Government & Politics

‘You have to read it’ Volodymyr Zelensky

‘Laurence Rees brilliantly combines powerful eye-witness testimony, vivid narrative and compelling analysis in this superb account’ Professor Sir Ian Kershaw, author of Hitler: Hubris and Hitler: Nemesis

‘In this fascinating study of two monsters, Rees is extraordinarily perceptive and original’ Antony Beevor
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Two tyrants. Each responsible for the death of millions.

This compelling book on Hitler and Stalin – the culmination of thirty years’ work – examines the two leaders during the Second World War, when Germany and the Soviet Union fought the biggest and bloodiest war in history.

Hitler’s charismatic leadership may contrast with Stalin’s regimented rule by fear; and his intransigence later in the war may contrast with Stalin’s change in behaviour in response to events. But as bestselling historian Laurence Rees shows, at a macro level, both were prepared to create undreamt-of suffering – in Hitler’s case, most infamously the Holocaust – in order to build the utopias they wanted.

Using previously unpublished, startling eyewitness testimony from soldiers, civilians and those who knew both men personally, Laurence Rees – probably the only person alive who has met Germans who worked for Hitler and Russians who worked for Stalin – challenges long-held popular misconceptions about two of the most important figures in history. This is a master work from one of our finest historians.
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‘Coming from one of the world’s experts on the Second World War, this is an important and original – and devastating – account of Hitler and Stalin as dictators. A must read’ Professor Robert Service, author of Stalin: A Biography

‘Impressive . . . well paced and well informed with an eye for telling anecdotes and colourful character sketches . . . Rees’ decision to add personal stories to his narrative adds an important layer to our understanding of both the dictators themselves and their victims’ Robert Gerwarth, The Daily Telegraph

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Includes a new chapter on Starmer’s Labour Party and whether the unity of purpose and vision will last until a general election and thereafter.

The biblical adage that ‘if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand’ remains sound theological advice. It is also essential counsel for any political party that aspires to win elections. When a party is riven with division people do not know what it stands for.

Though both major parties have been subject to internal conflict over the years, it is the Labour Party which has been more given to damaging splits. The divide exposed by the Corbyn insurgency is only the most recent example in a century of destructive infighting. Indeed, it has often seemed as though Labour has been more adept at fighting itself than in defeating the Tory party.

This book examines the history of Labour’s civil wars and the underlying causes of the party’s schisms, from the first split of 1931, engineered by Ramsay MacDonald, to the ongoing battle for the future between the incumbent Keir Starmer, and those who fundamentally altered the party’s course under its predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn.

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Mission Zero is a landmark independent report into the delivery of the UK’s commitment to net zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050. Chaired by Chris Skidmore, the UK’s former Energy Minister who was responsible for signing net zero into law, its conclusions set out, for the very first time, a new economic narrative for climate policy, demonstrating the vast financial opportunity that net zero can deliver.

This timely and crucial report acts as a template for how all countries can map out future challenges and opportunities and, above all, deliver their own pathway to net zero while also creating new jobs, industries and investment for the future.

Commissioned by the UK’s Prime Minister in September 2022, Mission Zero is the largest engagement exercise on net zero conducted to date and has been widely recognised as the most informative and detailed document on the topic, covering every sector and aspect of society. This important book is a vital piece of work and an indispensable must-read for anyone interested in energy, climate and sustainability policy.

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A magisterial, one-volume history of political thought from Herodotus to the present, Ancient Athens to modern democracy – from author and professor Alan Ryan

This is a book about the answers that historians, philosophers, theologians, practising politicians and would-be revolutionaries have given to one question: how should human beings best govern themselves?

Almost every modern government claims to be democratic; but is democracy really the best way of organising our political life? Can we manage our own affairs at all? Should we even try? In the west, do we actually live in democracies? In this extraordinary book Alan Ryan engages with the great thinkers of the past to show us how vividly their ideas speak to us in today’s uncertain world.

ALAN RYAN was born in London in 1940 and taught for many years at Oxford, where he was a Fellow of New College and Reader in Politics. He was Professor of Politics at Princeton from 1988 to 1996, when he returned to Oxford to become Warden of New College and Professor of Political Theory until his retirement in 2009. His previous books include The Philosophy of John Stuart Mill, Bertrand Russell: A Political Life and John Dewey and the High Tide of American Liberalism. He is a Fellow of the British Academy.

Reviews of On Politics:

‘An engaging and smart survey of major political thinkers … Through Ryan [they] speak directly to the present’ Mark Mazower, Prospect

‘Ryan’s book is a magnificent piece of work, clear (even when the ideas he’s exploring are obscure) and engaging (even when the theory in the original is forbidding) … anyone remotely interested in political theory will profit from reading or dipping into Ryan’s On Politics, whether this is their first acquaintance with the canon of political theory or whether they have been “Hobbing and Locking” for decades … It’s a remarkable experience’ Jeremy Waldron, New York Review of Books

‘Ambitiously and elegantly covers two and a half millennia of political thinking … despite covering huge intellectual terrain, [On Politics] a delight both when it explores detail and also when it draws conclusions of a broader perspective’ Justin Champion, BBC History Magazine

‘On Politics is crammed with smart observations and wise advice’ John Keane, Financial Times

‘An impressive achievement’ Economist

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