One of the greatest epic poems of the Italian Renaissance, Orlando Furioso is an intricate tale of love and enchantment set at the time of the Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne's conflict with the Moors. When Count Orlando returns to France from Cathay with the captive Angelica as his prize, her beauty soon inspires his cousin Rinaldo to challenge him to a duel - but during their battle, Angelica escapes from both knights on horseback and begins a desperate quest for freedom. This dazzling kaleidoscope of fabulous adventures, sorcery and romance has inspired generations of writers - including...

Mystery writer Dorothy Sayers is loved and remembered, most notably, for the creation of sleuths Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane. As this biography attests, Sayers was also one of the first women to be awarded a degree from Oxford, a playwright, and an essayist--but also a woman with personal joys and tragedies. Here, Reynolds, a close friend of Sayers, presents a convincing and balanced portrait of one of the 20th century's most brilliant, creative women. 30 b&w photos.

Dante is one of the towering figures in world literature, and yet many riddles and questions about his life and work persist. In the first full-length biography of him in more than twenty years, Barbara Reynolds offers provocative new ideas in every chapter. For example, many have read the Commedia as a lyrical parable about reward and punishment; Reynolds suggests that Dante was arguing against the Pope and for an Emperor as supreme secular authority of medieval Europe. Drawing from an impressive array of sources, Reynolds delivers a comprehensive analysis of the poet, placing him...

Built in remote, mountainous regions as refuges by the Ismaili Muslims of Iran and Syria fleeing from persecution during the early middle ages, these castles stood until the middle of the 13th century when most were demolished by the Mongols. The author de