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  Divide and Rule: Royal Women and...

  Catherine Mayer

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  Globally famous and yet universally misunderstood – these are the complex and utterly engrossing stories of Britain's royal women behind the public façade.Saints or sinners? Perfect princesses or difficult duchesses? Monarchy’s saviours or its destroyers?  
  They rank among the world’s most famous women – and the most misunderstood. Throughout history, royal women have been sanitised and sanctified by supporters, distorted and demonised by critics, pitted against each other, and misrepresented by the media. 
  In this extraordinary portrait, journalist Catherine Mayer examines the lives of the central players, and the echoes and parallels that have run throughout history. The stories of Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth I, Victoria, Elizabeth II, Diana, Camilla, Kate and Meghan uncovered by Catherine Mayer are far more fascinating, poignant, surprising and enraging than any of the myths. Divide and Rule reveals these extraordinary women in all their complexity, charting their achievements, quirks, kindnesses, cruelties and profound influence. 
  Drawing on key sources, many of whom have never spoken publicly before, this book also demonstrates the ways in which history repeats itself – to the detriment not only of royal women but all of us. 
  Across Britain and Europe, from century to century and into the 21st, this non-fiction biography becomes a compelling work of social studies as much as royal history. The latest, best and top telling reveals how the same forces that elevate royalty also weaponise scrutiny, turning women into rivals in the public imagination. 
  For fans of Robert Hardman (Charles III), Hugo Vickers (CLARISSA), Robert Jobson (William at 40), Angela Levin (Diana’s Babies), and Tina Brown (The Diana Chronicles). 
  HarperCollins 2026

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  King Philip II of Macedon: The...

  Charles River Editors

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  Alexander the Great is one of the most famous figures of antiquity, but everything he accomplished was made possible by his father, Philip II of Macedon. When Philip II came to power in 360 B.C., he was only 23 and had spent most of his adult life as the hostage of an Illyrian tribe. Philip II’s ascension to the Macedonian throne took place in the midst of great chaos in Macedonia, with the Illyrians continually raiding the kingdom from the north while other Greeks took advantage of this by taking even more Macedonian land. The problem was further exacerbated by Athenian attempts to influence the throne.  
  	In 338 B.C., Philip II’s victory at the Battle of Chaeronea gave the Macedonians hegemony over the Greek world, and from that point on, there was very little organized or active resistance to Macedonian control of the Hellenic League due to Philip II’s command of the modern and sizable Macedonian army. In the process, Philip II introduced new battlefield technologies and techniques revolutionizing ancient warfare and giving Macedonians the edge over the other Greeks, and moreover, he started a practice that continued to be employed by his son, his son’s successors, and even by the Romans. When Philip II brought armies onto the battlefield, they were usually comparable in size to their enemies, and constantly fielding such large armies would have been impossible with Macedonians alone, so Philip II began conscripting non-Greek soldiers from among the peoples he conquered.  
  	Philip II seems to have genuinely wanted to have Alexander succeed him, so much so that he wanted him by his side at a royal wedding celebration in 338 B.C. It was during those festivities that Pausanias, the captain of Philip II’s royal bodyguard, stabbed the king in the heart and killed him. With Philip II dead, Alexander was proclaimed king by Philip II’s generals and the leading men in Macedonia. At age 20, he was ruler of Macedon and Hegemon of the League of Corinth. 

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  Swift Boats at War in Vietnam

  John Yeoman, Guy Gugliotta, Neva...

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  In this oral history, Vietnam veterans recount their stories of patrol and combat on the coast and in the Mekong Delta. Developed specifically for the Vietnam War, Swift Boats were versatile craft “big enough to outrun anything they couldn’t outfight” but too small to handle even a moderate ocean chop, too loud to sneak up on anyone, and too flimsy to withstand the mildest of rocket attacks. This added challenges to an already tough mission: navigating coastal waters for ships and sampans smuggling contraband to the Viet Cong, disrupting enemy supply lines on the rivers and canals of the Mekong Delta, and inserting SEALs behind enemy lines.   The stories in this book cover the Swift Boats’ early years, which saw search-and-inspect operations in Vietnam’s coastal waters, and their later years, when the Swift Boats' mission shifted to the Mekong Delta’s labyrinth of three-thousand miles of rivers, streams, and canals. This is an intimate, exciting oral history of Swift Boats at war in Vietnam.

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  The Development Trap - How...

  Adam D. Kis

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  A wave of optimism is sweeping through the international aid and development industry, championed by leaders such as Jeffrey Sachs and Jim Yong Kim, who believe that poverty eradication could be within our grasp. Yet in stark opposition come those who believe that all international development intervention is hegemonic, paternalistic, and neocolonialist and must be done away with. In this book, the author argues for a middle ground. Poverty is an entrenched, intractable problem that will never be entirely eradicated. However, if we reorientate our objectives in line with realistic goals that improve the way that poverty is confronted on a smaller scale, we can still continue the fight for meaningful change. Using rigorous scholarship illustrated with vivid storytelling and personal anecdotes from fighting against poverty in the field, The Development Trap argues that we need to make progress against poverty on the micro, rather than the macro scale. Instead of shooting for a single overarching end of poverty, our goals must be modest and reachable.

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  The Story of the Treasure Seekers

  E. Nesbit

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  The Story of the Treasure Seekers by E. Nesbit is a delightful classic children's novel that blends humor, adventure, and family spirit into an imaginative tale of determination and youthful optimism. First published in 1899, the book introduces readers to the Bastable children, a lively group of siblings who decide to restore their family's fallen fortunes after their widowed father loses his wealth.
  
  Convinced that hidden treasure is the quickest path to success, the Bastable children embark on a series of inventive and often chaotic schemes to discover riches. Their plans range from digging for buried gold to attempting more elaborate and imaginative strategies, each one reflecting their boundless creativity and determination.
  
  As their adventures unfold, things rarely go as expected. Instead of finding treasure, the children encounter a series of humorous mishaps, misunderstandings, and unexpected lessons. Despite their failures, their efforts reveal their resilience, teamwork, and unwavering hope.
  
  E. Nesbit captures the world of childhood with warmth, wit, and realism, portraying the children's voices with authenticity and charm. The narrative is told from the perspective of one of the siblings, adding a personal and engaging tone that draws readers into their imaginative world.
  
  Beyond its humorous surface, the novel explores themes of family loyalty, imagination, perseverance, and the contrast between dreams and reality. The children's adventures highlight the value of effort and creativity, even when outcomes do not match expectations.
  
  The book is also notable for its influence on modern children's literature, particularly its realistic portrayal of children's thoughts, speech, and behavior. Nesbit's storytelling helped shape the development of contemporary adventure stories for young readers.
  
  The Story of the Treasure Seekers remains a beloved classic, celebrated for its humor, heart, and timeless depiction of childhood curiosity and adventure.
  
  Ideal for readers of classic children's fiction, family adventure stories, and humorous literature, this novel offers an engaging and charming journey into the imaginative world of the Bastable children.

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  On James Baldwin

  Colm Tóibín

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  Acclaimed Irish novelist Colm Tóibín first read James Baldwin just after turning eighteen. He had completed his first year at an Irish university and was struggling to free himself from a religious upbringing. Inspired by the novel Go Tell It on the Mountain, Tóibín found a writer who would be a lifelong companion and exemplar. 
   
   
   
  From On James Baldwin: 
   
   
   
  Baldwin was interested in the hidden and dramatic areas in his own being, and was prepared as a writer to explore difficult truths about his own private life. In his fiction, he had to battle for the right of his protagonists to choose or influence their destinies. He knew about guilt and rage and bitter privacies in a way that few of his White novelist contemporaries did. And this was not simply because he was Black and homosexual; the difference arose from the very nature of his talent, from the texture of his sensibility. "All art," he wrote, "is a kind of confession, more or less oblique. All artists, if they are to survive, are forced, at last, to tell the whole story, to vomit the anguish up." 
   
   
   
  On James Baldwin is a magnificent contemporary author's tribute to one of his most consequential literary progenitors.

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