British History

He is one of the most reviled English kings in history. He drove his kingdom to the brink of civil war a dozen times in less than twenty years. He allowed his male lovers to rule the kingdom. He led a great army to the most ignominious military defeat in English history. He was Edward II, and this book tells his story. Kathryn Warner strips away the myths which have been created about him over the centuries, and provides a far more accurate and vivid picture of him than has previously been seen.

In this World War One alternate history novel by Jason Lambright, Private Bill Strohmeier, a light machine gunner in the 7th King’s Ohio Rifles Battalion, fights to save himself and his friends in the muck and blood of the deadly trenches of France and Belgium. Every day could be his last. Each bullet could have his name on it. As the heavens roar and the ground heaves with high explosives, can Bill and others in the 7th Ohio Rifles live and hold out against the Kaiser’s best? Does Bill survive this walk in hell?

Triffin’s Dilemma: Why Economic Power Always Ends in Collapse is a gripping deep dive into the structural flaw at the core of every global currency system. From ancient empires to the modern dollar-based order, this meticulously researched narrative exposes a repeating pattern: monetary dominance leads to overreach, overreach leads to fragility, and collapse follows. It’s not ideology—it’s math. Named after economist Robert Triffin, the dilemma explains why any nation issuing the world’s reserve currency must eventually undermine its own economic foundation. The book tracks this ...

Prior to the U.S. entering WWII, a small coterie of British spies in Washington, D.C., was formed. They called themselves the Baker Street Irregulars after the band of street urchins who were the eyes and ears of Sherlock Holmes in some Arthur Conan Doyle stories.

From Berlin to the Congo, from Moscow to the back streets of London, these are the stories of the agents on the front lines of British intelligence. And the truth is often more remarkable than fiction.

MI6 has been cloaked in secrecy and shrouded in myth since it was created a hundred years ago. Our understanding of what it is to be a spy has been largely defined by the fictional worlds of Ian Fleming and John le Carré. Gordon Corera provides a unique and unprecedented insight into this secret world and the reality that lies behind the fiction.

George Orwell's classic satire of the Russian Revolution is an intimate part of our contemporary culture, quoted so often that we tend to forget who wrote the original words! This must-read is also a must-listen!

Much is known about what Europeans did in Africa, yet very little is known about Africa's history before its colonization. In this surprising exploration, Max Siollun uncovers societies that were not part of a backward "Dark Continent," but which instead had rich lore to rival the ancient Greeks and Romans. This story of a dynamic and artistic people is a vital listen for those who want to discover a forgotten era of West Africa.

The British Army won a convincing series of victories between 1916 and 1918. But by 1939 the British Army was an entirely different animal. The hard-won knowledge, experience and strategic vision that delivered victory after victory in the closing stages of the First World War had been lost. In the inter-war years there was plenty of talking, but very little focus on who Britain might have to fight, and how. Victory to Defeat is a captivating history of the mismanagement of a war-winning army.

Set in Calcutta, London, the glacier-locked wilds of the Karakoram, and on Everest itself, The Last Englishmen is also the story of a generation. The cast of this exhilarating drama includes Indian and English writers and artists, explorers and Communist spies, Die Hards and Indian nationalists, political rogues and police informers. Key among them is a highborn Bengali poet named Sudhin Datta, a melancholy soul torn, like many of his generation, between hatred of the British Empire and a deep love of European literature, whose life would be upended by the arrival of war on his Calcutta doorstep.

The astonishing true story of the legendary Victorian burglar Charlie Peace, who became so infamous that he was featured in the Chamber of Horrors at Madame Tussauds and was name-checked in the Sherlock Holmes story ‘The Illustrious Client’. This could only be a true crime story, because had it been fictional no one would have believed it.

All is lost. The Gods decided to reward Wortimer and punish Ash, and the future of Britannia is hanging in the balance. In the darkness of a prison cell, through pain of torture, Ash tries to remember how everything has gone so terribly wrong. Wortimer defeated his father and conquered Londin. He took Rhedwyn into his chamber, and threw Ash into the deepest dungeon. His armies are rampaging throughout the province, killing Iutes and Saxons wherever they can find them. It seems nothing and nobody can stop the new Dux of Britons from fulfiling his mission to destroying the Iutes and cast all ...

In Regency England the eldest son usually inherited almost everything—while his younger brothers, left with little inheritance, had to make a crucial decision: What should they do to make an independent living? Historian Rory Muir weaves together the stories of many obscure and well-known young men of good family but small fortune, shedding light on an overlooked aspect of Regency society. This is the first scholarly yet accessible exploration of the lifestyle and prospects of these younger sons.

Around 6000 BC, a revolution took place on Orkney and the Western Isles of Scotland. An outstanding collection of stone circles, standing stones, round towers, and passage mounds appeared seemingly out of nowhere. And yet many such monuments were not indigenous to Britain, but to regions of the Caspian Sea and the Mediterranean. Their creators were equally mysterious. Traditions tell of the Papae and Peti, "strangers from afar" who were physically different, dressed in white tunics, and lived aside from the regular population.

The British East India Company served as one of the key players in the formation of the British Empire. From its origins as a trading company struggling to keep up with its superior Dutch, Portuguese, and Spanish competitors to its tenure as the ruling authority of the Indian subcontinent to its eventual hubristic downfall, the East India Company serves as a lens through which to explore the much larger economic and social forces that shaped the formation of a global British Empire.

After the untimely death of Prince Albert, the Queen and her nation were plunged into a state of grief so profound that this one event would dramatically alter the shape of the British monarchy. For Britain had not just lost a prince: during his 20-year marriage to Queen Victoria, Prince Albert had increasingly performed the function of King in all but name. The outpouring of grief after Albert's death was so extreme that its like would not be seen again until the death of Princess Diana 136 years later.

In 1974, Mablethorpe, the Las Vegas of the East Lindsey coast, is awakening to the new tourist season. In the world of mushy peas, the Podsters are preparing for the largely feral visitors, as they have since time immemorial. Further afield though, a new threat looms. A challenger to the title of the premier pea comestible, the infamous parched pea. After a Marrowfatwah is issued, this can only mean one thing - war and peas. Behind the scenes, the watchers also awake. One wrong move now and it all ends in Rivers of Green.

More than two centuries after Master’s Mate Fletcher Christian led a mutiny against Lieutenant William Bligh on a small, armed transport vessel called Bounty, the true story of this enthralling adventure has become obscured by the legend. Combining vivid characterization and deft storytelling, Caroline Alexander shatters the centuries-old myths surrounding this story.

Past generations of English schoolchildren knew all about the stories that livened up their country's history. Burnt cakes, turbulent priests, red-hot pokers up the backside: these tales might not all have been strictly true, but they added a richness to the story of England that sticks in the mind, making it more than just the biography of a patch of land. In The England of Our Dreams, Jon David tries to recapture this spirit. With the books his parents read as children in front of him for inspiration, he offers a guided tour of English history's great landmarks - from a bald Italian ...

Canada is a land renowned for its stunning beauty and abundant natural resources but is rarely considered to have a particularly captivating history. Its people, stereotyped as polite and friendly, are seldom viewed as they are: the products of an intricate and complex struggle. Yet in truth, Canada and its people are the results of centuries of cultural collisions, compromises, and collaborations.

Can be read as a standalone novel. ZEPCE, BOSNIA: August 1993 Follow the highly dramatic story of two cousins, Angus McCloud and Ryan Reilly, who were incredibly close in their youth. However, a rather disastrous childhood incident involving their Great-uncle Simon's vintage bi-plane sends each boy on separate journeys into military academies. ANGUS... As a young lad with fiery red hair and a temper to match, Angus always struggled to find his place in the world. He hoped that after being sent away to a London military academy, he would be able to prove himself and bury his inner demons. ...