In 1517, Martin Luther, the Germany theologian, tacked his ninety-five theses to the door of the Wittenberg church, thereby setting off the theological revolution that gave birth to the Reformation. Luther confronted a papal establishment headed by Leo X, the pleasure-loving son of Lorenzo de Medici who made the Vatican the glittering center of the Italian Renaissance and whose driving ambition was the completion of St. Peter's Cathedral. This book is, in part, a brilliant study of Luther and Pope Leo X, revealing two men of vastly different backgrounds, outlooks, and philosophies. The split in the Christian Church that was the inevitable result is dramatically portrayed. Written sure-handedly and in a lively fashion, the entire world of the Italian Renaissance comes alive. Charles L. Mee Jr., Harvard scholar and biographer, brings the Reformation into sharp new focus as he presents Luther as the typical revolutionary and Leo X as his establishment protagonist. He gives us an immensely illuminating, informed, lively, and gossipy account of history's pivotal figures and the turbulent times in which they lived. Altogether, this book offers an engrossing, biographical history.

A truly international, authoritative A–Z guide to five centuries of propaganda, in both wartime and peacetime, which covers key moments, techniques, concepts, and some of the most influential propagandists in history. This fascinating survey provides a comprehensive introduction to propaganda, its changing nature, its practitioners, and its impact on the past five centuries of world history. Written by leading experts, it covers the masters of the art from Joseph Goebbels to Mohandas Gandhi and examines enormously influential works of persuasion such as Uncle Tom's Cabin, techniques such as films and posters, and key concepts like black propaganda and brainwashing. Case studies reveal the role of mass persuasion during the Reformation, and wars throughout history. Regional studies cover propaganda superpowers, such as Russia, China, and the United States, as well as little-known propaganda campaigns in Southeast Asia, Ireland, and Scandinavia. The book traces the evolution of propaganda from the era of printed handbills to computer fakery, and profiles such brilliant practitioners of the art as Third Reich film director Leni Riefenstahl and 19th-century cartoonist Thomas Nast, whose works helped to bring the notorious Boss Tweed to justice.

""The little extras""

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