Historical & Political Biographies

During the German occupation of Rome from 1942 to 1944, Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty ran an escape organisation for Allied POWs and civilians, including Jews. Safe within the Vatican state, he regularly ventured out in disguise to continue his mission, which earned him the nickname 'the Pimpernel of the Vatican'. Kappler, the Gestapo chief in Rome, ordered him captured or killed. When the Allies entered Rome, Monsignor O'Flaherty and his colleagues had saved over 6,500 lives.

'Totally gripping'-- Simon Sebag Montefiore Pilecki is perhaps one of the greatest unsung heroes of the second world war ... this insightful book is likely to be the definitive version of this extraordinary life -- EconomistWould you sacrifice yourself to save thousands of others?In the Summer of 1940, after the Nazi occupation of Poland, an underground operative called Witold Pilecki accepted a mission to uncover the fate of thousands of people being interned at a new concentration camp on the border of the Reich. His mission was to report on Nazi crimes and raise a secret army to stage an uprising. The name of the detention centre -- Auschwitz.It was only after arriving at the camp that he started to discover the Nazi s terrifying plans. Over the next two and half years, Witold forged an underground army that smuggled evidence of Nazi atrocities out of Auschwitz. His reports from the camp were to shape the Allies response to the Holocaust - yet his story was all but forgotten for decades. This is the first major account to draw on unpublished family papers, newly released archival documents and exclusive interviews with surviving resistance fighters to show how he brought the fight to the Nazis at the heart of their evil designs.The result is an enthralling story of resistance and heroism against the most horrific circumstances, and one man s attempt to change the course of history.

Known from his collaboration on the Netflix documentary Age of Samurai, historian William de Lange returns to what he does best: highly anecdotal stories from one of the most exciting episodes in Japanese history: the Warring States period.De Lange takes the reader right back to the 16th century's closing decades. In the course of the ensuing journey we witness the major battles fought by the country's three great unifiers: Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu.Quoting directly and at length from a wide range of contemporary sources, De Lange paints events and figures like no other, 'so richly rendered,' according to one critic, 'that you'd swear De Lange was present at the time, taking notes.'Samurai Battles is an epic account of a dramatic period in Japanese history-a period in which the whole country was consumed by the fire of civil strife that raged hardest on the field of battle.

'Tommy' Lascelles was Private Secretary to four monarchs - and depicted in the Netflix hit The Crown. These diaries reveal the inside story of the royal household during the abdication crisis, the second world war and the Princess Margaret-Peter Townsend affair'Brilliantly entertaining and historically priceless' Spectator

Giuseppe Garibaldi was praised for his military genius, his courage, and his charisma. In this landmark biography, Christopher Hibbert reveals how this iconic figure and architect of Italian unification earned the adulation of not only his fellow Italians, but people across the globe.

The son of white captive Cynthia Ann Parker, Quanah Parker rose from able warrior to tribal leader on the Comanche reservation. In this crisp and readable biography, William Hagan presents a well-balanced portrait of Quanah Parker, the chief, and Quanah, the man torn between two worlds.

Authorised biography of Welsh nationalist and activist John Barnard Jenkins, one of the most iconic figures in recent Welsh history. The leader of Mudiad Amddiffyn Cymru (MAC), he masterminded their 1960s bombing campaign protesting British state oppression and exploitation of Wales' natural resources. -- Y Lolfa

"An acclaimed historian's definitive biography of the most important African-American figure of the 19th century, Frederick Douglass, who was to his century what Martin Luther King, Jr. was to the 20th century"--

The inimitable Jenni Murray celebrates great women from around the world - rescuing some from obscurity and shining a new light on familiar names

Distinguished ambassador Wendy Sherman combines personal storytelling and expert insight to show readers how they can put diplomatic values like courage, persistence, and empathy to work in their own lives.