AUTHORS NOTE: Dedicated to the 300th birthday of Frederick the Great, this book presents one of the most elusive and controversial rulers of the 18th century, subjected to myriad glories and legends, and whose personality requires a few more centuries to duke it out what kind of combat or person he was. Since German unification under the Great Elector, Frederick II has been unfairly seen as the root of militarist Germany that dominated Europe during the First and Second World Wars. Most biographies focus heavily on the rehabilitation of his reputation that was already overshadowed by Napoleon Bonaparte. But the consistency of his character makes it plain that Frederick II was a military genius, who could lead troops from the front in the thick of the battles, losing horses under him, loosing Generals, and still fearlessly moving forward with bullet wholes through his collar. Frederick II was a self-styled philosopher, a classed "monarch-enluminator," whose domestic reforms and expansions made Prussia an iron kingdom, doubling its holdings. He was Voltaires pen-pal. He admired Voltaire, argued with him, and brain-stormed him. This book also describes the King's passion of poetry, his correspondence with Voltaire, treatment of military and diplomatic causes, warfare, state-society nexus, and ardent sense for art and music. He had composed 121 flute sonatas, 4 concertos, areas, a symphony, and an overture. He wrote the treatise "Anti-Machiavel." He sketched and designed his resort Sanssouci in Potsdam, the grand palace and parks, the opulent equivalents to the Chateau de Versailles, and the European prototype of todays Epcot. Seen as a despot and nobleman at the same time, Frederick was a fascinating character for his rivals. In all complexities of that extraordinary spirit, one thing at least is certain; that spirit, whether it was admirable to some, or odious to others, was moved by a terrific force.

In 1343 a seventeen-year-old girl named Johanna (1326-1382) ascended the Neapolitan throne, becoming the ruling monarch of one of medieval Europe's most important polities. For nearly forty years, she held her throne and the avid attention of her contemporaries. Their varied responses to her reign created a reputation that made Johanna the most notorious woman in Europe during her lifetime. In From She-Wolf to Martyr, Elizabeth Casteen examines Johanna's evolving, problematic reputation and uses it as a lens through which to analyze often-contradictory late-medieval conceptions of rulership, authority, and femininity.When Johanna inherited the Neapolitan throne from her grandfather, many questioned both her right to and her suitability for her throne. After the murder of her first husband, Johanna quickly became infamous as a she-wolf-a violent, predatory, sexually licentious woman. Yet, she also eventually gained fame as a wise, pious, and able queen. Contemporaries-including Francesco Petrarch, Giovanni Boccaccio, Birgitta of Sweden, and Catherine of Siena-were fascinated by Johanna. Drawing on a wide range of textual and visual sources, Casteen reconstructs the fourteenth-century conversation about Johanna and tracks the role she played in her time's cultural imaginary. She argues that despite Johanna's modern reputation for indolence and incompetence, she crafted a new model of female sovereignty that many of her contemporaries accepted and even lauded.

This is my memoir. I am an Indian born American. While telling my stories in the first person, I strayed into the worlds of history, social customs and middle class life in India of my time.