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The Tigress of Forlì: Renaissance Italy's Most Courageous and Notorious Countess, Caterina Riario Sforza de Medici
Elizabeth Lev · back to the book
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24 books with the same feel
Hide books by the same authorTwo Lives of Charlemagne
Einhard, Notker the Stammerer · 227 pages
"These two LIVES provide a fascinating contrast. Einhard, who spent twenty-three years in Charlemagne's service, chose to approach his Vita Caroli as a public history and, in beautifully expressed language, recounts Charlemagne's personal life and his achievements in warfare, learning, art, building, and in the skilful administration of the state. Notker the monk's De Carolo Magno is a collection
Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman
Robert K. Massie · 791 pages
The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Peter the Great, Nicholas and Alexandra, and The Romanovs returns with another masterpiece of narrative biography, the extraordinary story of an obscure young German princess who traveled to Russia at fourteen and rose to become one of the most remarkable, powerful, and captivating women in history. Born into a minor noble family, Catherine transformed herself
Cleopatra: A Life
Stacy Schiff · 441 pages
From back cover: Famous long before she was notorious, Cleopatra has gone down in history for all the wrong reasons; her supple personality and the drama of her circumstances have been lost. In a masterly return to the classical sources, Stacy Schiff boldly separates fact from fiction to rescue the magnetic queen whose death ushered in a new world order.
Diamond Queen: Elizabeth II and Her People
Andrew Marr · 438 pages
Published alongside a flagship BBC television series to mark her Diamond Jubilee, this book is an account of The Queen's reign. With the flair for narrative and the meticulous research that readers have come to expect, Andrew Marr turns his attention to the monarch - and to the monarchy, chronicling the Queen's pivotal role at the centre of the state, which is largely hidden from the public gaze,
Alfred the Great: Asser's Life of King Alfred and Other Contemporary Sources
Asser, Alfred the Great · 368 pages
Asser's Life of King Alfred, written in 893, is a revealing account of one of the greatest of medieval kings. Composed by a monk of St David's in Wales who became Bishop of Sherborne in Alfred's service and worked with him in his efforts to revive religion and learning in his kingdom, this life is among the earliest surviving royal biographies. It is an admiring account of King Alfred's life, writ
The Greatest Traitor: The Life of Sir Roger Mortimer, Ruler of England 1327-1330
Ian Mortimer · 246 pages
Alix and Nicky: The Passion of the Last Tsar and Tsarina
Virginia Rounding · 384 pages
A study of the marriage of the last Russian tsar and tsarina offers psychological insights into their relationship and covers the Empress's ill health, their relationship with confidante Ania Vyrubova, and their reliance on the infamous Rasputin.
Dragon Lady: The Life and Legend of the Last Empress of China
Sterling Seagrave · 601 pages
The author of *The Soong Dynasty* gives us our most vivid and reliable biography yet of the Dowager Empress Tzu Hsi, remembered through the exaggeration and falsehood of legend as the ruthless Manchu concubine who seduced and murdered her way to the Chinese throne in 1861.
Queen Anne: The Politics of Passion
Anne Somerset · 621 pages
An assessment of the short twelve-year reign of Britain's last Stuart monarch recounts how she united England and Scotland as a sovereign state, offering additional insight into the military victories that laid the foundations for Britain's future naval and colonial supremacy.
Royal Charles: Charles II and the Restoration
Antonia Fraser · 524 pages
Elizabeth: Apprenticeship
David Starkey · 356 pages
Henry VIII: Man and Monarch
Susan Doran · 288 pages
Alexander II: The Last Great Tsar
Edvard Radzinsky, Edvard Radzinskii · 471 pages
Queen Isabella: Treachery, Adultery, and Murder in Medieval England
Alison Weir · 499 pages
Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Four Kings
Amy Kelly · 442 pages
The Twelve Caesars
Suetonius · 352 pages
De vita Caesarum, known as The Twelve Caesars, is a set of twelve biographies, each about one of the Roman emperors, including one on Julius Caesar. It was written by Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, commonly referred to as Suetonius, in 121. Considered highly significant in antiquity, The Twelve Caesars has remained a major source of Roman history.
First Women: The Grace and Power of America's Modern First Ladies
Kate Andersen Brower · 398 pages
Brower draws on a wide array of untapped, candid sources to tell the stories of the ten remarkable women who have defined the role of First Lady of the United States since 1960. From Jackie Kennedy to Michelle Obama, she offers new insights into this privileged group, and shares stories exploring everything from the first ladies political crusades to their rivalries with Washington figures; from t
Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision
Barbara Ransby · 501 pages
The Shah
Abbas Milani · 488 pages
An Iranian scholar chronicles the life and legacy of the last Shah of Iran, including his role in the creation of the modern Islamic republic.
Thomas Cromwell: The Untold Story of Henry VIII's Most Faithful Servant
Tracy Borman · 464 pages
Reviled as a Machiavellian schemer who stopped at nothing in his quest for power, Thomas Cromwell was also a loving husband, father and guardian, a witty and generous host, and a loyal and devoted servant. With new insights into Cromwell's character, his family life and his close relationships with both Cardinal Wolsey and Henry VIII, Tracy Borman, joint Chief Curator of Historic Royal Palaces, ex
Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan
Herbert P. Bix · 800 pages
Winner of the Pulitzer PrizeIn this groundbreaking biography of the Japanese emperor Hirohito, Herbert P. Bix offers the first complete, unvarnished look at the enigmatic leader whose sixty-three-year reign ushered Japan into the modern world. Never before has the full life of this controversial figure been revealed with such clarity and vividness. Bix shows what it was like to be trained from bir
Queen of Scots: The True Life of Mary Stuart
John Guy · 581 pages
A new historian of Mary Queen of Scots draws on new sources to shatter various myths surrounding this odd monarch and uncover some of the scandals and political machinations underpinning, and undermining, her throne.
Abigail Adams
Woody Holton
IN THIS VIVID NEW BIOGRAPHY OF ABIGAIL ADAMS, the most illustrious woman of Americas founding era, prize-winning historian Woody Holton offers a sweeping reinterpretation of Adams’s life story and of women’s roles in the creation of the republic. Using previously overlooked documents from a host of archives, Abigail Adams shows that the wife of the second president of the United States was far