History

"Tales of powerful female figures have been told since the beginning of time and this collection brings together 50 stories from around the world. There are loving creators, wise leaders, fearsome warriors, gentle healers and mystical protectors, and they can each inspire you to find strength within yourself. Beautifully written by cultural historian and broadcaster, Dr Janina Ramirez, and stunningly illustrated by Sarah Walsh, this amazing book contains goddesses, guides, spirits, saints, witches, demons and many more female figures that have played an important role in shaping belief today. Based on original sources and with photographs from the British Museum collection, this incredible introduction to goddesses throughout history will entertain, engage and empower readers everywhere. Divided into thematic chapters, but connected by the power of the female, there are important stories of creation and love, action-packed stories of war and death, and heroic stories of great adventure and strength. Each gorgeously illustrated spread is a celebration of girl power in its many forms"--Publisher's description.

Shortlisted for the Teach Primary Book Awards 2019!

Related teaching resource pack available on the Nosy Crow website.

Part of Nosy Crow’s list of publishing in collaboration with the British Museum and developed in consultation with one of the world’s leading Egyptologists.

This hilarious and fascinating book written by by award-winning author Chae Strathie is packed with historical facts and brought to life with rich, humorous illustrations by super-talented Marisa Morea.

A kid’s life in ancient Egypt might sound like fun with all the cool pyramids and glorious sunny weather, but actually it was rather tough! Learn how difficult life really was, from dodging Deathstalker scorpions and cleaning up cow dung, to fetching water from the well, eating roast hedgehog and being slammed in the stocks for being naughty at school! Probably the first book about ancient Egypt that involves bubble wrap and skateboards!

Packed with facts and fantastic illustrations, this funny and accessible introduction to ancient Egypt is a must-read for kids with a passion for horrible history

Other titles in the series include: Ancient Rome, Ancient Greece, Aztec Age

Part of Nosy Crow’s list of publishing in collaboration with the British Museum and developed in consultation with one of the world’s leading experts on Ancient Greece. This has witty, carefully researched text, packed with historical facts, by award-winning author Chae Strathie, brought to life with rich, humorous illustrations by super-talented Marisa Morea.

A kid’s life in ancient Greece might sound like fun, what with all that brilliant sunny weather and watching the Olympic Games, but actually life for kids could be pretty hard. In this hilarious book, children will learn just how tough life really was, from living on a diet of blood soup whilst wearing nothing but a cloak, to having to learn a poem that was over 15,000 lines long! Thanks, but no thanks, Homer! Probably the first book about ancient Greece to feature a race between a go-kart and a goose, this is a must read for kids with a passion for horrible history!

Part of Nosy Crow’s list of publishing in collaboration with the British Museum and developed in consultation with one of the world’s leading experts on Ancient Rome. This has witty, carefully researched text, packed with historical facts, by award-winning author Chae Strathie, brought to life with rich, humorous illustrations by super-talented Marisa Morea.

Written by award-winning author Chae Strathie and developed in consultation with experts from the British Museum, this fascinating book reveals what life was really like for kids in ancient Rome, from washing clothes in wee to snacking on dormice . . . and even fighting in gladiatorial combat! Packed with facts and fantastic illustrations, this funny and accessible introduction to ancient Rome is a must-read for kids with a passion for horrible history

Part of Nosy Crow’s list of publishing in collaboration with the British Museum and developed in consultation with one of the world’s leading experts on the Aztecs.

A kid’s life in the Aztec Age might sound like fun, what with all that brilliant sunny weather and exciting festivals, but actually life for kids could be pretty hard. In this hilarious book, written by award-winning author Chae Strathie, children will learn just how tough life really was, from being jabbed by cactus spikes to snacking on maggots . . . and even wearing jaguar skins!

Probably the first book about the Aztec Age that involves wedgies and skateboards, this is a must read for kids with a passion for horrible history!

Brought to life with rich, humorous illustrations by super-talented Marisa Morea.

Other titles in the series include: Ancient Egypt, Ancient Rome, Ancient Greece, Prehistoric Times.

Part of Nosy Crow’s list of publishing in collaboration with the British Museum, developed in consultation with some of the world’s leading experts on Viking history.

A kid’s life as a Viking might sound like fun, what with all those cool battles and awesome longships, but actually life for kids could be pretty hard. In this hilarious book, children will learn just how tough life really was, from spending years on a raid and sharing your bedroom with farm animals, to being poked full of holes . . . and even eating extremely watery porridge.

Probably the first book about Viking times to feature children walking polar bears and rubber ducks, this is a must read for kids with a passion for horrible history!

Brought to life with rich, humorous illustrations by super-talented Marisa Morea.

Part of Nosy Crow’s list of publishing in collaboration with the British Museum, developed in consultation with some of the world’s leading experts on medieval history.

A kid’s life in a medieval castle might sound like fun, what with all those cool battles and massive feasts, but actually life for kids could be pretty hard. In this hilarious book, written by award-winning author Chae Strathie, children will learn just how tough life really was, from getting stuck in a siege and living next to a poo-filled moat to having teeth yanked out with pliers… and even eating live blackbird pie!

Probably the first book about medieval times to feature talking cats and bottom burps, this is a must read for kids with a passion for horrible history!

Brought to life with rich, humorous illustrations by super-talented Marisa Morea.

For those who carry the scars of Partition, more than seven decades after arbitrary lines scarred the subcontinent, home is still on the other side of the Padma river. They pine for those who were left behind as a great mass of humanity moved from the east to the west of Bengal to settle in Hindu-majority India. Where are they today in the land that was then east Bengal, which became East Pakistan in 1947, and then Bangladesh in 1971?

According to an estimate from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, there were 17 million Hindus in Bangladesh in 2015, though the population is steadily dwindling. Hindus in Bangladesh in the late 2000s were almost evenly distributed in all regions of the country, with large concentrations in Gopalganj, Dinajpur, Sylhet, Sunamganj, Mymensingh, Khulna, Jessore, Chittagong and parts of Chittagong’s Hill Tracts. Since the rise of Islamist political formations in the country during the 1990s, many Hindus have been threatened or attacked, and substantial numbers are leaving the country for India still.

Despite their dwindling numbers, Hindus wield considerable influence because of their geographical concentration in certain regions of the country. They form a majority of the electorate in at least two parliamentary constituencies and account for more than 25% in at least another thirty.

For this reason, they are often the deciding factor in parliamentary elections where victory margins can be extremely narrow. It is also alleged that this is a prime reason for many Hindus being prevented from voting in elections, either through intimidating voters, or through exclusion in voter list revisions.

In Being Hindu in Bangladesh, journalist Deep Halder and academic Avishek Biswas explore the ground realities behind the statistics. Through extensive research in Bangladesh and using archival material and records, they attempt to sift out the truth behind the numbers. Their aim is to find out the lived experience of those who stayed on in the country, and ask important questions about the nature of identity, its connection with religion, and ultimately, the very idea of ‘home’.

At the start of the nineteenth century, there was a Mughal emperor on the throne in Delhi, but the Mughal empire, in decline for almost a century, was practically gone. A new power had emerged―the British East India Company, which captured the Mughal capital in September 1803, becoming its de facto ruler. Swapna Liddle’s book is an unprecedented study of the ‘hybrid halfcentury’ that followed―when the two regimes overlapped and Delhi was at the cusp of modernity, changing in profound ways. With a ground-level view of the workings of early British rule in India, The Broken Script describes in rich detail the complex tussle between the last two Mughal emperors and the East India Company, one wielding considerable symbolic authority, and the other a fast-growing military and political power. It is, above all, the story of the people of Delhi in this period, some already well known, such as the poet Ghalib, and others, like the mathematician Ram Chander, who are largely forgotten: the cultural and intellectual elite, business magnates, the old landed nobility and the exotic new ruling class―the British. Through them, it looks at the economic, social and cultural climate that evolved over six decades. It examines the great flowering of poetry in Urdu, even as attempts to use the language for scientific education faltered; the fascinating history of the Delhi College, and how it represented a radically new model for higher education in India; the rise of modern journalism in Urdu, and various printing presses and publications, exemplified by papers like the Dehli Urdu Akhbar; and the founding of remarkable institutions like the Archeological Society―all of which point to a fast-modernizing society that was being shaped to a significant extent by Western ideas and institutions, but was also rooted strongly in indigenous systems of thought and learning. The Revolt of 1857 and its aftermath violently disrupted this distinctive modernity. The book draws upon a variety of records―including Urdu poetry written after the revolt was brutally suppressed, proceedings of the trials conducted by the British, private letters and newspaper reports―for a nuanced examination of the events of 1857, challenging many commonly held and often simplistic assumptions. In the process, it details not only the destruction wreaked upon Delhi, but also strategies for survival and early attempts to rebuild and revive individual lives and institutions. Combining immaculate scholarship with extraordinary storytelling, Swapna Liddle has produced an outstanding book of narrative history―on a great city in transition, and on early modern India―that will be read and discussed for decades.

The Indian national movement was never a monolith.Millions participated in it; there were many important streams and personalities that shaped it. Most accounts are dominated by Gandhi, Nehru, Patel and Ambedkar, and a standard set of events – the Government of India acts, the Round Tables and the mass agitations. But what becomes invisible in these retellings are actual people whose lives were indelibly changed by this great struggle and who left their stamp on it in their own ways. This brilliant book, by the critically acclaimed historian T.C.A. Raghavan, is an ambitious attempt to tell the story of the freedom movement through five such characters.

At the centre is Asaf Ali, who figured in several of the movement’s seminal moments and whose perspective exemplifies many of the core ideas of the struggle that we still contend with today. Asaf ’s story illustrates the predicament of the moderate Muslim in the national movement – viewed with suspicion by many in the Congress and as a renegade by many in his own community.His controversial marriage to the firebrand Aruna Asaf Ali brought to the fore not only questions about Hindu–Muslim relationships but also the discussion on whether the path to change should be constitutional or revolutionary.

Sarojini Naidu was pre-eminent in this circle, her vibrant personality, her passionate championing of Hindu–Muslim unity made her one of the earliest standard-bearers of the national movement. Syud Hossain and Syed Mahmud – the journalist and the politician – complete the circle. Through the eyes of Asaf and his friends we get a different perspective of events, not a ringside view but a view just beyond the ring. Written with empathy and deep insight, this is sure to become a classic.