Non-Fiction Ideas

Pole to Pole is Michael Palin’s account of his epic journey from the Arctic to Antarctic, via the USSR, Africa and South America: a classic adventure in a beautiful Folio Society edition, with superb original photography.

Parallel Worlds is Michio Kaku’s astonishing journey into the mysteries of our universe – and the tantalising possibility that many others may exist. Awe-inspiring images of the cosmos complete this Folio edition.

The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is the powerful memoir of an American slave, published with photographic portraits and a new introduction exclusive to the Folio edition.

A Bright Shining Lie is Neil Sheehan’s Pulitzer Prize-winning history of the Vietnam War told through lieutenant colonel John Paul Vann, with a new introduction by George Packer for The Folio Society.

Commemorating the centenary of Ernest Shackleton’s death, The Folio Society brings together The Heart of the Antarctic and South – thrilling accounts of his greatest polar expeditions in his own words.

The book that launched the environmental movement, Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring arrives in a beautiful new illustrated Folio Society edition with pertinent essays by Margaret Atwood and Edward O. Wilson, and stunning photography from the Documerica archive.

Richly illustrated and newly revised for The Folio Society, In Search of the Dark Ages is Michael Wood’s thrilling account of the age of Beowulf, Sutton Hoo and the Vikings.

With a fully revised introduction by Robert Macfarlane and paintings by landscape artist Rose Strang, this Folio edition of Nan Shepherd’s The Living Mountain celebrates her timeless ode to nature.  

Covering 3,000 years, John Keay’s China: A History chronicles one of the world’s great civilisations, from Confucius to Mao, in an exclusively updated Folio Society edition with lavish colour illustrations and a new introduction by the author.

For the first time, full-colour images illustrate Norman Davies’s magisterial work, Europe: A History, in an elegant three-volume edition from The Folio Society, fully updated by the author.

The fascinating working lives of ordinary people are revealed in Studs Terkel’s masterful chronicle of American life, published as an illustrated edition for the first time by Folio.

Illustrated with archive photography, Ryszard Kapuściński’s masterpiece of reportage, Shah of Shahs, is a welcome addition to the Folio collection.

Pulitzer Prize-winning scientist Edward O. Wilson’s classic account of evolution and biodiversity remains as relevant as when first published in 1992. The Folio edition of The Diversity of Life features wonderful colour wildlife images and a foreword by Bill McKibben.

Savannah’s hustlers and high-rollers open their doors and their hearts to John Berendt in the international bestseller that gets its long-awaited Folio debut.

The Folio Society edition of The Longest Day commemorates the 75th anniversary of D-Day. Cornelius Ryan’s riveting text is complemented by 42 integrated photographs, and a binding image by Robert Capa.

Commemorating the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci, this magnificent Folio collector’s edition reveals his brilliance in three beautifully illustrated volumes with stunning gold-blocked bindings.

Richard Dawkins’s startling theory propelled The Selfish Gene to international acclaim and it remains the de facto text on social development. This first illustrated edition includes 51 incredible colour photographs.

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.

No book has revolutionised our view of life on earth more than Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species. Yet its enduring popularity is a testament to the immense energy and startling simplicity with which Darwin makes his revelations.

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.

The thrilling true story of the largest British-led mass-escape of the Second World War.

Blending investigative journalism with the personal approach of a writer both fascinated and appalled by her subject, this is an award-winning portrait of life under ‘one of the most savage surveillance regimes ever known’. With previously unpublished photographs by the author.

Written more than 2,500 years ago, The Art of War remains the most famous military treatise of all time. Sun-tzu’s collection of precepts on strategic warfare has yet to be surpassed.

A new fully illustrated Folio Society edition of Helen Castor’s She-Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth which depicts the lives of four remarkable medieval women: Empress Matilda, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen Isabella, Margaret of Anjou.