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In this gripping work of contemporary history, one of Britain’s leading political and social commentators maps Boris Johnson’s time in power across ten decisive moments and sheds light on the most divisive and inscrutable prime minister since Margaret Thatcher. Based on major interviews with key aides and allies, Anthony Seldon and Raymond Newell give the first account of Johnson’s explosive time in office.
Most people can name the influential leaders and major battles of the past. Few can name the most destructive storms, the worst winters, the most devastating droughts. In this book, historian Peter Frankopan reconnects us with our ancestors who, like us, worshipped, exploited and conserved the natural environment – and draws salutary conclusions about what the future may bring.
With what this poor woman had been through the sight of her crying tore at my heartstrings. What if something should happen to her; who would care for her little baby? To conceal the fear and terror in my heart I left her, trying to put up a cheerful front. But no one could conceal from her the ominous import of the dark spots that had appeared on her chest. ‘The Doctor of Hiroshima’ is the extraordinary true story of Dr Michihiko Hachiya, whose hospital was less than a mile from the centre of the atomic bomb that hit on that warm August day. Somehow, in immense shock and pain and extremely weak, the doctor and his wife manage to drag themselves to the hospital, where their horrific wounds are treated, and they slowly begin to recover. Tentatively, the doctor starts to reckon with the utter devastation of the bomb, and to investigate the strange symptoms afflicting his patients.
‘The first serious and consistently readable biography of Starmer?It is a wonder that he has said so much to Baldwin’ Patrick Maguire, The Times
‘Required reading for anyone who has an interest in who governs Britain’ ALASTAIR CAMPBELL
When Thomas Roe arrived in India in 1616 as James I’s first ambassador to the Mughal Empire, the English barely had a toehold in the subcontinent. Their understanding of South Asian trade and India was sketchy at best, and, to the Mughals, they were minor players on a very large stage. Roe was representing a kingdom that was beset by financial woes and deeply conflicted about its identity as a unified ‘Great Britain’ under the Stuart monarchy. Meanwhile, the court he entered in India was wealthy and cultured, its dominion widely considered to be one of the greatest and richest empires of the world. In Nandini Das’s fascinating history of Roe’s four years in India, she offers an insider’s view of a Britain in the making, a country whose imperial seeds were just being sown.
When the history of British codebreaking is told, the story is often a men-only preserve. That perception completely ignores the fact that the vast majority of codebreakers were in fact women. And foremost among them was one who is largely unknown to the public, and whose activities were a secret even to her closest contacts – Emily Anderson. Anderson was a leading member of British intelligence for over three decades. She played key roles in both World Wars, worked in Bletchley Park and in the Middle East, and was reckoned among the top three female codebreakers in the world. Her work coincided with her other great love – music. She is famous in musicology circles as being the first to effectively decipher the letters and diaries of Mozart and Beethoven. This narrative of her life places Emily Anderson at the forefront of great British codebreakers.
The essential guide to geopolitics in the modern Middle East in the aftermath of the Arab Spring
An indelible exploration of the Cultural Revolution and how it shapes China today, ‘Red Memory’ uncovers forty years of silence through the rarely heard stories of individuals who lived through Mao’s decade of madness.
Told with vivacious wit and a lust for life, ‘Parisian Days’ is a bittersweet portrayal of youthful dreams, and the elusive search for happiness. The Orient Express hurtles towards the promised land, and Banine is free for the first time in her life. She has fled her ruined homeland and unhappy forced marriage for a dazzling new future in Paris. Now she cuts her hair, wears short skirts, mingles with Russian émigrés, Spanish artists, writers and bohemians in the 1920’s beau monde – and even contemplates love. But soon she finds that freedom brings its own complications. As her family’s money runs out, she becomes a fashion model to survive. And when a glamorous figure from her past returns, life is thrown further into doubt. Banine has always been swept along by the forces of history. Can she keep up with them now?
The first history of all the English cathedrals, from Birmingham and Bury St Edmunds to Worcester and York Minster
The astonishing story of the critical year 1923 – the year when the French illegally and brutally occupied Germany’s economic heartland, the Ruhr; when hyperinflation wrought havoc with the German economy and plunged millions into poverty; and when Hitler staged his abortive yet pivotal putsch in a Munich beer hall. This period saw the rise of nationalism as the intra-European consensus broke down, populist rhetoric translated into actual violence on the streets and the forces of liberalism underestimate the strength of their enemies. Publishing in the centenary of this extraordinary year, this is the account of a global moment when so much changed and which has so many terrifying lessons for the world today.
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