Fergus Fleming

For many people, Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) was undoubtedly the most important artist of the 20th century. Born in Málaga, Spain, Picasso revealed his genius at a very early age and was quick to make contact with the most advanced art circles of his time, first in Barcelona and later in Paris. In the modernist quest for novelty, Picasso turned to pre-modern history and primitive art for inspiration. We owe him and his colleague Georges Braque the...

Whether writing of the Alps, the high seas, or the North Pole, Fergus Fleming has won acclaim as one of today's most vivid and engaging historians of adventure and exploration. The Sword and the Cross takes us to the Sahara at the end of the nineteenth century, when France had designs on a hostile wilderness dominated by deadly Tuareg nomads. Two fanatical adventurers, Charles de Foucauld and Henri Laperrine, rose to the cause of their country's national...

The author of Barrow's Boys offers a fascinating look at the exploration of the Arctic in the nineteenth century. Named a Best Book of the Year by the New York Times Book Review, the Seattle Times, Publishers Weekly, and Time In the nineteenth century, theories about the North Pole ran rampant. Was it an open sea? Was it a portal to new worlds within the globe? Or was it just a wilderness of ice? When Sir John Franklin disappeared in the Arctic...

Examines the myths and beliefs of Sub-Saharan Africa.

A fresh and light-hearted look at Europe in the Middle Ages, cunningly disguised as a tabloid newspaper. What's the scoop with the Spanish Inquisition? What's on the monastery menu? And will everybody's favorite knight win this week's jousting tournament? With headlines and illustrations on every page and a contents page for easy reference.

Collects ten stories of spies and espionage, with nine centered on Europe and one dealing with the United States. What are real spies like? Some, like the beautiful Mata Hari, are every bit as glamorous as famous fictional agents such as James Bond. But, as you'll see in this intriguing collection of spy stories, spies usually live shadowy double lives, risking imprisonment, torture and execution for a chance to change history.