Peter Whitfield

What is art? Why do we value images of saints, kings, goddesses, battles, landscapes or cities from eras of history utterly remote from ourselves? This history of art shows how painters, sculptors and architects have expressed the belief systems of their age: religious, political and aesthetic. From the ancient civilisations of Egypt, Mesopotamia and Greece, to the revolutionary years of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the artist has acted...

From the mathematical and medical advances of the ancient world to the Scientific Revolution in the Renaissance and the groundbreaking developments of the twentieth century, a precise chronological account of progress is given. In charting the course of the endeavours to understand, explain, and harness the mysterious forces at work in our universe, Whitfield creates an accessible and lucid narrative which brings the novice up to speed.

Great poetry can indeed outlast stone and the glory of princes, and the English poetic tradition is perhaps the richest in the world. This audiobook tells the story of that tradition through its towering figures – Spenser and Shakespeare, Milton and Dryden, Great poetry can indeed outlast stone and the glory of princes, and the English poetic tradition is perhaps the richest in the world. This audiobook tells the story of that tradition through...