Ross King

In 1508, despite strong advice to the contrary, the powerful Pope Julius II commissioned Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the newly restored Sistine Chapel. With little experience as a painter (though famed for his sculpture David), Michelangelo was reluctant to begin the massive project. Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling recounts the four extraordinary years Michelangelo spent laboring over the vast ceiling while the power politics and personal...

An alternative portrait of the revolutionary political philosopher challenges popular beliefs about the cruelty of his character to reveal the complexities and sympathetic nature of his personality

"A gritty raunch thriller. A page turner that lifts the lid on Hollywood!" - Catherine Zeta-Jones The next glamorous and thrilling book from Shari Low and Ross King They've made it to the top but someone is determined to make them pay... At a glittering after-party on the night of the Academy Awards, author Mirren McLean celebrates her win with her childhood friends Davie Johnston and Zander Leith by her side. Three kids from a tough street...

Dave is sad as he is the only dragon in his class who cannot fly, but he and his classmates learn that Dave has a different talent. Something that makes him just as special. Read on to find out what happens in this beautifully illustrated children's book!

They climbed up from the streets of Glasgow to the top of the world. Now these Hollywood icons are heading for a fall. Twenty-five years ago, three friends from Glasgow shocked the world when they became Oscar-winning legends. But now, they are all fighting for survival. A-list actor Zander Leith has finally found happiness with his adored wife, Hollie. But a stalker with a familiar face is determined to take away the only peace he's ever known. ...

Advanced Korean offers a complete, systematic, and streamlined third-year course in Korean. It is ideal for university students and adult learners with plentiful reading texts and written exercises, all in Korean Hangul. Concise Korean grammar notes in English, extensive glossaries, and an answer key make this book suitable for those studying alone, as well as for classroom use. There are 20 comprehensive lessons, each with a reading text in which...

The Prince made Machiavelli's name synonymous with ruthless power and cruelty. Now biographer Ross King strips away historical misconceptions to show that Machiavelli was one of the most sensitive and astute political thinkers of his time. The popular author of bawdy plays and poems, he also weathered both the favor and disfavor of 16th-century Italian royalty and was a superb diplomat.

Claude Monet is perhaps the world's most beloved artist, and among all his creations, the paintings of the water lilies in his garden at Giverny are most famous. Seeing them in museums around the world, viewers are transported by the power of Monet's brush into a peaceful world of harmonious nature. Monet himself intended them to provide "an asylum of peaceful meditation." Yet, as Ross King reveals in his magisterial chronicle of both artist and masterpiece,...

"Covering a comprehensive array of topics, from the first pigments and frescos to linear perspective in Renaissance paintings, the influence of photography, Impressionism, and the birth of modern art, The Story of Painting follows each step in the evolution of painting over the last 25,000 years, from the first cave paintings to the abstract works of the last 150 years. Packed with lavish color reproductions of paintings and photographs of artists...