A groundbreaking account of how firearms changed Europe and the world In Renaissance Italy, the gun was not only a tool of war but also a desirable object, a luxury item carried at court. Guns were in use on the battlefield by 1440; later in that century...

A groundbreaking, sweeping overview of the great kingdoms in African history and their legacies, written by world-leading experts. This is the first book for nonspecialists to explore the great precolonial kingdoms of Africa that have been marginalized...

To what extent does our knowledge of the past rely upon written sources? And what happens when these sources are destroyed? Focusing on the manuscripts of the Middle Ages, History in Flames explores cases in which large volumes of written material were...

A devastating account of contemporary American military folly, political dysfunction, and corruption by the Washington editor of Harper’s MagazineDuring the war of 1812 British Admiral George Cockburn fought his way to Washington, DC and torched the...

An astonishing account of life under a murderous regime amid a great city’s descent into utter annihilationIn 1939, when Ian Buruma’s epic opens, Berlin has been under Nazi rule for six years, and its 4.3 million people have made their accommodations to...

A vivid portrait of the unsung American women from 1776 to today who changed the course of history in their fight for freedom and helped shape a more perfect unionOver a decades-long, distinguished career, award-winning journalist Norah O’Donnell has...

An evocative voyage through the Carpathian mountain range and its threatened landscape, peoples, and history The Carpathian Mountains of Poland, Slovakia, Romania, and Ukraine are Europe's last true wilderness. A landscape of great spruce and beech...

In this gripping sequel to his bestselling 1177 B.C., Eric Cline tells the story of what happened after the Bronze Age collapsed—why some civilizations endured, why some gave way to new ones, and why some disappeared forever“A landmark book: lucid, deep,...

A remarkably open-hearted, clear-eyed memoir of the '90s Alternative era by the bassist of Hole and The Smashing Pumpkins Even the Good Girls Will Cry begins with Melissa Auf der Maur's bohemian upbringing in Montreal, where her early, deep connection...

Conservatives have disagreed about many things, but they have long been united by the belief that the mainstream--or "liberal"--media is biased against them. Why did conflict with the press become so central to conservative identity, and how has...

How a deliberate dismantling of political institutions undermines the essential work of governmentIn this unsettling book, Russell Muirhead and Nancy Rosenblum trace how ungoverning—the deliberate effort to dismantle the capacity of government to do its...

From the summer of 1870 to the spring of 1871, famously dubbed the "Terrible Year" by Victor Hugo, Paris and its people were besieged, starved, and forced into surrender by Germans--then imperiled again as radical republicans established a breakaway...

A whimsical visual survey of the house cat in art and popular culture, exploring humanity's enduring connection to one of our most loved animal companions Cats have been beloved and depicted by humans for millennia. These captivating animals appeared as...

A groundbreaking study of one of the most important and influential artists of the postwar periodJoseph Beuys (1921–1986) was one of the most significant artists of the twentieth century—and one of the most controversial. Working in Germany in the...

This second volume from the "Art of the Lost Generation" Museum continues to explore artists who were excluded, persecuted, censored, or driven into obscurity under the Nazi regime. This vivid and richly illustrated catalog contributes to a critical...

A stunning memoir of personal rebellion and political awakening from a young woman raised to be loyal to a brutal regime—and the unimaginable cost of choosing freedomEvery day at school, Loubna Mrie pledged allegiance to Bashar al-Assad. His portrait...

How Frederick the Great and George Washington embody the competition between liberal democracy and authoritarianismBoth Frederick the Great and George Washington saw themselves as model rulers exemplifying different modes of enlightened governance...

Combining history, detective story, and memoir, a surprising and revealing account of the antisemitic myth of “the Wandering Jew”The story behind the mythical figure of “the Wandering Jew” is one of the most fascinating tales in European history. In I,...

From The New York Times–bestselling and Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Hemingses of Monticello, a groundbreaking collection of Thomas Jefferson’s writings on race that every American should readAmong America’s Founding Fathers, none was more...

A sweeping and in-depth history of the Brooklyn music scene over ten years in Bloomberg's New York, from a writer and concert producer who had a front-row view of it all In the tradition of Just Kids and Our Band Could Be Your Life, Ronen Givony's Us...