Schama explores the mysterious contradictions of the Dutch nation that invented itself from the ground up, attained an unprecedented level of affluence, and lived in constant dread of being corrupted by happiness. Drawing on a vast array of period documents and sumptuously reproduced art, Schama re-creates in precise detail a nation's mental state. He tells of bloody uprisings and beached whales, of the cult of hygiene and the plague of tobacco, of thrifty housewives and profligate tulip-spec...

Praised for its easy-to-read narrative and attention to the lives of ordinary people, A History of Western Society, Fourteenth Edition, includes even more tools to engage students and save instructors time. A signature focus on social and cultural history helps students engage with and think critically about the past. Achieve, a powerful course platform, combines the full e-textbook with a wealth of additional primary sources, tutorials, activities, and assessments that guide students in inte...

What good are the arts? Why should we care about the past? For millennia, humanity has sought to understand and transmit to future generations not just the "know-how" of life, but the "know-why"-the meaning and purpose of our existence, as expressed in art, architecture, religion, and philosophy. This crucial passing down of knowledge has required the radical integration of insights from the past and from other cultures. In Culture, acclaimed author, professor, and public intellectual Martin ...

A masterpiece of narrative non-fiction, set around an American crime and the birth of the FBI, a thrilling investigative account of a forgotten moment in history.

The ground-breaking story of Nomadic peoples on the move across history.

Following on from Danubia and the bestselling Germania, Lotharingia is the final instalment in Simon Winder's hilarious and informative personal exploration of European history.

The first comprehensive account of the rise and fall of what historians consider to be the world's very first empire: Assyria

'A work of remarkable synthesis. The range of its sources is truly extraordinary . . . Frahm punctures a fair share of myths too' Pratinav Anil, The Times

At its height in 660 BCE, the kingdom of Assyria stretched from the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. It was the first empire the world had ever seen.

Here, historian Eckart Frahm tells the epic story of Assyria...