"How a Court LOOKS," remarked a courtier to one of England's more successful modern-day monarchs, "is at least as important as how a Court WORKS." A re-issued study from Philip Mansel looks at form and function in the court of Napoleon Bonaparte

"Austria," quipped Talleyrand, "has the tiresome habit of always being beaten" - but Richard Bassett's vigorous new history of the Imperial Austrian Army begs to differ!

A veteran state conflict analyst looks at the mother of such conflicts: the long strife between Israel and Palestine

Veteran historian John Julius Norwich attempts to cram over 800 years of Sicilian history into 300 pages - and because he's John Julius Norwich, he very nearly succeeds

In his beautifully-written new book, ecologist Carl Safina takes a broader look at the emotional and mental lives of nonhuman animals

In a mere 200 pages on the history of writing, Matthew Battles takes readers from ancient China and Sumeria to Gutenberg to - oh my, are we out of time already?

Far from the popular image of ravenous killing machines, wolves are actually surprisingly cautious predators who carefully weigh the risks they take, as a stunning new study illustrates