British Nonfiction

Gambling captures as nothing else the drama of the "long eighteenth century" between the age of religious wars and the age of revolutions. The society that was confronted with games of chance pursued as commercial ventures also came to grips with unprecedented social mobility, floated by new wealth from new sources created fortunes from trade in sugar, cotton, ivory, silk, tea, or enslaved human beings. The Gambling Century focuses like no previous work on those who enabled, facilitated, and profited from gambling, as well as on efforts to regulate or outlaw it.

In the early morning of 20th April 1949, HMS Amethyst was fulfilling orders to travel to Nanking to stand guard for the British Embassy during the height of the Chinese Civil War when she was fired upon by guns from the riverbank. Shells pounded into the ship, killing the commanding officer and destroyed the bridge before the ship grounded on the bank. How did the Amethyst escape the battering of Chinese Communist guns?

Long-term social and demographic changes - and the conflicts they create - continue to transform British politics. In this accessible and authoritative book, Sobolewska and Ford show how deep the roots of this polarization and volatility run, drawing out decades of educational expansion and rising ethnic diversity as key drivers in the emergence of new divides within the British electorate over immigration, identity, and diversity.

You've probably heard the word 'empire' before. Perhaps because of the Roman empire. Or maybe even the Star Wars films. But what about the British Empire? Why don't we learn much about this? And what even is an empire, anyway? This book will answer all the important questions about Britain's imperial history. It will explore how Britain's empire once made it the most powerful nation on earth, and how it still affects our lives in many ways today - from the words we use, to the food we eat, the sports we play and even to every grown-up's fixation with a good cup of tea.

Debut author Vashti Harrison tells the stories of both iconic and lesser-known female figures of black history - from nurse Mary Seacole to politician Diane Abbott, mathematician Katherine Johnson and singer Shirley Bassey. Among these biographies listeners will find heroes, role models and everyday women who did extraordinary things.

Hello! Allow me to introduce myself... I'm Brian Brain. Welcome to volume four of my Great British Quiz: The Really Hard One! As with all Brian's quizzes, the Great British Quiz contains his unique formula: The questions always come in pairs--one for the Budding Brains (youngsters) and one for the Boffs (adults). It's this stroke of genius that allows the whole family to join in the fun! How well do you know the British Isles?