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The Great Cave Rescue

Ebook: October 3, 2019
Hardback:
Paperback: October 3, 2019

The Great Cave Rescue

James Massola

Category: Memoir & Biography,

First came the awful news that 12 boys and their football coach were missing. Then came the flickering video of the boys found by a pair of British divers nine days later.

Monsoon rains had raised the water level in the cave system, and they were trapped in an air pocket, surrounded by rising muddy water, over two kilometres from the cave entrance. Expert British, Australian, American, Chinese, and other international divers joined the Thai Navy SEALs and hundreds of local volunteers to mount one of the most risky and complex rescue operations the world has ever seen.

South-east Asia correspondent James Massola recreates the drama, tension, and inspiration of the days in July 2018 when the eyes of the whole world were trained on a remote Thai mountain. Very little information about what happened inside the cave was released by the Thai authorities at the time, but through interviews Massola has managed to obtain extensive details of the nine long days the Wild Boars were on their own and during the rescue operation itself as well as background information about the boys and coach.

He writes about the pivotal role of the British Cave Rescue Council in leading the international effort, and determining the technical aspects of the rescue. He reveals how the Thai, British, US, Australian and other international divers worked together so smoothly, when even a minor miscommunication could have resulted in death or serious injury. And, most dramatically, he discloses the number of instances in which the rescue operation nearly went wrong.

The Sayings of Benjamin Disraeli

Ebook:
Hardback:
Paperback: September 30, 2019

The Sayings of Benjamin Disraeli

Benjamin Disraeli, Robert Blake, Alistair Lexden

Category: Memoir & Biography,

The wit and wisdom of Benjamin Disraeli, British statesman and twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom – with a new foreword by Lord Lexden.

Disraeli was one of the least orthodox of Prime Ministers. He was an adventurer who fought his way to ‘the top of the greasy pole’ in a blaze of controversy, and became Queen Victoria’s favourite statesman. He was a novelist and a wit as well as politician. He was a brilliant orator. Like Byron he was both a romantic and a cynic. His aphorisms have become part of the discourse of political life.

This collection is based on his novels, letters and speeches. He was never dull, but he was fundamentally serious behind the firework display, and he had a lasting influence on the course of party history.

Seen by some of the founder of ‘one-nation’ conservatism, Disraeli is today one of the most co-opted political figures of history. For those seeking clarity on Disraeli’s views, this collection will confound and surprise.

 

I, Hogarth

Ebook: September 27, 2012
Hardback: September 27, 2012
Paperback: June 19, 2014

I, Hogarth

Michael Dean

Hogarth’s epoch-defining paintings and engravings, such as Gin Lane and The Rake’s Progress, are renowned. He was London’s painter par excellence, and supplies the most enduring vision of the eighteenth century’s ebullience, enjoyments and social iniquities. From his lifelong marriage to Jane Thornhill, his inability to have children, his time as one of England’s best portrait painters, his old age and unfortunate dip into politics, and ultimately his death, I, Hogarth is the artist’s life through his very own eyes.

Recommended for readers of Peter Ackroyd and Hilary Mantel, this novel charts Hogarth’s personal story in four parts carefully blending the facts of his life with fiction, beginning with a childhood spent in a debtor’s prison and ending with his death in the arms of his wife.

Reviews

  • 'Rich and persuasive. Gritty, bawdy and funny, Dean paints with words as Hogarth did with his brush' New York Times Book Review

  • 'If the BBC hasn't already optioned this, it should get a move on: Hogarth's life, as Dean portrays it, is an educational but sexily pleasurable costume drama waiting to happen' Publishers Weekly

And The Show Went On

Ebook: March 24, 2011
Hardback:
Paperback: June 21, 2012

And The Show Went On

Alan Riding

Category: History,

In June 1940, Paris fell to the Nazis who made the world’s cultural capital their favourite entertainment ground. Music halls and cabarets thrived during the occupation, providing plenty of work for actors, singers and musicians except for the Jews. The likes of Maurice Chevalier and Edith Piaf, who had entertained the French troops, now unabashedly provided amusement to the Germans.

After the invasion of France, those artists still in Paris had to find ways to survive. Although Matisse and others kept out of view, Picasso could not avoid Nazi visitors. A few, like Beckett, joined the Resistance. Some were arrested and died in German hands. Others entertained the enemy. The theatres reopened, the movie cameras rolled, galleries sold paintings looted from Jewish families, pro-German writers and their rivals fought in print. Told through the experiences of renowned creative figures and witnesses of the times, And the Show Went On is an authoritative account of how Paris’s artistic world lived through the Occupation during which some suffered Nazi oppression while others prospered through collaboration.

Reviews

  • 'A superbly fair-minded, well-researched, well-written and nuanced investigation into the greyest of all the moral grey areas of twentieth century history' Andrew Roberts

  • 'Fascinating... elaborate characters leap off almost ever page. A serious piece of scholarship, but one that reads like a novel' Observer

  • 'Underpinned by meticulous research… built on the premise that intellectuals have special responsibilities, especially in difficult times, and [Alan Riding] skilfully engages with the complexities of the period… he neither falls into moral relativism nor indulges in accusatory finger-pointing' TLS

  • 'Certainly one of the finest works of serious popular history' The Washington Post

  • 'Nazi-occupied Paris is brought to life in this meticulous chronicle of writers, dancers, filmmakers, theatrical producers and others' The New Yorker

Rules for Ageing

Ebook: November 4, 2011
Hardback:
Paperback:

Rules for Ageing

Roger Rosenblatt

People never learn. They make the same mistakes generation after generation. So here are the things that everyone should learn about life, then hope to remember.

With a wry sense of humour, Rules for Ageing presents the most realistic, practical, pleasurable and, most importantly, painless advice you will ever receive. This book offers timeless advice for anyone still young enough to learn, and richly amusing reflections on life for those who have seen it all before.

Reviews

  • 'Wise, funny and insightful. I will happily carry Rules for Ageing into my sunset years and trust them to chart my course to geezerhood.'

    Tom Brokaw

  • 'I like this book and am thinking it over. Especially rules 1,3,15- I wish I d known about that 15 years ago- and now 34, 'It's not about you' , that's worth the price of the book.'

    Garrison Keiller

  • 'A hilarious guide to life, smart and to the point.'

    People

Sugar

Ebook: October 22, 2009
Hardback:
Paperback: November 6, 2025

Sugar

Elizabeth Abbott

Category: History,

Sugar was once the most powerful commodity on earth. It shaped world affairs, influenced the economic policies of nations, drove international trade and left a legacy of suffering that still resonates today. But how did a substance that began as an expensive luxury of the wealthy become a staple in the modern world?

In Sugar this dark history is unveiled, from the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade to the environmental devastation caused by sugar cultivation. Richly detailed and thoroughly compelling, Elizabeth Abbott traces sugar from its very origins to the twenty-first century, examining the true cost of satisfying the world’s sweet tooth.

Reviews

  • 'A highly readable and comprehensive study of a remarkable product... rare eloquence and passion... a must-read' Independent

  • 'A grim reminder that a consumer's choices register on a gigantic scale' New York Times

  • 'Reading this graphic tale of the global havoc sugar has caused and continues to cause, you might wonder why sugar is not a banned substance; it seems to have done as much harm as opium or heroin... [Abbott's] style is vivid and she's done her research, right back to her sugar plantation Antiguan ancestors. It's a good read - but it might stay your hand next time you reach for a chocolate biscuit to enjoy with your coffee' Irish Times 

  • ‘Captures the horror of slave-grown sugar... [a] fascinating book' Daily Mail

  • 'Zestful... belongs to that recent genre of food histories which have had huge public appeal... Abbott's breezy and energetic style will doubtless find an enthusiastic readership among people keen to make sense of the world around them via the history of this remarkable commodity' BBC History

  • ‘The blood drenched history of sugar is carefully mapped out in Elizabeth Abbott’s impressive overview, which is guaranteed to make you choke on your chocolate… Enlightening and as dismaying as a sugar crash’ Metro

  • ‘Epic in ambition, Sugar interweaves the invention of the global sugar industry with its far-reaching effect on New World slavery [and] the environment’ Wall Street Journal

Wilde’s Last Stand

Ebook: November 15, 2011
Hardback:
Paperback: May 27, 2011

Wilde’s Last Stand

Philip Hoare

‘A shocking tale of heroes and villains.’ Sir Ian McKellen

In 1918, the Imperialist newspaper made a startling claim. The German Secret Service had the names of 47,000 members of the British establishment who were sexual deviants and Britain was losing the war because Germany was blackmailing them. In the sensational libel trial that followed, the main target was Maud Allan, the Salome dancer with high society connections and a dark secret. Meanwhile, Oscar Wilde’s closest friends were drawn into the affair in a bitter battle for his reputation. It was the greatest scandal of the early twentieth century.

This is a story of judges and prejudice, of aesthetes and admirals, of MPs and dancing girls, of sex and conspiracy; ingredients for a modern tabloid, yet in a decade that still seems a Victorian legacy. Philip Hoare has produced a revolutionary new portrait of British society, as nineteenth century morality and Edwardian opulence met the modern age.

Wilde’s Last Stand tells of transvestites in the trenches, of drug clubs in London, and of the man who sought to be Britain’s first fascist leader. Both revealing and chilling, this is a vital story about the birth of a troubled century.

Philip Hoare is an acclaimed author whose works include biographies of Stephen Tennant and Noël Coward, Spike Island and England’s Lost Eden. His book, Leviathan: or, The Whale won the BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-fiction.

‘Documented with dazzling brilliance.’ The Sunday Times

‘A valuable addition to the alternative history of our century.’ Peter Parker, Observer

‘A thrashing good read.’ Independent on Sunday

Reviews

  • 'Hoare has identified one of the key moments in the formation of the modern world, and he has documented it with dazzling brilliance' Simon Callow, The Sunday Times

  • 'A shocking tale of heroes and villains. Illuminating and upsetting in equal measure' Sir Ian McKellen

  • 'Hoare's lively book is a valuable addition to the alternative history of our century' Peter Parker, Observer

  • 'A thrashing good read' Independent on Sunday

The Importance of Living

Ebook: January 23, 2020
Hardback:
Paperback: January 23, 2020

The Importance of Living

Lin Yutang

Category: Psychology & Philosophy,

A tremendous bestseller when it was first published in 1937, The Importance of Living has been a classic for over sixty years. Intended as an antidote to the dizzying pace of the modern world, Lin Yutang’s prescription is the classic distillation of ancient Chinese wisdom: revere inaction as much as action, invoke humour to maintain a healthy attitude, and never forget that there will always be plenty of fools around who are willing – indeed eager – to be busy, to make themselves useful, and to exercise power while you bask in the simple joy of existence. 

Now, more than six decades later, with our lives accelerated to unbelievable levels, this wise and timeless book is more pertinent than ever before. In an era when we’re overwhelmed with wake-up calls, it’s an entertaining innovation to savour life’s beauty, its endless fascination and its slow, sure, simple pleasures. 

Reviews

  • 'A richly, enjoyably wise and suggestive book' New York Times

  • 'Dr Lin has performed the inestimable service of distilling the philosophy of generations of Chinese sages and presenting it against a modern background, which makes it easily readable and understandable' Saturday Review of Literature

Empire of Guns

Ebook: November 3, 2018
Hardback: June 14, 2018
Paperback: November 14, 2019

Empire of Guns

Priya Satia

Category: History,

Winner of the Jerry Bentley Prize in World History (American Historical Association).

Award-winning historian Priya Satia presents a new history of the Industrial Revolution that positions war and the gun trade squarely at the heart of the rapid growth of technology and Britain’s imperial expansion. Satia’s thorough examination advances a radical new understanding of the historical roots of the violent partnership between the government, military and the economy. Sweeping in its scope and entirely original in its approach, Empire of Guns illuminates Britain’s emergence as a global superpower in a clear and novel light. 

Reviews

  • 'A fascinating study of the centrality of militarism in 18th-century British life, and how imperial expansion and arms went hand in hand... This book is a triumph' Guardian

  • 'A fascinating and important glimpse into how violence fueled the industrial revolution, Priya Satia's book stuns with deep scholarship and sparkling prose' Siddhartha Mukherjee, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Emperor of All Maladies

  • 'Satia's detailed retelling of the Industrial Revolution and Britain's relentless empire expansion notably contradicts simple free market narratives... She argues convincingly that the expansion of the armaments industry and the government's role in it is inseparable from the rise of innumerable associated industries from finance to mining... Fascinating' New York Times

  • 'Satia marshals an overwhelming amount of evidence to show, comprehensively, that guns had a place at the center of every conventional tale historians have so far told about the origins of the modern, industrialized world... This book leaves us with the disquieting notion that guns - whether the slow and inaccurate weapons of the eighteenth century or today's models - do more than alternately cloak or explore human inclination towards violence. They also shape it' New Republic

  • 'A richly researched and probing historical narrative that challenges our understanding of the engines that drove Britain’s industrial revolution. With this book, Priya Satia... affirms her place as a deeply captivating and thought-provoking historian' Caroline Elkins, Pulitzer Prize winner for Imperial Reckoning

  • 'An important revisionist account of the industrial revolution... a revelatory book' Sven Beckert, finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Empire of Cotton

The Royal Art of Poison

Ebook: November 1, 2018
Hardback: November 1, 2018
Paperback: August 22, 2019

The Royal Art of Poison

Eleanor Herman

Category: History,

The story of poison is the story of power…

For centuries, royal families have feared the gut-roiling, vomit-inducing agony of a little something added to their food or wine by an enemy. To avoid poison, they depended on tasters, unicorn horns and antidotes tested on condemned prisoners. Servants licked the royal family’s spoons, tried on their underpants and tested their chamber pots.

Ironically, royals terrified of poison were unknowingly poisoning themselves daily with their cosmetics, medications and filthy living conditions. Women wore makeup made with lead. Men rubbed feces on their bald spots. Physicians prescribed mercury enemas, arsenic skin cream, drinks of lead filings and potions of human fat and skull, fresh from the executioner. Gazing at gorgeous portraits of centuries past, we don’t see what lies beneath the royal robes and the stench of unwashed bodies; the lice feasting on private parts; and worms nesting in the intestines.

The Royal Art of Poison is a hugely entertaining work of popular history that traces the use of poison as a political – and cosmetic – tool in the royal courts of Western Europe from the Middle Ages to the Kremlin today.

Reviews

  • 'In her gruesome book… Herman explores assassinations and stories of poison… and questions if some stories of death by poison could be inaccurate… truly scary' Daily Mail, Book of the Week

  • 'The Royal Art of Poison by Eleanor Herman will, for once in your life, make you happy you are not a princess or a queen or someone who lives in a palace. The book is amazing and really makes me wonder how we've managed to survive. It will make you glad to be in your own home' Forbes 'Books to Travel With for the Holidays'

  • 'Reads like juicy historical gossip, looking at the ways royals throughout history have been poisoned — not only by others, but often, unwittingly, by themselves' BuzzFeed 'The Ultimate Book Gift Guide'

  • 'Agatha Christie's spirit must be loving this poisonous new historical entertainment' Spectator

  • 'This fantastic work combines morbid curiosity and royal gossip. In it, readers will not only find out about who could've poisoned whom, but also why and with what. Lovers of Tudor history, costume dramas, and high fantasy will rejoice' Washington Independent Review of Books, 50 Favourite Books of 2018

  • 'Herman has a delightful appreciation for all things beautiful and terrible. With her dishy signature style and a dazzling command of the facts, she brews up a heady mix of erudite history and delicious gossip' Aja Raden, New York Times bestselling author of Stoned

  • 'Whether deliberate, accidental or the result of an antidote, the gruesome outcome of ingestion of toxins is deftly described in The Royal Art of Poison. Add political intrigue, disgusting sanitation, ubiquitous filth, horrendous medical procedures, and every sort of vermin and you get a very different picture to what we romantically assume to be the 'good old days' Penny Le Couteur, author of Napoleon's Button

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