The House of Medici picks up where Barbara Tuchman's Hibbert delves into the lives of the Medici family, whose legacy of increasing self-indulgence and sexual dalliance eventually led to its self-destruction. With twenty-four pages of black-and-white illustrations, this timeless saga is one of Quill's strongest-selling paperbacks.
A beautiful, quirky, illustrated edition of Phaidon's compelling bestseller, celebrating the book's 25th anniversary
This concise and fast-paced introduction to English history keeps the reader enthralled through the entire course of the country's political, economic, and cultural landscape, covering the whole sweep of English history from the Stone Age to the present. Its flowing narrative style, character sketches, and lively anecdotes bring the people and places of the past to life. In this newly illustrated edition, John Broadley's unique tableaux-like illustrations capture the landscape, costumes, and characters of the history that Hibbert's text so vividly evokes.
To Thomas Carlyle he was not worth his weight in cold bacon, but, to Queen Victoria, Benjamin Disraeli was the kindest Minister she had ever had and a dear and devoted friend. In this masterly biography by England's outstanding popular historian (A.N. Wilson), Christopher Hibbert reveals the personal life of one of the most fascinating men of the nineteenth century and England's most eccentric Prime Minister. A superb speaker, writer, and wit, Disraeli did not intend to be a politician. Born into a family of Jewish merchants, Disraeli was a conspicuous dandy, constantly in debt, and enjoyed many scandalous affairs until, in 1839, he married an eccentric widow twelve years older than him. As an antidote to his grief at his wife's death in 1872, he threw himself into politics becoming Prime Minister for the second time in 1874, much to the Queen's delight.
In George III: A Personal History, British historian Christopher Hibbert reassesses the royal monarch George III (1738-1820). Rather than reaffirm George III's reputation as Mad King George, Hibbert portrays him as not only a competent ruler during most of his reign, but also as a patron of the arts and sciences, as a man of wit and intelligence, indeed, as a man who greatly enhanced the reputation of the British monarchy until he was finally stricken by a rare hereditary disease.Teeming with court machinations, sexual intrigues, and familial conflicts, George III opens a window on the tumultuous, rambunctious, revolutionary eighteenth century. It is sure to alter our understanding of this fascinating, complex, and very human king who so strongly shaped England's --and America's--destiny.
The vivid account of how a brilliant plan turned into an epic tragedy - made into the BAFTA award-winning film A BRIDGE TOO FAR
'Alive with the detail that evokes the smoking background' DAILY TELEGRAPH 'Finely recorded...truly the battle of Arnhem has been fortunate in its historian' SUNDAY TIMES This book tells the true story of the Battle of Arnhem which was fought in September 1944. Nine thousand men of the First British Airborne Division were parachuted into the peaceful countryside that surrounded Arnhem. Their objective was to capture and hold the bridge over the Rhine ahead of the advancing British Second Army. Nine days later, after some of the fiercest street-fighting of the war, 2000 paratroopers managed to escape to safety. Made famous by the film A BRIDGE TOO FARWith passion and wit, Christopher Hibbert details the crucial years that formed Dickens the writer and Dickens the man. He explains how Dickens transferred the smallest fragments of his experience to his fiction, and how he interpreted his youth for both himself and his readers, throwing a clear light on the creative process and sources of literary imagination. An illuminating look at a complex and baffling person, fans of literary biography will relish Hibbert's acclaimed style as he delivers the fascinating tale of Dickens' development.
The perfect concise introduction to England's past for readers of all ages, this book is also a unique work of popular history, written by a master storyteller.
With vivid character sketches, telling details and well-chosen anecdotes, Christopher Hibbert brings people and places to life, while the outline of great events remains perfectly clear. His remarkable narrative keeps the reader enthralled, from the first encounter with England's Neolithic inhabitants, through the entire course of the country's political, economic and cultural history, to an expression of faith in the qualities of the English today. The text is illuminated throughout by many colour illustrations, and the need for quick reference is met by maps, genealogies, fold-out chronological charts and a comprehensive index. Concise yet richly informative, this book presents a new style of history that will absorb and educate all who read it.