Genevieve Valentine

A new translation of the 14th century Egyptian scholar Shihab al-Din al-Nuwayri's magnum opus, The Ultimate Ambition in the Arts of Erudition, is a priceless glimpse at the medieval Muslim world.

Elizabeth Greenwood thought about faking her own death to get out of massive student debt — but decided instead to write a book about all the ways people try (and usually fail) to disappear.

Humans have always been curious about the natural world; nature provides enough order to soothe and enough wildness to escape. We've got a roundup of great nature writing from all over the world.

State Department veteran Mary Thompson-Jones sifts through a few choice WikiLeaks cables and parses them for a lay audience in To The Secretary, a fascinating primer on a complex and difficult field.

Lucy Sussex's new book is a history of 1886's runaway best-seller, The Mystery of a Hansom Cab. Why was it such a hit? Who was involved with it? And why was author Fergus Hume left without a dime?

Art crime expert Erin Thompson digs into the dirt around antiquities in her new book — what motivates collectors, what justifications they give and the politics around their acquisitions.

Andrés Reséndez' new book is a careful and scholarly examination of the enslavement of indigenous people in the Americas. It lays bare a shameful chapter of history, with a clear line to the present.

A young nobleman leaves home and ends up joining a group of outlaws — sound familiar? No, it's not Robin Hood, it's the iconic Korean hero Hong Gildong, and it's time the rest of the world met him.

Encyclopedias, dictionaries and directories take on a life of their own in Jack Lynch's new book — a history of reference systems that becomes an examination of the nature of lexicography itself.

Ruth Goodman — adviser to BBC productions like Wolf Hall — digs deep into the everyday life of Tudor England in her new book. Surprisingly, Elizabethan hygiene isn't as bad as you might think.