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...

**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 one of the New York Times bestselling series the Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel.The truth: Nicholas Flamel's tomb is empty.The legend: Nicholas Flamel lives.Nicholas Flamel is the greatest Alchemyst to ever live. The records show that he died in 1418, but what if he's actually...

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...

**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 five of Michael Scott’s New York Times bestselling series the Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel.The Oaths: Many have made them.The Betrayals: Almost as many will undo them.The twins of prophecy have been divided--the end has begun.Josh Newman has chosen a side, and he will not stan...

**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 ...

**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 two of the New York Times bestselling series the Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel.The Enemies: Dr. John Dee and Niccolo Machiavelli.Their Plan: Steal the rest of what Nicholas Flamel has fought to protect.John Dee has the Book of Abraham the Mage, which means the world is on the brink of...

**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 ...