A GUARDIAN, ECONOMIST AND PROSPECT BOOK OF THE YEAR

'A superb book' Simon Sebag Montefiore

'An empowering story of human ingenuity' Economist

'Full of curious facts' The Times

Causes of death have changed irrevocably across time. In the course of a few centuries we have gone from a world where disease or violence were likely to strike anyone at any age, and where famine could be just one bad harvest away, to one where in many countries excess food is more of a problem than a lack of it. Why h...

The story of the rise and fall of Oliver Cromwell's Protectorate (1653-9), England's sole experiment in republican government – and one of the most extraordinary but neglected periods in British history.

A compelling and fascinating portrait of the continuing intellectual tradition of Greek writers and thinkers in the Age of Rome.

In 146 BC, Greece yielded to the military might of the Roman Republic; sixty years later, when Athens and other Greek city-states rebelled against Rome, the general Lucius Cornelius Sulla destroyed the city of Socrates and Plato, laying waste to the famous Academy where Aristotle had studied. However, the traditions of Greek cultural life would continue to ...

Taking us from the beginning of our story to the present day, A Cold Spell examines how ice has shaped our thoughts, actions and societies - and what it means for us that it is rapidly disappearing from our planet

'Bracingly original . . . As the earth warms threateningly, there could hardly be a more pertinent time for a story like this' MICHAEL PALIN

'A book of limitless fascinations' OLIVIA LAING

'Brightly written, nimbly researched and really quite delightful' LITERARY RE...

A groundbreaking and state-of-the-art guide to the Universe and how our latest deep space discoveries are forcing us to revisit what we know, and what we don't.

A book about the rise of English nationalism and the impending breakup of the United Kingdom.