persuasion to fraught festivities in Northanger Abbey. Join Christmas historian Maria Hubert on a delightful meander through Georgian Christmases both fact and fiction.Eavesdrop on Austen family letters, immerse yourself in prose, drama and poetry from Jane and her contemporaries, or use the recipes to cook exemplary vegetables for your own Regency Christmas – Jane Austen’s Christmas is essential reading for an Austenite’s long winter nights.