San Antonio College Library

"After the composition of the Decameron, and under the influence of Petrarch's humanism, Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375) devoted the last decades of his life to compiling encyclopedic works in Latin. Among them is Famous Women, the first collection of biographies in Western literature devoted exclusively to women. The 106 women whose life stories make up this volume range from the exemplary to the notorious, from historical and mythological figures...

"Cecilia Bartoli leads a tribute to the extraordinary life of Maria Malibran, the first female superstar in music history. A meteoric career, which ended abruptly with her death at the age of only 28, made Maria Malibran an international celebrity. Surrounded by scandal and mystique, she was muse to the most important opera composers of the era. She was worshipped as the public goddess of Romanticism. Cecilia Bartoli follows La Malibran's unique journey...