NCW Libraries

This engaging history of the birth of modernity and the Renaissance explores the rediscovery and popularization of Lucretious' poem On The Nature of Things, by the book collector Poggio Bracciolini in the fifteenth century, and the impact of the ideas of humanism and science it contained on future generations form Galileo to Einstein. The work is engaging and appropriate for general readers with an interest in the history of science and the Renaissance....

After learning how to fight at a young age, Oroonoko, an African prince, fights alongside his army against invading forces. When a celebrated general saves Oroonoko's life, trading his own to take an arrow for Oroonoko, the young prince feels indebted to the man and decides to go pay his respects to the late general's family. There, he meets Imoinda, the daughter of the general. Oroonoko and Imoinda quickly fall in love and become betrothed, but the...

In 1605 London, sixteen-year-old Joan Sands' magical ability to control metal makes her a skilled craftswoman, but her family gift for observing the Fae, who recently broke the Pact and are now brutally attacking mortals, draws Joan into political intrigue in both human and Fae worlds.

A vivid, dramatic and authoritative account of the most influential family in Italian history: The Medici.

"In this first in a series of six novellas in the Copernicus Legacy series, Wade travels to Hawaii and San Francisco in a race to find one of the twelve ancient relics"--

"Brimming with rich descriptions of a beautiful country….The News From Paraguay evolves from a quirky, elegant tale of an unconventional love affair into a sweeping epic." - Fort Worth Star-Telegram Lily Tuck's impressive novel offers a kaleidoscopic portrait of 19th century Paraguay, a largely untouched wilderness where European and American figures mix with the Spanish aristocracy of the capital and the indigenous peoples from the surrounding...

Falsely accused of plotting to overthrow King Claudio, scholarly Mangus the magician, along with his street-smart servant boy, Fabrizio, face deadly consequences unless they can track down the real traitor by the stroke of midnight.

"Michelangelo created some of the world's most recognizable art, from the statue of David to the intricate ceiling fresco of the Sistine Chapel. Beyond his well-known painting and sculpting, he was a gifted poet and architect. Young readers can learn about the entirety of Michelangelo's life, from his time as a young apprentice, and his relationships with several Catholic popes and the Medici family, to his unwillingness to stop working into his late...

From the inimitable and bestselling author Thomas Cahill, another popular history, focusing on the Renaissance and Reformation and how this innovative period changed the Western world.

Michelangelo, like Leonardo, was a man of many talents; sculptor, architect, painter and poet, he made the apotheosis of muscular movement, which to him was the physical manifestation of passion. He moulded his draughtsmanship, bent it, twisted it, and stretched it to the extreme limits of possibility. There are not any landscapes in Michelangelo's painting. All the emotions, all the passions, all the thoughts of humanity were personified in his eyes...