Universal Space Horse

Featuring the beauties of Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, combined with the dark and hidden side of the Renaissance, by an acclaimed historian and expert in the period.<BR><BR>Renowned as an age of artistic rebirth, the Renaissance is cloaked with an aura of beauty and brilliance. But behind the Mona Lisa's smile lurked a seamy, vicious world of power politics, perversity and corruption that has more in common with the present day than anyone dares to admit. Enter a world of corrupt bankers, greedy politicians, sex-crazed priests, rampant disease, and lives of extravagance and excess. Enter the world of the ugly Renaissance. <BR><BR>Uncovering the hidden realities beneath the surface of the period's best-known artworks, historian Alexander Lee takes the reader on a breathtaking and unexpected journey through the Italian past and shows that, far from being the product of high-minded ideals, the sublime monuments of the Renaissance were created by flawed and tormented artists who lived in an ever-expanding world of bigotry and hatred. The only question is: will you ever see the Renaissance in quite the same way again?

SHORTLISTED FOR THE CUNDILL HISTORY PRIZE<BR><BR>'An engrossing tale of cruel prejudice and resilience' - The Times<BR>'A stunning account of a dark history . . . magnificent' - The Irish Times<BR>'Fascinating' - The Spectator<BR>'Important and timely' - The Telegraph<BR>'Splendid . . . hard to rival' - Literary Review<BR><BR>A sweeping, riveting history of the Venetian Ghetto, the world's first Jewish ghetto.<BR><BR>In the early sixteenth century, amidst the ruins of war, and in an atmosphere of religious hatred, the world's first Jewish 'ghetto' was established in Venice. Constrained in cramped, often insanitary conditions, the Jews who were forced to live there were extorted, abused and subjected to countless humiliating restrictions. Before long, Venice's Ghetto became the prototype for ghettos throughout Europe, paving the way for a more vicious and enduring form of antisemitism.<BR><BR>Yet the Ghetto's story is also a testament of hope. Despite all they faced through the centuries, its residents thrived, creating a flourishing literary, musical and religious community. They sustained Venice's economy - and, as more migrants arrived, the Ghetto became a microcosm of the Jewish world.<BR><BR>Historian Alexander Lee traces this vivid story from the first Jewish arrivals in the early fourteenth century to the present day, reconstructing the Ghetto through the eyes of its inhabitants - from the domestic squabbles of a sixteenth-century rabbi to the agonising wait of a family bound for Auschwitz.<BR><BR>Authoritative, detailed and incomparably intimate, The First Ghetto offers a fitting monument to the Ghetto's past - and powerful lessons for the future.

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