Altri libri che potrebbero interessarti

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  Battle of Fornovo The: The...

  Editors Charles River

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  In 1494, there were five sovereign regional powers in Italy: Milan, Venice, Florence, the Papal States and Naples. In 1536, only one remained: Venice. These decades of conflict precipitated great anxiety among Western thinkers, and Italians responded to the fragmentation, forevermore, of Latin Christendom, the end of self-governance for Italians, and the beginning of the early modern era in a myriad of ways. They were always heavily influenced by the lived experience of warfare between large Christian armies on the peninsula. 
  The diplomatic and military history of this 30-year period was a complex situation that one eminent Renaissance historian, Lauro Martines, has described as "best told by a computer, so many and tangled are the treatises, negotiations and battles." At the same time, the fighting went in tandem with the Renaissance and was influenced by it. Most historians credit the city-state of Florence as the place that started and developed the Italian Renaissance, a process carried out through the patronage and commission of artists during the late 12th century. If Florence is receiving its due credit, much of it belongs to the Medicis, the family dynasty of Florence that ruled at the height of the Renaissance. The dynasty held such influence that some of its family members even became Pope. 
  Meanwhile, plans for a French invasion were years in the making, and France’s young King Charles VIII, heavily influenced by chivalric tales and his men of finance, had begun his preparations for conquering Naples as a base from which to launch a crusade in 1491. Two key events were the catalysts for these plans. The first was the arrival of Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere at Avignon in May 1494.

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  A Southern Underground Railroad...

  Paul M. Pressly

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  Despite its apparent isolation, the Southeast provided a vital connecting link between the Black self-emancipation that occurred during the American Revolution and the growth of the Underground Railroad. From the beginning of the revolutionary war to the eve of the First Seminole War in 1817, several thousand Africans and African Americans in Georgia and South Carolina crossed the borders and boundaries that separated the Lowcountry from the British and Spanish in coastal Florida and from the Seminole and Creek people in the vast interior of the Southeast. Even in times of peace, there remained a steady flow of individuals moving south and southwest. 
   
   
   
  A Southern Underground Railroad constitutes a powerful counter-narrative in American history, a tale of how enslaved men and women found freedom and human dignity not in Jefferson's "Empire of Liberty" but outside the expanding boundaries of the United States. It is a reminder of the strength of Black resistance in the post-revolutionary South and the ability of this community to influence the balance of power in a contested region. Pressly's research shows that their movement across borders was an integral part of the struggle for dominance in the Southeast not only among the Great Powers but also among the many different racial, ethnic, and religious groups that inhabited the region and contended for control.

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  Inside Vasubandhu's Yogacara - A...

  Ben Connelly, Norman Fischer

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  In this book, Ben Connelly guides us through the intricacies of Yogacara and the richness of the "Thirty Verses." His warm and wise voice unpacks and contextualizes its wisdom, showing us how we can apply its ancient insights to our own modern lives, to create a life of engaged peace, harmony, compassion, and joy. 
   
   
   
  In fourth-century India one of the great geniuses of Buddhism, Vasubandhu, sought to reconcile the diverse ideas and forms of Buddhism practiced at the time and demonstrate how they could be effectively integrated into a single system. This was the Yogacara movement, and it continues to have great influence in modern Tibetan and Zen Buddhism. 
   
   
   
  Vasubandhu's "Thirty Verses" lay out a path of practice that integrates the most powerful of Buddhism's psychological and mystical possibilities. Although Yogacara has a reputation for being extremely complex, the "Thirty Verses" distills the principles of these traditions to their most practical forms, and this book follows that sense of focus; it goes to the heart of the matter—how do we alleviate suffering through shedding our emotional knots and our sense of alienation? 
   
   
   
  This is a great introduction to a philosophy, a master, and a work whose influence reverberates throughout modern Buddhism.

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  Taking Control of Anxiety -...

  Bret A. Moore

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  Anxiety is the most common mental disorder in the United States, with an estimated 40 million adult sufferers. The anti-anxiety drug Xanax is the nation's most-prescribed drug. But drugging anxious Americans is not a solution to the problem of anxiety. Taking Control of Anxiety shows that there are many other proven ways to treat anxiety. This is a self-help book in the best sense of the term, conversational in tone, supportive, and filled with simple tips and suggestions that can help people reduce their own anxieties.

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  Glossy - The inside story of Vogue

  Nina-Sophia Miralles

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  Vogue magazine started, like so many great things do, in the spare room of someone's house. But unlike other such makeshift projects that flare up then fizzle away, Vogue burnt itself onto our cultural consciousness. 
   
   
   
  Today, 128 years later, Vogue spans twenty-two countries, has an international print readership upwards of twelve million, and nets over sixty-seven million monthly online users. Uncontested market leader for a century, it is one of the most recognizable brands in the world and a multi-million dollar money-making machine. It is not just a fashion magazine, it is the establishment. But what—and more importantly who—made Vogue such an enduring success? 
   
   
   
  Glossy will answer this question and more by tracing the previously untold history of the magazine, from its inception as a New York gossip rag, to the sleek, corporate behemoth we know now. This will be a biography of Vogue in every sense of the word, taking the listener through three centuries, two world wars, plunging failures, and blinding successes, as it charts the story of the magazine and those who ran it.

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  Teotihuacan and Cholula: The...

  Editors Charles River

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  Although Teotihuacan reached the height of its power and influence about 1500 years ago, the city is still an endless topic of fascination and debate, in addition to being Mexico’s most toured archaeological site. The origins of the city remain mysterious (as do the city’s founders), and scholars are still coming up with theories to explain the city’s demise. All the while, later Mesoamerican civilizations remembered Teotihuacan, and the Aztec even considered the city’s ruins a site of worship. 
  Cholula is one of the most interesting, enigmatic, and forgotten cities in ancient Mesoamerica, and few people are aware that it is the oldest continuously-occupied settlement in the entire Western hemisphere. The current city is known for the Great Pyramid, which has the largest base of all pyramids in the world, as well as its many colonial churches and constant religious celebrations. All of these things ensure that Cholula is heavily visited, but the tremendous importance of Prehispanic Cholula has mostly been lost in the historical accounts of Puebla and even Mexico as a whole. 
  During the height of Teotihuacan’s influence in the Classic period and the expansion of the Aztecs in the Postclassic, Cholula managed to maintain its independence and grew to become the greatest religious center in central Mesoamerica. As the main site for the cult of the god Quetzalcoatl, Cholula received pilgrims from many Prehispanic cities, and the two high priests of the Temple of Quetzalcoatl were charged with confirming the legitimacy of these foreign rulers, making their role one of the most important in the region. Most sources note that Cholula was a great religious center with a large pyramid, and that it was the site of a terrible massacre perpetrated by the Spanish, but other than that those details, the impressive city remains mostly unknown. 

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