Synopses & Reviews
The Authors and Essays in I Wish Id Been There®, Book TwoJosiah Ober ·At the Deathbed of Alexander the Great
Tom Holland · Hannibal Crosses the Alps
Theodore K. Rabb · Christmas Day in the Year 800
John Julius Norwich · Venice, July 24, 1177
Katherine Fischer Drew · Magna Carta and the Kings Men
Barbara A. Hanawalt · Rebel Leader Confronts King at Smithfield in 1381
Lauro Martines · Ten Thousand Brutes in Renaissance Florence
Geoffrey Parker · August 9, 1588: The Spanish Armada (almost) Surrenders
Katherine Duncan-Jones · The Globe Theatre, February 7, 1601
John H. Elliott · With the Prince of Wales in Madrid, 1623
Mordechai Feingold · By Fits and Starts: The Making of Isaac Newtons Principia
Ellen T. Harris · Handel Is Fired
William McNeill · Frederick the Great and the Propagation of Potatoes
Paul Kennedy · The Battle of the Nile
Ross King · The “Uncouth Riddle” of Édouard Manet: Le Déjeuner sur lherbe at the 1863 Salon des Refusés
Richard Pipes · Nicholas II Signs the October Manifesto
Margaret MacMillan · Tunnels, Territory, and Broken Promises: France Betrayed by the Anglo-Saxons?
Charles A. Riley II · Backstage at the Ballets Russes with Picasso
Freeman Dyson · Exorcising Aristotles Ghost
John Keegan · The German Surrender to Montgomery at Lüneburg Heath, May 1945
What is the scene or incident in European history that you would like to have witnessedand why? This is the question that the editors posed to twenty superb historians, who each wrote a personal essay in response. The result is this engrossing book, a worthy sequel to the acclaimed volume on American history, I Wish Id Been There. From the death of Alexander the Great to the German surrender ending World War II, these essays move across a wide geography for over two millennia and deal with politics, law, religion, peace and war, science and the arts, rebellion, and social change. In addition to adding immediacy, color, and vibrancy to well-known events, they also provide fresh illuminations and interpretations of vital moments in the history of Europe.
I Wish Id Been There®, Book Two is a marvelous idea, wonderfully and imaginatively executed. It offers a sense of the excitement, the passion, the drama, and the joys and tragedies that are the essence of history.
See the back cover for a list of contributors and the events described.
Synopsis
What is the scene or incident in European history that you would like to have witnessed—and why?This is the question that the editors posed to twenty superb historians who wrote a personal essay in response. The result is this engrossing book, a worthy sequel to the acclaimed volume on American history,
I Wish I'd Been There. The death of Alexander the Great and the German surrender ending WWII are among the key events that are re-created and illuminated by such scholars as Tom Holland, William McNeill, Katherine Duncan-Jones, Richard Pipes, Freeman Dyson, and Margaret MacMillan.
WITH ALEXANDER, NAPOLEON, AND PICASSO is a marvelous idea, wonderfully and imaginatively executed. The result is an historical pageant of characters and events that will delight all readers of history.
About the Author
BYRON HOLLINSHEAD is president of American Historical Publications. Previously, he was president of American Heritage Publishing Company and Oxford University Press, Inc. Hollinshead published
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History and
Time Machine: American History for Kids, and he edited
I Wish Id Been There, which Doubleday published in 2006.
THEODORE K. RABB is a professor of history emeritus at Princeton University. He is the author of The Struggle for Stability in Early Modern Europe and The Last Days of the Renaissance, among other books. Rabb was the principal historical adviser and commentator for the Emmy-nominated PBS series Renaissance and wrote the seriesscompanion book, Renaissance Lives.