Book cover of Jerusalem Falls: Seven Centuries of War and Peace by John Hosler
Asia

Jerusalem Falls: Seven Centuries of War and Peace

The first full account of the medieval struggle for Jerusalem, from the seventh to the thirteenth century

The history of Jerusalem is one of conflict, faith, and empire. Few cities have been attacked as often and as savagely. This was no less true in the Middle Ages. From the Persian sack in 614 through the bloody First Crusade and beyond, Jerusalem changed hands countless times. […Learn More]

Book cover of The Mongol Storm: Making and Breaking Empires in the Medieval Near East by Nicholas Morton
Asia

The Mongol Storm: Making and Breaking Empires in the Medieval Near East

How the Mongol invasions of the Near East reshaped the balance of world power in the Middle Ages 
 
For centuries, the Crusades have been central to the story of the medieval Near East, but these religious wars are only part of the region’s complex history. As The Mongol Storm reveals, during the same era the Near East was utterly remade by another series of wars: the Mongol invasions.   […Learn More]

Book cover of Powers and Thrones: A New History of the Middle Ages by Dan Jones
Europe

Powers and Thrones: A New History of the Middle Ages

When the once-mighty city of Rome was sacked by barbarians in 410 and lay in ruins, it signaled the end of an era–and the beginning of a thousand years of profound transformation. In a gripping narrative bursting with big names—from Sts Augustine and Attila the Hun to the Prophet Muhammad and Eleanor of Aquitaine—Dan Jones charges through the history of the Middle Ages. Powers and Thrones takes readers on a journey through an emerging Europe, the great capitals of late Antiquity, as well as the influential cities of the Islamic West, and culminates in the first European voyages to the Americas. […Learn More]

Book cover of Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings by Neil Price
Europe

Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings

The definitive history of the Vikings — from arts and culture to politics and cosmology — by a distinguished archaeologist with decades of expertise

The Viking Age — from 750 to 1050 — saw an unprecedented expansion of the Scandinavian peoples into the wider world. As traders and raiders, explorers and colonists, they ranged from eastern North America to the Asian steppe. But for centuries, the Vikings have been seen through the eyes of others, distorted to suit the tastes of medieval clerics and Elizabethan playwrights, Victorian imperialists, Nazis, and more. None of these appropriations capture the real Vikings, or the richness and sophistication of their culture. […Learn More]

Book cover of The Normans: A History of Conquest by Trevor Rowley
Europe

The Normans: A History of Conquest

A powerful and evocative portrait of the Norman Conquest of Europe, revealing the permanent cultural and political legacy that resulted in their ascendency.

The Norman’s conquering of the known world was a phenomenon unlike anything Europe had seen up to that point in history. […Learn More]

Book cover of The Horde: How the Mongols Changed the World by Marie Favereau
Asia

The Horde: How the Mongols Changed the World

The Mongols are widely known for one thing: conquest. In the first comprehensive history of the Horde, the western portion of the Mongol empire that arose after the death of Chinggis Khan, Marie Favereau shows that the accomplishments of the Mongols extended far beyond war. For three hundred years, the Horde was no less a force in global development than Rome had been. It left behind a profound legacy in Europe, Russia, Central Asia, and the Middle East, palpable to this day. […Learn More]