Europe Society

In this seventh installment in the New York Times bestselling series from Edgar Award winner James Ponti, the young group of spies work to prevent a dangerous criminal from escaping prison in another international adventure perfect for fans of Spy School and Charlie Thorne. The City Spies are...

Does a sinister cabal actually control international affairs? Were William Shakespeare and Abraham Lincoln secretly involved with a group founded to discover and preserve the principles of alchemy? Has an ancient mystical religion really been reduced to a length of red string that sells for a dollar an inch? Secret societies surround us, yet they often remain a mystery. Their secrecy suggests sacrilege and crime, and their loyalties stand accused of undermining the world's governments. They generate fear, suspicion, and - above all - fascination.

From an award-winning historian comes a fresh analysis of the rise of Nazi extremism, how such thinking gained popularity, and why it is vital to fight burgeoning extremist movements today How could the SS have committed the crimes they did? How were the killers who shot Jews at close quarters...

In short, I have found that the covert of a Mason Lodge had been employed in every country for venting and propagating sentiments in religion and politics that could not have circulated in public without exposing the author to great danger. I found that this impunity had gradually encouraged men of licentious principles to become more bold, and to teach doctrines subversive of all our notions of morality.

Ryszard Legutko lived and suffered under communism for decades - and he fought with the Polish anti-communist movement to abolish it. Having lived for two decades under a liberal democracy, however, he has discovered that these two political systems have a lot more in common than one might think. They both stem from the same historical roots in early modernity, and accept similar presuppositions about history, society, religion, politics, culture, and human nature.

"Laurence Rees brilliantly combines powerful eye-witness testimony, vivid narrative and compelling analysis in this superb account of how two terrible dictators led their countries in the most destructive and inhumane war in history."―Professor Sir Ian Kershaw, author of Hitler: Hubris and...

The Clockwork Universe is the story of a band of men who lived in a world of dirt and disease but pictured a universe that ran like a perfect machine. A meld of history and science, this book is a group portrait of some of the greatest minds who ever lived as they wrestled with natures most sweeping mysteries. The answers they uncovered still hold the key to how we understand the world.

In The Once and Future Sex, Janega unravels the restricting expectations on medieval women and the ones on women today. She boldly questions why, if our ideas of women have changed drastically over time, we cannot reimagine them now to create a more equitable future.

An irresistible and poignant novel about the upper echelons of Berlin society, a grand literary celebration, and the after-party that upends the night and carries a group of guests deeper into the city Naema, an elderly princess dedicated to her pet causes, is in a bind: struck by a malady that...

In this boldly drawn portrait of 18th-century England, Roy Porter defines a nation from its princes to its paupers, from its metropolis to its smallest hamlet. The topics covered run the gamut, covering diet, housing, prisons, rural festivals, bordellos, plays, paintings, and work and wages.

The Riviera Set reveals the story of the group of people who lived, partied, bed-hopped, and politicked at the Château de l'Horizon near Cannes, over the course of 40 years from the time when Coco Chanel made southern French tans fashionable in the twenties to the death of the playboy Prince Aly Khan in 1960. At the heart of dynamic group was the amazing Maxine Elliott, the daughter of a fisherman from Connecticut, who built the beautiful art deco Château.

In 1979, Elizabeth Eisenstein provided the first full-scale treatment of the 15th-century printing revolution in the West in her monumental two-volume work, The Printing Press as an Agent of Change. This abridged edition, after summarizing the initial changes introduced by the establishment of printing shops, goes on to discuss how printing challenged traditional institutions and affected three major cultural movements: the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the rise of modern science.

This two part series is filled with mysterious twists and erotic turns, as Jane uncovers the mysterious society that has claimed her since birth. Part I: Submission Jane Durant lives a carefree life full of designer clothes, parties, and the popularity that comes with being a rich, pretty girl--oh, and she's obsessed with James Donovan. He's the handsome billionaire with an aura of intelligence and mystery that leaves Jane waking up wet and bothered. Jane just turned 18 and is coasting through her senior year, when suddenly her entire world goes topsy turvy. A choice made in her family's ...

The scandalous women of the USA Today bestselling author Scarlett Peckham’s Society of Sirens are back with the final stage in their fight for female rights—and this time the battle is to be waged in bed… She’s the most infamous harlot in London…and she’s up for auction. Thaïs...

Like most legends, the origins of Freemasonry are still disputed to this day. The earliest mention of the society traces back to The Halliwell Manuscript, or Regius Poem, authored sometime between the late 14th and the early 15th centuries. The Society of Freemasonry is one of the most controversial brotherhoods in the history of mankind. This book examines the origins and history of the controversial brotherhood, its expansion across the globe, and some of the most mindboggling conspiracy theories that surround the society to this day.

At the age of 21, Edith Chaplin married one of the most eligible bachelors of the day, the eldest son of the sixth marquess of Londonderry. Her husband served in the Ulster cabinet and was air minister in the National Government of 1934-5. Edith founded the Women's Legion during the First World War and was also an early campaigner for women's suffrage. She created the renowned Mount Stewart Gardens in County Down that are now owned by the National Trust.

Arguing that global communications have fragmented national cultures and that multiculturalism, intended to reduce social frictions, is today reinforcing them, Sacks argues for a new approach to national identity, making the case for "integrated diversity" within a framework of shared political values. Britain, he argues, will have to construct a national narrative as a basis for identity, reinvigorate the concept of the common good, and identify shared interests among currently conflicting groups.

Vividly written, The Infidel and the Professor is a compelling account of a great friendship of two towering Enlightenment thinkers that had great consequences for modern thought. David Hume is widely regarded as the most important philosopher ever to write in English, but during his lifetime, he was attacked as "the Great Infidel" for his skeptical religious views and deemed unfit to teach the young. In contrast, Adam Smith was a revered professor of moral philosophy and is now often hailed as the founding father of capitalism.

Faith and Order: Understanding the Enduring Influence of John Calvin on Religion, Society, and Thought is an in-depth exploration of one of history’s most transformative thinkers and the far-reaching impact of his ideas. John Calvin was not only a theologian but also a system builder, educator, and social reformer whose vision shaped the moral, intellectual, and political foundations of the modern world. From his early life in France and his rise to prominence in Geneva to the creation of his monumental Institutes of the Christian Religion, Calvin sought to unite faith, reason, and ...

Internationally bestselling author Ayaan Hirsi Ali tells the stirring story of her search for a new life in America, recounting dramatic stories of her family and the challenges they faced adapting to Western society as Muslim immigrants. Ayaan Hirsi Ali captured the world’s attention with...