Focusing on the world's most intriguing palaces from Versailles to palaces in Japan, this book offers architectural detail, historical background and anecdotes about the people and events that enrich these palaces and assure their place in history. From Versailles, Windsor Castle and the Chateaux of the Loire to Hearst's San Simeon, the Palace of the Winds in India and the Acheillion in Greece, to other glorious palaces in Egypt, Cuba, and Japan, readers can learn what life was like inside these imposing walls, as well as the incidents of undaunted courage, villainous treachery, pivotal alliances and glittering celebrations that changed the world outside these walls forever.