A learned study of the history of the altarpiece in Renaissance Italy from the 13th to 17th century. Accompanied with beautiful images, DE discusses the development and narrative categories ... read more
Siena's medieval golden age was brought to a grisly end by an appalling visitation of the plague in 1348. Nevertheless, the republic of Siena lasted for four hundred years, from the C12th un... read more
Breathtaking photographs of desolate and mostly ruinous buildings in vast, often snow-dusted landscapes. Published earlier this year in Germany with the text in English, this is a rare treas... read more
As an account of concepts of freedom, this book might perhaps be placed in a History or Philosophy section. We hope you will take its inclusion under Current Affairs as a gesture of hope!
This rich historical analysis argues that the Enlightenment was a failure on its own terms. Terror, revolution, corruption, gross commercial excess and Empire prevailed instead of Reason.
800 years of cave paintings, from the C2nd BC to the C6th CE: a revised edition with digitally restored images, and a new introduction by Dalrymple who has been researching the history of Bu... read more
Indian folk rituals and rites, customs and celebrations, presented through a sequence of photographic portraits. With contributions by Anuradha Roy, Catherine Clement and Kuha Kopariha.
Ostensibly about the life of the Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras, this beautifully illustrated volume examines the idea that harmony and beauty are not only inherent in the wo... read more
Greek and Roman patrons, robber-baron philanthropists, welfare socialists, celebrity activists...: motives and results are explored through historical analysis and numerous interviews.
This is a bewitching and sympathetic account of a deliciously odd, brilliantly clever man. He was prone to headstands, toothbrushing and - like Lord Lundy - to tears.
An investigation of Jesus' messianic contemporaries and the reasons for Christianity's success. From the author of the highly regarded The Darkening Age: The Christian Destruction of the Cla... read more
Yes, this is a book on how to read the first Book of the Bible - from one of the world's truly luminous novelists, the Calvinist author of Gilead, Home, Lila and Jack.
His last book Time of the Magicians was a group biography of Benjamin, Wittgenstein, Heidegger and Cassirer. Here, he looks at four women who created new ways of thinking in the aftermath of... read more
Although never the language of a state or ethnic group, Syriac remains widely used across the globe and is regarded as the third language of Christianity. It even reached China, thanks to th... read more
Translation and interpretation are not straightforward, and never were... With matchless scholarship and sensitivity, Dr Barton compares multiple readings to reveal their ambiguities and int... read more
A selection of the Venerable Blythe's columns, with contributions by Rowan Williams, Richard Mabey, Julia Blackburn, Ian Collins et al. Inquisitive, gentle and modest, but surprising and fun... read more
Elizabeth Anscombe, Mary Midgley, Iris Murdoch & Philippa Foot: they got to know one another as Oxford students during WW2, and went on to have huge influence on subsequent decades.
While some parish churches still form the centre of their communities, many others are in terminal decline. RM, who grew up in a parsonage before becoming an archeologist, combines personal ... read more
A marvellous history of pilgrimage around the world. Sacred landscapes, geographical hotspots where cultures, religions and trade routes meet, the remote and the metropolitan - and humanity'... read more