Amongst the ruins

why civilizations collapse and communities disappear

Amongst the Ruins explores the loss of ancient civilizations, the collapse of ruling elites, and the disappearance of more recent communities and their local traditions. Some of these are now sealed under 3,000-year-old peat, others lost to rising seas or sands, and the carcasses ...

The stories old towns tell

a journey through cities at the heart of Europe

Historic quarters in cities and towns across the middle of Europe were devastated during the Second World War-some, like those of Warsaw and Frankfurt, had to be rebuilt almost completely. They are now centers of peace and civility that attract millions of tourists, but the ...

The stories old towns tell

a journey through cities at the heart of Europe

Historic quarters in cities and towns across the middle of Europe were devastated during the Second World War-some, like those of Warsaw and Frankfurt, had to be rebuilt almost completely. They are now centers of peace and civility that attract millions of tourists, but the ...

The rediscovery of America

native peoples and the unmaking of U.S. history

The most enduring feature of U.S. history is the presence of Native Americans, yet most histories focus on Europeans and their descendants. This long practice of ignoring Indigenous history is changing, however, with a new generation of scholars insists that any full American history ...

Encountering Early America

This is the first major study to comprehensively analyse English encounters with the New World in the sixteenth century and their impact on early English understandings of America and changing approaches to exploration and settlement. The book traces the dynamism of early English encounters with ...

In search of the River Jordan

a story of Palestine, Israel and the struggle for water

A writer's travels along the legendary yet contested Jordan River-exploring the long conflict over water supply Access to water has played a pivotal role in the Israel-Palestine dispute. Israel has diverted the River Jordan via pipes and canals to build a successful modern state ...

The loss of Hindustan

the invention of India

Did India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh have a shared regional identity prior to the arrival of Europeans in the late fifteenth century? Manan Ahmed Asif tackles this contentious question by inviting us to reconsider the work and legacy of the influential historian Muhammad Qasim Firishta, a ...

Perspectives on the history of ancient Near Eastern studies

The present volume collects eighteen essays exploring the history of ancient Near Eastern studies. Combining diverse approaches-synthetic and analytic, diachronic and transnational-this collection offers critical reflections on the who, why, and how of this cluster of fields. How have political contexts determined the conduct of ...

Ramesses II

Egypt's ultimate pharaoh

In Ramesses II, Egypt's Ultimate Pharaoh Peter J. Brand paints with authoritative knowledge and colourful details a compelling portrait of this legendary Pharaoh who ruled over Imperial Egypt during its Golden Age. Warrior, mighty builder and statesman, over the course of his 67-year-long reign ...

Scripts and scripture

writing and religion in Arabia, circa 500-700 CE

How did Islam's sacred scripture, the Arabic Qur'an, emerge from western Arabia at a time when the region was religiously fragmented and lacked a clearly established tradition of writing to render the Arabic language? The studies in this volume, the proceedings of a ...

Worshipping virtues

personification and the divine in ancient Greece

The culture of ancient Greece was thronged with personifications. In poetry and the visual arts, personified figures of what might seem abstractions claim our attention. The Greeks, in Dr Johnson's phrase, 'shock the mind by ascribing effects to non-entity'. This study examines the logic ...

What the Greeks did for us

An enjoyable, accessible exploration of the legacy of ancient Greece today, across our daily lives and all forms of popular culture Our contemporary world is inescapably Greek. Whether in a word like "pandemic," a Freudian state of mind like the "Oedipus complex," or a replica ...

A short medieval reader

A Short Medieval Reader contains the essential primary sources for exploring the Middle Ages in depth. Designed to both complement the sixth edition of A Short History of the Middle Ages and be used on its own, this book provides comprehensive readings ranging from Iceland ...

The Normans

Power, Conquest and Culture in 11Th-Century Europe

A bold new history of the rise and expansion of the Norman Dynasty across Europe from Byzantium to England In the eleventh century the climate was improving, population was growing, and people were on the move. The Norman dynasty ranged across Europe, led by men ...

The Great Plague

when death came to Cambridge in 1665

In this intimate history of the extraordinary Black Plague pandemic that swept through the British Isles in 1665, Evelyn Lord focuses on the plague's effects on smaller towns, where every death was a singular blow affecting the entire community. Lord's fascinating reconstruction of ...

The Georgians

the deeds and misdeeds of 18th-century britain

A comprehensive history of the Georgians, comparing past views of these exciting, turbulent, and controversial times with our attitudes today The Georgian era is often seen as a time of innovations. It saw the end of monarchical absolutism, global exploration and settlements overseas, the world ...

Tudor England

a history

A compelling, authoritative account of the brilliant, conflicted, visionary world of Tudor England Dozens of volumes about the Tudors roll onto the shelves every year. Few are this serious, this readable and this full of fun. - Dan Jones, The Times When Henry VII landed in ...

Encountering Early America

This is the first major study to comprehensively analyse English encounters with the New World in the sixteenth century and their impact on early English understandings of America and changing approaches to exploration and settlement. The book traces the dynamism of early English encounters with ...

Political Meritocracy in Renaissance Italy

The Virtuous Republic of Francesco Patrizi

The first full-length study of Francesco Patrizi-the most important political philosopher of the Italian Renaissance before Machiavelli-who sought to reconcile conflicting claims of liberty and equality in the service of good governance. At the heart of the Italian Renaissance was a longing to recapture the ...

Metternich

strategist and visionary

Metternich is often portrayed as the epitome of reactionary conservatism, a ruthless aristocrat who used his power to stifle liberalism and oppose the dreams of social change that inspired the revolutionaries of 1848. But in this landmark biography, the first to make use of state ...