Now celebrated as one of the great painters of the Renaissance, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio fled Rome in 1606 to escape retribution for killing a man in a brawl. Three years later he was in Naples, where he painted The Seven Acts of Mercy. A year later he died at the age of thirty-eight under mysterious circumstances. Exploring Caravaggio's singular masterwork, in The Guardian of Shadows and Light Terence Ward offers an incredible narrative journey into the heart of his artistry and his metamorphosis from fugitive to visionary. Ward's guide in this journey is a contemporary artist whose own life was transformed by the painting, a simple man named Angelo who shows him where it still hangs in a small church in Naples and whose story helps him see its many layers. As Ward unfolds the structure of the painting, he explains each of the seven mercies and its influence on Caravaggio’s troubled existence. Caravaggio encountered the whole range of Naples’s vertical social layers, from the lowest ranks of poverty to lofty gilded aristocratic circles, and Ward reveals the old city behind today's metropolis. Fusing elements of history, biography, memoir, travelogue, and journalism, his narrative maps the movement from estrangement to grace, as we witness Caravaggio’s bruised life gradually redeemed by art. Skyhorse Publishing, along with our Arcade, Good Books, Sports Publishing, and Yucca imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs. Our list includes biographies on well-known historical figures like Benjamin Franklin, Nelson Mandela, and Alexander Graham Bell, as well as villains from history, such as Heinrich Himmler, John Wayne Gacy, and O. J. Simpson. We have also published survivor stories of World War II, memoirs about overcoming adversity, first-hand tales of adventure, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

The powerful and moving story of three royal mothers whose quest for power led to the downfall of their daughters. Queen Isabella of Castile, Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, and Queen Victoria of England were respected and admired rulers whose legacies continue to be felt today. Their daughters—Catherine of Aragon, Queen of England; Queen Marie Antoinette of France; and Vicky, the Empress Frederick of Germany—are equally legendary for the tragedies that befell them, their roles in history surpassed by their triumphant mothers. In Triumph's Wake is the first book to bring together the poignant stories of these mothers and daughters in a single narrative. Isabella of Castile forged a united Spain and presided over the discovery of the New World, Maria Theresa defeated her male rivals to claim the Imperial Crown, and Victoria presided over the British Empire. But, because of their ambition and political machinations, each mother pushed her daughter toward a marital alliance that resulted in disaster. Catherine of Aragon was cruelly abandoned by Henry VIII who cast her aside in search of a male heir and tore England away from the Pope. Marie Antoinette lost her head on the guillotine when France exploded into Revolution and the Reign of Terror. Vicky died grief-stricken, horrified at her inability to prevent her son, Kaiser Wilhelm, from setting Germany on a belligerent trajectory that eventually led to war. Exhaustively researched and utterly compelling, In Triumph's Wake is the story of three unusually strong women and the devastating consequences their decisions had on the lives of their equally extraordinary daughters.

Talidon has a proud history spanning more than three hundred years. The Talidians are a quiet, and industrious people steeped in tradition. Among these is the revered office of the Guardian - protector of the King. In a moment of carelessness the king and his family are killed and a usurper seizes his throne. The people of Talidon look to the Guardian to fulfill the role that he alone can fill as the redeemer of the throne. Unable to mount a resistance against the usurpers from the North, and in peril for his life, the Guardian, with his family is forced to flee for their lives. A tragic accident in their journey leaves the Guardian dead, and his young daughter orphaned, scarred, and without her memory. Years later, a series of events reacquaints his daughter with her identity, and her inherited responsibility to the people of Talidon. By tradition and law, only she is able to restore a ruler to the throne of Talidon. She sets out to regain her place as the Guardian, armed only with her faith, a special gift, and passion to return Talidon to peace, and order. Will she be able to overcome her own trepidation and uncertainty, and trust in the Lord to restore Talidon to her former glory?

The book of Daniel 2 reveals by symbols the successive empires/kingdoms of the world with a statue of a human figure of a head of gold, chest of silver, thighs of bronze, legs of iron, and feet of a mixture of clay and iron. Daniel 7, which describes four beasts (a lion, a bear, a leopard, and a terrible beast with ten horns), covers the same period in world history as in chapter 2. While the king of Babylon saw the majestic power and grandeur of the Gentile empire/kingdoms, Prophet Daniel saw their real character, beastly conduct, wicked rule, and profligate government. All the beasts (empire/kingdoms) were destroyed by the Messiah, Immanuel (the Stone), who the builders of the nations of man rejected and who is the cornerstone of the holy nation of believers. Revelation 12 describes the great dragon thrown down, the age-old serpent that is called the devil and Satan, he who continually deceives and seduces the entire inhabited world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. This usurping dragon would form successive compacts with mankind for the dominion of the earth. Revelation 13 shows the final compact between the nations of man and the man of sin, Satan (the dragons beasts), engulfing even the holy people (Israel, the churchthe woman on the beast in Revelation 17). When the stone finally destroyed the lawless kings of the nations/kingdoms, their rule was dispersed to the lots of nation-states created by the common peoplethe rule of commoners. These are the nation-states of democratically elected commoners. Revelation 13 (and 17) shows the rebellion and apostasy of our Christendom/Queendom of Babylon, the great nation-states of man setting themselves up against the son of man, Immanuel. Why the stone is about to crush Christendom of Babylon the great! And the stone that smote the image became a great mountain or rock and filled the whole earth (Daniel 2:3435). Yes, he is the rock of ages!