History

Sapiens showed us where we came from. Homo Deus looked to the future. 21 Lessons for the 21st Century explores the present....

We’ve all heard of fake news, but what about fake history? Dominic Sandbrook explores two and a half millennia of human history, traveling from the American Deep South to the air raid shelters of wartime Britain, to discover how the past has constantly been manipulated....

Most military thinkers in the years leading up to World War II saw the airplane as an afterthought. But a small band of idealistic strategists had a different view. Malcolm Gladwell re-examines moments from the past and asks whether we got it right the first time....

Making sense of the British Empire's legacy... through the stories of people who lived through it. Through six intimate conversations with a new generation of writers and historians - journalist Afua Hirsch tries to break through old cliches....

Why are humans seemingly hardwired to worship gold? It is unique amongst metals: it is malleable, it doesn’t tarnish, and it shines like nothing else. Over time it has come to symbolise wealth and status. It can represent goodness and fidelity but also greed and lust....

It’s the height of the Vietnam war when a new generation of doctors, including a young Dr. Anthony Fauci, arrive at the National Institutes of Health as part of the doctor’s draft....

A Radio 4 Book Club Selection.

A Short History of Nearly Everything is Bill Bryson's fascinating and humorous quest to understand everything that has happened from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization....

Authors MichaelBar-Zohar and Nissim Mishal take us behind the closed curtain with riveting, eye-opening, boots-on-the-ground accounts of the most dangerous, most crucial missions....

On the surface, the Victorian age is one of propriety, industry, prudishness and piety. But scratch the surface and you’ll find scandal, sadism, sex, madness, malice and murder....

Autobiography of a Yogi is at once a beautifully written account of an exceptional life and a profound introduction to the ancient science of yoga and its time-honored tradition of meditation....

At midnight on 15 August, 1947, India left the British Empire....

In this ambitious audiobook, best-selling author Sanjeev Sanyal chronicles the grand sweep of history from East Africa to Australia, conjuring the great cities of Angkor and Vijayanagar, medieval Arab empires, and Chinese "treasure fleets" in rich, vivid detail....

In very recent times humanity has learnt a vast amount about the universe, the past and itself. But through our remarkable successes in acquiring knowledge we have learned how much we have yet to learn: the science we have, for example, addresses just five per cent of the universe, pre-history is still being revealed, with thousands of historical sites yet to be explored, and the new neurosciences of mind and brain are just beginning.

Created in association with the Smithsonian Institution, this authoritative history of the Vietnam War examines its people, politics, events and lasting effects from a global perspective. A Short History of the Vietnam War is both an all-encompassing showcase of every aspect of the conflict, from the struggle for civil rights to the treatment of prisoners. 

Viaggio nella terra di mezzo da cui dipende il destino del Regno Unito. E dove si vota il 6 maggio, sognando l'indipendenza. Di Carlo Bonini (coordinamento editoriale e testo), Enrico Franceschini, Antonello Guerrera. Coordinamento multimediale di Laura Pertici. Grafiche e video a cura di Gedi Visual.

In Letters of Note: Sex, Shaun Usher collects together some of the most noteworthy missives ever written on the subject, from euphemism-laden, flirtatious exchanges and desire-driven expressions of passion to sincere and thoughtful meditations on the meaning of sex. Includes letters by John Cheever, Sigmund Freud, Dorothy Day, James Joyce, Margaret Mead, Henry Miller, Anaïs Nin, Mae West and many others. 

The Second World War ended over 75 years ago, and the number of men and women who lived through it is rapidly dwindling. But its legacy casts a long shadow, and the memories of those who experienced the conflict left both powerful stories and often a complex inheritance behind for their children and grandchildren. In this series, Sean Bean investigates how the trauma of profound wartime experiences - whether spoken or unspoken - can be transferred down through subsequent generations.

Poet, pamphleteer and artist's muse, Caroline Norton dazzled 19th-century society with her vivacity and intelligence. After her marriage in 1828 to the MP George Norton, she continued to attract friends and admirers to her salon in Westminster, which included the young Disraeli. Most prominent among her admirers was the widowed prime minister, Lord Melbourne. Racked with jealousy, George Norton took the prime minister to court, suing him for damages on account of his 'criminal conversation' (adultery) with Caroline. A dramatic trial followed.