'Defying Vichy takes us into the heart of the French Resistance: the Dordogne region (in) this moving account of the darkest and brightest period in French history.' – Matthew Cobb, author of The ResistanceVichy France under Marshal Pétain was an authoritarian regime that sought to perpetuate a powerful place for France in the world alongside Germany. It echoed the right-wing ideals of other fascist states and was a perfect instru...

'Based on eye-witness accounts, Robert Pike's moving book vividly depicts the lives of the villagers who were caught up in the tragedy of Oradour-sur-Glane and brings their experiences to our attention for the first time.' - Hanna Diamond, author of Fleeing HitlerOn 10 June 1944, four days after Allied forces landed in Normandy, the picturesque village of Oradour-sur-Glane in the rural heart of France was destroyed by an armoured SS Panzer...

THE FIRST AUTHORITATIVE ACCOUNT OF THE HOLOCAUST FOR 30 YEARSTwo fundamental questions about the Holocaust must be asked:How did it happen?And why?More completely than any other single work of history yet published, Laurence Rees's Holocaust definitively answers them.____________________'Rees provides an exemplary account of how the greatest crime in modern history came about'...

An engrossing biography of the notorious Russian dictator by an author whose knowledge of Soviet-era archives far surpasses all others.Josef Stalin exercised supreme power in the Soviet Union from 1929 until his death in 1953. During that quarter-century, by Oleg Khlevniuk's estimate, he caused the imprisonment and execution of no fewer than a million Soviet citizens per year. Millions more were victims of famine directly resulting from Stalin's policies. ...

A chilling biography of the head of Nazi Germany's terror apparatus, a key player in the Third Reich whose full story has never before been told.Reinhard Heydrich is widely recognized as one of the great iconic villains of the twentieth century, an appalling figure even within the context of the Nazi leadership. Chief of the Nazi Criminal Police, the SS Security Service, and the Gestapo, ruthless overlord of Nazi-occupied Bohemia and Moravia, and leading planner of...

How did our ancestors use the concept of demons to explain sleep paralysis? Is that carving in the porch of your local church really what you think it is? And what's that tapping noise on the roof of your car..?The fields of folklore have never been more popular – a recent resurgence of interest in traditional beliefs and customs, coupled with morbid curiosities in folk horror, historic witchcraft cases and our superstitious past, have led to an intersection of ide...

The extraordinary life, loves and voyages of the man who put Australia on the mapIn 1810, Matthew Flinders made his final voyage home to his beloved wife, Ann, his body ravaged by the deprivations of years of imprisonment by the French. Four years later, at the age of just 40, he would be dead - a premature, tragic end to one of the world's greatest maritime adventurers who circumnavigated and mapped the famed Great Southern Land, and whose naming of the vast conti...

A vivid double biography of two fearless early medieval queens.'Brings the Merovingian empire to thrilling, bewildering, horrifying life' Helen Castor'Restores two half-forgotten and much-mythologized queens to their proper place in medieval history' Dan Jones'Fredegund and Brunhild have finally found a worthy champion' Literary ReviewBrunhild was a Visigothic princess, raised to be married off for t...

REVISED PAPERBACK EDITION FEATURING NEW DISCOVERIESAfter ten years of research, The Missing Princes Project is now concluded and the results are in…'Philippa Langley has done it again.' - The Times'Langley ... understands how to excite people about the past — more so, perhaps, than most academics' - The New York Times'Philippa Langley deserves ...

The extraordinary life of the Gallipoli veteran and WWI Flying Corp gunner who founded Qantas and gave Australia its wingsBy the critically acclaimed author of bestselling biographies of John Monash, Banjo Paterson, Joseph Banks, Lachlan Macquarie and Henry Lawson, this is a fascinating, lively and thoroughly researched portrait of a modest, resolute family man with a steady hand during turbulence, a man who guided Australia's national airline from its humb...

Before there was Frankenstein, a young Mary Shelley, her stepsister Jane “Claire” Clairmont, and poet Percy Bysshe Shelley are drawn into a shocking murder investigation in this deliciously captivating new historical mystery revolving around the real-life trio who would later scandalize 19th century England even as they transformed the literary world.London, 1814: Mary Godwin and her stepsister Jane Clairmont, both sixteen, possess quick minds bolstered by...

'The stories, the gossip, the glamour! Discover it all and more' Woman & Home'[A] hugely engaging and riveting memoir' The Lady'Unstoppable, a veritable living legend' Daily Mail'All you'd hope for from the stiletto-stamping diva' The i paper*****'Some stories from my amazing adventures in life I've only ever shared with ...