Historical, Political and Military Biography books

Two months before the outbreak of WWII, 17-year-old Geoffrey Wellum becomes a fighter pilot with the RAF. Desperate to get in the air, he makes it through basic training to become the youngest Spitfire pilot in the prestigious 92 Squadron. Thrust into combat immediately, Wellum finds himself caught up in terrifying dogfights with German Me 109s.

5 stars

The former Assistant to the President and Director of Communications for the Office of Public Liaison in the Trump White House provides a jaw-dropping look into the corruption and controversy of the current administration.

Winner of the Slightly Foxed Best First Biography Prize 2014 A rich historical biography of `those wild Wyndhams' - three cultured aristocratic sisters born into great privilege in late Victorian Britain.

A New York Times Bestseller, and the inspiration for the hit Broadway musical Hamilton!...

Mary Ellis was one of the first pilots and one of only three women to take the controls of the new Meteor fast jet.

The youngest of William the Conqueror's sons, Henry I (1100-35) was never meant to be king, but he was destined to become one of the greatest of all medieval monarchs, both through his own ruthlessness and intelligence and through the dynastic legacy of his daughter Matilda, who began the Plantagenet line that would rule England until 1485. A self-consciously diligent and thoughtful king, his...

A dazzling piece of Italian history of the infamous family that become one of the most powerful in Europe, weaving its history with Renaissance greats from Leonardo da Vinci to GalileoAgainst the background of an age which saw the rebirth of ancient and classical learning, The Medici is a remarkably modern story of power, money and ambition.

NUMBER 1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER No one is born a leader. But through sheer determination and by confronting life's challenges, Ant Middleton has come to know the meaning of true leadership. In First Man In, he shares the core lessons he's learned over the course of his fascinating, exhilarating life.

The formation of England happened against the odds?the division of the country into rival kingdoms, the assaults of the Vikings, the precarious position of the island on the edge of the known world. But King Alfred ensured the survival of Wessex, his son Eadweard expanded it, and his grandson Æthelstan finally united Mercia and Wessex, conquered Northumbria and became Rex totius Britanniae. Tom...

'DESERVES TO JOIN REACH FOR THE SKY AND THE LAST ENEMY AS ONE OF THE GREAT RAF BOOKS OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR' - ANDREW ROBERTS...

The diary of a remarkable woman who lived life on her terms in Regency Yorkshire. Anne Lister was a wealthy landowner, industrialist - and lesbian.

Published to coincide with the 1100th anniversary of the death of AEthelflaed, who ruled over the ancient kingdom of Mercia (English Midlands). The book examines her important place in history as the only woman who ruled one of the major powers of Dark Age Britain.

A long-overdue and dramatic reinterpretation of the life of Mary, Queen of Scots by one of the leading historians at work today.

First published in 1944, Enemy Coast Ahead combines Guy Gibson's RAF career, including the famous Dambuster raid which he himself led, with the inside story of life in RAF Bomber Command and is still a riveting read for the immediacy and vibrancy of its writing. And yet, what has not been widely known is that the published edition of Enemy Coast Ahead was carefully cut by wartime censors. Now,...

Spitfire Pilot was written in 1940 in the heat of battle when the RAF stood alone against the might of Hitler's Third Reich. It is a tremendous personal account of one of the fiercest and most idealised air conflicts, The Battle of Britain, seen through the eyes of a pilot of the famous 609 Squadron.

“Madiba's words give us a compass in a sea of change. Firm ground amidst swirling currents.” — Barack Obama...

When the Nazis invaded Hungary in 1944, they sent virtually the entire Jewish population to Auschwitz. A Hungarian Jew and a medical doctor, Dr Miklos Nyiszli was spared from death for a grimmer fate: to perform scientific research on his fellow inmates under the supervision of the infamous Angel of Death: Dr Josef Mengele.

The author of the internationally-acclaimed bestsellers Benjamin Franklin, Einstein, and Steve Jobsdelivers an engrossing biography of Leonardo da Vinci, the world's most creative genius. The creator of Salvator Mundi (Saviour of the World) officially sold at auction in New York in November 2017 for the record-breaking sum of GBP341 million.

Action-packed account of a member of the celebrated Rhodesian SAS, who fought with incredible tenacity and ingenuity against overwhelming odds in the Rhodesian Bush War of the 1970s.

From the bestselling author of The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England, comes the story of King Edward III, who - like Elizabeth and Victoria after him - embodied the values of his age, forged a nation out of war and re-made England.