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75223 MAYA, AZTECS AND INCAS


by Oldrich Ruzicka


A ‘concept’ book which appears to be a box, then on opening the ‘lid’ a pyramid appears before your eyes. Learn that the Ancient Maya’s idea of beauty were


crossed eyes, and that the Maya calendar consists of three circles. There is a complete recipe for making Maya Hot Chocolate with one chilli pepper, architecture and art before we go on to study the fearless Aztecs, their gods and human sacrifices, warriors and calendar. We end with the mythical El Dorado located somewhere deep in the jungle of South America. Clothing, diet, daily life, the book is shaped like an Aztec pyramid revealing the mysteries of these great Mesoamerican civilisations and what caused their demise. A beautiful presentation, all in colour. Suit ages 7 to adult. £10 NOW £5


75235 SPARTACUS ROAD: A Journey Through Ancient


Italy by Peter Stothard The lot of the slave in the final century of the first Roman Republic was not a happy one. Treated as little more than talking tools, any insurrection was dealt with swiftly and brutally, and the possibility of the granting of freedom was a carrot which kept many in their place. While insurrection was extremely


rare, it eventually came to pass between 73 and 71BC. The leaders were slaves, but not just any slaves. Highly skilled fighters and, given that they were being trained to die anyway, with nothing to lose, they were gladiators, lead by the Thracian Spartacus, who escaped from his training school in Capua. Some 70,000 flocked to his banner, and this rebel army outfought the greatest army of the ancient world until it was finally put down. The Spartacus Road is the route along which the rebels fought, stretching across 2,000 miles of Italian countryside and 2,000 years of world history. Peter Stothard was editor of The Times from 1992 to 2002. In 2000 he was told he had pancreatic cancer, and as many will know, the prognosis of this particular form of the disease is rarely good. However, with surgery, chemotherapy, stoicism and good luck he survived, and his the story of subsequent travels along the route taken by Spartacus and his men are brilliantly intertwined here with his very personal story of survival. 353pp with many b/w illus. $26.95 NOW £6


75660 ARENA OF AMBITION: A History of the


Cambridge Union by Stephen Parkinson Founded in 1815, the Cambridge Union immediately became the subject of controversy when an attempt was made to shut it down on the grounds that it was interfering with students’ studies. The real fear was that revolutionary ideas were being disseminated, but although


frequently flamboyant, the Union’s speakers were on the whole members of the establishment. A century later John Maynard Keynes honed his economic theories in the debating chamber and became President, while in 1920 Lord Mountbatten, supported by Churchill, opposed the motion that the time was now ripe for a Labour government. They carried the motion triumphantly. The Oxford Union’s resolution in the thirties against fighting for king and country achieved notoriety, while similar motions at Cambridge passed unnoticed. During World War II, the Union building was used covertly to plan the D-Day landings, using large-scale models of the Normandy beaches. Following the War, the Union was again a staging post for aspiring Conservative politicians, dubbed the ‘Cambridge mafia’, although in 1964 Simon Schama, sporting an apricot bow tie, proposed that the House would support violent revolution in South Africa. During the sixties there was also a wealth of dramatic talent in the Footlights theatre club: David Frost, Peter Cook, several Monty Pythons, Derek Jacobi and Ian McKellen, to name a few. Interspersed with the history of the Society are recollections of activists including Michael Howard, Lord Lamont, Arianna Huffington and Peter Bazalgette. 418pp. £25 NOW £5


75661 AUTUMN IN THE


HEAVENLY KINGDOM by Stephen R. Platt


The global significance of the mid- 19th century Taiping Rebellion in China is often overlooked by historians. This superbly researched study of the rebellion, or civil war as historians now regard it, re- establishes its position as central to the history not only of the Chinese


nation but also of America, France and the British Empire, influencing as it did the course of the Crimean War and also the American War of Independence. With its origins in a religious uprising, the Taiping rebellion was led by the westernising Hong Rengan who converted to Christianity and espoused the people’s cause in a challenge to the highly conservative Manchu rulers. Equally charismatic was the man charged with raising an army to oppose him, the Confucian Zeng Guofan, an ascetic whom the pressures of power repeatedly threatened to overwhelm. When Hong Rengan was finally captured in the mountains following the taking of Nanking in 1864, Britain had already dissolved the East India Company and instituted direct rule in India, alarmed by the events in the east. By this time the American War of Independence was in its final stages and the U.S. government threw its considerable weight behind the ruling Manchus in the interests of world stability. The author argues that had things gone the other way, China would have become westernised and a century of totalitarian rule might have been sidestepped. 470pp, photos. $30 NOW £7


75677 RED CLOUD


by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin When the American Civil War came to an end there was no let-up for the Army as the Oglala Sioux chief Red Cloud led 3000 warriors in a campaign to secure their traditional hunting lands in the powder River Basin. Gold had been discovered in Montana, and on the 535-mile Bozeman trail across the Basin three forts had been constructed, in defiance of a treaty ceding the


territory to the native Indians. Red Cloud’s fighters ambushed and burned wagon trains, killed and mutilated civilians and outwitted and outfought government troops. In the winter of 1866 a company of Civil War veterans under the command of war hero Captain William Judd Fetterman picked their way towards the mighty east face of the Bighorn Mountains which few whites had ever seen. Fetterman was about to lose “Red Cloud’s war”, completely outmanoeuvred by the Indians’ guerrilla tactics and the administrative skills by which Red Cloud maintained discipline and cohesion in his army, to the astonishment of the U.S. troops. The official story casts Fetterman as the weak link, airbrushing the failures of his colleagues Carrington and Sherman. The final treaty did not hold long and when Red Cloud pleaded his cause in Washington he created a sensation, but he also realised the futility of opposing the might of American federal power and advised his people to adapt. 414pp, photos. £20 NOW £5


75695 FROM EGYPT TO BABYLON: The International


Age 1550-500BC by Paul Collins


We may think that globalisation is a purely modern phenomenon, but this superb production from the Harvard University Press teaches that states and cities that waxed and waned and interacted in an extraordinary period of


internationalism that existed in the Eastern Mediterranean, North Africa and Middle East before the rise of the Persian (Achaemenid) empire which dominated the entire region by 500BC. In the millennium that preceded this, societies such as the ancient Egyptians, Minoans, Mycenaeans, Hittites, Canaanites, Hurrians, Aramaeans, Israelites, Urartians, Mannaeans, Assyrians, Phrygians, Kassites, Chaldaeans, Scythians and Persians rose and fell in the region, all linked by military expansion, diplomatic relations, trade and movement of people, which brought about profound cultural exchanges and technological and social revolutions. Paul Collins, Curator of the Mesopotamia collections at the British Museum, uses a wealth of colour illustrations of objects from the Museum plus many maps to weave together for the first time a chronological political history of the region’s diverse societies. Local groups rose in Syria and Anatolia and new states such as Israel and Judah were formed. The Assyrian empire reached from Egypt to Iran and the Phoenicians flourished in the West. Ultimately this vast region was unified by the kings of Persia. 208pp, 8"×10". ONLY £8


74880 WORLD HISTORY WITH ATLAS by Liz Wyse and Caroline Lucas One of the excellent Webster’s Reference Library, this new edition brings the history of the world up to April 2006. Perhaps best of all is the 64 page colour illustrated Quick Summary of World History which follows an excellent timeline. It is a total chronology of world events from 4000BC to the 21st century with full colour illustrations and maps. The overview reveals the political, religious and cultural trends that have dominated world history and a chronology of events that shaped the world. Essays cover the first civilisations, Asian empires, the rise of Islam, Europe in the Middle Ages, the Ottoman Empire, the Americas and colonial expansion, the Age of Revolution, the Napoleonic years, the world wars through to the world tomorrow. 381pp, paperback. ONLY £3


74893 FOR HONOUR AND FAME: Chivalry in England


1066-1500 by Nigel Saul Tells the compelling story of England from the Norman Conquest to the aftermath of Henry VII’s triumph at Bosworth at the end of the Wars of the Roses. Structuring his analysis around the related themes of War, Politics and Knighthood, the Professor charts the introduction of chivalry by the Normans, the rise of


the knightly class as a social élite, the fusion of chivalry with kingship in the 14th century, and its wide-ranging influence on literature, religion and architecture. He takes us into a world of kings and barons, castles and cathedrals, and shows us how it was shaped by Richard the Lionheart and the Crusades, by Magna Carta and the Rule of Law, by battles like Bannockburn and Crecy, by the Black Death and also by tournaments, round tables and the cult of Arthurianism. 416 authoritative pages with colour plates. £25 NOW £7


47915 JEWISH ANTIQUITIES by Flavius Josephus


The works of the Jewish writer Flavius Josephus represent one of the most important records of Judaism and the Jews that survives from the ancient world. It is an account in 20 books of Jewish history from the creation to the outbreak of the Jewish revolt against Rome in AD66. Here is all the drama of the Old Testament transformed into an historical narrative of Greco-Roman character. More importantly, it is our only continuous account of Middle Eastern affairs that led up to the revolt. We have the famous translation of Josephus’ works by Cambridge professor William Whiston. 902 page paperback. ONLY £4


74626 A HISTORY OF THE WORLD IN 100 OBJECTS


by Neil Macgregor


Published in association with the British Museum, of which the author is director, and BBC Radio Four, this was a radio hit series as all listeners became engrossed in exploring past civilisations through the objects that defined them. Beginning 2 million years BC to 9,000 BC with the mummy of Hornedjitef and the clovis spear point, we move through the Ice Age, food and sex, the first cities and states with objects like the Standard of Ur and the jade axe and early writing tablet, the beginnings of science and literature with the Flood Tablet and the statue of Ramesses II to gold coins, an Olmec stone mask, Chinese bronze bell, the head of Augustus, an Arabian bronze hand, a silk princess painting, Maya relief of royal blood letting, to a double headed serpent, a Hawaiian feather helmet, the credit card and a solar powered lamp and charger which is item number 100. Each is pictured in a close up colour photograph. 707pp. £45 NOW £18


74978 MONARCHS OF THE NILE by Aidan Dodson


From the unification of the Kingdom around 3000BC until the extinction of the true Egyptian rulers with the death of Darios III of the 31st Dynasty in 332BC, here is a concise account of the lives and times of those demigods who sat upon the Egyptian throne. In all there were some 180 rulers many of whom, from the earliest years, are barely known. Others, such as Thutmoses III and Rameses II, had a massive impact upon their time. Then there were those, such as Tutankhamun, who were unremarkable in their lifetime and quickly forgotten by their people, only to burst back into popular culture thousands of years later due to the labours of modern archaeologists, and there are also those who remain little known outside the world of a few professional archaeologists and historians but whose lives deserve a wider audience. This is the 3rd (paperback) reprint of the second edition of this excellent primer. 73 b/w photos and maps and appendices of rulers, dynasties and royal tombs. 238pp. £17.95 NOW £6


75030 TITANIC: The Last Night of a Small Town by John Welshman


What was it like for the ordinary people caught up in the Titanic disaster? This study takes eight survivors and looks at the experience in the context of their lives as a whole. Also included are Herbert Lightoller, the Second Officer whose story dominated the book and film A Night to Remember, the Assistant Wireless Operator Harold Bride, and Arthur Rostron, the captain of the Carpathia which came to the rescue of the Titanic. The featured passengers include nine-year old Frank Goldsmith, travelling in third class with his parents to start a new life in Detroit where his father would look for work as a lathe operator; Elin Hakkarainen, a Finnish domestic servant emigrating with her new husband Pekka; Colonel Archibald Gracie, an amateur military historian travelling first class, and seven year old Eva Hart, emigrating with her parents to Winnipeg. 324pp, photos. £18.99 NOW £7


23944 BOOK OF THE KINGS AND QUEENS OF


BRITAIN by G.S.P Freeman-Grenville Dr. Freeman-Grenville was the consultant for Burke’s Royal Families of the World and his major work was the Chronology of World History. This specially commissioned book is a magisterial and entertainingly written overview of British monarchs from Cerdic First, King of Wessex to George VI. All the regal chronology and insights into the foibles of one of the world’s most interesting and resilient constitutional monarchies. 245pp in paperback. ONLY £3.50


56595 LONDON LABOUR AND THE LONDON


POOR by Henry Mayhew A masterpiece of social observation. Mayhew takes us into the abyss, into a world without fixed employment where skills are declining and insecurity mounting, a world of criminality, pauperism and vice, of unorthodox personal relations and fluid families, a world from which regularity is absent and prosperity has departed. Making sense of this environment required curiosity, imagination and a novelist’s eye for detail, and Henry Mayhew possessed all three. 688 pages in paperback. ONLY £4


73811 BLUE-WATER EMPIRE: The British in


the Mediterranean Since 1800 by Robert Holland


For nearly 200 years the Mediterranean Sea lay at the heart of British seapower, what Winston Churchill termed “Britain’s first battlefield”. Following Nelson’s overwhelming victory over Napoleon Bonaparte’s French Navy in the Battle of the Nile at Aboukir Bay in 1798 the Royal Navy became the undisputed master of the seaways and surrounding shores. Here many thousands of Britons spent their lives, their graves still visible from Gibraltar to Corfu and Malta to Palestine, Iraq and Cyprus. The British in the Med have left many legacies in administration, law, culture, language and architecture. Evokes the conflicts and friendships, military bands, tennis, churches, barracks, schools plus the disillusionment and hopefulness between the British and local societies often caught up in dramatic events, revealing a much more complex social structure than had before been supposed. 16pp of colour and b/w paintings and photos, 439pp. £25 NOW £6.50


73960 HISTORY OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR by Jacob Abbott


William the Conqueror’s reign significantly transformed England. Born in Normandy and promised the throne of England by King Edward, William decided to invade the country after another contender for the crown took the throne. Chronicling the years from his illegitimate birth to his calamitous burial, Jacob Abbott’s enthralling narrative captures the young conqueror’s struggle, ambition and aspirations during his time in power. With a brief history of the Saxon and Danish kings of England and the Dukes of Normandy. Original engravings, 144pp, paperback. £9.99 NOW £4


History 5


74753 COMPACT TIMELINE HISTORY OF ANCIENT


EGYPT by Shereen Ratnagar A comprehensive, up-to-date record which explores the lives of the pharaohs and other historical figures, but also looks in detail at the daily lives of ordinary people - scribes, priests and villagers - who maintained the machinery of the state. It explains the intricacies of the culture’s religious beliefs,


examines ancient Egypt’s art, relics, temples, monuments and language, takes a close look at her view of the afterlife, and follows the rhythms of what was in fact an agricultural society. Here are fascinating details of the trading patterns and military expeditions that left Egypt’s mark on Africa, the Mediterranean, western Asia and even farther afield. 256 pages, dazzling colour.


£12.99 NOW £4.50 73933 BIRTH OF CLASSICAL EUROPE: A


History from Troy to Augustine by Simon Price and Peter Thonemann This history of Classical Europe will travel from the so- called Minoan civilisation of Crete to the later Roman Empire, from the middle of the second millennium BC to the 4th and 5th centuries AD. At the centre stand the ancient peoples of the northern Mediterranean basin, the Greeks and the Romans. The nine chapters of the book are structured chronologically. With no less than 34 maps and 31 illustrations and drawings such as one of the Athenian Acropolis on page 125, a colour plate showing a reconstruction of miniature fresco from Knossos circa 1600BC and another of a Bard singing of the past from a fresco at Pylos shortly before 1200BC are among the well-chosen illustrations. 400 pages. $35 NOW £4.50


73964 IMPERIAL TOMBS OF CHINA by Lei Congyun, Yang Yang, Zhao Gushan


It is almost impossible to describe the wonders in this catalogue of the exhibition of the Imperial Tombs of China organised jointly by the People’s Republic of China and the Orlando Museum of Art. This beautiful book includes an astounding history of mausoleums,


dating from the Bronze Age Warring States period to the Qing era, the last of China’s imperial dynasties, and the incredible treasures they contain. There is also a comprehensive account of the Chinese emperors, for China became a unified national entity in 221 BC and was then to experience 2,000 years of imperial rule. The earliest objects found are from the tomb of Marquis Yi, ruler of the small state of Zeng, who was buried in 433 BC. The tomb held an incredible 15,404 burial objects made of bronze, lacquer, lead, tin, leather, gold, jade, bamboo, silk, hemp and ceramic. These included ritual vessels, musical instruments, weapons and armour, objects for use with horses and chariots and articles for daily use. One of the rarest archaeological finds, pictured in this sumptuous volume, is a set of bronze bells from the 5th century BC. There are artefacts from six tombs altogether - each one more astounding than the last. 165 pages 30.5cm x 23cm in superbly detailed colour. Map of Warring States Period and plan of the Forbidden City. Softback. ONLY £6.50


73995 STORY OF ENGLAND by Michael Wood


For an island country of modest dimensions situated on the fringes of Europe, England’s influence on world history, culture, literature and politics has been disproportionately great. The historian, filmmaker and broadcaster Michael Wood took an original and highly effective approach, exploring the national narrative from Roman times to the present day through the eyes of one place - Kibworth, a village in Leicestershire. An absolutely compelling tale of England in miniature with departing Romans, Viking and Saxon immigrants, Norman conquerors, the Black Death and famine, religious and political conflict, the Industrial Revolution, the Empire and two World Wars. 440 page paperback, photos.


£9.99 NOW £4.50


74406 PANORAMA OF THE CLASSICAL WORLD by Nigel Spivey and Michael Squire


The world of ancient Greece and Rome is the starting point for Western philosophy, science, literature and art. This strikingly original account analyses the period by the ideas and value that


underpinned its history, specifically: the centrality of the body in life and death; society, sexuality, gender and the family; hygiene and diet; the worship of gods and admiration of heroes; money and economic life; war and rebellion; politics in both theory and practice. The authors’ text is supported by a wealth of “soundbites”, an anthology of extracts from the ancient world, and an amazing 590 illus (400 in colour) provide a striking visual context to every aspect of the ancient world. Plus a dictionary of Classical lives and mythology, timeline and maps. 368pp softback, 8¾”×11". £18.95 NOW £8


74356 BRIEF HISTORY OF THE KNIGHTS TEMPLAR by Helen Nicholson


Gives a full account of the Knights of the Order of the Temple of Solomon. Founded in the 12th century in Jerusalem, at the height of the Crusades it was a formidable fighting force which became powerful throughout Europe, eventually so rich and influential that it challenged the might of kings. In a terrible wave of violence the Order was persecuted into extinction. Since then numerous theories have emerged from the tales of the Holy Grail to Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code and other novels. 351pp in paperback, photos. £8.99 NOW £4


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