A History of the World in 51 Heroes and Villains

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 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...

About the Author

Goalhanger is one of the fastest-growing cultural media companies, producing chart-leading shows across history, politics, sport, business, entertainment, science and current affairs. Founded in 2018 by Gary Lineker, Tony Pastor and Jack Davenport, its podcasts were streamed more than 750 million times in 2025, reaching tens of millions of people worldwide each month across audio, video and live experiences.

Tom Holland is the author of a range of books on ancient and early medieval history. He has translated Herodotus and Suetonius, presented TV documentaries on subjects ranging from dinosaurs to the Islamic State, and been described by The Times as 'a leading English cricketer'.

Dominic Sandbrook was educated at Oxford, St Andrews and Cambridge, and was an academic at Sheffield before becoming a writer. He is best known for his histories of Britain since the 1950s, most recently Who Dares Wins, as well as a series of history books for younger readers, Adventures in Time. He has presented many documentaries on BBC Two and Radio 4, and is a columnist for The Times and book critic for the Sunday Times.