12 full-color illustrations.

    Formerly the second-in-command in Francisco Pizarro’s conquest of the Incas in 1531, Hernando de Soto arrived in the country he called La Florida in 1539, leading a glittering, armored Renaissance-era army of six hundred men on the first major exploration of North America. Obsessed with finding a second Inca empire, he instead encountered the Mississippians, a sophisticated culture of mound and city builders, warriors, artisans, and diplomats whose society collapsed after the Spaniards’ destructive march through their territory. Unable to find his golden country, Soto pushed deeper into the wilderness, ravaged by exhaustion, starvation, and incessant warfare with the Mississippians until he died and was secretly buried in the Mississippi River, which he is credited (wrongly) with discovering.

    Patriarchy—the social and cultural dominance of the male—has long been a fundamental feature of western civilization yet has only recently begun to be systematically investigated by historians. This book is the first attempt to provide a rounded portrait of its workings over a long stretch of the English past.Anthony Fletcher's account draws from a vast range of sources—literary, medical, religious, and historical—to investigate the mechanisms through which men and women interpreted and understood their social worlds. He explores the early modern view of the body, of sexual desire and appetites, and of gender difference. He looks at the nature of marital relationships and shows how subordination was implemented and consolidated through church, school, home, and community. And in a text that is poignant, humane, and beautifully written, he exposes patriarchy's tragic consequences: smothered opportunity, crushed sexuality, and a pall across many women's lives.Yet, over these three centuries, the conventional foundations of male superiority came under acute pressure. Fletcher reveals the depth of male anxiety in the face of women's volatility, verbal assertiveness, and alleged vibrant sexuality, and he shows how the gender system began to be transformed as men sought to detach it from its biblical foundations and inculcate gender identities on something like their modern ideological basis. This revolution in the entire premise upon which gender was grounded is fundamental to an understanding of the structure of English society today.

    See galleons filled with Mexican gold. Watch as Queen Elizabeth's ministers, Burleigh and Walsingham use Drake and Hawkins to humble the power of Phillip II of Spain. Feel the hopes and fears of Tudor England in this rich drama with all the historical detail of Patrick O'Brien and the storytelling of James Clavell.The Virgin Queen, Elizabeth of England, has reigned for ten heretical years but her country remains locked in bloody rivalry with the great superpower of Catholic Spain. Two brothers are torn apart by war. One fights his way from imprisonment to reclaim his Spanish lover. The other wins the daughter of the Queen’s first minister but John and Richard Tavistock are embroiled in England’s naval battles with Spain and one returns to England, intent on returning to rescue the other , a cannon maker, who is captured in Mexico. Richard, in London, tries to get a ship to return to Mexico, but hears rumours that his brother John has become a Catholic and is now making cannons for the Spanish ... All are caught up in the ruthless intrigues of the Court and Inquisition. All play their part in turning the destiny of nations.

    a domestic danger.' These words, taken from a biblical commentary by St John Chrysostom, are frequently quoted in early modern literature, showing that sexual morality was central to the patriarchal society of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England. In this fascinating and original book, Laura Gowing considers what gender difference meant in the practice of daily life, examining the working of gender relations in sex, courtship, marriage conflict, and verbal disputes.

    Facsimile with English translation.

    In contrast, The King's Army--a meticulously researched analysis of the royal army during the early civil wars--brings warfare back to the center of the picture. The King's Army makes an important contribution to the history of military forces, warfare, religion and society in France, and will be of great interest to those engaged in the debate over the Military Revolution in early modern Europe.