Michael R. Taylor Books

For two centuries, the abolition of slavery in Britain has been celebrated, but this perspective is shifting. In 1807, Parliament banned the slave trade, yet over 700,000 individuals in British colonies remained enslaved for another 25 years. The subsequent abolitionist movement, which made slave ownership a central political and moral issue, faced fierce opposition from the powerful 'West India Interest.' This group, backed by prominent figures such as Canning, Peel, and Gladstone, along with influential publications like The Times and Spectator, ensured that slavery persisted until 1833. When emancipation finally occurred, compensation—worth billions today—was awarded not to the enslaved but to the slaveholders, reinforcing their families' influence in shaping modern Britain. This groundbreaking history draws on significant new research to provide a compelling narrative of the tumultuous and often violent conflicts between rebels, planters, abolitionists, and the pro-slavery establishment. It reveals the extreme measures British leaders took to defend slavery for profit, illustrating that the eventual success of abolition came at a bitter cost, marking one of the darkest and most dramatic periods in British history.

Impossible Monsters is the captivating story of the discovery of the dinosaurs and how it upended our understanding of the origins of the world. 'An astonishing book about an extraordinary subject' PETER FRANKOPAN 'As thrilling as it is sweeping' TOM HOLLAND 'This book dazzles in its originality . . . a triumph' SATHNAM SANGHERA In 1811, a twelve-year-old girl uncovered some strange-looking bones in Britain's southern shoreline - and so sparked a crisis that would engulf science and religion for the next six decades. By its end, the literal reading of the Bible had been overturned, science had been liberated from religion and the secular age had begun. Impossible Monsters takes us into the lives and minds of the extraordinary men and women whose discovery of the dinosaurs revolutionised our understanding of the world, as well as those who resisted them and those, like Charles Darwin, who took great risks to construct a new account of the earth's and mankind's origins. It is the riveting story of a group of people who dared to think impossible things and then showed them to be true. 'Truly marvellous ... an intellectual thriller' RICHARD HOLMES 'A stunning work ... of surprises and revelations' STEVE BRUSATTE

When this book was first published three years ago, the author predicted that when it came to Taylor's career, the best was still to come.

Carly Simon is truly a musical phenomenon. Few female artists have achieved such a magnificent body of work; even fewer have been involved in so many facets of the music business; and no one has written so candidly to create an audio diary for the whole world to hear.