The Imperial Wife

Author : Irina Reyn
Publisher : Macmillan
ISBN 13 : 125007603X
Total Pages : 287 pages
Book Rating : 4.38/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Imperial Wife written by Irina Reyn and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2016-07-19 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The Imperial Wife follows the lives of two women, one in contemporary New York City and the other in eighteenth-century Russia. Tanya Kagan, a specialist in Russian art at a top New York auction house, is trying to entice Russia's wealthy oligarchs to bid on the biggest sale of her career, The Order of Saint Catherine, while making sense of the sudden and unexplained departure of her husband. As questions arise over the provenance of the Order and auction fever kicks in, Reyn takes us into the world of Catherine the Great, the infamous 18th-century woman who may have owned the priceless artifact, and who it turns out faced many of the same issues Tanya wrestles with in her own life. The Imperial Wife asks what female ambition means, today and in the past, and whether a marriage can withstand an ambitious wife"--

Author : Keith McMahon
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1442222905
Total Pages : 312 pages
Book Rating : 4.08/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Women Shall Not Rule written by Keith McMahon and published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. This book was released on 2013-06-06 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Chinese emperors guaranteed male successors by taking multiple wives, in some cases hundreds and even thousands. Women Shall Not Rule offers a fascinating history of imperial wives and concubines, especially in light of the greatest challenges to polygamous harmony—rivalry between women and their attempts to engage in politics. Besides ambitious empresses and concubines, these vivid stories of the imperial polygamous family are also populated with prolific emperors, wanton women, libertine men, cunning eunuchs, and bizarre cases of intrigue and scandal among rival wives. Keith McMahon, a leading expert on the history of gender in China, draws upon decades of research to describe the values and ideals of imperial polygamy and the ways in which it worked and did not work in real life. His rich sources are both historical and fictional, including poetic accounts and sensational stories told in pornographic detail. Displaying rare historical breadth, his lively and fascinating study will be invaluable as a comprehensive and authoritative resource for all readers interested in the domestic life of royal palaces across the world.

Author : Justin C. Vovk
Publisher : iUniverse
ISBN 13 : 1938908600
Total Pages : 643 pages
Book Rating : 4.06/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Imperial Requiem written by Justin C. Vovk and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2014-06 with total page 643 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Augusta Victoria, Mary, Alexandra, and Zita were four women who were born to rule. In Imperial Requiem, Justin C. Vovk narrates the epic story of four women who were married to the reigning monarchs of Europe's last empires during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Using a diverse array of primary and secondary sources, letters, diary entries, and interviews with descendants, Vovk provides an in-depth look into the lives of four extraordinary women who stayed faithfully at their husbands' sides throughout the cataclysm of the First World War and the tumultuous years that followed. At the centers of these four great monarchies were Augusta Victoria, Germany's revered empress whose unwavering commitment to her bombastic husband made her a national icon; Mary, whose Cinderella story and immense personal strength made her the soul of the British monarchy through some of its greatest crises; Alexandra, the ill-fated tsarina who helped topple the Russian monarchy through her ineffective rule; and Zita, the resolute empress of Austria whose story of loss and exile captivated the world's attention for seven decades. Imperial Requiem shares the fascinating story of four princesses who married for love, graced imperial thrones, and watched as their beloved worlds were torn apart by war, revolution, heartache, and loss.

Author : Pearl Sydenstricker Buck
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780727402110
Total Pages : 432 pages
Book Rating : 4.10/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Imperial Woman written by Pearl Sydenstricker Buck and published by . This book was released on 1956 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Imperial Woman is the fictionalized biography of the last Empress in China, Ci-xi, who began as a concubine of the Xianfeng Emperor and on his death became the de facto head of the Qing Dynasty until her death in 1908.Buck recreates the life of one of the most intriguing rulers during a time of intense turbulence.Tzu Hsi was born into one of the lowly ranks of the Imperial dynasty. According to custom, she moved to the Forbidden City at the age of seventeen to become one of hundreds of concubines. But her singular beauty and powers of manipulation quickly moved her into the position of Second Consort.Tzu Hsi was feared and hated by many in the court, but adored by the people. The Empress's rise to power (even during her husband's life) parallels the story of China's transition from the ancient to the modern way.

Author : Irina Reyn
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 9781439123133
Total Pages : 256 pages
Book Rating : 4.36/5 ( download)

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Download or read book What Happened to Anna K. written by Irina Reyn and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2008-08-12 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A mesmerizing debut novel that reimagines Tolstoy's classic tragedy, Anna Karenina, for our time Vivacious thirty-seven-year-old Anna K. is comfortably married to Alex, an older, prominent businessman from her tight-knit Russian-Jewish immigrant community in Queens. But a longing for freedom is reignited in this bookish, overly romantic, and imperious woman when she meets her cousin Katia Zavurov's boyfriend, an outsider and aspiring young writer on whom she pins her hopes for escape. As they begin a reckless affair, Anna enters into a tailspin that alienates her from her husband, family, and entire world. In nearby Rego Park's Bukharian-Jewish community, twenty-seven-year-old pharmacist Lev Gavrilov harbors two secret passions: French movies and the lovely Katia. Lev's restless longing to test the boundaries of his sheltered life powerfully collides with Anna's. But will Lev's quest result in life's affirmation rather than its destruction? Exploring struggles of identity, fidelity, and community, What Happened to Anna K. is a remarkable retelling of the Anna Karenina story brought vividly to life by an exciting young writer.

Author : Keith McMahon
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 1442255021
Total Pages : 313 pages
Book Rating : 4.29/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Celestial Women written by Keith McMahon and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2016-04-21 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume completes Keith McMahon’s acclaimed history of imperial wives and royal polygamy in China. Avoiding the stereotype of the emperor’s plural wives as mere victims or playthings, the book considers empresses and concubines as full-fledged participants in palace life, whether as mothers, wives, or go-betweens in the emperor’s relations with others in the palace. Although restrictions on women’s participation in politics increased dramatically after Empress Wu in the Tang, the author follows the strong and active women, of both high and low rank, who continued to appear. They counseled emperors, ghostwrote for them, oversaw succession when they died, and dominated them when they were weak. They influenced the emperor’s relationships with other women and enhanced their aura and that of the royal house with their acts of artistic and religious patronage. Dynastic history ended in China when the prohibition that women should not rule was defied for the final time by Dowager Cixi, the last great monarch before China’s transformation into a republic.

Author : Phyllis T. Smith
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781477848821
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.27/5 ( download)

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Download or read book I Am Livia written by Phyllis T. Smith and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Keen and ambitious, fourteen-year-old Livia Drusilla finds herself suddenly thrust into the perilous world of Roman politics when she overhears the plot to assassinate Julius Caesar--and when she reluctantly agrees to marry a prominent military officer for her family's sake"--back cover.

Author : T. Corey Brennan
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190250992
Total Pages : 329 pages
Book Rating : 4.97/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Sabina Augusta written by T. Corey Brennan and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Sabina Augusta: an Imperial Journey synthesizes the textual and (massive) material evidence on the empress Sabina (born ca. 85--died ca. 137). The book traces the development of Sabina's partnership with her husband, the emperor Hadrian (reigned 117-138), and shows the vital importance of the empress for Hadrian's own aspirations" --

Author : Guy De la Bédoyère
Publisher : Yale University Press
ISBN 13 : 0300230303
Total Pages : 421 pages
Book Rating : 4.07/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Domina written by Guy De la Bédoyère and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2018-01-01 with total page 421 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A captivating popular history that shines a light on the notorious Julio-Claudian women who forged an empire​ Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero--these are the names history associates with the early Roman Empire. Yet, not a single one of these emperors was the blood son of his predecessor. In this captivating history, a prominent scholar of the era documents the Julio-Claudian women whose bloodline, ambition, and ruthlessness made it possible for the emperors' line to continue. Eminent scholar Guy de la Bédoyère, author of Praetorian, asserts that the women behind the scenes--including Livia, Octavia, and the elder and younger Agrippina--were the true backbone of the dynasty. De la Bédoyère draws on the accounts of ancient Roman historians to revisit a familiar time from a completely fresh vantage point. Anyone who enjoys I, Claudius will be fascinated by this study of dynastic power and gender interplay in ancient Rome.

Author : Annelise Freisenbruch
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 141658305X
Total Pages : 386 pages
Book Rating : 4.59/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Caesars' Wives written by Annelise Freisenbruch and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2011-10-25 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Documents the stories of eight wives of Roman rulers, assessing their historical contributions and cultural influence and drawing parallels between modern first ladies and the lives of such ancient-world figures as Livia, Helena, and Julia.