MexicoThis sweeping new history of Mexico spans 500 dramatic years of conquest, innovation and revolution. It begins in 1511 with the shipwreck of two Spanish sailors in Yucatn. Paul Gillingham's superb history chronicles how this convulsion led to a startling recombination of cultures. He shows how the industrial mining of Mexico's silver transformed the wealth and trade of the world, making it the centre of the first truly global economy. We then see how

we are told

to set him free

Sudhir Hazareesingh here turns this narrative on its head

and the world of books that have enabled great writers to give shape and meaning to their lives

Across the world

Frances Gorges seems destined to be happy at last

Philip Pullman chooses his 50 favourite stories from the Brothers Grimm and presents them in a 'clear as water' retelling

is reluctant to believe that Alice is a witch

when the US charts would be colonised by British pop music - Depeche Mode

the backbone of our post-war greatness

living in Rome

The band produced only two albums in two years