The biography offers a vibrant exploration of Perkins' career while revealing the complexities of Roosevelt's character. Through in-depth research and engaging storytelling, it highlights the contradictions and nuances of both figures, providing readers with a deeper understanding of their impact on history. Downey's work is both informative and inspiring, making it a significant contribution to the genre.
An engrossing and revolutionary biography of Isabella of Castile, the controversial Queen of Spain who sponsored Christopher Columbus's journey to the New World, established the Spanish Inquisition, and became one of the most influential female rulers in history. In 1474, when most women were almost powerless, twenty-three-year-old Isabella defied a hostile brother and a mercurial husband to seize control of Castile and León. Her subsequent feats were legendary. She ended a twenty-four-generation struggle between Muslims and Christians, forcing North African invaders back over the Mediterranean Sea. She laid the foundation for a unified Spain. She sponsored Columbus’s trip to the Indies and negotiated Spanish control over much of the New World. She also annihilated all who stood against her by establishing a bloody religious Inquisition that would darken Spain’s reputation for centuries. Whether saintly or satanic, no female leader has done more to shape our modern world. Yet history has all but forgotten Isabella’s influence. Using new scholarship, Downey’s luminous biography tells the story of this brilliant, fervent, forgotten woman, the faith that propelled her through life, and the land of ancient conflicts and intrigue she brought under her command.
W czasach, kiedy w żadnym kraju kobiety nie mogły samodzielnie decydować o
sobie, dwudziestokilkuletnia dziewczyna zasiadła na tronie jednego z
największych europejskich kr�lestw.Izabela Kastylijska, zainspirowana
przykładem Joanny dArc, pragnęła zjednoczyć nar�d wok�ł chrześcijańskich
wartości, pełnić funkcję opiekunki ubogich i potrzebujących, a także
powstrzymać podboje Imperium Osmańskiego..Kirstin Downey przedstawia portret
kobiety z krwi i kości, ze wszystkimi jej lękami i pragnieniami, z całą jej
przebiegłością, inteligencją, despotycznością i łagodnością matki piątki
dzieci. To Izabela sfinansowała wyprawę Krzysztofa Kolumba i to ona powołała
do życia hiszpańską inkwizycję, kt�ra przez następnych kilka wiek�w siała
religijny terror.
