This work abandons the conventional distinctions between history and science. Diamond focuses on what ancient people were endowed with in the way of land, animals and plants, and on the confrontations between less and more advanced people to see how this led to today's inequalities.

This account of US history from the bottom up tells the real story of the people, rather than the flag-waving official story.

Describes how a small and quarrelsome band of Greek city states united to repel the might of the Persian empire. Frequently giving rise to colorful digressions, this book blends fact and legend to offer a compelling Greek view of the world of the fifth century BC.

Presents the story of the year of the birth of the United States of America. This book tells two stories: how a group of squabbling, disparate colonies became the United States, and how the British Empire tried to stop them. It features a cast of amazing characters from George III to George Washington, to soldiers and their families.

This is the story of the men and women whose lives were irrevocably changed by the Chicago World Fair, and of two men in particular: an architect and a serial killer. Spicing the narrative are the stories of a cast of historical characters including Buffalo Bill, Scott Joplin and Theodore Dreiser.

Bill Bryson describes himself as a reluctant traveller, but even when he stays safely in his own study at home, he can't contain his curiosity about the world around him. This book is his quest to understand everything that has happened from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization.

Talks about the mysterious collapse of past civilizations - and what this means for the future. Bringing together evidence from many sources and piecing together the myriad influences, from climate to culture, that make societies self-destruct, this book shows how unlike our ancestors we can benefit from our knowledge of the past.

The making of the Oxford English Dictionary was a monumental 50 year task requiring thousands of volunteers. One of the keenest volunteers was a W C Minor who astonished everyone by refusing to come to Oxford to receive his congratulations. In the end, James Murray, the OED's editor, went to Crowthorne in Berkshire to meet him.

This narrative tells how Irish monks and scribes saved classical and religious heritage by copying the manuscripts of writers such as Homer and Aristotle, while libraries on the continent were lost forever.

Presents a contemporary account of the long life-and-death struggle between Athens and Sparta. This title compiles a factual record of this disastrous conflict.

The tenth anniversary edition of the dramatic human story of an epic scientific quest: the search for the solution of how to calculate longitude and the unlikely triumph of an English genius. With a new Foreword by the celebrated astronaut Neil Armstrong.

The classic bestselling account of the history of the Third Reich, now repackaged and reissued.

Published between 1776 and 1788, this text is acknowledged as a masterpiece of English historical writing. Covering the history of Europe from the 2nd-century AD, to the fall of Constantinople in 1453, this edition includes footnotes, explanatory comments, and a precis of the chapters not included.

Describes how the American Indians lost their land and lives to a dynamically expanding white society. This book described the opening of the West from the Indians' viewpoint. It focuses on a national disgrace.

A Pulitzer-winning study of the intertwined lives of the founders of America: Adams, Burr, Franklin, Hamilton, Jefferson, Madison and Washington. It argues that the checks and balances permitting the infant republic to endure were primarily rooted in the interaction of leaders with diverse values.

Homer called it a divine substance. Plato described it as especially dear to the gods. From the rural Sichuan province where the last home-made soya sauce is made to the Cheshire brine springs that supplied salt around the globe, the author blends political, commercial, scientific, religious and culinary records into a tale.

By the author of Band of Brothers , this title recounts the colourful characters involved with the opening of the American West, beginning with the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1803. Drama, suspense, danger and diplomacy combine with romance and personal tragedy.

Chronicles the public careers and private lives of the men who wielded absolute power over Rome, from the foundation of the empire under Julius Caesar and Augustus, to the decline into depravity and civil war under Nero and the recovery that came with his successors.

The idea of a single divine being - God, Yahweh, Allah- has existed for over 4000 years. In this account of the evolution of belief Armstrong examines Western society's unerring fidelity to this idea of one God and the many conflicting convictions it engenders. Originally published in 1993 by William Heinemann.