History's Great Queens 2-Book Bundle

History's Great Queens 2-Book Bundle PDF Author: C. W. Gortner
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 0345538285
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 592

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Book Description
In two stunning novels, C. W. Gortner brings to life two of history’s most intriguing and courageous women: Catherine de Medici, the last legitimate descendant of the illustrious Medici family of Italy, and Juana of Castile, daughter of Queen Isabel and King Ferdinand of Spain, who would be the last queen to inherit her country’s throne. THE CONFESSIONS OF CATHERINE DE MEDICI Catherine de Medici has been expelled from her native Florence and betrothed to Henri, son of François I of France. In an unfamiliar realm, she strives to create a role for herself through her patronage of the famous clairvoyant Nostradamus and her own innate gift as a seer. But in her fortieth year, Catherine is widowed, left alone with six young children in a kingdom torn apart by the ambitions of a treacherous nobility. Relying on her tenacity, wit, and uncanny gift for compromise, Catherine seizes power, intent on securing the throne for her sons, unaware that if she is to save France, she may have to sacrifice her ideals, her reputation, and the secret of her embattled heart. THE LAST QUEEN Born amid her parents’ struggle to unify and strengthen their kingdom, Juana, at the age of sixteen, is sent to wed Philip, heir to the Habsburg Empire. There, she finds unexpected love and passion with her dashing young husband, and at first she is content with her children and her married life. But when tragedy strikes and she becomes heir to the Spanish throne, Juana finds herself plunged into a battle for power against her husband that grows to involve the major monarchs of Europe. Besieged by foes on all sides, Juana vows to secure her crown and save Spain from ruin, even if it costs her everything. Includes an excerpt from C. W. Gortner’s much-anticipated new novel featuring Isabel of Castile, The Queen’s Vow.

History's Great Queens 2-Book Bundle

History's Great Queens 2-Book Bundle PDF Author: C. W. Gortner
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 0345538285
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 592

Get Book Here

Book Description
In two stunning novels, C. W. Gortner brings to life two of history’s most intriguing and courageous women: Catherine de Medici, the last legitimate descendant of the illustrious Medici family of Italy, and Juana of Castile, daughter of Queen Isabel and King Ferdinand of Spain, who would be the last queen to inherit her country’s throne. THE CONFESSIONS OF CATHERINE DE MEDICI Catherine de Medici has been expelled from her native Florence and betrothed to Henri, son of François I of France. In an unfamiliar realm, she strives to create a role for herself through her patronage of the famous clairvoyant Nostradamus and her own innate gift as a seer. But in her fortieth year, Catherine is widowed, left alone with six young children in a kingdom torn apart by the ambitions of a treacherous nobility. Relying on her tenacity, wit, and uncanny gift for compromise, Catherine seizes power, intent on securing the throne for her sons, unaware that if she is to save France, she may have to sacrifice her ideals, her reputation, and the secret of her embattled heart. THE LAST QUEEN Born amid her parents’ struggle to unify and strengthen their kingdom, Juana, at the age of sixteen, is sent to wed Philip, heir to the Habsburg Empire. There, she finds unexpected love and passion with her dashing young husband, and at first she is content with her children and her married life. But when tragedy strikes and she becomes heir to the Spanish throne, Juana finds herself plunged into a battle for power against her husband that grows to involve the major monarchs of Europe. Besieged by foes on all sides, Juana vows to secure her crown and save Spain from ruin, even if it costs her everything. Includes an excerpt from C. W. Gortner’s much-anticipated new novel featuring Isabel of Castile, The Queen’s Vow.

The Voyageur Canadian History 2-Book Bundle

The Voyageur Canadian History 2-Book Bundle PDF Author: Benjamin Drew
Publisher: Dundurn
ISBN: 1459729048
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 564

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Book Description
Voyageur Classics is a series that issues special new versions of Canadian classics, with added material and special introductions. In this bundle we find two classic works of Canadian historical writing. During three extraordinary years, 1805-1808, Simon Fraser undertook the third major expedition across North America, culminating in his famous journey down the river in British Columbia that now bears his name. Fraser’s exploratory efforts helped lead to Canada’s boundary later being declared at the 49th parallel. In this new volume, librarian and archivist W. Kaye Lamb provides a detailed introduction as well as illuminating annotations to Fraser’s journals. In the early 1850s, white American abolitionist Benjamin Drew was commissioned to travel to Canada West (now Ontario) to interview escaped slaves from the United States. In the course of his journeys in Canada, Drew visited Chatham, Toronto, Galt, Hamilton, London, Dresden, Windsor, and a number of other communities. Originally published in 1856, Drew’s book is the only collection of first-hand interviews of fugitive slaves in Canada ever done. It is an invaluable record of early black Canadian experience. Includes The Refugee The Letters and Journals of Simon Fraser, 1806-1808

The John A. Macdonald Retrospective 2-Book Bundle

The John A. Macdonald Retrospective 2-Book Bundle PDF Author: Ged Martin
Publisher: Dundurn
ISBN: 1459730291
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 517

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Book Description
This special 2-book bundle contains a number of perspectives on a man who was arguably Canada’s most famous political leader, a figure of legendary proportions in the history of Canada’s birth and development. Ged Martin’s biography tells Macdonald’s story. Shocked by Canada’s 1837 rebellions, Macdonald sought to build alliances and avoid future conflicts. Thanks to financial worries and an alcohol problem, he almost quit politics in 1864. The challenge of building Confederation harnessed his skills, and in 1867 he became the country’s first prime minister. He drove the Dominion’s westward expansion, rapidly incorporating the Prairies and British Columbia before a railway contract scandal unseated him in 1873. He conquered his drinking problem and rebuilt the Conservative Party to regain power in 1878. The centrepiece of his protectionist National Policy was the transcontinental railway, but a western uprising in 1885 was followed by the controversial execution of rebel leader Louis Riel. Although dominant nationally, this popular hero had many flaws. Macdonald at 200 presents fifteen fresh interpretations of Canada’s founding prime minister, published for the occasion of the bicentennial of his birth in 1815. Crisply written by recognized scholars and specialists, the collection throws new light on Macdonald’s formative role in shaping government, promoting women’s rights, managing the nascent economy, supervising westward expansion, overseeing relations with Native peoples, and dealing with Fenian terrorism. A special section deals with how Macdonald has (or has not) been remembered by historians as well as the general public. The book concludes with an afterword by prominent Macdonald biographer Richard Gwyn. Macdonald emerges as a man of full dimensions — an historical figure that is surprisingly relevant to our own times. Includes John A. Macdonald Macdonald at 200

Alan Bowker's Canadian Heritage 2-Book Bundle

Alan Bowker's Canadian Heritage 2-Book Bundle PDF Author: Alan Bowker
Publisher: Dundurn
ISBN: 1459735617
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 632

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Book Description
In this two-book bundle, Alan Bowker sheds new light on two subjects with a surprising connection: the great Canadian writer Stephen Leacock and the rise of Canada on the world stage, which Leacock profiled with keen wit and observational skill. With Bowker as your guide, explore what it was really like to live through the great upheaval that pushed Canada to come into its own on the world stage. A Time Such as There Never Was Before Ottawa Book Award 2015 — Shortlisted The years after World War I were among the most tumultuous in Canadian history: a period of unremitting change, drama, and conflict. They were, in the words of Stephen Leacock, “a time such as there never was before.” The war had been a great crusade, and its end was supposed to bring a world made new. But the conflict had cost sixty thousand Canadian lives, with many more wounded, and had stirred up divisions in the young, diverse country. With Canada struggling to define itself, labour, farmers, business, the church, social reformers, and minorities all held extravagant hopes, irrational fears, and contradictory demands. Whose hopes would be realized, and whose dreams would end in disillusionment? Which changes would prove permanent and which would be transitory? A Time Such As There Never Was Before describes how this exciting period laid the foundation of the Canada we know today. On the Front Line of Life In the last decade of his life, Stephen Leacock turned to writing informal essays that blended humour with a conversational style and ripened wisdom to address issues he cared about most — education, literature, economics, Canada and its place in the world — and to confront the joys and sorrows of his own life. With an introduction that sets them in the context of his life, thoughts and times, these essays reveal a passionate, intelligent, personal Leacock, against a backdrop of Depression and war, finding hope and conveying the timeless message that only the human spirit can bring social justice, peace, and progress.

Carl Benn's Stories of Canada's Past 2-Book Bundle

Carl Benn's Stories of Canada's Past 2-Book Bundle PDF Author: Carl Benn
Publisher: Dundurn
ISBN: 1459738314
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 345

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Book Description
Military historian Carl Benn explores the rich history of our nation with two absorbing stories of bravery in this special two-book bundle. Mohawks on the Nile: Natives Among the Canadian Voyageurs in Egypt, 1884-1885 Mohawks on the Nile explores the absorbing history of sixty Aboriginal men who left their occupations in the Ottawa River timber industry to participate in a military expedition on the Nile River in 1884-1885. Chosen becuase of their outstanding skills as boatmen and river pilots, they formed part of the Canadian Voyageur Contingent, which transported British troops on a fleet of whaleboats through the Nile’s treacherous cataracts in the hard campaigning of the Sudan War. Historic Fort York, 1793-1993 Fearing an American invasion of Upper Canada, John Graves Simcoe had Fort York built in 1793 as an emergency defensive measure. That act became the first step in the founding of modern Toronto. In this book, Carl Benn explores the dramatic roles Fort York played in the frontier war of the 1790s, the birth of Toronto, the War of 1812, the Rebellion of 1837 and the defence of Canada during the American Civil War, and describes how Toronto’s most important heritage site came to be preserved as a tangible link to Canada’s turbulent military past.

Royals in Canada 5-Book Bundle

Royals in Canada 5-Book Bundle PDF Author: Arthur Bousfield
Publisher: Dundurn
ISBN: 1459736745
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 1444

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Book Description
Discover the Royal Family as they “go home to Canada.” Collected together are five must-have books on the Royal Family’s relationship with Canada, their tours, and a Canadian perspective on their biographies. Includes: Royal Tours 1786–2010 Fifty Years the Queen Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother 1900–2002 Royal Observations Royal Spring

Great Tales from English History

Great Tales from English History PDF Author: Robert Lacey
Publisher: Little, Brown
ISBN: 0759511616
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 168

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Book Description
With insight, humor and fascinating detail, Lacey brings brilliantly to life the stories that made England -- from Ethelred the Unready to Richard the Lionheart, the Venerable Bede to Piers the Ploughman. The greatest historians are vivid storytellers, Robert Lacey reminds us, and in Great Tales from English History, he proves his place among them, illuminating in unforgettable detail the characters and events that shaped a nation. In this volume, Lacey limns the most important period in England's past, highlighting the spread of the English language, the rejection of both a religion and a traditional view of kingly authority, and an unstoppable movement toward intellectual and political freedom from 1387 to 1689. Opening with Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and culminating in William and Mary's "Glorious Revolution," Lacey revisits some of the truly classic stories of English history: the Battle of Agincourt, where Henry V's skilled archers defeated a French army three times as large; the tragic tale of the two young princes locked in the Tower of London (and almost certainly murdered) by their usurping uncle, Richard III; Henry VIII's schismatic divorce, not just from his wife but from the authority of the Catholic Church; "Bloody Mary" and the burning of religious dissidents; Sir Francis Drake's dramatic, if questionable, part in the defeat of the Spanish Armada; and the terrible and transformative Great Fire of London, to name but a few. Here Anglophiles will find their favorite English kings and queens, villains and victims, authors and architects - from Richard II to Anne Boleyn, the Virgin Queen to Oliver Cromwell, Samuel Pepys to Christopher Wren, and many more. Continuing the "eminently readable, highly enjoyable" (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) history he began in volume I of Great Tales from English History, Robert Lacey has drawn on the most up-to-date research to present a taut and riveting narrative, breathing life into the most pivotal characters and exciting landmarks in England's history.

Gavin K. Watt's Revolutionary Canadian History 5-Book Bundle

Gavin K. Watt's Revolutionary Canadian History 5-Book Bundle PDF Author: Gavin K. Watt
Publisher: Dundurn
ISBN: 1459730119
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 1431

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Book Description
This special bundle collects five titles by military history specialist Gavin K. Watt. This series has a unique focus: The American War of Independence viewed from the perspective of British operations in the north. The Burning of the Valleys concerns a decisive campaign against the northern frontier of New York in the fifth year of the war. A Dirty, Trifling Piece of Business is about operations in the sixth year, including in the south. In Poisoned by Lies and Hypocrisy, Watt explores the first two campaigns of the American Revolution through their impact on Canada and describes how a motley group of militia, American loyalists, and British regulars managed to defend Quebec and repel the invaders. Rebellion in the Mohawk Valley concerns the campaign that led to the destruction of British-held Fort Ticonderoga. These titles are essential reading for military history, early Canadian history, and War of Independence history buffs. Includes: The Burning of the Valleys A Dirty, Trifling Piece of Business I Am Heartily Ashamed Poisoned by Lies and Hypocrisy Rebellion in the Mohawk Valley

The Modern Library Essential World History 4-Book Bundle

The Modern Library Essential World History 4-Book Bundle PDF Author: Edward Gibbon
Publisher: Modern Library
ISBN: 0679645691
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 2474

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Book Description
Revisit a world of conquest, exploration, and imperial adventure with this Modern Library eBook bundle that includes Edward Gibbon’s The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Francis Parkman’s Montcalm and Wolfe, William H. Prescott’s History of the Conquest of Mexico, and Theodore Roosevelt’s The Naval War of 1812. THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE (ABRIDGED) Edward Gibbon’s masterpiece, which narrates the history of the Roman Empire from the second to the fifteenth centuries, is widely considered the greatest work of history ever written. This abridgment retains the full scope of the original, while emphasizing elements ignored in all other abridgments—in particular the role of religion in the empire and the rise of Islam. MONTCALM AND WOLFE The result of more than forty years of passionate research, Montcalm and Wolfe is the epic story of Europe’s struggle for dominance of the New World. Thought by many to be Francis Parkman’s greatest work, it is a riveting read and an essential part of any military history collection. HISTORY OF THE CONQUEST OF MEXICO William H. Prescott’s sweeping account of Cortés’s subjugation of the Aztec people has endured as a landmark work of scholarship and dramatic storytelling. This pioneering study presents a compelling view of the clash of civilizations that reverberates in Latin America to this day. THE NAVAL WAR OF 1812 Published when its author, Theodore Roosevelt, was only twenty-three years old, The Naval War of 1812 was immediately hailed as a literary and scholarly triumph, and it is still considered the definitive book on the subject. Roosevelt’s inimitable style and robust narrative make The Naval War of 1812 enthralling, illuminating, and utterly essential to every armchair historian.

Gavin K. Watt's Revolutionary Canadian History 6-Book Bundle

Gavin K. Watt's Revolutionary Canadian History 6-Book Bundle PDF Author: Gavin K. Watt
Publisher: Dundurn
ISBN: 1459740734
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 1727

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Book Description
This special bundle collects six titles by military history specialist Gavin K. Watt. This series has a unique focus: The American War of Independence viewed from the perspective of British operations in the north. The Burning of the Valleys concerns a decisive campaign against the northern frontier of New York in the fifth year of the war. A Dirty, Trifling Piece of Business is about operations in the sixth year, including in the south. In Poisoned by Lies and Hypocrisy, Watt explores the first two campaigns of the American Revolution through their impact on Canada and describes how a motley group of militia, American loyalists, and British regulars managed to defend Quebec and repel the invaders. Rebellion in the Mohawk Valley concerns the campaign that led to the destruction of British-held Fort Ticonderoga. Fire and Desolation details how misrule and fraying alliances led to a ferocious campaign in 1777 that changed the course of the American Revolution. These titles are essential reading for military history, early Canadian history, and War of Independence history buffs. Includes: The Burning of the Valleys A Dirty, Trifling Piece of Business I Am Heartily Ashamed Poisoned by Lies and Hypocrisy Rebellion in the Mohawk Valley New in 2017! Fire and Desolation