New York Times Bestseller

"Dolnick brilliantly re-creates the circumstances that made possible one of the most audacious frauds of the 20th century. And in doing so Dolnick plumbs the nature of fraud itself . . . an incomparable page turner." --Boston Globe

As riveting as a World War II thriller, The Forger's Spell is the true story of Johannes Vermeer and the small-time Dutch painter who dared to impersonate him centuries later. For seven years a no-account painter named Han van Meegeren man...

What makes an effective executive?

The measure of the executive, Peter F. Drucker reminds us, is the ability to "get the right things done." This usually involves doing what other people have overlooked as well as avoiding what is unproductive. Intelligence, imagination, and knowledge may all be wasted in an executive job without the acquired habits of mind that mold them into results.Drucker identifies five practices essential to business effectiveness that can, and must, be learned: Managi...

'A book of big questions, and big answers' Yuval Noah Harari, bestselling author of Sapiens Why has human history unfolded so differently across the globe?

Every inch of Grayson's childhood bedroom was covered with pictures of aeroplanes, and every surface with models. But as Grayson enters art college and discovers the world of London squats and New Romanticism, he starts to find himself.

The past is a foreign country - this is your guide, from the bestselling author of The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval EnglandWe think of Queen Elizabeth I's reign (1558-1603) as a golden age.

Cook led three famous expeditions to the Pacific Ocean between 1768 and 1779. In voyages that ranged from the Antarctic circle to the Arctic Sea, Cook charted Australia and the whole coast of New Zealand, and brought back descriptions of the natural history of the Pacific. This title tells the story of these voyages.

Why do so many swear words involve topics like sex, bodily functions or the divine? Why do some children's names thrive while others fall out of favour? Why do we threaten and bribe and seduce in such elaborate, often comical ways? This title looks at how the relationship between words and thoughts can help us understand who we are.

At the end of the Second World War, the Soviet Union unexpectedly found itself in control of a huge swathe of territory in Eastern Europe. Stalin and his secret police set out to convert a dozen radically different countries to a completely new political and moral system: Communism.

What caused the Russian Revolution? Did it succeed or fail? Do we still live with its consequences? This book deals with these questions.

In 1929 the author went to live abroad permanently, vowing 'never to make England my home again'. This book is an account of his life up until that 'bitter leave-taking': from his childhood and desperately unhappy school days at Charterhouse, to his time serving as a young officer in the First World War that was to haunt him throughout his life.