Social and cultural History books

In the 150 years since the end of the Civil War and the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment (the abolition of slavery), the story of race and America has remained a brutally simple one. It is the story of the black body, exploited to create the country's foundational wealth, violently segregated to unite a nation after a civil war and, today, still disproportionately threatened, locked up and...

5 stars

Often hailed as one of the best travel books ever written, Venice is neither a guide nor a history book, but a beautifully written immersion in Venetian life and character, set against the background of the city's past.

THE TOP 5 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER...

3 stars

In 1983, Interpol named Northern Ireland the most dangerous place in the world to be a police officer. Now, for the first time, the men and women who policed the Troubles tell their stories in their own words.

What's Wrong in Tinseltown?...

The brilliant new book from one of the country's foremost social historians celebrating those who lived through the Second World War.

'A book of big questions, and big answers' Yuval Noah Harari, bestselling author of SapiensWITH A NEW AFTERWORD FROM THE AUTHOR Why has human history unfolded so differently across the globe? An ambitious synthesis of history, biology, ecology and linguistics, Guns, Germs and Steel remains a ground-breaking and humane work of popular science.

4 stars

Showing how feminist theory is generated from everyday life and the ordinary experiences of being a feminist, Sara Ahmed highlights the ties between feminist theory and living a life that sustains it by building on legacies of feminist of color scholarship and discussing the figure of the feminist killjoy.

Deals with the working-class life in the bleak industrial heartlands of Yorkshire and Lancashire in the 1930s, the Road to Wigan Pier is a brilliant and bitter polemic that has lost none of its political impact over time. This title includes descriptions of social injustice, cramped slum housing, dangerous mining conditions, squalor, and more.

An engaging collection of short stories featuring some of the more unusual products that came out of Longbridge, such as the 40hp motorcar, probably the first motor home ever built, and the bi-plane small enough to keep in your garage.

Features observations of working-class life in the bleak industrial heartlands of Yorkshire and Lancashire in the 1930s. This title provides descriptions of social injustice, cramped slum housing, dangerous mining conditions, squalor, hunger and growing unemployment and more.

This is the first published history of Angel Meadow, a notorious Manchester slum. Angel Meadow has frequently appeared in the news in recent years, after archaeologists dug up the site in 2011.

5 stars

The real story behind the Tavistock Institute and its network, from a popular conspiracy expert...

2018 marks the centenary not only of the Armistice but also of women gaining the vote. A Lab of One's Own commemorates both anniversaries by exploring how the War gave female scientists, doctors, and engineers unprecedented opportunities to undertake endeavours normally reserved for men.

In 1989, the Berlin Wall fell; shortly afterwards the two Germanies reunited and East Germany ceased to exist. In this book, Anna Funder tells extraordinary tales from the underbelly of the former East Germany, including the story of Miriam, who as a 16-year-old might have started World War III.

Born in 1946, Maureen Harvey was brought up in a poor working-class household in Birmingham at a time when the city was still a major manufacturing centre....

This is the story of the Roman Road, an East End pie and mash shop and the lives and loves of the people who have worked and eaten there.

On the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution, the epic story of an enormous apartment building where Communist true believers lived before their destruction...

Can violence really have declined? The images of conflict we see daily on our screens from around the world suggest this is an almost obscene claim to be making. In this title, the author shows violence within and between societies - both murder and warfare.

First ever book to survey the whole history of children s homes.