**Finalist for the 2018 Los Angeles Times Book Prize in History"A luminous biography." —Rafia Zakaria, Guardian**Four centuries ago, a Muslim woman ruled an empire. Nur Jahan, daughter of a Persian noble and widow of a subversive official, became the twentieth and most cherished wife of the Emperor Jahangir. Nur ruled the vast Mughal Empire alongside her husband, leading troops into battle, signing imperial orders, and astutely handling matters of the state.

The dramatic and immersive story of an ambitious young empress who was the only woman to ever rule the Mughal Empire.More than four centuries ago in India, a Muslim woman ruled a magnificent empire: Nur Jahan, whose name means “light of the world.” Nur led troops into battle atop an elephant, hunted tigers, designed public buildings, and issued coinage and royal decrees in her own name. In a world dominated by men, her astute handling of court politics and affairs ...

**A captivating biography of one of the world’s greatest adventurers, the itinerant Mughal Princess Gulbadan, based on her long-forgotten memoir“Finally, a serious consideration of Gulbadan’s achievement.’”—Kirkus Reviews**Situated in the early decades of the magnificent Mughal Empire, this first ever biography of Princess Gulbadan offers an enthralling portrait of a charismatic adventurer and unique pictures of the multicultural society in which she lived. Followi...

In this engaging and eloquent history, Ruby Lal traces the becoming of nineteenth-century Indian women through a critique of narratives of linear transition from girlhood to womanhood. In the north Indian patriarchal environment, women's lives were dominated by the expectations of the male universal, articulated most clearly in household chores and domestic duties. The author argues that girls and women in the early nineteenth century experienced freedoms, eroticism, adventurousness and pl...

The dramatic and immersive story of an ambitious young empress who was the only woman to ever rule the Mughal Empire.More than four centuries ago in India, a Muslim woman ruled a magnificent empire: Nur Jahan, whose name means “light of the world.” Nur led troops into battle atop an elephant, hunted tigers, designed public buildings, and issued coinage and royal decrees in her own name. In a world dominated by men, her astute handling of court politics and affairs ...

Situated in the early decades of the magnificent Mughal Empire, this first ever biography of Princess Gulbadan offers an enthralling portrait of a charismatic adventurer and unique pictures of the multicultural society in which she lived. Following a migratory childhood that spanned Kabul and north India, Gulbadan spent her middle years in a walled harem established by her nephew Akbar to showcase his authority as the Great Emperor. Gulbadan longed for the exuberant itinerant lifestyle she...

This book looks at ancient Rome from the inside—how Romans judged right and wrong, what they admired, and what they feared. Instead of a strict year-by-year history, it follows Roman voices and the lives behind them: statesmen, poets, philosophers, soldiers, and emperors. Their words and choices show a culture shaped by law, duty, and public honor, but also by ambition, pleasure, and cruelty. It also points out how Roman practical thinking often differed from Greek ideals.Across ab...

Offensive language, insolent behavior, slights, brawls, and scandals come alive in Ruth Goodman’s uproarious history for mischievous Anglophiles.With this “impeccable” (BBC History) chronicle, acclaimed popular historian Ruth Goodman reveals a Renaissance Britain particularly rank with troublemakers. From snooty needlers who took aim with a cutting “thee,” to lowbrow drunkards with revolting table manners, Goodman’s “gleeful and illuminating” (Booklist...

A Pulitzer Prize–winning historian's dramatic biography of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, US president during the Depression and WWII.Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the longest serving president in US history, reshaping the country during the crises of the Great Depression and World War II. James MacGregor Burns's magisterial two-volume biography tells the complete life story of the fascinating political figure who instituted the New Deal.Roosevelt: The Lion ...

Winner • Mark Lynton History PrizeNew York Times • Times Critics Top Books of 2019The award-winning biography that restores William Monroe Trotter to his essential place next to Douglass, Du Bois, and Malcom X in the pantheon of American civil rights heroes.Black Radical reclaims William Monroe Trotter (1872–1934) as a seminal figure whose prophetic yet ultimately tragic—and all too often forgotten...

Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in HistoryA New York Times Notable BookA New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice SelectionA Providence Journal Best Book of the YearWinner of the Organization of American Historians Merle Curti Award for Social HistoryFinalist for the Harriet Tubman PrizeFinalist for the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians Book Prize"This book is an original achievem...

FINALIST FOR THE SPERBER PRIZE FOR JOURNALISM – BIOGRAPHYA fascinating history of the rise and fall of influential Gilded Age magazine McClure’s and the two unlikely outsiders at its helm—as well as a timely, full-throated defense of investigative journalism in AmericaThe president of the United States made headlines around the world when he publicly attacked the press, denouncing reporters who threatened his reputation as “muckrak...