Het Romeinse Rijk is onmiskenbaar een van de invloedrijkste beschavingen uit de geschiedenis. Het kende een bloeitijd van maar liefst 500 jaar en besloeg een oppervlak van ruim vijfentwintig moderne landen, van Saoedi-Arabië tot Oekraïne en Engeland. Politiek, wetten, filosofie en architectuur zoals we die nu kennen vonden er hun oorsprong, evenals onze Romeinse cijfers, de kalender, aquaducten en beton. Samen met de Grieken legden de Romeinen de basis voor de westerse beschaving. Historic...

Italië was ooit het centrum van het eerste Europese wereldrijk en de bakermat van de renaissance. Italiaanse politieke en culturele invloeden zijn vervolgens wereldwijd verspreid geraakt. Het land heeft ruim 60 miljoen inwoners en verwelkomt elk jaar bijna het dubbele aantal toeristen. Geen enkel ander land heeft zoveel plekken op de unesco Werelderfgoedlijst staan: achtenvijftig, en het worden er alleen maar meer. In De kortste geschiedenis van Italië komen deze en vele andere plekken in ...

New York Times bestselling author Ross King's biography Machiavelli is "a convincing portrait of one of the most misunderstood thinkers of all time."*The author of The Prince—his controversial handbook on power, which is one of the most influential books ever written—Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527) was no prince himself. Born to an established middle-class family, Machiavelli worked as a courtier and diplomat for the Republic of Florence a...

Halverwege de vijftiende eeuw werd gezegd dat alle wijsheid van de wereld in Vespasiano da Bisticci's boekwinkel in Florence te vinden zou zijn. Daar werden prachtige manuscripten voor de Europese elite geproduceerd en belangrijke werken uit de klassieke oudheid herontdekt en verspreid. De winkel trok de grootste denkers van de stad aan. Dan arriveert er in 1476 een nieuwe techniek in Florence. Het nonnenklooster van San Jacopo di Ripoli aan de andere kant van de stad bemachtigt een drukpe...

Even in an age of soaring skyscrapers and cavernous sports stadiums, the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence still retains a rare power to astonish. Yet the elegance of the building belies the tremendous labour, technical ingenuity and bitter personal strife involved in its creation. For over a century after work on the cathedral began in 1296, the proposed dome was regarded as all but impossible to build because of its enormous size. The greatest architectural puzzle of its age...

'King's supreme ability is to imagine himself into the past. The scope of his knowledge is staggering' JOHN CAREY, SUNDAY TIMES At its largest extent, the Roman Empire stretched from the Persian Gulf to the Irish Sea, from North Africa to central Europe. A fifth of the world's population were Roman citizens. Even after the empire's dramatic decline and fall, its legacy continued to shape politics and laws, language and numerals, calendars and architecture. But what was Rome, who were the R...

Discover the prodigious global influence of il bel paese in this star-studded retelling of Italy’s past—from a foremost author of historic Italy. The Shortest History books deliver thousands of years of history in one riveting, fast-paced read.“Each page brims with Bill Bryson-like trivia that is sure to delight.”—Booklist, starred reviewThe calendar. The Senate. The university. The piano, the heliocentric model, and the p...

'King's supreme ability is to imagine himself into the past. The scope of his knowledge is staggering' JOHN CAREY, SUNDAY TIMES From Michelangelo to Mussolini, Nero to Meloni, Galileo to Garibaldi, here is the sparkling story of the world's most influential peninsula. The calendar, the university, the piano; the Vespa, the pistol and the pizzeria… It is easy to assume that inventions like these could only come from somewhere sure of its place in the world. Yet these pages reveal a land rif...

The explosive finale in the thrilling and glamourous Hollywood series from multi-million copy bestselling author Shari Low and TV's Ross King.They climbed up from the streets of Glasgow to the top of the world. Now these Hollywood icons are heading for a fall.Twenty-five years ago, three friends from Glasgow shocked the world when they became Oscar-winning legends.But now, they are all fighting for survival.A-list actor Zander Leith has fin...

The start of a thrilling and glamourous Hollywood series from multi-million copy bestselling author Shari Low and Strictly Come Dancing's Ross King ✨When we bury our secrets, they always come back to haunt us...Their rise was meteoric.Only a few years before, they had been three friends from Glasgow, just trying to survive tough lives of danger and dysfunction.But on one Hollywood evening in 1993, they were on the world’s b...

The thrilling second instalment in the gripping Hollywood series from multi-million copy bestselling author Shari Low and TV's Ross King.They’ve made it to the top but someone is determined to make them pay...At a glittering after-party on the night of the Academy Awards, author Mirren McLean celebrates her win with her childhood friends Davie Johnston and Zander Leith by her side.Three kids from a tough street in Glasgow, the dazzling trio rose f...

From New York Times–bestselling author Ross King, the storied rise and reign of the greatest empire and most influential civilization of the ancient Western world“For who is so indifferent or indolent as not to wish to know by what means the Romans succeeded in subjecting nearly the whole inhabited world to their sole government—a thing unique in history?”—Polybius, second century BCEAncient Rome gave rise to the Roman Empire, one ...