History Books

Satire, Scandal and Printmakers in Georgian London 1772... A young artist called Thomas Rowlandson is making his way through the grimy backstreets of the capital, on his way to begin his studies at the Royal Academy Schools. Within a few years, James Gillray and Isaac Cruikshank would join him in Piccadilly, turning satire into an artform, taking on the British establishment, and forever changing the way we view power. Set against a backdrop of royal madness, political intrigue, the birth of modern celebrity, French revolution, American independence and the Napoleonic Wars, UPROAR! follows the satirists as they lampoon those in power, from the Prince Regent to Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. Their prints and illustrations deconstruct the political and social landscape with surreal and razor-sharp wit, as the three men vie with each other to create the most iconic images of the day.  Product Information:  • ISBN:  9781785789540 • Author:  Alice Loxton • Publisher:  Icon Books • Format:  Hardback • Pages:  240 • Dimensions:  16 x 3.5 x 24.2 cm

SAS Great Escapes Two recounts the hitherto untold stories of six of the most dramatic and daring escapes executed by the world's most famous fighting force during WWII. From the very earliest SAS missions to the push into Nazi-occupied Europe, they cover some of the key figures in the Regiment, including its founder, David Stirling, plus other lesser-known heroes. With each story comes an edge-of-the-seat, rollercoaster ride in classic Damien Lewis fashion, as readers are plunged into the escapees' experiences - sharing their most terrifying yet inspiring moments. These stunning accounts of survival beggar belief, revealing nerve-racking bluff and deception, knife-edge encounters with enemy hunter forces hellbent on wreaking vengeance and murder, but also incredible acts of mercy and kindness from those who risk all to help the escapees on their way. Each tale of breath-taking derring-do reveals how necessity really is the mother of all invention, as with every step and at every juncture these fugitives defied fate, snatching survival and freedom from the jaws of the enemy, and all the horrors that would have followed capture. Damien Lewis has worked closely with the families of those portrayed, accessing wartime diaries, letters, mission reports, interrogation transcripts and more, to relate how the men of the SAS crossed blazing deserts, evaded enemy hunter forces and escaped through hostile lands, battling against seemingly insurmountable odds. But most of all, these uplifting tales of endurance beyond measure showcase the triumph of the human spirit and the will to survive. Product Information:  • ISBN: 9781529429428 • Author: Damien Lewis • Publisher: Quercus Publishing • Format:  Paperback • Pages: 352 • Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.8 x 3.6 cm

Did COVID-19 actually break out to kill 6 million people because of a leak from a Chinese laboratory? What are the links between QAnon and Russiagate, Alex Jones and Donald Trump? Why did our own MI5 try to block evidence about the death of Iraq weapons inspector Dr David Kelly and the radioactive poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko? Putin is a brute who lies as a matter of policy. Hitler tried to blame Poland for starting WWII. We live in a world of fake news and false flags, secret plots and unexplained deaths. But what on earth can you believe, when nothing's ever quite what it seems? In Conspiracy, Ian Shircore cuts through the fog and the fairy tales to deliver a balanced analysis of the stories that shape the times we live in. New evidence - from Freedom of Information requests, WikiLeaks files, deathbed confessions and declassified archives - has solved some classic mysteries. Yet it raises more questions than ever about the assassinations of the 1960s, the dirty secrets of the late 20th century and the deadly traumas of the last few years. Now fully updated with new cases, material and evidence. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781789466164 • Author: Ian Shircore • Publisher: John Blake • Format: Paperback • Pages: 384 • Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.9 x 2.2 cm

For over 150 years, Broadmoor has contained the UK's most violent, notoriously psychopathic criminals known. Since 1863, Broadmoor opened as an asylum and has housed perpetrators of some of the most dangerous and outrageous crimes in history - from Jack the Ripper suspect James Kelly , armed robber Charles Bronson, gangster Ronnie Kray and cannibal Peter Bryan. The mysterious happenings behind these walls has been unknown until now. Jonathon Levi and cultural historian Emma French paint the scene at Broadmoor after spending nearly a decade speaking and observing those inside. With various exclusive interviews, Inside Broadmoor is the full story into the minds of Britain's most violent and how they are treated. Product Information: ISBN: 9781788700948 Author: Jonathon Levi & Emma French Publisher: Blink Publishing Format: Blink Publishing Pages: 294 Dimensions: 20 x 13 x 2cm

One of the most remarkable stories in the history of Special Forces' operations - Daily Express In the bleak moments after defeat on mainland Europe in winter 1939, wartime leader Winston Churchill knew that Britain had to strike back hard. He recruited a band of eccentric free-thinking warriors to become the first 'deniable' secret operatives behind enemy lines, offering these volunteers nothing but the potential for glory and all-but-certain death. The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare tells of the daring victories for this small force of 'freelance pirates' in their many missions against the Nazis, often dressed in enemy uniforms and breaking all previously held rules of warfare. Master storyteller and military historian Damien Lewis brings the true adventures of the secret unit to life, from their earliest missions to the death of the group's leader just weeks before the end of World War Two. Product Information:  • ISBN: 9781529439526 • Author: Damien Lewis • Publisher: Quercus • Format:  Paperback • Pages: 416 • Dimensions: 12.8 x 2.8 x 19.6 cm

In the early years of Queen Victoria's reign, HMS Erebus undertook two of the most ambitious naval expeditions of all time. On the first, she ventured further south than any human had ever been. On the second, she vanished with her 129-strong crew in the wastes of the Canadian Arctic, along with the HMS Terror. Her fate remained a mystery for over 160 years. Then, in 2014, she was found. This is her story. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781787468047 • Author: Michael Palin • Publisher: Arrow • Format: Paperback • Pages: 352 • Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.9 x 2.6 cm

While the men were away at war it was strong women like Joan, Marie, Babs, Beattie and Minksy who ruled the streets of the East End. Kate Thompson tells the real stories of the war experienced by these matriarchs, a tribe of working-class women in the stinking slums, teeming tenements and sweatshops of East London.  Forget church halls and jam-making, these powerfully authentic stories will have you questioning what you thought you knew about wartime women. From standing up to the Kray twins, to taking over the London Underground and crawling out of bombsites, these women fought to survive and protect their community in some of our country's darkest hours. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781405976473 • Author: Kate Thompson • Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd • Format: Paperback • Pages: 352 • Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.8 x 2.6cm

US President John F. Kennedy's killing in Dallas, Texas, in November 1963, sent a shockwave around the world. The charismatic young Democrat was seen as a beacon of hope in the West, but his liberal reforming policies had made him many powerful enemies at home. For sixty years, numerous theories have swirled around this key event in American - and world - history. Yet whatever the conclusions of the official Warren Report - that the President had been assassinated by a lone gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald - many people doubt that to be true. Indeed, President Nixon later admitted on tape that the report was 'a hoax committed on the American people.' John Hughes-Wilson, a former colonel in British Intelligence, has sifted through the millions of words and thousands of pieces of evidence, to put together an intelligence assessment of what really happened that dreadful high noon in Dallas in 1963. Reading this astounding book, no one can be in any doubt that JFK's death was not at the hands of a lone deranged gunman, but a deadly plot to remove a President who threatened vested interests at home and abroad.  Product Information:  • ISBN:  9781789467376 • Author:  John Hughes-Wilson • Publisher:  John Blake • Format:  Paperback • Pages:  368 • Dimensions: 12.9 x 2.1 x 19.8 cm   

Patrick Bishop looks at the lives and the extraordinary risks that the painfully young pilots of Bomber Command took during the air-offensive against Germany from 1940-1945. As featured on the BBC 1 documentary BOMBER BOYS, presented by Ewan McGregor. They came from every corner of Britain and its Empire. They were the best of their generation…heading for one of the worst tasks of World War 2. Like RAF pilots, the thousands of brave young men who joined Bomber Command took to the air to help Britain triumph in World War Two. But in the glow of victory, the fighter pilots were lauded for their efforts while the Bomber Boys faded in national memory. Crucial in the heat of combat, they were politically awkward afterwards. Yet with an average life expectancy shorter than that of soldiers on the Western front in WWI, these men faced death, injury and capture time and again to send bombs through the shrieking flak onto enemy territory. ‘Bomber Boys’ is a tribute to their strength, courage and heroism – filling in the historical blanks and immortalising their memory. Product Information:  • ISBN:  9780007192151 • Author:  Patrick Bishop • Publisher:  Harper Perennial • Format:  Paperback • Pages:  400 • Dimensions: 12.9 x 3.2 x 19.8 cm

The Boy Who Drew Auschwitz presents a rare living testimony through the eyes of a child who had the unique ability to observe and remember every detail around him and chose to document it all. Thomas Geve was just 15 years old when he was liberated from Buchenwald concentration camp on 11 April 1945. It was the third concentration camp he had survived. Upon arrival at Auschwitz- Birkenau, Thomas was separated from his mother and left to fend for himself in the men’s camp of Auschwitz I, at the age of 13. During the 22 months he was imprisoned, he was subjected to, and forced to observe first-hand, the inhumane world of Nazi concentration camps. On his eventual release Thomas felt compelled to capture daily life in the death camps in more than eighty profoundly moving drawings. Infamous scenarios synonymous with this dark period of history were portrayed in poignant but simplistic detail with extraordinary accuracy. Despite the unspeakable events he experienced, Thomas decided to become an active witness and tell the truth about life in the camps. He has spoken to audiences from around the world and continues to raise awareness about the Holocaust.  Product Information:  • ISBN:  9780008406394 • Author:  Thomas Geve • Publisher:  HarperCollins • Format:  Paperback • Pages:  352 • Dimensions: 12.9 x 2.7 x 19.8 cm

The seminal account of the heroism, daring and ingenuity of the men of Allied Bomber Command, who took the war to the enemy's doorstep. The Second World War saw aerial bombing - of both civilian and military targets - become a new front line in warfare, as advances in aircraft and engine design allowed planes to fly further, faster and carrying heavier loads. The RAF pilots in their Lancasters, Wellingtons and Halifaxes, the USAAF pilots in their B-17 Flying Fortresses and B-24 Liberators, and the Luftwaffe pilots in their Junkers and Heinkels, flew thousands of sorties deep into enemy territory, into the teeth of flak and agile enemy fighters, with staggering losses. In Bomber!, Robert Jackson uses thirteen famous raids to chronicle the bomber mission as it evolved over the course of the war, from the ferocious North Sea Battle in 1939 to the French crew who became the first Allied airmen to bomb Berlin. From the US bombing of Tokyo that forced Japan to commit her navy in the Pacific to the Earthquake Raids carried out by 617 'Dambusters' Squadron in the closing days of the war with terrifying 12,000lb 'Tallboy' bombs. Here, Jackson gives bomber crews a voice, weaving their accounts with historical analysis to create a minute-by-minute account of these events, letting you experience them as they happened. Product Information:  • ISBN:  9781804365328 • Author: Robert Jackon • Publisher:  Canelo  • Format:  Paperback • Pages:  272 • Dimensions: 19.7 x 12.7 x 1.6cm 

Fully illustrated profiles of Britain's top twelve most legendary racing drivers. The Immortals of British Motor Racing celebrates the UK's greatest ever racing drivers. It profiles the best of the best from over 50 years of Formula 1, the BTCC and the world's classic motorsport events such as Le Mans. Renowned motorsport commentator and writer David Addison selects his top twelve drivers then delves into the careers of the true greats. Legendary racers selected and profiled include pioneers Jim Clark and Jackie Stewart, 1970s and 1980s heroes James Hunt and Nigel Mansell, plus current hero Lewis Hamilton. The book tells the remarkable stories behind each Immortal's rise to the top and the adversity faced through their careers. Product Information:  • ISBN: 9781922662019 • Author: David Addison • Publisher: Gelding Street Press • Format:  Hardcover • Pages: 192 • Dimensions: 25 x 18.4 x 1.8cm

Discover the fullest possible account of the crimes of the Yorkshire Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe, including those he was not charged with and has never previously been connected to… The police believed Sutcliffe was operating only in the Greater Manchester Police, South Yorkshire Police and West Yorkshire Metropolitan Police force areas, using his car. In fact, Sutcliffe was operating nationally and internationally, using his employer’s lorry to commit attacks. Authors Chris Clark and Tim Hicks have meticulously researched Sutcliffe’s crimes and reveal many of his previously unknown victims for the first time.  The police failed to deliver justice for the victims’ families, and the media has failed to hold the police to account for this failure – both in the original investigation and in subsequent cold-case investigations.    By bringing more of the facts of the case into the public domain and by telling the victims’ stories, this book helps to bring closure for friends and relatives of victims of the Yorkshire Ripper. Product Information:  • ISBN: 9781802472042 • Author: Chris Clark & Tim Hicks • Publisher: Ad Lib Publishers Ltd • Format: Paperback • Pages: 240 • Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.1 x 1.5 cm

The incredible true story of the SAS’s mission to liberate Europe, featuring never-before-seen archive material FROM BESTSELLING MILITARY HISTORIAN DAMIEN LEWIS Summer, 1943: the largest invasion fleet ever assembled sailed for Europe, aiming to bulldoze its way onto Nazi shores. At its vanguard went a few hundred elite soldiers, their Royal Navy warship bearing the iconic motto ‘Who Dares Wins’. The aim: Led by the legendary SAS commander Blair ‘Paddy’ Mayne, these war-bitten, piratical raiders were tasked to do the impossible – to bulldoze their way onto the most heavily defended Nazi shores – against all odds, outnumbered fifty-to-one. If they succeeded, it would mark the turning point in the war. If they failed, the consequences were unthinkable. Action-packed and filled with heroic endeavour, SAS Forged in Hell is breath-taking combat writing at its best, in true Damien Lewis style. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781529413847 • Author: Damien Lewis • Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton • Format: Paperback • Pages: 416 • Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.6 x 3.4cm

I tattooed a number on her arm. She tattooed her name on my heart. In 1942, Lale Sokolov arrived in Auschwitz-Birkenau. He was given the job of tattooing the prisoners marked for survival - scratching numbers into his fellow victims' arms in indelible ink to create what would become one of the most potent symbols of the Holocaust. Waiting in line to be tattooed, terrified and shaking, was a young girl. For Lale - a dandy, a jack-the-lad, a bit of a chancer - it was love at first sight. And he was determined not only to survive himself, but to ensure this woman, Gita, did, too. So begins one of the most life-affirming, courageous, unforgettable and human stories of the Holocaust: the love story of the tattooist of Auschwitz. Product Information:• ISBN: 9781785763649• Author: Heather Morris• Publisher: Bonnier Zaffre• Format: Paperback• Pages: 275• Dimensions: 24 x 16 x 2.5cm

Insiders call it 'the Craft'. To the rest of us, Freemasonry is mysterious and suspect. Yet its story is peopled by some of the most distinguished men of the last three centuries: Winston Churchill and Walt Disney; Wolfgang Mozart and Shaquille O'Neal; Benjamin Franklin and Buzz Aldrin; Rudyard Kipling and 'Buffalo Bill' Cody; Duke Ellington and the Duke of Wellington. Founded in London in 1717 as a set of character-forming ideals and a way of binding men in fellowship, Freemasonry proved so addictive that within two decades it had spread across the globe. Masonic influence became pervasive. Under George Washington, the Craft became a creed for the new American nation. Masonic networks held the British empire together. Under Napoleon, the Craft became a tool of authoritarianism and then a cover for revolutionary conspiracy. Both the Mormon Church and the Sicilian mafia owe their origins to Freemasonry. The Masons were as feared as they were influential. In the eyes of the Catholic Church, Freemasonry has always been a den of devil-worshippers. For Hitler, Mussolini and Franco the Lodges spread the diseases of pacifism, socialism and Jewish influence, so had to be crushed. Professor Dickie's The Craft is a surprising and enthralling exploration of a movement that not only helped to forge modern society, but still has substantial contemporary influence. With 400,000 members in Britain, over a million in the USA, and around six million across the world, understanding the role of Freemasonry is as important now as it has ever been.  Product Information:  • ISBN:  9781473658226 • Author: John Dickie • Publisher:  Hodder & Stoughton • Format:  Paperback • Pages:  496 • Dimensions:  12.8 x 4 x 19.6 cm

As army veteran Bill Johnstone watched his garage business burn to the ground, he was certain the fire had been started deliberately. And when the police failed to investigate, he complained. Johnstone then made a shocking discovery: an extensive criminal record had been applied to his name. He believes this was no accident but a malicious act by a police officer. Those few keyboard strokes were the catalyst for a high-stakes battle that consumed his life. What began as police incompetence, soon escalated into an extraordinary saga of betrayal, conspiracy and cover-up. This is the incredible true story of his decade-long fight for justice. In an age where our personal information is stored and shared digitally, it could happen to anyone.  Product Information:  • ISBN:  9781780275390 • Author: Russell Findlay  • Publisher:  Birlinn Ltd • Format:  Paperback • Pages:  240 • Dimensions:  12.7 x 1.91 x 19.69 cm

There were three patrols that fateful January 1991 morning: Bravo One Zero, Bravo Two Zero and Bravo Three Zero. It was the opening hours of the Gulf War and the SAS were flown deep behind enemy lines to hunt down Saddam's Scud missiles, the use of which threatened a Third World War. The men of Bravo One Zero stepped off the chopper, took one look at the flat desert devoid of any cover and decided no way were they deploying into all of that. But Andy NcNab's famed Bravo Two Zero patrol did deploy, with fatal results - all bar one being captured or killed. And then there was Bravo Three Zero. These men were different. Thought differently. Acted differently. Treating as gospel the SAS's saying 'any fool can be uncomfortable', they deployed with vehicles, and while there was nowhere to hide they could make a dash for the border if desperate. Even as warnings came in that McNab's patrol was on the run, Bravo Three Zero remained undetected - the furthest Coalition forces behind Iraqi lines. Slipping through enemy positions, a string of targets were taken out. But with the desert turning bitter and snow starting to fall, they were forced to fight a running battle against the elements as much as the enemy. Though overshadowed by the fate of Bravo Two Zero, the achievements of this highly-decorated patrol are the stuff of elite forces legend. Now, for the first time, SAS veteran Des Powell reveals their story in gritty, blow-by-blow detail. Written with acclaimed military author Damien Lewis, this is a tale of edge-of-the seat daring deep inside enemy lands. Brutal, savage, unrelenting - prepare to be blown away, in a tale that proves utterly the SAS motto - who dares wins. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781529414165 • Author: Damien Lewis & Des Powell  • Publisher: Quercus • Format: Paperback • Pages: 320 • Dimensions: 12.8 x 2.6 x 19.6cm

Stanley Aylett's remarkable account of six years' service as a front-line surgeon with the British Army is that rare thing: a complete narrative from the first week of the Second World War until months after the final capitulation of Nazi Germany.  That war was the last Western conflict in which military surgeons performed operations immediately behind the front line, often in makeshift theatres set up in tents or abandoned, battle-scarred buildings. This memoir records the resilience and resourcefulness of the medical teams, fighting to save each wounded soldier's life, and the advances in medicine such as penicillin and plastic surgery that transformed their experience. The author draws on his extensive diaries to describe the first advance into France at the start of the 'Phoney War' in 1939; the chaos of the retreat to Dunkirk and subsequent evacuation of British and French forces; the sea voyage round the Cape to join the Eighth Army in Egypt; leading a Field Service Medical Unit in the Western Desert; the Allied invasion of France following the D-Day landings; crossing the Rhine into Germany; and VE Day, which Lieutenant-Colonel Aylett spent amid the horror of the Sandbostel concentration camp in northern Germany.  Alongside the challenge of serving the wounded and dying, Surgeon at War also reveals the passions of a young man - in search of lasting love, exasperated by the incompetence of his superiors, encountering different peoples and cultures, anxious that the narrow focus of battle surgery will not jeopardise his medical career when peace returns. Few war testimonies have the scope of this account. Stanley Aylett signed up in the week war was declared, and survived to tell his story, edited here by his daughter with extensive use of his own photographs and letters home.  It is a narrative of courage, duty and endurance amid the fog of war, but above all a tribute to the skill and humanity of those whose daily lives revealed mankind at both its best, and its worst. Product Information:  • ISBN:  9781789466669 • Author:  Stanley Aylett  • Publisher:  John Blake • Format:  Paperback • Pages:  336 • Dimensions: 12.9 x 2 x 19.8 cm

As a reporter, Jacques Peretti has spent his life investigating important stories. But there was one story, heard in scattered fragments throughout his childhood, that he never thought to investigate. The story of how his mother survived Auschwitz. In the few last months of the Second World War, thirteen-year-old Alina Peretti, along with her mother and sister, was one of thirteen thousand non-Jewish Poles sent to Auschwitz. Her experiences there cast a shadow over the rest of her life. Now ninety, Alina has been diagnosed with dementia. Together, mother and son begin a race against time to record her memories and preserve her family’s story. Along the way, Jacques learns long-hidden secrets about his mother’s family.  He gains an understanding of his mother through retracing her past, learning more about the woman who would never let him call her ‘Mum’. Product Information:  • ISBN:  9781473646445 • Author:  Alina & Jaques Peretti • Publisher:  Hodder Paperbacks • Format:  Paperback • Pages:  320 • Dimensions:  12 x 2.5 x 19.8cm