Showing titles in History

Some ships pass through history almost unnoticed. They are built, they serve, they age, and they disappear, leaving behind little more than a few photographs, an entry in a register, and the faint memory of a name painted once on steel. And then some ships carry something larger than themselves. Ships that become symbols without entirely meaning to. Ships that reflect the ambitions, anxieties, and identity of the age that produced them.

Operation Gold is one of the most extraordinary—and least believed—Cold War operations ever attempted: a secret tunnel dug beneath divided Berlin so Britain and America could listen directly to Soviet communications. It sounds like the plot of a spy thriller, yet it happened in real life, in a city where every street corner had eyes, every building had informants, and every shadow seemed to belong to someone else. This book takes you into that world, where engineering became espionage, and where the ground itself became a battleground.

Some of the greatest heroes and villains in British history were thrown together in these turbulent times: Henry V, whose victory at Agincourt and prudent rule at home marked the high point of the medieval monarchy; Edward IV, who was handed his crown by the scheming soldier Warwick the Kingmaker, before their alliance collapsed into a fight to the death; and the last Plantagenet, Richard III, who stole the throne and murdered his own nephews, the Princes in the Tower.

Great stories from around the coasts of Britain and Ireland brought to you by Charlie Connelly, author of the bestselling 'Attention All Shipping: A Journey Round The Shipping Forecast'. Take fifteen minutes out of your day for a true maritime tale of the heroic, disastrous, startling, hilarious, mysterious, tragic or just plain WTF. "Charming...with the soothing sound of lapping waves in the background Connelly captivates with maritime tales from the past decades and centuries. It's simple but effective storytelling." Irish Examiner "Relax and let author Charlie Connelly’s soothing ...

They were like a band of brothers... In 1983 Andy McNab was assigned to B Squadron, one of the four Sabre Squadrons of the SAS, and within it to Air Troop, otherwise known as SEVEN TROOP. This is Andy McNab's gripping account of the time he served in the company of a remarkable group of men -...

A major figure behind his nephew Philip's marriage to Queen Elizabeth II and instrumental in the royal family taking the Mountbatten name, Dickie Mountbatten's career included being Supreme Allied Commander of South East Asia during World War Two and the last Viceroy of India. Once the richest woman in Britain and a playgirl who enjoyed numerous affairs, Edwina Mountbatten emerged from World War Two as a magnetic and talented charity worker loved around the world.

This history of modern Iran is not a survey in the conventional sense but an ambitious exploration of the story of a nation. It offers a revealing look at how events, people, and institutions are shaped by currents that sometimes reach back hundreds of years. The book covers the complex history of the diverse societies and economies of Iran against the background of dynastic changes, revolutions, civil wars, foreign occupation, and the rise of the Islamic Republic.

THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE ESCAPE ARTIST A THE ECONOMIST BOOK OF THE YEAR 'Magnificent . . . Important and impressive' DAILY TELEGRAPH 'Astonishing . . . Freedland is a master' MICK HERRON 'Remarkable . . . This is how the best history books will be written in the...

Brought to you by Penguin. In the latest volume of his celebrated series of Time Traveller's Guides - after the Middle Ages, Elizabethan England and Restoration Britain - Ian Mortimer turns to what is arguably the most-loved period in British history: the Regency (aka Georgian England)...

Pax is the third in a trilogy of books narrating the history of the Roman Empire. The series that began with Rubicon, and continued with Dynasty, now arrives at the period which marks the apogée of the pax Romana. It provides a portrait of the ancient world's ultimate superpower at war and at peace; from the gilded capital to the barbarous realms beyond the frontier; from emperors to slaves.

A triumph of narrative, empathy and research, as gripping in its handling of individual witnesses to the war - those doomed to struggle with bombing, rationing, exhausting work and above all the absence of millions of family members - as of the gigantic military, social, technological and economic forces that swept the conflict along. It is the definitive account of a drama which reshaped our country.

Read by the author, Robert Hardman. An intimate, authoritative, richly entertaining new portrait of Elizabeth II in her centenary year from the Sunday Times number 1 bestselling author of Charles III. Biographer and royal commentator Robert Hardman has had unique access to the world of the late...

PULITZER PRIZE WINNER Master of the Senate, Book Three of The Years of Lyndon Johnson, carries Johnson’s story through one of its most remarkable periods: his twelve years, from 1949 to 1960, in the United States Senate. A Los Angeles Times Best Nonfiction Book of the Last 30 Years At the...

In these 12 captivating lectures, you'll explore the life of the Prophet of Islam as well as the Quran's five pillars, which govern the beliefs and behavior of Muslims everywhere. You'll learn how the incredible legacies of the great Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal empires still influence the Arab world, Iran, and South Asia. You'll also look at Islam in other parts of the world. The current Muslim struggle to preserve tradition in an age of globalization and ethnic and religious strife are examined in detail.

Are you ready for the truth about World War Two? In the first of an extraordinary three-volume account of the war on land, in the air and at sea, James Holland reveals not only the truth behind the familiar legends of the Second World War but he also unveils those lesser known events which were...

The Sunday Times bestseller ‘One of the most dramatic forgotten chapters of the war, as told in a new book by the incomparable Max Hastings’ DAILY MAIL In August 1942, beleaguered Malta was within weeks of surrender to the Axis, because its 300,000 people could no longer be fed. Churchill...

D-Day, 6 June 1944, the turning point of the Second World War, was a victory of arms. But it was also a triumph for a different kind of operation: one of deceit, aimed at convincing the Nazis that Calais and Norway, not Normandy, were the targets of the 150,000-strong invasion force. The deception involved every branch of Allied wartime intelligence - the Bletchley Park code-breakers, MI5, MI6, SOE, Scientific Intelligence, the FBI and the French Resistance. But at its heart was the 'Double Cross System', a team of double agents controlled by the secret Twenty Committee.

A weekly podcast about murder, disappearances, conspiracies, witches, and anything else we find interesting. If you like creepy stories that involve a lot of research, a little humor, and a dash of southern twang, tune in!

A Times Best Audiobook of the Year 2025 Listeners are LOVING The Accidental Soldier: 'One of the funniest books you will ever read' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'I've spent 15 years waiting for a book which entertainingly brings to life the humour, mundanity & absurdity of serving in Iraq . . . Thankfully...

Much has been written about the South African Border war which is also known as the Namibian War of Independence. While the fighting was ostensibly about Namibia, most of the significant battles were fought inside Namibia’s northern neighbour, Angola. South Africa’s 23 year border war has been almost forgotten as the Cold War ebbed away and bygones were swept under the political carpet. South African politicians, particularly the ANC and the National Party, decided during negotiations to end years of conflict that the Truth and Reconciliation commission would focus on the internal struggle...