World

Earth is 4.5 billion years old. In just a fraction of that time, one species among countless others has conquered it. Us....

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Guns, Germs and Steel examines the rise of civilization and the issues its development has raised throughout history....

The Mongol army led by Genghis Khan subjugated more lands and people in 25 years than the Romans did in 400....

Graham Hancock's multi-million best seller Fingerprints of the Gods remains an astonishing, deeply controversial, wide-ranging investigation of the mysteries of our past and the evidence for Earth's lost civilisation....

Empire of the Summer Moon spans two astonishing stories. The first traces the rise and fall of the Comanches, the most powerful Indian tribe in American history....

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 breadfruit plants from Tahiti and take them to the West Indies, the Bounty's crew found themselves in a tropical paradise. Five months later, they did not want to leave.

For five months, Sir Ernest Shackleton and his men, drifting on ice packs, were castaways in one of the most savage regions of the world....

In The End Is Always Near, Dan Carlin connects the past and future in fascinating and colourful ways, exploring a question that has hung over humanity like the sword of Damocles from the collapse of the Bronze Age to the nuclear era - that of human survival....

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

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....

For generations, our remote ancestors have been cast as primitive and childlike - either free and equal, or thuggish and warlike. Civilisation, we are told, could be achieved only by sacrificing those original freedoms or, alternatively, by taming our baser instincts....

Geoffrey Blainey is well-placed to introduce us to the people who have played a part and to guide us through the events which have created the Australian identity....

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

For centuries, fame and fortune was to be found in the west—in the New World of the Americas. Today, it is the east which calls out to those in search of adventure and riches....

From his illegitimate birth in a small Austrian village to his fiery death in a bunker under the Reich chancellery in Berlin, Adolf Hitler left a murky trail....

The Book of Roads and Kingdoms is the story of the medieval wanderers who travelled out to the edges of the known world during Islam's fabled Golden Age....

From the earliest civilizations to the 21st century: a global journey through human history, published alongside a landmark BBC One television series....

The Second World War began in August 1939 on the edge of Manchuria and ended there exactly six years later with the Soviet invasion of northern China....

On October 12, 1972, a plane carrying a team of young rugby players crashed into the remote, snow-peaked Andes....

Here in a single volume is the entire, unabridged recording of Gibbon's masterpiece....

This A-Z encyclopedia of 150 serial killers is the ideal reference audiobook. Included are the most famous true crime serial killers....

With the advent of the internet, any topic we want to know about is instantly available with the touch of a smartphone button...

The World by Simon Sebag Montefiore is a fresh and original history of humanity, unlike any previous world history: it uses family, the one thing all humans have in common, to tell the story....      

We have never had so much information at our fingertips, and yet most of us simply don't understand how our world really works. Professor Vaclav Smil is not a pessimist or an optimist, he is a scientist, and this book is a much-needed reality check on a wide range of topics....

January 1991. IRAQ. Eight members of the SAS regiment embark upon a top secret mission to infiltrate deep behind enemy lines....

Mazes and Labyrinths is a look into the origin and mystery of mazes. From ancient stone carvings, Minoan palaces to today's hedge-maze, Matthews chronicles the history of the maze. With devoted scholarship to "the lure of the labyrinth," W. H. Matthews has composed an exhaustive history of mazes and labyrinths from antiquity to the present.

This book is intended as a survey of pyramids and possible pyramids worldwide. There are more than 50 different pyramids and sites reviewed.

The Great Northern War, fought from 1700-1721, gets its name from the fact the war focused on the Baltic, but the battlefields extended into Germany and deep into Poland and Ukraine. Sweden was a military power with a small empire in the Baltic, while Russia was still a landlocked place, backward when compared to the rest of Europe, not very powerful, and highly xenophobic. The Poland-Lithuanian Commonwealth was still powerful, and the Cossacks were still free.

Cut Throat is a compelling deep dive exposé of the wild journey taxidermy has taken from its toxic and inexpert origins to its fevered growth in popularity as scientific competition and society craved and demanded more in order to wonder and imagine the world beyond their lives in Europe. Cut throat continues on to its modern-day evolvement in collaboration with every level of crime and catastrophe. The motivation to keep the taxidermy machine grinding forward regardless of risk is staggering amounts of money, prestige and ego.

Ensign Stephen Davenport was the most severely under qualified of the Ninety-Day Wonders, the derisive term for commissioned officers in the Naval Reserve with only ninety days of training, all of which were on dry land. For his final navigation exam, he actually plotted a course that landed a fictional destroyer somewhere in the Sierra Mountains. Nevertheless, in in August of 1953, he reported to his first assignment aboard the USS Vermillion. He would be overseeing the First Division for training in amphibious landings.

On the first of September 1785, with night coming on and the weather deteriorating, the crew of the ship Faithful Steward sailed toward Delaware's notorious False Cape. In the summer of 1785, a group of Irish migrants took to the Atlantic to escape the abuse and persecution of the ruling classes at home. They sought a new life in the United States, a place "where the banner of freedom waved proudly" and "every good was possessed."

In the 21st century, most people associate the idea of the possession of a person or place by a malevolent supernatural entity with the medieval world and particularly with the Catholic Church, but the truth is considerably stranger. Virtually every human culture that has ever existed has talked about both possession and exorcism, a rite or ritual used to free a person or place from possession. The terms used to describe the process of possession and entities thought to be responsible have changed throughout history, but the central theory does not.

Much has been written about Western intervention during the breakup of Yugoslavia, and whether it made matters worse, prevented worse atrocities, or was simply ineffective. In early 1992, however, what was clear was that Europe was hopelessly divided over the best course of action to take towards Yugoslavia, and after several years of fighting, the Bosnian War was one of the most violent conflagrations in Europe since the end of World War II.

Untamed Waters: The Golden Age of Piracy is a captivating and thoroughly researched exploration of history's most notorious era, delving into the thrilling world of pirates and their daring exploits on the high seas. From the sun-kissed shores of the Caribbean to the treacherous waters of the Indian Ocean, this book unravels the motivations behind piracy and its impact on global trade and politics. With meticulous citations, it serves as both an engaging listen for history enthusiasts and a valuable academic resource.

As the title suggests, The Big Book of Facts About History: Volume II, contains a huge list of interesting and informative facts about the world that we live in. The facts focus entirely on the history of our civilization. The book doesn't focus on one subject entirely, but lists facts in a random fashion in order to keep the book interesting. This is Book 2 of my "History Facts" book series.

In this magnificent book, distinguished archaeologist Barry Cunliffe reframes our entire conception of early European history, from prehistory through the ancient world to the medieval Viking period. Cunliffe views Europe not in terms of states and shifting political land boundaries but as a geographical niche particularly favored in facing many seas. These seas, and Europe's great transpeninsular rivers, ensured a rich diversity of natural resources while also encouraging the dynamic interaction of peoples across networks of communication and exchange.

The ruins of ancient Athens, Luxor, and Rome are familiar cornerstones of world history, visited by travelers from across the globe. But what about the cities that have dropped off the map? Where are they, and what can they tell us about our past? In this compendium of forgotten cities, Philip Matyszak explores the trials, tribulations, and triumphs these cities faced. 

On December 16, 1842, the US brig-of-war Somers dropped anchor in Brooklyn Harbor at the end of a cruise intended to teach a group of adolescents the rudiments of naval life. But this seemingly harmless exercise ended in catastrophe. Commander Alexander Slidell Mackenzie came ashore saying he had narrowly prevented a mutiny that would have left him and his officers dead. Vividly told and filled with tense action based on court martial transcripts, Snow’s masterly account of this all-but-forgotten episode is naval history at its finest.

Did you know that Shah Jahan once planned to build another Taj Mahal in his empire? Ancient sources contradict each other, which can be confusing at times. But that is about to change. With this all-new history book, you can easily explore the gripping events that led to the construction of the Seven Wonders of the New World.

You probably have heard of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. But how much do you really know about it? The ancient world was home to some of the greatest civilizations in history. The Egyptians, the Greeks, the Babylonians, and others wanted to leave their mark on history so others would remember their greatness. Most people can list a few of the wonders of the top of their head. But few know that the Hanging Gardens of Babylon might never have existed or that the remains of the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus were used by the Knights Hospitaller.