Alamosa Public Library

The acclaimed author of "Are We Rome?" brings his highly praised blend of deep research, colorful travelogue, and insightful political analysis to a new history of the Inquisition.

Born in 9th-century Frankland, Joan demonstrates her brilliance early but must hide her learning from her missionary father, who considers the education of women sacrilegious and dangerous. Tutored first by her older brother and then a Greek scholar, Joan eventually secures a place at the schola in Dorstadt. To protect herself after a Viking raid, Joan dons her dead brother's clothing and assumes a man's identity. Suddenly the intelligence that once...

" On the centenary of the death of Rasputin comes a definitive biography that will dramatically change our understanding of this fascinating figure. A hundred years after his murder, Rasputin continues to excite the popular imagination as the personification of evil. Numerous biographies, novels, and films recount his mysterious rise to power as Nicholas and Alexandra's confidant and the guardian of the sickly heir to the Russian throne. His debauchery...

Prof. Daileader discusses major developments, leaders, and accomplishments in the history of Europe from about 1300 to 1500 A.D.

In the summer of 1913, under the cover of London's perpetual smoggy dusk, two brilliant minds are pitted against each other--a celebrated gentleman thief and a talented Scotland Yard detective--in the greatest jewel heist of the new century.

This tale of medieval Italian life details how ten young Florentines retreat to the countryside to escape the plague-infested city and entertain themselves by telling stories.

"The lively, immersive story of the race to seize Berlin in the aftermath of World War II that fired the starting gun for the Cold War"-- After the 1945 Yalta Conference, Berlin-- along with the rest of Germany-- was to be carved up among the victorious powers. On paper, it seemed a pragmatic solution. In reality, once the United States, Britain, France and the Soviet Union were no longer united by the common purpose of defeating Germany, they wasted...

She made John Lennon blush and Marlon Brando tongue-tied. She iced out Princess Diana and humiliated Elizabeth Taylor. Andy Warhol photographed her. Jack Nicholson offered her cocaine. Gore Vidal revered her. Francis Bacon heckled her. Peter Sellers was madly in love with her. For Pablo Picasso, she was the object of sexual fantasy. Princess Margaret aroused passion and indignation in equal measures. To her friends, she was witty and regal. To her...

Mussolini was not only ruthless- he was subtle and manipulative. Black-shirted thugs did his dirty work for him- arson, murder, destruction of homes and offices, bribes, intimidation and the forcible administration of castor oil. His opponents - including editors, publishers, union representatives, lawyers and judges - were beaten into submission. But the tide turned in 1924 when his assassins went too far, horror spread across Italy and twenty years...

"John Boswell's National Book Award-winning study of the history of attitudes toward homosexuality in the early Christian West was a groundbreaking work that challenged preconceptions about the Church's past relationship to its gay members -- among them priests, bishops, and even saints -- when it was first published twenty-five years ago. The historical breadth of Boswell's research (from the Greeks to Aquinas) and the variety of sources consulted...