This innovative cultural history of financial risk-taking in Renaissance Italy argues that a new concept of the future as unknown and unknowable emerged in Italian society between the mid-fifteenth and mid-sixteenth centuries. Exploring the rich interchanges between mercantile and intellectual cultures underpinning this development in four major cities - Florence, Genoa, Venice, and Milan - Nicholas Scott Baker examines how merchants and gamblers, the futurologists of the pre-modern world,...

In the middle decades of the sixteenth century, the republican city-state of Florence--birthplace of the Renaissance--failed. In its place the Medici family created a principality, becoming first dukes of Florence and then grand dukes of Tuscany. The Fruit of Liberty examines how this transition occurred from the perspective of the Florentine patricians who had dominated and controlled the republic. The book analyzes the long, slow social and cultural transformations that predated...

Florence in the Early Modern World offers new perspectives on this important city by exploring the broader global context of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, within which the experience of Florence remains unique.By exploring the city’s relationship to its close and distant neighbours, this collection of interdisciplinary essays reveals the transnational history of Florence. The chapters orient the lenses of the most recent historiographical turns perfected in studies on Veni...

It was supposed to be a simple human-interest story, the kind of fluff piece hard-nosed reporter Brett Davis begrudgingly accepts only because his job is at stake. But when his newspaper editor sends him to the northernmost point of Europe to interview the head of a secretive monastery, Brett encounters a man who cannot possibly be who he claims to be—St. Nicholas of Myra. All Brett wants are the facts, but the tale Nicholas tells is too incredible to be true. Or is it?As Nicholas ...

**Includes the whole series!Nicholas Flamel appeared in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter—but did you know he really lived? And he might still be alive today!**Discover the truth in Michael Scott’s New York Times bestselling series the Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel, now in a complete 6-book collection: The Alchemyst, The Magician, The Sorceress, The Necromancer, The Warlock and The Enchantress.The tr...

Ashes to ashes . . .California: The book of Abraham the Mage holds the secret of eternal life - a secret more dangerous than any one man should possess. Dr. John Dee is two pages away from the knowledge that would bring the Dark Elders into ultimate power - and could mean the destruction of the world as we know it.Two people stand in his way: Josh and Sophie Newman.Paris: Time is running out for Nicholas Flamel and his wife Perenelle. ...

Nicholas Flamel was born in Paris on 28 September 1330. Nearly seven hundred years later, he is acknowledged as the greatest Alchemyst of his day. It is said that he discovered the secret of eternal life. The records show that he died in 1418. But his tomb is empty and Nicholas Flamel lives. The secret of eternal life is hidden within the book he protects - the Book of Abraham the Mage. It's the most powerful book that has ever existed. In the wrong hands, it will destroy the world. And th...

Nicholas Flamel appeared in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series—but did you know he really lived? You can learn his secrets in the bestselling Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series, and discover the Lost Stories—tales of myth, legend, and magic, previously lost to history and never before seen in print!Enter the world of the Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel like you never have before.The legendary alchemyst Nicholas Flamel and his wife, the ...

**Nicholas Flamel appeared in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter—but did you know he really lived? And he might still be alive today!**Discover the truth in Michael Scott’s New York Times bestselling series the Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel with the first three books: The Alchemyst, The Magician, and The Sorceress.The truth: Nicholas Flamel was born in Paris on September 28, 1330.The legend: Nicholas Flamel di...

Dr John Dee has destroyed Paris in his mission to find Nicholas Flamel and Sophie and Josh Newman. The two missing pages of the book of Abraham the Mage are still with them and the Dark Elders need them for the Final Summoning. They will not rest until they are in power and the human race has been destroyed.Nicholas Flamel knows he must protect Josh and Sophie and the pages from the Dark Elders. For this he must rely on Clarent - the sister sword to Excalibur - and the sword's evil...

Sophie and Josh have returned to San Francisco. They must protect themselves from the Dark Elders, but they've not yet mastered the magic they'll need to do so. Their trust in Nicholas Flamel is shaken, and their friend Scatty is missing. Unbeknownst to the twins, John Dee has amassed an enormous army of foul creatures, with which he plans to battle Nicholas and his wife, Peronelle. In order for his plan to work, he must train a necromancer to raise the Mother of the Gods from the dead. Th...

**Nicholas Flamel appeared in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter—but did you know he really lived? And his secrets aren't safe!**Discover the truth in book three of the New York Times bestselling series the Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel.The Problem: Perenelle Flamel is trapped.What’s Worse: Sophie and Josh might soon be as well.Paris was destroyed by John Dee and Niccolo Machiavelli, but the missing pages of the Book of Abraham the Mage ...