From tales of chivalrous knights to the barbarity of trial by ordeal, no era has been a greater source of awe, horror, and wonder than the Middle Ages. In handsomely crafted prose and with the grace and authority of his extraordinary gift for narrative history, William Manchester leads us from a civilization tottering on the brink of collapse to the grandeur of its rebirth, the Renaissance, a dense explosion of energy that spawned some of history's...

Immanuel's Kant's groundbreaking work, considered to be among the most influential philosophical texts in the Western canon Familiar to philosophy students through the centuries, The Critique of Pure Reason is in many ways Kant's magnum opus. First published in 1781, it seeks to define what can be known by reason alone without evidence from experience. Kant begins by defining a posteriori knowledge, which is gained through the senses, versus a priori...

A romance set on the highways of old EnglandOn a cool crisp night in the Epping Forest, a stagecoach was moving amongst the shadows of a full silver moon."the moonlight gives the forest a magical glow", said Mary Gregory a passenger in the coach. The other passenger was her brother, Magistrate Sir Thomas Gregory, but he thought it felt less magical but more eerie and dangerous. He was seeing highwaymen and footpads in every shadow. The driver was...

First appearing as an anonymous serial in "Harper's Magazine" in 1895, "Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc" was Mark Twain's final novel and was published as a complete work under his name in 1896. The novel is a stark departure from Twain's usual comic and satirical writings, which is why Twain insisted it initially be published anonymously so that the public would take it seriously. The work is told from the perspective of a fictionalized version...

What Philippa Gregory has done for Tudor England, Jeanne Kalogridis does for Renaissance Italy. Her latest irresistible historical novel is about a countess whose passion and willfulness knew no bounds-Caterina Sforza Daughter of the Duke of Milan and wife of the conniving Count Girolamo Riario, Caterina Sforza was the bravest warrior Renaissance Italy ever knew. She ruled her own lands, fought her own battles, and openly took lovers whenever she...

The Renaissance was one of the greatest moments in Western cultural history. It was the time of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo; architects such as Brunelleschi and Palladio; composers such as Palestrina and Tallis; as well as innovative writers and philosophers. It was a time of great social change and remarkable flowering in science, exploration and politics; the age when medieval Christendom was split apart by the Reformation. The printing press...

Established by the Catholic Church in 1231, the Inquisition continued in one form or another for almost seven hundred years. Though associated with the persecution of heretics and Jews-and with burning at the stake-its targets were more numerous, its techniques were more ambitious, and its effect on history has been greater than many understand. The Inquisition pioneered surveillance, censorship, and "scientific" interrogation. As time went on,...

NEW  YORK TIMES BEST HISTORICAL FICTION OF 2020 "Only Katy Simpson Smith could have written a novel of such elegance, emotional power, and grace. The Everlasting, a quadruple love story spanning two millennia, is no less than the story of love itself-its frustrations and thrills, its blunders and transcendent glories. Meraviglioso."-Nathaniel Rich, author of King Zeno From a supremely talented author comes this brilliant and inventive literary...

A mesmerizing novel of Renaissance Europe. She followed her heart. But at what cost? France, 1450. Sophie, the spoiled favorite child of a wealthy merchant, secures a love match with Cédric, a dashing noble-born falconer. But their isolated life in the mountains is not what she'd imagined. When Cédric is offered a job with the mighty Knights Hospitaller on the Greek island of Rhodes, Sophie jumps at the chance to improve their fortunes. She quickly...

London, 1609. When Lucy St.John, a beautiful highborn orphan at the court of King James, is seduced by the Earl of Suffolk, she never imagines the powerful enemy she creates in his beloved sister, the Countess of Rochester. Or that her own sister Barbara would betray her and force Lucy to leave the court in disgrace. Spirited, educated, and skilled in medicine and precious remedies, Lucy fights her way back into society, and through an unexpected...