Forty-five gruesome but not gratuitous accounts from the Tudor reign, including the death of Richard III and the botched execution of Mary Queen of Scots.This decidedly darker take on the Tudors, from 1485 to 1603, covers a whole host of horrors from the Tudor reign. Particular attention is paid to the various gruesome ways in which the Tudors despatched their various villains and lawbreakers, from simple beheadings, to burnings and of course the dreaded hanging, d...

A detailed account of the Romanovs’ house arrest at the Alexander Palace in 1917 amid revolution, illness, and political chaos.Although many books cover the lives of Russia’s last royal family in some considerable detail, their time spent under house arrest in their own domestic family home - the Alexander Palace, outside St. Petersburg - is often covered in a few scant pages, or a chapter at most. But when set against the Revolution and the abdication of the Tsar,...

Mary Queen of Scots is perhaps one of the most controversial and divisive monarchs in regal history. Her story reads like a particularly spicy novel, with murder, kidnap, adultery, assassination and execution. To some she is one of the most wronged women in history, a pawn used and abused by her family in the great monarchical marriage game; to others, a murderous adulteress who committed regicide to marry her lover and then spent years in captivity for the crime, endlessl...

Imprisoning Mary Queen of Scots covers the lives and careers of the men and women who 'kept' Mary Queen of Scots when she was a political prisoner in England, circa 1568/9-1587. Mary's troubled claim to the English throne - much to the consternation of her 'dear cousin' Elizabeth I - made her a mortal enemy of the aforementioned Virgin Queen and set them on a collision course from which only one would walk away. Mary's calamitous personal life, encompassing assassinations, kidnaps and abdi...

Rasputin's relationship with Russia's last Tsarina, Alexandra, notorious from the famous Boney M song, has never been adequately addressed; biographies are always for one or the other, or simply Alexandra and her husband Nicholas. In this new work, Mickey Mayhew reimagines Alexandra for the #MeToo generation: 'neurotic'; 'hysterical'; 'credulous' and 'fanatical' are shunted aside in favor of a sympathetic reimagining of a reserved and pious woman tossed into the heart of Russian aristocrac...

The definitive bible on all things Anne Boleyn from her guilt and execution to her relationship with Jesus Christ, as well as depiction of Anne in popular culture from TV series to West End musicals. Anne Boleyn sells, but she sells in segments; a biography here, a study over there on her guilt and something else yonder concerned with where she lived or what she liked to wear. This book, covering not just her life but her life onscreen, in theater, on TV and also the impact of the first bl...

In April 1945, Soviet forces descended on Berlin in the final phase of the war in Europe. The fighting was fierce as soldiers fanatically loyal to the Nazi party - and those afraid of the vengeance their opponents might enact - sought to stave off the end of the regime as long as possible.Even as it became clear that defeat was inevitable, Hitler and his subordinates determined to fight to the bitter end, resulting in a bitter, brutal end to the war. As the Russian...

"Skilfully unravels the myths surrounding Anne Boleyn's downfall, and presents the most compelling account of her final months to date. A triumph." —Dr Owen Emmerson, Historian and Assistant Curator, Hever CastleThere are few women in English history more controversial than Queen Anne Boleyn. She was the second wife of Henry VIII, mother of Elizabeth I and the first English queen to be publicly executed. Reinvented by each new generation, Anne is bu...

The vibrant, sprawling saga of Empress Maria Theresa—one of the most renowned women rulers in history—and three of her extraordinary daughters, including Marie Antoinette, the doomed queen of France.Out of the thrilling and tempestuous eighteenth century comes the sweeping family saga of beautiful Maria Theresa, a sovereign of uncommon strength and vision, the only woman ever to inherit and rule the vast Habsburg Empire in her own name, and three of her remarkable ...

An in-depth look into the lives of the six daughters of King George III of England.In the dying years of the 18th century, the corridors of Windsor echoed to the footsteps of six princesses. They were Charlotte, Augusta, Elizabeth, Mary, Sophia, and Amelia, the daughters of King George III and Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Though more than fifteen years divided the births of the eldest sister from the youngest, these princesses all shared a longing for es...

This fascinating study of medieval warfare examines the vital role of castles during the English civil wars of the 15th century.The Wars of the Roses comprise one of the most fascinating periods in medieval history. Much has been written about the leading personalities, bitter dynastic rivalries, political intrigues, and the rapid change of fortune on the battlefields of England and Wales. However, there is one aspect that has been often overlooked, the role of cast...

"Exceptionally absorbing and thrilling. ... Masterful." — NatureA "magnificent" ( Scientific American), genre-defying narrative of the most ambitious science project ever conceived: NASA's deep space mission to Europa, the Jovian moon where might swim the first known alien life in our solar systemIn the spirit of Tom Wolfe and John McPhee, The Mission is an exuberant master class of creative nonfiction that reveal...