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11 September 1683, Rome. The citizens of the city wait anxiously for the outcome of the battle for Vienna as Ottoman forces lay siege to the defendersof Catholic Europe. Meanwhile, a suspected outbreak of plague causes a famous Roman tavern to be placed under quarantine. One of its detainees, the mysterious Atto Melani, a spy in the service of France, discovers a secret passage leading deep into the Roman underworld. A plot to assassinate the pope and plans to use the plague as a weapon of mass destruction in the battle between Islam and the West are discovered. Meticulously researched and brilliantly conceived, Imprimatur contains startling revelations that have been concealed for centuries...
July, 1700, Rome. Atto Melani - once a celebrated castrato soprano, now a spy in the service of King Louis XIV, the Sun King - mingles with other high-ranking guests at the villa of Cardinal Spada. Despite being there to celebrate the Cardinal's nephew's wedding, the main topic of conversation is the grave illness of the Pope and the approaching demise of Charles II, King of Spain. Charles has no heir and Kaiser Leopold of Austria and King Louis are each demanding the throne, with the Vatican supposedly mediating. Keen to promote his master's cause, Melani sets in motion a grandiose conspiracy that will plunge him into a world of secret languages, religious sects, forged Royal wills and Europe into war.
Vienna, 1711. Eleven years after the events of Secretum, and by means of a mysterious bequest, Atto Melani arranges for his faithful helper to relocate from a Roman slum to the imperial court in Vienna. Here, Atto enlists his help in a secret mission to bring about the end of the war between France and Austria. Meanwhile, a Turkish delegation has arrived in Vienna for talks with Emperor Joseph I, despite the fact that Austria is supposed to be at peace with the Ottoman Empire. When the emperor suddenly falls ill with smallpox and students are targeted by a serial killer, fears grow that a centuries-old power struggle has been reignited. What can Atto and his helper do to prevent Europe from descending into all-out conflict? An unfinished palace known as the Place with No Name, an exotic menagerie and a fantastical Flying Ship are just some of the ingredients of this baroque spy novel which will intrigue and delight fans of Monaldi and Sorti's series.
Noninvasive mechanical ventilation is an effective technique for the management of patients with acute or chronic respiratory failure. This comprehensive and up-to-date book explores all aspects of the subject. The opening sections are devoted to theory and equipment, with detailed attention to the use of full-face masks or helmets, the range of available ventilators, and patient-ventilator interactions. Clinical applications are then considered in depth in a series of chapters that address the use of noninvasive mechanical ventilation in chronic settings and in critical care, both within and outside of intensive care units. Due attention is also paid to weaning from conventional mechanical ventilation, potential complications, intraoperative applications, and staff training. The closing chapters examine uses of noninvasive mechanical ventilation in neonatal and pediatric care. This book, written by internationally recognized experts, will be an invaluable guide for both clinicians and researchers.
Closed to the world for half a century, like a black hole in the Asian landmass, the wilderness of Xinjiang in northwest China is returning to the light. The picture it presents is both fascinating and disturbing. Despite a savage landscape and climate, Xinjiang has a rich past: sand-buried cities, painted cave shrines, rare creatures, and wonderfully preserved mummies of European appearance. Their descendants, the Uighurs, still farm the tranquil oases that ring the dreaded Taklamakan, the world's second largest sand desert, and the Kazakh and Kirghiz herdsmen still roam the mountains. The region's history, however, has been punctuated by violence, usually provoked by ambitious outsiders--n...
This history of mankind's battles against infectious diseases looks at how epidemics shaped empires and economies and how medical revolutions freed us from these cycles until new threats arose caused by changes in global trade and climate.
Based on previously unexplored archival documentation, this book offers the first general overview of the history of Italian eugenics, not limited to the decades of Fascist regime, but instead ranging from the beginning of the 1900s to the first half of the 1970s. The Author discusses several fundamental themes of the comparative history of eugenics: the importance of the Latin eugenic model; the relationship between eugenics and fascism; the influence of Catholicism on the eugenic discourse and the complex links between genetics and eugenics. It examines the Liberal pre-fascist period and the post-WW2 transition from fascist and racial eugenics to medical and human genetics. As far as fascist eugenics is concerned, the book provides a refreshing analysis, considering Italian eugenics as the most important case-study in order to define Latin eugenics as an alternative model to its Anglo-American, German and Scandinavian counterparts. Analyses in detail the nature-nurture debate during the State racist campaign in fascist Italy (1938–1943) as a boundary tool in the contraposition between the different institutional, political and ideological currents of fascist racism.
This book presents a semiotic study of the re-elaboration of Christian narratives and values in a corpus of Italian novels published after the Second Vatican Council (1960s). It tackles the complex set of ideas expressed by Italian writers about the biblical narration of human origins and traditional religious language and ritual, the perceived clash between the immanent and transcendent nature and role of the Church, and the problematic notion of sanctity emerging from contemporary narrative.
Many have speculated on the role played by Freemasons in launching the French and American Revolutions, and in today's Bohemian Grove and other secretive forums where world events seem to be shaped.This book presents the history of Freemasonry in a philosophically rigorous and eloquent way and proposes a new philosophically significant and historically meaningful Freemasonic path. Along the way, the author casts light on important, little understood aspects of world history, presenting an enlightening narrative of world events.Dr. Nicolas Laos is the Founder and President of the autonomous, international Freemasonic and scholarly fraternity United Traditionalist Grand Sanctuaries of the Ancient and Primitive Rite Memphis-Misraim. He names many of the prominent men who have been members over the centuries, and provides a history of Freemasonry, and discusses how the movement spread, how it relates to religion, international affairs and world history, and the symbolism used.
'An exuberant and discursive historical novel, crammed with fascinating detail' - The Independent 11 September 1683, Rome. Rome is a city on a knife-edge. The citizens wait anxiously for news of the outcome of the Battle of Vienna, as the Islamic forces of the Ottoman Empire lay siege to the defenders of Catholic Europe. Meanwhile a suspected outbreak of plague causes a famous Roman tavern to be placed under quarantine. Among this detained in the Locanda Donzello is the mysterious Atto Melani, a spy in the service of the French king. With the help of the young serving boy, he discovers a secret passage leading to a network of tunnels under the city. Their nocturnal journeys into the Roman un...