We know that Constantine - issued the Edict of Milan in 313 - outlawed paganism and made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire - manipulated the Council of Nicea in 325 - exercised absolute authority over the church, co-opting it for the aims of empire

Jane Austen is now what she never was in life, and what she would have been horrified to become—a literary celebrity.

In his twenties, Fydor Dostoevsky, son of a Moscow doctor, graduate of a military academy, and rising star of Russian literature, found himself standing in front of a firing squad, accused of subversive activities against the Russian Tsar.