English Renaissance

Florence. Autumn, 1539. Cesare Aldo was once an officer for the city’s most feared criminal court. Following a period of exile, he is back but demoted to night patrol when only the drunk and the dangerous roam the streets. Chasing a suspect in the rain, Aldo discovers a horrifying scene beneath Michelangelo’s statue of David. Lifeless eyes gaze from the face of a man whose body has been posed as if crucified. It’s clear the killer had religious motives. When more bodies appear, Aldo believes an unholy murderer is stalking the citizens of Florence.

In 1660, Amsterdam is the trading and map-printing capital of the world. Anneke van Brug is one of the colorists paid to enhance black-and-white maps for a growing number of collectors. Her artistic talent brings her to the attention of the Blaeu printing house, and she begins to color for a rich merchant, Willem de Groot. But Anneke is not content to simply embellish the work of others; she longs to create maps of her own. Cartography, however, is the domain of men - so it is in secret that she borrows the notes her father made on a trip to Africa in 1642 and sets about designing a new map.

Each night, after dark, men flock to Bankside seeking girls of easy virtue, prostitutes known as the Winchester Geese. Joanie Toogood has worked the streets of Southwark since childhood, but her path is changed forever by an encounter with Francis Wareham, a spy for the King’s secretary, Thomas Cromwell. Meanwhile, across the river, at the glittering court of Henry VIII, Wareham also sets his cap at Evelyn and Isabella Bourne, members of the Queen’s household and the girls, along with Joanie, are drawn into intrigue and the shadow of the executioner’s blade.

After unwittingly helping her mother poison King Louis XIV, 17-year-old alchemist Mirabelle Monvoisin is forced to see her mother's Shadow Society in a horrifying new light: They're not heroes of the people, as they've always claimed to be, but murderers. She herself included. Mira tries to ease her guilt by brewing helpful curatives, but her hunger tonics and headache remedies cannot right past wrongs or save the dissenters whom her mother vows to purge.

The Agents of the Crown - the “rollicking new historical thriller” (The New York Times Book Review) series - returns with this riveting novel following the original MI6 agent as he is assigned a dangerous mission to recreate a weapon from antiquity.

Merton Clivette once dominated the 1920s and 1930s art world. He ruled the Orpheum Circuit as a magician, shadowgraphist, mindreader, and acrobat. He performed in the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show. Clivette worked with Houdini and PT Barnum, and he inspired Mark Twain. He taught Sir Arthur Conan Doyle how to be a medium. He went by names such as Clivette the Great, The Man in Black, The Mysterious Stranger, and many others. Clivette led a remarkable life then, like the magician he was, he disappeared from the history books after his death in 1931.

The Norman Conquest in English History, Volume 1: A Broken Chain? pursues a central theme in English historical thinking over seven centuries. Covering more than half a millennium, this first volume explains how and why the experience of the Norman Conquest prompted both an unprecedented campaign in the early 12th century to write (or create) the history of England, and to excavate (and fabricate) pre-Conquest English law.

Ralph Waldo Emerson's "Nature" is perhaps the greatest original work of philosophy written by an American. This specially-prepared edition includes a foreword on the origin and significance the book.

During the 1600s—between the end of the Renaissance and the start of the Enlightenment—Europe lived through an era known as The Age of Reason. By exploring all the key events and bringing to life some of the most influential characters of the era—including Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Newton, Descartes, Spinoza, Louis XIV, and Charles I—acclaimed historian Paul Strathern tells the vivid story of this paradoxical age, while also exploring the painful cost of creating the progress and modernity upon which the Western world was built.

It's 1593, Elizabeth I is Queen and everyone is terrified of the worst outbreak of plague in a generation. Shakespeare has only written six plays and is lagging behind his friend Christopher Marlowe, London's leading playwright. When Marlowe is stabbed to death in mysterious circumstances, rumours abound – but the one that won't go away is that Shakespeare did it to remove his greatest rival. Will is determined to clear his name, and teams up with his old flame, Marlowe's sister Ann, who has plenty of secrets of her own.

If you want to discover the captivating history of the Middle Ages, then pay attention...One of the least understood periods of European history occurred between the 6th century and the 14th or 15th century (depending on which historian you ask). Commonly called the Middle Ages, this was a time period of extreme change for Europe, beginning with the fall of the Western Roman Empire. To a continent that had seen a drastic shift in the power structure, the world seemed to be particularly harsh. Rome had been a major player across Europe for well over a millennium. Then it was gone.

This is a new edition of Mark Twain's masterpiece, Huckleberry Finn, published by American Renaissance Books. The audiobook is narrated by Theo Holland, who brings to life the humor and drama of this timeless tale.

In 1494, there were five sovereign regional powers in Italy: Milan, Venice, Florence, the Papal States, and Naples. In 1536, only one remained: Venice. These decades of conflict precipitated great anxiety among Western thinkers, and Italians responded to the fragmentation, forevermore, of Latin Christendom, the end of self-governance for Italians, and the beginning of the early modern era in a myriad of ways. They were always heavily influenced by the lived experience of warfare between large Christian armies on the peninsula.

The First Italian War: The History and Legacy of the Italian Wars’ Initial Conflict at the Height of the Renaissance chronicles the various nations and city-states that jousted for power throughout the peninsula during the late 15th century. The audiobook presents places and events that'll help you learn about the First Italian War like never before.

Even though Leonardo Da Vinci wanted to learn all he could, he never received a formal education. Struggling to make a living in his 20s, he then moved to Milan, where he flourished. New worlds of discovery opened to him and his interests in engineering, art, theatre, and much more were satisfied. He expanded his knowledge in these fields to become a key figure in the Renaissance and an inventor whose designs of helicopters, parachutes, submarines, and many other ingenious devices were well ahead of their time.

Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, known across the world simply by the name Raphael, stands as one of the main pillars of the High Renaissance, an iconic example of the balance between spirituality and humanistic inquiry that characterized the time period. Although he lived just 37 years, his career produced an amazingly rich output, and he completed more works than many artists do over careers spanning twice the length.

From Children's Literature Legacy Award-winning author Nikki Grimes comes a feminist-forward new collection of poetry celebrating the little-known women poets of the Harlem Renaissance. For centuries, accomplished women - of all races - have fallen out of the historical records. The same is true for gifted, prolific women poets of the Harlem Renaissance who are little known, especially as compared to their male counterparts.

Rival. Sister. Barmaid. Whore. Meg Henshawe has been a lot of things in her life, and few of them good. As proprietress of The Rose and Crown in Restoration Southwark, she has squandered her life catering to the comfort of workmen and thieves. Famous for her beauty as much as her reputation for rage, Meg has been coveted, abused, and discarded more than once. She is resigned to fighting alone until a passing boxer offers a helping hand.

Medieval reenactors are individuals who closely study the traditions and practices of the Middle Ages. Many reenactors are particularly interested in learning medieval combat techniques, but countless prefer to reenact by recreating medieval clothes, art, writing, and recipes. Regardless of your current abilities and interests, if you have a soft spot for the fearsome knights, beautiful royalty, and awe-inspiring castles of the Middle Ages, then this hobby has a nice for you.

Truth spoken plainly and powerfully is difficult to dismiss and impossible to ignore. Edited with purpose by A. Gregory Frankson, AfriCANthology: Perspectives of Black Canadian Poets brings together some of Canada's most influential dub, page, and spoken word poetic voices and gives them space to speak freely about their personal journeys in piercing verse and unapologetic prose. Just as individual experiences of Blackness are diverse across Canada, each contributor recounts aspects of navigating their unique personal, professional, and artistic paths in Black skin.