British category: 24621 books

As well as presenting a lively narrative of events, Bernard Porter explores a number of broad analytical themes, challenging more conventional and popular interpretations.  He sees imperialism as a symptom not of Britain's strength in the world, but of her decline; and he argues that the empire itself both aggravated and obscured deep-seated malaise in the British economy.

How did a rural and agrarian English society transform itself into a mercantile and maritime state? What role was played by war and the need for military security? How did geographical ideas inform the construction of English – and then British – political identities? Focusing upon the deployment...

In mid-1940, the British Expeditionary Force desperately attempted to flee the small French port of Dunkirk and reach British shores. France was falling, and the men were well aware that the German army had already conquered Poland, Denmark, Norway, Holland, and Belgium. Only Britain remained. Churchill...

Shashi Tharoor delivers an incisive biography of the great secularist who-alongside his spiritual father, Mahatma Gandhi-led the movement for India’s independence from British rule and ushered his newly independent country into the modern world. The man who would one day help topple British rule...

They say that history is written by the victors, and consequently there is a tendency for the Britons to be forgotten in the story of the end of Roman Britain and the post-Roman period. Warlord will redress this balance looking at the extraordinary lives of British leaders from 400-550 and the strategies...

Boston, 1775: A town occupied by General Thomas Gage’s redcoats and groaning with Tory refugees from the Massachusetts countryside. Besieged for two months by a rabble in arms, the British decided to break out of town. American spies discovered their plans, and on the night of June 16, 1775, a thousand...

Although covering the period January to July 1917, much of this book concentrates on the events of April—the month of the Battle of Arras, including the capture of Vimy Ridge by the Canadian Expeditionary Force and the fighting for possession of the fortified villages of Monchy le Preux and Gavrelle....

Why did the once-ardent hero of the American Revolutionary cause become its most dishonored traitor? General Benedict Arnold’s failed attempt to betray the fortress of West Point to the British in 1780 stands as one of the most infamous episodes in American history. In the light of a shining...

The first complete account of the fiercely guarded secrets of London’s clandestine interrogation center, operated by the British Secret Service from 1940 to 1948 Behind the locked doors of three mansions in London’s exclusive Kensington Palace Gardens neighborhood, the British Secret Service established...

St. Ermin's Hotel has been synonymous with British espionage since the 1930s, when the SIS (MI6) was situated nearby at 54 Broadway. Bristling with intelligence officers such as Ian Fleming and Nöel Coward, the hotel was initially revealed by the notorious double agent Arthur Owens, code named SNOW,...

From prehistory to the present day, an unrivaled look deep into the contentious origins of the Celts Blood of the Celts brings together genetic, archaeological, and linguistic evidence to address the often-debated question: who were the Celts? What peoples or cultural identities should that...

Conceived as a literary form to aggressively publicize the abolitionist cause in the United States, the African American slave narrative remains a powerful and illuminating demonstration of America's dark history. Yet the genre's impact extended far beyond the borders of the U.S. In a period when...

A celebration of cheerful determination in the face of appalling adversity Soldiers' Songs and Slang of the Great War reveals the bawdy and satiric sense of humour of the Tommy in the trenches. Published to coincide with the centenary of the First World War, this collection of rousing marching songs,...

Edmund Burke, long considered modern conservatism’s founding father, is also widely believed to be an opponent of empire. However, Daniel O’Neill turns that latter belief on its head. This fresh and innovative book shows that Burke was a passionate supporter and staunch defender of the British...