MU Libraries New Books: History - Italy - Malta

About the new book list

11/4/2009

The RSS feeds for the new books list is updated every Wednesday and contains a list of books added to the Ellis Library collection for the last six weeks. The titles are grouped by call number classification, and are listed by week and alphabetically by title.

Books for the most recent weeks are currently on the New Books Shelves inside the north entrance of Ellis Library. They can be checked out.

The artist, the philosopher, and the warrior : the intersecting lives of da Vinci, Machiavelli, and Borgia and the world they shaped / Paul Strathern. (11/4/2009)

11/4/2009

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Amazon.com Review

Book Description
The Renaissance was a child of many fathers--none more important than the three iconic figures whose intersecting lives provide the basis for this astonishing work of narrative history: Leonardo Da Vinci, Niccolo Machiavelli and Cesar Borgia. Each could not have been more different. They would meet only for a short time in 1502 but the events that transpired, would significantly alter their perceptions--and the course of Western history.

In 1502, Italy was riven by conflict, with the city of Florence as the ultimate prize. Machiavelli, the consummate political manipulator, attempted to placate the savage Borgia by volunteering the services of Da Vinci as Borgia’s chief military engineer. That autumn, the three men embarked together on a brief, perilous, and fateful journey through the mountains, remote villages and hill towns of the Italian Romagna--the details of which were revealed in Machiavelli’s often-daily dispatches and Da Vinci’s meticulous notebooks.

In a book that is at once a gripping adventure story and a trenchant analysis of how men make history, The Artist, the Philosopher and the Warrior limns each man’s personality, their interactions, and the forces that shaped their world. Superbly written, meticulously researched, here is a work of narrative genius--whose subject is the very nature of genius itself.

A Look Inside The Artist, the Philosopher, and the Warrior
(Click on Images to Enlarge)

Call #: DG540.8.A1 S77 2009

Unraveled : a weaver's tale of life gone modern / Elizabeth L. Krause. (10/28/2009)

10/28/2009

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Product Description

Deftly bridging literary conventions, this compelling work exposes the cultural origins of a quiet revolution that occurred over the course of the twentieth century. Elizabeth Krause combines novelistic and ethnographic techniques to illuminate population dynamics that have raised alarm across Europe and the United States, and manifested, for example, in Italy's extremely low birthrate. But what actually motivates people to have fewer children? Krause turns to the evocative story of one woman, Emilia Raugei, who was born in a Tuscan hill town in 1920 and worked as a straw weaver in a rapidly globalizing economy, to better understand this question. Based on extensive fieldwork, including indepth conversations with Emilia herself, Krause draws on her rich and unconventional memories to create an engaging portrait of life in a rural village during Mussolini's rise to power-it is a tale of migration, love and loss, political turmoil, and the struggle to make a living during hard times. Giving voice to a largely silent history that is at once local and global, Unraveled: A Weaver's Tale of Life Gone Modern will challenge us to find innovative approaches to understanding the transformative shift to a modern way of life.

Call #: DG737.58.R38 K73 2009

Ethnicity, conquest, and recruitment : two case studies from the northern military provinces / by Vivien Swan. (10/21/2009)

10/21/2009

Call #: DG89 .S935 2009

Roman republics / Harriet I. Flower. (10/21/2009)

10/21/2009

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T. Corey Brennan, Rutgers University )

Call #: DG231 .F567 2010

Il santuario di Portonaccio a Veio / a cura di Giovanni Colonna. (10/14/2009)

10/14/2009

Call #: DG11 .M62 v.6 pt.3

Primores Galliarum : sénateurs et chevaliers romains originaires de Gaule de la fin de la république au IIIe siècle / Yves Burnand. (10/7/2009)

10/7/2009

Call #: DG83.3 .B876 2005

Musarna. (9/30/2009)

9/30/2009

Call #: DG55.M87 M87 2002

Europe's barbarians, AD 200-600 / Edward James. (9/23/2009)

9/23/2009

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Product Description
Ed James's new book focuses on the often neglected subject of Europe's Barbarians. He focuses on the decline and fall of the Roman Empire and the so-called "Dark Ages" that followed, and examines the unique cultures and histories of the "barbarian hoards" that eventually brought the Empire to its knees. A readable and approachable text covering a vital and interesting period of history.

From the Back Cover

“Edward James, an Anglo-Saxon who lives amongst Celts, here offers a sure-footed, clear and sympathetic guide to the complex world of barbarian Europe, where scholarly theories are fought over with almost as much passion as loot from the Empire."

Bryan Ward-Perkins, Trinity College, Oxford

"A lively and informative introduction to the problems of the collapse of the late Roman Empire and the creation of the medieval world."

Hugh Elton, Trent University, Canada

‘Barbarians’ is the name the Romans gave to those who lived beyond the frontiers of the Roman Empire – the peoples they considered ‘uncivilised’. Most of the written sources concerning the barbarians come from the Romans too, and as such, need to be treated with caution. Only archaeology allows us to see beyond Roman prejudices – and yet these records are often as difficult to interpret as historical ones.

Expertly guiding the reader through such historiographical complexities, Edward James traces the history of the barbarians from the height of Roman power through to AD 600, by which time they had settled in most parts of imperial territory in Europe. His book is the first to look at all Europe’s barbarians: the Picts and the Scots in the far north-west; the Franks, Goths and Slavic-speaking peoples; and relative newcomers such as the Huns and Alans from the Asiatic steppes.

How did whole barbarian peoples migrate across Europe? What were their relations with the Romans? And why did they convert to Christianity? Drawing on the latest scholarly research, this book rejects easy generalisations to provide a clear, nuanced and comprehensive account of the barbarians and the tumultuous period they lived through.

Edward James trained as both an archaeologist and historian and is now Professor of Medieval History at University College Dublin. His single-authored books include The Origins of France (1982), The Franks (1988), and Britain in the First Millennium (2001), and he has also produced two award-winning books on science fiction, the single-authored Science Fiction in the Twentieth Century (1994) and The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction (2003), co-edited with Farah Mendlesohn.

About the Author

Edward James trained as both an archaeologist and historian and is currently Professor of Medieval History at University College Dublin. His single-authored books include The Origins of France (1982), The Franks (1988), and Britain in the First Millennium (2001), and he has also co-edited two award-winning books on science fiction, Science Fiction in the Twentieth Century (1994) and The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction (2003).

Call #: DG312 .J365 2009

Hermann Dessau (1856-1931) : zum 150. Geburtstag des Berliner Althistorikers und Epigraphikers : Beiträge eines Kolloquiums und wissenschaftliche Korrespondenz des Jubilars / herausgegeben von Manfred G. Schmidt. (9/23/2009)

9/23/2009

Call #: DG206.D49 H46 2009

Dissimulation and the culture of secrecy in early modern Europe / Jon R. Snyder. (9/16/2009)

9/16/2009

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Product Description
"Larvatus prodeo," announced René Descartes at the beginning of the seventeenth century: "I come forward, masked." Deliberately disguising or silencing their most intimate thoughts and emotions, many early modern Europeans besides Descartes-princes, courtiers, aristocrats and commoners alike-chose to practice the shadowy art of dissimulation. For men and women who could not risk revealing their inner lives to those around them, this art of incommunicativity was crucial, both personally and politically. Many writers and intellectuals sought to explain, expose, justify, or condemn the emergence of this new culture of secrecy, and from Naples to the Netherlands controversy swirled for two centuries around the powers and limits of dissimulation, whether in affairs of state or affairs of the heart. This beautifully written work crisscrosses Europe, with a special focus on Italy, to explore attitudes toward the art of dissimulation in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Discussing many canonical and lesser-known works, Jon R. Snyder examines the treatment of dissimulation in early modern treatises and writings on the court, civility, moral philosophy, political theory, and in the visual arts.

From the Inside Flap
"A major scholarly achievement, which speaks to multiple disciplines and national traditions...Snyder offers an elegant introduction to the discourse of dissimulation in the courtly world of sixteenth and seventeenth century Europe, then moves beyond to make an important, original intervention on a topic that stands at the center of current debates about modernity."--Albert Ascoli, author of Dante and the Making of a Modern Author

"The Baroque is the time of 'Machiavellianism' in politics, ethics, and religion. It is the time of esthetics of ostentation, chiaroscuros, and monumental theatricality. Paradoxically, it is also the time when freedom of thought, the value of dissidence, questions of authenticity, debates about virtues, and practices of confessions come to the fore. Snyder brings all these issues to new life in this deft and powerful book."--Giuseppe Mazzotta, author of The New Map of the World: the Poetic Philosophy of Giambattista Vico

About the Author
Jon R. Snyder is Professor of Italian Studies and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has most recently published a bilingual edition of G.B. Andreini's 1622 comedy, Love in the Mirror, as well as a book on Baroque aesthetics, L'estetica del Barocco.

Call #: DG445 .S64 2009

Secrets of Pompeii : everyday life in ancient Rome / Emidio de Albentiis photography by Alfredo and Pio Foglia [edited by Luisa Chiap]. (9/16/2009)

9/16/2009

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Product Description
The remains of the ancient city of Pompeii, frozen in time following the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79, have provided invaluable evidence of daily life, not only in Rome's provinces, but in its larger urban centers as well.
This book provides a fascinating look at how ancient Romans interacted in their public squares and marketplaces, how they worshipped, decorated their homes, and spent their leisure time--at the theater, in the gymnasium, and in the baths and brothels. Illustrated with photographs of architectural remains and exquisite details from a range of ancient artworks, including wall paintings, sculptures, mosaics, and carved reliefs, the book offers a glimpse into a lost world.

About the Author

Emidio De Albentiis is a specialist in Pompeiian studies who currently teaches art history at the University of Perugia.

Call #: DG70.P7 D3718 2009

Carlo I d'Angiò e il Mediterraneo : politica, diplomazia e commercio internazionale prima dei vespri / Gian Luca Borghese. (9/9/2009)

9/9/2009

Call #: DG847.2 .B674 2008

Politics and society in imperial Rome / Aloys Winterling. (9/9/2009)

9/9/2009

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Review
"This valuable book offers a fresh examination of the structure of Roman imperial government. By concentrating on the dual aspect of the imperial regime—the one part descending from the institutions of the Republic, the other emerging from the household of the emperors—Winterling frames his issue with admirable clarity."
–David Potter, University of Michigan

Product Description
Politics and Society in Imperial Rome offers fresh new interpretations of the politics, society, and culture Rome's imperial era.

Argues that the early principate was fundamentally incompatible with the persisting structures of the Roman Republic
Demonstrates how these contradictory systems affected the development of Roman society
Includes case studies on the imperial court and the emperor Caligula, as well as chapters on the scholarship of Theodor Mommsen and Christian Meier

From the Back Cover
During the early days of Imperial Rome, Augustus characterized himself as 'the restorer of the Res publica'. On the surface it appeared that the Roman Republic was indeed alive: Consuls were elected, tribunes legislated, and Senators engaged in heated debates in the Roman Curia. But the political integration of Roman society – with its deep social stratification marked by the pre-eminence of Senatorial nobility – was 'old'. And the role of the emperor and his patrimonial structure of imperial rule was 'new'. The consequences of these fundamentally incompatible structures and systems would have profound implications for the future of Imperial Rome.

Using this fundamental contradiction between the political order of the republic and patrimonial-based imperial rule as a point of departure, Politics and Society in Imperial Rome offers fresh new interpretations of Rome's imperial era. The essays begin by replicating the paradoxes that were founded in the historical reality of Imperial Rome. Two case studies are then examined in the book's second section: the imperial court and political actions taken during Caligula's reign. Bold academic approaches of the classical historians Theodor Mommsen and Christian Meier are then explored in the book's final section. Original and thought-provoking, Politics and Society in Imperial Rome shines a bright new light on the complexities and contradictions of the glory that was Imperial Rome.

About the Author
Aloys Winterling is Professor for Ancient History at the Humboldt University of Berlin. He was previously Professor of Ancient History at the University of Basel.

Call #: DG276.5 .W56 2009