{"title":"Catherine Fletcher","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCatherine Fletcher\u003c\/strong\u003e crafts compelling narratives that delve into the profound shifts in history through the lens of warfare and technology. Her works explore pivotal moments such as the evolution of firearms, the complexities of ancient roads, and the dual nature of human experience marked by beauty and terror.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eReaders can expect engaging and meticulously researched accounts that illuminate the forces shaping societies and conflict. Fletcher's writing bridges military history with broader cultural insights, offering a rich and thought-provoking perspective on the past.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"the-beauty-and-the-terror-by-catherine-fletcher-9781784707941","title":"The Beauty and the Terror","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAn imaginative and revelatory new history of the Italian Renaissance that challenges our preconceptions of the era.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eA THE TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eBrilliant and gripping, here is the full true Renaissance in a history of compelling originality and freshness\u003c\/em\u003e - Simon Sebag Montefiore\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe Italian Renaissance shaped Western culture - but it was far stranger and darker than many of us realise. We know the Mona Lisa for her smile, but not that she was married to a slave-trader. We revere Leonardo da Vinci for his art, but few now appreciate his ingenious designs for weaponry. We visit Florence to see Michelangelo's David, but hear nothing of the massacre that forced the republic's surrender. In fact, many of the Renaissance's most celebrated artists and thinkers emerged not during the celebrated 'rebirth' of the fifteenth century but amidst the death and destruction of the sixteenth century.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Beauty and the Terror\u003c\/em\u003e is an enrapturing narrative which includes the forgotten women writers, Jewish merchants, mercenaries, prostitutes, farmers and citizens who lived the Renaissance every day. Brimming with life, it takes us closer than ever before to the reality of this astonishing era, and its meaning for today.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eTerrifying and fascinating\u003c\/em\u003e - Sunday Times\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eEnlightening...exactly the alternative history you might wish for\u003c\/em\u003e - Daily Telegraph\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46343650246892,"sku":"9781784707941","price":27.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/11694243482823.jpg?v=1744002169"},{"product_id":"the-roads-to-rome-by-catherine-fletcher-9781847928047","title":"The Roads To Rome","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBrimming with life and drama, this is the first book to explore two thousand years of European history through one of the most important imperial networks ever built.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eAll roads lead to Rome.\u003c\/em\u003e It's a medieval proverb, but it's also true—today's European roads still follow the networks of the ancient empire, as Rome's extraordinary legacy continues to grip our imaginations.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOver the two thousand years since they were first built, the roads have been walked by crusaders and pilgrims, liberators and dictators, but also by tourists and writers, refugees and artists. Catherine Fletcher shows how the roads—as channels of trade and travel, routes of conquest and creativity—forever transformed the cultures, and intertwined the fates, of a vast panoply of people across Europe and beyond.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Roads to Rome\u003c\/em\u003e is a magnificent journey into a past that remains intimately connected to our present. Travelling from Scotland to Cadiz, from Istanbul to Rome, we meander and march through a series of nations and empires that have risen and fallen. Along the way, we encounter spies and bandits, scheming innkeepers, a Byzantine noblewoman on the run, young aristocrats on their Grand Tour, a conquering Napoleon, Keats and the Shelleys, the abolitionist Frederick Douglass, and even Mussolini on his motorbike.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eReflecting on his own walk on the Appian Way, Charles Dickens observed that here is 'a history in every stone that strews the ground'. Based on outstanding original research, and brimming with life and drama, this is the first book to explore two thousand years of history through one of the greatest imperial networks ever built.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46343696515308,"sku":"9781847928047","price":36.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/26007923482845.jpg?v=1744004114"},{"product_id":"the-roads-to-rome-by-catherine-fletcher-9781529932690","title":"The Roads To Rome","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBrimming with life and drama, this is a magnificent journey into two thousand years of history, from the acclaimed and beloved historian of Europe.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eAll roads lead to Rome.\u003c\/em\u003e It's a medieval proverb, but it's also true—today's European roads still follow the networks of the ancient empire, stitching together our histories and continuing to inspire our imaginations.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOver the two thousand years since they were first built, the roads have been walked by crusaders and pilgrims, liberators and dictators, but also by tourists and writers, refugees and artists. Catherine Fletcher shows how the roads—as channels of trade and travel, routes of conquest and creativity—forever transformed the cultures, and intertwined the fates, of a vast panoply of people across Europe and beyond.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Roads to Rome\u003c\/em\u003e is a magnificent journey into a past that remains intimately connected to our present. Travelling from Scotland to Cadiz, from Istanbul to Rome, we meander and march through a series of nations and empires that have risen and fallen. Along the way, we encounter spies and bandits, scheming innkeepers, a Byzantine noblewoman on the run, young aristocrats on their Grand Tour, a conquering Napoleon, Keats and the Shelleys, the abolitionist Frederick Douglass, and even Mussolini on his motorbike.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eReflecting on his own walk on the Appian Way, Charles Dickens observed that here is 'a history in every stone that strews the ground'. Based on outstanding original research, and brimming with life and drama, this is the first book to explore two thousand years of history through one of the greatest imperial networks ever built.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46549304049900,"sku":"9781529932690","price":30.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781529932690.jpg?v=1750029328"},{"product_id":"the-firearm-revolution-by-catherine-fletcher-9780691272672","title":"The Firearm Revolution","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA groundbreaking account of how firearms changed Europe and the world.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn Renaissance Italy, the gun was not only a tool of war but also a desirable object, a luxury item carried at court. Guns were in use on the battlefield by 1440; later in that century Leonardo da Vinci sketched a design for a faster-firing, more portable handgun that could be hidden beneath a cloak. As the gun proliferated in society, it became both a means of self-defence and a threat to civic order. In \u003cem\u003eThe Firearm Revolution\u003c\/em\u003e, historian Catherine Fletcher explores the emergence of firearms in Renaissance Italy and beyond, describing the social transformations that accompanied the evolution of the handgun from innovative military technology to widely used personal accessory.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFletcher shows that as guns became smaller and the new wheellock mechanism made concealed carry possible, Italian states increasingly tried to control their use – even as they viewed firearms as necessary for their militias. In the end, Fletcher reports, the importance of civic defence trumped the concern for social order. As guns became ever more acceptable, stories of how firearms aided Europeans’ overseas conquests created a new and more positive image for a weapon once considered the devil’s work. Debates over the regulation of firearms five centuries ago – which included arguments over the restriction of gun ownership, the use of guns for self-defence and the regulation of an armed militia – in many ways anticipate discussions about gun control today. Fletcher’s groundbreaking account sheds new light on how governments weighed the competing priorities of defence and social order as they set out to build empires.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Hachette Aotearoa New Zealand","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67712222658796,"sku":"9780691272672","price":69.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780691272672-the-firearm-revolution-1.jpg?v=1791852570"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.pro\/collections\/catherine-fletcher.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}