Tallulah Bankhead was known just as much for her off-stage presence as she was for her on-stage performances. Fearless from birth, Tallulah charted her own course in life. She trudged off to New York to make it big in theater when she was still a teen. She then saw opportunity calling on the other side of the Atlant...

In 1996, Tom Bissell went to Uzbekistan as a na•ve Peace Corps volunteer. Though he lasted only a few months before illness and personal crisis forced him home, Bissell found himself entranced by this remote land. Five years later he returned to explore the shrinking Aral Sea, destroyed by Soviet irrigation policies...

Across four centuries, the Parthian Empire expanded its dominion over vast territories, boasting some of the most effective military units of the ancient world. Still, this is one of the forgotten empires of the ancient world. The reason is principally that, for the last two hundred years of its history, the Parthia...

One of the most powerful men who ever lived was a Holy Roman Emperor and controlled vast swathes of the planet. Quite a bit has been written over the centuries about Charles V, but even so, historical texts do not always reveal the complex personality that this man possessed. He was a man of purpose who felt destine...

Nicht weniger als ein ganzes Leben erzählt Annett Gröschner mit der Geschichte der Blumenbinderin und Kranfahrerin Hanna Krause - mit einer Wucht und Poesie, wie sie nur dort entstehen können, wo die Literatur wirklichkeitssatt ist. Hanna Krause war Blumenbinderin, bevor das Leben sie zur Kranführerin machte. Sie ha...

When Fidel Castro died on November 25, 2016, it seemed as if much of the world didn't quite know what to make of the revolutionary leader. The images of loyal Cubans in Havana openly crying in the streets stood in stark contrast to the Cuban exiles and their descendants just 90 miles away in Miami, Florida. While Cu...

The Boxer Rebellion saw impoverished Chinese peasants strike a blow against the Western powers, particularly the British, who had come to challenge China's sovereignty. The uprising was both a harbinger of things to come for China and a by-product of simmering decades of friction between the Chinese and the British....

In the glittering world of high society, everything has a price. In this sharp and witty short story, Virginia Woolf explores the intersecting lives of Oliver Bacon, London's most successful jeweller, and a titled but financially troubled Duchess. When the Duchess offers Oliver a chance to buy a set of pearlsーalong...

Joan Crawford was a legend. Few could compare to the charm and grace that she brought to the silver screen. Little did anyone know, however, of the charmed yet ultimately tragic life she led away from the camera and the main stage. Crawford was married four times and ended up disinheriting two of her children from h...

A history of ancient Egypt's golden age. "As an introduction to Egyptian history for students . . . it can hardly be too highly recommended." ーElizabeth Riefstahl, American Journal of Archeology Here, adequately presented for the first time in English, is the fascinating story of a splendid culture that flourished ...

A Companion to Roman Art encompasses various artistic genres, ancient contexts, and modern approaches for a comprehensive guide to Roman art. Offers comprehensive and original essays on the study of Roman art Contributions from distinguished scholars with unrivalled expertise covering a broad range of international...

J. R. R. Tolkien, an orphan in love with words, spent most of his life as an unassuming Professor of Literature at Oxford studying and teaching old languages. During his time there, he created his very own languages and a mythological world, Middle-earth. Middle-earth was inhabited by Hobbits, Dwarves, Elves, and ot...

Psychiatrist Viktor Frankl's memoir has riveted generations of readers with its descriptions of life in Nazi death camps and its lessons for spiritual survival. Between 1942 and 1945 Frankl labored in four different camps, including Auschwitz, while his parents, brother, and pregnant wife perished. Based on his own ...

A global perspective on the nature and evolution of nationalism, from the early modern era to the present The current rise of nationalism across the globe is a reminder that we are not, after all, living in a borderless world of virtual connectivity. In Nationalism, historian Eric Storm sheds light on contemporary n...

Bad Lieutenants is a riveting account of how the Khmer Rouge remained a force to be reckoned with even after the fall of Democratic Kampucheaーand of the men behind the movement's strange durability. In 1979, the Vietnamese army seized Phnom Penh, toppling Pol Pot's notoriously brutal regime. Yet the Khmer Rouge did...

⚔️ Master the battlefield of warーand lifeーwith ancient wisdom that never ages. Written over 2,500 years ago, The Art of War by Sun Tzu remains the definitive guide on strategy, competition, and leadership. Whether in war, business, sports, or self-development, Sun Tzu's principles on discipline, timing, deception,...