Modern History

On 28 June 1893, the Spanish slave schooner Amistad set sail from Havana to deliver its human cargo. Four days later, its captives escaped and killed the captain, but were captured by the US Navy and imprisoned in Connecticut. Using newly discovered evidence, this powerful account reclaims the rebellion, which inspired Steven Spielberg’s film, for its instigators, the African rebels whose struggle for justice went all the way to the Supreme Court and changed the course of history.

What was it like to live in Henry VIII's palace at Hampton Court? How was he entertained? What clothes did his wives wear? Who were his servants and what jobs did they do? This book reveals details of the everyday life of the court and its often oppressive atmosphere of pageantry and display set against the power struggles of courtiers, the king's desire for a legitimate heir and his compulsion to collect and spend wealth.

The 1950s and 1960s were pivotal in the development of Rolls-Royce, consolidating its reputation as the world's premier builder of both luxury cars and aircraft engines. This second volume of the company's history tells the story of how it took a lead in jet technology and expanded its sales in these first decades after the war before a financial crisis resulted in nationalization in 1971, and its subsequent recovery during the 1970s and 1980s.

From how things stood in France on the eve of Revolution to 9 Thermidor, Eric Hazan offers a narrative history linking ‘the two great revolutionary stages’, the Assembly and the people; and covering events across the provinces as well as in Paris.