From monarchy to the world’s first socialist state, from Communism to Capitalism, from mass poverty to Europe’s new super rich, Russia has seen immense revolutions in just the past century, including purges, poisonings, famines, assassinations and massacres.In that time, it has also endured civil war, world war and the Cold War. But the extremes of Russian history are not restricted to the past 100 years. When Napoleon invaded in 1812, the Russians retreated, slashing and burning th...

The world’s largest Christian organization with 1.2 billion members, the Catholic Church is one of the world’s oldest institutions and has played a crucial part in the development of Western civilization. But in its rise from Jewish sect to global faith, it has been both the persecuted and the persecutors; it has become powerful but guilty of corruption; and it has preached moral purity but has been marred by abuse scandals.From the persecution of the early Christians in ancient Ro...

On 26 April 1986, the unthinkable happened near the Ukrainian town of Pripyat: two massive steam explosions ruptured No. 4 Reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, immediately killing 30 people and setting off the worst nuclear accident in history. The explosions were followed by an open-air reactor core fire that released huge amounts of radioactive contamination into the atmosphere for the next nine days, spreading across the Soviet Union, parts of Europe, and especially neighbourin...

The history of China is rich in episodes of slaughter, sometimes perpetrated by invaders like the Manchu, or by the Mongols in the 13th century, or much later by the Japanese at Nanking in 1937. China was capable of drumming up darkness of its own, too. An entire era of early Chinese history is known as the time of the Warring States on account of its chronic civil strife. The so-called ‘Three Kingdoms’ period was even worse. Then there was a bitter and bloody civil war between Communists ...

Artist, soldier, politician, madman? We know the headlines, we know about the atrocities, but what do we really know of the man at the heart of it all?Hitler looks behind the image of the dictator and explores his childhood, his military service during World War I, his artistic aspirations, the formation of his political and religious views, his troubled love life, his rise to power and his life as dictator.From an ordinary background, Adolf Hitler wasn’t highly ed...

The Templars, the Knights Hospitallers, the Teutonic Knights – the chivalric orders founded during the Crusades evoke romantic images of warrior monks who were fierce but spiritual, chaste and pious yet battle-ready. But what were they really like? How did their organisations form, rise and decline? And how much of what we think about them is myth?The Knights Templar tells the stories of the major and minor military orders from the 11th century to – in the case of the surviving ord...

‘Sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must master it.’ The Lord’s words to Cain, Book of GenesisHuman sacrifice, floods, plagues, murders, massacres, betrayal, wars, incest, sea monsters and dragons – how well do we really remember the stories we learnt in school scripture lessons? From Genesis to the Book of Revelation, Dark History of The Bible explores some of the oldest stories in the world.Whether we are believers or not, these ...

The gods and monsters, warriors and legends of Celtic mythologySpanning the whole of the Celtic world from Spain to the British IslesIncludes 180 photographs, maps and artworks

Five of the first eleven emperors of Rome were assassinated and another two killed themselves rather than face the fury of their subjects. Nero sang while Rome burned. Caligula proclaimed himself a god. If not mad enough already, he also gave one of his horses a place on the senate. Rome rejoiced when many emperors died, only to find that they hated the next one just as much. From the death of Julius Caesar in 44BC to the fall of Rome in 476AD, Dark History of the Roman Emperors p...

The office of the American President has evolved dramatically over the last 200 years, from George Washington's heroic posturing as leader of a renegade nation, to calculated cunning as commander of a nuclear superpower. This colourful inventory of presidential transgressions reveals that every modern scandal is the descendant of remarkably similar predecessors. Detailing the disgraces of all forty-four Presidents, from sexual skirmishes to CIA cover-ups, Dark History of the American P...

A charming ebook full of Jane Austen’s wittiest and wisest thoughts and aphorisms.As any schoolgirl knows, ‘It is a truth universally acnowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.’ (Pride and Prejudice). However, in a letter to a friend, Jane Austen issues a word of warning: ‘Anything is to be preferred or endured rather than marrying without affection’. For Jane Austen’s views on marriage, the family, money and society are not only ascerb...

A unique collection of Shakespeare's soliloquies, each introduced by concise and informative editorial notes. This is an edition to complement the highly successful SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS and is published in commemoration of Shakespeare's birthday. Aperfect book for Shakespeare lovers and enthusiasts.