"In Dark Mirror, Sara Lipton offers a fascinating examination of the emergence of anti-Semitic iconography in the Middle Ages. The straggly beard, the hooked nose, the bag of coins, and gaudy apparel--the religious artists of medieval Christendom had no shortage of virulent symbols for identifying Jews. Yet, hateful as these depictions were, the story they tell is not as simple as it first appears. Drawing on a wide range of primary sources, Lipton...

Illuminated manuscripts' are among the most beautiful, precious and mysterious works of Western art. Before the printing press was invented, books were produced by hand and their illustration using brightly colored pigments and gold embellishments was a labor of love and an act of piety in itself. 'Illuminated Manuscripts' describes the origin and history of illumination in the Middle Ages, covering the artists and their techniques, and the patrons...

"Antoni Van Leeuwenhoek, a quiet linen draper in Delft, has discovered a new world: the world of the little animals, or animalcules, that he sees through his simple microscopes. These tiny creatures are everywhere, even inside us. But who will believe him? Not his wife, not his neighbors, not his fellow merchants -- only his friend Reinier De Graaf, a medical doctor. Then he meets an itinerant goose girl at the market who lives surrounded by tiny,...

"They were religious men who often lived sequestered from society in self-contained monasteries. In The Monk, students will learn about monastic life in the Middle Ages, exploring the simple lives led by monks, often devoid of many luxuries of the period. Get a firsthand look at the monasteries -- structures that often provided more safety than life in the surrounding areas plagued by war, violence and hunger. Discover how these monks spent their...

"While it's easy to get caught up-and, rightfully so-in the art of the Renaissance, you cannot have a full-rounded understanding of just how important these centuries were without digging beneath the surface, without investigating the period in terms of its politics, its spirituality, its philosophies, its economics, and its societies. Do just that with these 48 lectures that consider the European Renaissance from all sides, that disturb traditional...