It was the era that produced some of the icons of civilization: Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa and Last Supper and Michelangelo's Sistine Ceiling, Pieta, and David. As masterpieces by the likes of Caravaggio, Donato Bramante, Donatello, El Greco, Filippo Brunelleschi, Sandro Botticelli, Raphael, and Titian emerged, new heights of human potential were imagined. The Historical Dictionary of Renaissance Art covers the years 1250 to 1648, the period most disciplines place as the Renaissance Era. A complete portrait of this remarkable period is depicted in this book through a chronology, an introductory essay, a bibliography, and over 500 hundred cross-referenced dictionary entries on major Renaissance painters, sculptors, architects, and patrons, as well as relevant historical figures and events, the foremost artistic centers, schools and periods, major themes and subjects, noteworthy commissions, technical processes, theoretical material, literary and philosophic sources for art, and art historical terminology.

Pssst! It's true! This is the best book on bones you'll ever read!
Did you know that Santa Claus once punched a bishop? Have you heard of weaver's bottom and housemaid's knee? What's an ossuary?
Bone up on bunions, explore X-rays, find your femur. Knuckle down to the facts on people who picnic in graveyards. Discover how experts find murder clues in dry bones, and why we can't wag our tails.

Psst! It's True! This is the best book on bushrangers you'll ever read!
Did you know that the first ever bushranger in Australia was an African? Or that the Kelly gang held parties with their hostages?
Read about sieges, man-hunts, shootouts and hangings. Find out which bushranger used to send people home naked after he'd robbed them. Discover which one was most popular with the ladies (they sent him flowers in prison and cried when he was hanged). Find out the real names of Captain Moonlight and Mad Dan Morgan, and what bold Jack Donohue really said as he died.

Psst! It's true! This is the best book on FROGS you'll ever read!
Where do frogs go in the daytime? Is the Boiling Frog Theory true? How do frogs climb up sheets of glass? Mike Tyler, Australia's ‘Frogman', has all the answers.
Read this book to find out about poison-dart frogs, toad tunnels, stowaway frogs, frogs that sunbake and frogs that have anti-freeze in their blood. Discover how to say ‘long-snouted false toad' in Latin, and how to cook frogs' legs for dinner.

Psst! It's true! This is the best book on SPIES you'll ever read!
How would you find out a secret without getting caught? You need the inside story on sneaky spy gadgets, crazy codes and hidden messages…
From the plain-clothes police of ancient Rome to the nimble ninja of Japan, spies have always stolen secrets and spoilt enemy battle plans. Check out the undercover cat, the spy who died over dinner and the real agent 007.