In May 1832, in Newport, Rhode Island, a Methodist minister named Ephraim K. Avery was tried for the murder of a twenty-nine-year-old mill worker, Sarah Marie Cornell. It was the first time a clergyman had ever been tried for murder in the United States and the first time an American murder trial became headline news. From this factual base, Mary Cable weaves a chilling novel of gothic desires and conflicting classes. She creates a rich atmosphere to show New England as it was then - simpl...

"Well-researched, well-written, and highly engaging" - National Review. Here is the dramatic story of the Blizzard of 1888, which caused havoc up and down the East coast of the United States. Award-winning author Mary Cable recreates - in all its human and natural drama - the three-day debacle that began on the night of Sunday, March 11, 1888. We meet the heroes and villains alike as they struggle through the mounting snow and icy winds to keep the wheels of civilization from grinding to a...

In August 1839, what appeared to be a listless pirate ship, unidentified by any flag, was spotted off the North Atlantic coast of the United States. On board were thirty barely clad black men, armed with cutlasses, and two white men - Spanish slave owners with an incredible story to tell. A month earlier, the Amistad had set sail from Havana with a valuable cargo of slaves and 40,000 worth of gold doubloons. She was headed for the Cuban coastal town of Puerto Principe - but in a matter of ...

New Orleans has been decimated from time to time by disease, fire, and hurricanes. In 1788, 900 buildings burned to the ground because the church bells used to summon firefighters had been stilled in deference to Good Friday. It is the birthplace of jazz and the Mardi Gras, and at one time, was described as having too many banks and ballrooms and too few bathrooms and Protestant churches. Since its founding in 1718, New Orleans has balanced disaster with joy. Frederick Law Olmsted was begu...

El Escorial is more than a monument to the zeal of Spain's Catholicism; it is also a symbol of Spain at its imperial apogee. This imposing, granite edifice was built by King Philip II to celebrate Spain's victory over the French at Saint-Quentin on August 10, 1557. Paid for with New-World gold, this sprawling monastery-palace is laid out in a vast grid of corridors and courtyards. At its heart is the austere Doric basilica of San Lorenzo el Real - beneath which are the remains of eleven Sp...

The age of high society in the United States was remarkably brief but also glorious. The names of the families of "people-we-know" - from Astor to Vanderbilt, McCormick to Palmer, Cabot to Whitney - and the places they called home - Fifth Avenue, Newport, Euclid Avenue in Cleveland, Prairie Avenue in Chicago, Delmonico's ballroom - still evoke glittering images of style, wealth, and often-outrageous show. The era of "The 400," with all its glamour gentility, and pretension, is marvelously ...

One of them was built without wood, and the other lacked doorknobs, but they flaunted all the amenities that Old World skills, Vanderbilt money, and the unbridled taste of Richard M. Hunt could provide. Here, in this essay by journalist and historian Mary Cable, is the story of Newport's Marble Cottages.

In this rich novel of family conflict and closely guarded secrets, Mary Cable explores dreams and fears that lie hidden deep within the human heart. Alex Smithson, forty-two-years-old and living in Santa Fe, leads an under-demanding life made prickly only by her oppressive, aristocratic in-laws to whom Alex will never be entirely acceptable. The Smithsons have always treated Alex as an outsider, despite the fact that she has been married to the older of their two sons, Oz, for nearly twent...

"Rugoff's spirited and immensely beguiling book takes a joyful bite out of the nineteenth century." - The New York Times. "King of the Lobbyists" Sam Ward was best known for his talent for throwing parties - courtesy of the U.S. Treasury. And Alva Vanderbilt squandered tens of thousands on one evening to crack the closed social circle of the Mrs. Astor. And when Jay Gould, of Black Friday fame, sent his card to one of the Rothschilds, it was returned with the comment, "Europe is not for sa...

'An eclectic mix of social history and elegy, ironic comedy and indelible Englishness. It is about the pub as theatre' The SpectatorLaura Thompson's grandmother Violet was one of the great landladies. Born in a London pub, she became the first woman to be given a publican's licence in her own name. Just as pubs defined her life, she seemed in many ways to embody their essence.Laura spent part of her childhood in Violet's Home Counties establishment...

Paris, 1900. The height of the Belle-Époque: decadence, wealth, hedonism...and murder.Homicide investigator Guillaume Devré stands for the silenced victims, bound to seek justice as he makes his way from the wide boulevards frequented by the tout-Paris to the narrow byways of Montmartre, to the shadow of the Tour Eiffel and the lush elegance of Maxim's.When the most famous courtesan in Paris becomes the prime suspect in the death of a wealthy young...

Spanning an age that witnessed great achievements in the arts and sciences, this definitive overview of the Italian Renaissance will both captivate ordinary readers and challenge specialists. J. H. Plumb's impressive and provocative narrative is accompanied by contributions from leading historians, including Morris Bishop, Jacob Bronowski, Maria Bellonci, and many more, who have further illuminated the lives of some of the era's most unforgettable personalities, from Petrarch to Pope Pius ...