Georges Duby, one of this century's great medieval historians,has brought to life with exceptional brilliance and imaginationWilliam Marshal, adviser to the Plantagenets, knightextraordinaire, the flower of chivalry. A marvel of historicalreconstruction, William Marshal is based on a biographical poemwritten in the thirteenth century, and offers an evocation ofchivalric life -- the contests and tournaments, the rites of war,the daily details of medieval existence -- unlike any we have everseen. An enchanting and profoundly instructive book....Owing in signalpart to the imaginative scholarship of Georges Duby, darkness ismore and more receding from the Dark Ages." George Steiner New Yorker "A small masterpiece of its genre....It is a splendid story andProfessor Duby tells it splendidly....Duby has reconstructed aliving picture of a particular sector of society at a crucialmoment, at the brink of great change. The vividness, the intimacy,and the historical perception with which he presents his picture ofth

The Boys’ Crusade is the great historian PaulFussell’s unflinching and unforgettable account of the Americaninfantryman’s experiences in Europe during World War II. Based inpart on the author’s own experiences, it provides a stirringnarrative of what the war was actually like, from the point of viewof the children—for children they were—who fought it. While dealingdefinitively with issues of strategy, leadership, context, andtactics, Fussell has an additional purpose: to tear away the veilof feel-good mythology that so often obscures and sanitizes war’sbrutal essence. “A chronicle should deal with nothing but the truth,” Fussellwrites in his Preface. Accord-ingly, he eschews every kind ofsentimentalism, focusing instead on the raw action and humanemotion triggered by the intimacy, horror, and intense sorrows ofwar, and honestly addressing the errors, waste, fear, misery, andresentments that plagued both sides. In the vast literature onWorld War II, The Boys’ Crusade stands

With the recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, once againAmerica's men and women who have seen war close-up are suddenlyexpected to return seamlessly to civilian life. In Flashback, PennyColeman tells the cautionary and timely story of posttraumaticstress disorder in the hope that we can sensitively assist thoseveterans who return from combat in need of help, and the familiesstruggling to support them.

From the bestselling and PEN/Faulkner Award-winning author ofNetherland, a fascinating, personal, and beautifully crafted familyhistory. Joseph O'Neill's grandfathers--one Turkish, one Irish--were bothimprisoned for suspected subversion during the Second World War.The Irish grandfather, a handsome rogue from a family of smallfarmers, was an active member of the IRA. O'Neill's othergrandfather, a debonair hotelier from the tiny and threatenedTurkish Christian minority, was interned by the British inPalestine on suspicion of being an Axis spy. With intellect, compassion, and grace, O'Neill sets the storiesof these individuals against the history of the last century's mostinhuman events.

The heartwarming New York Times bestseller by the author ofThe Greatest Generation "When I wrote about the men and women who came out of theDepression, who won great victories and made lasting sacrifices inWorld War II and then returned home to begin building the world wehave today ... it was my way of saying thank you. I was notprepared for the avalanche of letters and responses touched off bythat book. "I had written a book about America, and now America was writingback." Tom Brokaw touched the heart of the nation with his towering #1bestseller The Greatest Generation, a moving tribute to those whogave the world so much -- and who left an enduring legacy ofheroism and grace. The Greatest Generation Speaks was born out ofthe vast outpouring of letters Brokaw received from people eager toshare their personal memories and experiences of a momentous timein America's history. These letters and reflections cross time, distance, andgenerations as they give voice to lives forever chan

By the end of World War I, in November 1918, Europe’s oldauthoritarian empires had fallen, and new and seemingly democraticgovernments were rising from the debris. As successor states foundtheir place on the map, many hoped that a more liberal Europe wouldemerge. But this post-war idealism all too quickly collapsed underthe political and economic pressures of the 1920s and '30s. HowardM. Sachar chronicles this visionary and tempestuous era byexamining the fortunes of Europe’s Jewish minority, a group whoseprecarious status made them particularly sensitive to changes inthe social order. Writing with characteristic lucidity and verve,Sachar spotlights an array of charismatic leaders–from HungarianCommunist Bela Kun to Germany’s Rosa Luxemburg, France’s SocialistPrime Minister Léon Blum and Austria’s Sigmund Freud–whosecollective experience foretold significant democratic failures longbefore the Nazi rise to power. In the richness of its humantapestry and the acuity of its social insights, Dream

John Julius Norwich’s A History of Venice has been dubbed“indispensable” by none other than Jan Morris. Now, in his secondbook on the city once known as La Serenissima, Norwich advances thestory in this elegant chronicle of a hundred years of Venice’shighs and lows, from its ignominious capture by Napoleon in 1797 tothe dawn of the 20th century. An obligatory stop on the Grand Tour for any cultured Englishman(and, later, Americans), Venice limped into the 19th century–firstunder the yoke of France, then as an outpost of the AustrianHapsburgs, stripped of riches yet indelibly the most ravishing cityin Italy. Even when subsumed into a unified Italy in 1866, itremained a magnet for aesthetes of all stripes–subject or settingof books by Ruskin and James, a muse to poets and musicians, in itsway the most gracious courtesan of all European cities. Byrefracting images of Venice through the visits of such extravagant(and sometimes debauched) artists as Lord Byron, Richard Wagner,and the inimi

In the waning days of Venice’s glory in the mid-1700s, AndreaMemmo was scion to one the city’s oldest patrician families. At theage of twenty-four he fell passionately in love withsixteen-year-old Giustiniana Wynne, the beautiful, illegitimatedaughter of a Venetian mother and British father. Because of theirdramatically different positions in society, they could not marry.And Giustiniana’s mother, afraid that an affair would ruin herdaughter’s chances to form a more suitable union, forbade them tosee each other. Her prohibition only fueled their desire and sobegan their torrid, secret seven-year-affair, enlisting the aid ofa few intimates and servants (willing to risk their own positions)to shuttle love letters back and forth and to help facilitate theirclandestine meetings. Eventually, Giustiniana found herselfpregnant and she turned for help to the infamous Casanova–himselfinfatuated with her. Two and half centuries later, the unbelievable story of thisstar-crossed couple is told in a

They were four exceptional soldiers, a new generation asked tosave an army that had been hollowed out after Vietnam. Theysurvived the military's brutal winnowing to reach its top echelon.They became the Army's most influential generals in the crucible ofIraq. Collectively, their lives tell the story of the Army over thelast four decades and illuminate the path it must travel to protectthe nation over the next century. Theirs is a story of successesand failures, of ambitions achieved and thwarted, of theresponsibilities and perils of command. The careers of this elitequartet show how the most powerful military force in the worldentered a major war unprepared, and how the Army, drawing on areservoir of talent that few thought it possessed, saved itselffrom crushing defeat against a ruthless, low-tech foe. In TheFourth Star, you'll follow: ?Gen. John Abizaid, one of the Army's most brilliant minds.Fluent in Arabic, he forged an unconventional path in the militaryto make himself a

Sherman's March is the vivid narrative of General William T.Sherman's devastating sweep through Georgia and the Carolinas inthe closing days of the Civil War. Weaving together hundreds ofeyewitness stories, Burke Davis graphically brings to life thedramatic experiences of the 65,000 Federal troops who plunderedtheir way through the South and those of the anguished -- and oftendefiant -- Confederate women and men who sought to protectthemselves and their family treasures, usually in vain. Dominatingthese events is the general himself -- "Uncle Billy" to his troops,the devil incarnate to the Southerners he encountered.

From Midnight to Dawn presents compelling portraitsof the men and women who established the Underground Railroad andtraveled it to find new lives in Canada. Evoking the turmoil andcontroversies of the time, Tobin illuminates the historic eventsthat forever connected American and Canadian history by giving usthe true stories behind well-known figures such as Harriet Tubmanand John Brown. She also profiles lesser-known but equally heroicfigures such as Mary Ann Shadd, who became the first black femalenewspaper editor in North America, and Osborne Perry Anderson, theonly black survivor of the fighting at Harpers Ferry. Anextraordinary examination of a part of American history, FromMidnight to Dawn will captivate readers with its tales of hope,courage, and a people’s determination to live equally under thelaw.

For 130 years historians and military strategists have beenobsessed by the battle of Chancellorsville. It began with anaudaciously planned stroke by Union general Joe Hooker as he senthis army across the Rappahannock River and around Robert E. Lee'slines. It ended with that same army fleeing back in near totaldisarray -- and Hooker's reputation in ruins.

Washington Burning transports us in time to the veryfounding of our nation and its capital. We learn that theWashington we know might never have come to be had it not been forthe destruction of the young city by British troops in 1814, or forPierre Charles L'Enfant, the eccentric, passionate, difficultarchitect who fell in love with his adopted country. L’Enfant’ssweeping vision of a grand Federal City inspired President GeorgeWashington but earned the enmity of Secretary of State ThomasJefferson, who hated the idea of an imperial city. So was thecapital born of feuding personalities, and located on the banks ofthe Potomac only after great political struggle. Master storyteller Les Standiford has once again written acompelling, quintessentially American story of hubris andachievement. “Masterful…For the lover of U.S. history or Washingtonianarchitecture or even basic political intrigue, this marvelous newhistory, probably the best to date on L'Enfant and his troubledlife, is essential.” — Mi

On the day the firstshots of the Civil War were fired, a mob in Richmond clambered ontop of the Capitol to raise the Confederate flag. Four years later,another flag was raised in its place while the city burned below. Athirteen-year-old girl compared the stars and stripes to "so manybloody gashes." This richly detailed, absorbing book brings to lifethe years in which Richmond was the symbol of Southern independenceand the theater for a drama as splendid, sordid, and tragic as thewar itself. Drawing on an array of archival sources,Ashes ofGloryportrays Richmond's passion through the voices of soldiers andstatesmen, preachers and prostitutes, slaves and slavers.Masterfully orchestrated and finely rendered, the result is apassionate and compelling work of social history. "Furguson is alively writer with an eye for the apt quotation and the tellingincident...He brings to life a diverse cast ofcharacters."--Newsday "Succeeds to a remarkable extent...Furgusonbrings war-torn Richmond to life."--Baltimore Sun