Other books that might interest you

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  How to Be a Renaissance Woman -...

  Jill Burke

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  Beauty, make-up, art, power: How to Be a Renaissance Woman presents an alternative history of this period as told by the women behind the paintings, providing a window into their often overlooked or silenced lives. Can the pressures women feel to look good be traced back to the sixteenth century? 
   
   
   
  As the Renaissance visual world became populated by female nudes from the likes of Michelangelo and Titian, a vibrant literary scene of beauty tips emerged, fueling debates about cosmetics and adornment. Telling the stories of courtesans, artists, actresses, and writers rebelling against the strictures of their time, when burgeoning colonialism gave rise to increasingly sinister evaluations of bodies and skin color, this book puts beauty culture into the frame. 
   
   
   
  How to Be a Renaissance Woman will take listeners from bustling Italian market squares, the places where the poorest women and immigrant communities influenced cosmetic products and practices, to the highest echelons of Renaissance society, where beauty could be a powerful weapon in securing strategic marriages and family alliances. It will investigate how skin-whitening practices shifted with the emerging sub-Saharan African slave trade, how fads for fattening and thinning diets came and went, and how hairstyles and fashion could be a tool for dissent and rebellion—then as now.

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  Halbe 1945 - Eyewitness Accounts...

  Eberhard Baumgart, Roger Moorhouse

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  In April 1945, German troops withdrawing from the Seelow Heights were encircled by the Soviet Army near the small town of Halbe, south-east of Berlin. Rather than surrender, their orders were to attempt to break out, westward, and join up with the German twelfth Army. A brutal battle ensued, with an estimated 30,000 German and 20,000 Russian soldiers killed, along with thousands of civilians. 
   
   
   
  This collection of first-hand accounts tells the story of the battle and its aftermath from the German perspective. It is an eclectic mix, containing the recollections of ordinary soldiers, SS-men and men of the Panzer Divisions, as well as civilians caught up in the battle as they attempted to flee ahead of the advancing armies. It brings to life the grim realities of this one-sided engagement, revealing the brutal vengeance of the Soviets and the desperation to escape the slaughter. 
   
   
   
  Translated into English for the first time, this is an important insight into this devastating and little-known aspect of World War II history.

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  The Nine Lives of Florida's...

  Austin J. Bell

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  Excavated from a waterlogged archaeological site on the shores of subtropical Florida by legendary anthropologist Frank Hamilton Cushing in 1896, the Key Marco Cat has become a modern icon of heritage, history, and local identity. This book takes listeners into the deep past of the artifact and the Native American society in which it was created. 
   
   
   
  Austin Bell explores nine periods in the life of the six-inch-high wooden carving, beginning with how it was sculpted with shell and shark-tooth tools and what it may have represented to the ancient Calusa—perhaps a human-panther god. Preserved in the muck for centuries on Marco Island and discovered in pristine condition due to its oxygen-free environment, the Cat has since traveled more than 12,000 miles and has been viewed by millions of people. In this fascinating account, Bell traces the clues to the Cat's mysterious origins that have emerged in its later lives. 
   
   
   
  Captivating listeners with the miracle and beauty of this rare example of pre-Columbian art, Bell marvels at how an object originally understood to hold cosmological power has indeed transformed the people and places around it. The Nine Lives of Florida's Famous Key Marco Cat is the story of a timeless masterpiece of staggering simplicity that has prevailed over impossibly long odds.

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  Humphrey Bogart: A short...

  5 Minutes, 5 Minute Biographies,...

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  Humphrey Bogart, screen legend: Life and work in a short biography! Everything you need to know, brief and concise. Infotainment, education and entertainment at its best!

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  Constantinople - History of the...

  Kelly Mass

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  Constantinople, a city that witnessed the rise and fall of empires, served as the capital for three significant civilizations: the Roman/Byzantine Empire (330–1204 and 1261–1453), the Latin Empire (1204–1261), and the Ottoman Empire (1453–1922). Following the Turkish War of Independence, the capital was moved to Ankara, marking a new chapter in Turkish history. In 1930, the city was officially renamed Istanbul, which remains the Republic of Turkey’s largest city and financial center today. It is also the largest city in Europe. 
  In 324 AD, Emperor Constantine the Great made the fateful decision to transform the old city of Byzantium into a grand new capital, naming it "New Rome" and consecrating it on May 11, 330 AD. This strategic move solidified the city’s place in history, becoming the heart of the Eastern Roman Empire, later known as the Byzantine Empire. 
  Constantinople became a symbol of Orthodox Christianity, often referred to as the "cradle of Orthodox Christian civilization." The city's religious and cultural significance cannot be overstated; it was home to some of the most iconic architectural and religious sites in the Christian world. From the mid-fifth to the early-thirteenth century, Constantinople was Europe's largest, most affluent metropolis, a center of commerce, culture, and intellectual activity.

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  Brains Behind Dia Mirzas Wedding

  Sindhy Kashyap

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  Meet wedding designer Aashna Saran, who created Dia Mirza's sustainable garden wedding

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