Bøker av James Hawes

A country both admired and feared, Germany has been the epicenter of world events time and again: the Reformation, both World Wars, the fall of the Berlin Wall. It did not emerge as a modern nation until 1871-yet today, Germany is the world's fourth-largest economy and a standard-bearer of liberal democracy."There's no point studying the past unless it sheds some light on the present," writes James Hawes in this brilliantly concise history that has already captivated hundreds of thousands of readers. "It is time, now more than ever, for us all to understand the real history of Germany."

England-begetter of parliaments and globe-spanning empires, star of beloved period dramas, and home of the House of Windsor-is not quite the stalwart island fortress that many of us imagine. Riven by an ancient fault line that predates even the Romans, its fate has ever been bound up with that of its neighbors; and for the past millennia, it has harbored a class system like nowhere else on Earth.This bracing tour of the most powerful country in the United Kingdom reveals an England repeatedly invaded and constantly reinvented-yet always fractured by its very own Mason-Dixon Line. It carries us swiftly through centuries of conflict between Crown and Parliament (starring the Magna Carta), America's War of Independence, the rise and fall of empire, two World Wars, and England's break from the EU. We discover:why the American colonists of 1776 believed that they were the true Anglo-Saxonshow the British Empire was undermined from withinwhy Winston Churchill said the UK could only be saved by splitting up England itselfand how populism spawned Brexit and its "new elite."The Shortest History of England brings all this and more to prescient life-offering the most direct, compelling route to understanding the country behind today's headlines.

EXPLORE THE HISTORY OF THE BRITISH ISLES THROUGH 80 EXTRAORDINARY CREATIONS, FROM BEOWULF AND THE BAYEUX TAPESTRY TO BANKSY, STORMZY, AND BEYONDA companion book to the landmark BBC series, Brilliant Isles tells the story of these islands through art, music, buildings and literature - the creations of visionaries, mavericks and rule-breakers who responded to their times and shaped the future. Whether read cover-to-cover or dipped into, this is a vibrant, surprising and witty guide to a unique culture, by one of our sharpest writers'Hawes's view of English history is sharp and vivid and extremely persuasive'PHILIP PULLMAN'At last a chance to get to grips with the entire history of England, and all in a few hours!'MAIL ON SUNDAY'An engaging, informative sprint through the story of our little island'INDEPENDENT'thorough and absorbing... [Hawes] brings the story right up to date, able to step back from the current madness with admirable clarity NEW EUROPEAN'A fantastic read. I would recommend it to anyone.'PAT KENNY, Newstalk Ireland'Such a thought-provoking read...

Harry MacDonald had seen plenty of skulls - arsing about with some poor sod or other's skull is what pays Harry's rent - but until the day of his official thirty-ninth birthday (actually, Harry was knocking on forty), which was also the day he met Shnade again, he had never noticed the shape of his own skull-to-be;

John Goode is a leftie lecturer who just wants to give his beloved wife and kids a normal life. You know: north London, good schools, nice neighbours, sash windows...

Brian Marley, a divorced Englishman, is alone in the vilest jungle on earth, about to die live on television. When Brian contacts the outside world, the Headmaster is outraged to find an embattled New Labour MP unchallenged by a hapless Tory Party.

But the net was made for liars, and the coke-fuelled Salmon mistakes Jane for a writer who might save his bacon - and warm up his bed - and Jane dives happily into the white powder desert of actors, agents and W1 clubs.