Includes detailed descriptions of the lives of aristocrats, artisans, peasants, soldiers, beggars, and their popular festivals and funeral rites

A reconstruction of Florentine Society, based on contemporary documents. Includes summary of history of Florence.

South America's ancient native cultures have long intrigued historians and archeologists, particularly that of the Inca, to whom written language was unknown. Their art, architecture, and oral traditions provide valuable clues to the flourishing society that was among the New World's most advanced civilizations prior to the Spanish conquest. This vibrant portrait of Inca life concerns the period just before the arrival of Europeans in Peru, offering a lively account of the people and their everyday lives: their diversions, their manner of dress and diet, their civic and social customs, their ceremonial rites, their art and literature. Starting with images of the setting and inhabitants, the text examines the the lives of the rulers and nobility as well as those of the common folk. This well-researched, lively account is essential reading for students and scholars of history, ethnology an cultural anthropology, and will intrigue and delight anyone with an interest in this fascinating civilization.

French

This book is a vivid account of life in Moscow, "the most Russian of Russian cities," in the year 1903, a year before Russia's disastrous war with Japan and two years before the momentous Revolution of 1905. Though the undercurrents of social change were running swiftly, the surface stability of the Tsarist regime show no indication of the turmoil ahead. The author, who is perhaps best known for his biography Tolstoy, describes Russian life through the eyes of a fictional young Englishman visiting a prosperous Russian merchant family. All facets of Moscow life are covered, from entertainment and night life to family life and the devotions of the Orthodox. We learn about Russia's factory workers and peasants, its soldiers and lawyers, its priests and its city officials, its Tsar and his what they do and what they wear, what they think and what they dream. Concluding chapters take our visitor to the famous fair at Nizhny-Novgorod, which was held every year from July 15 to September 10, and on a boat trip down the Volga.

A Stanford University Press classic.

Index, bibliography, notes, illustrations, photos.

« Dans le royaume du Kongo, une foule grouillante, habillée de soie et de velours, de grands Etats bien ordonnés, et cela dans les moindres détails, des souverains puissants, des industries opulentes. Civilisés jusqu'à la moelle des os ! » Cette exclamation de l’explorateur et ethnologue Frobenius montre, qu’au tournant du xxe siècle, la grandeur de cette civilisation n’était pas effacée. Replaçant les événements qui donnèrent sa force au royaume dans la longue durée historique, l’auteur en analyse les institutions et les symboliques. Une capitale, San Salvador, reparaît où une modernité a tenté de naître dès le xvie siècle, à partir d’une transition féconde. L’affrontement des souverains, des hommes, la rivalité des dieux sont représentés dans la confrontation des croyances et dans les formes d’un art kongo somptueux. Ce livre est nécessaire à la compréhension d’une actualité où, de part et d’autre du fleuve, les deux Congo s’engagent dans une histoire nouvelle encore tumultueuse. Il montre les enracinements de la civilisation, il rappelle l’œuvre accomplie au cours des siècles, l’impossible déni d’une histoire active et féconde.

De Louis XIII à Louis XVI, cet ouvrage retrace l'histoire, les rouages et l'évolution du château de Versailles, mettant en lumière le rôle politique et social de la cour. Du pavillon de chasse que Louis XIII fit aménager jusqu'aupalais solaire, symbole de l'absolutisme, Versailles constitua le cadreexceptionnel de la monarchie française à l'apogée de sa puissance. Louis XIV y fixa la haute noblesse qui, lors de la Fronde,avait défié l'autorité monarchique. Tout à Versailles, le plan du château commeles détails de l'étiquette, s'inscrivait dans cette perspective. Louis XV, plusintéressé par les femmes que par la politique, imposa un nouveau style à lacour, qui commença à perdre de son rayonnement. Avant même Louis XVI, le déclinde Versailles était amorcé, annonçant la crise de l'Ancien Régime. Une mise en lumière renouvelée du rôle politique et socialde la cour, à travers l'histoire, les rouages et l'évolution du château deVersailles. Archiviste-paléographe, Jacques Levron a publié avec succèsde nombreux ouvrages chez Perrin, dont LesGrandes Heures de l'Anjou, Mademoisellede Charolais, Le Bon Roi René, Marie Leszczynska et Les Inconnus de Versailles .

In "Daily Life in Spain in the Golden Age", distinguished French historian Marcelin Defourneaux gives us an account of life in Spain during the period starting from the succession of Philip II (1556) to the death of Philip IV (1665). In this fascinating scholarly account, the author relies upon literary works and travel accounts written during this 'golden age' to present an overall picture of Spanish society of that time. Rich accounts of political and economic developments are woven into the narrative, and the author also covers the importance of Catholic faith and the emphasis upon personal honor.

At a time when all Europe was stirred by the philosophical ideas that presaged the revolutions of the late eighteenth century, in Rome under papal rule time seems to have stood still. By night the darkness was complete, for according to the Romans the earth was daily plunged into shadow by natural law and any impious light that violated the shadow was held as sacriligious. To change nothing, to disturb nothing, was the order which everyone from the Pope to the least of his subjects was anxious to enforce. The slightest change could trouble the quietude and sweetness of life, incomparable in a land full of paradox where, according to a contemporary, ‘everyone commands and no one obeys, but things proceed fairly well.’

Reunión desenfadada y alegre de una serie de anécdotas en torno a la escandalosa y colorida vida pública de la ciudad de Viena, emblema de la diversión y el buen vivir, y punto de confluencia de dos mundos: la Europa occidental y la Europa oriental; el teatro, la música, el baile, la poesía, en suma: la intensidad vital de una época.