Albion
The Origins of the English Imagination
Written by Peter Ackroyd

Format: Trade Paperback, 560 pages
Publisher: Anchor
On Sale: November 9, 2004
Price: $19.95
ISBN: 978-0-385-49773-2 (0-385-49773-3)

With his characteristic enthusiasm and erudition, Peter Ackroyd follows his acclaimed London: A Biography with an inspired look into the heart and the history of the English imagination. To tell the story of its evolution, Ackroyd ranges across literature and painting, philosophy and science, architecture and music, from Anglo-Saxon times to... Read more >

Chaucer
Ackroyd's Brief Lives
Written by Peter Ackroyd

Format: Hardcover, 208 pages
Publisher: Nan A. Talese
On Sale: January 18, 2005
Price: $19.95
ISBN: 978-0-385-50797-4 (0-385-50797-6)

In the first in a new series of brief biographies, historian and novelist Peter Ackroyd brilliantly evokes the medieval world of England and provides an incomparable introduction to the great poet’s works.

Geoffrey Chaucer, who died in 1400, lived a surprisingly eventful life. He served with the Duke of Clarence and... Read more >

The Life of Thomas More

Written by Peter Ackroyd

Format: Trade Paperback, 480 pages
Publisher: Anchor
On Sale: November 9, 1999
Price: $18.50
ISBN: 978-0-385-49693-3 (0-385-49693-1)

Now in paperback. A New York Times 1998 Notable Book of the Year. England's famous "man for all seasons" comes to vivid life in this dramatic new biography by acclaimed novelist and biographer Peter Ackroyd. This book reveals an unexpected side of More's character (a preference for bawdy humor) as well... Read more >

London Under
The Secret History Beneath the Streets
Written by Peter Ackroyd

Format: Trade Paperback, 240 pages
Publisher: Anchor
On Sale: November 13, 2012
Price: $15.00
ISBN: 978-0-307-47378-3 (0-307-47378-3)

In this vividly descriptive short study, Peter Ackroyd tunnels down through the geological layers of London, meeting the creatures that dwell in darkness and excavating the lore and mythology beneath the surface.

There is a Bronze Age trackway below the Isle of Dogs, Anglo-Saxon graves rest under St. Pauls, and the... Read more >

London Under
The Secret History Beneath the Streets
Written by Peter Ackroyd

Format: Hardcover, 240 pages
Publisher: Nan A. Talese
On Sale: November 1, 2011
Price: $25.00
ISBN: 978-0-385-53150-4 (0-385-53150-8)

London Under is a wonderful, atmospheric, imagina­tive, oozing short study of everything that goes on under London, from original springs and streams and Roman amphitheaters to Victorian sewers, gang hideouts, and modern tube stations. The depths below are hot, warmer than the surface, and this book tunnels down through the geological... Read more >

London
A Biography
Written by Peter Ackroyd

Format: Trade Paperback, 848 pages
Publisher: Anchor
On Sale: April 8, 2003
Price: $22.00
ISBN: 978-0-385-49771-8 (0-385-49771-7)

“This magnificent evocation of all that London has meant down the centuries... I cannot begin to describe the richness with which Ackroyd pursues his theme... A blend of virtuosity and deep affection that is truly bewitching. Ackroyd has performed a noble public service in preserving in these pages so many centuries... Read more >

Thames
The Biography
Written by Peter Ackroyd

Format: Trade Paperback, 528 pages
Publisher: Anchor
On Sale: November 3, 2009
Price: $21.00
ISBN: 978-0-307-38984-8 (0-307-38984-7)

In this perfect companion to London: The Biography, Peter Ackroyd once again delves into the hidden byways of history, describing the river's endless allure in a journey overflowing with characters, incidents, and wry observations.
Thames: The Biography meanders gloriously, rather like the river itself. In short, lively chapters Ackroyd writes about... Read more >

A Farther Shore
Ireland's Long Road to Peace
Written by Gerry Adams

Format: Trade Paperback, 464 pages
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
On Sale: March 8, 2005
Price: $16.95
ISBN: 978-0-375-76012-9 (0-375-76012-1)

Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams remains resolute in his belief that peace is the only viable option for the Irish people. Adams led the oldest revolutionary movement in Ireland on an extraordinary journey from armed insurrection to active participation in government. Now he tells the story of the tumultuous series of... Read more >

The Endurance
Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition
Written by Caroline Alexander

Format: Hardcover, 224 pages
Publisher: Knopf
On Sale: November 3, 1998
Price: $35.00
ISBN: 978-0-375-40403-0 (0-375-40403-1)

In August 1914, days before the outbreak of the First World War, the renowned explorer Ernest Shackleton and a crew of twenty-seven set sail for the South Atlantic in pursuit of the last unclaimed prize in the history of exploration: the first crossing on foot of the Antarctic continent. Weaving a... Read more >

Lost Gold of the Dark Ages
War, Treasure, and the Mystery of the Saxons
Written by Caroline Alexander
Introduction by Kevin Leahy

Format: Hardcover, 256 pages
Publisher: National Geographic
On Sale: October 18, 2011
Price: $35.00
ISBN: 978-1-4262-0814-0 (1-4262-0814-6)

In July 2009, an amateur metal-detecting enthusiast made an astonishing find: 1500 pieces of bejeweled gold and silver almost 1500 years old, buried, lost, then forgotten. The treasure trove promises to shed unprecedented light on the most mysterious period of British history–the so-called “Dark Ages”–when the Saxons, Anglos, Celts, Picts, Jutes... Read more >

Crucible of War
The Seven Years' War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754-1766
Written by Fred Anderson

Format: Trade Paperback, 912 pages
Publisher: Vintage
On Sale: January 23, 2001
Price: $23.00
ISBN: 978-0-375-70636-3 (0-375-70636-4)

Winner of the Mark Lynton History Prize

In this vivid and compelling narrative, the Seven Years' War—long seen as a mere backdrop to the American Revolution—takes on a whole new significance. Relating the history of the war as it developed, Anderson shows how the complex array of forces brought into conflict... Read more >

Defend the Realm
The Authorized History of MI5
Written by Christopher Andrew

Format: Trade Paperback, 1104 pages
Publisher: Vintage
On Sale: December 7, 2010
Price: $27.50
ISBN: 978-0-307-27581-3 (0-307-27581-7)

For over 100 years, the agents of MI5 have defended Britain against enemy subversion. Their work has remained shrouded in secrecy–until now. This first-ever authorized account reveals the British Security Service as never before: its inner workings, its clandestine operations, its failures and its triumphs.

“Penetrating. . . . Inestimably valuable. ... Read more >

A Journey
My Political Life
Written by Tony Blair

Format: Hardcover, 720 pages
Publisher: Knopf
On Sale: September 2, 2010
Price: $45.00
ISBN: 978-0-307-26983-6 (0-307-26983-3)

Tony Blair is a politician who defines our times. His emergence as Labour Party leader in 1994 marked a seismic shift in British politics. Within a few short years, he had transformed his party and rallied the country behind him, becoming prime minister in 1997 with the biggest victory in Labour’s... Read more >

A Journey
My Political Life
Written by Tony Blair

Format: Trade Paperback, 784 pages
Publisher: Vintage
On Sale: September 20, 2011
Price: $19.00
ISBN: 978-0-307-39063-9 (0-307-39063-2)

In this remarkably gripping memoir, one of the most dynamic and controversial leaders of modern times gives us a firsthand account of his years in office and beyond.

Here, for the first time, Tony Blair recounts his role in shaping our recent history, from the aftermath of Princess Diana’s death to the... Read more >

Royal Weddings

Written by Emily Brand

Format: Trade Paperback, 56 pages
Publisher: Shire
On Sale: March 22, 2011
Price: $9.95
ISBN: 978-0-7478-1093-3 (0-7478-1093-1)

Royal Weddings traces the evolution of matrimonial majesty from the politically charged, relatively austere, private affairs which dominate much of English history, to the grandiose extravaganza of Prince Charles’s and Diana’s union in 1981. Over time, British royal weddings have become the standard by which all other wedding ceremonies are compared... Read more >

The Man Who Ate His Boots
The Tragic History of the Search for the Northwest Passage
Written by Anthony Brandt

Format: Trade Paperback, 464 pages
Publisher: Anchor
On Sale: March 22, 2011
Price: $16.95
ISBN: 978-0-307-27656-8 (0-307-27656-2)

After the triumphant end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, the British took it upon themselves to complete something they had been trying to do since the sixteenth century: find the fabled Northwest Passage. For the next thirty-five years the British Admiralty sent out expedition after expedition to probe the ice-bound... Read more >

The Dark Valley
A Panorama of the 1930s
Written by Piers Brendon

Format: Trade Paperback, 848 pages
Publisher: Vintage
On Sale: January 8, 2002
Price: $21.00
ISBN: 978-0-375-70808-4 (0-375-70808-1)

In this sweeping history, distinguished historian Piers Brendon brings the tragic, dismal days of the 1930s to life.

Like the classic work of Barbara Tuchman, The Dark Valley captures the vast scope of history as well as the minutia of everyday life, rendering a huge topic comprehensible and creating a gripping... Read more >

The Decline and Fall of the British Empire, 1781-1997

Written by Piers Brendon

Format: Trade Paperback, 848 pages
Publisher: Vintage
On Sale: February 9, 2010
Price: $21.00
ISBN: 978-0-307-38841-4 (0-307-38841-7)

After the American Revolution, the British Empire appeared to be doomed. Yet it grew to become the greatest, most diverse empire the world had seen. Then, within a generation, the mighty structure collapsed, a rapid demise that left an array of dependencies and a contested legacy: at best a sporting spirit... Read more >

Churchill, Hitler, and "The Unnecessary War"
How Britain Lost Its Empire and the West Lost the World
Written by Patrick J. Buchanan

Format: Trade Paperback, 544 pages
Publisher: Three Rivers Press
On Sale: July 28, 2009
Price: $20.00
ISBN: 978-0-307-40516-6 (0-307-40516-8)

Were World Wars I and II inevitable? Were they necessary wars? Or were they products of calamitous failures of judgment?

In this monumental and provocative history, Patrick Buchanan makes the case that, if not for the blunders of British statesmen–Winston Churchill first among them–the horrors of two world wars and the Holocaust... Read more >

Anglomania
A European Love Affair
Written by Ian Buruma

Format: Trade Paperback, 320 pages
Publisher: Vintage
On Sale: April 11, 2000
Price: $14.00
ISBN: 978-0-375-70536-6 (0-375-70536-8)

"Imaginative, original--wittily written."--The Washington Post Book World

To some, England has long represented tolerance, reason, and political moderation. To others, it is a moribund bastion of snobbery and outdated tradition. In this lively and diverting social history, noted author Ian Buruma, himself the son of Dutch immigrants to England, provides an incisive... Read more >

The Decline and Fall of the British Aristocracy

Written by David Cannadine

Format: Trade Paperback, 848 pages
Publisher: Vintage
On Sale: September 7, 1999
Price: $25.00
ISBN: 978-0-375-70368-3 (0-375-70368-3)

At the outset of the 1870s, the British aristocracy could rightly consider themselves the most fortunate people on earth: they held the lion's share of land, wealth, and power in the world's greatest empire. By the end of the 1930s they had lost not only a generation of sons in the... Read more >

Captives
Britain, Empire, and the World, 1600-1850
Written by Linda Colley

Format: Trade Paperback, 464 pages
Publisher: Anchor
On Sale: January 6, 2004
Price: $16.95
ISBN: 978-0-385-72146-2 (0-385-72146-3)

“Captives is rich and unfailingly inquisitive about the anxieties of imperialism, the experiences of those who did [its] hard labour, and, above all, the vulnerability of empire.”
—John Mullan, Times Literary Supplement

Britain’s pursuit of empire seems an inexorable march across continents toward its ultimate—if temporary—global hegemony. But, as Linda Colley shows... Read more >

The Ordeal of Elizabeth Marsh
A Woman in World History
Written by Linda Colley

Format: Trade Paperback, 420 pages
Publisher: Anchor
On Sale: November 11, 2008
Price: $17.95
ISBN: 978-0-385-72149-3 (0-385-72149-8)

In this remarkable reconstruction of an eighteenth-century woman's extraordinary and turbulent life, historian Linda Colley not only tells the story of Elizabeth Marsh, one of the most distinctive travelers of her time, but also opens a window onto a radically transforming world.

Marsh was conceived in Jamaica, lived in London, Gibraltar, and... Read more >

Belfast Diary
War as a Way of Life
Written by John Conroy

Format: Trade Paperback, 240 pages
Publisher: Beacon Press
On Sale: June 30, 1995
Price: $20.00
ISBN: 978-0-8070-0217-9 (0-8070-0217-8)

Resolution of intractable problems around the world requires understanding ordinary people as well as leaders. This street-level view of Northern Ireland provides the best explanation of the twenty-five-year conflict.

“For those puzzled by Northern Ireland, Belfast Diary offers a well-written, sympathetic and clear-eyed view.” -New York Times Book Review

“Mr. Conroy’s account is... Read more >

Scott of the Antarctic
A Biography
Written by David Crane

Format: Trade Paperback, 608 pages
Publisher: Vintage
On Sale: November 6, 2007
Price: $16.95
ISBN: 978-1-4000-3141-2 (1-4000-3141-9)

Historian David Crane, with full access to the explorer’s papers, diaries, and expedition records, gives us an illuminating portrait of Robert Falcon Scott that is more nuanced and balanced than any we have had before.

In reassessing Scott’s life, Crane is able to provide a fresh perspective on not only the... Read more >