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It can come in waves - like tidal waves. It changes societies. It disrupts life. It ends lives. As far back as 3000 B.C.E. (the Bronze Age), plagues have stricken mankind. COVID-19 is just the latest example, but history shows that life continues. It shows that knowledge and social cooperation can save lives. Viruses are neither alive nor dead and are the closest thing we have to zombies. Their only known function is to replicate themselves, which can have devastating consequences on their hosts.

The Histories of Herodotus, completed in the second half of the fifth century BC, is generally regarded as the first work of history and the first great masterpiece of non-fiction writing. Joined here are the sheer drama of Herodotus' narrative of the Persian invasions of Greece, and the endless curiosity - turning now to cannabis, now to the Pyramids - which make his book the source of so much of our knowledge of the ancient world. 

Brought to you by Penguin. Rivers, more than any road, technology or political event, have shaped the course of civilization. In Rivers of Power, geographer Laurence C. Smith tells the sweeping story of rivers and how they made us. Rivers have opened frontiers, defined borders, supported trade...

In this “extraordinarily brave and entertaining book” (Sonia Purnell, New York Times–bestselling author of A Woman of No Importance), the bestselling coauthor of Argo tells her riveting, courageous story of being a female spy at the height of the Cold War Jonna Mendez began her CIA career...

Atlantis and Other Lost Worlds is the most up-to-date and comprehensive investigation of history's infamous sunken city. Nowhere else will you find a more dramatic and convincing presentation of the evidence for its archaeological reality.

An inspiriting guide for relaxing your nervous system, sourcing true resilience, and finding your center in an anxious age. In an era of dumpster fires and doomscrolling, is there any such thing as a healthy relationship with our stress response? While we can’t avoid crisis, we can learn to...

Bloomsbury presents The Man Who Invented Fiction by William Egginton, read by Matt Fletcher-Macdonald. ‘In 1605 a crippled, greying, almost toothless veteran of Spain’s wars against the Ottoman Empire published a book. That book, Don Quixote, went on to sell more copies than any other book...

The article on which this audio book is based was published in the 'New York American' on October 20th, 1912. The author, Dr. Paul Schliemann, was the grandson of Heinrich Schliemann (1822 - 1890), a founder of modern archaeology. In this famous archaeological hoax he makes outrageous and...

Julius Caesar, Lucretia, Cincinnatus, Augustus, the Gracchi brothers: Roman figures have had an extraordinary influence on modern republics from America to France. Here historian Jamie Gianoutsos traces the Roman republic and its afterlives through the revolutionary birth of modern republics in...

The Lost Continent, a new HarperNorth book, full description to follow when available...

How long do the traces of a civilization last? A thousand years? A hundred thousand? A million? And if they vanish completely —does that mean the civilization never existed? We assume we would know if advanced societies had preceded us on Earth. We assume the geological record would preserve their footprint. We assume that silence from the deep past means emptiness. But these assumptions have never been tested with mathematical rigor—until now.

Embark on a Captivating Journey through the Epochs of Human History.

Luke Kemp entwirft eine radikale Geschichte des Aufstiegs und Zusammenbruchs menschlicher Gesellschaften: Seit der Sesshaftwerdung vor 12.000 Jahren entstanden hierarchische »Goliaths« – mächtige Staaten und Imperien, die durch Gewalt und Ungleichheit groß wurden und gerade dadurch zerbrachen. Kemps Analyse zeigt, warum Demokratien widerstandsfähiger sind, weshalb Zusammenbrüche oft unsichtbar beginnen und wieso die nächste Krise global, langanhaltend und existenziell sein könnte. Doch er bricht mit dem Mythos vom reinen Untergang: Denn Kollaps kann auch Erneuerung bedeuten.

For thousands of years, humans have reported encounters with gods, angels, demons, spirits, and other non-human intelligences. Modern science dismissed them as hallucinations. Religion demanded belief. Both explanations failed."Beyond the Gods" offers a third path.

Spanning a million years of history, the mysteries in this book include fabled relics, legendary cities, mythical species, and undeciphered languages that have bedeviled seekers for centuries.

Slavery in Europe and the Americas was not abolished by the enlightened popular movements. It was destroyed by the resistance and countless rebellions by the enslaved people. A New History of Slavery traces the institution of human bondage from antiquity to the present day, revealing how profoundly it has shaped global history and, above all, setting the record straight on how the horror of Atlantic slave trade was eliminated. The story of slavery’s end has too often been told as a triumph of Christian morality or industrial progress.

Twenty kings. Twenty centuries. Twenty murders that bent the arc of civilization. From Julius Caesar's assassination on the Ides of March to King Faisal's shooting in a Riyadh palace, the killing of a sovereign has never been merely the end of a life — it has always been the beginning of a transformation. Regicide traces one pivotal royal murder from each century between the 1st and the 20th, revealing the systemic failures, factional conspiracies, and human blind spots that brought down the most powerful leaders on earth.

Short Essays for Inquiring Minds invites listeners into a lively conversation about the forces shaping modern life. Composed of over fifty compelling essays, Ronald Gruner’s latest book ranges effortlessly across science, history, politics, economics, and popular culture, linking today’s headlines to the deeper currents of history. Complex subjects such as pandemics, artificial intelligence, trade wars, and presidential leadership are unpacked through human stories and memorable anecdotes.

The award-winning author of First Steps returns with a revelatory tour of the latest scientific discoveries in archaeology and paleontology to challenge the idea of human exceptionalism, presenting a more complex—and fascinating—portrait of Us: who came before us, and what of us comes from...

Cleopatra VII Philopator is one of the most misunderstood rulers in history. This is not the story you think you know. Stripped of centuries of myth, scandal, and Roman propaganda, Cleopatra: Power, Strategy, and the End of Independent Egypt presents Cleopatra as she truly was: a highly intelligent political leader governing as Roman imperial power closed in. When Cleopatra ascended the throne in 51 BCE, Egypt was wealthy but vulnerable—essential to Rome, yet unable to resist it. She ruled not at the height of Egyptian power, but at its breaking point.