"An original, illuminating history of the northern European Renaissance in art, science, and philosophy, which often rivaled its Italian counterpart. It is generally accepted that the European Renaissance began in Italy. However, a historical transformation of similar magnitude also took place in northern Europe at the same time. This "Other Renaissance" was initially centered on the city of Bruges in Flanders (modern Belgium), but its influence...

"There will be no museums! And no art galleries! Just Europeans having lots of fun. Across Europe, festival traditions go back centuries and are filled with time honored pageantry and ritual. Entire communities hurl themselves with abandon into the craziness. We'll careen all over Europe: the Palio horse races in Siena, the Highland games near Edinburgh, the colorful masquerade of Carnival in Venice, Slovenia, and Luzern, Easter festivities in Andalucía,...

This landmark book traces the history of belief in the Christian West from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment, revealing for the first time how a distinctively modern category of belief came into being. Ethan Shagan focuses not on what people believed, which is the normal concern of Reformation history, but on the more fundamental question of what people took belief to be. Shagan shows how religious belief enjoyed a special prestige in medieval...

Spins the reader on a whirlwind tour of sixty European languages and dialects, sharing quirky moments from their histories and exploring their commonalities and differences.

[This book offers] a panorama of Europe, East and West, from the Ice Age to the Cold War, from the Urals to Gibraltar. -Front Cover.

Explores the physical and human geographic features of Europe.

“The latest volume to appear in the Penguin History of Europe. Like its companion volumes, [Christendom Destroyed] is no breezy survey but a masterly synthesis of depth and breadth."—The Wall Street Journal
“The political and religious conflicts of early modern Europe receive high-quality treatment from Greengrass....  an excellent addition to the new Penguin History of Europe.”—Financial...

"In this eye-opening book, Johannes Krause, director of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, and journalist Thomas Trappe offer a new way of understanding our past, present, and future. Krause is a pioneer in the revolutionary new science of archaeogenetics, archaeology augmented by revolutionary DNA sequencing technology, which has allowed scientists to uncover a new version of human history reaching back more than 100,000 years....

You can count on Rick Steves to tell you what you "really" need to know when traveling through Europe: Plan your itinerary and maximize your time ; Pack light--and right ; Find good-value hotels and restaurants ; Travel smoothly by train, bus, car, and plane ; Avoid crowds and tourist scams ; Hurdle the language barrier Understand cultural differences and connect with locals ; Save money while enjoying the trip of a lifetime. After more than three...

The powerful and moving story of three royal mothers whose quest for power led to the downfall of their daughters. Queen Isabella of Castile, Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, and Queen Victoria of England were respected and admired rulers whose legacies continue to be felt today. Their daughters-Catherine of Aragon, Queen of England; Queen Marie Antoinette of France; and Vicky, the Empress Frederick of Germany-are equally legendary for the tragedies...