International History

An 'essential book for 2023', as selected by the Irish Examiner

Transformations of human culture throughout western history have remained indelibly stamped by their origins. The Reformation would always retain something of central and northern Germany. The Industrial Revolution soon outgrew its British origins, yet also retained something of its original template. Closer to the present, the IT revolution which began in Silicon Valley remains indelibly coloured by its Californian origins. Paul Strathern shows how Florence, and the Florentines, played a similar role in the Renaissance.

Great cities are complex, chaotic and colossal. These are cities that dominate the world stage and define eras; where ideas flourish, revolutions are born and history is made.

A sweeping history of the Age of Reason, which shows how, although it was a time of progress in many areas, it was also an era of brutality and intolerance, by the author of The Borgias and The Florentines.

Focusing on key characters from the seventeenth to the eighteenth centuries, including Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Newton, Descartes, Spinoza, Louis XIV and Charles I, Dark Brilliance is a fascinating and wide-ranging history that explores the human costs of imposing progress and modernity.

An original and compelling history of the northern European medieval renaissance in art, science and philosophy, which rivalled its Italian counterpart, by the author of The Florentines and The Borgias.

Best-selling historian and classicist Barry Strauss tells the story of the rise and fall of the Roman Empire through the lives of ten of its most important emperors, from Augustus to Constantine.

The Trojan War may have been the inevitable consequence of expanding Greek maritime commerce. Written by a leading expert on ancient military history, the true story of the most famous battle in history is every bit as compelling as Homer's epic account - and confirms many of its details.

The story of the most famous revolt of the ancient world, and its legendary leader, Spartacus the Gladiator.

Bestselling classical historian Barry Strauss delivers “an exceptionally accessible history of the Roman Empire…much of Ten Caesars reads like a script for Game of Thrones” (The Wall Street Journal)—a summation of three and a half centuries of the Roman Empire as seen through the lives of ten of the most important emperors, from Augustus to Constantine.

The story of one of the most controversial cult bands of the moment - championed and reviled in equal measure

An intricate and personal history of watches and time from an extraordinary watchmaker and historian