By the advice of my physicians my second sea voyage was by the ship Norma, which sailed from the port of New York on the 20th of January. After a passage of fourteen days, with alternate gales and calms, we sighted Abaco, and the Hole in the Wall. We crossed the Bahama Banks; the water was of a bright blue color, with a clay bottom, which was distinctly seen. The thermometer went up to 72°, so we threw, off our winter-garments, and put ourselves in summer apparel. A cheerful sight was the ...

In "Twenty Years Around the World," John Guy Vassar embarks on an extraordinary literary journey, chronicling his extensive travels across the globe with an engaging narrative style that blends personal memoir with encounters of cultural significance. The book reflects the spirit of exploration that characterized the 19th century, positioning itself within a rich tradition of travel literature, while also offering candid reflections on the social and political climates of diverse regions. ...

A biography "as enthralling as a detective story" ( New York Times Book Review ) of the woman who reigned over sixteenth-century Scotland.Basis for the movie starring Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie.Winner of the Whitbread AwardIn Mary Queen of Scots, John Guy creates an intimate and absorbing portrait of one of history's most famous women, depicting her world and ...

This book investigates the norms and values of Tudor and early-Stuart politics, which are considered in the contexts of law and the Reformation, legal and administrative institutions, and classical and legal humanism. Main themes include 'imperial' monarchy and the theory of 'counsel', Parliament and the royal supremacy, conciliar politics and organization, the relationship of law and equity, and the jurisdictional rivalry between the courts of common law and canon law. The author argues t...

THE BLOCKO TOWER: A DARK FANTASY HORROR.When she was six years old, one of Sally's playmates was abducted in broad daylight from a children's party. Her best friend, Eva, told her the boy had been taken to The Blocko Tower, but all the grown-ups told her that neither Eva nor the tower existed, and she was a wicked little girl for making things up.Why then, 20 years later, did Sally come across The Blocko Tower again, this time in another city?Determined to find out ...

Behind the façade of politics and pageantry at the Tudor court, there was a family drama. Nothing drove Henry VIII, England's wealthiest and most powerful king, more than producing a legitimate male heir and so perpetuating his dynasty. To that end, he married six wives, became the subject of the most notorious divorce case of the sixteenth century, and broke with the pope, all in an age of international competition and warfare, social unrest and growing religious intolerance and discord. ...

The monarchs of the Tudor period are among some of the most well-known figures in British history. John Guy presents a compelling and fascinating exploration of the Tudors in the new edition of this Very Short Introduction. Looking at all aspects of the period, from beginning to end, he considers Tudor politics, religion, and economics, as well as issues relating to gender and minority rule, and the art, architecture, and social and material culture of the time. Introducing all of...

“A fierce, scholarly tour-de-force. . . . Hunting the Falcon brilliantly shows how time, circumstance and politics combined to accelerate Anne’s triumph and tragedy." —Tina Brown, New York Times Book Review“A sumptuous drama of lust, intrigue, and betrayal, underpinned by the harsh reality of politics.”—Amanda Foreman, author of Georgiana: Duchess of DevonshireA groundbreaking, freshly-researched work of Tudor history and a dual historical biography that examines one of the...

Charismatic, insatiable and cruel, Henry VIII was, as John Guy shows, a king who became mesmerized by his own legend - and in the process destroyed and remade England.Said to be a 'pillager of the commonwealth', this most instantly recognizable of kings remains a figure of extreme contradictions: magnificent and vengeful; a devout traditionalist who oversaw a cataclysmic rupture with the church in Rome; a talented, towering figure who nevertheless could not bear to meet people's ey...

Siberia 1923. Romantic, dreamer and revolutionary, Alexandra is a commissar in the newly formed Soviet government, hunting for a missing Agit Propaganda train. Its crew of actors, film-makers, poets and artists has disappeared in the mountainous wilderness beyond Yakutsk. More disturbing is the immense factory complex left by the retreating White army, and the bizarre machinery they abandoned that hints at a science far beyond anything she's encountered before.Banjo had it all sorte...

Thomas Gresham was arguably the first true wizard of global finance. He rose through the mercantile worlds of London and Antwerp to become the hidden power behind three out of the five Tudor monarchs. Today his name is remembered in economic doctrines, in the institutions he founded and in the City of London's position at the economic centre of the earth.Without Gresham, England truly might have become a vassal state. His manoeuvring released Elizabeth from a crushing burden of deb...

"Shadows moved in the flames, hundreds of miles tall. They had incandescent eyes and mouths and carried poles which they jabbed into the planet's crust, prising up country-sized slabs to be consumed in the fire..."Marrakech 1925. Following the events of THE STAR TSAR, Banjo and Alexandra are fugitives hiding in Morocco from Stalin's agents. While the ex-commissar loses herself in opium dreams, the Yorkshire engineer hunts through ancient ruins for a means to return to the stars. Th...