Between 1501 and 1867, the transatlantic slave trade claimed an estimated 12. 5 million Africans and involved almost every country with an Atlantic coastline. In this extraordinary book, two leading historians have created the first comprehensive, up...

American painter Alfred Maurer (1868-1932) worked within an international circle of avant-garde artists, and his friendships with key figures, including the collectors Leo and Gertrude Stein as well as Dr. Albert Barnes, positioned him at the nexus o...

In 1440, on the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, Florence unexpectedly defeated Milanese forces near the town of Anghiari in eastern Tuscany. Nicholas Eckstein reveals the impact of this celebrated victory on Florentine public life and how it could ha...

Rene Lalique, a master artist and designer of early 20th-century France, initially achieved fame for his jewellery creations that were widely admired and collected. He began experimenting with glass in the 1890s, and was so captivated by the material...

"Walpurgis Night", by acclaimed Russian writer Venedikt Erofeev, is considered a classic in the playwright's homeland. Erofeev's dark and funny five-act satire of Soviet repression has been called the comic high-water maker of the Brezhnev era. "Walp...

Erwin Blumenfeld (1897-1969) was one of the most influential photographers of the 20th century. His work offers a unique perspective on the society and politics of the 1930s through the 60s. Born in Berlin, Blumenfeld's peripatetic career took him fi...

America's political system is dysfunctional. While this is a widely held view, it is a problem that – so far – has proved intractable. After every election voters discover yet again that political "leaders" aren't leading. Instead they are simply qua...

In the early 20th century, the desire to see clothing in motion flourished on both sides of the Atlantic: models tangoed, slithered, swaggered, and undulated before customers in couture houses and department stores. "The Mechanical Smile" traces the...

<p>In this characteristically concise, witty, and lucid book, Terry Eagleton turns his attention to the questions we should ask about literature, but rarely do. What is literature? Can we even speak of "literature" at all? What do different...

The life story of Mary I – daughter of Henry VIII and his Spanish wife, Catherine of Aragon – is often distilled to a few dramatic episodes: her victory over the attempted coup by Lady Jane Grey, the imprisonment of her half-sister Elizabeth, the bur...