'Much more than a portrait of a Congolese herd boy who becomes an important military man, it is a portrait of a vast and chaotic country in a state of near-anarchy. I have long admired Lieve Joris's African books, but this one is both powerful and timely, intensely imagined.' Paul Theroux

A sweeping, hugely readable account of history's biggest ecological invasion, when Europe and the Americas collided for the first time in millennia.

A first-hand account of life and conditions in Ukraine, since Crimea's annexation by Russia in March 2014.

The first dedicated study of the cat-and-mouse struggle between aBritish cryptographer at Bletchley Park, and an Austrian SS major responsible for the masskillings of thousands of Russian and Polish Jews. The account of how Nigel de Grey crackedthe Enigma-coded signals of SS Major Hermann Hoefle is one of the greatest untoldstories of the Second World War.

A dramatic account of Germany's slide from parliamentary democracy to dictatorship, and the history of Weimar Berlin in the three years before the Nazi takeover.

China Miéville's reading of the modern world's most controversial and enduring political document: the Communist Manifesto.

The history of medieval Britain through twelve remarkable illuminated manuscripts.

Packed with fascinating facts, intriguing mysteries and breathtaking discoveries, from the ancient wonders of Egypt and Pompeii to the mysteries of lost Mayan civilizations and the enigmatic Nazca Lines in Peru, this captivating guide offers a whirlwind tour of humanity's past through the art of archaeology.