New Titles

The Plantagenets: The Kings That Made Britain

Quercus, Sept 2011, ISBN 978 0 85738 004 3, £25

Commissioned by Quercus (Best Publisher of the Year) this is an incredibly lavish trawl through the 331 years of the country’s longest ruling dynasty. If medieval Britain is a bit of a blur in your mind or if you are looking for a Christmas present for a history buff, this coffee table blockbuster, with its 384 pages and 230 full-colour illustrations, could be the answer.

Calamities & Catastrophes: The Absolutely Worst Years in History

Short Books, h/b Sept 2011, ISBN 978 1 907595 45 5, £12.99

Published by Short Books, this is Britain’s Rottenest Years gone global and catalogues in lurid detail mind-blowingly awful events from the final collapse of classical civilisation to the Rwanda massacres of 1994. Sounds grim but it does help us get our current travails into perspective.

The People’s Bible: The remarkable history of the King James Version

Lion Hudson, h/b, October 2010, ISBN 978 0 7459 5351 9, £14.99

Now in paperback ISBN 978 0 7459 5559 9, £9.99

The finest scholars in England laboured for seven years to produce what we know as the King James or Authorised Version of the Bible. Yet its launch could scarcely have been less propitious. Despite its titles, the king did nothing to promote it and he certainly did not ‘authorise’ it. Its publisher went bankrupt and it was half a century before this Bible won the affection of the British people. So, how come this book became the biggest best-seller of all time and a vehicle of British culture right round the world? Derek’s latest book gives some fascinating answers. It is a story of religious factions, scholarly disputes, archival adventures, scientific challenges and intricate problems of translation from ancient languages. It is an intriguing and exciting story which tells us a lot about our language, our ethics and our way of life – even in the secularised 21st C.

“...divinely well-informed, devilishly entertaining...” Professor Felipe Fernandez-Armesto

Tudor England

Shire Books, stiff covers, April 2010, 978-0-74780-780-3

The Tudor period was a time of massive social change in England with growing cities, increasing trade, and growing stability after the chaos of the Wars of the Roses. Despite military preparations in every county, and the establishment of a new navy, the country was generally at peace, and England and Wales were becoming more closely integrated. Religious changes affected every person, with the Reformation bringing change to most corners of the country, and the dissolution of the monasteries allowing those with cash to build new estates, and removing the traditional schools and hospitals. This book offers insights into the world of Tudor England – revealing what it was really like to live in a period of great growth, and the difference between living in the city and the country.

Britain’s Rottenest Years

Short Books, h/b, October 2009, ISBN 978-1-906021-58-0

War, terror, economic collapse... Britain has been there before. And for the likes of the Celts, or the Tudors, or the Georgians, these catastrophes were much harder to bear.

Try 1349 (the black death), or 1536 (the year the king went mad...), or 1720 (when a biblical fog descended on England for months and literally laid waste to the nation). The fact is that rat for rat, recession for recession, gory death for gory death, the ten really rotten years featured in this book beat our current travails hands down.

But Britain’s Rottenest Years is not just a bad news story. It is a fantastically readable leapfrog through British history which takes us, via the interesting bits, from the misery of the Roman invasion of AD60 (when 50,000 foreign thugs arrived on our shores) to the Thatcherite year of discontent of 1981 – the ideal gift for anyone who needs cheering up...

“Wilson’s contribution ... suggests that the war, poverty and swine flu of 2009 is positively bright when compared with other terrible times in our nation’s history...this book is well-researched, with real heft.” Jean Hannah Edelstein, The Observer

A Brief History of HENRY VIII – Reformer and Tyrant

Constable, p/b, February 2009, ISBN 978-1-84529-903-3

Tyrant, reformer, exhibitionist, patriot, sexual athlete – there are lots of words used to describe one of the best known and controversial Kings of England.  But what do we really know about him?

This challenging and highly accessible biography probes the inner man and reveals, beneath the jewelled and aggressive exterior an insecure ruler haunted by the memory of a successful father and by his own sexual inadequacy. This highly readable study corrects the distortions produced by television and some popular biographies.

“... this masterful biography breaks new ground in its portrayal of a monarch who, perhaps, more than any other, changed the course of our history.” Choice Magazine

Peter the Great

Hutchinson, h/b, February 2009, ISBN 978-0-091-79647-1

There has never been a more remarkable national leader in modern history than Peter the Great (1672-1725). He was 6’7” tall, had massive willpower, enthusiasm and energy and refused to accept old conventions.  He created a new city on marshland by the sea called St Petersburg and made his courtiers shave their beards and wear western dress. He destroyed Sweden, then the greatest force in northern Europe, and made Russia master of the Baltic. European leaders did not know what to make of this eccentric, unsophisticated tsar who loathed pomp and ceremony and served as a junior officer in his own army. He took a peasant girl as his own wife but married members of his family into the royal houses of Europe. Russia was profoundly changed by this extraordinary man. So was Europe.

“Wilson presents the remarkable personality who oriented Russia toward the West, with lasting historical – and not completely resolved – consequences......Wilson’s portrait is a fine introduction to the man and his reign.” Gilbert Taylor, Booklist

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Calamities & Catastrophes: The Absolutely Worst Years in History, Short Books, h/b Sept 2011, ISBN 978 1 907595 45 5, £12.99

Published by Short Books, this is Britain’s Rottenest Years gone global and catalogues in lurid detail mind-blowingly awful events from the final collapse of classical civilisation to the Rwanda massacres of 1994.  Sounds grim but it does help us get our current travails into perspective.