"This is the E8," my father said. "It runs from London to Moscow."For a million years people have been travelling throughout Europe, from the mysterious homo antecessor who left his footprints on the coast of England to travellers on the motorways of today. Under every footstep lies an older one, under every paved road a donkey trail or wagon rut, under every footpath the prints of a hunter or his prey.And yet the long, nation-spa...

This is Patrick Leigh Fermor's spellbinding part-travelogue, part inspired evocation of a part of Greece's past. Joining him in the Mani, one of Europe's wildest and most isolated regions, cut off from the rest of Greece by the towering Taygettus mountain range and hemmed in by the Aegean and Ionian seas, we discover a rocky central prong of the Peleponnese at the southernmost point in Europe.Bad communications only heightening the remoteness, this Greece - south of ancient Sparta ...

Walk a day in a Roman’s sandals.What was it like to live in one of the ancient world’s most powerful and bustling cities – one that was eight times more densely populated than modern day New York?In this entertaining and enlightening guide, bestselling historian Philip Matyszak introduces us to the people who lived and worked there. In each hour of the day we meet a new character – from emperor to slave girl, gladiator to astrologer, medicine woman to water...

A magnet for trade and travellers from all over the world, stylish, cosmopolitan Amsterdam is a city of dreams and nightmares, of grand civic architecture and legendary beauty, but also of civil wars, bloody religious purges, and the tragedy of Anne Frank.In this fascinating examination of the city's soul, part history, part travel guide, Geert Mak imaginatively recreates the lives of the early Amsterdammers, and traces Amsterdam's progress from waterlogged settlement to a major fi...

Thoroughly updated and with a new foreword'The Viking Age is shot through with the spirit of adventure. For 300 years, from just before AD800 until well into the eleventh century, the Vikings affected almost every region accessible to their ships, and left traces that are still part of life today'Far from being just 'wild, barbaric, axe-wielding pirates', the Vikings created complex social institutions, oversaw the coming of Christianity to Scandin...

New time travel military adventure from New York Times best-selling novelist S.M. StirlingIT’S THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW ITEveryone could see it coming. But one man could do something about it. Oh, he couldn’t avert the nuclear holocaust, but a scientist in Austria, ruthlessly using billions of research dollars for his own purposes, set himself up an out: he created a time machine, and filled a warehouse with low-tech survival gear. Too bad h...

Following Germania and Danubia, the third installment in Simon Winder's personal history of EuropeIn 843 AD, the three surviving grandsons of the great emperor Charlemagne met at Verdun. After years of bitter squabbles over who would inherit the family land, they finally decided to divide the territory and go their separate ways. In a moment of staggering significance, one grandson inherited the area we now know as France, another Germany and the t...

Syria, 262 AD.Imperial agent Abascantius has failed his superiors and now faces the unwelcome prospect of a return to the legions. With only hours to work with, he will need resourcefulness and ruthlessness in equal measure if he is to salvage the situation and save himself. From Agent of Rome author Nick Brown, this compelling short story is set in the violent, corrupt underbelly of third century Antioch.

The Vikings hold a particular place in the history of the West, both symbolically and in the significant impact they had on Northern Europe. Magnus Magnusson's indispensable study of this great period presents a rounded and fascinating picture of a people who, in modern eyes, would seem to embody striking contradictions. They were undoubtedly pillagers, raiders and terrifying warriors, but they were also great pioneers, artists and traders - a dynamic people, whose skill a...

Whether you're planning your first seige, building a fortress or just looking for a way to escape the peasants below, 'Castles: A Very Peculiar History' is full of tips, tricks and horror stories from the castle-building trade. We can't all match up to the combined beauty and danger of the Tower of London, but in this title you'll learn who developed the world's first flat-pack castle, the difference between donjeons and dungeons (it's important, trust us) and even the best time of year fo...

In To the Island of Tides, Alistair Moffat travels to – and through the history of – the fated island of Lindisfarne. Known by the Romans as Insula Medicata and famous for its monastery, it even survived Viking raids. Today the isle maintains its position as a space for retreat and spiritual renewal.Walking from his home in the Borders, through the historical landscape of Scotland and northern England, Moffat takes us on a pilgrimage in the footsteps of s...

Chapter from Blue Guide Greece the Aegean Islands: what to see, where to stay and eat, history, archaeology, art, culture, leisure. With superb, award-winning maps.Written and edited by a team of three experts: historian, art historian and archaeologist, two of whom lead cultural tours in Greece."Blue Guides still hold the cultural high ground" Sunday Times.