For the first time in any language, the history of history, from the Greeks to the twentieth century This unprecedented book, by one of Britain's leading intellectual historians, describes the intellectual impact that the study and consideration of the past has had in the western world over the past 2500 years, treating the practise of history not as an isolated pursuit but as an aspect of human society and an essential part of the cultural history of Europe and America. It magnificently brings to life the work of historians from the Greeks to the present, explaining their distinctive qualities and allowing the modern reader to appreciate and enjoy them. But is also examines subjects as diverse as the new perspectives brought about by the rise of Rome, the interests of medieval chroniclers, the effects of Romanticism and the emergence towards the end of the nineteenth century of an historical profession. It sets out to be not the history of an academic discipline, but a history of choice: the choice of pasts, and the ways they have been demarcated, investigated, presented and even sometimes learned from as they have changed according to political, religious, cultural and (often most importantly) patriotic circumstances.

Tom Holland's 'stirring new translation' (Telegraph) of Herodotus' Histories, one of the great books in Western history - now in paperback The Histories of Herodotus, completed in the second half of the 5th century BC, is generally regarded as the first work of history and the first great masterpiece of non-fiction writing. Joined here are the sheer drama of Herodotus' narrative of the Persian invasions of Greece, and the endless curiosity - turning now to cannabis, now to the Pyramids - which make his book the source of so much of our knowledge of the ancient world. This absorbing new translation, by one of Britain's most admired young historians, allows all the drama and mysteriousness of this great book to be fully appreciated by modern readers.

Epic, authoritative and entertaining, Making History delves into the lives of those who have charted human history - professional historians, witnesses, novelists, journalists and propagandists - to discover the agendas that informed their world views, and which in so many ways have informed ours. From the origins of history-writing through to television and the digital age, Making History abounds in captivating figures brought to vivid life, from Thucydides and Tacitus to Voltaire and Gibbon, from Winston Churchill to Mary Beard. Rich in character, complex truths and surprising anecdotes, the result is a unique exploration of both the aims and craft of history-making that will lead us to think anew about our past and ourselves.

A superb insight into the history of the Samurai From a leading expert in Japanese history, this is one of the first full histories of the art and culture of the Samurai warrior. The Samurai emerged as a warrior caste in Medieval Japan and would have a powerful influence on the history and culture of the country from the next 500 years. Clements also looks at the Samurai wars that tore Japan apart in the 17th and 18th centuries and how the caste was finally demolished in the advent of the mechanized world.

Herodotus (c480-c425) is 'The Father of History' and his Histories are the first piece of Western historical writing. They are also the most entertaining. Why did Pheidippides run the 26 miles and 385 yards (or 42.195 kilometres) from Marathon to Athens? And what did he do when he got there? Was the Battle of Salamis fought between sausage-sellers? Which is the oldest language in the world? Why did Leonidas and his 300 Spartans spend the morning before the battle of Thermopylae combing their hair? Why did every Babylonian woman have to sit in the Temple of Aphrodite until a man threw a coin into her lap, and how long was she likely to sit there? And what is the best way to kill a crocodile? This wide-ranging history provides the answers to all these fascinating questions as well as providing many fascinating insights into the Ancient World.

Featuring the rise of King Henry V, this play chronicles Englands underdog victory over the French at the Battle of Agincourt during the Hundred Years War. This revised Signet Classics edition includes unique features such as: - An overview of Shakespeares life, world, and theater - A special introduction to the play by the editor, John Russell Brown - Selections from Raphael Holinsheds Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, the source from which Shakespeare derived Henry V - Dramatic criticism from William Hazlitt, W. B. Yeats, E.M.W. Tillyard, and others - A comprehensive stage and screen history of notable actors, directors, and productions - Text, notes, and commentaries printed in the clearest, most readable text - And more...

Featuring the rise of King Henry V, this play chronicles Englands underdog victory over the French at the Battle of Agincourt during the Hundred Years War. This revised Signet Classics edition includes unique features such as: - An overview of Shakespeares life, world, and theater - A special introduction to the play by the editor, John Russell Brown - Selections from Raphael Holinsheds Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, the source from which Shakespeare derived Henry V - Dramatic criticism from William Hazlitt, W. B. Yeats, E.M.W. Tillyard, and others - A comprehensive stage and screen history of notable actors, directors, and productions - Text, notes, and commentaries printed in the clearest, most readable text - And more...

'Mythology gives us a direct connection with our human lineage, taking us out of the bubble of our modern worlds and into a narrative where time is elastic.' This wonderous encyclopaedia gathers together over 100 myths from across the globe, featuring Mesopotamian creation stories, Roman legends, Norse epics, indigenous tales and more. These abridged stories open a window into the ancient landscapes, histories and beliefs that make up our cultural inheritance. These retellings include: • Asgard (Scandinavia) • Bran the Blessed (Britain) • Mount Olympus (Greece) • Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Middle East) Discover the roots of many recognisable characters, places and tales in each chapter. Made for easy reference, readers can thumb-through this illustrated treasure trove of parables, folktales and wonderful epics, derived from over 30 diverse cultures.

The international bestseller and winner of the 1992 Booker Prize. The final curtain is closing on the Second World War, and Hana, a nurse, stays behind in an abandoned Italian villa to tend to her only remaining patient. Rescued by Bedouins from a burning plane, he is English, anonymous, damaged beyond recognition and haunted by his memories of passion and betrayal. The only clue Hana has to his past is the one thing he clung on to through the fire - a copy of The Histories by Herodotus, covered with hand-written notes describing a painful and ultimately tragic love affair.

What does it mean to be out walking in the world, whether in a landscape or a metropolis, on a pilgrimage or a protest march? In this first general history of walking, Rebecca Solnit draws together many histories to create a range of possibilities for this most basic act. Arguing that walking as history means walking for pleasure and for political, aesthetic, and social meaning, Solnit homes in on the walkers whose everyday and extreme acts have shaped our culture, from the peripatetic philosophers of ancient Greece to the poets of the Romantic Age, from the perambulations of the Surrealists to the ascents of mountaineers. With profiles of some of the most significant walkers in history and fiction – from Wordsworth to Gary Snyder, from Rousseau to Argentina’s Mother of the Plaza de Mayo, from Jane Austen’s Elizabeth Bennet to Andre Breton’s Nadja – Wanderlust offers a provocative and profound examination of the interplay between the body, the imagination, and the world around the walker.

In this remarkable and groundbreaking book, Kenan Malik explores the history of moral thought as it has developed over three millennia, from Homer’s Greece to Mao’s China, from ancient India to modern America. It tells the stories of the great philosophers, and breathes life into their ideas, while also challenging many of our most cherished moral beliefs. Engaging and provocative, The Quest for a Moral Compass confronts some of humanity’s deepest questions. Where do values come from? Is God necessary for moral guidance? Are there absolute moral truths? It also brings morality down to earth, showing how, throughout history, social needs and political desires have shaped moral thinking. It is a history of the world told through the history of moral thought, and a history of moral thought that casts new light on global history. At a time of great social turbulence and moral uncertainty, there will be few histories more important than this.

A modernist masterwork that has more in common with films than traditional novels, John Dos Passos' Manhattan Transfer includes an introduction by Jay McInerney in Penguin Modern Classics. A colourful, multi-faceted chronicle of New York in the early 1920s, Manhattan Transfer ranks with James Joyce's Ulysses as a powerful and often lyrical meditation on the modern city. Using experimental montage techniques borrowed from the cinema, vivid descriptions and bursts of overheard conversation, and the jumbled case histories of a picaresque cast of characters from dockside crapshooters to high-society flappers, Dos Passos constructs a brilliant impressionistic portrait of New York City as a great futuristic machine filled with motion, drama and human tragedy. John Dos Passos (1896-1970) was born in Chicago, the son of an eminent lawyer. After graduating from Harvard he served in the US Army Medical Corps during the First World War, and dabbled in journalism before embarking on life as a writer. In 1925 he published Manhattan Transfer, his first experimental novel in what was to become his peculiar style - a mixture of fact and fiction. His began a series of panoramic epics of American life with the USA trilogy, using the same technique and tracing, through interwoven biographies, the story of America from the early twentieth century to the onset of the Great Depression in 1929.

A comprehensive and absorbing history of a country that is constantly evolving. From Bannockburn and Robert the Bruce to the union of the crowns and Mary, Queen of Scots; from the Reformation and John Knox, to the Enlightenment and the Highland Clearances, and right up to devolution, Scotland is the definitive history of a country that has experienced centuries of dramatic change. Michael Lynch, named as 'one of the most influential historians in Scotland of the last thirty years', has penned an extraordinary one-volume history of the country that spans twenty centuries, from the Picts to the present day. Thrilling, comprehensive, provocative and timely, Scotland is a monumental work of scholarship.

One of the masterpieces of classical literature, The Histories describes how a small and quarrelsome band of Greek city states united to repel the might of the Persian empire. But while this epic struggle forms the core of his work, Herodotus' natural curiosity frequently gives rise to colourful digressions - a description of the natural wonders of Egypt; tales of lake-dwellers, dog-headed men and gold-digging ants. With its kaleidoscopic blend of fact and legend, The Histories offers a compelling Greek view of the world in the fifth century BC, in Aubrey de Selincourt's elegant and celebrated translation.

James Fenimore Cooper was a prolific and popular American writer of the first half of the 19th century. His historical romances of frontier and Indian life in the early American days created a unique form of American literature. The Wing-and-Wing; Or, Le Fcu-Follet is a classic story of love and sea warfare from one of America's greatest novelists. Originally published in 1846, it is a captivating novel of seafaring adventure, romance, and Napoleonic history.

James Fenimore Cooper was a prolific and popular American writer of the first half of the 19th century. His historical romances of frontier and Indian life in the early American days created a unique form of American literature. The Wing-and-Wing; Or, Le Fcu-Follet is a classic story of love and sea warfare from one of America's greatest novelists. Originally published in 1846, it is a captivating novel of seafaring adventure, romance, and Napoleonic history.