A groundbreaking biography focusing on the young Napoleon and his improbable rise to power. Debunking many of the myths that Napoleon himself promulgated as an early manipulator of the media, Dwyer’s book sheds new light on Napoleon’s inner life and character, and on the twisting path that led from his boyhood in Corsica to the coup that gave him leadersh...

Remembered today mainly for a question he never uttered (“Dr. Livingstone, I presume?”), Henry Morton Stanley was in truth a brilliant adventurer who overcame a nightmarish childhood to become Africa’s greatest explorer. Drawing on previously closed archives, this grand and colorful biography presents the first accurate picture of Stanley and his ex...

This revealing biography of Gypsy Rose Lee—an American icon who brought striptease from the margins of American life to Broadway, Hollywood, and Main Street—uncovers the long-obscured facts of her life and sets her accomplishments in the context of mid-20th-century American culture.

Untangling the myths and legends of many centuries, this definitive biography gives us the real Eleanor of Aquitaine—wife of two kings, mother of two kings, a tenacious and ambitious twelfth-century queen who carved a unique position for herself in a society hostile to the idea of a woman in power.

This portrait of Fred Astaire, widely acclaimed as America’s greatest male dancer, explores his life, his unforgettable movie performances with Ginger Rogers and other great dance partners, and how he came to represent the very essence of style, class, and charm.

This deeply moving and original portrait of William Faulkner explores his three crucial relationships—with his black and white mothers, Caroline Barr and Maud Falkner, and with his wife, Estelle Oldham. These Southern women gave life to Faulkner’s imagination, profoundly shaping his emotional and psychological world.

A vivid new biography of South American revolutionary José de San Martín, an enigmatic leader who liberated Chile and Peru from Spain but died an exile in France.

This book is the first to collect the best columns and essays of Henry Fairlie, the colorful political and cultural commentator renowned for his brilliant style, original ideas, and fearless criticism of those in power on both sides of the Atlantic.

The prodigiously gifted Isaac Rosenfeld, Saul Bellow’s closest friend and most brilliant rival, died abruptly at 38, leaving his early promise unfulfilled. This book is the first to explore the genius of this unjustly forgotten writer, his place in Jewish letters, and the cost of choosing a writer’s life.

What sort of person was the young naturalist who developed an evolutionary idea so logical, so dangerous, that it has dominated biological science for 150 years? This new investigation of Charles Darwin’s early years draws the first intimate portrait of this iconic figure and describes how he came to create his pathbreaking theory of natural selection.

This sweeping, global history explores how the Virgin Mary, scarcely mentioned in the Gospels, rose to become our most prominent female figure. The book is groundbreaking in scope, encompassing sixteen centuries and a wealth of historical sources and visual materials from Christian cultures around the world.

Books on Whittaker Chambers and Alger Hiss abound, as countless scholars have labored to uncover the facts behind Chambers’s shocking accusation before the House Committee on Un-American Activities in the summer of 1948—that Alger Hiss, a former rising star in the State Department, had been a Communist and engaged in espionage. In this highly origina...

This groundbreaking book uncovers the lost story of the Comanche Indians and the vast and powerful empire they built in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The volume challenges the idea of indigenous peoples as victims of European expansion and offers a new perspective on the history of the colonization of North America.

This extraordinarily wide-ranging volume gathers together historian J. H. Elliott’s recent writings on politics, art, culture, and ideas in Europe and the colonial worlds from 1500 to 1800. Elliott’s many admirers will welcome this accessible collection of his influential and thought-provoking articles, lectures, and essays.

This lively, illustrated history of Himalayan mountaineering recounts the stories of the outsized individuals who have tackled the world’s highest peaks since the 1890s. The book looks at the circumstances that inspired expeditions and why the expeditionary culture that once emphasized teamwork and fellowship among climbers is no longer the norm.

This major new biography by a distinguished British historian offers a remarkably comprehensive portrait of a leader whose actions changed the course of Western history and resonate some two thousand years later.

Combining pictures, words, and a wealth of personal ephemera, scrapbook makers preserve in their highly individual books a moment, a day, or a lifetime. This gorgeous volume explores the cultural history of the American scrapbook and displays pages from the scrapbooks of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Anne Sexton, and some two hundred others.

This book demolishes myths about America’s westward expansion and uncovers a shocking historical pattern of governmental deception and malfeasance in treaties signed—and just as often breached—with Native Americans. The book explores how millions of square miles of Native lands and resources were fraudulently acquired, who participated, why, and the...

The publication of an astonishing debut more than fifty years ago brought poet Geoffrey Hill immediate attention and acclaim. Selected Poems represents a major publishing event, the publication of the first representative selection of Hill’s poetry, gathering work from early volumes to such recent books as The Orchards of Syon and Without Title.

Poetry doesn’t matter to most people, observes Jay Parini at the opening of this book. But, undeterred, he commences a deeply felt meditation on poetry, its language and meaning, and its power to open minds and transform lives. By the end of the book, Parini has recovered a truth often obscured by our clamorous culture: without poetry, we live only partially, n...

Chinese author Can Xue’s Five Spice Street stands out as one of the most astonishing novels written in any language over the last twenty years. The first of Xue’s full-length works to be translated into English, this compelling book explores a secret that takes on a life of its own as neighbors speculate, argue, indulge their fantasies, and reveal ...

Umberto Saba’s reputation in Italy and Europe has steadily grown since his death in 1957, and today he is positioned alongside Eugenio Montale and Giuseppe Ungaretti as one of the three most important Italian poets of the first half of the twentieth century. Until now, however, English-language readers have had access to only a few examples of this poet’s work. This bilingual volume at...

Ivan Brunetti presents an exciting new anthology focusing on some of the most original comic artists working today. Featuring creations by Art Spiegelman, Chris Ware, and dozens of other prominent or emerging artists, the book shows how today’s cartoonists are expanding and transforming the genre.

This extraordinary new translation of the Aeneid stands alone among modern Vergil translations for its accuracy and poetic appeal. Sarah Ruden, a lyric poet in her own right, is the first woman to translate Vergil’s great epic, and she renders the poem in the same number of lines as the original work—a very rare feat that maintains technical...

This translation of the influential writings of the brilliant and feisty Akim Volynsky, Russia’s great ballet authority of the early twentieth century, offers a treasure trove of new information about the St. Petersburg ballet and its major personalities as well as unique insights into the theory and practice of classical dance.

This outstanding guide to Mozart’s operas encompasses his most popular works and offers the most up-to-date, authoritative, and accessible information for listeners who have enjoyed a stage production or opera video and are curious to learn more.

The first study of composer John Kander and lyricist Fred Ebb, longtime Broadway collaborators whose successes include  Cabaret, Chicago, and Kiss of the Spider Woman.

Cats, Jesus Christ Superstar, Phantom of the Opera, Evita—composer Andrew Lloyd Webber’s phenomenal musicals are familiar to hundreds of millions of audience members. This book, the first comprehensive survey of Webber’s creative career, explores his impact, the vast range of influences on his works, and the reasons for the controversies that surrou...

Hitler’s rising influence sent a flood of musical talent abroad, and many, including Klemperer, Stravinsky, and Schoenberg, wound up in the Los Angeles area. This book tells the stories of the immigrant musicians who profoundly influenced the film industry, the music institutions of LA, and the next generation of American musical leaders.

A collection of off-stage photographs of rock & roll superstars––among them Elvis, Eric Clapton, the Beatles, Bob Dylan, and Jimi Hendrix––by the most talented photographers of the era.

This enthralling book takes us into the dolphins’ world beneath the sea to discover details of their lives, their methods of communication, and how they interact with one another and with humans. Drawing on decades of firsthand research, the authors unveil one of the most intimate and scientifically accurate portraits of dolphins to date.

In this pathbreaking book, one of Britain’s most interesting thinkers takes us on an exuberant tour of the human head. Blending science, philosophy, and humor, Raymond Tallis discusses the head, the astonishing range of processes and phenomena that go on within in it, and how it is connected to our sense of identity and consciousness.

This gloriously illustrated book documents 56 varieties of flowers and herbs that were grown in early American gardens and provides the advice of a master gardener on how to plan and grow your own historically authentic garden today.

How do plants and animals “know” the seasons will change? How do seasonal changes affect humans? What happens when the timing of seasonal events is altered? The authors of this fascinating book explain new findings about seasons and their connections with such biological mysteries as migration, hibernation, and reproduction.

This anthology presents a selection of 50 stories, recollections, essays, and poems featured in the Yale Anglers’ Journal during its first remarkable decade. Accompanied by original artwork from James Prosek, these writings all celebrate fish and the experience of fishing.

A lively and entertaining history of the hamburger and why it is no mere sandwich in America, but an icon. Josh Ozersky uncovers an array of facts and stories about the hamburger’s evolution and chronicles how the burger has reflected—and even shaped—American business and culture.