Charles River Editors

Of the many campaigns during the Middle Ages, few are as remarkable or seemingly impossible to win at the start as the First Crusade (1095-99), and the true crowning achievement of that crusade....

It is hard to find an island on the map more central than Sicily. It has rarely been governed as an independent, unified state. The island has always occupied a front-row seat to some of the most important events in history, and nowhere is this more obvious than during antiquity....

The French Revolution was fueled by the Enlightenment ideals Maximilien Robespierre vocally supported. But history remembers Robespierre as instrumental in the Reign of Terror....

In many ways it is fitting that Maximilien Robespierre (1758-1794) is one of the best known figures of the French Revolution, if not its most famous....

Maimonides: The Life and Legacy of the Medieval Jewish Philosopher profiles the life and teachings of one of the Middle Ages’ most influential people....

Joseph Pulitzer: The Life and Legacy of America’s Most Controversial Publisher examines the various roles Pulitzer played in American journalism and politics during his life, and how he shaped the industry....

Benito Mussolini: The Life and Legacy of Italy’s Fascist Prime Minister profiles one of the 20th century’s most notorious leaders. You will learn about Mussolini like never before....

Nicolae Ceaușescu, one of the 20th century’s most notorious dictators, was both typical and unusual. Outwardly, he resembled a standard leader of a communist country in Eastern Europe during the Cold War, yet he was even more repressive and opulent than his contemporaries....

Nineteenth century Americans were all too happy for the transcontinental railroad to help speed their passage west and render overland paths obsolete. One early trail got its start in Independence, Missouri, one of many cities marked as starting points for pioneers, settlers, or traders....

Of all the things that a nation, or even an individual, need to survive a crisis, none is perhaps as necessary as hope....

In southern Iraq, a crushing silence hangs over the dunes. For nearly 5,000 years, the sands of the Iraqi desert have held the remains of the oldest known civilization: the Sumerians....

Includes Helen's writings and explanations about how she overcame her disabilities....

This audiobook explains the literary evolution of the legend of the Holy Grail. It also discusses the scholarship over the historicity of the Grail and theories....

In the opening pages of his seminal book-length study of Alfred Hitchcock, Hitchcock's Films (1965), Robin Wood famously asked, "Why Should We Take Hitchcock Seriously?"....

T.E. Lawrence was a seminal figure in the shaping and reshaping of the politics of Arabia in the early 20th century....

The library of Nag Hammadi, Egypt, is as significant in the study of early Christianity as the writings of the Essenes to the understanding of Judaism during the time of the Roman occupation....

Outnumbered against Napoleon's Franco-Spanish fleet in the Battle of Trafalgar, England scored one of the most decisive victories in the history of naval warfare....

The Sino-Japanese Wars: The History and Legacy of the Early 20th Century Conflicts That Made Japan the Dominant Power in Asia examines what brought about the wars, the most notorious events, and the important aftermath....

In terms of geopolitics, perhaps the most seminal event of the Middle Ages was the successful Ottoman siege of Constantinople in 1453. The city had been an imperial capital as far back as the fourth century, when Constantine the Great shifted the power center of the Roman Empire there....

The Weimar Republic has become a byword for a failed, tragic, political experiment. The official period of its existence, 1919-1933, marked the interwar years in Germany and their related uncertainty, chaos, and the state’s ultimate collapse....