In The Long Weekend, acclaimed historian Adrian Tinniswood tells the story of the rise and fall of the English aristocracy through the rise and fall of the great country house. Historically, these massive houses had served as the administrative and social hubs of their communities, but the fallout from World War I had wrought seismic changes on the demographics of the English countryside. In addition to the vast loss of life among the landed class,...

"Finally revealing the family's indefatigable women among its legendary military figures, The Howe Dynasty recasts the British side of the American Revolution. In December 1774, Benjamin Franklin met Caroline Howe, the sister of British Admiral Richard and General William Howe, in a London drawing room for "half a dozen Games of Chess." As Julie Flavell reveals, the games concealed a matter of the utmost diplomatic urgency, a last-ditch attempt to...

The extraordinary love story of an American blueblood and a German aristocrat--and a riveting tale of survival in wartime Germany. Sigrid MacRae never knew her father, until a trove of letters revealed not only him, but also the singular story of her parents' intercontinental love affair. While visiting Paris in 1927, her American mother, Aimee, raised in a wealthy Connecticut family, falls in love with a charming, sophisticated Baltic German baron,...