International History

The true story of the MP who faked his own death, by his daughter.

The height of Mt. Everest was first measured in 1850, but the closest any westerner got to Everest during the next 71 years, until 1921, was 40 miles. The Hunt for Mt. Everest tells the story of the 71-year quest to find the world's highest mountain.

14 CE: The first Roman emperor is dead. A second is about to succeed. The Forum of Rome, once fought over so fiercely, has become hardly more than a museum.

The story of Rome's richest man, who died a humiliating desert death in search of military glory

A brilliant and penetrating history of the First World War by one of the world's foremost experts on the conflict. Reissued for the 100th Anniversary.

The sensational story of the rise and fall of one of the most notorious families in history, by the author of The Medici.

A sweeping 400-year history of the Florentines who gave birth to the Renaissance, by the author of The Medici and The Borgias.

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.