Penguin The Venetian Empire. A Sea Voyage Morris Jan

Alphonse, a young Walloon officer, is travelling to join his regiment in Madrid in 1739. But he soon finds himself mysteriously detained at a highway inn in the strange and varied company of thieves, brigands, cabbalists, noblemen, coquettes and gypsies, whose stories he records over sixty-six days. The resulting manuscript is discovered some forty years later in a sealed casket, from which tales of characters transformed through disguise, magic and illusion, of honour and cowardice, of hauntings and seductions, leap forth to create a vibrant polyphony of human voices. Jan Potocki (1761-1812) used a range of literary styles - gothic, picaresque, adventure, pastoral, erotica - in his novel of stories-within-stories, which, like the Decameron and Tales from the Thousand and One Nights, provides entertainment on an epic scale

The first part of his trilogy on the Spanish Empire, Hugh Thomas's Rivers of Gold brings the rise of Spain's global empire vividly to life, capturing the spirit of an ebullient age • Inspired by hopes of both riches and of converting native people to Christianity, the Spanish adventurers of the fifteenth century convinced themselves that an Earthly Paradise existed in the Caribbean. This is the story of the hundreds of conquistadors who set sail on the precarious journey across the Atlantic - taking with them wheat, the horse, the guitar and the wheel as well as guns, malaria and slaves - to create an empire that made Spain the envy of the world

The Ottoman Endgame is the first, and definitive, single-volume history of the Ottoman empire's agonising war for survival. Beginning with Italy's invasion of Ottoman Tripoli in September 1911, the Empire was in a permanent state of emergency, with hardly a frontier not under direct threat. Assailed by enemies on all sides, the Empire-which had for generations been assumed to be a rotten shell-proved to be strikingly resilient, beating off major attacks at Gallipoli and in Mesopotamia before finally being brought down in the general ruin of the Central Powers in 1918 • As the Europeans planned to partition all its lands between them and with even Istanbul seemingly helpless in the face of the triumphant Entente, an absolutely unexpected entity emerged: modern Turkey

The final destruction of the Ottoman Empire - one of the great epics of the First World War, from bestselling historian Eugene Rogan • For some four centuries the Ottoman Empire had been one of the most powerful states in Europe as well as ruler of the Middle East. By 1914 it had been drastically weakened and circled by numerous predators waiting to finish it off. Following the Ottoman decision to join the First World War on the side of the Central Powers the British, French and Russians hatched a plan to finish the Ottomans off: an ambitious and unprecedented invasion of Gallipoli • Eugene Rogan's remarkable book recreates one of the most important but poorly understood fronts of the First World War. Despite fighting back with great skill and ferocity against the Allied onslaught and humiliating the British both at Gallipoli and in Mesopotamia (Iraq), the Ottomans were ultimately defeated, clearing the way for the making, for better or worse, of a new Middle East which has endured to the present

The news from the north is grim • An army is massing under the new king of Feal. They head towards Darien - city of the Twelve families - • demanding allegiance, or war • Tellius, Speaker to the Council, knows this divided city will never stand against such a terrible foe • But Tellius has a plan • He will assemble a band of heroes. Men and women who once before aided Darien in her time of need • They will come if he calls • The army approaches • The trumpets of war sound • A great city holds its breath • And a desperate plan unfolds • Discover the first two instalments in the thrilling Empire of Salt series Darien and Shiang, perfect for fans of Bernard Cornwell and Game of Thrones

Шестнадцать столетий назад Британия вышла из состава Римской империи и быстро пришла в упадок. В этот жестокий и нестабильный мир пришли иностранные захватчики из-за моря и утвердились в качестве его новых хозяев. В захватывающей и оригинальной книге "Англосаксы. История зарождения Англии" известный историк Марк Моррис отделяет правду от легенды и рассказывает необычную историю о том, как были заложены основы Англии • Книга на английском языке • Sixteen hundred years ago Britain left the Roman Empire and swiftly fell into ruin. Into this violent and unstable world came foreign invaders from across the sea, and established themselves as its new masters. In this sweeping and original history, renowned historian Marc Morris separates the truth from the legend and tells the extraordinary story of how the foundations of England were laid

Captain Lannec has finally managed to buy his own ship with the financial help of his in-laws, the Pitards - and they've never let him forget it. When his temperamental wife Mathilde insists on coming along on the ship's first voyage, Lannec becomes increasingly unnerved by her presence, especially when he receives an anonymous note saying he won't make it back to port. As they hit a storm in the Atlantic, jealousy, spite, snobbery and suspicion are churned up in the boat's stiflingly close quarters • First published in 1935, The Pitards was one of the first novels Simenon wrote when he shelved his famous Maigret series in order to strike out in a new direction and make a name for himself as a literary writer. This gripping evocation of life at sea revolves around class and the tense unravelling of relationships, powerful themes that Simenon would return to throughout his writing career

Kurt and his crew are in a deadly race against time to stop the sea rising. A mission deep inside the swirling Pacific. Their objective? To save the world • The world's sea levels are rising at an alarming rate. So fast that nobody can explain it • It's up to Kurt and the NUMA team to find out why, before it's too late • Their search for answers sends them racing around the world, from the high-tech streets of Tokyo, to a forbidden secret island • But it's in the East China Sea that they discover a secret underwater mining operation, and a plot more dangerous than they could have ever imagined • The world is drowning and fast - but has Kurt Austin arrived in time to save the day?

In The Habsburgs, Martyn Rady tells the epic story of a dynasty and the world it built - and then lost - over nearly a millennium • From modest origins, the Habsburgs grew in power to gain control of the Holy Roman Empire in the fifteenth century. Then, in just a few decades, their possessions rapidly expanded to take in a large part of Europe stretching from Hungary to Spain, and from the Far East to the New World. The family continued to dominate Central Europe until the catastrophe of the First World War • With its seemingly disorganized mass of large and small territories, its tangle of laws and privileges and its medley of languages, the Habsburg Empire has always appeared haphazard and incomplete. But here Martyn Rady shows the reasons for the family's incredible endurance, driven by the belief that they were destined to rule the world as defenders of the Roman Catholic Church, guarantors of peace and patrons of learning

For centuries Spain had been the most feared and predatory power in Europe - it had the largest empire and one of the world's great navies to defend it. Nothing could have prepared the Spanish for the devastating implosion of 1805-14. Trafalgar destroyed its navy and the country degenerated into a brutalized shambles with French and British armies marching across it at will. The result was a war which killed over a million Spaniards and ended its empire • This book is the first in a generation to come to terms with this spectacular and terrible conflict, immortalised by Goya and the arena in which Wellington and his redcoats carved out one of the greatest episodes in British military history

It begins and ends with a sacrifice • It was a time of brutal tyranny and occupation. Young men and women took to the streets to protest. Dictators put them down with iron force. Rumours spread. Rebels attacked the greatest empire the world had ever known. The empire gathered its forces to make those rebels pay • And in the midst of all of that, one preacher by the name of Jesus died. And either something miraculous happened or someone lied • This is the truth according to The Liars' Gospel

Warrior of Rome: The Amber Road is the sixth book in Harry Sidebottom's Warrior of Rome series • AD 264 - The Roman Empire is torn in two • The western provinces - Gaul, Spain and Britain - have been seized by the pretender Postumus. To the east, on the plains of northern Italy, the armies of the emperor Gallienus muster • War is coming • Everyone must choose a side • On a mission shrouded in secrecy and suspicion, Ballista must journey The Amber Road to the far north to Hyperborea, back to his original home and the people of his birth • A fearsome, masked warlord attacks, bringing fire and sword against the Angles. Yet not all welcome Ballista`s return • Does treachery pose the greatest danger? • Dr Harry Sidebottom is a leading authority on ancient warfare - he applies his knowledge with a spectacular flair for sheer explosive action and knuckle-whitening drama