Renaissance

A lively and fascinating narrative history about the birth of the modern world....

The brilliance of the Renaissance laid the foundation of the modern world....

In this engaging, accessible account, Nadine Akkerman and Pete Langman explore the methods spies actually used in the period, including disguises, invisible inks, and even poisons....

A history of the Renaissance told through the lives of its most influential patrons....

The creator of the hit podcast series Tides of History and Fall of Rome explores the four explosive decades between 1490 and 1530, bringing to life the dramatic and deeply human story of how the West was reborn....

The startling truth behind one of the most notorious dynasties in history is revealed in a remarkable new account by the acclaimed author of The Tudors and A World Undone....

History is rarely kind to women of power, but few have had their reputations quite so brutally shredded as Catherine de’ Medici, Italian-born queen of France and influential mother of three successive French kings.

This book will explore the lives of the 17 most productive people in history.....

Eduard Habsburg, a member of the family and archduke of Austria, shares insights about the Seven Principles (maxims) at the root of Habsburg thought, action, politics, and family life....

A true historical “detective story” full of insight about how we look at art―and the artists and eras that produced it....

The aspects of Anne Boleyn's life and death are fiercely debated by historians, yet her ladies-in-waiting remain an understudied topic....

In this landmark study of Italy from the 14th through the early 16th centuries, Swiss historian Jacob Burckhardt chronicles the rise of Florence and Venice as powerful city-states....

Volume Three of 2,000 Years of Christ's Power, in showing the progression of the Reformation era and the daring bravery of its figures, presents a period of history from which there are many lessons to be learnt....

Joining the best sellers Longitude and Galileo’s Daughter, a lively and intriguing tale of two artists whose competitive spirit brought to life one of the world’s most magnificent structures and ignited the Renaissance....

Written by Pulitzer-prize nominated historian William Eamon, The Professor of Secrets entices readers into a dangerous scientific underworld of sorcerers and surgeons....

A new history of the Middle Ages, Beatrice's Last Smile reveals how Christianity and Islam evolved out of a shared cultural and religious ferment, and how this shaped the development of the West....

Born in the midst of the Wars of the Roses, Margaret Beaufort became the greatest heiress of her time....

Set in the court of Urbino in 1507, Castiglione’s The Book of the Courtier presents an invaluable look at court life and culture during the Renaissance. Over four nights of dialogue, the book explores the key question, ‘What should a courtier be like?’ Listen for more....

Leonardo's Brain uses Da Vinci as a starting point for an exploration of human creativity....

Historians credit Florence as the starting place of the Italian Renaissance, a process carried out through patronages and commissions of artists beginning in the 12th century....

Convulsed by a civilizational crisis, the great thinkers of the Renaissance set out to reconceive the nature of society. Corrupt and reckless tyrants sowing discord and ruling through fear; elites who prized wealth and status over the common good; military leaders waging endless wars....

A diverse array of ancient and modern cryptographic challenges exists today. Among the most famous is a 600-year-old document that continues to mystify: the Voynich Manuscript....

Like its popular and acclaimed predecessors, Restoration London and Dr Johnson's London....

Henry VIII's reign transformed the physical and spiritual landscape of England. In this revealing new account, John Guy explores how Henry himself understood the world and his place in it....

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....