The Russian leader is obsessed with history, but there’s a reason he doesn’t like to cite his sources
Two books look at how so much central and eastern Europe identity has long been defined by an animosity to Moscow
Klaus-Michael Kuehne has repeatedly declined to address growing evidence of his company’s wartime conduct
A biography of the Victorian poet portrays a dashing figure far removed from the stately bearded behemoth of his later years
Catherine Clarke’s ambitious and often surprising collection tells the country’s messy, contested story, from the Venerable Bede to Liz Truss
Jason Burke’s dramatic, deeply researched account looks at the hijackings and hostage-takings of the 1970s — and their connection with radicalism today
The political historian explores how the idea of ‘the west’ has moved a long way from its origins
The journalist traces half a century of coups, occupations and civil wars through the Taliban’s luxury hotspot
The fate of two obscure Prussian clerics caught up in sex cult allegations says as much about our own time as it does the 1830s
Richard Vinen’s study of two very different but similarly stubborn national figureheads is intriguing, deeply researched and very well-timed
A young man’s death at the hands of the Stasi is at the core of a story of the generation raised behind the Iron Curtain
Eleanor Doughty interviewed members of the 796 families with hereditary titles to find out who they are and what makes them tick
Three impressive and engaging books mark the 400th anniversary of the death of the monarch who united Great Britain — and make a convincing case for his relevance today
Srinath Raghavan’s masterful study of the country’s only female prime minister resonates with timely political lessons
The book’s elegant premise is that the Rhine, the Rhône and the Po gave rise to the three great national cultures — and in doing so helped unify Europe
A compelling portrait of the city argues that the ‘gladiatorial arena’ of egos in the late 1980s fractured its promise of a better life
Two books trace the country’s 20th-century path from isolationist to anxious global superpower
Sam Dalrymple’s pacy history of the making of modern Asia is a reminder of the role of chance in the creation of nations
Andrew Martin’s history vividly conjures a lost age when Britons flocked to the coast by rail
Justin Marozzi’s history is a masterly, thoughtful account of human cruelty and ‘lost voices’
Historian Martha Sandweiss turns detective in a quest to identify a mystery woman surrounded by white male colonisers
William Kelleher Storey’s biography skirts the statues debate, but is clear-eyed about the magnate’s bitter legacy in southern Africa
John Seabrook wryly details the rise and fall — and Oedipal struggles — of his family’s farming empire
Henry Wiencek’s zesty history recounts the extraordinary partnership between architect Stanford White and sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens
A galloping narrative account of the tensions that pushed England to ‘the edge of a precipice’
