Indonesia declared its independence on 17 August 1945, two days after the Japanese capitulation that marked the end of World War II in Asia. Refusing to recognize Indonesian independence, the Netherlands attempted to gain control over the decolonization process by force, leading to four years of arduous negotiations and bitter warfare.

In 2005, the Dutch government declared that the Netherlands had been ‘on the wrong side of history’ and should not have engaged in this war. However, to th...

• A New Republic Best Book of the Year • The Globalist Top Books of the Year • Winner of the Maine Literary Award for Non-fiction •

Particularly relevant in understanding who voted for who in this presidential election year, this is an endlessly fascinating look at American regionalism and the eleven "nations" that continue to shape North America

According to award-winning journalist and historian Colin Woodard, North America is made up of eleven distinct nations, ea...

A landmark history of one hundred years of war waged against the Palestinians from the foremost US historian of the Middle East, told through pivotal events and family history.

In 1899, Yusuf Diya al-Khalidi, mayor of Jerusalem, alarmed by the Zionist call to create a Jewish national home in Palestine, wrote a letter aimed at Theodore Herzl: the country had an indigenous people who would not easily accept their own displacement. He warned of the perils ahead, ending his note, "in the...

A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK: a fascinating and revelatory cultural history of hypochondria, from Hippocrates to wellness influencers.

J. Robert Oppenheimer, often referred to as ‘the father of the atomic bomb,’ left us with a grim legacy. The nuclear advancements he helped create became a pivotal factor in shaping the 20th century, influencing global power dynamics and transforming modern warfare.

A brilliant yet contentious physicist, Oppenheimer was eventually viewed as a threat to the U.S. government due to his perceived communist sympathies, leading to his forced resignation as the nation’s nuclear advisor. His l...

‘Lucid and damning … an absorbing – and infuriating – tale of complicity, coverup and denial’ PATRICK RADDEN KEEFE, author of EMPIRE OF PAIN

A groundbreaking investigation of how the Nazis helped German tycoons make billions from the horrors of the Third Reich and World War II – and how the world allowed them to get away with it.

In 1946, Günther Quandt – patriarch of Germany’s most iconic industrial empire, a dynasty that today controls BMW – was arrested for suspected Naz...

The author describes himself as a reluctant traveller, but even when he stays safely at home he can't contain his curiosity about the world around him. This title is about his quest to understand everything that has happened from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization - how we got from there, being nothing at all, to here, being us.

Israel: An Anti-Textbook to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth is The Case for Israel for fans of Drunk History and the Skimm: a personal, accessible, conversational “anti-textbook” moving chronologically from Biblical times to today, from one of Israel's most prominent activists and celebrities—now in trade paperback!