Sex and the City of Ladies: Rewriting History with Cleopatra, Lucrezia Borgia and Catherine the Great

Sex and the City of Ladies: Rewriting History with Cleopatra, Lucrezia Borgia and Catherine the Great PDF Author: Lisa Hilton
Publisher: HarperCollins UK
ISBN: 0008389616
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 80

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Book Description
The bestselling author and historian Lisa Hilton picks up the mythical ‘City of Ladies’ where the medieval writer Christine de Pisan left off, continuing a conversation about gender and greatness that began more than six hundred years ago.

Sex and the City of Ladies: Rewriting History with Cleopatra, Lucrezia Borgia and Catherine the Great

Sex and the City of Ladies: Rewriting History with Cleopatra, Lucrezia Borgia and Catherine the Great PDF Author: Lisa Hilton
Publisher: HarperCollins UK
ISBN: 0008389616
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 80

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Book Description
The bestselling author and historian Lisa Hilton picks up the mythical ‘City of Ladies’ where the medieval writer Christine de Pisan left off, continuing a conversation about gender and greatness that began more than six hundred years ago.

The Scent of Empires

The Scent of Empires PDF Author: Karl Schlögel
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 150954660X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 220

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Book Description
Can a drop of perfume tell the story of the twentieth century? Can a smell bear the traces of history? What can we learn about the history of the twentieth century by examining the fate of perfumes? In this remarkable book, Karl Schlögel unravels the interconnected histories of two of the world’s most celebrated perfumes. In tsarist Russia, two French perfumers – Ernest Beaux and Auguste Michel – developed related fragrances honouring Catherine the Great for the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty. During the Russian Revolution and Civil War, Beaux fled Russia and took the formula for his perfume with him to France, where he sought to adapt it to his new French circumstances. He presented Coco Chanel with a series of ten fragrance samples in his laboratory and, after smelling each, she chose number five – the scent that would later go by the name Chanel No. 5. Meanwhile, as the perfume industry was being revived in Soviet Russia, Auguste Michel used his original fragrance to create Red Moscow for the tenth anniversary of the Revolution. Piecing together the intertwined histories of these two famous perfumes, which shared a common origin, Schlögel tells a surprising story of power, intrigue and betrayal that offers an altogether unique perspective on the turbulent events and high politics of the twentieth century. This brilliant account of perfume and politics in twentieth-century Europe will be of interest to a wide general readership.

Elizabeth: Renaissance Prince

Elizabeth: Renaissance Prince PDF Author: Lisa Hilton
Publisher: HMH
ISBN: 054457785X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 421

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Book Description
This surprising portrait of the Tudor queen offers an “ambitious re-examination of the intersection of gender and monarchy” (The New York Times Book Review). Queen Elizabeth I was all too happy to play on courtly conventions of gender when it suited her “‘weak and feeble’ woman’s body” to do so for political gain. But in Elizabeth, historian Lisa Hilton offers ample evidence why those famous words should not be taken at face value. With new research out of France, Italy, Russia, and Turkey, Hilton’s fresh interpretation is of a queen who saw herself primarily as a Renaissance prince—an expert in Machiavellian statecraft. Elizabeth depicts a sovereign less constrained by her femininity than most accounts claim, challenging readers to reassess Elizabeth’s reign and the colorful drama and intrigue to which it is always linked. It’s a fascinating journey that shows how a marginalized newly crowned monarch, whose European contemporaries considered her to be the illegitimate ruler of a pariah nation, ultimately adapted to become England’s first recognizably modern head of state.

Dosso's Fate

Dosso's Fate PDF Author: Dosso Dossi
Publisher: Getty Publications
ISBN: 9780892365050
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 436

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Book Description
Dosso Dossi has long been considered one of Renaissance Italy's most intriguing artists. Although a wealth of documents chronicles his life, he remains, in many ways, an enigma, and his art continues to be as elusive as it is compelling. In Dosso's Fate, leading scholars from a wide range of disciplines examine the social, intellectual, and historical contexts of his art, focusing on the development of new genres of painting, questions of style and chronology, the influence of courtly culture, and the work of his collaborators, as well as his visual and literary sources and his painting technique. The result is an important and original contribution not only to literature on Dosso Dossi but also to the study of cultural history in early modern Italy.

The Horror of Love

The Horror of Love PDF Author: Lisa Hilton
Publisher: Open Road Media
ISBN: 1453271554
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
The dramatic love story of two extraordinary individuals--Nancy Mitford and free French commander Gaston Palewski--living in extraordinary times. “Oh, the horror of love!” Nancy Mitford once exclaimed to her sister Diana Mosley. Elegant and intelligent, Nancy was a reknowned wit and a popular author. Yet this bright, waspish woman gave her heart to a well-known philanderer who went on to marry another woman. Was Nancy that unremarkable thing—a deluded lover—or was she a remarkable woman engaged in a sophisticated love affair? Gaston Palewski was a Free French commander and one of the most influential politicians in post-war Europe. She supported him throughout his tumultuous career and he inspired some of her best work, including The Pursuit of Love. Lisa Hilton’s provocative and emotionally challenging book reveals how, with discipline, gentleness, and a great deal of elegance, Nancy Mitford and Gaston Palewski achieved an affair of the heart.

Figures Of Several Centuries

Figures Of Several Centuries PDF Author: ARTHUR SYMONS
Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand
ISBN: 9361154850
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 180

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Book Description
Figures of Several Centuries" is a collection of essays written by Arthur Symons, a British poet, critic, and essayist. The book features Symons' astute observations and critiques of a wide range of literary and artistic luminaries over several centuries. Known for his contributions to English Decadent poetry and affiliated with the Symbolist movement, Symons examines the lives and works of a variety of characters in the arts and literature. The essays address a wide range of subjects, such as debates on poets, authors, and artists from many eras of history. As a literary critic, Symons analyses each person with a lyrical sensibility and a profound respect for art. In addition to providing historical context, the collection highlights the importance of several creative figures over time in various historical eras. With its insight into the rich fabric of artistic expression across the centuries, "Figures of Several Centuries" advances knowledge of the relationship between art, literature, and culture.

Catherine the Great

Catherine the Great PDF Author: Virginia Rounding
Publisher: Hutchinson Radius
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 616

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Book Description
Many legends have grown up about the sexual rapacity of Catherine the Great. While it is true that she shocked the Russian court with the number and age of her lovers, there is no truth in the rumour of her death by stallion. Unhappily married to the Grand Duke Peter, a man who preferred to play with his toy soldiers in the bedroom, they failed to produce an heir, and Catherine turned her attentions to a certain Sergey Saltykov who fathered the future Tsar Paul I. Six months into the reign of Peter III, Catherine, supported by the Imperial Guard, staged a successful coup against her husband and became Empress. It was her ambition to transform a vast but semi-barbaric country with the cultural and political reforms of Enlightenment Europe. In this timely and fascinating biography, Virginia Rounding reveals an extraordinary woman in all her complexity.

The Sword of Judith

The Sword of Judith PDF Author: Kevin R. Brine
Publisher: Open Book Publishers
ISBN: 1906924155
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 511

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Book Description
The Book of Judith tells the story of a fictitious Jewish woman beheading the general of the most powerful imaginable army to free her people. The parabolic story was set as an example of how God will help the righteous. Judith's heroic action not only became a validating charter myth of Judaism itself but has also been appropriated by many Christian and secular groupings, and has been an inspiration for numerous literary texts and works of art. It continues to exercise its power over artists, authors and academics and is becoming a major field of research in its own right. The Sword of Judith is the first multidisciplinary collection of essays to discuss representations of Judith throughout the centuries. It transforms our understanding across a wide range of disciplines. The collection includes new archival source studies, the translation of unpublished manuscripts, the translation of texts unavailable in English, and Judith images and music.

The Daughter Of Time

The Daughter Of Time PDF Author: Josephine Tey
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1446429334
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
'A detective story with a very considerable difference. Ingenious, stimulating and very enjoyable' SUNDAY TIMES 'As interesting and enjoyable a book as they will meet in a month of Sundays' OBSERVER Scotland Yard inspector Alan Grant, recovering from a broken leg, becomes fascinated with a contemporary portrait of Richard III, believed to have brutally killed his brother's children - the Princes in the Tower - to make his crown secure. But is the hunchback with such a sensitive, noble face really one of the world's most heinous villains? Or was he the victim of one of the most insidious plots in history? 'One of the best mysteries of all time' NEW YORK TIMES 'Suspense is achieved by unexpected twists and extremely competent storytelling . . . credible and convincing' SPECTATOR

The Daughter of Time

The Daughter of Time PDF Author: Josephine Tey
Publisher: DigiCat
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 173

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Book Description
Alan Grant, Scotland Yard Inspector is feeling bored while confined to bed in hospital with a broken leg. Marta Hallard, an actress friend of his, suggests that he should amuse himself by researching a historical mystery. She brings him some pictures of historical characters, aware of Grant's interest in human faces. He becomes intrigued by a portrait of King Richard III. He prides himself on being able to read a person's character from his appearance, and King Richard seems to him a gentle, kind and wise man. Why is everyone so sure that he was a cruel murderer? With the help of other friends and acquaintances, Grant investigates Richard's life and the case of the Princes in the Tower, testing out his theories on the doctors and nurses who attend to him. Grant spends weeks pondering historical information and documents with the help of Brent Carradine, a likable young American researcher working in the British Museum. Using his detective's logic, he tries to come to the conclusion whether the claim of Richard being a murderer is a fabrication of Tudor propaganda, or was he really a monstrous hunchback. The Daughter of Time was voted greatest mystery novel of all time by the Crime Writers' Association in 1990.