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<b>For fans of <i>Hidden Figures </i>and <i>The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks</i></b><br/><br/><b>'The kind of history I wish I learned as a child dreaming of the stage!' MISTY COPELAND</b><br/><br/><b>'Vibrant, propulsive and inspiring' TIA WILLIAMS</b><br/><br/>Harlem 1969; it's the height of the Civil Rights era and the community is still reeling from the assassination of Martin Luther King. Arthur Mitchell, the first Black principal dancer at the New York City Ballet, takes his protest to the stage and establishes the Dance Theatre of Harlem. Here begins the story of the five extraordinary women at the heart of this book.<br/><br/>Both a group biography and a story of a particular time, this is a book about ballet, the enduring allure of ballet for young girls, and about how these pioneers broke into a world that was closed to them and changed ideas of what a classical dancer could be. It is about the heart-breaking impact of the AIDS epidemic which claimed the lives of so many of the male dancers. It's about racism and activism through art. And it's about the eternal glamour of ballet; these swans appeared at the grandest opera houses and theatres, dancing at the White House, and even for the Queen. Their fans included Mick Jagger and they performed alongside the likes of Michael Jackson and Josephine Baker.<br/><br/>But most importantly it tells the universal story of female friendship, and in particular how these five young women formed a bond - while experimenting with different ways of dying ballet shoes and tights to match their skin tones - which still endures many decades later.

<b>A radical retelling of human history through collapse - from the dawn of our species to the urgent existential threats of the twentieth-first century and beyond - based on the latest research and a database of more than 440 societal lifespans over the last 5,000 years.</b><br/><br/><b>Why do civilisations collapse? </b><br/><br/>For the first 200,000 years of human history, hunter-gathering <i>Homo sapiens</i> lived in fluid, egalitarian civilizations that thwarted any individual or group from ruling permanently. Then, around 12,000 years ago, that began to change.<br/><br/>Slowly, reluctantly we congregated in the first farms and cities, and people began to rely on lootable resources like grain and fish for their daily sustenance. When more powerful weapons became available, small groups began to seize control of these valuable commodities. This inequality in resources soon tipped over into inequality in power, and we started to adopt more primal, hierarchical forms of organisation. Power was concentrated in masters, kings, pharaohs and emperors (and ideologies were born to justify their rule). Goliath-like states and empires - with vast bureaucracies and militaries - carved up and dominated the globe.<br/><br/>What brought them down? From Rome and the Aztec empire and the early cities of Cahokia and Teotihuacan, it was increasing inequality and concentrations of power which hollowed these Goliaths out before an external shock brought them crashing down. These collapses were written up as apocalyptic, but in truth they were usually a blessing for most of the population.<br/><br/>Now we live in a single global Goliath. Growth-obsessed, extractive institutions like the fossil fuel industry, big tech, and military-industrial complexes rule our world and produce new ways of annihilating our species, from climate change to nuclear war. Our systems are now so fast, complex and interconnected that a future collapse will likely be global, swift and irreversible. All of us now faces a choice: we must learn to democratically control Goliath, or the next collapse may be our last.<br/><br/><b>'A deeply sobering and strangely inspiring history of how societies collapse - and how we can still save ours. Read it now, or your descendants will find it in the ruins' JOHANN HARI</b><br/><br/><b>'Absolutely essential reading for understanding why past civilisations collapsed, and how to protect our own from the same fate' LEWIS DARTNELL</b>

<i>'In Liverpool everybody wanted to be in a band. On every street corner and in every cellar there were young fellas practising with guitars. But it was rare to see any girls on the new Merseybeat scene. It was inevitable that we would find each other . . .'</i><br/><br/><b>In the early '60s, four friends from Liverpool formed a band. But this is not the 'fab four' story we know.</b><br/><br/>Mary, Sylvia, Valerie and Pamela - also known as <i>The Liverbirds -</i> were one of the world's first all-female rock'n'roll bands. At an early gig, backstage at the Cavern Club, a young John Lennon told them that 'girls don't play guitars'. But they took that as a challenge. Despite the early scepticism, they won over tough crowds, toured stadiums, recorded two hit albums, and played with the Kinks, Rolling Stones and Chuck Berry - all in the space of just five years.<br/><br/>Now, the two surviving members of the band tell their incredible story in full for the first time - capturing a lost era of liberation and rock'n'roll, as they thrived in the vibrant Merseybeat music scene and formed a friendship that has endured through the decades.<br/><br/>*<br/><br/><i>'A ton of Liverpudlian grit, good sense and wry humour.' </i>- Daily Mail<br/><br/><i>'Warm and vivid . . . Stories like this one are vital to keep.' </i>- Telegraph<br/><br/><i>'A powerful story, one that dances to its own distinctive beat.' </i>- The Sunday Times

<b>THE INSTANT <i>NYT </i>BESTSELLER</b><br/><b><br/>'Fascinating' - <i>The Guardian</i></b><br/><br/><b>A gripping account of the little-known plot that could have put an end to JFK's historic presidency - before it even began.</b><br/><br/>From the <i>New York Times</i> bestselling authors of <i>The Nazi Conspiracy</i> comes a true, little-known story about the first assassination attempt on John F. Kennedy, right before his inauguration.<br/><br/>Kennedy was infamously assassinated in 1963, ending his historic presidency. But what most people don't know is that JFK's story almost ended before it began - at the hands of a disgruntled sociopathic loner armed with dynamite.<br/><br/>On December 11, 1960, shortly after Kennedy's election and before his inauguration, retired postal worker, Richard Pavlick, waited in his parked Buick on a quiet street in Palm Beach, Florida. Pavlick knew when Kennedy would leave his house and where he was going. From there, Pavlick had a simple plan - one that almost changed the course of history.<br/><br/>Written in the page-turning style that is the hallmark of Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch's bestselling series, this is a slice of history vividly brought to life. Meltzer and Mensch are at the top of their game with a brilliant exploration of what could've been for one of the most compelling leaders of the 20th century.

WINNER OF THE 2021 NDR BOOK PRIZE IN GERMANY 'A must-read' Lyndal Roper, Regius Professor of History at Oriel College, Oxford Fishing quotas on Lake Constance. Common lands in the UK. The medieval answer to Depop in the middle of Frankfurt. These are all just some of the sustainability initiatives from the Middle Ages that Annette Kehnel illuminates in her astounding new book, The Green Ages. From the mythical-sounding City of Ladies and their garden economy to early microcredit banks and rent-a-cow schemes, Kehnel uncovers a world at odds with what we might think of as the typical medieval existence. Pre-modern history is full of inspiring examples and concepts that open up new horizons. And we urgently need them as today's challenges - finite resources, the twilight of consumerism, growing inequality - threaten what we have come to think of as a modern way of living sustainably. This is a revelatory look at the past that has the power to change our future.

'Essential reading' John Bradshaw, author of In Defence of Dogs 'A riveting history: a book stuffed with knowledge and quietly radiating affection' Church Times, Books of the Year 2024 Dogs are our constant companions: models of loyalty and unconditional love for millions around the world. But these beloved animals are much more than just our pets - and our shared history is far richer and more complex than you might assume. Here, historian and dog lover Chris Pearson reveals how the shifting fortunes of dogs hold a mirror to our changing society, from the evolution of breeding standards to the fight for animal rights. Wherever humans have gone, dogs have followed, changing size, appearance and even jobs along the way. Despite vast social change, however, the power of the human-canine bond has never diminished. By turns charming, thought-provoking and surprising, Collared reveals the fascinating tale of how we made the modern dog.

Budapest, autumn 1943. Four years into the war, Hungary is allied with Nazi Germany and the Hungarian capital is the Casablanca of central Europe. The city swirls with intrigue and betrayal, home to spies and agents of every kind. But Budapest remains at peace, an oasis in the midst of war where Allied POWs, and Polish and Jewish refugees find sanctuary. The riverside cafes are crowded and the city's famed cultural life still thrives.<br/><br/>All that comes to an end in March 1944 when the Nazis invade. By the summer, Allied bombers are pounding its grand boulevards and historic squares. Budapest's surviving Jewish population has been forcibly relocated to cramped, overcrowded Yellow Star houses. By late December, the city is surrounded and under siege from the Red Army. Tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians die in the savage siege as Budapest collapses into anarchy. Hungarian death squads roam the streets as the city's Jews are forced into ghettos. Russian artillery pounds the city into smoking rubble as starving residents hack chunks of meat from dead, frozen horses.<br/><br/>Using newly uncovered diaries, documents, archival material and interviews with the last survivors, Adam LeBor brilliantly recreates life and death in the wartime city, the catastrophic fate of half of its Jewish population and the destruction of the siege.<br/><br/>Told through the lives of a cast of vivid, gripping characters, including glamorous aristocrats, spies, smugglers and SS Officers, a rebellious teenage Jewish schoolboy, Hungary's most popular actress and her spy chief lover, a Jewish businesswoman who negotiated with Adolf Eichmann, a Christian doctor hiding her Jewish neighbours and a teenage Hungarian soldier, the story of how Budapest slowly dies as the war destroys the city is utterly compelling.