Sub-titled 'The History of the Grand Hotel Et Des Palmes, Palermo', here are the rooms and public spaces of the hotel that have witnessed events that have shaped 20th century Sicily, from the suicide of a poet, to political intrigues and a clandestine Mafia meeting. Arthur Miller, Sophia Loren, and Maria Callas were all guests, and when Visconti was filming The Leopard in Sicily, the entire cast - notably Burt Lancaster, Claudia Cardinale and Alain Delon - visited the hotel. Lancaster even dined with a Baron who had made the hotel his home for reasons shrouded in mystery. Less illustrious guests have included the occultist Aleister Crowley, Lucky Luciano and other Mafiosi. Even Giulio Andreotti, the former Italian Prime Minister, who stood trial for complicity on the murder of a journalist and Mafia association in the 1990s, opted for the hotel's Belle Epoque opulence. The hotel truly has a long and venerable history. It started out as a private residence for the Ingham-Whitakers, the Anglo-Sicilian family of Marsala wine fame, before being sold to the hotelier Enrico Ragusa in 1874. Wagner was one of the most eminent early guests, looking for inspiration to finish his last opera, Parsifal. A few days after its completion, a nervous Renoir arrived to paint his portrait. Months later Guy de Maupassant asked to see Wagner's former suite so that he might detect 'a little of his personality'. The novelist and poet Raymond Roussel arrived in the 1930s, but was destined to leave in a coffin. A richly researched 164 page book with colour and other illustrations totalling 15 of this historic hotel.

Sub-titled 'The True Story of a Serial Killer, The Great London Smog, and The Strangling of A City', this is a book about a killer fog and a killer loose amidst it. London was still recovering from the devastation of World War II when another disaster hit. For five long days in December 1952, a killer smog held the city firmly in its grip. Day became night, transport ground to a halt, criminals roamed the streets and some 12,000 people died from the poisonous air. In the chaotic aftermath, another killer was stalking the streets using the fog as a cloak for his crimes. All across London women were going missing - poor women, forgotten women, whose disappearance has caused little alarm. Each had one thing in common - the misfortune of meeting a quiet, unassuming man named John Reginald Christie who invited them back to his decrepit Notting Hill flat during that dark winter. They never left. The eventual arrest of the Beast of Rillington Place caused a media frenzy. Were there more bodies buried in the walls, under the floorboards, in the back garden of this house of horrors? Was it the fog that cause Christie to suddenly snap and what role had he played in the notorious double murder that happened in the same apartment, building not three years before, a murder for which another probably innocent man was sent to the gallows? Journalist Kate Winkler Dawson braids three strands together in a taut, readable, true crime thriller about a man who changed the fate of the death penalty in the UK, and an environmental catastrophe with implications that still echo today. In the words of Simon Winchester, who became asthmatic at the age of seven as a result of the Great Smog "she is to be commended for telling a terrible tale memorably and brilliantly." Kate certainly includes much first-hand reportage and we feel we are there in blackout with bodies in the mist and a madman on the loose who strangled at least seven women and a baby. Illustrations, 341 pages.

The picture postcard was in its heyday in the late 19th century, when travel became a regular part of people's lives, and its popularity coincided with outbreaks of anti-semitism throughout Europe, with a notorious example being the Dreyfus case, where a Jewish officer was wrongly accused of an act of treason perpetrated by a French aristocrat. This collection makes profoundly uncomfortable reading at the same time as it sheds important light on the nature of anti-semitism and how it was spread. Around 300 postcards are reproduced here, divided by country as one nation's anti-semitism is markedly different from another's. Ordinary people sent anti-semitic postcards to their friends and relatives without any apparent awareness that the content was distasteful or inflammatory. Even in America the standard tropes are there, including exaggerated features, exclusion from the military, carrying an umbrella and an emphasis on money. In 19th century France the defeat in the Franco-Prussian war was popularly ascribed to Jewish influence. In Germany the Ostjude - Jew from the east - played a key role in forming the country's narrative of Jews as outsiders. Incidents such as the Konitz murder of 1900, where a Jew was wrongly blamed for a gruesome killing, fed into the mythology. The UK's king of seaside postcards, Donald McGill, freely used anti-semitic tropes until the rise of Hitler, when public opinion was no longer so receptive. Other countries discussed are Austria, Ukraine, and notably Poland which lost three million Jews in the Holocaust. A section on Nazi-era postcards includes images from "The Eternal Jew" exhibition of 1937 in Munich, showing Jews as physically deformed and suggesting that they were behind the Communist revolution in countries such as Russia. 238pp, softback, hundreds of colour illustrations. Save £20.

Hobsbawm 'is arguably our greatest living historian - not only Britain's, but the world's.' - Spectator. The eminent historian here provides a personal vision of the 20th century, remarkable in its scope, breath-taking in its depth of knowledge, and immensely rewarding to read. He reviews the uniquely destructive and creative nature of the troubled 20th century, and makes challenging predictions for the future. 'The power of Hobsbawm's exploration of the age of hot and cold wars lies in its brilliant synthesis of familiar, though sometimes forgotten, facts and ideas.' - Ben Pimlott. It is an incisive overview of the history of the 20th century reviewing the legacy of two world wars, the Depression, the age of colonialism, the Cold War, the collapse of the USSR, and the era's technological and scientific advances. Dividing the century into the Age of Catastrophe 1914-1950, the Golden Age 1950-1973, and the Landslide 1973-1991, Hobsbawm marshals a vast array of data into a volume of unparalleled inclusiveness, vibrancy and insight that ranks with his 'classics' The Age of Empire and The Age of Revolution. Communism became a messianic faith and collapsed ignominiously. Peasants became city dwellers, housewives became workers and, increasingly leaders. Populations became literated even as new technologies threatened to make print obsolete, and the driving forces of history swung from Europe to its former colonies. With 32 pages of photos, 627pp, paperback.

Sub-titled 'Mohammed bin Salman's Ruthless Quest for Global Power.' The Al Saud family are absolute rulers of Saudi Arabia, and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is one of the most powerful men in the world. The two authors, both investigative journalists, have focused on the part played by international finance in Salman's ruthless ascent to power. The book starts with his 2017 purge of hundreds of influential Saudi businessmen and politicians. Summoned to an audience with the King, Salman's father, the victims were diverted to the Ritz-Carlton hotel and in its incongruously luxurious surroundings were interrogated and tortured as enemies of the state. By the end of the process, Salman controlled the military, the police, intelligence agencies, government ministries and many of the country's largest businesses. Salman's father had manoeuvred himself onto the throne by outwitting the head of the previous king's court, Khalid al-Tuwaijri, and Muhammed bin Salman has inherited his father's ruthless cunning. One of the most controversial international incidents since 2017 was the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Khashoggi had initially been a supporter of the regime and had been close to Osama bin Laden, embedding himself as a journalist with al Qaeda. However, Khashoggi had also occasionally criticised the Saudi government and became concerned for his safety, fleeing to the United States. Khashoggi had a huge following on Twitter, which was the only source of information for the Saudi royal family on their popularity, and on this basis they decided to act. The author describes the events leading up to the murder of Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018, and the international fallout followed by a renewed bid for international credibility in 2018. 346pp, paperback, colour photos.

Co-presenter of BBC Radio 4's 'The Infinite Monkey Cage' and a radio double act and stand-up worldwide partner of Professor Brian Cox, Robin Ince has a lovely daddy who's a big customer of Bibliophile! In his touching and witty book, Robin uses the life of the stand-up comedian as a way of exploring some of the biggest questions we all face. Where does anxiety come from? How do we overcome imposter syndrome? What is the key to creativity? How can we deal with grief? He asks you to look at your childhood, tells us about the brain, hardware and chemistry, talking about yourself behind your back, daydreaming for a purpose, getting to know your inner fraud, anxiety, morals and temptations and thinking about death. Where is thy Punchline? Informed by personal insights from Robin as well as interviews with some of the world's top comedians, neuroscientists and psychologists, this is an hilarious and often moving primer to the mind, and a powerful call to embrace the full breadth of our own inner experience, no matter how strange or worrying that may be! 276pp.

This book is a sheer delight, showcasing over 100 magazine covers from the late 1950s onwards, with a commentary on the inside story of each by editors and designers. Magazine covers need to make their impact according to the 5/5 rule (within five seconds from five feet away). There has to be an arresting image, complementary wording, and above all the cover as a whole distils a cultural moment. In autumn 1962, just after Marilyn Monroe's death, the cover of Eros magazine featured a photographer's contact sheet showing stills of Marilyn from a shoot she had done six weeks before. In April 1968 the boxer Muhammad Ali had been sentenced to imprisonment for being a conscientious objector, and the cover photo of Esquire magazine shows him in his white shorts transfixed with arrows in imitation of medieval paintings of the martyrdom of Saint Sebastian. Private Eye's February 1965 cover featured a cartoon of Winston Churchill by Gerald Scarfe, one of the few really sharp satirical cartoonists at the time, showing the old man not in bulldog mode but hunched and decrepit. Vogue magazine of March 1966 captures Donyale Luna looking out at the viewer from behind her carefully manicured hand, the first woman of colour to feature on Vogue. The photographer was David Bailey and he describes how he got the best out of his nervous subject. The feminist Spare Rib was launched in 1972 as an antidote to fashion magazines, with a casual photo of two women wearing no make-up. Time Out has had some startling covers, including the green-all-over issue on jealousy in 1973. In 1977 the violence of the modern game of cricket was captured for Radio Times by Ralph Steadman's cartoon of bowler Dennis Lillee. In 1981 Rolling Stone magazine featured a naked John Lennon embracing a clothed Yoko Ono, photographed hours before he was shot, and in September 2001 the New Yorker's apparently black cover in fact faintly features the twin towers. Every cover in this superb book tells us something about ourselves. 256pp, over 100 colour reproductions.
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The hugely popular economist sold over one million copies of this book which exposes why the rich are rich, the poor or poor, and why you can never buy a decent used car. Part exposé of the economic principles lurking behind daily events, his book explains everything from traffic jams to high coffee prices and why the gap between rich and poor nations is so great. Harford ranges from Africa, Asia, Europe and the US to reveal how supermarkets, airlines and coffee chains to name are few are vacuuming money from our wallets. He punctures the myths surrounding some of today's biggest controversies including high cost healthcare and why certain environmental laws can put a smile on a landlord's face. He covers scare resources, market power, efficiency, price gouging, market failure, inside information, why there is a Starbucks on every corner and how not to get duped at an auction. Find out why it is difficult to get a foot on the property ladder or where banks went wrong. A brilliantly enjoyable book which illuminates every aspect of the world we inhabit. 368pp in updated second edition, paperback.

The linguistics and philosophy professor from MIT is an elder statesman of a resurgence left. From meditations on human nature to strategic advice for the Trump era, Chomsky remains the thinker who shaped a generation and is a beacon of hope in the darkest of times. The book begins with his razor-sharp analysis of neoliberalism, imperialism, the EU, the role of religion in politics, and class polarisation. He looks at the flawed nature of US democracy, fascism, showmanship and hypocrisy and with Robert Pollin discusses political barriers to free education and a new green deal. Chomsky focusses on the Trump presidency and lays out the long history of US foreign policy as well as topics such as healthcare, global warming and education, that Trump's economic 'boom' is a sham, that moral depravity defines US politics and that Trump was willing to dismantle democracy to hold on to power, protecting profits amid protests and pandemic, and that COVID-19 has exposed the US under Trump as a 'failed state'. Finally he looks at various alternatives - anarchism, communism and socialism in this excellent collection of interviews that highlights Chomsky's encyclopaedic knowledge of the key issues of our day. A Penguin paperback special, 352pp.

Brown is a brilliant master of ceremonies as he brings the history of these fine institutions to life and demonstrates their importance in working-class communities across the country. Blending vivid reportage and candid autobiography, he illuminates these arts centres, debating halls and palaces of carefree delight with love and care. The intoxicating history begins with the movement's founding by a teetotal social reformer to its booze-soaked mid-century heyday when more than 4 million Brits were members. Often dismissed as relics of a bygone age, Pete Brown reminds us that long before the days of Phoenix Nights 3000 seat venues routinely played host to stars like Shirley Bassey, Louis Armstrong, and the Bee Gees. Britain's best-known comedians made reputations through thick miasma of smoke from Sunniside to Skegness. For a young man growing up in the pit town of Barnsley, this was a radiant wonderland that transformed those who entered. They were a vehicle for social mobility and self improvement, run for working people by working people. Brown looks at the club and himself, the clubs as an institute, the pub, music hall, the radicals, the ups and downs, women, change and the future. A RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK, 290 pages.