Showing results by publisher "Basic Books" in All Categories

From the prize-winning author of The Ottomans, a myth-busting history of Muslim–Jewish relations, tracing fourteen centuries of cooperation and conflict. Today, the dominant narrative of the relationship between Jewish and Muslim peoples assumes a long history of violent hostility. In Children...

The definitive life story of the Roman Emperor who shaped modern times. In this groundbreaking new biography of Justinian, Peter Sarris gives us an intimate insight into both the Emperor and the man. We meet a man who from the humblest beginnings, rose to become ruler of much of the known world...

'A must-read' THOMAS PIKETTY 'Captivating' DARON ACEMOGLU 'Fascinating' FRANCIS FUKUYAMA An award-winning political scientist shows that a society's path to prosperity, sustainability, and equality depends on who owns the land. For millennia, land has been a symbol of wealth and privilege. But...

WINNER OF THE CUNDILL HISTORY PRIZE 2025 A FINANCIAL TIMES, BBC HISTORY MAGAZINE AND HISTORY TODAY BOOK OF THE YEAR The definitive history of the sixteenth-century uprising that revolutionized Europe. The German Peasants' War was the greatest popular uprising in Western Europe before the French...

An anthropologist uses spelling bees as a lens to examine the unique and diverse traits of Generation Z--and why they are destined for success At first glance, Generation Z (youth born after 1997) seems to be made up of anxious overachievers, hounded by Tiger Moms and constantly tracked on...

'Bold, vital and urgent . . . Blows the old parochial Western accounts clean away' SUZANNAH LIPSCOMB A spectacular new panoramic history of the Crusades. From their foundation in 1097 to Saladin's conquest of Jerusalem almost a century later, the Crusader States transformed the Middle Eastern...

A revisionist history of medicine, in which blood plays the starring role Inspired by Homer’s description of the ebb and flow of the “wine dark sea,” the ancient Greeks conceived a back-and-forth movement of blood. That false notion, perpetuated by the influential Roman physician Galen...

'At last, a history of the Roman state as it has always been crying out to be told, and never has been!' RODERICK BEATON The greatest empire in Western history - told as never been told before. Rome is often remembered for its spectacular collapse. But for over two thousand years - through civil...

'Finally, not just why but crucially how to tax the super-rich' GARY STEVENSON 'Read it, share it and let's get on with it' RUTGER BREGMAN Why do billionaires pay less tax than you? Billionaires often pay a lower income tax rate than nurses, teachers and almost everyone else - sometimes close to...

A leading social researcher explains why humans so consistently misunderstand the outside world How often are women harassed? What percentage of the population are immigrants? How bad is unemployment? These questions are important, but most of us get the answers wrong. Research shows that people...

'This is the history we so badly needed' ANTONY BEEVOR 'Essential reading for understanding Asia's present' RICHARD OVERY A momentous new history of World War II in Asia. In the early twentieth century, from India to China, Western imperial powers dominated Asia. Then, in the 1930s, Japan began...

How do mathematical models shape our world - and how can we harness their power for good? Models are at the centre of everything we do. Whether we use them or are simply affected by them, they act as metaphors that help us better understand the increasingly complex problems facing us in the...

A FINANCIAL TIMES BEST ECONOMICS BOOK OF THE YEAR A THE ECONOMIST BOOK OF THE YEAR 'Brilliantly conceived and enlightening at every turn' Lawrence Wright We have long been suspicious of corporations recklessly pursuing profit and amassing wealth and power. But the story of the corporation didn't...

A provocative history of how nation states arose out of the ashes of World War II, showing how catastrophe, compromise, and contested visions forged the fragile order we still live in today Nation states—self-contained territories with their own economy, population, and culture—dominate...

Playing on the phrase "a theory of everything" in physics, Michael Muthukrishna's ambitious, original and deeply hopeful audiobook offers a unified theory of human behavior, culture, and society - a theory of everyone. In A Theory of Everyone, Muthukrishna draws on the most recent research across the sciences, humanities, and the emerging field of cultural evolution to paint a panoramic picture of who we are and exactly what makes human beings different from all other forms of life on the planet.

What defines who we are? For decades, the biological answer has been our genes. In The Master Builder, leading biologist Alfonso Martinez Arias breaks with decades of scientific and popular tradition to make a bold argument: what defines us is our cells. Drawing on new research from his lab and others, Martinez Arias reveals that we are composed of a thrillingly complex, constantly rearranging symphony of cells that know how to count, feel, and ultimately give form to our bodies.

Part manifesto, part exploration of what justice truly means for survivors of trauma and abuse, Judith Herman forces us to reconsider our perspective on victims, revealing uncomfortable truths about our justice systems and proposing new ways to implement justice. Truth and Repair is a profound and timely commentary that lies at the intersection of several cultural moments including the #MeToo movement, a resurgent interest in trauma, and the global movements focusing on racial injustices and abuses of power towards people of colour.

The first English-language biography of Henri Bergson, the philosopher who defined individual creativity and transformed twentieth century thought. At the dawn of the twentieth century, Henri Bergson became the most famous philosopher on earth. Where prior thinkers sketched out a predictable...

Do you repeatedly defer life to later, convinced there will come a time when you'll be better prepared to seize its opportunities? Do you spend your best hours on chores or trivia before allowing yourself to get to what most matters to you? The real mystery of procrastination is why we avoid...

The last century saw a revolution in life expectancy. Whether you are male or female, born in the global south or north, the chances are that you can expect to live much longer than previous generations. But instead of seeing this as a precious gift of extra life, we see it as a burden, with ageing populations dogged by infirmity, dependent on an ever-decreasing number of young people to support them. Andrew Scott argues it doesn't have to be like that.