Ian Mortimer on 1415: Henry V’s Year of Glory

George Miller talks to Ian Mortimer about the pivotal year of Henry V’s reign, and finds out what one of our most famous kings was really like.

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The Children’s Invasion Book

In this second short film featuring Faber archivist Robert Brown, he introduces us to another of Faber’s wartime publications – The Children’s Invasion Book. Published in 1944, this book wasn’t a guide to help British children prepare for the possibility of a German invasion of the UK, but a display of the Allied military hardware which was about to be unleashed on D-Day…

January Non-fiction Round-up

If you’re looking for a good read this January, let these books transport you – from the shores of South America to the Middle East during the Crusades; from journeys of self-discovery to journeys through the lives of some remarkable people; from Hollywood to family hell and back again.

David Peace on Occupied City

George Miller talks to David Peace about the background to and writing of his latest novel, the second in his Tokyo Trilogy, Occupied City, and we have clips of David Peace reading from the novel too.

The Panorama of Human Experience, by Juliet Gardiner

Historian Juliet Gardiner explains the huge importance of the eclectic works of Mass Observation to her research and writing.

The Crusades – download an exclusive extract

Download an exclusive extract from Thomas Asbridge’s The Crusades, which is published in January 2010.

Meat Dishes Without Coupons

Robert Brown, archivist for Faber, tells George Miller about a resourceful cookery book from 1940 designed to overcome the monotony of a rationed wartime diet. But some of the dishes it describes will be quite shocking to the modern palate!

The Booklist: After the War

The act of War has affected hundreds of millions of people in so many different ways over the centuries. These memories should never be allowed to be forgotten. Bookhugger’s publishers present some of the most haunting fiction and non-fiction you will ever read…

October non-fiction round-up

Truth can be stranger than fiction: whether it’s the science of the universe, the lives of real people as told to their diaries, or the secret history of Britain, there’s something in our non-fiction round-up for everyone this month.

Win signed copies of The Great Silence by Juliet Nicholson [closed]

Peace at last, after Lloyd George declared it had been the war to end all wars , would surely bring relief and a renewed sense of optimism? But this assumption turned out to be deeply misplaced as people began to realise that the men they loved were never coming home.

September non-fiction round-up

If fiction’s not your thing, September sees a wealth of fascinating new non-fiction hitting the shelves, including : biographies of characters as diverse as a novelist, a poker star, a movie mogul and a top tailor; and histories of the liberation of Europe and the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Read an extract from The Maze of Cadiz, by Aly Monroe

Franco’s Spain is the setting for Aly Monroe’s debut thriller, following the adventures of British intelligence officer Peter Cotton. You can read an extract of this historical mystery here on Bookhugger…

Simon Garfield on Mass Observation

Simon Garfield, author of many books including Our Hidden Lives, We Are At War and Private Battles: How the War Defeated Us – all written in collaboration with Mass Observation – here reveals how every visit to the MO Archive at Sussex University meant the discovery of more new treasures.

Celebrating WW2’s greatest bomber – the Lancaster

The Spitfire and the Lancaster were the two RAF weapons of victory in the Second World War, but the glamour of the fighter has tended to overshadow the performance of the heavy bomber. Yet without the Lancaster, Britain would never have been able to take the fight to the German homeland.

Those Who Marched Away

War infects everything it touches. For everyone, whether combatant or not, it is the most testing of times, when the old certainties and moral imperatives cannot be guaranteed. Life hangs by a gossamer thread and many people who would otherwise not keep diaries are moved to record what they see, feel and do.

William I. Hitchcock on Liberation

What does it mean to liberate a country? What is the real cost of freedom?

In Liberation, William Hitchcock shows that the end of the Second World War in Europe was bloodier, messier and more complex than we would like to believe.

An interview with Giles Foden, author of Turbulence

Giles Foden returns with his fourth novel Turbulence, a story about forecasting the weather on D-Day and the tale of one man’s attempt to find a scientific Holy Grail. Giles explains more about the book in this special interview

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July historical fiction round-up

Our roundup of the best new historical fiction for July and August traverses the battlefields of the First and Second World Wars to the wilds of the North Carolina mountains stopping at a mysterious manor house and Shakespeare’s London along the way…

The Booklist: Shimmering Cities

Standing tall against the wind and rain, bathed in sunshine and heat haze; drifting in the imagination, or seeped in emotion, magic and memories warm and tragic, cities are as fertile as the earth for the written word.

Roger Crowley: Empires of the Sea

George Miller talks to Roger Crowley about his latest book, Empires of the Sea, which looks at the struggles played out in the sixteenth century between the Christians and the Ottomans for control of the Mediterranean.

Nicholas Rankin on British deception in WW2

The author of Churchill’s Wizards talks about the vital role that deception played in preserving Britain during the darkest hours of World War Two.