Alan Riding

Experience the passion and drama of the world’s greatest operas with this sumptuously illustrated visual guide.Immerse yourself in more than 75 years of the world’s most celebrated operas and discover the fascinating stories behind them. Explore the lives of opera singers, such as Maria Callas, Luciano Pavarotti, and Jonas Kaufmann. Meet composers such as Mozart, Wagner, and Britten, and the librettists with whom they collaborated to create the magical blends of words and music that make up opera. From its origins in the 17th-century courts of Italy to live screenings in public spaces today, Opera: The Definitive Illustrated History follows the history of opera from Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo in 1607, to Cosi fan Tutte, La Bohème, and modern operas such as Brokeback Mountain. It explains musical terminology, traces historical developments, and sets everything in cultural context. Filled with photographs of all the key figures and performances, this book revels in the sets and costumes that

On June 14, 1940, German tanks rolled into a silent and deserted Paris. Eight days later, a humbled France accepted defeat along with foreign occupation. While the swastika now flew over Paris, the Ci

A study of Mexico - political, social, cultural, economic - by a journalist who was for the past 6 years the NYT bureau chief in Mexico City. With portraits of Mexico's top leaders, about a nation who

From Hamlet and The Tempest to Henry V and Romeo and Juliet, the Essential Shakespeare Handbook is a user-friendly, beautifully illustrated guide to every play in the Shakespearean canon, as well as a

Offering a user-friendly, beautifully illustrated guide to every play in the Shakespeare canon, as well as a portrait of the Bard's life and the world of Elizabethan and Jacobean theater, the Essenti

The first edition of Sebastião Salgado: Other Americas was published in 1985 by the French publisher Contrejour, and included photographs from Salgado's numerous trips through Brazil, Ecuador, Bolivia

Over 60% - and in many parts of the country over 90% - of construction works is sub-let and by far majority is carried out by domestic sub-contractors appointed by the main contractor. Within the buil