Bøger udgivet af Pegasus Books

The glorious and infamous history of the Borgia family—a world of saints, corrupt popes, and depraved princes and poisoners—set against the golden age of the Italian Renaissance.The Borgia family have become a byword for evil. Corruption, incest, ruthless megalomania, avarice and vicious cruelty—all have been associated with their name. And yet, paradoxically, this family lived when the Renaissance was coming into its full flowering in Italy. Examples of infamy flourished alongside some of the finest art produced in western history.            This is but one of several paradoxes associated with the Borgia family. For the family which produced corrupt popes, depraved princes and poisoners, would also produce a saint. These paradoxes which so characterize the Borgias have seldom been examined in great detail. Previously history has tended to condemn, or attempt in part to exonerate, this remarkable family. Yet in order to understand the Borgias, much more is needed than evidence for and against. The Borgias must be related to their time, together with the world which enabled them to flourish. Within this context the Renaissance itself takes on a very different aspect. Was the corruption part of the creation, or vice versa? Would one have been possible without the other?            In this way, the Borgia too represent the greatest aspirations of the Renaissance. Condemning the Borgia is as futile as attempting to exonerate them. Their leadership and their depravity must both be taken into account, for it would appear that they are both part of the same picture. In the nineteenth century the German philosopher Nietzsche would outline his theory of the Will to Power. In the ensuing century this idea would be hijacked by the Fascists and put into ruthless practice. The Borgia were no Fascists, nor were they thinkers of the calibre of Nietzsche: yet it is arguable that they united both the idea and the practice of the Will to Power some four centuries prior to Nietzsche’s conception of this guiding human principle. Telling the story of the Borgias becomes both an illustration and an exemplary analysis of the strengths and flaws of this  evolutionary idea. The primitive psychological forces which first played out in the amphitheaters of ancient Greece: hubris, incest, murder, the bitter rivalries and entanglements of doomed families, the treacheries of political power, the twists of fate—they are all here. Along with the final, tragic downfall. All these elements are played out in full in the glorious and infamous history of the Borgia family.

Paris, 1585. Giordano Bruno, heretic, philosopher, and spy for Elizabeth's minister Sir Francis Walsingham, has come to Paris, a city on the edge of catastrophe. King Henri III is surrounded by enemies: the Duke of Guise's Catholic League; Henri of Navarre's Protestant army; and from within his own court, where his mother Catherine of Medici wields immense influence. Bruno, alone and near destitute, turns to old friend and zealous preacher Paul Lefevre. But when the priest is murdered, uttering the single word "Circe" with his dying breath, Bruno is pulled into a dangerous world.

"Historian James Walvin looks at the history of our collective sweet tooth, beginning with the sugar grown by enslaved people who had been uprooted and shipped vast distances to undertake the grueling labor on plantations. The combination of sugar and slavery would transform the tastes of the Western world"--]cProvided by publisher.

A fresh, revelatory, and shockingly revisionist narrative of the rise and fall of the House of Medici, by the acclaimed author of The Cardinal's Hat and The Borgias.Having founded the bank that became the most powerful in Europe in the fifteenth century, the Medici gained massive political power in Florence, raising the city to a peak of cultural achievement and becoming its hereditary dukes. Among their number were no fewer than three popes and a powerful and influential queen of France. Their influence brought about an explosion of Florentine art and architecture. Michelangelo, Donatello, Fra Angelico, and Leonardo were among the artists with whom they were socialized and patronized. Thus runs the "accepted view" of the Medici. However, Mary Hollingsworth argues that the idea that the Medici were enlightened rulers of the Renaissance is a fiction that has now acquired the status of historical fact. In truth, the Medici were as devious and immoral as the Borgias-tyrants loathed in the city they illegally made their own. In this dynamic new history, Hollingsworth argues that past narratives have focused on a sanitized and fictitious view of the Medici-wise rulers, enlightened patrons of the arts, and fathers of the Renaissance-but that in fact their past was reinvented in the sixteenth century, mythologized by later generations of Medici who used this as a central prop for their legacy. Hollingsworth's revelatory re-telling of the story of the family Medici brings a fresh and exhilarating new perspective to the story behind the most powerful family of the Italian Renaissance.

In an ancient Persian empire torn by civil war, the young soldier Xenophon leads his decimated Spartan army in a confrontation against the legendary warriors of Artaxerxes II.

Sashenka launches the critically acclaimed "Moscow Trilogy," where the love and intrigue, betrayal and fear, war, revolution and terror of twentieth century Russia are brought to life in these compelling stories and unforgettable characters. Winter 1916: St. Petersburg, Russia, is on the brink of revolution. Outside the Smolny Institute for Noble Girls, an English governess is waiting for her young charge to be released from school. But so are the Tsar's secret police...Beautiful and headstrong, Sashenka Zeitlin is just sixteen. As her mother parties with Rasputin and their dissolute friends, Sashenka slips into the frozen night to play her part in a dangerous game of conspiracy and seduction.Twenty years later, Sashenka is married to a powerful, rising Soviet leader with whom she has two children. Around her people are disappearing, while in the secret world of the elite her own family is safe. But she's about to embark on a forbidden love affair that will have devastating consequences.Sashenka's story lies hidden for half a century, until a young historian goes deep into Stalin's private archives and uncovers a heartbreaking tale of betrayal and redemption, savage cruelty and unexpected heroism—and one woman forced to make an unbearable choice.

Inspired by a true story, New York Times bestselling author Simon Sebag Montefiore explores the consequences of forbidden love in this heartbreaking epic childhood, danger, and betrayal that unfolds during the bleak days after WWII. As Moscow celebrates the motherland's glorious victory over the Nazis, shots ring out on the crowded streets. On a nearby bridge, a teenage boy and girl—dressed in traditional nineteenth-century costumes—lie dead. But this is no ordinary tragedy, because these are no ordinary teenagers. They were the children of high-ranking Soviet officials. Was it an accident, or murder? Is it a conspiracy against Stalin, or one of his own terrifying intrigues?On Stalin's instructions, a ruthless investigation begins into what becomes known as the Children's Case. Youth across the city are arrested and forced to testify against their friends and their parents. As families are ripped apart, all kinds of secrets come spilling out. Trapped at the center of this witch-hunt are two pairs of illicit lovers, who learn that matters of the heart exact a terrible price.By turns a darkly sophisticated political thriller, a rich historical saga, and a deeply human love story, Montefiore's masterful novel powerfully portrays the terror and drama of Stalin's Russia.

The Riviera Set reveals the story of the group of people who lived, partied, bed-hopped and politicked at the Château de l'Horizon near Cannes, over the course of forty years from the time when Coco Chanel made southern French tans fashionable in the twenties to the death of the playboy Prince Aly Khan in 1960.At the heart of dynamic group was the amazing Maxine Elliott, the daughter of a fisherman from Connecticut, who built the beautiful art deco Château and brought together the likes of Noel Coward, the Aga Khan, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and two very saucy courtesans, Doris Castlerosse and Daisy Fellowes, who set out to be dangerous distractions to Winston Churchill as he worked on his journalism and biographies during his 'wilderness years' in the thirties. After the War, the story continued as the Château changed hands and Prince Aly Khan used it to entertain the Hollywood set, as well as launch his seduction of and eventual marriage to Rita HayworthBringing a bygone era back to life, Mary Lovell cements her spot as one of our top social historians in this captivating and evocative new book.

A riveting account of the notorious "Ilford murder" by the New York Times bestselling author of The SixThe death penalty is never without its ethical conflicts or moral questions. Never more so than when the person being led to the gallows may very well be innocent of the actual crime, if not innocent according social concepts of femininity. A Tale of Two Murders is an engrossing examination of the Ilford murder, which became a legal cause ce¿le`bre in the 1920s, and led to the hanging of Edith Thompson and her lover, Freddy Bywaters. On the night of October 3, 1922, as Edith and her husband, Percy, were walking home from the theatre, a man sprang out of the darkness and stabbed Percy to death. The assailant was none other than Bywaters. When the police discovered his relationship with Edith, she-who had denied knowledge of the attack-was arrested as his accomplice. Her passionate love letters to Bywaters, read out at the ensuing trial, sealed her fate, even though Bywaters insisted Edith had no part in planning the murder. They were both hanged. Freddy was demonstrably guilty; but was Edith truly so? In shattering detail and with masterful emotional insight, Laura Thompson charts the course of a liaison with thrice-fatal consequences, and investigates what a troubling case tells us about perceptions of women, innocence, and guilt.

A vivid exploration of the legend of Atlantis and its enduring influence on Western culture--from its origins in antiquity to the modern era.

The turbulent Tudor Age never fails to capture the imagination. But what was it truly like to be a woman during this era?

Edinburgh, 1889. The Scottish Play is coming home.But before the darlings of the London theater--Henry Irving and Ellen Terry--take their acclaimed Macbeth to the Edinburgh stage, terror treads the boards: A grisly message is found smeared across the cobbles in blood, foretelling someone's demise.As the bloody prophecies continue to come to fruition, Edinburgh's own beloved pair of detectives--"Nine-Nails" McGray and Inspector Ian Frey--enter the scene. Frey scoffs at what he believes is a blatant publicity stunt, while McGray is convinced that the supernatural must be at play.As they scrutinize the key players, they discover that Irving, Terry, and their peculiar, preoccupied assistant, Bram Stoker, all have reasons to kill, or be killed. But one thing is clear: by occult curse or human hand, death will take a bow the night the curtain rises.

Edward I is familiar to millions as "Longshanks," conqueror of Scotland and nemesis of Sir William Wallace (in "Braveheart"). Yet this story forms only the final chapter of the king's action-packed life. Earlier, Edward had defeated and killed the famous Simon de Montfort in battle; travelled to the Holy Land; conquered Wales, extinguishing forever its native rulers and constructing a magnificent chain of castles. He raised the greatest armies of the Middle Ages and summoned the largest parliaments; notoriously, he expelled all the Jews from his kingdom.The longest-lived of England's medieval kings, he fathered fifteen children with his first wife, Eleanor of Castile, and, after her death, he erected the Eleanor Crosses-the grandest funeral monuments ever fashioned for an English monarch.In this book, Marc Morris examines afresh the forces that drove Edward throughout his relentless career: his character, his Christian faith, and his sense of England's destiny-a sense shaped in particular by the tales of the legendary King Arthur. He also explores the competing reasons that led Edward's opponents (including Robert Bruce) to resist him.The result is a sweeping story, immaculately researched yet compellingly told, and a vivid picture of medieval Britain at the moment when its future was decided.

The only thing more terrifying than fighting for your life is fighting for someone else's. Bodyguard and ex-Special Forces soldier Charlie Fox would do anything to take her mind off her partner; shot, left for dead and now lying in a coma. So concentrating on a new assignment seems like the perfect way to escape the pain, and her own empty apartment. The job: to protect the naive daughter of an investment banker from a gang of kidnappers who prey on the children of the wealthy Long Island set.--From front book jacket flap.

A stirring novel of love and music inspired by the life of pianist Maria-Theresa von Paradis, a blind virtuoso who was a contemporary of Mozart and Salieri.