World

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...

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...

When Autobiography of a Yogi first appeared in 1946, it was acclaimed as a landmark work in its field....

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...

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...

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....

From the bestselling author of 1788. The remarkable story of the fledgling settlement that survived against the odds. Bestselling historian David Hill tells the story of the first three decades of Britain's earliest colony in Australia in a fresh and compelling way. The British plan to settle...

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....

This audiobook narrated by acclaimed archaeologist and best-selling author Eric Cline offers a breathtaking account of how the collapse of an ancient civilized world ushered in the first Dark Ages. In 1177 BC, marauding groups known only as the "Sea Peoples" invaded Egypt. The pharaoh's army and...

Ever since its first publication in 1992, The End of History and the Last Man has provoked controversy and debate. Francis Fukuyama's prescient analysis of religious fundamentalism, politics, scientific progress, ethical codes, and war is essential....

The definitive history of the Vikings - from arts and culture to politics and cosmology - by a distinguished archaeologist with decades of expertise The Viking Age - from 750 to 1050 saw an unprecedented expansion of the Scandinavian peoples into the wider world. As traders and raiders...

For Australians, Kokoda is the iconic battle of World War II, yet few people know just what happened and just what our troops achieved....

A bold and all-embracing exploration of the nature and progress of knowledge from one of today's great thinkers. Throughout history, mankind has struggled to understand life's mysteries, from the mundane to the seemingly miraculous. In this important new book, David Deutsch, an award-winning...

In 1854, Victorian miners fought a deadly battle under the flag of the Southern Cross at the Eureka Stockade....

Every night, above our heads, a drama of epic proportions is playing out. Diamond planets, zombie stars, black holes heavier than a billion Suns. The cast of characters is extraordinary, and each one has its own incredible story to tell. We once thought of our Earth as unique, but we have now...

This audiobook narrated by John Chancer tells the gripping story of what happened after the Bronze Age collapsed—why some civilizations endured, why some gave way to new ones, and why some disappeared forever Features Eric Cline’s FAQs as bonus content At the end of Eric Cline's bestselling...

With all the skills of the master storyteller that he is, Jim Haynes exposes some of the great myths of Australian history. Did you know that Portuguese and Spanish explorers probably found the east coast of Australia before Captain Cook, and that the Rum Rebellion was not caused by rum? And...

Girt. No word could better capture the essence of Australia.... In this hilarious history, David Hunt reveals the truth of Australia's past....

Today, we are told that medical interventions increased our lifespan and single-handedly prevented masses of deaths. But is this really true? Dissolving Illusions details facts and figures from long-overlooked medical journals, books, newspapers, and other sources....

Harry Potter: A History of Magic reveals some of the hidden stories behind real-world magic and explores some of J.K. Rowling's magical inventions alongside their folkloric, cultural and historical forebears....

From Graham Hancock, best-selling author of Fingerprints of the Gods, comes a mesmerizing book that takes us on a captivating underwater voyage to find the ruins of a lost civilization that's been hidden for thousands of years beneath the world's oceans. While Graham Hancock is no stranger...

A bold, epic account of how the co-evolution of psychology and culture created the peculiar Western mind that has profoundly shaped the modern world. Perhaps you are WEIRD: raised in a society that is Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic. If so, you’re rather psychologically...

When Patrick Durack left Ireland for Australia in 1853, he was to found a dynasty of pioneers, and build an empire of cattle-land across the great stretches of Australia....

A lively and engaging narrative history showing the common threads in the cultures that gave birth to our own....

Christopher Columbus set out to end the world. He said so in writing, at length, with scriptural citations. He believed his voyages had been foretold by the prophets. He believed the gold of the Indies would finance the recovery of Jerusalem, without which the last act of history could not begin.

Discover ancient stone wonders and the secrets of architectural preservation through the eyes and hands of one of the world's greatest stonemasons. Around the world and across time, the buildings of the gods and royalty have mostly been made of stone. For more than forty years, the eminent...

At eighteen, Frank Bullen signs aboard the ramshackle whaler Cachalot, more out of desperation than choice, and finds himself thrown into one of the harshest trades on the high seas. What follows is a three-year voyage from New Bedford, Massachusetts, round the Cape of Good Hope, and on through...

A new history of the Renaissance's greatest feat of exploration: Sir Walter Ralegh's search for the legendary city of El Dorado, by New York Times bestselling author David Gibbins. In 1594, English adventurer Sir Walter Ralegh heard the story of a lost city in South America from a Spanish...

Two catastrophes. One unshakable truth: the moment humanity declares something invincible is the moment disaster starts writing its opening line. Great Disasters 2-in-1 brings together Dominic Haynes's gripping accounts of the Titanic and Chernobyl — two of history's most devastating reminders that confidence is not the same as safety.

Bloomsbury presents The Man Who Invented Fiction by William Egginton, read by Matt Fletcher-Macdonald. ‘In 1605 a crippled, greying, almost toothless veteran of Spain’s wars against the Ottoman Empire published a book. That book, Don Quixote, went on to sell more copies than any other book...

In the autumn of 2011, while a civil war ripped across Libya and the long reign of dictator Muammar Gaddafi came apart in gunfire, a team of archaeologists in England announced that they had located more than 100 lost towns and villages in the middle of the Sahara. Making it all the more amazing, they had spotted the ancient settlements from space.

In 1872, Irish soldier and adventurer Sir William Francis Butler published this vivid firsthand account of his journey across the vast, untamed expanse of Canada's Northwest. Dispatched on a hazardous reconnaissance mission during the Red River Rebellion, Butler travelled deep into contested...

Andreas Englisch and his son Leo once again delve into the mysteries of the Eternal City, drawing us to its hidden corners and concealed treasures. The legacy of an elderly woman sets father and son on the trail of a series of enigmatic places linked by a single, unsettling belief: to this day...

Women Who Carried Ghosts follows fifteen women across twenty-five centuries—from a Roman atrium where a queen's body became the foundation of a republic, to a Nazi concentration camp where a young spy took her secrets to the grave. Between them: a pirate queen who refused to curtsy before Elizabeth I, an opera singer who burned down a convent for the woman she loved, Soviet pilots the Germans called "Night Witches," and the survivors of the siege of Leningrad who kept diaries in the dark while the city starved.

What is history really for? In History, acclaimed historian Hendrik Willem van Loon delivers a sharp, witty, and provocative examination of the way Americans understand—or fail to understand—the past. Writing in the aftermath of the First World War, Van Loon challenges the dry, academic...

Soothe your racing mind at bedtime with low-stakes history designed as the ultimate sleep aid for restless nights. Drift away from the day's stress as you listen to beautifully boring tales of forgotten centuries and quiet routines. This calming narrative replaces nighttime anxiety with the...

The New York Times bestseller and definitive history of Christianity for our time—from the award-winning author of The Reformation and Silence A product of electrifying scholarship conveyed with commanding skill, Diarmaid MacCulloch's Christianity goes back to the origins of the Hebrew Bible...

At 11:40 PM on April 14, 1912, the most confident civilization in human history collided with the one thing it refused to believe in: its own limits. What does it mean to build something "unsinkable" — and what happens to the world when it sinks anyway? How many of the 1,500 who died that night were killed not by the iceberg, but by the arrogance that came before it?

Experience a tense narrative nonfiction journey into extreme survival, where human hubris battles the deadliest mountain. Perfect for a gripping daily commute, this atmospheric account plunges you straight into the freezing death zone and the high-stakes reality of modern expeditions. Feel the...

Experience the dramatic world history of how a small, rugged kingdom forged earth's first global maritime empire. Perfect for an immersive commute or deep intellectual focus, this epic historical narrative plunges you into the turbulent rise and spectacular fall of a fragile superpower. Follow...

Unearth ancient history's greatest archaeological mystery by tracking a vanished Egyptian queen's hidden tomb. Perfect for an immersive daily commute, this captivating non-fiction investigation explores the turbulent eighteenth dynasty and a radical pharaoh who upended tradition. Experience the...

Witness the dawn of a cultural revolution where radical art and cutthroat politics shattered the dark Middle Ages. Perfect for an intellectually stimulating morning commute, this immersive historical journey transports you straight to the bustling streets of Florence and Venice. Experience the...

The perfect gift for the man who's impossible to buy for. Looking for a gift that won't end up in a drawer? Forget novelty gadgets and another pair of socks. This is a book he'll actually pick up... and struggle to put down. Packed with hundreds of fascinating facts, unbelievable true stories, strange history, incredible science, bizarre inventions, military oddities, engineering marvels, sporting madness, food facts, space discoveries, famous scams, and curious knowledge, this is the ultimate collection of entertaining facts for men.

Hidden places, extraordinary stories—a journey into the Rome few ever see. Bestselling author and Vatican insider Andreas Englisch takes us beyond the familiar sights of the Eternal City to places where history still lies just beneath the surface. Together with the young Roman Leo, he follows...

Few places have been described with as much quiet devotion as John M. Gow brought to Cape Breton Island when he sat down to write about it in 1893. This restored edition presents Attractions of Cape Breton for Tourists, the chapter at the heart of Gow's Cape Breton Illustrated: Historic, Picturesque and Descriptive.

Forget the myths of buried gold; discover the gritty maritime history and rebel economics that really drove pirate crews. Perfect for your daily commute, this immersive deep dive transforms violent galleons into surprisingly modern, democratic workplaces. Uncover the strict codes and written...

Plunge into the harrowing medical history of maritime survival, where human frailty battles the unforgiving open ocean. Perfect for an absorbing daily commute, this immersive narrative exposes the terrifying reality of falling ill thousands of miles from the nearest port. Discover a brutal era...

Discover the immersive narrative history of forgotten pioneers who reshaped our modern world before being erased. Perfect for your daily commute or a deep-focus listening session, this eye-opening journey exposes the powerful gatekeepers who silenced ordinary heroes. You will traverse continents...

Step onto the blood-slick decks of a wooden warship and experience the harrowing maritime history of the lower decks. Plunging you into a dark, immersive naval journey perfect for long commutes, this visceral narrative leaves famous captains behind to follow the nameless hands hauling the ropes...