Private History

From one of the most beloved authors of our time—more than six million copies of his books have been sold in this country alone—a fascinating excursion into the history behind the place we call home. “Houses aren’t refuges from history. They are where history ends up.” Bill Bryson and...

Bloomsbury presents Death Is Our Business by John Lechner, read by Christopher Ragland. "Extraordinary. . . Essential reading for understanding Russia and modern warfare."—CHRIS MILLER, New York Times bestselling author of Chip War and Putinomics “John Lechner is an amazingly bold reporter...

England's Tudor monarchs - Henry VII, Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I - are perhaps the most celebrated and fascinating of all royal families in history. Their love affairs, their political triumphs, and their overturning of the religious order are the subject of countless works of popular scholarship. But for all we know about Henry's quest for male heirs or Elizabeth's purported virginity, the lives of the Tudor monarchs away from the public eye remain largely beyond our grasp, mostly not chronicled by previous historians.

This is the story of Mark Twain's brief career as a Confederate soldier at the beginning of the American Civil War. Mark Twain's "private history" is told from the viewpoint of "someone who set out to do something in the war, but didn't". What starts out as a kind of class reunion/camping trip quickly becomes a series of frightful near misses with a determined and deadly foe, and ends in painful, premature death for some and a lifetime of guilty regrets for others.

At daybreak on April 6, 1862, Confederate forces launched a bold suprise attack on the Union army, encamped in southwestern Tennesse. The battle of Shiloh, also known as the battle of Pittsburg Landing, would prove to be the bloodiest battle up until that point in United Staes history. The two day battle would cost a staggering 23,000 casualties. Both sides were stunned at the appalling loss of life. At the time, neither realized that three more years of such bloodshed were still to come.

Salem witchcraft will always have a magnetic pull on the American psyche. During the 1692 witch trials, more than 150 people were arrested. An estimated 25 million Americans—including author Diane Foulds—are descended from the twenty individuals executed. What happened to our ancestors? Death in Salem is the first book to take a clear-eyed look at this complex time, by examining the lives of the witch trial participants from a personal perspective.

Brought back for one final mission, Paul Brenner is dragged out of a forced retirement to solve a thirty-year-old murder in Vietnam in this thriller from the #1 bestselling author of Plum Island. "Much more than a blood-and-guts thriller... An insightful, moving, and sensitive look at what the...

On a beautiful summer day, crowds lined up outside a theater witness a sudden act of extreme road rage: a tap on a fender triggers a nearly homicidal attack. Jackson Brodie, ex-cop, ex-private detective, new millionaire, is among the bystanders. The event thrusts Jackson into the orbit of the...

Steve Coll investigates the largest and most powerful private corporation in the United States, revealing the true extent of its power. ExxonMobil’s annual revenues are larger than the economic activity in the great majority of countries. In many of the countries where it conducts business...

For the first time ever, the intimate thoughts and political decisions of Abraham Lincoln’s entire presidency - day by day. In a startlingly innovative format, journalist Stephen A. Wynalda has constructed a painstakingly detailed day-by-day breakdown of president Abraham Lincoln’s decisions in office - including his signing of the Homestead Act on May 20, 1862; his signing of the legislation enacting the first federal income tax on August 5, 1861; and more personal incidents like the day his 11-year-old son, Willie, died.

*VANITY FAIR'S BEST BOOKS OF 2025*ONE OF NEW REPUBLIC'S BOOKS OF THE YEAR*KIRKUS' BEST NONFICTION BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2025*ONE OF AV CLUB'S BEST BOOKS OF 2025* "[An] indictment of an industry that has cannily tilted the playing field in its favor. Bad Company details how clichéd abstractions like...

The Definitive Biography of Oscar Wilde: Genius, Scandal, and Literary Immortality Oscar Wilde dominated Victorian London like no writer before or since. His plays revolutionized English theater. His fairy tales are still read to children worldwide. His novel The Picture of Dorian Gray remains a masterpiece of Gothic fiction. His wit was legendary, his conversation unmatched, his aesthetic philosophy influential across generations. Then Victorian England destroyed him through a prosecution that was meant to erase his name from cultural memory. It failed. This comprehensive biography follows...

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK FINALIST FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR NONFICTION “Riveting . . . a powerful snapshot of four young Chinese women attempting to assert control over the direction of their lives.” —The New York Times Book Review “As powerfully intimate as it is politically...

Elizabeth II is within a few years of becoming the longest-reigning British monarch. A personally quiet, modest and dutiful person, she is far better-informed about the lives of her subjects than they often realize. She has known every Prime Minister since Winston Churchill and every American President since Eisenhower. Yet what of the woman behind the crown?

When a former client jumps naked from a Boston landmark, Private Investigator Patrick Kenzie wants to know why. Once a perky young woman in love with life, her suicide is the final fall in a spiral of self-destruction. What Kenzie discovers is a sadistic stalker who targeted the woman and...

#1 New York Times Bestseller The inspiration for the Netflix series streaming now! “A revealing look at life inside the White House. . . it’s Downton Abbey for the White House staff.”— The Today Show A remarkable history with elements of both In the President’s Secret Service and The...

Read by Hugh Fraser TWO BESTSELLING MYSTERIES IN ONE GREAT PACKAGE! CROOKED HOUSE “Writing Crooked House was pure pleasure and I feel justified in my belief that it is one of my best.” --Agatha Christie Described by the queen of mystery herself as one of her favorites of her published work...

Drawing on a huge range of sources - letters, memoirs, conversations - Orlando Figes tells the story of how Russians tried to endure life under Stalin. Those who shaped the political system became, very frequently, its victims. Those who were its victims were frequently quite blameless. The Whisperers recreates the sort of maze in which Russians found themselves, where an unwitting wrong turn could either destroy a family or, perversely, later save it: a society in which everyone spoke in whispers - whether to protect themselves, their families, neighbours or friends - or to inform on them.

The Diary of Samuel Pepys is the most celebrated personal journal in the English language. Pepys's candid revelations as he forged his career as a civilian naval official in Restoration London have fascinated readers ever since the first selection was published in 1825. This book focuses on...

“A fascinating tour inside the mind—and the heart—of Abraham Lincoln . . . An important and timeless work.”—Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of His Truth Is Marching On From the New York Times bestselling author of A. Lincoln and American Ulysses, a revelatory glimpse into...