Social and cultural history

A timely groundbreaking book in the vein of Derrick Bell's Faces at the Bottom of the Well, one of the country's foremost voices on reparations, offers a radical and vital new framework going beyond the current debate over this controversial issue...

*Now a major movie starring Seth Rogen, Paul Dano, Pete Davidson, Shailene Woodley, Sebastian Stan and Nick Offerman*The GameStop Short Squeeze and the Ragtag Group of Amateur Traders that Brought Wall Street to its Knees. Bestselling author Ben Mezrich...

The Illustrated Histories of Everyday Behavior tells the extraordinary true stories of the 64 biggest social graces and faux pas—using hilarious and informative illustrations!From the time we’re born, we’re taught to mind our manners: don’t put your...

A breathtaking collection of 200 photographs expertly colourised by Aotearoa New Zealand's premier colourist, Brendan Graham, with commentary from award-winning historian Jock Phillips ONZM Our Land in Colour celebrates the rich story of Aotearoa...

From rebels to writers, athletes to astronauts, join Kate Fox takes on an entertaining and eye-opening journey through the lives of these extraordinary women whose lives and achievements have too long been hidden. From Cartimandua, the forgotten Iron...

From rebels to writers, athletes to astronauts, join Kate Fox takes on an entertaining and eye-opening journey through the lives of these extraordinary women whose lives and achievements have too long been hidden. From Cartimandua, the forgotten Iron...

‘Effervescent’ New Yorker Best Books Of 2022 So Far‘Bursts with colour and incident’ FT Best Books of Summer Read this prize-winning historian’s “immersive” ( New York Times) account of the famous writers who, in the run-up to World War II, took on...

‘An astonishingly readable and informative history of the greatest mathematical bestseller of all time … The writing is vivid and the stories are gripping. Highly recommended ’ IAN STEWART, AUTHOR OF SIGNIFICANT FIGURES Euclid’s Elements of Geometry was...

WINNER OF THE BRITISH ACADEMY BOOK PRIZE FOR GLOBAL CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING SHORTLISTED FOR THE PEN-HESSEL TILTMAN PRIZE 2021 LONGLISTED FOR THE CUNDILL HISTORY PRIZE 2021 ‘Helps re-centre how we look at the world’ PETER FRANKOPAN‘Global history at its...

When I Were a Lad… looks at the glorious-yet-risky childhoods of yesteryear before the Health and Safety officers told us we couldn’t do everything because it was too dangerous. The sleeper hit of Christmas 2009 – more than 4,000 copies sold through...

Have you ever wondered what happened on your birthday hundreds of years ago This Day in History is perfect for history buffs and trivia fans alike. This fascinating book covers the most important, unknown, and bizarre events in history, including: the...

A Waterstones Travel Book of the Year 2023A funny, warm and timely meditation on identity and belonging, following the scenic route along the England–Wales border: Britain’s deepest faultline. There is a line on the map: to one side Wales, small, rugged...

“A timeless and powerful novel of a daring woman who must decide if she will risk everything to follow her passion and find her voice.” —Patti Callahan Henry, New York Times bestselling authorFrom the moment she was born, the transforming beauty of her...

"Magnificently researched, brilliantly written, Lethal Tides is immensely entertaining and reads like an action novel. Catherine Musemeche has brought to life the incredible work of the scientists and researchers who made such a remarkable...

Gastronomy of Italy – the seminal work on Italian food, first published in the 1990s – is revised and updated and illustrated with new photography. This classic book leaves no stone unturned in its exploration of Italian gastronomy. Anna Del Conte,...

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER‘A lasting work of social history’ THE TIMES‘A genuinely new history of our nation’ DAN JONES‘This celebration of women is a triumph of popular history’ SPECTATOR FROM THE MULTI-MILLION BESTSELLING HISTORICAL NOVELIST COMES...

Discover tantalizing recipes, spine-tingling stories, and historic photos from the most notoriously haunted locations across America in this fun and fascinating cookbook. Paranormal investigator and Kindred Spirits co-host Amy Bruni leads you through...

Trawling through a vast family archive and arcane sources in half a dozen languages, Adam Zamoyski has revealed the dramatic life of his great-great-great grandmother, an uneducated, vulnerable girl cast into a man’s world. Her aristocratic position...

Join award-winning broadcaster Alvin Hall on a journey through America’s haunted racial past, with the legendary Green Book as your guide.For countless Americans, the open road has long been a place where dangers lurk. In the era of Jim Crow, Black...

In 1881, a writer in the Saturday Review called tattooing ‘an art without a history’. ‘No-one’, it went on, ‘has made it the business of his life to study the development of tattooing.’ Until now. Painted People is a beguiling and intimate look at an...

The Sunday Times bestseller‘An utterly engrossing book’ Nigella Lawson‘Remarkable and gripping’ Edmund de Waal'A near-perfect study of Jewish identity in the 20th century … I don’t hesitate to call it a masterpiece’ Telegraph After her grandmother died,...

‘Impossible to summarise and delightfully absorbing, Hadley’s book is comfortably the most unexpected history book of the year’ Sunday TimesA luminous journey through a thousand years of folklore and English history. Once upon a time in a...

When Gough Whitlam moves into her street in Cabramatta in 1957, eight-year-old Christine has little idea how her new neighbour, one of the most visionary and polarising political leaders of Australia, would shape the direction of her life. Born to...

On 23 August 1966, approximately 200 Gurindji stockmen and their families walked off Wave Hill Station in the Northern Territory, protesting against poor working conditions and the taking of their land by pastoralists. Led by Vincent...

Despite its bustling urban presence, Sydney has a rich and complex Aboriginal heritage. Hidden within its burgeoning city landscape, lie layers of a vibrant culture and a turbulent history. But, you need to know where to look. Aboriginal...

Ali Drummond has had an extraordinary life, by any standards. Orphaned when young, Ali took to a life at sea aged just fourteen. Originally taken on as an apprentice, Ali applied himself to learning the skills he needed to survive and prosper in a...

'Insightful, sensitively written and compelling.' Libby Lester, Head of Journalism, Media and Communications, University of Tasmania'An unflinching dissection of the relationships between journalists and their subjects a compelling expos of journalistic...

Why is dress so much more than draping ourselves with the nearest piece of material we can find? And why does being dressed change us into creatures that seem so separate from the rest of nature? Being Prepared explores several ways these transformations...

A new format of an acclaimed history - joint winner of the Northern Territory Chief Minister's History Book Award 2013.In 1883, pastoralists began to drive great herds of cattle into the Northern Territory's Victoria River District. They entered a vast...

In 1946 Aboriginal people walked off pastoral stations in Western Australia's Pilbara region, withdrawing their labour from the economically important wool industry to demand improvements in wages and conditions. Their strike lasted three years. On Red...

This book provides new perspectives on the relationship between religious thought and social reform in Australia. It argues that religious thought can be found in many intellectuals in Australia, both in the religiously inclined and in those who were not...

This Chinese edition of the Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women, edited by Lily Xiao Hong Lee and assisted by Ms Yuk Ping Chan, is published in full Chinese characters.This volume provides biographical information on the lives, work and...

'David Walker's Stranded Nation is a recommended read for anyone, politicians and students alike, seeking to know the history of Australia's agonising over Asia; how it began, how it evolved and the passionate and colourful characters involved. Stranded...

In 1999, idealistic 23-year-old Registered Nurse Sharon Bown left her comfortable family life in Tasmania and joined the Royal Australian Air Force with the aim of providing humanitarian aid to the world. Through her 16-year military career she deployed...

The 30 stories in this book describe some of the most extraordinary events in New Zealand history. Who knew that a fire killed 39 people at Seacliff Mental Hospital in 1942? That 10 people died in a lahar on White Island in 1914? That a yacht race...

Discover the lives and locations of trailblazing women who changed the course of history as you journey to the heart of women's activism, history and creativity through the ages. From the temple of Queen Hatshepsut in Egypt and Empress Dowager Cixi's...

“Wondrous . . . Compelling . . . Piercing.” —The New York Times Book ReviewAward-winning writer Matti Friedman’s tale of Israel’s first spies has all the tropes of an espionage novel, including duplicity, betrayal, disguise, clandestine meetings, the...

Journey back to a time when doctors tried to jolt your paralysed muscles awake with a strychnine-laced enema. When a physician wrote you a prescription for the mercury-based 'Thunderclapper' pill to relieve your constipation. When surgeons promised to...

This stirring and vibrant account of women’s athleticism throughout history “will leave readers feeling inspired and powerful” (Ms. magazine).Part group biography, part cultural history, Strong Like Her delves into the fascinating stories of our muscular...

A vivid, thoughtful examination of how technological innovation—especially AI—is shaping the tensions between democracy and autocracy during the new Cold War.So much of what we hear about China and Russia today likens the relationship between these two...

An in-depth and unified exploration of genius in the arts and sciences through the life and works of five seminal intellectual and cultural figures: Leonardo da Vinci, William Shakespeare, Isaac Newton, Ludwig von Beethoven, and Albert Einstein.Who among...

For more than 60 years, Barbie has reflected fashion trends and set them. Now, her iconic outfits are paired with the legendary looks from iconic designers for a fascinating celebration of the relationship between the runway and the toy aisle.Barbie has...

*Updated with a new introduction*Journalist Rebecca Traister’s New York Times bestselling exploration of the transformative power of female anger and its ability to transcend into a political movement is “a hopeful, maddening compendium of righteous...

A riveting and illuminating exploration of the transatlantic slave trade by an intrepid team of divers seeking to reclaim the stories of their ancestors.“For me, Enslaved is an attempt to give a voice to the millions whose voices were...

The incredible account of Sister Betty Jeffrey OAM and the Australian war nurses who survived the bombing of evacuation ship SS Vyner Brooke in February 1942, and subsequently spent three years in Japanese prison camps in Sumatra.During those perilous...

The history books are full of heroes and villains … but what about all the idiots? Comedian and armchair historian Mikey Robins tells the astonishing story of human stupidity, one idiot at a time.Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity,...

The lost world of the “gay paradises” in San Francisco and New York is beautifully documented in this collection of remarkably intimate portraits and street scenes taken by photography activist and chronicler Nicholas Blair from 1979–1986. The lovely,...