A slightly sparser list of new history books this month (Feb 2026, in hardback in the UK). The two that I am curious to find out a bit more about are:
-
Red Dawn Over China: How Communism Conquered a Quarter of Humanity, by Frank Dikรถtter. The thesis being that the Communists in China were no different to their Nationalist Guomingdang opponents, so there was no 'moral' component to their victory. Having not yet read the book I am not yet convinced!
-
The Death of Trotsky: The True Story of the Plot to Kill Stalin's Greatest Enemy, by Josh Ireland. Another compelling / horrific movie plot from the past. I expect an exciting, made for cinema style book.
Click the book covers to see a zoomed in image and links to Amazon if you like to buy your books there.
The full list:
- ๐ Red Dawn Over China: How Communism Conquered a Quarter of Humanity
- ๐ A Queer Inheritance: Alternative Histories in the National Trust
- ๐ Members Behaving Badly: A History of Britain in 52 Parliamentary Rogues
- ๐ The Dreaded Pox: Sex and Disease in Early Modern London
- ๐ The Death of Trotsky: The True Story of the Plot to Kill Stalin's Greatest Enemy
- ๐ A Spy Amongst Us: Daniel Defoe's Secret Service and the Plot to End Scottish Independence
- ๐ Mad Tom's Rising: The Revolutionary Mystic Sir Wiliam Courtenay and the Last Battle Fought on English Soil
- ๐ The Great Resistance: The 400-Year Fight to End Slavery in the Americas
- ๐ Athena's Sisters: Reclaiming the Women of Classical Athens
- ๐ Saving Byzantium: The Struggle to Salvage an Empire
- ๐ Runes: A Concise History
