Europe

In imagining a Viking, a certain image springs to mind: a barbaric warrior, leaping ashore from a longboat, and ready to terrorize the hapless local population of a northern European town. Yet while such characters define our imagination of the Viking Age today, they were in the minority. Instead, in the time-stopping soils, water, and ice of the North, Eleanor Barraclough excavates a preserved lost world, one that reimagines a misunderstood society.

Poet, Mystic, Widow, Wife charts the lives and times of four medieval women writers—Marie de France, a poet; Julian of Norwich, a mystic and anchoress; Christine de Pizan, a widow and court writer; and Margery Kempe, a no-good wife—who all bucked convention and forged their own paths. Largely forgotten by modern readers, these women have an astonishing amount to teach us about love, marriage, motherhood, friendship, and earning a living.

Every Tudor Queen had ladies-in-waiting. They were her confidantes and her chaperones. Only the Queen's ladies had the right to enter her most private chambers, spending hours helping her to get dressed and undressed, caring for her clothes and jewels, listening to her secrets. But they also held a unique power. A quiet word behind the scenes, an appropriately timed gift, a well-negotiated marriage alliance were all forms of political agency wielded expertly by women.

Le 30 janvier 1933, Adolf Hitler est nommé chancelier du Reich. Les nazis avaient développé, depuis 1919 et le traumatisme de la Grande Guerre, une vision du monde qui n’avait d’original que sa cohérence raciste et son élan utopique. Ils surent exploiter le contexte d’une crise majeure, celle de 1929, pour subjuguer les consciences et accéder au pouvoir. Le pouvoir leur fut donné, avec une inconséquence sidérante, par les élites en place qui pensaient que Hitler ne tiendrait que quelques semaines et que ses partisans seraient "domestiqués".

During the 1600s—between the end of the Renaissance and the start of the Enlightenment—Europe lived through an era known as The Age of Reason. By exploring all the key events and bringing to life some of the most influential characters of the era—including Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Newton, Descartes, Spinoza, Louis XIV, and Charles I—acclaimed historian Paul Strathern tells the vivid story of this paradoxical age, while also exploring the painful cost of creating the progress and modernity upon which the Western world was built.

When Gareth Harney was first handed a Roman coin by his father as a child, he became entranced by its beauty, and its unique ability to connect us with the distant past. He soon learned that the Romans saw coins as far more than just currency—these were metal canvases on which they immortalized their sacred gods, mighty emperors, towering monuments, and brutal battles of conquest. Revealed in those intricate designs struck in gold, silver, and bronze was the epic story of the Roman Empire.

Como en todos o casi todos los países, en el nuestro existen desde antiguo partidos, grupos y movimientos cuyo propósito ha sido la demolición del régimen...

In 1204, the great Angevin Empire was fragmenting under King John's rule. Unable to withstand France's invasion of Normandy, John also faced difficult relations with the papacy, and rising dissent among his barons. By the time John died in 1216, the failed Magna Carta gave way to civil conflict, and more than half of the country had fallen to the dauphin of France. These troubles were then passed, along with the crown, to John's nine-year-old son, Henry III.

Based on research in five languages and in archives across the globe, Habsburgs on the Rio Grande fundamentally revises narratives of global history. Far more than a footnote, the Second Mexican Empire was at the center of world-historic great-power struggles—a point of inflection in a contest for supremacy that set the terms of twentieth-century rivalry.

Ukraine expert Adrian Karatnycky provides an eyewitness account of the history of the modern Ukrainian state and of the nation through the tenures of the six presidents who have led Ukraine since the collapse of the USSR, including Volodymyr Zelensky. Karatnycky shows how—despite the influence of corrupt oligarchs, pressures from Russia, and the legacies of Soviet rule—an inclusive and united Ukrainian nation has emerged that inspires the world as it defends the principle that states and peoples have the right to their national sovereignty.

Travel back in time to meet some of England’s boldest kings and queens! Curious about the fierce kings and queens who ruled England? Then download this audiobook to start your journey into the past today!

The history of Sephardi Pirates is intricately woven into the fabric of the Caribbean's maritime history, particularly during the age of piracy. In the Caribbean, Sephardi Jews played a vital role in the burgeoning trade networks that characterized the region during the 17th and 18th centuries.

From about 3400-2600 BCE, the Yamnaya culture stretched from southeastern Europe into central Asia, greatly affecting other contemporary cultures in Europe and the Near East. The hallmarks of Yamnaya culture adopted by other cultures in the Near East and Europe include the use of metal tools and weapons.

El Cid was perhaps the most famous warrior involved in the indiscriminate fighting—irrespective of religion—on the Iberian Peninsula during the eleventh century. In the centuries after his death, he was transformed into a perfect Christian knight. In modernity, he was seen as the incarnation of Spain’s special national character—Franco chose El Cid as the emblem of Nationalist Spain. Yet not only those on the political right, but many others, including academics and those on the political left, were in his thrall.

Una mirada diferent sobre l'exili i la vida al camp de refugiats d'Argelers. "I, des d'aquell dia, aquella cabanya rudimentària la vam anomenar La Mansió. Va ser una manera d'aprendre que contra l'horror només ens queda l'humor, i com que en aquella platja tot era horror, tot va passar a ser humor. Humor negre, és clar. I dels soldats que ens vigilaven en dèiem "els nostres protectors", i de la sorra, "el nostre llit d'hotel", i del mar, "la nostra banyera". Ara que estem junts explica la separació de dos germans bessons per la Guerra Civil.

Nicht berühmte Herrscher, grausame Kriege oder denkwürdige Ereignisse sind das Thema des Historikers Ian Mortimer, sondern der Alltag der Menschen im Mittelalter: Wie feierten sie? Worüber lachten sie? Wie liebten sie? Mortimer beschreibt, wie es in den engen Gassen roch, welche Mahlzeiten sich die Bewohner zubereiteten und wie man sich auch ohne Handy und SMS in Windeseile verständigte. Endlich ein Buch, das zeigt, dass Geschichte nicht nur studiert, sondern auf einer Zeitreise erlebt werden kann!

Patriotism is often the point where history and advertising intersect, and it was that brand of nationalism that Rees-Mogg and Johnson attempted to sell. It is a brand that can only hark backwards; a nostalgic nationalism built on half histories and wishes. The kind of patriotism where the poetry of John Betjeman sits alongside blaming migrants for TB.

Was unsere Demokratie bedroht: Joachim Gauck über die Gefahren von außen und innen – der Bestseller in aktualisierter Fassung Der russische Überfall auf die Ukraine bedroht unsere liberale Demokratie in einem Moment, in dem sie zugleich auch von innen unter Druck steht. Wie ist es dazu gekommen? Der ehemalige Bundespräsident Joachim Gauck geht gemeinsam mit seiner Co-Autorin Helga Hirsch der Frage nach, weshalb das Vertrauen vieler Bürger in unsere liberale Demokratie erschüttert ist.

Die Waffen-SS umgibt bis heute der düstere Mythos der Brutalität, der Indoktrination und Unbesiegbarkeit. Doch in wie weit war die Waffen-SS tatsächlich militärische Elite? Oder waren ihre Divisionen doch nur ganz normale Fronttruppen?Klaus-Jürgen Bremm wagt eine ebenso kritische wie fundierte Gesamtdarstellung der militärischen Eliteformation.

Fra il XII e il XIII secolo, al moltiplicarsi delle esperienze religiose fa riscontro l'intolleranza ecclesiastica verso ogni forma di autonomia quale espressione di una volontà di inquadramento tesa a dirigere ogni aspetto della vita degli uomini. La sintesi non fu sempre possibile. Ne derivarono esclusioni, anche violente, e integrazioni proficue. Una parte prevalse, l'altra soccombette: storicamente vinti furono gli eretici, vincitori gli uomini di chiesa.

En 1918, el mundo enfrentó una de las pandemias más devastadoras de la historia: la gripe española. En cuestión de meses, esta enfermedad cobró más vidas que la Primera Guerra Mundial, dejando una huella imborrable en la humanidad. Pandemia Silenciosa ofrece un recorrido profundo y cautivador por este evento histórico que transformó sociedades y cambió el curso de la historia.

Casa de Médici: Una guía fascinante de la historia de la familia y la dinastía de los Médici. Casa de Borja: Una fascinante guía sobre los Borja y sus enemistades con la familia Médicis, la dinastía Sforza y Girolamo Savonarola.

Step into the lost world of ancient Britain, where fierce warriors painted themselves blue and wise Druids practiced mysterious magic. This audiobook uncovers the untold story of the Britons—an ancient people often overshadowed by Roman invaders and Anglo-Saxon conquerors. Yet, their legacy, filled with culture, strength, and resilience, is the true foundation of modern Britain.

In An Economy of Strangers, Avinoam Yuval-Naeh historicizes the association of Jews with the economy by focusing on one specific time and place - the financial revolution that England underwent from the late seventeenth century t