A riveting, lively and brilliantly researched biography of Socrates by the author of the acclaimed bestseller Helen of Troy.We think the way we do because Socrates thought the way he did. His aphorism 'The unexamined life is not worth living' may have originated twenty-five centuries ago, but it is a founding principle of modern life. Socrates lived and contributed to a city that nurtured key ingredients of contemporary civilisation -- democracy, liberty, science, drama, rational thought -- yet, as he wrote nothing in his lifetime, he himself is an enigmatic figure.The Hemlock Cup gives Socrates the biography he deserves, setting him in the context of the Eastern Mediterranean that was his home, and dealing with him as he himself dealt with the world. Socrates was a soldier, a lover, a man of the people. He philosophised neither in grand educational establishments nor the courts of kings but in the squares and public arenas of Golden Age Athens. He lived through an age of extraordinary materialism, in which a democratic culture turned to the glorification of its own city; when war was declared under the banner of democracy; and when tolerance turned into intimidation on streets once populated by the likes of Euripides, Sophocles and Pericles. For seventy years he was a vigorous citizen of one of the greatest capitals on earth, but then his beloved Athens turned on him, condemning him to death by poison. Socrates' pursuit of personal liberty is a vibrant story that Athens did not want us to hear, but which must be told.Bettany Hughes has painstakingly pieced together Socrates' life, following in his footsteps across Greece and Asia Minor, and examining the new archaeological discoveries that shed light on his world. In The Hemlock Cup she reveals the human heart of the man, and relates a story that is as relevant now as it has ever been.

The glitter and cynicism of Rome under Mussolini provide the background of what is probably Alberto Moravia’s best and best-known novel — The Woman of Rome. It’s the story of Adriana, a simple girl with no fortune but her beauty who models naked for a painter, accepts gifts from men, and could never quite identify the moment when she traded her private dream of home and children for the life of a prostitute. One of the very few novels of the twentieth century which can be ranked with the work of Dostoevsky, The Woman of Rome also tells the stories of the tortured university student Giacomo, a failed revolutionary who refuses to admit his love for Adriana; of the sinister figure of Astarita, the Secret Police officer obsessed with Adriana; and of the coarse and brutal criminal Sonzogno, who treats Adriana as his private property. Within this story of passion and betrayal, Moravia calmly strips away the pride and arrogance hiding the corrupt heart of Italian Fascism.

Based On Newly Opened Vatican Archives, A Groundbreaking, Explosive, And Riveting Book About Pope Pius Xii And His Actions During World War Ii, Including How He Responded To The Holocaust, By The Pulitzer Prize-winning Author Of The Pope And Mussolini. When Pope Pius Xii Died In 1958, His Papers Were Sealed In The Vatican Secret Archives, Leaving Unanswered Questions About What He Knew And Did During World War Ii. Those Questions Have Only Grown And Festered, Making Pius Xii One Of The Most Controversial Popes In Church History, Especially Now As The Vatican Prepares To Canonize Him. In 2020, Pius Xii's Archives Were Finally Opened, And David I. Kertzer--widely Recognized As One Of The World's Leading Vatican Scholars--has Been Mining This New Material Ever Since, Revealing How The Pope Came To Set Aside Moral Leadership In Order To Preserve His Church's Power. Based On Thousands Of Never-before-seen Documents Not Only From The Vatican, But From Archives In Italy, Germany, France, Britain, And The United States, The Pope At War Paints A New, Dramatic Portrait Of What The Pope Did And Did Not Do As War Enveloped The Continent And As The Nazis Began Their Systematic Mass Murder Of Europe’s Jews. The Book Clears Away The Myths And Sheer Falsehoods Surrounding The Pope’s Actions From 1939 To 1945, Showing Why The Pope Repeatedly Bent To The Wills Of Hitler And Mussolini. Just As Kertzer's Pulitzer Prize-winning The Pope And Mussolini Became The Definitive Book On Pope Pius Xi And The Fascist Regime, The Pope At War Is Destined To Become The Most Influential Account Of His Successor, Pius Xii, And His Relations With Mussolini And Hitler. Kertzer Shows Why No Full Understanding Of The Course Of World War Ii Is Complete Without Knowledge Of The Dramatic, Behind-the-scenes Role Played By The Pope. “this Remarkably Researched Book Is Replete With Revelations That Deserve The Adjective ‘explosive,’” Says Kevin Madigan, Winn Professor Of Ecclesiastical History At Harvard University. “the Pope At War Is A Masterpiece.

By Pier Paolo Pasolini ; Translated From The Italian By Emile Capouya. Translation Of: Ragazzi Di Vita.

Edited By Chiara Stangalino & Maxim Jakubowski ; Translated By Anne Milano Appel, Ann Goldstein, And Kathrine Jason. Translated From The Italian.

In Ways No Guide Book Can Achieve, These Twenty Absorbing Tales By Italian Authors Ranging From Boccaccio In The Middle Ages To Giacomo Casanova In The Eighteenth Century, To Pier-paolo Pasolini In The Twentieth And Contemporary New Writers Such As Melania Mazzucco And Igiaba Scego, Offer The Delight Of Discovering And Exploring One Of The World's Most Unique Cities Thorough A Wide Variety Of Individual Lives And Epochs. The Tales Span Seven Hundred Years But Rather Than Being Ordered Chronologically, Old And New Appear Alongside One Another, Reflecting The Dual Identity Of Rome - Thriving, Modern Metropolis And Ancient City Centre That Is One Of The Wonders Of The World. The Tales Are Wonderfully Varied In Style, Tone, And Subject Matter. Casanova Sets About Seducing The Hotelier's Daughter Only Minutes After His Arrival, A Notorious Spanish Prostitute In Renaissance Rome Endures A Public Hiding Without Flinching, A Danish Tourist In Her Sixties Finds An Unusual Lover, Pope John Paul Ii Uncovers A Vast Conspiracy Against Him, A Medieval Revolutionary Demagogue Suffers Almost The Same Fate As Mussolini. Each Story Is Illustrated With A Black-and-white Photograph And There Is A Map Of Rome To Help Readers Locate The Important Sites Which Feature In The Text. A Deep Sense Of Timelessness, Of Separate Destinies Entwined Across A Gulf Of Centuries, Is The Cumulative Effect Of This Vivid Mosaic Of Dramatic, Comic, And Tragic Stories Set In The Eternal City. Abraham The Jew / Giovanni Boccaccio -- Release / Pier Paolo Pasolini -- The New Thérèse / Giacomo Casanova -- The Shirt On The Wall / Erri De Luca -- Cola Di Rienzo / Anonymous Roman -- Freedom / Goffredo Parise -- Blue Car / Melania Mazzucco -- Via Veneto Notes / Ennio Flaiano -- Lorette Ellerup / Francesco Mandica -- Two Days To Christmas / Elisabetta Rasy -- Isabella De Luna / Matteo Bandello -- The Rubber Twins / Vincenzo Cerami -- The Beautiful Hand / Giorgio Vigolo -- The Girl With The Braid / Dacia Maraini -- 16 October 1943 / Giacomo Debenedetti -- Samia / Sandro Onofri -- Exmatriates / Igiaba Scego -- Romulus And Remus / Alberto Moravia -- The Small Hours / Corrado Alvaro -- The Sound Of Woodworm / Giosuè Calaciura. Selected And Translated By Hugh Shankland ; Edited By Helen Constantine. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [281]-284).

A feminist reinterpretation of the myths surrounding Cleopatra casts new light on the Egyptian queen and her legacy   "A thoughtful, sympathetic portrait of a legendary historical figure."--Kirkus Reviews   The siren passionately in love with Mark Antony, the seductress who allegedly rolled out of a carpet she had herself smuggled in to see Caesar, Cleopatra is a figure shrouded in myth. Beyond the legends immortalized by Plutarch, Shakespeare, George Bernard Shaw, and others, there are no journals or letters written by Cleopatra herself. All we have to tell her story are words written by others. What has it meant for our understanding of Cleopatra to have had her story told by writers who had a political agenda, authors who distrusted her motives, and historians who believed she was a liar?   Francine Prose delves into ancient Greek and Roman literary sources, as well as modern representations of Cleopatra in art, theater, and film, to challenge past narratives driven by orientalism and misogyny and offer a new interpretation of Cleopatra's history through the lens of our current era.

Considered The First Historical Novel, This Timeless Masterpiece From The Father Of Modern Italian Literature Is A Sweeping Portrait Of Foreign Occupation, Plague, Famine, And War—now In The First New English-language Translation In Fifty Years, Featuring A Preface By Pulitzer Prize–winning Author Jhumpa Lahiri. The Betrothed Is An Inextricable Thread In The Fabric Of Italian Culture, One Of The Most Influential Works In The Italian Literary Canon, And Required Reading In Italian Schools. Published In 1827 But Set Two Hundred Years Earlier, It Is Considered The First Iteration Of The Historical Novel; Edgar Allen Poe Declared It “a Work Which Promises To Be The Commencement Of A New Style In Novel-writing” In 1835. But, Until Now, It Has Remained Relatively Unknown To U.s. Readers. The Novel Is The Story Of Two Young Lovers, Forced To Flee Their Village After A Dangerous And Powerful Man Threatens Their Marriage And Their Lives. But Manzoni Draws On Historical Events To Weave A Much Wider Tapestry: He Brings To Vivid Life Spanish Occupation During The Thirty Years' War, The Bubonic Plague, Famine, Politics, Religion, Poverty, Class Tensions, And A Colorful Cast Of Characters, All Of Which Provide An Unforgettable Portrait Of Italian Life And Society. But Within Manzoni's Epic Tale Of Seventeenth-century Italy, Readers Will Spot Powerful Echoes Of Our Modern Day: The Consequences Of Government Negligence, Entrenched Divisions Of Wealth And Privilege, A Country Gripped By Panic As An Unstoppable Illness Spreads. Michael F. Moore's Superb New Translation Turns A Welcome, Accessible, And Engaging Spotlight Onto Manzoni's Enduring Legacy And His Timeless Literary Masterpiece.