Two boys are born in Parma, Italy on the day of composer Giuseppe Verdi's death in 1901. Alfredo Berlinghieri is the son of a wealthy landowner and Olmo Dalco is the son of a poverty-stricken peasant who becomes a communist and labor organizer. Though the boys are childhood friends, they increasingly come into conflict as adults as Alfredo panders to the increasingly powerful fascists while Olmo fights relentlessly against Mussolini's followers.

"Traces the life of a typical peasant in medieval times from birth to death, including childhood, marriage, work, holidays, and customs. Includes primary source quotes"--Provided by publisher.

An explosives expert on the run in Mexico teaming up with a Mexican bandit as they both get drawn into the Mexican Revolution.

With no knightly experience but plenty of pluck and an impressive vocabulary, a twelve-year-old peasant, hoping to improve his station in life, volunteers to help a cowardly prince and his not very powerful wizard rescue a princess from an evil, foul-smelling monster.

"1798, France. Nuns move along the dark corridors of a Versailles hospital where the young Sister Perpetu�e has been tasked with sitting with the patient who must always be watched. The man, gaunt, with his sallow skin and distended belly, is dying: they say he ate a golden fork, and that it's killing him from the inside. But that's not all—he is rumored to have done monstrous things in his attempts to sate an insatiable appetite…an...