Murder --- a dark, shameful deed, the last resort of the desperate or a vile tool of the greedy. And a very strange, very English obsession. But where did this fixation develop? And what does it tell us about ourselves? From Jack the Ripper and Sherlock Holmes to the cosy crimes of the Golden Age, renowned historian Lucy Worsley explores the evolution of the traditional English murder --- and reveals why we are so fascinated by this sinister subject.

BERLIN is a history book that reflects the nature of the city itself. In its architecture, through its literature, in its movies and songs, Berliners have conjured their hard capital into a place of fantastic human fantasy. No other city has so often surrendered itself to its own seductive myths. No other city has been so shaped and defined by individual imaginations. BERLIN captures, portrays and propagates the story of those myths and their makers.

For two hellish nights in September 1942, about 840 United States Marines fought one of the most pivotal battles of World War II in the Pacific, clinging desperately to their position on what would soon be known as Bloody Ridge. BLOODY RIDGE AND BEYOND is the story of the 1st Marine Raider Battalion, which showed courage and valor in the face of overwhelming numbers, as told by Marlin Groft, a man who was a member of this incredible fighting force.

During the 1950s, when the Cold War was at its peak, two immensely powerful brothers --- secretary of state John Foster Dulles and CIA director Allen Dulles --- led the United States into a series of foreign adventures whose effects are still shaking the world. In this book, Stephen Kinzer places their extraordinary lives against the background of American culture and history and explores how the story and self-view of the Dulles brothers parallels that of the United States and its place in the world.

THE BURGLARY is the never-before-told full story of the 1971 history-changing break-in of the FBI offices in Media, Pennsylvania, by a group of unlikely activists --- quiet, ordinary, hardworking Americans --- that made clear the shocking truth and confirmed what some had long suspected: that J. Edgar Hoover had created and was operating his own shadow Bureau of Investigation.

Bill Minutaglio and Steven L. Davis explore the swirling forces that led many people to warn President Kennedy to avoid Dallas on his fateful trip to Texas. They lead us through intimate glimpses of the Kennedy family and the machinations of the Kennedy White House, to the obsessed men in Dallas who concocted the climate of hatred that led many to blame the city for the president's death.

The people who made America were not always what they seemed. There were entrepreneurs and visionaries whose selflessness propelled us forward, but there were also charlatans and fraudsters whose selfishness nearly derailed us. DREAMERS AND DECEIVERS brings both of these groups to life with stories written to put you right in the middle of the action.

Many Americans in Jefferson Davis’ own time and in later generations considered him an incompetent leader, if not a traitor. Not so, argues James M. McPherson. In EMBATTLED REBEL, McPherson shows us that Davis might have been on the wrong side of history, but it is too easy to diminish him because of his cause’s failure. In order to understand the Civil War and its outcome, it is essential to give Davis his due as a military leader and as the president of an aspiring Confederate nation.

In the years after World War II, Georgetown’s leafy streets were home to an unlikely group of Cold Warriors: a coterie of affluent, well-educated and connected civilians who helped steer American strategy from the Marshall Plan through McCarthyism, Watergate and the endgame of Vietnam. Gregg Herken captures their successes and failures and gives us intimate portraits of these dedicated and talented, if deeply flawed, individuals.

In 1948, President Harry Truman, enjoying a bath on the White House’s second floor, almost plunged through the ceiling of the Blue Room. A handpicked team of the country’s top architects conducted a secret inspection of the troubled mansion and, after discovering it was in imminent danger of collapse, insisted that the First Family be evicted immediately. What followed would be the most historically significant and politically complex home-improvement job in American history.

Wendy Lower’s stunning account of the role of German women on the World War II Nazi eastern front powerfully revises history, proving that we have ignored the reality of women’s participation in the Holocaust, including as brutal killers. HITLER'S FURIES builds a fascinating picture of a morally “lost generation” of young women, born into a defeated, tumultuous post --- a twisted political awakening that turned to genocide.

What were the talents that allowed certain inventors and entrepreneurs to turn their visionary ideas into disruptive realities? What led to their creative leaps? Why did some succeed and others fail? In THE INNOVATORS, Walter Isaacson begins with Ada Lovelace, Lord Byron’s daughter, who pioneered computer programming in the 1840s. He explores the fascinating personalities that created our current digital revolution, such as Alan Turing, John von Neumann, Doug Engelbart, Bill Gates, Steve Wozniak, Steve Jobs and Larry Page.

Barbara Leaming’s biography is the first book to document Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’s brutal, lonely and valiant 31-year struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that followed JFK’s assassination. Here is the woman as she has never been seen before. In heartrending detail, we witness a struggle that unfolded at times before our own eyes, but that we failed to understand.

In JOAN OF ARC: A LIFE TRANSFIGURED, Kathryn Harrison gives us a Joan for our time --- a shining exemplar of unshakable faith, extraordinary courage and self-confidence during a brutally rigged ecclesiastical inquisition and in the face of her death by burning. Deftly weaving historical fact, myth, folklore, artistic representations, and centuries of scholarly and critical interpretation into a compelling narrative, she restores Joan of Arc to her rightful position as one of the greatest heroines in all of human history.

John F. Kennedy died almost half a century ago --- yet because of his extraordinary promise and untimely death, his star still resonates strongly. On the anniversary of his assassination, celebrated political scientist and analyst Larry J. Sabato explores the fascinating and powerful influence JFK has had over five decades on the media, the general public, and especially on each of his nine presidential successors.

Harold Holzer shows us an activist Lincoln through journalists who covered him from his start through to the night of his assassination --- when one reporter ran to the box where Lincoln was shot and emerged to write the story covered with blood. Holzer depicts politicized newspaper editors battling for power, and a masterly president using the press to speak directly to the people and shape the nation.

For the first time, THE LOST TRIBE OF CONEY ISLAND unearths the incredible true story of the Igorrotes, a group of “headhunting, dog eating” tribespeople brought to America from the Philippines by the opportunistic showman Truman K. Hunt. At Luna Park, the g-string-clad Filipinos performed native dances and rituals before a wide-eyed public in a mocked-up tribal village. Millions of Americans flocked to see the tribespeople slaughter live dogs for their daily canine feasts and to hear thrilling tales of headhunting.

THE NAZIS NEXT DOOR is a revelatory secret history of how America became home to thousands of Nazi war criminals after World War II, many of whom were brought here by the OSS and CIA --- by the New York Times reporter who broke the story and who has interviewed dozens of agents for the first time.

Fourteen years in the making, Richard Norton Smith’s biography of the original Rockefeller Republican draws on thousands of newly available documents and over 200 interviews, including Nelson Rockefeller’s own unpublished reminiscences. In ON HIS OWN TERMS, Smith re-creates Rockefeller’s improbable rise to the governor’s mansion, his politically disastrous divorce and remarriage, and his often surprising relationships with presidents and political leaders.

For the besieged American defenders of Bastogne, time was running out. Hitler’s forces had pressed in on the small Belgian town in a desperate offensive designed to push back the Allies. The U.S. soldiers had managed to repel repeated attacks, but as their ammunition dwindled, the weary paratroopers of the 101st Airborne could only hope for a miracle. In PATTON AT THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE, Army veteran and historian Leo Barron explores one of the most famous yet little-told clashes of World War II, a vitally important chapter in one of history’s most legendary battles.

The third volume of Peter Ackroyd's The History of England covers the Stuart dynasty, which brought together England and Scotland, during a period marked by civil war and the killing of a king. Ackroyd tells the story of the turbulent 17th century, in which England suffered through three civil wars --- two fought between Parliament and both Charles I and Charles II, and, finally, the "Glorious Rebellion of 1688," which saw Charles II’s brother James deposed and sent into exile.

From religion, to language, to the stories rooted in our faith and history books, the Nile River has proven to be a constant fixture in mankind’s tales. RED NILE navigates a meandering course through the history of the world’s greatest river, exploring this unique breeding ground for creativity, power clashes and constant change. Robert Twigger connects the comprehensive history of the Nile with his personal experience of living in Egypt while researching the Nile’s historical origins.

Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Edward J. Larson recovers an important --- yet almost always overlooked --- chapter of George Washington’s life, revealing how Washington saved the United States by coming out of retirement to lead the Constitutional Convention and serve as our first president. Larson uncovers Washington’s vital role in shaping the Convention --- and shows how it was only with his support and willingness to serve as President that the states were brought together and ratified the Constitution, thereby saving the country.

John Maxtone-Graham documents SS United States, her design, construction and 17 years of impeccable service. He introduces us to dozens of U.S. passengers, famous and infamous, as well as captains and crew. The last great American ocean liner, SS United States could be converted to a 14,000-man troop carrier and was capable of attaining a speed of over 40 knots. Sadly, jet travel put an end to ocean crossings, and the all-aluminum ship rests in Philadelphia while groups of fans continue to try to repurpose it.

Chris Matthews was a top aide to Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill, who waged a principled war of political ideals with President Reagan from 1980 to 1986. Together, the two men forged compromises that shaped America’s future and became one of history’s most celebrated political pairings --- the epitome of how ideological opposites can get things done.

The crown of England changed hands five times over the course of the 15th century, as two branches of the Plantagenet dynasty fought to the death for the right to rule. In this follow-up to THE PLANTAGENETS, historian Dan Jones describes how the longest-reigning British royal family tore itself apart until it was finally replaced by the Tudors.

By the mid-1930s, from London to America, the Churchills and the Kennedys shared an ever-widening circle of friends, lovers and political associates --- soon shattered by World War II, spying, sexual infidelity, and the tragic deaths of JFK's sister Kathleen and his older brother Joe Jr. By the 1960s and JFK's presidency, these two powerful families had overcome their bitter differences and helped to define the “greatness” in each other.