From the award-winning podcast The Rest is History and Sunday Times bestselling authors Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook comes a riotous deep dive into history’s biggest heroes and most notorious villains.
 
Welcome to a shadowy realm where the divide between the noble and the nefarious isn’t always quite as clear as it seems - where saints can appear suspiciously treacherous, and scoundrels reveal unexpected glimmers of virtue.

Prepare for sword fights, scandals and enough moral ambiguity to make Machiavelli blush – from the imperial court of eleventh-century Japan to the studios of twentieth-century Hollywood. Along the way, Holland and Sandbrook debate questions like:
-Was Caligula an irredeemable monster or history’s favourite scandal magnet?
-Was Wojtek the bear a true Second World War hero or simply a cuddly mascot?
-Was Elizabeth I a true Virgin Queen or just brilliant at branding?
 
So polish your armour, don your villainous moustache and get ready to choose a side in the ultimate showdown between history’s greats and rogues...
 
Size: 160mm x 240mm x 36mm
Hardback
No. pages: 448
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Published: 10 Sep 2026