European history

A dramatic and expertly rendered narrative of the Allied liberation of the South of France during Operation Dragoon in 1944.Operation Dragoon is the story of the Allied invasion of the South of France on August 15, 1944. It was, in effect, the...

A collection of tales from the Middle Ages that reveal voyages to Heaven and Hell, the realm of the Faery, mystical lands, and encounters with mythic beasts • Shares travelers’ accounts of voyages into the afterlife, alarming creatures of unparalleled...

An intimate portrait of Evola and his wartime activities that rebuts many of the Fascist pseudo-myths about him • Traces the Baron’s activities in Italy, Germany, and Austria during World War II • Clarifies Evola’s relations with Nazism and Fascism and...

Overturns the long-established historical narrative about the origins and purpose of the Knights Templar • Explains how and why the Templars created Europe’s first nation-state, Portugal, with one of their own as king • Reveals the Portuguese roots of...

A biographical history of Aleister Crowley’s activities in Berlin from 1930 to 1932 as Hitler was rising to power • Examines Crowley’s focus on his art, his work as a spy for British Intelligence, his colorful love life and sex magick exploits, and his...

The history and philosophy of the mysterious Cathar religion and its lost treasure• Demonstrates that Catharism is not simply a heretical Christian cult as it is often portrayed• Examines the evidence for the existence of a lost Cathar treasure and its...

"Philosophy begins in wonder."                                     ...

Wales is a land with a vast wealth of ghost stories, including fantastical animals, flickering death omens and unseen things that go bump in the night. Whether these tales are based on true events, or are the creations of active imaginations, is known...

Human civilisation was not just created by humans: we had the help of many creatures, and foremost among these were sheep. From Argentina to Australia and from Mesopotamia to Mongolia, just about every country with hills and meadows has adopted and then...

My hair is a statement and always will be, even when I no longer have any.The social revolution of the Swinging Sixties led to a renaissance of unchecked hair growth, and long hair, especially on men, was worn as a political or countercultural symbol of...

An accessible biography of the venerable Bede, regarded as the father of English history.This book investigates the life and world of Bede (c. 673735), the foremost scholar of the early Middle Ages and the 'father of English history.'...

A fresh reading of Aldus Manutius, preeminent in the history of the printed book.Aldus Manutius is perhaps the greatest gure in the history of the printed book: in Venice, Europe's capital of printing, he invented the italic type and issued more rst...

Eighty years after the fall of Benito Mussolini, controversy remains about what his dictatorship represented. This reflects the different sides to the Duce's leadership: while adept at nurturing and enforcing his personal political power, Mussolini's...

A common view is that the Second World War in Europe ended in May 1945. But fighting continued for over a decade in the Baltic states. Stuck between two totalitarian regimesStalin's USSR and Hitler's Reichthe populations of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania...

Field marshal and statesman Gustaf Mannerheim (1867-1951) was the most acclaimed and the most hated Finn of the twentieth century. After three decades of loyal and distinguished service in the Russian Tsarist army, he returned to his homeland in 1917 to...

A landmark new history of the great English county of Lancashire, exploring its people's impact on Britain and beyond.This popular history explores the cultural heritage and identity of Lancashire, stretching from the Mersey to the Lake District. Paul...

In this expanded edition of a widely praised book, now available for the first time in North America, the renowned journalist Patrick Cockburn looks at his experience of contracting polio as a child in the context of a new pandemic, that of COVID-19. The...

This is the late 1970s and '80s as explained through the urgent and still-relevant songs of the Clash, the Specials, the Au Pairs, the Style Council, the Pet Shop Boys, and nearly four hundred other bands and solo artists.Each chapter presents a mixtape...

Republican passions demonstrates the crucial role of family and friendship networks in the creation of the French Third Republic. Based on the family archives of Lon Laurent-Pichat, journalist, Deputy and Life Senator, this study paints a rich picture of...

This book uses amputation and prostheses to tell a new story about medicine and embodied knowledge-making in early modern Europe. It draws on the writings of craft surgeons and learned physicians to follow the heated debates that arose from changing...

Socialist Republic is a timely account of 1980s left-wing politics in South Yorkshire. It explores how Sheffield City Council set out to renew the British Left. Through careful analysis of the Council's agenda and how it interacted with trade unions,...

St Columba is one of the most important figures in the early history of the British Isles. A native of Donegal and a nobleman of royal ancestry, his outstanding religious career spanned both sides of the Irish Sea. On the Scottish island of Iona he...

The only comprehensive history of Iceland available in English.The only comprehensive history of Iceland available in English.Unique among European societies, Iceland was founded late, in the Viking Age, and has copious written and archaeological sources...

Sicily was the jewel of the Mediterranean, and Sicilians were the first civilized people of the Western World-here is their rich and diverse history in crisp prose and lively illustration. This concise history relates how Sicily rose to become the first...

A unique look at how classical notions of ascent and flight preoccupied early modern British writers and artistsBetween the late sixteenth century and early nineteenth century, the British imagination - poetic, political, intellectual, spiritual and...

A multifaceted exploration of the interplay between civic and military life in ancient RomeThe ancient Romans famously distinguished between civic life in Rome and military matters outside the city-a division marked by the pomerium, an abstract religious...

A newly expanded edition of the defining book on one of French Romanticism's most influential and elusive paintersEugene Delacroix (1798-1863) was a solitary genius who produced stormy Romantic works like The Death of Sardanapalus as well as more...

After the turbulent years of the Napoleonic Wars and the Congress of Vienna's attempt to guarantee peace and stability across Europe, a new revolutionary movement emerged in the southern peripheries of the continent. In this groundbreaking study,...

Glasgow: The Autobiography tells the story of the fabled, former Second City of the British Empire from its origins as a bucolic village on the rivers Kelvin and Clyde, through the tumult of the Industrial Revolution to the third millennium.Including...

Late Medieval Christianity's encounter with miraculous materials viewed in the context of changing conceptions of matter itself.In the period between 1150 and 1550, an increasing number of Christians in western Europe made pilgrimage to places where...

The first comprehensive history of the Sami people of the Nordic countries and northwestern Russia. There is no single volume which encompasses an integrated social and cultural history of the Sami people from the Nordic countries and northwestern Russia...

This comprehensive historical survey of Italian Marxism explores the growth of different forms of Marxist culture in the period from the Paris Commune through the First World War. In it, Favilli provides indispensible insight on the impact of various...

From the Vanguard to the Margins is dedicated to the work of the late British historian, Dr Mark Pittaway (1971-2010), a prominent scholar of post-war and contemporary Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Breaking with orthodox readings on Eastern bloc...

Brimming with the honesty and passionate conviction for which he has become famous, Victor Serge's account of the first year of the Russian Revolution-through all of its achievements and challenges-captures both the heroism of the mass upsurge that gave...

Combines historical analysis with a sharp commentary upon the modern political scene. Reflects the key, recent developments in British Party Politics, such as the 1997 general election, 'New Labour' and the emergence of William Hague as Conservative...

Inner Empire explores the impact of imperial cultures on the landscapes and urban environments of the British Isles from the sixteenth century through to the twentieth century. It asserts that Britain's four-hundred year entanglement with global empire...

In 1864, the German jurist Karl Heinrich Ulrichs coined the term "urning" as a word for same-sex attracted men. Over the next few years, first anonymously and then publicly, he campaigned against the public persecution of these men. In...

The gripping and heroic story of fighter pilots defending the skies over Britain from unprecedented Nazi attackFor 113 terrifying days in 1940, Nazi Germany's air force, the Luftwaffe, threw everything it had at Great Britain in hopes of early victory in...

This book provides a concise and incisive introduction to the Teutonic Knights, or Teutonic Order, the last of the great military orders established in the twelfth century. Evolving into a powerful religious institution, the Knights left a profound and...

A visual history of the artists, fans, and fanzines of widely influential British punk. Zerox Machine is an immersive journey through the vibrant history of British punk and its associated fanzines from 1976 to 1988. Drawing on an extensive range of...

Griffinology is a fascinating exploration of the mythical creature's many depictions in human culture. Drawing on a wealth of historical and literary sources, this book shows how the griffin has captured the imagination of people for over 5,000...

In this acclaimed book, Alistair Moffat tells the story of a part of Scotland that has played a huge role in the nation's history and moved poets, painters and writers as well as ordinary visitors for hundreds of years.The hunter-gatherers, who first...

A bold new account of European imperialism told through the history of water.In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, a handful of powerful European states controlled more than a third of the land surface of the planet. These sprawling empires...

Why and how local coffee bars in Italy-those distinctively Italian social and cultural spaces-have been increasingly managed by Chinese baristas since the Great Recession of 2008Italians regard espresso as a quintessentially Italian cultural product-so...

Britain has historically been seen as an upholder of international norms, at least in its relations with western powers. This has often been contrasted with the violence perpetrated in colonial contexts on other continents. What is often missed, however,...

The world is enamoured with Italy: its culture, art, food and fashion, its beautiful landscapes and famous cities - and, of course, its wine.From the ancient Greeks to the Medici, and from fascism to feminism, writer and wine expert Marc Millon reveals...

Seventy-five years after 1984first published, George Orwell is back. Progressives denounce 'Orwellian' untruths by Trump, Johnson, Putin et al, while conservatives accuse governments and mainstream media of 'Orwellian' censorship. But what does...

Britain and Russia maintained a frosty civility for a few years after Napoleon's defeat in 1815. But, by the 1820s, their relations degenerated into constant acrimonious rivalry over Persia, the Ottoman Empire, Central Asia the Great Game and, towards...