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Standing at the very foundation of monotheism, and so of Western culture, Moses is a figure not of history, but of memory. As such, he is the quintessential subject for the innovative historiography Jan Assmann both defines and practices in this work, the study of historical memory--a study, in this case, of the ways in which factual and fictional ...
Tom Holland
Feb 20, 2021Popular consensus says that the US rose over two centuries to Cold War victory and world domination, and is now in slow decline. But is this right? History's great civilizations have always lasted much longer, and for all its colossal power, American culture was overshadowed by Europe until recently. What if this isn't the end?In History Has Begun,...
Tom Holland
Jan 08, 2021Nothing is True and Everything is Possible
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A journey into the glittering, surreal heart of 21st century Russia: into the lives of Hells Angels convinced they are messiahs, professional killers with the souls of artists, bohemian theatre directors turned Kremlin puppet-masters, supermodel sects, post-modern dictators and oligarch revolutionaries.This is a world erupting with new money and ne...
Tom Holland
Jan 08, 2021Also recommended by
John SipherThis magisterial history—sure to become the definitive work on the subject—recasts the Enlightenment as a period not solely consumed with rationale and reason, but rather as a pursuit of practical means to achieve greater human happiness.One of the formative periods of European and world history, the Enlightenment is the fountainhead of modern secu...
Tom Holland
Dec 17, 2020In November 1519, Hernando Cortés walked along a causeway leading to the capital of the Aztec kingdom and came face to face with Moctezuma. That story—and the story of what happened afterwards—has been told many times, but always following the narrative offered by the Spaniards. After all, we have been taught, it was the Europeans who held the pens...
Tom Holland
Dec 06, 2020The Last Wolf
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In The Last Wolf, Jim Crumley explores the place of the wolf in Scotland - past, present and future - and challenges many of the myths that have been regarded for centuries as biological fact. Bringing to bear a lifetime's immersion in his native landscape and more than twenty years as a professional nature writer, Crumley questions much of the wri...
Tom Holland
Nov 24, 2020The Beginnings of Rome
Italy and Rome from the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (c.1000-264 BC) (The Routledge History of the Ancient World)
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Using the results of archaeological techniques, and examining methodological debates, Tim Cornell provides a lucid and authoritative account of the rise of Rome. The beginnings of Rome, once thought to be lost in the mists of legend, are now being revealed by an ever-increasing body of archaeological evidence, much of it unearthed during the past t...
Tom Holland
Oct 17, 2020Romulus founded Rome -- but why does the myth give him a twin brother Remus, who is killed at the moment of the foundation? This mysterious legend has been oddly neglected. Roman historians ignore it as irrelevant to real history; students of myth concentrate on the more glamorous mythology of Greece, and treat Roman stories as of little interest. ...
Tom Holland
Oct 17, 2020Environmental thought and politics have become parts of mainstream cultural life in Britain. The wish to protect wildlife is now a central goal for our society, but where did these ‘green’ ideas come from? And who created the cherished institutions, such as the National Trust or the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, that are now so embedde...
Tom Holland
Aug 26, 2020Angels with Dirty Faces
How Argentinian Soccer Defined a Nation and Changed the Game Forever
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The Masterful, Definitive History of Argentinian Soccer Lionel Messi, Diego Maradona, Alfredo Di St'fano: in every generation Argentina has uncovered a uniquely brilliant soccer talent. Perhaps it's because the country lives and breathes the game, its theories, and its myths. Argentina's rich, volatile history -- by turns sublime and ruthlessly pra...
Tom Holland
Aug 20, 2020It was 1501. England had been ravaged for decades by conspiracy, violence, murders, coups and countercoups. Through luck, guile and ruthlessness, Henry VII, the first of the Tudor kings, had clambered to the top of the heap--a fugitive with a flimsy claim to England's throne. For many he remained a usurper, a false king.But Henry had a crucial asse...
The Life of Samuel Johnson by James Boswell
The Missing Lynx by Ross Barnett
The Fortunes of Francis Barber by Michael Bundock
Digging Up Britain by Mike Pitts
On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder
The Secret History of the Roman Roads of Britain by M.C. Bishop
The Northumbrians by Dan Jackson
The Greek Experience of India by Richard Stoneman
The Moon by Oliver Morton