When tea began to be imported into the West from China in the seventeenth century, its high price & heavy taxes made it an immediate target for smuggling & dispute at every level, culminating in international incidents like the notorious Boston Tea Party. This book investigates the early history of tea. ...

For centuries, the Celts held sway in Europe. Even after their conquest by the Romans, their culture remained vigorous, ensuring that much of it endured to feed an endless fascination with Celtic history & myths, artwork & treasures. A foremost authority on the Celtic peoples & their culture, Peter Berresford Ellis presents an invigoration overview of their world. With his gift for making the scholarly accessible, he discusses the Celts' mysterious origins & early history & investigates their rich & complex society. His use of recently uncovered finds brings fascinating insights into Celtic kings & chieftains, architecture & arts, medicine & religions, myths & legends, making this essential reading for any search for Europe's ancient past. ...

The Cold War was an undeclared war, fought silently & carefully between ideological opponents armed with the most fearsome weapons mankind has ever seen. This title takes a look at this war, from the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 to the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989 & the dissolution of the USSR thereafter. ...

' The English Civil War' is one of the most hotly contested areas of English History. Amid dramatic accounts of the key battles & confrontations, the author explores what triggered the initial conflict between crown & parliament & how this was played out in Engl&, Scotland & Ireland in the lead-up to war. ...

The British monarchy may be over a thousand years old, but the House of Windsor dates only from 1917, when, in the middle of the First World War that was to see the demise of major thrones of continental Europe, it rebranded itself from the distinctly Germanic Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to the homely & familiar Windsor. This title deals with this topic. ...

For over a hundred years England repeatedly invaded France on the pretext that her kings had a right to the French throne. Seward's account traces the changes that led to France's final victory & brings to life all the intrigue of the last chivalric combats as they gave way modern warfare. ...

In this lively & very readable history of the Roman Empire from its establishment in 27 BC to the barbarian incursions & the fall of Rome in AD 476, Kershaw draws on a range of evidence, from Juvenal's Satires to recent archaeological finds. He examines extraordinary personalities such as Caligula & Nero & seismic events such as the conquest of Britain & the establishment of a ' New Rome' at Constantinople & the split into eastern & western empires. Along the way we encounter gladiators & charioteers, senators & slaves, fascinating women, bizarre sexual practices & grotesque acts of brutality, often seen through eyes of some of the world's greatest writers. He concludes with a brief look at how Rome lives on in the contemporary world, in politics, architecture, art & literature. ...

Beginning in the broken aftermath of the First World War & the Treaty of Versailles that made German recovery almost impossible, Whittock tells not just the account of the men who rose to the fore in the dangerous days of the Weimar republic, circling around the cult of personality generated by Adolf Hitler, but also a convincing & personality-driven overview of how ordinary Germans became seduced by the dreams of a new world order, the Third Reich. The book also gives a fascinating insight into the everyday life in Germany during the Second World War & explores key questions such as how much did the Germans know about the Holocaust & why did the regime eventually fail so disastrously? ...

Hunchbacked Richard III, the Virgin Queen Elizabeth I, the grieving widow, Victoria, & the romantic who gave up his throne for love, Edward VIII — often the colourful kings & queens of England seem like mere caricature, while less familiar rulers like William IV or Henry VI have faded into the shadows of history. Carolly Erickson's sensitive & revealing portrayals bring new life to the big names, & light up some of our most neglected but intriguing royals. Here is, the puny Charles I, nervous, tense & socially awkward, the frail, slight Richard II, melancholic & sad, the homosexual James I with his handsome favourites, & the stuttering William II. Here are feudal warriors, Renaissance icons, Regency dandies, & modern constitutional monarchs — fascinating characters all. Award-winning historian Erickson tells the human stories with her characteristic blend of authenticity, engaging style & psychological insight. ` Erickson proves it is possible to write narrative history that is both popular & good.' Kathryn Hughes, Mail on Sunday ` Extremely readable & well-researched.' Nikolai Tolstoy, Literary Review ` Erickson brings Alexandra to life through her everyday doings & she is not sparing with the details, which helps to give a convincing sense of place to her narrative.' ...

Jessie & Carl have made a terrible mistake. When Jonah came to their cabin in the Maine woods, asking to use the phone, they should never have let him in. But Jessie took pity on him. So they invite him in & soon discover that this stranger at their table knows all about them. Jessie & Carl are now captives in their own home. ...