Bodley Head Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life Armstrong Karen

A critical but fair political biography that tells the story of the life and the equally fascinating one of his legacy. This is Churchill for those who believe that the country has lost its way and who try to understand why - and Churchill and his legacy have a lot to answer for • A critical but fair political biography of Churchill that zooms in on crucial moments in his life and career that help us understand the man in his many contradictions • While in A.J.P. Taylor's words, Churchill was 'the saviour of his country', he was also a deeply flawed character, whose personal ambition would cloud his political judgement - and as a result he was often plain wrong. But the book's central argument goes beyond biography: argues that Churchill has cast a dark shadow over post-war British history and contemporary politics - from the 'Churchillian stance' of Tony Blair taking the country to war in Iraq to the delusion of a special relationship with the United States to the fateful belief in British exceptionalism: that the nation can once again stand alone in Europe

World-renowned psychologist Paul Bloom presents a captivating scientific account of why a rich and meaningful life is rarely an easy one - and why we should embrace that fact • Why do we seek out painful experiences? From horror movies and roller-coaster rides to mountain-climbing, religious abstinence and - most painful of all - parenthood, humans are drawn irresistibly to activities that they know are going to hurt. Many people have something missing in their lives, and a whole 'happiness' business has grown up in response. In The Sweet Spot, psychologist Paul Bloom takes a different approach • Drawing on studies of the evolutionary value of play and the science of morality, he presents an alternative account of human behaviour in which our desire for meaning is far greater than our desire for happiness, and shows not only that chosen suffering - including pain, fear and sadness - can be a source of pleasure, but that suffering is an essential part of achieving a complete and fulfilling life

A revelatory portrait of life in a great museum and the moving story of one guard's quest to find solace and meaning in art • Millions of people climb the grand marble staircase into New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art every year. Patrick Bringley never thought he'd be one of them. But when his brother was diagnosed with fatal cancer he quit his journalism job, and sought peace in the most beautiful place he knew • To his surprise, this temporary refuge becomes his home away from home for a decade. Bringley enters the museum as a ghost, silent and almost invisible, but soon finds his voice and place among the lively subculture of museum guards. As his bonds with colleagues and the art grow, he learns how fortunate he is to be walled off in this little world and how much it resembles the best aspects of the larger world to which he gradually, gratefully returns

In a time of pandemic and tyranny Our Malady is an urgent diagnosis of the vital link between health and freedom • A virus is not human, but the reaction to it is a measure of humanity • America has not measured up well. Tens of thousands are dead for no reason. America is supposed to be about freedom, yet illness and fear make its citizens less free. After all, freedom is meaningless if we are too ill to think about our right to happiness or too weak to pursue it. So, if a government is making its people unhealthy it is also making them unfree • On December 29, 2019, Timothy Snyder fell gravely ill. As he clung to life he found himself reflecting on the fragility of health, not recognized in America as a human right, but without which all rights and freedoms have no meaning

We tend to think of the Middle Ages as a dark, backward and unchanging time characterised by violence, ignorance and superstition. By contrast we believe progress arose from science and technological innovation, and that inventions of recent centuries created the modern world • We couldn't be more wrong. As Ian Mortimer shows in this fascinating book, people's horizons - their knowledge, experience and understanding of the world - expanded dramatically. Life was utterly transformed between 1000 and 1600, marking the transition from a warrior-led society to that of Shakespeare • Just as The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England revealed what it was like to live in the fourteenth century, Medieval Horizons provides the perfect primer to the era as a whole

Our biology will change how you see the world. Lewis Dartnell explores how human biology has shaped relationships, societies, economies and wars across the globe • How did haemophilia bring down the Russian royal family? And scurvy give rise to the Mafia? • We are a wonder of evolution. Our exceptional abilities created life as we know it, but we're also deeply flawed. This extraordinary contradiction between our faculties and frailties is the essence of what it means to be human. And history has played out in the balance between them • Here, Lewis Dartnell tells our story through the lens of this uniquely fragile nature for the first time. From cognitive biases to endemic diseases, he explores how human biology has shaped relationships, societies, economies and wars across the globe - and considers how, importantly, it continues to challenge and define our progress

A legendary collection of essays by one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century • Illuminations contains the most celebrated work of Walter Benjamin, one of the most original and influential thinkers of the 20th Century: 'The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction', ‘The Task of the Translator’ and 'Theses on the Philosophy of History', as well as essays on Kafka, storytelling, Baudelaire, Brecht's epic theatre, Proust and an anatomy of his own obsession, book collecting • This now legendary volume offers the best possible access to Benjamin’s singular and significant achievement, while Hannah Arendt’s introduction reveals how his life and work are a prism to his times

Keep calm – but do not carry on. There is nothing remotely inevitable about Brexit – except that it will be deeply damaging if it happens. Extricating Britain from Europe will be the greatest challenge this country has faced since the Second World War. And as negotiations with the EU expose the promises of the Brexit campaign to have been hollow, even some Brexit-voters now wish to exercise their democratic right to change their mind, seeing that the most pragmatic option is to … stop. It would certainly be the best thing for Britain. But how can it be done? Haven’t the people spoken? • No. In this indispensable handbook, Nick Clegg categorically debunks the various myths that have been used to force Brexit on Britain, not by ‘the people’ but by a small, extremely rich, self-serving elite, and explains precisely how this historic mistake can be reversed – and what you can do to make sure that it is

Venice, 1522. Sensitive intelligence arrives from the east confirming the European powers' greatest fear: the vastly rich Ottoman Sultan has amassed all he needs to wage total war - and his sights are set on Rome. With Christendom divided, Suleyman the Magnificent has his hand on their entrails • From the palace cloisters of Istanbul to the blood-soaked fields of central Europe to the sun-scorched coast of north Africa, The Lion House pioneers a bold new style of eye-witness history to tell a true story of power at its most glittering, personal and deadly: Suleyman's rise to become the most powerful man of the sixteenth century • Narrated through the eyes and actions of Suleyman's intimates, it animates with stunning immediacy the fears and stratagems of those brought into orbit around him: the Greek slave who becomes his Grand Vizier, the Venetian jewel-dealer who acts as his go-between, the Russian consort who becomes his most beloved wife

Cloudmoney take us to the frontlines of a war for our wallets that is also about our freedom: it is a captivating tour of the world of money that also asks the most important questions about our future • We are often told that the move towards a cashless society is 'natural progress', but there is seldom reference to the powerful groups that are vigorously pushing for it. What happens when physical money is replaced completely by digital transactions? • In the great battle for global monopolization, different 'watchers' are trying to capture and hoard data. Google has search patterns revealing your desires, fetishes and intellectual interests. Facebook has a treasure trove of its users' special moments and projections of vanity. Yet, if we really want to see what a person is motivated to act upon in society, we should examine their payments data

A grand unifying theory of human flourishing and inequality from one of the world's pre-eminent thinkers • In a captivating journey from the dawn of human existence to the present and back again, world-renowned thinker Oded Galor offers a captivating solution to the two seminal and interrelated mysteries of human flourishing and inequality. Why are humans the only species on the planet to have escaped - only very recently - the subsistence trap, allowing us to enjoy a standard of living that vastly exceeds all others? And why have we progressed so unequally around the world, resulting in the great disparities between nations that exist today? • Immense in scope and packed with astounding connections, Galor's gripping narrative explains how biology, technology, population size and natural selection led to a stunning 'phase change' in the human story a mere two hundred years ago

A hugely enjoyable and original history of the interplay between spying and showbiz from Shakespeare to James Bond • A vastly entertaining and unique history of the interaction between spying and showbiz, from the Elizabethan age to the Cold War and beyond • Throughout history, there has been a consistent crossover between show business and espionage, often producing some of the most extraordinary undercover agents, and occasionallyleading to disastrous and dangerous failures. The fact that one relies on publicity and the other on secrecy might seem to rule out a successful symbiosis; but as both require high levels of creative thinking, improvisation, disguise and role-play, they inevitably attract some remarkably similar personalities • Stars and Spies is the first history of the interplay between the two worlds