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Dante brings the legendary author—and the medieval Italy of his era— to vivid life, describing the political intrigue, battles, culture, and society that shaped his writing. Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy has defined how people imagine and depict heaven and hell for over seven centuries. However, outside of Italy, his other works are not well known, and less still is generally known about the context he wrote them in. In Dante, Barbero brings the legendary author’s Italy to life, describing the political intrigue, battles, city and society that shaped his life and work. The son of a shylock who dreams of belonging to the world of writers and nobles, we follow Dante into the dark corridors of politics where ideals are shattered by rampant corruption, and then into exile as he travels Italy and discovers the extraordinary color and variety of the countryside, the metropolises, and the knightly courts. This is a book by a serious scholar with real popular appeal, as evidenced by its bestseller ranking in Italy. It is a remarkable piece of forensic investigation into medieval Italian life.
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The fates of a diverse set of characters intertwine in this novel set in Gorbachev's Russia. But perhaps the greatest protagonist of them all is the Russian public, as they emerge from one dismal reality and hurtle unknowingly towards another.
A vivid and original reconstruction of the Battle of Waterloo. On the afternoon of 1 March, 1815, a fleet of ships dropped anchor off the southeast coast of France. After ten months in exile on the island of Elba, the Emperor Napoleon had returned to reclaim his throne. European chancelleries responded by immediately preparing for war. Only one year earlier, four great powers - England, Austria, Russia and Prussia - had combined to defeat Napoleon and now, these four countries made a pledge to invade France from all sides. Napoleon's only recourse was to rearm, and he quickly marshalled his forces: mobilized the National Guard, began mass production of muskets and bought or confiscated all a...
Venice at the end of the 1500s is an unforgiving city. The Doge rules with an iron fist and the Holy Office harbors suspicions about everything and everyone. Even the walls have eyes. The Republic of Venice watches and listens, then passes judgment swiftly and definitively. In a city where everyone is assumed guilty of something, a young stonemason by the name of Michele has been accused of a crime he didn't commit. Afraid for his life, he flees the city aboard a galley carrying gold coin, leaving behind his young wife, Bianca. Banished from his home, Michele embarks on a series of extraordinary adventures as the ship he travels on stops in every port and on every island of the Mediterranean...
"A vital guide ... It is difficult to imagine anyone seriously interested in Dante who will not want to own this book" AN Wilson, The Times Since Dante Alighieri wrote the Divine Comedy it has defined how people imagine and depict not only heaven and hell, but romantic love and the human condition. However, while Dante's works are widely celebrated outside Italy, the circumstances of his extraordinary life are less well known. Born in 1265, Dante's adolescence was characterised by literary genius, but his political activism in one of the medieval world's wealthiest cities led to his death in exile. Pre-eminent Dante scholar Alessandro Barbero and celebrated translator Allan Cameron bring the poet vividly to life. Animating the political intrigue, violence, civil war, exile and cities that shaped Dante's poetic and political life, this is a remarkable portrait of one of the creators of European literature and a towering medieval figure in time for the 700th anniversary of his death.
Venice at the end of the 1500s is an unforgiving city. The Doge rules with an iron fist and the Holy Office harbors suspicions about everything and everyone. Even the walls have eyes. The Republic of Venice watches and listens, then passes judgment swiftly and definitively. In a city where everyone is assumed guilty of something, a young stonemason by the name of Michele has been accused of a crime he didn't commit. Afraid for his life, he flees the city aboard a galley carrying gold coin, leaving behind his young wife, Bianca. Banished from his home, Michele embarks on a series of extraordinary adventures as the ship he travels on stops in every port and on every island of the Mediterranean...
A lively and comprehensive biography of Charlemagne -- the first one of significance in over 20 years -- written by a well-known Italian historian, for the general reader.
“A raw and compelling portrait of 411 BC Greece in which women must fight for justice and democracy” by the Strega Prize–winning Italian novelist (La Stampa). Athens, 411 BC. As the Peloponnesian War draws to a close, a political coup begins to take shape in Athens. Veterans of the infamous battle of Mantinea, Thrasyllus, and Polemon now live as humble farmers in the countryside. They are determined to find influential husbands for their daughters, Glycera and Charis, but first they must defend Athens from the oligarchs plotting to reinstate tyrannical rule. Young and impatient, Glycera and Charis soon become infatuated with their neighbor’s rich and arrogant son, Cimon. When their fathers travel to Athens to see Aristophanes’s latest comedy, the girls use the chance to accept an invitation to Cimon’s house . . . with no notion of what awaits them on their visit. Alternating between the secret drama playing out in the countryside and the public one playing out onstage in Athens, Alessandro Barbero weaves “a compelling story of women’s valiant struggles to maintain their dignity in a misogynistic society” (Historical Novel Society).
While many books have been published on Waterloo, none have rivalled this in either scale or authority. The text, based on Adkin’s fastidious research, including many days spent on the battlefield itself, does far more than simply narrate the events of 18 June 1815. The author provides as much analysis as he does description: plans are examined, commanders assessed and manoeuvres painstakingly related to the ground. Armies, weapons and tactics are comprehensively explored and evaluated. As with Adkin’s companions to the battles of Trafalgar and Gettysburg, the text focuses on myths and controversies surrounding the events, as well as elements often neglected in other narrative accounts ...