The son of a black African father and a white American mother, Obama was only two years old when his father walked out on the family. Many years later, Obama receives a phone call from Nairobi: his father is dead. This sudden news inspires an emotional odyssey for Obama, determined to learn the truth of his father's life.

Vince Cable, Deputy Leader of the LibDems and Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, has been proved right again and again as the economic crisis unfolds. Measured, analytical and wise, he is the hero of the crunch in Parliament - as well as its most popular member. This title presents story of his life.

Harry Patch, born 17 June 1898, is the last British soldier alive to have fought in the trenches of the First World War. This title presents his Edwardian childhood, the horror of the Great War and fighting in the mud during the Battle of Passchendaele, working on the home front in the Second World War and fame in later life as a veteran.

Explores Elizabeth's relationships with the women in her life. This book examines her relationships with rivals: from her sister, 'Bloody' Mary, to the sisters of Lady Jane Grey, and finally the most deadly of all her rivals, Mary, Queen of Scots who would give birth to the man Elizabeth would inevitably have to recognize as heir to her throne.

* The inspirational politician Shirley Williams writes a full autobiography of her extraordinary life story. The autobiography of that rare thing - a good and much-loved politician

Revolutionary practitioner, theorist, factional chief, and sparkling writer Trotsky lived a brilliant life in extraordinary times. This book reveals that though his followers have represented Trotsky as a pure revolutionary soul and a powerful intellect unjustly hounded into exile by Stalin and his henchmen, the reality is very different.

An autobiography of Bertie Ahern. It gives an account of his political life and the personal story that accompanies it. It shows the cost to his family of a life played out in the public eye and discloses what really happened in his final weeks in power.

Katherine Synford was the wife, of John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster. This book highlights her key dynastic position within the English monarchy. She was the mother of the Beaufort, then the ancestress of the Yorkist kings, the Tudors, the Stuarts and every other sovereign since - a prodigious legacy that has shaped the history of Britain.

For the first time, one of America's greatest leaders tells his personal story - of his legendary family, politics, and fifty years at the centre of national events

Afghanistan, February 2008: in an out-of-control, dangerous country torn apart by war, littered with Taliban guerrilla forces and thousands of miles from home, Lance Corporal Matt Croucher, a Royal Marine with 40 Commando, accidentally activates a grenade whilst on a covert patrol behind enemy lines.

Leonid Eitingon was a KGB killer. Max Eitingon was a colleague of Freud's. Motty Eitingon was a New York fur dealer whose connections with the Soviet Union made him the largest trader in the world. The author, who began looking into aspects of this family, also throws light into some of the darkest corners of the last century.

The unknown life of Alan Clark, celebrated diarist, womaniser, Tory MP and controversial minister in Mrs Thatcher's governments.

A revelatory look at the life of Britain's greatest ever statesman. For historian Paul Johnson, Winston Churchill remains an enigma in need of unravelling. Soldier, parliamentarian, Prime Minister, orator, painter, writer, husband and leader - all of these facets combine to make Churchill one of the most complex and fascinating personalities in history.

In Amsterdam, in the summer of 1942, the Nazis forced teenager Anne Frank and her family into hiding. For over two years, they, another family and a German dentist lived in a 'secret annexe'. All that time, Anne kept a diary. This dairy is the record of tension and struggle, adolescence and confinement, anger and heartbreak.

Pre-eminent military historian Max Hastings presents Winston Churchill as he has never been seen before.

Osama bin Laden is the western world's most wanted terrorist. Intent on secrecy at all costs, his personal life has been shrouded in mystery. This book reveals the truth about the character and life of a man both feared and revered around the globe. It takes us inside the secret world of Osama bin Laden.

The true story of a one-handed pianist and the fall of his aristocratic family

In the years before the First World War, the great European powers, Britain, Germany and Russia, were ruled by three cousins: George V, King-Emperor of England, the British Empire and India; Wilhelm II, the last Kaiser; and Nicholas II, the last Tsar. This book offers a portrait of these three men.

* 'This is a truly astonishing book. Frances Osborne has not just brought to life a dizzyingly rich and scandalous slice of social history, she has produced a tragic and deeply moving tale as well. It is far more gripping than any novel I have read for years' Antony Beevor

Constantine: Unconquered Emperor, Christian Victor is a survey of the life and enduring legacy of the greatest and most unjustly ignored of the later Roman emperors.