The first books of December

What Needled Cleopatra… and other little secrets airbrushed from history, Phil Mason (JR Books)
From William Tell and Charlie Chaplin to Abraham Lincoln, Hitler, Einstein and Karl Marx, What Needled Cleopatra provides an insight into the foibles and complex personalities of some of the most famous figures of history.

Constantine: Unconquered Emperor, Christian Victor, Paul Stephenson (Quercus)
A survey of the life and enduring legacy of the emperor, who, in 312, marched on Rome to establish his control over the western half of a divided Roman Empire, converted to Christianity and ended the persecution of its adherents, and founded Constantinople as a new Christian capital set apart from Rome’s pagan past.

Czechoslovakia: The State that Failed, Mary Heimann (Yale University Press)
This political history of Czechoslovakia, from its founding in 1918 to partition in 1992, rejects the simplistic Western view that Czechoslovakia was simply a victim of its nationalistic German and Soviet neighbours, arguing, instead, that it was also a perpetrator of intolerant nationalism.

The Soldier: A History of Courage, Sacrifice and Brotherhood, Darren Moore (Icon Books)
Based on first-hand accounts of warfare from combatants across the world, an analysis of the politics, human emotions and psychology behind soldiering, which focuses on the period from the Napoleonic Wars to the Global War on Terror.