Rogers D. Spotswood Collection

In 1508, despite strong advice to the contrary, the powerful Pope Julius II commissioned Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the newly restored Sistine Chapel. With little experience as a painter (though famed for his sculpture David), Michelangelo was reluctant to begin the massive project. Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling recounts the four extraordinary years Michelangelo spent laboring over the vast ceiling while the power politics and personal...

'Miss Dashwood had a delicate complexion, regular features, and a remarkably pretty figure. Marianne was still handsomer. Her form, though not so correct as her sister's ... was more striking' As the title of Jane Austen's first published novel suggests, the difference between two sisters, Elinor and Marianne Dashwood, lies not only in their appearance but also in their temperament. Yet Sense and Sensibility not only contrasts Elinor's good sense,...

"In the summer of 1844, James K. Polk's political career was in ruins. As the Democratic National Convention approached, Polk had thought himself assured of the vice presidential nomination, but the presidential front-runner, former president Martin Van Buren, had made it clear that he had little interest in him. Van Buren was on a mission to regain the White House, which he had lost in 1840, and he needed a strong running mate. Polk had three strikes...

In the summer of 1993 Foreign Affairs published an article entitled "The Clash of Civilizations?" by Samuel Huntington. No article, according to the editors of that distinguished journal, has generated more discussion since George Kennan's "X" article on containment in the 1940s. Now, Mr. Huntington expands on his article, explores further the issues he raised then, and develops many new penetrating and controversial analyses. In the article, he posed...

"...Leading scholars offer compelling glimpses into the biblical world, the world in which prophets, poets, sages, and historians created one of our most important texts -- the bible...The authors also examine such issues as the roles of women, the tensions between urban and rural settings, royal and kinship social structures, and official and popular religions of the region."-- from book jacket.

"European and Arab versions of the Crusades have little in common. For the Arabs, the twelfth and thirteenth centuries were not a time of awakening from medieval slumber, but years of strenuous efforts to repel a brutal and destructive invasion by barbarian hordes. When, under Saladin, a powerful Muslim army -- inspired by prophets and poets -- succeeded in destroying Crusader kingdoms, it was the greatest and most enduring victory ever won by a non-European...