{"title":"History","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9781035910137","title":"Inventing the Renaissance : Myths of a Golden Age by Palmer, Ada","description":"\u003ch3\u003eAuthor: Palmer, Ada\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003ch4\u003eLanguage: history \u0026amp; general works\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003ch5\u003ePublished on 12 February 2026 by Bloomsbury Publishing PLC (Apollo) in the United Kingdom.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePaperback | 768 pages\u003cbr\u003e198 x 132 x 51 | 606g\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/h5\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Renaissance is one of the most studied and celebrated eras of history. Spanning the end of the Middle Ages to the beginning of modernity, it has come to symbolise the transformative rebirth of knowledge, art, culture and political thought in Europe. And for the last two hundred years, historians have struggled to describe what makes this famous golden age unique.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn Inventing the Renaissance, acclaimed historian Ada Palmer provides a fresh perspective on what makes this epoch so captivating. Her witty and irreverent journey through the fantasies historians have constructed about the period show how its legend derives more from later centuries' mythmaking than from the often grim reality of the period itself. She examines its defining figures and movements: the enduring legacy of Niccolò Machiavelli, the rediscovery of the classics, the rise of the Medici and fall of the Borgias, the astonishing artistic achievements of Michelangelo, Leonardo, and Cellini, the impact of the Inquisition and the expansion of secular Humanism. Palmer also explores the ties between culture and money: books, for example, could cost as much as grand houses, so the period's innovative thinkers could only thrive with the help of the super-rich. She offers fifteen provocative and entertaining character portraits of Renaissance men and women, some famous, some obscure, whose intersecting lives show how the real Renaissance was more unexpected, more international and, above all, more desperate than its golden reputation suggests.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDrawing on her popular blogs and writing with her characteristic energy and wit, Palmer presents the Renaissance as we have never seen it before. Colloquial, funny and brilliant, you would never expect a work of deep scholarship to make you alternately laugh and cry.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Book Nook","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":58110192583037,"sku":"9781035910137","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0539\/6525\/8945\/files\/9781035910137.jpg?v=1777640560"},{"product_id":"blitz-when-world-war-two-came-home-by-john-nichol","title":"SIGNED COPY Blitz : When World War Two Came Home by John Nichol","description":"\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDescription\u003cbr\u003e‘An exceptional piece of work; powerful, vivid and compelling’ Rowland White, author of Vulcan 607The Second World War was not only fought in the skies above Europe or on distant beaches. Between 1939 and 1945, Hitler’s aerial onslaught crashed into lives across the UK night after night, killing more than 60,000 civilians and leaving millions homeless. May 2026 marks the 85th anniversary of the end of the Night Blitz. But the aerial assault on Britain did not stop in May 1941. For too long, ‘The Blitz’ – from the German ‘Blitzkrieg’ or lightning war – has been framed as a few desperate months from September 1940 that mainly affected London.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn reality, the scope of the attack on the home front was far more widespread, and far more devastating. Now, John Nichol tells this supposedly familiar narrative – one of the most important events in British history – afresh. Beginning with a search to understand his mother’s experiences of the blitz on Tyneside – drawing on fragments of memory and the unanswered questions she left behind – Nichol ranges outward to reveal a truly national history.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrom Dover to Glasgow, Cardiff to Manchester, he uncovers astonishing accounts of catastrophe and resilience. Of ‘ordinary’ men, women and children catapulted into harm’s way. Of heroic firefighters battling infernos, the unflinching bravery required to defuse unexploded bombs, families wiped out in an instant, communities left bereft by a single blast. Using interviews with survivors, official records and eyewitness testimonies, Nichol gives voice to the unsung heroes who endured explosions, fire and fear, but found the courage to run towards danger.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe brings the story up to date by speaking to people involved in similar situations: mass casualty events, the deadly blaze at Grenfell Tower, bomb disposal in modern warfare and individual acts of astonishing bravery. And as new military threats emerge, Nichol asks whether the country still has such resilience today. At once gripping and compassionate, BLITZ is the definitive account of a nationwide struggle that shaped the course of the war and the spirit of a generation. The book includes maps, colour endpapers, and two plate sections with 38 photos and archival images.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e‘The story of a whole nation as only Nichol can write, BLITZ is a wonderful book perfectly anchored in the human experience’ Dr Robert Lyman MBE FRHistS, co-author of Victory to Defeat: The British Army 1918–40‘A truly powerful and engaging narrative. The way Nichol weaves the story of the Blitz with more recent accounts makes for an excellent read’ Andy Saunders, military historian and author‘An important book which takes the myth of the storybook Blitz Spirit and redefines it. Absolutely fantastic’ Professor Lucy Easthope, author of When the Dust Settles: Searching for Hope After Disaster\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Book Nook","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":58158528233853,"sku":"9781398540354.002","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0539\/6525\/8945\/files\/rn-image_picker_lib_temp_3c7bf9ee-3d02-4f76-8ba0-b054a126e91e.jpg?v=1778612876"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.booknookshop.co.uk\/collections\/history-4.oembed","provider":"The Book Nook","version":"1.0","type":"link"}