The concluding volume of the trilogy charts the growth of the world economy from the 15th to the 18th century concentrating on the human activity that underlies the business of life.

Very clean, no markings, no mildew, from non-smoker's home.

An "entertaining and enlightening" deep dive into the alcohol-soaked origins of civilization--and the evolutionary roots of humanity's appetite for intoxication (Daniel E. Lieberman, author of Exercised).While plenty of entertaining books have been...

From the "deliriously clever" (Boston Globe) Simon Garfield, New York Times bestselling author of Just My Type, comes the wild and fascinating story of the encyclopedia, from Ancient Greece to the present day. New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice...

Generations raised after the Second World War took for granted a world of stability and prosperity, and with it the waning of ancient hatreds. Recent decades have been more sobering. Instability and extremism have returned in force. As Shalom Lappin...

Fall captive to the code—the real-life buccaneer bylaws that shaped every aspect of a pirate’s life. Pirates have long captured our imaginations with images of cutlass-wielding swashbucklers, eye patches, and buried treasure. But what was life really...

An engaging look at ocean routes’ complicated beginnings and elusive impact. Sara Caputo’s Tracks on the Ocean is a sweeping history of how we have understood routes of travel over the ocean and how we came to represent that movement as a cartographical...

This engaging and witty cultural history traces the evolution of the mirror from antiquity to the present day, illustrating its journey from wondrous object to ordinary trinket. With its earliest invention, the mirror allowed us to gaze upon ourselves,...

In the past thirty years, the United States has undergone a profound transformation in its social structure: Crime has increased, trust has declined, families have broken down, and individualism has triumphed over community. Has the Great Disruption of...

A new, updated edition including new speeches from Queen Elizabeth II and John Boyega in the year 2020.This collection of extraordinary speeches ranges from ancient times to the twenty-first century. Some are heroic and inspiring; some diabolical and...

Product DescriptionDavid Hume's six-volume History of England: From the Invasion of Julius Caesar to the Revolution in 1688 (1754-61) is probably his most important work as a constitutional historian and political theorist. Jia Wei's book shows that the...

Crude is the unexpurgated story of oil, from the circumstances of its birth millions of years ago to the spectacle of its rise as the indispensable ingredient of modern life. In addition to fueling our SUVs and illuminating our cities, crude oil and its...

What was history's biggest empire? Or the tallest building of the ancient world? What was the average life expectancy in medieval Byzantium? The average wage in Old Kingdom Egypt? Where did scientific writing first emerge? What was the bloodiest ritual...

From the New York Times bestselling author of A History of the World in 12 Maps, this is the revelatory history of the four cardinal directions that have oriented and defined our place on the globe for millennia North, south, east, and west: almost all...

World War II was the most destructive and all-encompassing war the world has known. Fought by a total of 57 belligerent nations, it exacted a high toll in human life and civilization--killing millions and razing entire cities. It also served as a...

“An insightful and breathtaking exploration of humanity’s evolutionary baggage that explains some of our species’ greatest successes and failures.” ―Yuval Noah Harari, author of SapiensThe ancient inheritance that made us who we are―and is now driving us...

This third volume of the illustrated adaptation of the internationally bestselling phenomenon, Sapiens: A Graphic History—The Masters of History, tackles the question of the driving force of humanity’s fate: is it empire, money, religion—or something...