Oxford University Press

The Mother of GunpowderThe story of the science, the technology, the politics and the military applications of saltpeter - the vital but mysterious substance that governments from the Tudors to the Victorians regarded as an 'inestimable treasure'....

Revelation is seen as a gift from God given only once. David Brown challenges this idea by examining the effect cultural development has on religious belief, narrative, and art, and exploring the nature of the relationship between historical and imaginative truth. This book argues that post-canonical traditions have functioned as imaginative...

The image of the "e;cafeteria Catholic"e;--one who blithely picks and chooses those doctrines that suit him--is a staple of American culture. But are American Catholics really so nonchalant about how they integrate the ancient devotional practices of Catholicism with the everyday struggles of the modern world? For   Sense of the Faithful,...

Here is an intriguing exploration of the ways in which the history of the Spanish Conquest has been misread and passed down to become popular knowledge of these events. The book offers a fresh account of the activities of the best-known conquistadors and explorers, including Columbus, Cortes, and Pizarro.  Using a wide array of sources, historian...

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To ArmsHew Strachan&'s monumental account has been heralded as the definitive work on the First World War. His narrative, always readable and incisive, brings together an unparalleled range of material. Military and strategic perspectives are combined with those of cultural, diplomatic, economic, and social history. The viewpoints of Germany,...