In this title, readers are invited to explore the cultures, geography, and other interesting facts of Europe.

"A landmark new history of the peasant experience, exploring a now neglected way of life that once encompassed most of humanity but is vanishing in our time. For over the past century and a half, and still more rapidly in the last seventy years, the world has become increasingly urban, and the peasant way of life-the dominant way of life for humanity since agriculture began well over 6,000 years ago-is disappearing. In this new history of peasantry,...

Join Rick Steves as he celebrates European Christmas traditions and music in England, Norway, France, Germany, Italy, and the Swiss Alps.

Forbidden Relatives challenges the belief - widely held in the United States - that legislation against marriage between first cousins is based on a biological risk to offspring. In fact, its author maintains, the U.S. prohibition against such unions originated largely because of the belief that it would promote more rapid assimilation of immigrants. A social anthropologist, Martin Ottenheimer questioned U.S. laws against cousin marriage because his...

"Plunge into the intimate history of cosmetics, and discover how, for centuries, women have turned to make-up as a rich source of creativity, community and resistance. The Renaissance was an era obsessed with appearances. And beauty culture from the time has left traces that give us a window into an overlooked realm of history - revealing everything from 16th-century women's body anxieties to their sophisticated botanical and chemical knowledge. 'How...