Originally published in "Encyclopedia Americana" (1919 edition), this paperback reprint describes the explorations, wars, politics, religious beliefs, scientific advancements, literature, art, and music of the years 1400-1900, and profiles such historic figures as (15th century) Joan of Arc, Lorenzo de' Medici, and Queen Isabella; (16th century) Shakespeare, Michelangelo, da Vinci, Martin Luther, Henry VIII, Mary Queen of Scots, and Copernicus; (17th century) Sir Walter Raleigh, Oliver Cromwell, Galileo, and Vincent de Paul; (18th century) George Washington, Maria Theresa, and Catherine II; and (19th century) Napoleon, Bismarck, Gladstone, Darwin, and Lincoln.