A Short History of the World

Lascelles, Christopher Richard

Crux Publishing

'A clearly written, remarkably comprehensive guide to the greatest story on Earth - man's journey from the earliest times to the modern day. Highly recommended.' - Dan Jones, author of The Plantagenets: The Kings Who Made England  'Just what we all wanted but were too scared to ask for: everything that ever happened in one digestible, readable book.'- Matt Ridley, author There is an increasing realisation that our knowledge of world history – and how it all fits together – is far from perfect. A Short History of the World aims to fill the big gaps in our historical knowledge with a book that is easy to read and assumes little prior knowledge of past events.The book does not aim to come up with groundbreaking new theories on why things occurred, but rather gives a broad overview of the generally accepted version of events so that non-historians will feel less ignorant when discussing the past.While the book covers world history from the Big Bang to the present day, it principally covers key people, events and empires since the dawn of the first civilisations in around 3500 BC. To help readers put events, places and empires into context, the book includes 36 specially commissioned maps to accompany the text.The result is a book that is reassuringly epic in scope but refreshingly short in length. An excellent place to start to bring your historical knowledge up to scratch!

The Budapest House: A Life Re-Discovered

Marcus Ferrar

This is the true story of the endeavour to find, extract and adopt an infant from an ‘orphanage’ in post revolutionary Romania in the face of opposition from the most unexpected quarters. Obstacles erected by both the UK and the Romanian authorities populate the route taken by the author, who recounts the poverty and ever present corruption in the aftermath of the revolution, the horrors of Orphanage Number One in Bucharest, the indifference of the civil servants in both countries to the plight of the infants, and the struggle to raise awareness in both jurisdictions of the damage being caused to the children by the delay caused by their obstruction.The book also recounts the remarkable friendship which was forged with a Bucharest University graduate who offered his help as interpreter, guide and, ultimately, Godfather to the child who was rescued.

Nobody Comes

Parenting & Relationships

Cleary, Anthony

Adoption

"Lars Brownworth’s The Normans is like a gallop through the Middle Ages on a fast warhorse. It is rare to find an author who takes on a subject so broad and so complex, while delivering a book that is both fast-paced and readable." Bill Yenne, author of Julius Caesar: Lessons in Leadership from the Great Conqueror and Sitting Bull "An evocative journey through the colourful and dangerous world of early medieval Europe" Jonathan Harris, author of Byzantium and the Crusades There is much more to the Norman story than the Battle of Hastings. These descendants of the Vikings who settled in France, England, and Italy - but were not strictly French, English, or Italian - played a large role in creating the modern world. They were the success story of the Middle Ages; a footloose band of individual adventurers who transformed the face of medieval Europe. During the course of two centuries they launched a series of extraordinary conquests, carving out kingdoms from the North Sea to the North African coast. In The Normans, author Lars Brownworth follows their story, from the first shock of a Viking raid on an Irish monastery to the exile of the last Norman Prince of Antioch. In the process he brings to vivid life the Norman tapestry’s rich cast of characters: figures like Rollo the Walker, William Iron-Arm, Tancred the Monkey King, and Robert Guiscard. It presents a fascinating glimpse of a time when a group of restless adventurers had the world at their fingertips.

The Normans: From Raiders to Kings

History

Brownworth, Lars

Europe

When a mummified foot, a pile of bones and a split skull are discovered in a Danish bog, is it a case for the police or archaeologists? It becomes a case for Chief Inspector Tobias Lange when it is confirmed the remains are those of a young male, early twenties, beaten to death with a blunt instrument about two decades earlier. Tobias finds himself on the trail of eco-warriors, Sami protesters safeguarding reindeer rights in Lapland and a disaffected young woman estranged from her family. Then another incomplete set of human bones turns up, and then another. When the trail takes a turn into a murky world of sex trafficking and illegal immigrants, Tobias starts to fear for his eco-warrior daughter Agnes….

Bogman

Olufsen, R I

Literature & Fiction

"Has anybody done more – done as much – as Frank McLynn in writing intelligent, combative, thoroughly researched and thoroughly readable history?" - The Independent Most people know that Britain was invaded by the Romans, by the Vikings and by the Normans. Many will know about the Spanish Armada, launched by Philip II in 1588 to bring Protestant England to submission. But fewer people know that Philip launched a second armada in 1596 or that invasion plans were drawn up by the French in 1692, 1708, 1743, 1756, 1759, 1796 and 1801, and by the French together with the Spanish in 1779. In 1719, Spanish troops even landed in Scotland. Charles XII and Peter the Great wished to invade Britain and Napoleon himself wrote that in his imagination he could see the tri-colour fluttering over the Tower of London.New invasion plans were drawn up by the Germans in 1896 and by the French in 1898 and Britain narrowly avoided invasion by Nazi Germany in WW2. Yet despite the almost permanent threat of invasion by the Spanish in the 16th century, by the French from the 17th to the 19th centuries, and by the Germans in the 20th century, Britain has not been successfully invaded since 1066.Beginning with the first real invasion attempt of the modern era and one of the decisive naval battles in world history, McLynn takes us through the many invasion plans and attempts and shows us how each one failed due a mixture of incompetent management, clash of egos, unreliable weather and the strength of British sea power. He concludes with Hitler’s failed invasion attempt during WW2 showing how despite all the risks, Hitler was lulled into a false sense of security by the ease with which Germany had managed to defeat France in 1940.McLynn discusses the different strategies involved for invading Britain by sea and the means by which Britain tried to defend itself using diplomacy, economic warfare, espionage and pre-emptive strikes. Finally, he shows that after having been threatened with invasion for four centuries, England was itself the springboard from which the greatest invasion fleet of all time was launched.

Invasion: From The Armada to Hitler (1588-1945)

MCLYNN, Frank

World

"A brilliantly fun and informative read. Dominic Selwood has taken the juiciest bits of history from the past two thousand years and put them together in one marvellous volume. Selwood is a rare blend of insightful historian and thrilling writer. Cracking along at a breakneck pace reminiscent of Dan Brown, Spies, Sadists and Sorcerers is as perfect for the beach as it is for serious historical background reading."Claudia Gold author of The King's Mistress: The True and Scandalous Story of the Woman Who Stole the Heart of George I and Women Who Ruled: History's 50 Most Remarkable Women"Dominic Selwood dives into the most fascinating (and controversial) historical topics and succeeds in bringing fresh insights and stringent clarity to some of the most baffling mysteries of the last 2,000 years, often overturning conventional wisdom. This book made me wince, laugh, groan and cheer. It's a fantastic read for any lover of history."Nancy Bilyeau author of the award-winning Tudor series which includes 'The Crown', 'The Chalice' and 'The Tapestry'"In an intriguing collection of essays, Spies, Sadists and Sorcerers dares to break rank and expose lies, debunk myths and set the record straight about English history from Roman times to the present day."Sandra Alvarez, Medievalists.netSpies, Sadists and Sorcerers unveils the history you were never taught in school. With a breathtaking sweep spanning Rome to the modern day, popular historian and author Dominic Selwood challenges the traditional version of some of the best-known events of the past.From ancient Christianity to the voyages of Columbus, and from the medieval Crusades to ISIS and the modern Middle East, this book debunks dozens of historical myths.You will learn that:– Magna Carta was an infamous failure in medieval times– Richard the Lionheart was a cruel and dreadful king– The Knights Templar were heretical, and have left a genuinely baffling mystery– The painter of the Turin Shroud was found in the 1300s– Christopher Columbus never saw America– The first computer coder was a woman, a century before Alan Turing– The man who unleashed mustard gas in the World War One trenches won the Nobel Prize for chemistry– One incredible Spanish spy saved D-Day... and lots more. This book will challenge everything you think you know about history!

Spies, Sadists and Sorcerers: The History You Weren't Taught At School

Selwood, Dominic

Americas

The Pharmacist of Auschwitz is the little known story of Victor Capesius, a Bayer pharmaceutical salesman from Romania who, at the age of 35, joined the Nazi SS in 1943 and quickly became the chief pharmacist at the largest death camp, Auschwitz. Based in part on previously classified documents, Patricia Posner exposes Capesius’s reign of terror at the camp, his escape from justice, fueled in part by his theft of gold ripped from the mouths of corpses, and how a handful of courageous survivors and a single brave prosecutor finally brought him to trial for murder twenty years after the end of the war. The Pharmacist of Auschwitz is much more, though, than a personal account of Capesius. It provides a spellbinding glimpse inside the devil’s pact made between the Nazis and Germany’s largest conglomerate, I.G. Farben, and its Bayer pharmaceutical subsidiary. The story is one of murder and greed with its roots in the dark heart of the Holocaust. It is told through Nazi henchmen and industrialists turned war criminals, intelligence agents and zealous prosecutors, and intrepid concentration camp survivors and Nazi hunters. Set against a backdrop ranging from Hitler’s war to conquer Europe to the Final Solution to postwar Germany’s tormented efforts to confront its dark past, Posner shows the appalling depths to which ordinary men descend when they are unrestrained by conscience or any sense of morality. The Pharmacist of Auschwitz is a moving saga that lingers long after the final page.

The Pharmacist of Auschwitz: The Untold Story

Trisha Posner

Military

For many people, the popes are an irrelevance: if they consider them at all, it may be as harmless old men who preach obscure sermons in Latin. But the history of the popes is far from bland. On the contrary, it is occasionally so bizarre as to stretch credulity. Popes have led papal armies, fled in disguise, fathered children (including future popes), and authorized torture. They have been captured, assaulted and murdered. While many have been admired, some have been hated to such a degree that their funeral processions have been disrupted and statues of them torn down after their deaths. Many have been the enemies of freedom and progress – divisive rather than unifying figures. In a fascinating read for Catholics and non-Catholics alike, Christopher Lascelles examines the history of the popes through the ages, laying bare the extent to which many of them fell so very short of the Christian ideals they supposedly represented. He explains how it was that, professing to follow a man who said ‘My kingdom is not of this world’ and 'Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth,’ they nevertheless became heads of a rich state that owned more land in Europe than any king, relying on foreign military aid to keep power; and how pride, greed and corruption became commonplace in an institution founded on love, faith and forgiveness. This book is aimed at the general reader who is short on time and seeks an accessible overview unencumbered by ecclesiastical jargon and scholarly controversies.

Pontifex Maximus: A Short History of the Popes

Lascelles, Christopher

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Books by Crux Publishing

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A Short History of the World

A Short History of the World

The Budapest House: A Life Re-Discovered

Nobody Comes

The Normans: From Raiders to Kings

Bogman

Invasion: From The Armada to Hitler (1588-1945)

Spies, Sadists and Sorcerers: The History You Weren't Taught At School

The Pharmacist of Auschwitz: The Untold Story

Pontifex Maximus: A Short History of the Popes