Bookshelf

Welcome to the Unseen Histories bookshelf. Here you can read excerpts from new history books as well as browsing our archive of previews. These, published monthly, showcase the boldest and best new history writing across all eras of the past.

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Why Are We Drawn to Mountains?

George Mallory, one of the central figures in the history of mountaineering, was haunted by this simple question, as the author Daniel Light explains

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New History Books for September 2024

From Ancient India to Chernobyl, the Commonwealth of England to King Henry V

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New History Books for August 2024

From Operation Barbarossa to the Medieval scriptorium, Kyiv to Cornwall

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New History Books for July 2024

From cirrus clouds to spymasters, Paris to the Rhine

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New History Books for June 2024

From King James I to New Deal America, invisible ink to London pubs

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The Late Bronze Age Collapse

Paul Cooper confronts one of the great puzzles of ancient history

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New History Books for May 2024

From D-Day to the Georgian theatre, Joseph Stalin to Sappho

Before the Tourists: The Unseen History of the Venice Ghetto post image

Before the Tourists: The Unseen History of the Venice Ghetto

Harry Freedman on a 'dark and unhappy' chapter in Venetian history

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Anna May Wong's Performance of a Lifetime

Katie Gee Salisbury takes us to London in 1928, as Anna May Wong prepared to give the performance of her life

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New History Books for April 2024

From King John to the Red Devils, Hollywood to Captain Cook

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Cocainomania

Mike Jay on Sherlock Holmes and the detective's changing relationship with cocaine

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New History Books for March 2024

From the Romans to Queen Victoria, Propaganda to Poisoning