This is an exceptional moment for democracy.

In the year of elections, read Margaret Atwood, Mary Beard, Lea Ypi, Elif Shafak and more on what democracy means - and why it matters.

In 2024, nearly half the world will take part in a national election, with billions heading to the polls. It's a thrilling, unprecedented opportunity for change - yet democracy is also under threat.

Women are at the forefront of the fight for democratic rights, as well as being the most vulnerable when those rights disappear. Here, eleven extraordinary women - leaders, philosophers, historians, writers and activists - explore democracy's power to uplift our societies. Between its ancient origins and its modern challenges, they share a vision for a better future - one we can build together.

It's been said that we're a more fearful society than ever before. Yet fear, and the panic it produces, have long been driving forces - perhaps the driving force - of world history: fear of God, of famine, war, disease, poverty, and other people. In Fear: An Alternative History of the World, Robert Peckham considers the impact of fear in history, as both a coercive tool of power and as a catalyst for social change. Beginning with the Black Death in the fourteenth century, Peckham traces a shadow history of the world through fear, from the French Revolution and the social movements of the nineteenth century to modern market crashes, Cold War paranoia and the AIDS pandemic, and into a digital culture increasingly marked by uniquely twenty-first-century fears. What did fear mean to us in the past, and how can a better understanding of it equip us to face the future? Through the stories of the people and the moments that changed history, Peckham reveals how fear and panic made us who we are.

British architecture between the wars is most famous for the rise of modernism - the flat roofs, clean lines and concrete of the Isokon flats in Hampstead and the Penguin Pool at London Zoo - but the reality was far more diverse. As the modernists came of age and the traditionalists began to decline, there arose a rich variety of styles and tastes in Britain and across the empire, a variety that reflected the restless zeitgeist of the years before the Second World War. At the time of his death in 2017, Gavin Stamp, one of Britain's leading architectural critics, was at work on a deeply considered account of British architecture in the interwar period, correcting what he saw as the skewed view of earlier historians who were unable to see past modernism. Beginning with a survey of the modern movement after the armistice, Interwar untangles the threads that link lesser-known movements like the Egyptian revival with the enduring popularity of the Tudorbethan, to chronicle one of Britain's most dynamic architectural periods. The result is more than an architectural history - it is the portrait of a changing nation. As an account of the period that still shapes much of Britain's towns and cities, Gavin Stamp's final work is the definitive history of British architecture between the Great War and the Blitz.

The modern-day cry is that the British high street is dying. But are our present concerns so different from those of the past? Historian Annie Gray takes us down the street and through the ages, from medieval marketplaces to the purpose-built concrete precincts still standing today. Peeping inside the windows of tailors, tearooms and grocers, we explore everything from the toyshops of yesteryear - places where curiosities were sold for adults rather than children - to the birth of brands we still shop at today. Vibrant with historical detail and surprising wares, THE BOOKSHOP, THE DRAPER, THE CANDLESTICK MAKER is an essential reflection on how we shopped and lived in days gone by - and what the future may bring.

You cannot change a narcissist. But you can change how you deal with one. In How to Leave A Narcissist ... For Good, psychologist Dr Sarah Davies offers this practical guide to understanding and healing from a relationship with a narcissist. Drawing on her clinical work with individuals as well as personal experience, with case studies and expert guidance on rebuilding self-confidence, developing emotional regulation skills and learning mindfulness and grounding techniques, How to Leave A Narcissist ... For Good will help you turn your back on narcissists and look forward to future loving relationships. How to Leave A Narcissist ... For Good was previously published as Never Again. This is a new and updated edition.

It's been said that, after 9/11, the 2008 financial crash and the Covid-19 pandemic, we're a more fearful society than ever before. Yet fear, and the panic it produces, have long been driving forces - perhaps the driving force - of world history: fear of God, of famine, war, disease, poverty, and other people. In Fear: An Alternative History of the World, Robert Peckham considers the impact of fear in history, as both a coercive tool of power and as a catalyst for social change. Beginning with the Black Death in the fourteenth century, Peckham traces a shadow history of fear. He takes us through the French Revolution and the social movements of the nineteenth century to modern market crashes, Cold War paranoia and the AIDS pandemic, into a digital culture increasingly marked by uniquely twenty-first-century fears. What did fear mean to us in the past, and how can a better understanding of it equip us to face the future? As Peckham demonstrates, fear can challenge as well as cement authority. Some crises have destroyed societies; others have been the making of them. Through the stories of the people and the moments that changed history, Fear: An Alternative History of the World reveals how fear and panic made us who we are.

Who were the Celts? Were they a people, a civilisation, an empire, or a fiction of historical imagination? They flit as ghosts through Europe's ancient past, purported ancestors of the Irish, Welsh, Scottish, Cornish and Bretons. Yet they have never been identified with any one land, or with any one history or language. Simon Jenkins argues compellingly that the 'Celts' is a misleading concept, bundling together quite distinct peoples. The word keltoi first appears in Greek, applied generally to aliens or 'barbarians' - and theories of Celticism continue to fuel many of the prejudices and misconceptions that divide the British Isles to this day. Fascinating and increasingly relevant, who the Celts were - or weren't - goes to the heart of the ongoing argument over the future of a dis-United Kingdom.

A carbon neutral future is possible - we have the technology to transform the global economy and guard against the worst effects of climate change. So how do we get to net zero? In POSSIBLE, entrepreneur and climate tech consultant Chris Goodall tackles sixteen challenges that we must overcome in making a just transition to carbon neutrality. He explores the technologies that will solve these challenges - from changing how steel, cement and fuel are made, to locking carbon in healthy soils, and from green hydrogen storage to building climate-resilient homes. With case studies and success stories from entrepreneurs across the globe, Goodall illustrates the incredible potential of a Net Zero future, as well as the determination we will need to overcome these problems. New tech featured includes Sweden's H2 Green Steel, California's Fortera cement substitute, Hong Kong garment-to-garment recycling, Finnish turbine company Coolbrook, Norwegian e-fuels, and Captura's innovative ocean CO2 capture.

Why are some things cute, and others not? What happens to our brains when we see something cute? And how did cuteness go global, from Hello Kitty to Disney characters? Cuteness is an area where culture and biology get tangled up. Seeing a cute animal triggers some of the most powerful psychological instincts we have - the ones that elicit our care and protection - but there is a deeper story behind the broad appeal of Japanese cats and saccharine greetings cards. Joshua Paul Dale, a pioneer in the burgeoning field of cuteness studies, explains how the cute aesthetic spread around the globe, from pop brands to Lolita fashion, kids' cartoons and the unstoppable rise of Hello Kitty. Irresistible delves into the surprisingly ancient origins of Japan's kawaii culture, and uncovers the cross-cultural pollination of the globalised world. If adorable things really do rewire our brains, it can help answer some of the biggest questions we have about our evolutionary history and the mysterious origins of animal domestication. This is the fascinating cultural history of cuteness, and a revealing look at how our most powerful psychological impulses have remade global style and culture.

What makes a real salade niçoise? What type of cheese is officially France's stinkiest? Why does the sandy carrot have such a superior flavour? And who exactly are the Brotherhood of the Knights of the Giant Omelette? Leading expert on French food and culture Carolyn Boyd shares the stories behind the country's most fascinating foods and ingredients. Spanning every region of France and divided into 200 separate vignettes, each entry blends history and travel, personal anecdote and recipes. Amuse Bouche is a book to be devoured: a beautifully illustrated, joyous celebration of French food, and a charming, practical guide to inspire your own travels - whether you're a proud Francophile or don't know your ficelle from your flûte.

The sequel to Michael Knights' successful 25 Days to Aden,
The Race for Mukalla is the story of elite UAE forces taking the
counter-terrorism fight to Al -Qaeda in the southern Yemen port of Mukalla. In
many senses this was the UAE's most challenging moment. The first part of the
book tells the story of the devastating missile strike at Safer, leading to the
deaths of fifty Emiratis - a national tragedy for the Gulf nation. But the
Emiratis are quick to regroup and their elite forces go on to save the key city
of Marib city and liberate the iconic Zayed Dam. Both UAE forces and Al-Qaeda race to be the
first to control the southern port of Mukalla. Initially Al-Qaeda take the port
city, but by enlisting the help of local tribes - the Hadrami Elites - UAE
forces fight their way in, running through precipitous mountain passes to the
north and launching a naval blockade and amphibious assault to the south. Meticulously
researched with those involved in the campaign and narrated at the same lively
pace as 25 Days to Aden, The Race for Mukalla is both an adventure story and a
unique historical account of the mission. It outlines the creation of a new
formula for hunting Al-Qaeda: bringing together local Yemeni support, UAE
special forces on the ground, and remote US intelligence and drones for the
first time.

The Ryries have suffered a loss: the death of a baby just fifty-seven hours after his birth. Without words to express their grief, the parents, John and Ricky, try to return to their previous lives. Struggling to regain a semblance of normalcy for themselves and for their two older children, they find themselves pretending not only that little has changed, but that their marriage, their family, have always been intact. Yet in the aftermath of the baby's death, long-suppressed uncertainties about their relationship come roiling to the surface. A dreadful secret emerges with reverberations that reach far into their past and threaten their future.

Moving, psychologically acute and gorgeously written, The Grief of Others asks how we balance personal autonomy with the intimacy of relationships, how we balance private decisions with the obligations of belonging to a family, and how we take measure of our own sorrows in a world rife with suffering. This novel shows how one family, by finally allowing itself to experience the shared quality of grief, is able to rekindle tenderness and hope.

25 Days to Aden is the story of how in a week in 2015 the Gulf States pulled together a ten-nation coalition and the biggest military operation they ever launched unilaterally. It is an amazing account of Arab militaries doing what America would not, preventing Iran from taking a foothold on the Arabian Peninsula.

The risks for global security were huge: Iran already overshadowed one of the world's greatest maritime straits, at Hormuz, and now it sought to dominate the southern approaches to the Suez Canal as well. Aden had to hold out against the Houthis. The Gulf States were used to America stepping up at such moments, but the White House was partway through negotiating a nuclear deal with Iran. No help would come from Washington. Instead, for the first time, the Gulf States acted alone.

Told by an expert communicator on the region, it is a unique story. If the US is truly a global empire in decline, then the story may hold important pointers for a future of warfare driven by emergent powers in the gap left by the withdrawal of American influence.

Democracy is future-oriented and self-correcting: today's problems can be solved, we are told, in tomorrow's elections. But the biggest issues facing the modern world - from climate collapse and pandemics to recession and world war - each apparently bring us to the edge of the irreversible. What happens to democracy when the future seems no longer open? In this eye-opening history of ideas, Jonathan White investigates how politics has long been directed by shifting visions of the future, from the birth of ideologies in the nineteenth century to Cold War secrecy and the excesses of the neoliberal age. As an inescapable sense of disaster defines our politics, White argues that a political commitment to the long-term may be the best way to safeguard democracy. Wide in scope and sharply observed, In the Long Run is a history of the future that urges us to make tomorrow new again.

Jenny Joseph was no ordinary poet - and Led by the Nose is no ordinary memoir. Shaped around the smells of the English countryside, it is full of the wilful personality and the sly humour that characterised the purple-clad old woman in her iconic poem 'Warning'. Joseph's eccentricities permeate each chapter as she flows through the gardening year with its chores and blossoms, frequently leading the reader off the garden path to stop, smell the roses, and ignore the world for a while. Full of the sensual awareness of Jenny Joseph's poetry, Led by the Nose is a singular memoir: a work of delicious diversion and literary flair, horticultural anxieties and countercultural tendencies, providing a glimpse - or sniff - of the landscape of this treasured poet's life.

Britain's health service is dying. Gavin Francis shows us why we should fight for it. Since its birth in 1948, the powers that be have chipped away at the NHS. Now, Britain's best-loved institution is under greater threat than ever, besieged by a deadly combination of underfunding, understaffing and the predatory private sector. In the wake of the pandemic, we have come to accept a 'new normal' of permanent crisis and years-long waiting lists. But, as Gavin Francis reveals in this short, vital book- it doesn't have to be this way, and until recently, it wasn't. Drawing on the history of the NHS as well as his own experience as a GP, he introduces us to the inner workings of an institution that has never been perfect but which transformed the lives and health of millions, for free - and which has never been more important. For those who believe in the future of the NHS and its founding principles, this is essential reading from the bestselling author of Recovery and Intensive Care.

In 1953, a group of prisoners of war who had fought against the communist invasion of South Korea were released. They chose - apparently freely - to move to Mao's China. Among those refusing repatriation were twenty-one American GIs. Their decision sparked alarm in the West: why didn't they want to come home? What was going on?

Soon, people were saying that the POWs' had been 'brainwashed'. Was this something new or a phenomenon that has been around for centuries? The belief that it is possible to marshal scientific knowledge to govern someone's mind gained enormous attention. In an era of Cold War paranoia and experimentation on 'altered states', the idea of brainwashing flourished, appearing in everything from critiques of CIA research on LSD to warnings of corporate groupthink, from visions of automaton assassins to conspiracy theories about 'global elites'. Today, brainwashing is almost taken for granted - built into our psychological and political language, rooted in the way we think about minds and societies. How did we get to this point - and why?

Psychoanalyst and historian Daniel Pick delves into the mysterious world of brainwashing in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, from The Manchurian Candidate to ISIS, TV advertising to online algorithms. Mixing fascinating case studies with historical and psychological insights, Brainwashed is a stimulating journey into the mysteries of thought control.

Nobody chooses to be bald. Nobody wants to look into the mirror and be confronted with an absence. Nobody gains any comfort from having a slightly better idea of what their skull looks like. Stuart Heritage has been bald for two years. But before he accepted the inevitable, he spent a number of years ineptly trying to conceal this fact with an array of expensive treatments and terrible haircuts. Can a man go bald with dignity? Maybe. But can a man go bald with more dignity than Stuart Heritage? Oh good god yes, and this book is his attempt to make that happen for you. Part-memoir-part-manual, Stuart brings us a self-deprecating, funny and genuinely helpful guide to being bald: what really happens, why it matters and how to feel much less crap about it.

Tour the Roman Empire at its height with Marcus Sidonius Falx and his amanuensis, Dr Jerry Toner. From the ruins of Troy to the Great Lighthouse of Alexandria, Falx explores the great cultural landmarks of a society that shaped our modern world, while dishing out practical advice on surviving all things travel: from pirates and shipwrecks to bedbugs and lousy food. This first ever guide to the Roman Empire is a completely new and original way of understanding the classics, which will make even the most sedentary reader feel they have experienced life in the Empire first-hand.