From the bestselling author of the Time Traveller's Guides

In these sparkling A to Zs, time-travelling historian Ian Mortimer visits four classic periods of English history: the fourteenth century, the Elizabethan age, the Restoration and the Regency.

As he ranges from the Great Plague to the Great Freeze, from Armada to Austen, and from tobacco to toenails, he shines a light into corners of history we never knew were so fascinating -- or so revealing of the whole.

How did the button change life in the Middle Ages? If you found yourself at a smart Elizabethan party, should you kiss your hostess on the lips? Why were pistols safer than swords in a duel? And how come Regency Londoners quaffed so much port?

This is Mortimer at his accessible and witty best. As ever, his aim is not only to bring the past to life but also to illuminate our own times.