About the Book The glorious and infamous history of the Borgia family—a world of saints, corrupt popes, and depraved princes and poisoners—set against the golden age of the Italian Renaissance. The Borgia family have become a byword for evil. Corruption, incest, ruthless megalomania, avarice and vicious cruelty—all have been associated with their name. And yet, paradoxically, this family…
Continue ReadingAbout the Book Virginal, chaste, humble, patiently waiting for rescue by brave knights and handsome princes: this idealised – and largely mythical – notion of the medieval noblewoman still lingers. Yet the reality was very different, as Kelcey Wilson-Lee shows in this vibrant account of the five daughters of the great English king, Edward I….
Continue ReadingAbout the Book An account of thirteen women who joined, endured, and, in some cases, escaped life in the Islamic State—based on years of immersive reporting by a Pulitzer Prize finalist. Among the many books trying to understand the terrifying rise of ISIS, none has given voice to the women in the organization; but women…
Continue ReadingAbout the Book They were the most prominent American family of the twentieth century. The daughter they secreted away made all the difference. Joe and Rose Kennedy’s strikingly beautiful daughter Rosemary attended exclusive schools, was presented as a debutante to the Queen of England, and traveled the world with her high-spirited sisters. And yet, Rosemary was…
Continue ReadingAbout the Book There are few remaining frontiers on our planet. But perhaps the wildest, and least understood, are the world’s oceans: too big to police, and under no clear international authority, these immense regions of treacherous water play host to rampant criminality and exploitation. Traffickers and smugglers, pirates and mercenaries, wreck thieves and repo…
Continue ReadingAbout the Book Philadelphia, 1825: five young, free black boys fall into the clutches of the most fearsome gang of kidnappers and slavers in the United States. Lured onto a small ship with the promise of food and pay, they are instead met with blindfolds, ropes, and knives. Over four long months, their kidnappers drive…
Continue ReadingMy country is in turmoil. I have thought long and hard about whether to stay silent on my website about any of this, and I have decided that I cannot do it. If I do not stand for my ideals, then who am I? I am, perhaps, afraid of isolating myself from my readers, of…
Continue ReadingAbout the Book A groundbreaking, masterful, and absorbing account of the last hidden atrocity of World War II—Ravensbrück—the largest female-only concentration camp, where more than 100,000 women consisting of more than twenty nationalities were imprisoned. Shortly before the outbreak of World War II, Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS and the architect of the…
Continue ReadingAbout the Book The thrilling family saga of five unforgettable women who remade Europe From the great courts, glittering palaces, and war-ravaged battlefields of the seventeenth century comes the story of four spirited sisters and their glamorous mother, Elizabeth Stuart, granddaughter of the martyred Mary, Queen of Scots. Upon her father’s ascension to the illustrious…
Continue ReadingAbout the Book The first major biography of one of France’s most mysterious women—Marie Antoinette’s only child to survive the revolution. Susan Nagel, author of the critically acclaimed biography Mistress of the Elgin Marbles, turns her attention to the life of a remarkable woman who both defined and shaped an era, the tumultuous last days of…
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