History

A SAS soldier's journey from trainee to elite warrior fighting Islamic militants in Afghanistan, only to be betrayed by his own senior leaders at home. 'I've had more than my share of close calls. Truth is, it's fucking thrilling. But the fear can hit just as hard, especially when you see mates...

Amoral, cunning, ruthless, and instructive, this piercing work distills 3,000 years of the history of power into 48 well-explicated laws. This bold volume outlines the laws of power in their unvarnished essence, synthesizing the philosophies of Machiavelli, Sun Tzu, Carl von Clausewitz, and...

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 Big Bang to the Second Plane (minus all the stuff we can skip in between). Reader, you...

One of the most significant books ever written by a head of state, the Meditations are a collection of philosophical thoughts by the Emperor Marcus Aurelius....

Stephen E. Ambrose’s classic New York Times bestseller and inspiration for the acclaimed HBO series about Easy Company, the ordinary men who became the World War II’s most extraordinary soldiers at the frontlines of the war's most critical moments. Featuring a foreword from Tom Hanks. They...

The name Captain James Cook is one of the most recognisable in Australian history - an almost mythic figure who is often discussed, celebrated, reviled and debated. But who was the real James Cook? This Yorkshire farm boy would go on to become the foremost mariner, scientist, navigator and...

This is a new reading of the thrilling account of one of the most astonishing feats of exploration and human courage ever recorded. In August of 1914, the British ship Endurance set sail for the South Atlantic. In October, 1915, still half a continent away from its intended base, the ship was...

From the bestselling author of Kokoda and Gallipoli comes the epic story of Australia's deadliest Vietnam War battle. 4.31 pm: Enemy [on] left flank. Could be serious. 5.01 pm: Enemy ... penetrating both flanks and to north and south. 5.02: Running short of ammo. Require drop through trees. It...

A classic book now available on audio With narration by Phyllida Nash, who gives a captivating account of the legendary empire that made the modern Western world possible Byzantium. The name evokes grandeur and exoticism—gold, cunning, and complexity. In this unique book, Judith Herrin unveils...

Now available as an unabridged recording for the first time NATIONAL BESTSELLER Discover the game-changing theory of the cycles of history and what past generations can teach us about living through times of upheaval—with deep insights into the roles that Boomers, Generation X, and...

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Guns, Germs and Steel examines the rise of civilization and the issues its development has raised throughout history. Having done field work in New Guinea for more than 30 years, Jared Diamond presents the geographical and ecological factors that have shaped...

READ BY THE AUTHOR The bestselling author of The Parasitic Mind shows why empathy in politics leads to civilizational collapse. What happens when a society elevates victimhood to a virtue and decides that punishment is cruel? You get the disease Dr. Gad Saad calls suicidal empathy. And the West...

The first joint biography of the women who have shaped - and shaken - the modern Royal Family. Diana. Camilla. Catherine. Meghan. Outsiders by birth, insiders by marriage. Four women united by their decision to enter the most famous family in the world, and by their place in the centre of its...

The story begins in 1629, when the pride of the Dutch East India Company, the Batavia, is on its maiden voyage en route from Amsterdam to the Dutch East Indies, laden down with the greatest treasure to leave Holland....

Born in 1894, Facey lived the rough frontier life of a sheep farmer, survived the gore of Gallipoli, raised a family through the Depression and spent 60 years with his beloved wife, Evelyn....

The truth about the bloody battles fought to establish a nation For the first time, The Australian Wars brings what for too long has been considered the historical past into connection with its reverberations in the present. It is estimated up to 100,000 people died in the frontier wars that...

An extraordinary look at an ordinary substance—and one we'd be dead without: salt. Salt has shaped civilization from the very beginning, and the story of this common household seasoning proves a fascinating one. In a kaleidoscope of history, Mark Kurlansky—bestselling author of  1968 and...

In Forging the Will to Fight, retired Special Forces Major Heston Russell delivers a raw and deeply personal memoir that cuts through the mythology of war to reveal the real human cost — and courage — of leadership in combat and beyond. From commanding elite Australian commandos in...

In an attempt to appeal to the Medici family during the Italian Renaissance, Machiavelli outlines the way to acquire and retain political power, and how great men should behave in a princely government....

The Bhagavad Gita is the best known of all the Indian scriptures, and Eknath Easwaran’s best-selling translation is reliable, readable, and profound.

Spanning a million years of history, the mysteries in this book include fabled relics, legendary cities, mythical species, and undeciphered languages that have bedeviled seekers for centuries.

Bloomsbury presents The Last Viking by Don Hollway, read by Mark Meadows. ‘The Last Viking is a masterful and pulse-pounding narrative that transports the reader into the middle of the action.’ Carl Gnam, Military Heritage Harald Sigurdsson burst into history as a teenaged youth in a Viking...

The mutiny on HMS Bounty, in the South Pacific on 28 April 1789, is one of history's truly great stories - a tale of human drama, intrigue and adventure of the highest order - and in the hands of Peter FitzSimons it comes to life as never before. Commissioned by the Royal Navy to collect...

Malcolm Gladwell’s most urgent book yet: a provocative investigation of America’s epidemic of gun violence. The United States has far more homicides than any of its peers around the world. Why? In this groundbreaking book, Malcolm Gladwell explores the American “peculiarity”—how the...

An intellectual detective story, this history audiobook directs probing questions at orthodox history, presenting disturbing new evidence that historians have tried - but failed - to explain....

Join Stephen Fry as he delves in to the secrets of one of the most extraordinary monarchs in one of our most extraordinary eras in English history. A woman in a man’s world. And not just any woman – but Elizabeth I, one of the greatest and most secretive monarchs of all time. This queen realised that her sex, far from being a weakness, could be deployed as a strength. It’s not an overstatement to say that England’s politics, religion, and culture have all been shaped by what she did and said. And what she kept secret. This wasn’t just a time of poets, playwrights and poachers.

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 Big Bang to the Second Plane (minus all the stuff we can skip in between). Reader, you...

An important reckoning with Australia’s unspoken history of slavery. From the author of the bestselling books The Ballad of Abdul Wade and The Bravest Scout at Gallipoli As Australia becomes more willing to confront the violence and trauma of its colonial past, one chapter has remained largely...

The Roman Empire looms large in the history of the Western world. Despite its collapse in the 5th century CE, its legacy continues to influence everything from architecture and politics to literature and religion. Much of this impact was shaped by the rulers who transformed the Roman Republic into one of the most powerful empires the world has ever seen. In the 10 lectures of The Best and Worst of the Roman Emperors, you will meet 10 of the most notable—and notorious—rulers of Rome and assess their legacies.

Unmask the shadowy world of Russian espionage with this riveting exploration of the Russian Intelligence Services (RIS) and their global clandestine operations. With decades of experience as a CIA operations officer, author Sean M. Wiswesser takes listeners deep into the heart of...

Incredible stories of combat and survival from over twenty years in the Army and Special Forces For more than two decades, Bram Connolly's life was a relentless march through some of the world's most volatile landscapes, brutal conflicts and extreme training. Serving in the Australian Army and...

Spanning a million years of history, the mysteries in this book include fabled relics, legendary cities, mythical species, and undeciphered languages that have bedeviled seekers for centuries.

Heirs of the Great Migration is a narrative biography grounded in Dr. James “Manny” Wright’s family journey from Jim Crow-era sharecropping in North Carolina to the promise of manufacturing jobs and greater opportunity in the industrial Northeast. Wright frames his generation—Generation X—as heirs to the aspirations and sacrifices of the Great Migration and among the first generations of Black Americans to come of age with the full rights of citizenship formally guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution. Yet the America they inherited was undergoing another profound transformation.

"A smart, endlessly interesting exercise in connecting cultural dots to learn how we got here."—Kirkus Reviews, starred review From the New York Times best-selling author of Jesus and John Wayne, a revelatory history of white Christian womanhood in the United States. In her...

From two leading economists comes a groundbreaking new portrait of the hidden fortunes of Main Street business owners—ordinary Americans who built extraordinary wealth and are quietly rewriting the rules of money and power. Most people think the path to great wealth runs through Wall Street or...

Have you ever thought you were being followed or watched? Have you ever needed to follow someone without being seen? Do you ever worry about the digital tracks you leave behind—or wonder how to vanish without a trace? Have you ever wished you could spot when someone is lying to you? In the...

An ancient Greek in a traveling cloak stood on the plain at Giza, in the shadow of the pyramids, and had many questions. He wanted to know how the great stones had been raised, how many men had labored on them and for how long, what the workers had eaten, and what the marks carved into the casing recorded. Egyptian priests gave him answers, an interpreter turned their words into Greek, and the traveler wrote everything down, the plausible and the fantastic side by side, because he had come a very long way to learn it. He had no intention of leaving anything out.

This program is read by Audie Award–winning actor Robert Petkoff. "[What stands out is] Petkoff's bravura performance, the fine sound quality, and the exceptional direction and editing. Indeed, this is an impressive audiobook" —Kirkus Reviews on Hitler's Last Days What has to change in...

"A graphic but powerful reminder of the horrors of that day—and the horrors that the first responders have faced ever since." —Booklist The untold story of an American hero who proved that one person can turn trauma into heroic action—from the wounded construction worker who became a...

The gripping and heroic firsthand account—like American Sniper mixed with a real-life version of Die Hard—by an off-duty special forces soldier who battled against a terrorist attack for twenty-two hours, and saved scores of American, Kenyan, and European lives. After an otherwise ordinary...

"An ex-Yankee star’s entertaining tell-all details his long-running feud with the team’s mercurial owner." —Kirkus A fearless and insightful portrait of power, race, and resilience from one of baseball’s most unique and dynamic Hall of Fame legends, offering an unflinching look at the...

BLK SHP Scott is a pastor, teacher, and Bible communicator whose work spans the pulpit, the classroom, and the screen. He leads BLK SHP Bible Talk, a teaching ministry built on the conviction that the Bible can withstand every hard question, and that most people have never been shown how deep it actually goes. Dynasty of Slaves is that conviction applied to one of the most consequential and contested chapters in Scripture.

When scholars study the history of the ancient Near East, several wars that had extremely brutal consequences (at least by modern standards) often stand out. Forced removal of entire populations, sieges that decimated entire cities, and wanton destruction of property were all tactics used by the various peoples of the ancient Near East against each other, but the Assyrians were the first people to make war a science. When the Neo-Assyrians are mentioned, images of war and brutality are among the first that come to mind, despite the fact the Assyrian culture prospered for nearly 2,000 years.

In this compelling history, Peter Chapman shows how the United Fruit Company took bananas from the jungles of Costa Rica to the halls of power in Washington, D. C., with not just clever marketing, but covert CIA operations, bloody coups, and brutalized workforces. And how along the way they...

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “A narrative masterwork. Bird vividly creates the sinister web of charm and deceit that Cohn was able to spin through his decades at the very center of power.” —Marie Brenner, award-winning writer-at-large for Vanity Fair and coproducer of the...

"This dazzling book is full of brilliant detail, behind-the-scenes wit and humor, and a great tenderness for her subjects. All seen through the lens of Lucy Worsley's career working as Chief Curator at Hampton Court, her scholarship, passion for her subject and deep knowledge is lightly worn...

“Narrative history at its best.” —Air Mail The gripping, definitive history of the Hindenburg disaster, the rise of the Nazis, and the road to World War II as never before told On the evening of May 6, 1937, the majestic German zeppelin Hindenburg arrived before cheering crowds in...

Bloomsbury presents Deep Into the Sixties by David Kynaston, read by Mark Meadows and David Kynaston. ‘This glorious historical monument slows, expands and luxuriously stretches to encompass one of the defining moments of change in our history’ PHILIP HENSHER, SPECTATOR 'The poet of postwar...

From the acclaimed author of Billion Dollar Molecule and The Antidote, a revisionist, passionate history of the pharmaceutical industry, detailing how the nascent industry ushered in an age of cures. For the past thirty-five years, the acclaimed author Barry Werth has been covering one of the...

In 1955, following the devastation of the Korean War, Bertha and Harry Holt made headlines for adopting eight Korean children. Driven by evangelical convictions and emboldened by a special act of Congress, the couple founded the Holt Adoption Program, which would facilitate the migration of tens...