The end of the Cold War and the (then) receding threat of global nuclear conflagration were meant to usher in a "peace dividend": concomitantly warfare would decline as states devoted themselves to making money and providing for their respective soci...

An absorbing journey through a region caught between history, geography and ideology. What is "Central Europe"? Where do its borders lie? Does it even exist? Attempts to define it usually yield more questions than answers. But perhaps the wrong ques...

This book traces the long history of Iran's wars, and the evolution of the Islamic Republic's military trajectory since 1979. Ahmed Hashim draws on Farsi, Arabic and European sources to explore Iran's efforts to create modern armed forces, the devast...

A fascinating account of how Saudi Arabia leveraged its massive oil wealth to alter the balance of power in world football. "Kingdom of Football" explores how and why Saudi Arabia burst onto the landscape of world football in 2023, and examines what...

A renowned social scientist reflects on democratisation theory as applied in the Middle East. Azmi Bishara's "Arduous Paths" builds on his sizeable body of work on democracy through the lenses of civil society, religion and secularism, populism and...

A moving and humane portrait of the abolitionist revolutionary Jean-Jacques Dessalines, who led Haiti's fight for independence from French colonial rule. "My name has become a horror to all those who want slavery", declared Jean-Jacques Dessalines...

From an award-winning biographer, a riveting and deeply researched portrait of Mormonism's charismatic founder. Joseph Smith Jr. (1805-1844) was one of the most successful and controversial religious leaders of nineteenth-century America, publishin...

How Africa's most notorious tyrant made his oppressive regime seem both necessary and patriotic. Idi Amin ruled Uganda between 1971 and 1979, inflicting tremendous violence on the people of the country. How did Amin's regime survive for eight calam...

The first popular history of a small post-Soviet state, and a very old European power. Lithuania is often portrayed as a small nation-state that has survived against the odds of history: together with Estonia and Latvia, it won independence at the e...

As Russia rattles its sabres in the Baltic, Neil Taylor reconsiders the history of Estonia and its struggle to achieve statehood. With only 1.3 million inhabitants, Estonia is one of Europe's least populous nations - yet it boasts one of the contine...