Showing results for "Dark" in Europe

A TIMES HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEAR On April 12, 1961, the Soviet Union begins its countdown. From the steppes of Kazakhstan, the first human - Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin - launches into space. In that moment, another countdown begins. How could it be that a single generation - just three...

Brought to you by Penguin. Poor boy. Dark star. Spy. Transgressor. Genius. From one of the greatest writers on the Elizabethan era, Dark Renaissance is the thrilling and subversive life story of Christopher Marlowe – Shakespeare’s inspiration and rival, who helped to bring England out of the...

Brought to you by Penguin. The Middle Ages were a time of wonder. They gave us the first universities, the first eyeglasses and the first mechanical clocks as medieval thinkers sought to understand the world around them, from the passing of the seasons to the stars in the sky. In this book, we...

This pamphlet offers a condensed history of Europe between the fall of the Roman empire and the twelfth century. The author’s profound anti-clerical bias becomes apparent as he explores the influence of Christianity on a world in which order was maintained by the imposition of violence, and in which the general populace was kept in a state of ignorance and serfdom. He supports his conclusions with quotes from his own translations of documents of the period.

In The Fall of Rome, eminent historian Bryan Ward-Perkins argues that the "peaceful" theory of Rome's "transformation" is badly in error. Indeed, he sees the fall of Rome as a time of horror and dislocation that destroyed a great civilization, throwing the inhabitants of the West back to a standard of living typical of prehistoric times. Attacking contemporary theories with relish and making use of modern archaeological evidence, he looks at both the wider explanations for the disintegration of the Roman world and also the consequences for the lives of everyday Romans.  

Brought to you by Penguin. From the bestselling author of FEMINA, a brilliant reappraisal of the medieval women whose lives have been exploited over centuries for political, nation-building ends. In LEGENDA, bestselling historian Professor Janina Ramirez peels back the layers of time to reveal...

The Dark Ages is the story of the birth of Western civilization. It was a harrowing crucible of war, destruction, and faith. For over 100 years, Charles Oman's famous history has remained one of the finest sources for the study of this period. Covering a period of 500 years and an area stretching from Northern Germany to Egypt, this is the definitive history that will alter your conceptions of a period of history that gave birth to the civilization we live in today.

Focusing on key characters from the seventeenth to the eighteenth centuries, including Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Newton, Descartes, Spinoza, Louis XIV and Charles I, Dark Brilliance is a fascinating and wide-ranging history that explores the human costs of imposing progress and modernity.

Three women had been brutally murdered between early 1968 and late 1969, each after a night dancing at Glasgow’s infamous Barrowland Ballroom. Their murders were linked and ascribed to the spectre of the well dressed, scripture quoting killer who had apparently stalked the city’s dancehalls. The figure was never caught or identified. But the intervening years have spawned a legend that has never quite lost its grip on the popular imagination of Glasgow. The killings provoked the country's largest-ever manhunt.

Brunhild was a Visigothic princess, raised to be married off for the sake of alliance-building. Her sister-in-law, Fredegund, started out as a lowly palace slave. And yet - in sixth-century Merovingian France, where women were excluded from noble succession and royal politics was a blood sport - these two iron-willed strategists reigned over vast realms for decades, changing the face of Europe. The two queens commanded armies, developed taxation policies, established infrastructure and negotiated with emperors and popes.

A thrilling, character-driven look at Stockholm’s drug-and-sex-fueled underworld from the fantastic Jens Lapidus, following Stockholm Delete. For decades, a secret network in Stockholm has been exploiting young girls, ruthlessly eliminating anyone who threatens to reveal their secret. As oddly paired duo Teddy and Emelie - the thug and the lawyer - investigate, the terrifying noose tightens. The police force has established a special team to find out just who's involved in the network but can't seem to get close enough. And who is it that's trying to silence Teddy and Emelie, using any means necessary?

A female thief, with four husbands, a lover, and, reportedly, over 12 children, is arrested and tried for the murder of her stepson in 1872, turning the small village of West Auckland in County Durham upside down. Other bodies are exhumed, and when they are found to contain arsenic, she is suspected of their murder as well. The perpetrator, Mary Ann Cotton, was tried and found guilty and later hanged on 24 March 1873 in Durham Gaol. It is claimed she murdered over 20 people and was the first female serial killer in England.

'I couldn't stop reading it . . . a classic of true crime' - Lissa Evans, author of Small Bomb at Dimperley 'A fascinating true crime case study . . . deeply moving' The Times A gripping, explosive murder mystery by acclaimed true crime writer Susannah Stapleton. In April 1929, the body of...

Where did our modern notions about God, science, and humanity come from? Begin in the Mediterranean world of late antiquity, with the decline of Rome and the ascent of Christianity. Explore vigorous Christian debates over the appropriation of pagan thought along with the implications of these debates for medieval thinking. Follow the lively arguments over the origin of the cosmos, the laws of nature, and the extent of God's direct role in natural changes and miraculous events.

Brought to you by Penguin. In Search of the Dark Ages is an unrivalled exploration of the origins of English identity, and the bestselling book that established Michael Wood as one of Britain's leading historians. Now, on the book's 40th anniversary, this fully revised and expanded edition...

"Nancy Greenspan dives into the mysteries of the Klaus Fuchs espionage case and emerges with a classic Cold War biography of intrigue and torn loyalties. Atomic Spy is a mesmerizing morality tale, told with fresh sources and empathy." --Kai Bird, author of The Good Spy and coauthor of American...

‘Lucid and damning … an absorbing – and infuriating – tale of complicity, coverup and denial’ PATRICK RADDEN KEEFE, author of EMPIRE OF PAIN A groundbreaking investigation of how the Nazis helped German tycoons make billions from the horrors of the Third Reich and World War II – and...

King Arthur is probably the most famous and certainly the most legendary medieval king. From the early ninth century through the middle ages, to the Arthurian romances of Victorian times, the tales of this legendary figure have blossomed and multiplied. And in more recent times, there has been a continuous stream of books claiming to have discovered the "facts" about, or to unlock the secret or truth behind, the "once and future king". Broadly speaking, there are two Arthurs.

The names of few medieval monarchs and their queens are better known than Eleanor of Aquitaine, uniquely queen of France and queen of England, and her second husband Henry II. Although academically labeled "medieval," their era was the violent transition from the Dark Ages, when countries' borders were defined with fire and sword. If princes fought for their succession to crowns, the princesses were traded—usually by their mothers—to strangers for political power without the bloodshed.

Modern communications have driven motorways and pylons through the countryside, dwarfed us with TV and telephone masts, and drastically altered the way in which we move around, see, and understand Scotland. Recent politics and logistics have established borders and jurisdictions which now seem permanent and impervious. The Faded Map looks beyond these to remember a land that was once quiet and green.