What We Are Reading Today: The Invention of International Order

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Updated 30 January 2025
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What We Are Reading Today: The Invention of International Order

Author: Glenda Sluga

In 1814, after decades of continental conflict, an alliance of European empires captured Paris and exiled Napoleon Bonaparte, defeating French military expansionism and establishing the Concert of Europe. 

This new coalition planted the seeds for today’s international order, wedding the idea of a durable peace to multilateralism, diplomacy, philanthropy, and rights, and making Europe its center.


What We Are Reading Today: Michelangelo and Titian

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Updated 06 February 2026
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What We Are Reading Today: Michelangelo and Titian

Author: William E. Wallace

In 1529, Michelangelo was in Venice when he first met Titian, Venice’s famed painter of princes, gods, and goddesses. Coming face-to-face with Titian’s drama-infused, richly colored works, the creator of David and the Sistine Chapel ceiling realized he had met a worthy opponent. Twenty-five years later, Titian came to Rome to paint the pope, and the two met again. Painting in the Vatican, Titian experienced the full power of Michelangelo’s work and vowed to surpass the achievements of his older contemporary.

Michelangelo and Titian is the untold story of history’s greatest artistic rivalry, a competition between two monumental figures more admiring of one another than either would ever admit. William Wallace brings the world of the 16th century to life, and in particular its culture of gossip and intrigue.

Wallace challenges the established narrative of this relationship as mostly one-sided, with the younger artist in competition with the reigning master.