Renaissance Italy’s answer to Wikileaks
One geographer printed anonymously at a time when maps held fiercely guarded secrets, as Andrea di Robilant relatees in This Earthly Globe
One geographer printed anonymously at a time when maps held fiercely guarded secrets, as Andrea di Robilant relatees in This Earthly Globe
Henry Reece’s fine study of the English Commonwealth’s end shows how disunity, bureaucracy and apathy brought it down
Roger Crowley’s Spice shows how the mania to open trading routes fuelled the Age of Exploration – and terrible suffering
Hampton Sides’s riveting, rollicking new book The Wide Wide Sea investigates the great navigator’s last, doomed journey
The comedian’s trip through medieval history may pass at breakneck speed, but it’s an impressive blend of irreverence, accuracy and wit
Matthew Parker’s brilliant new book One Fine Day: Britain’s Empire uses one day in September 1923 to explore the empire at its height
Philosopher, poet, sci-fi author and scandalous celebrity, Margaret Cavendish was a woman out of time. This blazing biography does her proud
Machiavellian schemer – or innocent caught up in wider affairs? Two new books re-examine the life of Henry VIII’s infamous second wife
For thousands of years, this material has shaped the course of history, as Aarathi Prasad reveals in Silk: A History in Three Metamorphoses
This thrilling account of the 1741 Wager disaster, and the scandal that followed, is coming to screens soon thanks to Martin Scorsese
Hands of Time, by the watchmaker Rebecca Struthers, is a true joy – an enchanting mixture of memoir and history
Forced into working with the SS, Kitty Schmidt's remarkable life is investigated in a new book by Nigel Jones, Urs Brunner, Julia Schrammel
In Margaret of Anjou, Joanna Arman tries to portray the queen as a victim of propaganda, but her book is marred by ineptitude
Carolyne Larrington's The Norse Myths that Shape the Way We Think takes an eclectic look at how the tales survive in new forms today
David Howarth's book Adventurers shows how the Company rose from its rough-and-ready origins into a world-conquering power
Colin Martin and Geoffrey Parker’s comprehensive history of the invasion emphasises just how close England came to Spanish conquest