Have you ever wondered who the third man on the moon was? Did you know that Dick Whittington really was the medieval Mayor of London? Why was a pigeon a hero to the American army? What's the difference between a dolmen and a barrow? Who were the Wu, Wei and Shu Han? Was Napoleon really small? Who said 'Pardon me, sir, I didn't mean to' just before they were executed? When was the oldest known shark attack?The answers to all these questions and so...

In 1945, Europe lay in ruins - its cities and towns destroyed by conflict, its economies crippled, its societies ripped apart by war and violence. In the years that followed, Europeans tried to make sense of what had happened - and to forge a new understanding of civilisation that would bring peace and progress to a broken continent. As they wrestled with questions great and small - from the legacy of colonialism to workplace etiquette - institutions...

In 1202 Christian armies from Europe set out on the 4th Crusade to liberate the Holy Land. Two years later they sacked Constantinople, the greatest city in the Christian world. This was 'the Crusade that went wrong', a shocking story of high stakes power politics and barbarism cloaked in religious zeal.

A celebration of unheard and under-heard women's history. Meet nearly 1000 women whose names deserve to be better known: from the Mothers of Invention and the trailblazing women at the Bar; Warrior Queens and Pirate Commanders; the women who dedicated their lives to the natural world or to medicine; those women of courage who resisted and fought for what they believed in to defend their families, their culture and their countries; to the unsung heroes...

Drawing on decades of experience excavating shipwrecks around the world, renowned maritime archeologist David Gibbins reveals the riches beneath the waves and shows us how the treasures found there can be a porthole to the past to tell a new story about the world and its underwater secrets.

Over a thousand years ago the Chinese discovered that the slender filaments that formed the cocoon of the silk moth, could be woven into beautiful shimmering fabrics. For centuries they were able to keep the process a secret, but eventually started to trade the valuable cloth with the west, along the silk road. Silk was a luxury item that bestowed prestige, so it was inevitable that the wealthy wanted there silks to be as elaborate as possible, beautiful...

Fifty-thousand years ago, we were not the only species of human in the world. There were at least four others, including the Neanderthals, who occupied Europe, the Near East and parts of Eurasia; the enigmatic Homo floresiensis, or 'Hobbits', from the island of Flores in Indonesia; and Homo luzonesis, found in the Philippines, and less than four feet high. And then there are the elusive Denisovans, discovered thanks to cutting-edge science in a cave...

An account of the far-reaching impact of submarines and submarine warfare in World War I.

A riveting account of the Allies' victory at Arnhem by an expert in World War Two battle tactics and history.

A fascinating history of stones and the surprising ways they have - and continue to - shape, influence and inspire us, in a beautiful volume.