Queen Elizabeth I and England’s First Spymaster Sir Francis Walsingham’s official title was principal secretary to Queen Elizabeth I, but in fact this pious, tight-lipped Puritan was England’s first spymaster. A ruthless, fiercely loyal civil servant, Walsingham worked brilliantly behind the scenes to foil Elizabeth’s rival Mary Que...more
Caliban and the Witch is a history of the body in the transition to capitalism. Moving from the peasant revolts of the late Middle Ages to the witch-hunts and the rise of mechanical philosophy, Federici investigates the capitalist rationalization of social reproduction. She shows how the battle against the rebel body and the conflict between body a...more
Sir Philip Sidney (1554-86) was a patron, brilliant courtier, diplomat, scholar, soldier and lover, as well as being the first and one of the most important writers of the English Renaissance; his writings, serious or light-hearted and always experimental, vindicate this high esteem. The sonnet sequence Astrophil and Stella is distinguish...more
The definitive biography: a masterly account of Marlowe's work and life and the world in which he livedShakespeare's contemporary, Christopher Marlowe revolutionized English drama and poetry, transforming the Elizabethan stage into a place of astonishing creativity. The outline of Marlowe's life, work, and violent death are known, but few of the de...more
Approached through the literature and literary personalities of the period, this fascinating study examines sexual behaviour in the Elizabethan age. Although there is much we will never know, poets and playwrights can provide valuable insights into our ancestors' sexual lives. Here, with help from the work of figures such as Shakespeare, Marlowe an...more
“No revolution however drastic has ever involved a total repudiation of what came before it.”The religious reformations of the sixteenth century were the crucible of modern Western civilization, profoundly reshaping the identity of Europe’s emerging nation-states. In The Reformation, one of the preeminent historians of the period, Patrick Col...more
Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala, an indigenous Peruvian serving in the colonial Spanish government, wrote his "First New Chronicle and Book of Good Government" between the years 1600 and 1616. In this monumental work he recorded the history of Peru from the beginning of time up to the Spanish conquest (1532-1572); he also portrayed pre-colonial Inca so...more