Alfred Nobel began his career as a brilliant inventor and industrialist, but his inventionsーparticularly the creation of dynamiteーbrought him more anguish than satisfaction. Though his scientific achievements earned him fortune and fame, Nobel became deeply troubled by the destructive uses of his work. Branded the...

Pontiac's War erupted in the Great Lakes region of North America just as the French and Indian War came to a close in 1763. The French, who had initially established a European presence there, were usurped by the British, whose relations with indigenous peoples were notoriously less diplomatic and more destructive. ...

A powerful account of the life of Tamerlane the Great (1336-1405), the last master nomadic power, one of history’s most extreme tyrants, and the subject of Marlowe’s famous play. Marozzi travelled in the footsteps of the great Mogul Emperor of Samarkland to write this wonderful combination of history and travelogue....

In 1940, defeat seemed inevitable. Yet from the beaches of Dunkirk emerged one of the most extraordinary rescues in military history. As German forces closed in, a hastily assembled flotilla of civilian vesselsーlater immortalized as the "Little Ships"ーcrossed the English Channel to save the British Army from annih...

Enter The Universe According to Peter Max. A true Pop Art iconーone of the world’s most well-loved visual artistsーPeter Max now offers us an intimate, unprecedented look at the inner workings of his imagination. Vibrantly colored artwork accompanies fifty evocative personal essays in which Max, for the first time e...

In the face of ruthless totalitarian rule, it is only the rare few who stand up at risk of their own life to do what is right. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was one of those exceptional individuals. Even on pain of death, he would not bend, he would not budgeーthis German pastor fought the Nazi regime with every fiber of his ...

〓 "Justice is the end of government. It is the end of civil society." 〓 The Federalist Papers is one of the most influential works of political thought ever writtenーa collection of 85 essays composed by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay to defend and explain the principles of the United States Const...

The American Civil War was a long and bloody conflict whose effects are still felt today in the United States. The descendants of the men who fought in the war continue to pay the fallen their respects and remember the events of the war, the various battles, and the personalities of the many leaders involved. One of...

Il ne faut pas se lasser de répéter que plus des neuf dixièmes des Français de l’Ancien Régime vivaient dans des villages. La culture savante, certes essentielle, nous donne une image largement faussée de la vie jadis. Le village, dont on ne s’éloignait guère, n’était pas seulement un lieu de résidence, un lieu de p...

This book explores the intricate connections between the body and narrative across the early modern world. It examines how bodily aspects shaped the creation of stories and vice versa. The writing, telling, or interpreting of a story is inherently tied to corporeal acts and is, to varying degrees, shaped by them. Li...

The Islamic Republic of Iran came into being in 1979, the result of a radical revolution that overhauled not only the foundations of Iranian society, religion and politics, but also our understanding of the role of religion in modern government. Here Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi takes us on an enlightening journey, showi...

Nirgendwo kam der Zynismus der Nationalsozialisten deutlicher zum Ausdruck als in Theresienstadt. Die Weltöffentlichkeit und die zur Deportation bestimmten Juden wurden planmäßig über den Zweck der Einrichtung getäuscht. Bis heute hält sich das Bild des privilegierten "Altersghetto", in dem vor allem musiziert und g...

**NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NOW AN FX LIMITED SERIES STREAMING ON HULU • NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER • From the author of *Empire of Painー*a stunning, intricate narrative about a notorious killing in Northern Ireland and its devastating repercussions. One of The New York Times’s 20 Best Books of the...

Magic, sorcery and witchcraft are among the most common themes of the great medieval Icelandic sagas and poems, the problematic yet vital sources that provide our primary textual evidence for the Viking Age that they claim to describe. Yet despite the consistency of this picture, surprisingly little archaeological o...

After Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, the Soviet secret police, the NKVD, executed a staggering number of political prisoners in Western Ukraine-somewhere between 10,000 and 40,000-in the space of eight days, in one of the greatest atrocities perpetrated by the Soviet state. Yet the Great West Ukrainian Pr...

This volume presents a comparative analysis of three key citiesーHong Kong, Singapore, and Taipeiーduring the Cold War. Strategically positioned within international trade networks, these cities also served as critical nodes for both regional conflicts and cooperation. The comparison primarily focuses on their urban...