A brilliant recreation of the golden age of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia – its landscapes, peoples, conflicts, power structures and political geography.The eighth century has long been a neglected backwater in English history: a shadowland between the death of Bede and the triumphs of Ælfred. But before the hegemony of Wessex, the kingdom of Mercia - spread across a broad swathe of central England – was the dynamic heart of a kingship that discovered the means...

The story of Aelfred the Great, his war against the Vikings and the foundations of modern Britain.In AD 865, a 'great host' of battle-hardened Norse warriors landed on England's eastern coast, overwhelmed East Anglia with terrifying swiftness and laid the North to waste. Ghosting along estuaries and inshore waters, in 871 they penetrated deep into the southern kingdom of Wessex, ruled over by a new and untested king, Ælfred son of Æðelwulf. ...

The bestselling author of The King in the North turns his attention to the obscure era of British history known as 'the age of Arthur'.Somewhere in the dim void between the departure from Britain of the Roman legions at the start of the fifth century and the days of the venerable Bede, the kingdoms of Early Medieval Britain were formed. But by whom? And out of what?Max Adams scrutinizes the narrative handed down to us by later historians and chronicles, stripping away the m...

The bestselling author of The King in the North turns his attention to the obscure era of British history known as 'the age of Arthur'.'Not just a valuable book, but a distinctive one as well' Tom Holland, Sunday Times'An accessible and illuminating book' Gerard de Groot, The Times'A fascinating picture of Britain's new-found independence' This EnglandSome...

Are you looking for the secret decoder ring owned by all successful screenwriters? Or at least a map with a spot marked X? Sit down with Max Adams.The Screenwriter’s Survival Guide delivers 65 chapters ranging from “Don’t Write Batman” to “What You Really Get Paid.” Other topics include pitching, the screenwriter’s uniform, meetings, the etiquette of “getting read,” navigating social media, and the care and feeding of agents – along with lists of screenwriters’ directories and orga...

A passionate and imaginative exploration of wood – the material that shaped human history.As a material, wood has no equal in strength, resilience, adaptability and availability. It has been our partner in the cultural evolution from woodland foragers to engineers of our own destiny. Tracing that partnership through tools, devices, construction and artistic expression, Max Adams explores the role that wood has played in our own history as an imaginative, curious an...

Admiral Lord Collingwood, the eldest son of a Newcastle merchant, went to sea in 1761 at the age of thirteen. In his nearly fifty years in the Navy he rose to become a fine seaman, a master of gunnery, a battle commander the equal of his friend – and rival in love – Nelson. He was also an accomplished writer and wit, a doting father, inveterate gossip and consummate diplomat and strategist.Collingwood's service took him to Boston, where he lived and fought during the American War o...

The richly varied lives of the Martin brothers reflected the many upheavals of Britain in the age of Industrial Revolution. Low-born and largely unschooled, they were part of a new generation of artists, scientists and inventors who witnessed the creation of the modern world. William, the eldest, was a cussedly eccentric inventor who couldn't look at a piece of machinery without thinking about how to improve it; Richard, a courageous soldier, fought in the Peninsular War and at Waterloo; J...

From the author of the bestselling The King in the North.The story of the lands between the Forth and Humber from the end of the Roman period to the Viking kingdom of York is one of the most richly fascinating in British history. This the age of Lindisfarne and of Bede; of the dramatic hills, valleys and ancient routeways that link the Irish Sea and the North Sea; of names that resonate even now: Edwin, Oswald, Hild, Cuthbert, Wilfrid; of conquest, conversion and the legac...

Bloomsbury presents Aelfred's Britain by Max Adams, read by Kris Dyer.The story of Aelfred the Great, his war against the Vikings and the foundations of modern Britain.In AD 865, a 'great host' of battle-hardened Norse warriors landed on England's eastern coast, overwhelmed East Anglia with terrifying swiftness and laid the North to waste. Ghosting along estuaries and inshore waters, in 871 they penetrated deep into the southern kin...

Admiral Lord Collingwood, the eldest son of a Newcastle merchant, went to sea in 1761 at the age of thirteen. In his nearly fifty years in the Navy Collingwood's service took him to Boston, where he lived and fought during the American War of Independence; to Antigua, where he and Nelson both fell in love with Mary Moutray; to Corsica; Sicily; and Menorca, where he ended his career as the effective viceroy of the Mediterranean.

Unquiet Women is an exquisitely crafted patchwork of the forgotten lives of some of the most remarkable women in history.History is polyphonic; it must be told by many voices. In Unquiet Women, Max Adams brings to life the voices and experiences of women living between the last days of Rome and the Enlightenment, whose stories of creativity, intellect and influence are all too rarely told.From Wynflæd, the Anglo-Saxon noblewoman who owned male slaves and ba...