Modern History

With only two genuine dates, this irreverent romp is history as every schoolboy would wish it – hilarious and memorable.

The fascinating wartime correspondence of Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill is brought together in The Kremlin Letters.

Humble plants have long been the spur to economic growth, the key to political power, the tools of conquest, yet until Henry Hobhouse wrote this pioneering book, they had rarely warranted even a footnote in history.

One hundred years on, the enduring impact of the First World War is explored in Paul Fussell’s acclaimed literary and cultural history.

A compelling first-hand account of the Fall of France in 1940, written before its author was executed by the Nazis.

The first illustrated edition of Steinbeck's absorbing dispatches for the New York Herald Tribune.

Illness and intrigue both proved deadly to the last Russian royal family. Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Robert K. Massie reveals the tragic circumstances behind their infamous downfall.

Hand-drawn maps and a new image selection illustrate the Folio Society edition of Persian Fire – the bloodthirsty clash of civilisations by the master of classical history, Tom Holland.

A gripping and detailed account of the American revolution which sheds a new light on the war that created the United States.

An enthralling account of the French capital’s transition from German occupation to post-war liberty, with a new introduction by the authors.

A magnificent, spirited portrait of life as a secret agent in occupied France.

John Adams – revolutionist, political theorist. An acclaimed biography of one of America’s Founding Fathers in a superb Folio edition.

The history of China – brilliantly told and brought vividly to life through 7,000 years of objects, from fine art to the everyday. Published by Thames & Hudson.

Night is one of the first and one of the greatest Holocaust memoirs. The new Folio Society edition is illustrated with art by survivors and witnesses and is published alongside Elie Wiesel’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech.

The Folio Society’s three-volume set of the journals of Captain Cook from 1768–1779, published to mark the first voyage’s 250th anniversary, is accompanied by a chart of the voyages bound in cloth.

Homage to Catalonia is George Orwell’s brutally honest account of his experience as a militiaman during the Spanish Civil War. The Folio Society edition is illustrated with 35 black and white photographs sourced from Magnum and Catalan archives.

Max Hastings’ history of Bomber Command, now in a new Folio edition, illuminates this controversial aspect of the Second World War through contemporary photographs and first-hand interviews.

Historian James Holland introduces a richly illustrated edition.

Celebrated writer and historian Cecil Woodham-Smith turns her acerbic eye on the disastrous Charge of the Light Brigade.

Antony Beevor’s critically acclaimed historical masterpiece is a gripping and frequently harrowing account of the Red Army’s capture of the German capital in World War II’s final stages. Berlin: The Downfall 1945 was the Non-Fiction winner of the Folio Readers’ Choice 2017.

A lavishly illustrated 20th anniversary edition of Guns, Germs and Steel – Jared Diamond’s Pulitzer Prize-winning exploration of how and why Eurasians developed the weapons, diseases and technologies that enabled them to dominate the rest of the world.

Filled with extraordinary observations, and occasionally hair-raising anecdotes, this is the most endearing of all Darwin’s books.

A marvellous, kaleidoscopic social history of London during the 1660s, from Pepys to the Great Fire. Introduced by Jenny Uglow.

John Reed’s immersive eyewitness account of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution.

Published by Folio to mark the Telegram's centenary, Barbara Tuchman’s gripping account reveals the events that finally brought the United States into the First World War.

The Folio Society edition of Empire features a new preface specially written by its author, acclaimed historian Niall Ferguson.

The Folio Society’s definitive edition of Anne Frank’s Diary of a Young Girl, illustrated with family photographs and featuring the binding design from her original diary. 

The highly acclaimed history of the Belgian Congo and the exploitation that led to the murder of 10 million – the background to Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.

Richard Holmes presents an entertaining study of the extraordinary figures that changed the face of science.

Angie Debo’s comprehensive and compassionate account provides an unrivalled history of American Indians from the dawn of their first contact with Europeans to the late 20th century.