Despite five centuries of investigation by historians, thesinister deaths of the boy king Edward V and his younger brotherRichard, Duke of York, remain two of the most fascinating murdermysteries in English history. Did Richard III really kill “thePrinces in the Tower,” as is commonly believed, or was the murderersomeone else entirely? Carefully examining every shred ofcontemporary evidence as well as dozens of modern accounts, AlisonWeir reconstructs the entire chain of events leading to the doublemurder. We are witnesses to the rivalry, ambition, intrigue, andstruggle for power that culminated in the imprisonment of theprinces and the hushed-up murders that secured Richard’s claim tothe throne as Richard III. A masterpiece of historical research anda riveting story of conspiracy and deception, The Princes in theTower at last provides a solution to this age-old puzzle. Look for special features inside. Join the Circle for author chats and more. RandomHouseReadersCircle.com
"The Conspiracy of Catiline" (his first published work)contains the history of the memorable year 63. Sallust adopts theusually accepted view of Catiline, and describes him as thedeliberate foe of law, order and morality, and does not give acomprehensive explanation of his views and intentions. Catiline hadsupported the party of Sulla, to which Sallust was opposed.Sallust's "Jugurthine War" is a valuable and interesting monograph.We may assume that Sallust collected materials and put togethernotes for it during his governorship of Numidia. Here, too, hedwells upon the feebleness of the senate and aristocracy.
The last quarter of the eighteenth century remains the mostpolitically creative era in American history, when a dedicatedgroup of men undertook a bold experiment in political ideals. Itwas a time of both triumphs and tragedies—all of which contributedto the shaping of our burgeoning nation. Ellis casts an incisiveeye on the gradual pace of the American Revolution and thecontributions of such luminaries as Washington, Jefferson, andMadison, and brilliantly analyzes the failures of the founders toadequately solve the problems of slavery and the treatment ofNative Americans. With accessible prose and stunning eloquence,Ellis delineates in American Creation an era of flawed greatness,at a time when understanding our origins is more important thanever.
Named one of the Ten Best Books of the Year by the New York Times Book Review Almost a decade in the making , this much-anticipated grandhistory of postwar Europe from one of the world’s most esteemedhistorians and intellectuals is a singular achievement. Postwar is the first modern history that covers all ofEurope, both east and west, drawing on research in six languages tosweep readers through thirty-four nations and sixty years ofpolitical and cultural change—all in one integrated, enthrallingnarrative. Both intellectually ambitious and compelling to read,thrilling in its scope and delightful in its small details, Postwar is a rare joy. * A Time and San Francisco Chronicle Best Book ofthe Year * Maps, photos, and cartoons throughout
Undeniably one of Rome's most important historians, Tacituswas also one of its most gifted. The Agricola is both aportrait of Julius Agricola-the most famous governor of RomanBritain and Tacitus's respected father-in-law-and the first knowndetailed portrayal of the British Isles. In the Germania ,Tacitus focuses on the warlike German tribes beyond the Rhine,often comparing the behavior of "barbarian" peoples favorably withthe decadence and corruption of Imperial Rome.
In this well-written and well-researched social history F.R.Cowell succeeds in making Life in Ancient Rome alive and dynamic.The combination of acute historical detail and supplementaryillustrations makes this book perfectly suited for the studentpreparing to explore the classics, as well as the tourist preparingto explore twentieth-century Rome. Lucid and engaging, Life InAncient Rome is for anyone seeking familiarity with the greatnessthat was Rome.
In 1648, Europe was essentially a medieval society. By 1815, itwas the powerhouse of the modern world. In exuberant prose, TimBlanning investigates ?“the very hinge of European history?”( The New York Times ) between the end of the Thirty Y ears?’War and the Battle of Waterloo that witnessed five of the modernworld?’s great revolutions: scientific, industrial, American,French, and romantic. Blanning renders this vast subject digestibleand absorbing by making fresh connections between the most mundanedetails of life and the major cultural, political, andtechnological transformations that birthed the modern age.
A trusted member of the Byzantine establishment, Procopius wasthe Empire's official chronicler, and his "History of the Wars ofJustinian" proclaimed the strength and wisdom of the Emperor'sreign. Yet all the while the dutiful scribe was working on a verydifferent - and dangerous - history to be published only once itsauthor was safely in his grave. "The Secret History" portrays the'great lawgiver' Justinian as a rampant king of corruption andtyranny, the Empress Theodora as a sorceress and whore, and thebrilliant general Belisarius as the pliable dupe of his schemingwife Antonina. Magnificently hyperbolic and highly opinionated,"The Secret History" is a work of explosive energy, depicting holyByzantium as a hell of murder and misrule.
This is a book aboutGermans and Jews, about power and money. It is a book focused onBismarck and Bleichroder, Junker and Jew, statesman and banker,collaborators for over thirty years. The setting is that of aGermany where two worlds clashed: the new world of capitalism andan earlier world with its ancient feudal ethos; gradually a new andbroadened elite emerged, and Bismarck's tie with Bleichroderepitomized that regrouping. It is the story of the founding of thenew German Empire, in whose midst a Jewish minority rose toembattled prominence.
From one of the greatest historians of the Spanish world, hereis a fresh and fascinating account of Spain’s early conquests inthe Americas. Hugh Thomas’s magisterial narrative of Spain in theNew World has all the characteristics of great historicalliterature: amazing discoveries, ambition, greed, religiousfanaticism, court intrigue, and a battle for the soul ofhumankind. Hugh Thomas shows Spain at the dawn of the sixteenth century as aworld power on the brink of greatness. Her monarchs, Fernando andIsabel, had retaken Granada from Islam, thereby completingrestoration of the entire Iberian peninsula to Catholic rule. Flushwith success, they agreed to sponsor an obscure Genoese sailor’splan to sail west to the Indies, where, legend purported, gold andspices flowed as if they were rivers. For Spain and for the world,this decision to send Christopher Columbus west was epochal—thedividing line between the medieval and the modern. Spain’s colonial adventures began inauspiciously: Columbus’smeagerly f
The story of two World War II battalions--one German, oneAmerican--each cut off behind enemy lines in the same forest at thesame time, and the heroic efforts to save them--InfantryMagazine
"In the spring of 1984, I went to the northwest of France, toNormandy, to prepare an NBC documentary on the fortieth anniversaryof D-Day, the massive and daring Allied invasion of Europe thatmarked the beginning of the end of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich.There, I underwent a life-changing experience. As I walked thebeaches with the American veterans who had returned for thisanniversary, men in their sixties and seventies, and listened totheir stories, I was deeply moved and profoundly grateful for allthey had done. Ten years later, I returned to Normandy for thefiftieth anniversary of the invasion, and by then I had come tounderstand what this generation of Americans meant to history. Itis, I believe, the greatest generation any society has everproduced." In this superb book, Tom Brokaw goes out into America, to tellthrough the stories of individual men and women the story of ageneration, America's citizen heroes and heroines who came of ageduring the Great Depression and the Second World War and went
