Global History

Brought to you by Penguin. Thomas Asbridge’s remarkable new book reveals the global impact of humanity’s greatest natural disaster, and the terrible human cost of this calamity. In the mid-fourteenth century, a lethal plague struck the medieval world, causing unimaginable suffering and...

A sweeping history of the Greeks, from the Bronze Age to today. “With suave latitude and dependable detail, Beaton takes his readers from a bright prehistoric ‘dawn’ in the Aegean to the heavy skies of contemporary geo-politics.” —The New Criterion More than two thousand years ago, the...

In the beginning, there was the vine. Wine: a drink, a medicine, a ritual and a commodity. Across millennia, it has been used to celebrate and commiserate, as a negotiating tool and a diplomatic gift. But where and when - was it first discovered? And how did it become a worldwide phenomenon?...

Brought to you by Penguin. From its birth in seventh-century Arabia, Islam has been a faith on the move. In Worlds of Islam, James McDougall explores its origins and transformations from Late Antiquity to the digital age. Over the span of a thousand years, armies, missionaries, and merchants...

A HISTORY TODAY BOOK OF THE YEAR 'Powerful, absorbing and endlessly thought-provoking' SINCLAIR MCKAY A radical new history of history's most brutal struggle for survival between imperial powers. In popular memory, World War II was an unalloyed victory for freedom over totalitarianism, and...

Bloomsbury presents… Reds: A Global History of Communism Written and read by Paul Mason Reds tells the global history of communism, going beyond the turmoil of the 20th century, and exploring communist ideas, movements, and regimes. It starts in antiquity, not in 1917. It centres not just on...

A Times History Book of the Year 2022 A TLS Book of the Year 2022 ‘Exhilarating and whip-smart’ THE SUNDAY TIMES From award-winning writer Edward Wilson-Lee, this is a thrilling true historical detective story set in sixteenth-century Portugal. A History of Water follows the interconnected...

All cultures are different, and have different ways of thinking. In How the World Thinks, Julian Baggini travels the globe to provide a hugely wide-ranging map of human thought. He shows us how distinct branches of philosophy flowered simultaneously in China, India and Ancient Greece, growing...

'A book of such hugely ambitious scope’ Financial Times ‘Gingeras’s riveting book delves into the murky origins, effects and legacies of the most terrifying figures in the history of crime’ The i ‘Gingeras writes well and joins the historical dots' Telegraph Few forces have shaped our...

Discover the Epic Story of Cinema—From Flickering Frames to Streaming Screens. In The Global History of Film, acclaimed author Oliver Greyson delivers an engaging and comprehensive narrative of the world’s most captivating art form. Spanning over a century, this book traces the evolution of cinema from its earliest experiments in light and motion to the groundbreaking films of today.

The riveting eight-thousand-year story of wine, nectar of the gods and the pleasure and support of man. “Capaciously informative and endlessly entertaining.” -Tom Holland, author of Dominion As far back as history can reach, wine has been intertwined with the growth and development of the...

'A historically insightful read' Financial Times 'A wry, rollicking, and provocative history' Michael Taylor, author of The Interest ‘A thought-provoking analysis of Africa's relationship with economic imperialism’ Astrid Madimba and Chinny Ukata, authors of It’s A Continent We need to...

The Left seems to be dying a slow death. Bestselling historian Shlomo Sand argues that the global decline of the Left is linked to the waning of the idea of equality that has united citizens in the past and inspired them to engage in collective action. Sand retraces the evolution of this idea in a wide-ranging account that includes seventeenth-century England, the French Revolution, the birth of anarchism and Marxism, the decolonial, feminist, and civil rights revolts, and the left populism of our time.

For decades, the West has dismissed Maoism as an outdated historical and political phenomenon. Since the 1980s, China seems to have abandoned the utopian turmoil of Mao’s revolution in favour of authoritarian capitalism. But Mao and his ideas remain central to the People’s Republic and the legitimacy of its Communist government. With disagreements and conflicts between China and the West on the rise, the need to understand the political legacy of Mao is urgent and growing.

The ultimate guide to the worst dictators in history: 64 profiles by 64 different historians, politicians and journalists compiled by leading political commentator Iain Dale Were the signs that Putin is a ruthless dictator there all along? How should we deal with President Xi of China? It is...

The first volume of a ground-breaking and truly global trilogy on the Second World War, from an exciting, prize-winning academic. Between 1931 and 1949, a series of crises threatened world order and the very functioning of states, as well as destroying or changing millions of ordinary people’s...

The Bible is the world's best-known text. Yet, it is a book that never was - its original form does not exist and likely never did. What we have is the inheritance of generation after generation of Christians who have sought to hear God speak. Available in over 3,000 languages and taking innumerable forms, each version is a revelation, evolving as a reflection of its own culture and moment.

'Superb: a dynamic, compelling and pulsating history - grippingly narrated but with a completely fresh and convincing analysis . . . A must read' SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE 'Bold, vital and urgent . . . Blows the old parochial Western accounts clean away' SUZANNAH LIPSCOMB 'Refreshing and astutely...

Wherever there are workers, there are unions: and we need them now, more than ever. Whether in formal organisations or grass-roots collectives, people have always found ways to work together for a better world. Today, a historic wave of strikes and union organizing is sweeping the globe – from...

Brought to you by Penguin. How has feminism developed? What have feminists achieved? What can we learn from the global history of feminism? Feminism is the ongoing story of a profound historical transformation. Despite being repeatedly written off as a political movement that has achieved its...