National Bestseller"A tour de force. . . . A remarkable achievement." —New York Times Book Review"A marvelous book. . . . This is history: richly textured, provocative and wise." —Plain DealerFrom acclaimed historian Paul Johnson, author of Modern Times and A History of American People, this brilliant 4000 year survey covers not only Jewish histor...

A comprehensive look at inequalities and why they matterThere is a widespread sense throughout the developed world that progress towards a better society has stalled. Many countries, including the UK, have experienced persistent economic stagnation accompanied by declining trust in institutions. Governments are struggling to respond not only to traditional economic problems but also to newer challenges posed by climate change, migration and technological change.

"Johnson revels in all the wicked things these great thinkers have done…great fun to read." — New York Times Book ReviewA fascinating portrait of the minds that have shaped the modern world. In an intriguing series of biographical essays, Rousseau, Shelley, Marx, Ibsen, Tolstoy, Hemingway, Bertrand Russell, Brecht, Sartre, Edmund Wilson, Victor Gollancz, Lillian Hellman, Cyril Connolly, Norman Mailer, James Baldwin, Kenneth Tynan, and Noam Chomsky, among o...

Diaries and letters from service personnel who were held captive throughout the Second World War survive in quite large numbers, but rarely are they so detailed as those of John Blomfield Dixon, whose home was in the Hertfordshire town of Ware. Having joined the Territorial Army in 1938, he soon found himself hurried through officer training and, with the outbreak of the Second World War, being commissioned as a subaltern, attached to the East Riding Yeomanry. Following his death in 2013, ...

This landmark social history exploring politics, economy, and religion in nineteenth-century upstate New York is "one of the best" of its kind ( Wilson Quarterly).Decades after its first publication, A Shopkeeper's Millennium remains a landmark work—brilliant both as a new interpretation of the intimate connections among politics, economy, and religion during the Second Great Awakening, and as a surprising portrait of a rapidly growing frontier cit...

Eminent historian Paul Johnson dazzles with a rich, succinct portrait of Mozart and his musicAs he’s done in Napoleon, Churchill, Jesus, and Darwin, acclaimed historian and author Paul Johnson here offers a concise, illuminating biography of Mozart. Johnson’s focus is on the music—Mozart’s wondrous output of composition and his uncanny gift for instrumentation.Liszt once said that Mozart composed more bars than a trained ...

New Pop-Up Paper Projects is an inspirational book for everyone who wants to learn and share the magic of pop-up paper engineering. Illustrated throughout with colour diagrams and photographs, this book guides you through basic techniques and foundation skills, offers advice on classroom planning and health and safety and shows you how to ensure that learners of all ages can develop and progress their skills.Guiding you through 90-, 180- and 360-degree engineering, this bo...

Eminent historian Paul Johnson provides a rich, succinct portrait of Charles DarwinCharles Darwin is arguably the most influential scientist of all time. His Origin of Species forever changed our concept of the world’s creation.Darwin’s revolutionary career is the perfect vehicle for historian Paul Johnson. Marked by the insightful observation, spectacular wit, and highly readable prose for which Johnson is so well regarded, Darwin brings the gentl...

"As majestic in its scope as the country it celebrates. [Johnson's] theme is the men and women, prominent and unknown, whose energy, vision, courage and confidence shaped a great nation. It is a compelling antidote to those who regard the future with pessimism."— Henry A. KissingerPaul Johnson's prize-winning classic, A History of the American People, is an in-depth portrait of the American people covering every aspect of U.S. history—from politics...

THE TOP TEN SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER'Gripping and horrifying... witty and brilliant. Buy it' The Times'A treasure trove of killer facts' Guardian'Read it, absorb it, and understand how the country works' Laura KuenssbergPaul Johnson and the enormously respected Institute for Fiscal Studies aim to hold Government to account - without which politicians will get away...

You have a night you are not ready to relive, and yet you keep reliving it, and somewhere between the 3 AM scrolling and the morning where you wake up already exhausted, you wonder whether the next chapter of your life is supposed to begin with a new person. The world around you is full of people who will tell you it should, that the cure for heartbreak is another heartbeat, and the dating apps make that argument with cheerful efficiency. Whatever brought you here, you share a conviction t...

Paul Johnson and Sean Wilentz brilliantly recapture the forgotten story of Matthias the Prophet, imbuing their richly researched account with the dramatic force of a novel. In the hands of Johnson and Wilentz, the strange tale of Matthias opens a fascinating window into the turbulent movements of the religious revival known as the Second Great Awakening--movements that swept up great numbers of evangelical Americans and gave rise to new sects like the Mormons. Into this teeming environment...