Beyond Isabella

To demonstrate that Isabella d'Este, marchioness of Mantua (1474-1539) was not the only woman patron of art during the period, and to balance the recent focus on religious women's patronage, US art historians and medievalists consider women patron's relationships with other women and men, including kinsmen and the artists and architects whose work they commissioned; what social classes they belong to; how they were able to finance the undertakings they sponsored; and other matters. The many photographs and reproductions are in black and white. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

A stimulating and informative collection, this title will be an important contribution to the literature, certain to have heavy use in the classroom. The book calls into serious question traditional stereotypes of female patronage and reconceptualizing art patronage itself.

This book is about a couple, not a single, dominant ruler. Thus it raises issues of gender, and the dynamics of a marriage over thirty-five years, as well as the practice of monarchical power. The reader sees Ferdinand and Isabella struggle to establish their regime, and then work out an elaborate reform programme in Church and State. It sees them fight a ‘total war’, by fifteenth-century standards, against Muslim Granada, leading to that kingdom’s conquest, and an equally ‘total’ war, through the Inquisition and the Church in general, to convert Spanish Jews and Muslims to Christianity, and to reform and purify the religious and social lives of the established Christians themselves. For readers interested in Early European History.

A world traveler, Isabella Bird recorded her 1873 visit to Colorado Territory in her classic travel narrative, A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains. This work inspired Robert Root’s own discovery of Colorado’s Front Range following his move from the flatlands of Michigan. In this elegantly written book, Root retraces Bird’s three-month journey, seeking to understand what Colorado meant to her—and what it would come to mean for him. Following Isabella is a work of intersecting histories. Root interweaves an overview of Bird’s life and work with regional history, nature writing, and his own travels to produce a uniquely informative and entertaining narrative. He probes Bird’s self-transformation as her writing moved from private letters to published books, and also draws on reflections of other authors of her day, including Grace Greenwood and Helen Hunt Jackson. Like Bird, Root experiences his most fulfilling moments in the mountains, climbing formidable Longs Peak, living alone in the cabin of famed editor William Allen White, and wandering wild landscapes. Through reflections on earlier writers’ experiences, and by weighing his own response to them, Root learns not only how to come to Colorado, as visitors so often do, but more important, how to stay.

Born in Bosnia in the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Aleksandar Duric overcame a difficult childhood to become a junior canoeing champion. Against all odds, he made an unlikely appearance at the 1992 Olympic Games whilst the fires of the Bosnian War raged in his homeland, a war that had tragic consequences for the Duric family. A nomadic career in football followed, before Duric finally found his feet – and his home – in Singapore. It was in this Southeast Asian nation that Duric truly made his name, becoming an all-conquering force in Singapore’s top domestic league and going on to represent the Singapore national team more than 50 times. Told in a refreshingly frank and honest manner, Beyond Borders is far more than a footballer’s memoir. Duric’s tale of tragedy and triumph, adversity and adventure, is as surprising as it is inspiring.

Benefits and Beyond: A Comprehensive and Strategic Approach to Retirement, Health Care, and More provides readers with a variety of interdisciplinary principles and tools, including labor economics, human resources strategy, tax policy, metrics, and actuarial science. Rather than training students in the details of current benefits offerings, this text prepares students to deal with the future evolution of benefit designs and policy. Numerous cases, examples, and exercises engage readers and help them master the content.

She’s only ever wanted one thing... Lady Isabella Resenfeld thought she’d found happiness with Lord Wistenberry, but when she’s abandoned two days after their wedding, her hopes are crushed, her youthful fantasies destroyed. She tries to find a way to come back to the surface, refusing to become a jaded bride, but on the journey to rediscovering herself, she never expected to be drawn to a man who is completely wrong for her. As the horror of the man she married finally comes to light, is it even possible to truly entrust her love to another? He yearns to fulfill the longings of her heart. Ridge Claymoore was born a common bastard. Raised in a brothel, he’s always craved something…more. The life of a spy runs through his veins, but even that has started to become stale and unfulfilling. When he’s tasked with securing Isabella’s welfare, he faces not only his immediate attraction to the copper-haired beauty, but his own growing restlessness. As intrigue and danger surround them, he has to decide if what he feels is strong enough to call love—or something even deeper.