Celebrate the treasure that is champagne with this sparkling tribute to the bubbly. This gorgeous boxed set--complete with removable memorabilia--looks at how the drink has become so embedded in the world's consciousness. Hundreds of beautiful photographs bring to life the Champagne Houses and their legendary founders, as well as the creation of each bottle, the vines, and the subterranean cellars where the wine matures. The expertly written text explores how champagne is made; notable house styles and vintages; famous makers from the earliest days; the establishment of the regulatory body, the Comit Champagne; various estates, both major and less well known; the social and cultural traditions associated with champagne; and tasting notes with recommendations. The book features 20 items of memorabilia, including vintage maps, advertising art, and correspondence, all removable so you can study them in detail.

Celebrate the treasure that is champagne with this sparkling tribute to the bubbly--now fully revised and updated. Nothing says "special occasion" like popping open a bottle of champagne. Champagne guides you through the astounding story of how this delicious drink became the hallmark of celebrations, commiserations, and partying across the globe. It explores the process of making champagne and how the subtle blend of grapes produces a notable house style; the history of champagne, from the earliest makers to the establishment of the regulatory body; and the recent award of World Heritage status by UNESCO. The core of this beautiful volume focuses on individual entries on all the major champagne houses, lesser estates, co-operatives, growers, and variations of sparkling wine. Each entry provides background on the House and explores the notable traits of its products, together with tasting notes and recommendations. Finally, Champagne examines the growing interest in sparkling wines and the social and cultural impact of this drink of kings. Revised and updated version of Treasures of Champagne, in a new format.

In Popes and Jews, 1095-1291, Rebecca Rist explores the nature and scope of the relationship of the medieval papacy to the Jewish communities of western Europe. Rist analyses papal pronouncements in the context of the substantial and on-going social, political, and economic changes of the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries, as well the characters and preoccupations of individual pontiffs and the development of Christian theology. She breaks new ground in exploring the other side of the story - Jewish perceptions of both individual popes and the papacy as an institution - through analysis of a wide range of contemporary Hebrew and Latin documents. The author engages with the works of recent scholars in the field of Christian-Jewish relations to examine the social and legal status of Jewish communities in light of the papacy's authorisation of crusading, prohibitions against money lending, and condemnation of the Talmud, as well as increasing charges of ritual murder and host desecration, the growth of both Christian and Jewish polemical literature, and the advent of the Mendicant Orders. Popes and Jews, 1095-1291 is an important addition to recent work on medieval Christian-Jewish relations. Furthermore, its subject matter - religious and cultural exchange between Jews and Christians during a period crucial for our understanding of the growth of the Western world, the rise of nation states, and the development of relations between East and West - makes it extremely relevant to today's multi-cultural and multi-faith society.

Following author Tobias Wabbel’s research and investigation throughout Europe, this book solves the mystery of the treasure of the Knights Templar. The most up-to-date archeological and historical information is discussed, from the history of the Knights Templar and the history of the Israelites and the Ark of the Covenant, to medieval literature and Gothic cathedral architecture. Disproving common theories—the Knights Templar never guarded the pilgrimage ways in Palestine, there is no Priory of Sion, there is no bloodline from Jesus to the present day, and there is no authentic Shroud of Turin—the book also proves the existence of the sacred Ark of the Covenant, also known as the treasure of the Knights Templar, which is still hidden in France. Wabbel researched iconography in the architecture of cathedrals and chapels, and found more evidence in texts and inscriptions that led to his theory on the location of the Templar treasure. Both a travel guide to the secrets of the treasure of the Knights Templar and a fascinating read, this book will shake commonly held beliefs on this interconnected history and renew the interest in it.

Born in the dark days of the great crusades, the warrior monks of the Knights Templar vowed to defend pilgrims traveling to the Holy Land. Yet strangely, there are few historical records of the Templars ever fulfilling this task. Instead, their history is one of bloodshed and conquest, wealth and power, dark secrets and conspiracies. Today, the story of the Knights Templar is intimately linked with the story of the Holy Grail. But what exactly is this ancient artifact, and how has it been used to manipulate history for the last one thousand years? This book, based on the notes of the recently deceased historian, Dr. Emile Fouchet, attempts to unlock the secrets of the Knights Templar. It begins with an examination of their historical origins, their growth in the early middle-ages, and their supposed destruction under the charges of heresy. From there, it uses the clues left by the Templars themselves to reconstruct their secret journeys as they moved the Holy Grail from Europe to the New World and back. It also charts the secret, three-way war that is still being fought between the Templars, the Freemasons, and the Catholic Church. Finally, the book reveals the greatest of all Templar conspiracies, the attempt to found a new world order under the auspices of the European Union.

"A History of Champagne, with Notes on the Other Sparkling Wines of France" by Henry Vizetelly. Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are user-friendly and accessible to everyone in a high-quality digital format.

This is a story of a small island off the southwest coast of Florida, on the shores of Gasparilla Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, with its varied plant life among numerous types of land and sea birds. The other residents are local Florida crackers, snowbirds from the North, and holidaymakers looking for sanctuary from the hustle and bustle of modernday living. The lucky ones who set foot on this boat-only-access island will have a sense of tranquility and well-being that is the result of being totally free from modern-day encumbrances and surrounded by the sounds of nature. The main characters are Nikki, Lloyd, and George and how they found a contingent of new friends on a small spit of land called Little Gasparilla Island, fondly referred to as LGI Prologue This island's namesake is Juan Gomez Gasparilla or, as he's known today throughout the west coast of Florida, Jose Gaspar. Some think of Gaspar as folklore, while others say he is just a myth. A few locals have stories handed down by ancestors through the ages and say the proof is probably in the United States naval archives, since the pirates were hunted down by the USS Enterprise in the early 1800s. They all were either killed or put on trial in New Orleans and subsequently hung, all except for Jose Gaspar. He was alleged to be sixty-five years old and on his last campaign before dividing up the spoils among his cohorts. Rather than get caught, he wrapped himself in the anchor's chain and rope then jumped into the dark blue waters of the Gulf of Mexico to end his life; that was his only way to escape the hangman's noose. It is believed that Gaspar and his band of thieves and murderers had their haven around Charlotte Harbor. The barrier islands, such as Gasparilla and Little Gasparilla, would have been excellent cover where they could evade and lie in wait behind tall sand dunes or mangroves, searching the Gulf waters for European vessels sailing within sight, carrying gold, silver, and jewels collected from the Americas to take back to their kings and queens or other financiers. Rumor has it that the pirates would slaughter everyone on board the captured ships except for the attractive ladies, who would become concubines of Jose Gaspar. He was a noted womanizer when he was assigned to the court of Charles III as a naval attaché at the age of twenty-seven. He jilted the daughter-in-law of the king for another woman of the court and was about to be arrested on trumped-up charges of treason when he commandeered a Spanish ship, called the Florida Blanca, and set sail with a hastily assembled volunteer crew for the Florida straits. Little Gasparilla had two passes barely navigable for a sailing ship, but not for a man-of-war ship. The much larger pass into Gasparilla Sound was on the south end of Big Gasparilla through the Boca Grande Pass, with its two rivers emptying into the Gulf, flowing through Charlotte Harbor. This proved to be ideal for the crew to hide and pounce on unsuspecting heavily laden sailing ships heading north. Legend has the number of conquered vessels by Gaspar to be over four hundred. Back then, the amount of the bounty was reported to be in excess of thirty million Yankee dollars. Today's count would be in the billions, which would take scores of stolen chests to accommodate the spoils. No treasure of his to this day has ever been found. I have visited Little Gasparilla most winters for several months during the last seventeen years. On my many walks toward the state park on the north end of the island, I always look wishfully for doubloons washing ashore or a treasure chest sticking out of a tall sand dune while looking for sharks' teeth. Besides the tangible treasures that may be in one's wildest dreams, could be found, there are other riches to discover while walking on the sand, be it purely spiritual or just a perfect seashell lying on the shore of Little Gasparilla Island, brought in by the gentle waves.

This book on Great Treasures, is the 24th book in World Famous Series in English. For centuries treasure hunting has remained an exciting and unending pursuit of enterprising enthusiasts who often risked their lives to solve the mysteries of hidden treasures. On account of such enterprises today we know about the unearthing of the culture and lifestyles of many bygone civilisations. In this book all topics are based on facts and history and include everything important since the evolution of universe and life. The text is authentic and the language is lucid so that the reader unknowingly gets swayed into a new world of thrill without feeling the strain of reading.

“Dear Folks” is a collection of letters written by a young soldier to his family during World War II from his first day at an Army Reception Center to his last, leaving Frankfort, Germany, Headquarters of the US Army of Occupation. These letters read like a diary depicting a GI’s daily experience in basic training at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, assignment as a clerk in a bureaucratic outfit at Ft. Meade, Maryland where daily hundreds of citizen soldiers were processed in anticipation of the D-day invasion, and the further adventures of this soldier in wartime Paris on assignment with the War Department Observers Board accompanying his Colonel who was on a special reporting mission covering the Armored Divisions in battles across Western Europe. The letters cover in astonishing detail the daily routine of the GI at two major military installations, the relatively luxurious life of a GI in recently liberated Paris and the less than glamorous life of the GI on the battle front following Patton’s Army across Northern France and Germany with revealing accounts of local reaction to both Allied conquests and the final liberation of the city of Pilsen, Czechoslovakia. It’s an intimate history of World War II life and culture recording the popular music and movies of the time, the cost of common, everyday items of purchase and foremost, the general attitude to wartime life by both the GI and their civilian relatives. The very personal content of the original letters has been edited out but enough retained to reveal the close family ties of the soldier and the warm family support. This is history experienced by one teen-age soldier in World War II told in his own words.