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This book is as captivating as the city itself. Hibbert's gift is weaving political, social and art history into an elegantly readable and marvellously lively whole. The author's book on Florence will also be at once a history and a guide book and will be enhanced by splendid photographs and illustrations and line drawings which will describe all teh buildings and treasures of the city.
Rather than reaffirm George III's reputation as Mad King George, Hibbert portrays him as not only a competent ruler during most of his reign, but also as a patron of the arts and sciences, as a man of wit and intelligence, indeed, as a man who greatly enhanced the reputation of the British monarchy until he was finally stricken by a rare hereditary disease.
In this coloful, absorbing tale of Nelson's life on and off the high seas, Hibbert illuminates the admiral's personality, his personal and political friendships, his relationship with Sir William Hamilton, and his passionate love affair with Hamilton's wife, the beautiful Lady Emma, daughter of a blacksmith and once a London prostitute. Whether quarreling with royalty, wooing beautiful women around the world, or winning history's most famous sea battles, Hibbert's irascible Nelson is a character for all times.
This colorful history of a powerful family brings the world they lived in—the glittering Rome of the Italian Renaissance—to life. The name Borgia is synonymous with the corruption, nepotism, and greed that were rife in Renaissance Italy. The powerful, voracious Rodrigo Borgia, better known to history as Pope Alexander VI, was the central figure of the dynasty. Two of his seven papal offspring also rose to power and fame—Lucrezia Borgia, his daughter, whose husband was famously murdered by her brother, and that brother, Cesare, who inspired Niccolò Machiavelli’s The Prince. Notorious for seizing power, wealth, land, and titles through bribery, marriage, and murder, the dynasty’s dramatic rise from its Spanish roots to its occupation of the highest position in Renaissance society forms a gripping tale. From the author of The Rise and Fall of the House of Medici and other acclaimed works, The Borgias and Their Enemies is “a fascinating read” (Library Journal).
Horatio Nelson was a national hero who secured a century of maritime supremacy for his country and became the focus of British identity and aspiration. Generous and brave, sometimes vain and occasionally weak, he is still the butt of half-admiring jokes: bawdy when his name is coupled with that of Emma Hamilton; respectful in relation to his great naval achievements.
This single volume study of Wellington's life and times is based on modern research. Wellington achieved fame as a soldier fighting the Mahratta in India. His later brilliant generalship fighting the French in Spain was rewarded by a dukedom and a grant from the house of Commons which would today be worth some u8 million. After his defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo he embarked on his second career as a politician. He was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the army for life, became Prime Minister in 1827 and a byword for High Toryism while presiding over the emancipation of Roman Catholics and the formation of the country's first police force. Unhappily married, he had several mistresses and many intimate friendships with women."
Christopher Hibbert’s acclaimed biography of Queen Victoria is as impressive and authoritative as the great woman herself.
If you want to discover the captivating history of the French Revolution, this is the book for you . . . Concise, convincing and exciting, this is Christopher Hibbert's brilliant account of the events that shook eighteenth-century Europe to its foundation. With a mixture of lucid storytelling and fascinating detail, he charts the French Revolution from its beginnings at an impromptu meeting on an indoor tennis court at Versailles in 1789, right through to the 'coup d'etat' that brought Napoleon to power ten years later. In the process he explains the drama and complexities of this epoch-making era in the compelling and accessible manner he has made his trademark. 'A spectacular replay of epic action' Richard Holmes, The Times 'Unquestionably the best popular history of the French Revolution' The Good Book Guide