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Gertrude and Claudius are the “villains” of Hamlet: he the killer of Hamlet’s father and usurper of the Danish throne, she his lusty consort, who marries Claudius before her late husband’s body is cold. But in this imaginative “prequel” to the play, John Updike makes a case for the royal couple that Shakespeare only hinted at. Gertrude and Claudius are seen afresh against a background of fond intentions

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"Since William the Conqueror, duke of Normandy, crossed the English Channel in 1066 to defeat King Harold II and unite England's various kingdoms, forty-one kings and queens have sat on Britain's throne: "shining examples of royal power and majesty alongside a rogue's gallery of weak, lazy, or evil monarchs," as Tracy Borman evocatively describes them in her sparkling chronicle, Crown & Sceptre. Ironically, during very few of these 955 years has the...

The authoritative edition of The Winter's Tale from The Folger Shakespeare Library, the trusted and widely used Shakespeare series for students and general readers. The Winter's Tale, one of Shakespeare's very late plays, is filled with improbabilities. Before the conclusion, one character comments that what we are about to see,'Were it but told you, should be hooted at / Like an old tale.' It includes murderous passions, man-eating bears, princes...

"Full-color portraits illustrate the stories of ten people-rulers, educators, inventors, scholars, and explorers-who helped shape the African continent and the world from ancient times through the tumultuous sixteenth century"-- Provided by publisher.

"Contains that text of the English history play that dramatizes the fifteenth-century conflict between the royal families of York and Lancaster, and includes full explanatory notes on pages facing the text, an introduction to Shakespeare's language, and essays about his life, theater, and the publication of his works." -- Provided by the publisher.

A "delicious" historical mystery featuring a Paris detective and master of disguise by the author of The Pale Blue Eye (Entertainment Weekly). Chief of a newly created plainclothes police force, Vidocq is a man whose name sends terror rippling through the Parisian underworld of 1818—and the inconsequential life of Hector Carpentier is violently shaken when Vidocq storms into it. A former medical student living in his mother's Latin Quarter boardinghouse,...

Robert the Bruce is a detailed account of the life and times of the Scottish hero and monarch. It covers his life from childhood to death, looking at the political, social and military life of Scotland before, during and after the time of Robert the Bruce. The book looks at the relationship between The Bruce and people like Edward I and Edward II of England, William Wallace and the other contenders for the Scottish crown. The main thrust of the book...

"In a tiny shack in the largest township in South Africa, Nombeko Mayeki is born. Put to work at five years old and orphaned at ten, she quickly learns that the world expects nothing more from her than to die young, be it from drugs, alcohol, or just plain despair. But Nombeko has grander plans. She learns to read and write, and at just fifteen, using her cunning and fearlessness, she makes it out of Soweto with millions of smuggled diamonds in her...

"The Romance of the Romanovs" is a detailed treatise on the Romanov Dynasty of Russia and their eventual downfall, written by Joseph McCabe. Within it, McCabe explores this notably autocratic episode of history, looking at its origin, brutality, corruption, and its terrible final struggle and defeat. The House of Romanov was the second ruling Russian dynasty after the House of Rurik, reigning from 1613 until the Russian Revolution in 1917. The Romanov...

A chronologically-arranged guide to the kings and queens of England and Scotland; includes information about how each leader affected the country's history and culture.