Vitéz Andris Kursietis has been a researcher of military history for over fifty years, using resources that span the globe. His latest book, “La Regia Marina”, tells the story of what could be considered to be the “modern” Italian Navy, covering the period 1900-1946. Included are abbreviated histories of the 404 main vessels (aircraft carriers, battleships, cruisers, destroyers, and submarines) that made up the Navy during that period, and brief biographies of its 845 flag officers.

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Thrones of Gold: The Mightiest and Richest People in History

Take a journey through the lives of history’s most extraordinary figures—those who wielded unmatched power and amassed fortunes that changed the course of humanity. Thrones of Gold delves into the stories of ten legendary individuals who dominated their eras with their influence, leadership, and unimaginable wealth.

From Mansa Musa, the wealthiest ruler the world has ever seen, to Napoleon Bonaparte, whose military genius reshap...

‘Draws startling parallels with Meghan … Both were 34 when they met their princes, both are adored children of strong, single mothers, both have a pared-down style and an electric presence and both are evidently worshipped by their Royal partners.’ S Magazine

'Lively and fascinating. I loved it' David Bellos, author of Is That a Fish in your Ear?'A history of the world in microcosm ... I highly recommend' Douglas Preston, author of The Lost City of the Monkey God'A real detective story ... a tour de force' David Crystal, author of A Date with Language

On 1 July, 1916, a continuous line of British soldiers climbed out from the trenches of the Somme into No Man's Land and began to walk slowly towards dug-in German troops armed with machine-guns and defended by thick barbed wire. This is an account of the blackest day in the history of the British army.

'This is a miracle of a book' George Lamming'Compelling. Stuart Hall's story is the story of an age' Owen Jones 'Sometimes I feel I was the last colonial'This is the story, in his own words, of the extraordinary life of Stuart Hall: writer, thinker and one of the leading intellectual lights of his age. Growing up in a middle-class family in 1930s Jamaica, then still a British colony, Hall found himself caught between two worlds: the stiflingly respectable middle class in Kingston, who, in the...

The forty years of Iran's embattled position, commitment to a nuclear programme, and the speculations that the revolution is running down proving time and again to be false, taken stock of by "The Sword Of Persia" author Axworthy.

The Silk Road was the current name for a complex of ancient trade routes linking East Asia with Central Asia, South Asia, and the Mediterranean world. This network of exchange emerged along the borders between agricultural China and the steppe nomads during the Han Dynasty (206BCE-220CE), in consequence of the inter-dependence and the conflicts of these two distinctive societies. In their quest for horses, fragrances, and spices, gems, glassware, and other exotics from the lands to their west...