A New Look at Abraham Lincoln, His Agenda, and an UnnecessaryWar Most Americans consider Abraham Lincoln to be the greatestpresident in history. His legend as the Great Emancipator has grownto mythic proportions as hundreds of books, a national holiday, anda monument in Washington, D.C., extol his heroism and martyrdom.But what if most everything you knew about Lincoln were false? Whatif, instead of an American hero who sought to free the slaves,Lincoln were in fact a calculating politician who waged thebloodiest war in american history in order to build an empire thatrivaled Great Britain's? In The Real Lincoln, author Thomas J.DiLorenzo uncovers a side of Lincoln not told in many history booksand overshadowed by the immense Lincoln legend. Through extensive research and meticulous documentation,DiLorenzo portrays the sixteenth president as a man who devoted hispolitical career to revolutionizing the American form of governmentfrom one that was very limited in scope and highly decentralize

In this thrilling real-life account of bravery, greed,obsession, and ultimate betrayal, award- winning writer Joe Jacksonbrings to life the story of fortune hunter Henry Wickham and hiscollaboration with the empire that fueled, then abandoned him. In1876, Wickham smuggled 70,000 rubber tree seeds out of therainforests of Brazil and delivered them to Victorian England'smost prestigious scientists at Kew Gardens. The story of howWickham got his hands on those seeds-and the history-makingconsequences-is the stuff of legend. The Thief at the End of theWorld is an exciting true story of reckless courage andambition that perfectly captures the essential nature of GreatBritain's colonial adventure in South America.

The Taste of Conquest offers up a riveting, globe-trottingtale of unquenchable desire, fanatical religion, raw greed, ficklefashion, and mouthwatering cuisine–in short, the very stuff ofwhich our world is made. In this engaging, enlightening, andanecdote-filled history, Michael Krondl, a noted chef turned writerand food historian, tells the story of three legendarycities–Venice, Lisbon, and Amsterdam–and how their single-mindedpursuit of spice helped to make (and remake) the Western diet andset in motion the first great wave of globalization. Sharing mealsand stories with Indian pepper planters, Portuguese sailors, andVenetian foodies, Krondl takes every opportunity to explore theworld of long ago and sample its many flavors. Along the way, hereveals that the taste for spice of a few wealthy Europeans ledto great crusades, astonishing feats of bravery, and even wholesaleslaughter. As stimulating as it is pleasurable, and filled with surprisinginsights, The Taste of Conquest offers a compell

CAN ARCHAEOLOGY’S GREATEST MYSTERIES BE TRACED BACK TO THE LOST CIVILIZATION OF ATLANTIS? The Great Pyramid. Stonehenge. Machu Picchu. For centuries, theseand other sacred sites have attracted pilgrims, scholars, andadventurers drawn by the possibility that their true spiritual andtechnological secrets remain hidden. Who could have built theseelaborate monuments? How did they do it? And what were theirincomprehensible efforts and sacrifices designed toaccomplish? Now comes a revolutionary theory that connects these mysteries toreveal a hidden global pattern--the ancient work of an advancedcivilization whose warnings of planetary cataclysm now reverberateacross one hundred millennia. Here is startling evidence of anintelligent society dating back as much as 100,000 years--one thatsailed the oceans of the world, building monuments to preserve andcommunicate its remarkable wisdom. The Atlantis Blueprint is the authors’ term for a complex networkof connections between thes

Every few months you'll read a newspaper story of thediscovery of some long-lost art treasure hidden away in a Germanbasement or a Russian attic: a Cranach, a Holbein, even, not longago, a da Vinci. Such treasures ended up far from the museums andchurches in which they once hung, taken as war loot by Allied andAxis soldiers alike. Thousands of important pieces have never beenrecovered. Lynn Nicholas offers an astonishingly good account ofthe wholesale ravaging of European art during World War II, of howteams of international experts have worked to recover lostmasterpieces in the war's aftermath and of how governments "arestill negotiating the restitution of objects held by theirrespective nations." --This text refers to an out of print orunavailable edition of this title.

On 2 August 1944, Winston Churchill mocked Adolf Hitler in theHouse of Commons by the rank he had reached in the First World War.'Russian success has been somewhat aided by the strategy of HerrHitler, of Corporal Hitler', Churchill jibed. 'Even military idiotsfind it difficult not to see some faults in his actions'. AndrewRoberts' previous book "Masters and Commanders" studied thecreation of Allied grand strategy; "The Storm of War" now analyzeshow Axis strategy evolved. Examining the Second World War on everyfront, Roberts asks whether, with a different decision-makingprocess and a different strategy, the Axis might even have won.Were those German generals who blamed everything on Hitler afterthe war correct, or were they merely scapegoating their formerFuhrer once he was safely beyond defending himself? The book isfull of illuminating sidelights on the principle actors that bringtheir characters and the ways in which they reached decisions intofresh focus.

Here’s the real history of our country. How Capitalism SavedAmerica explodes the myths spun by Michael Moore, the liberalmedia, Hollywood, academia, and the rest of the anticapitalistestablishment. Whether it’s Michael Moore or the New York Times, Hollywood oracademia, a growing segment in America is waging a war oncapitalism. We hear that greedy plutocrats exploit the Americanpublic; that capitalism harms consumers, the working class, and theenvironment; that the government needs to rein in capitalism; andon and on. Anticapitalist critiques have only grown more fevered inthe wake of corporate scandals like Enron and WorldCom. Indeed, the2004 presidential campaign has brought frequent calls tore-regulate the American economy. But the anticapitalist arguments are pure bunk, as Thomas J.DiLorenzo reveals in How Capitalism Saved America. DiLorenzo, aprofessor of economics, shows how capitalism has made America themost prosperous nation on earth—and how the sort of governmentregulation th

Born in the wake of World War II, RAND quickly became thecreator of America’s anti-Soviet nuclear strategy. A magnet for thebest and the brightest, its ranks included Cold War luminaries suchas Albert Wohlstetter, Bernard Brodie, and Herman Kahn, whoarguably saved us from nuclear annihilation and unquestionablycreated Eisenhower’s "military-industrial complex." In the Kennedyera, RAND analysts and their theories of rational warfare steeredour conduct in Vietnam. Those same theories drove our invasion ofIraq forty-five years later, championed by RAND affiliated actorssuch as Paul Wolfowitz, Donald Rumsfeld, and Zalmay Khalilzad. ButRAND’s greatest contribution might be its least known: rationalchoice theory, a model explaining all human behavior throughself-interest. Through it RAND sparked the Reagan-ledtransformation of our social and economic system but also unleasheda resurgence of precisely the forces whose existence it denied --religion, patriotism, tribalism. With Soldiers of Reason, Alex Abella

If this is a book about war, it is equally a book about the hypocrisy and indifference of those in power. Fisk is an angry man and more than a little self-righteous. No national leader comes off with a scrap of credit here; he regards the lot of them with contempt, if not loathing. Among the men in charge -- whether Arab, Iranian, Turkish, Israeli, British or American -- there are no heroes and precious few honorable people doing their inadequate best in difficult situations. Jimmy Carter is lucky to escape with condescension, King Hussein of Jordan with a bit better than that. Fisk is not fond of the media either (though he grants some exceptions); CNN and the New York Times are particular targets of his scorn for what he sees as their abject failure to challenge the lies, distortions and cover-ups of U.S. policymakers. Only among ordinary people, entangled in a web of forces beyond their control, does Fisk find a human mixture of courage, cowardice, charity and cruelty!

An innovative work of biography, social history, and literaryanalysis, this Pulitzer Prize-winning book presents the story oftwo men, William Cooper and his son, the novelist James FennimoreCooper, who embodied the contradictions that divided America in theearly years of the Republic. Taylor shows how Americans resolvedtheir revolution through the creation of new social forms and newstories that evolved with the expansion of our frontier. ofphotos.

Ben Macintyre’s Agent Zigzag was hailed as “rollicking,spellbinding” ( New York Times ), “wildly improbable butentirely true” ( Entertainment Weekly ), and, quite simply,“the best book ever written” ( Boston Globe ). In his newbook, Operation Mincemeat , he tells an extraordinary storythat will delight his legions of fans. In 1943, from a windowless basement office in London, two brilliantintelligence officers conceived a plan that was both simple andcomplicated— Operation Mincemeat. The purpose? To deceive the Nazisinto thinking that Allied forces were planning to attack southernEurope by way of Greece or Sardinia, rather than Sicily, as theNazis had assumed, and the Allies ultimately chose. Charles Cholmondeley of MI5 and the British naval intelligenceofficer Ewen Montagu could not have been more different.Cholmondeley was a dreamer seeking adventure. Montagu was anaristocratic, detail-oriented barrister. But together they were theperfect team and created an ingenious plan: Get a corp

In THE RETURN OF KING ARTHUR, Diana Durham deciphers the deepest meaning of the Arthurian myths as they relate to our modern lives, and in the process uncovers the reasons why they have held our fascination for so long. She explains how the quest for the Holy Grail is the story of the individual's path for wholeness, while the King Arthur legends represent a collective narrative of humanity. In this illuminating modern-day Jungian interpretation of an age-old story, Durham offers readers insights into how they can have a more satisfying existence by analyzing the key symbols from the intertwined Arthurian myths. Woven through the narrative are discoveries from her personal search for wholeness when she was living in association with a spiritual community and fully embracing a shared lifestyle. Her exploration of bow our modern lives can mirror the Grail quest and the court of King Arthur will enlighten and inspire readers fascinated by these ageless myths. 作者简介： DIANA URHAM is a writer

FREDERICKSBURG TO MERIDIAN "Gettysburg...is described with such meticulous attention toaction, terrain, time, and the characters of the various commandersthat I understand, at last, what happened in that battle.... Mr.Foote has an acute sense of the relative importance of events and anovelist's skill in directing the reader's attention to the men andthe episodes that will influence the course of the whole war,without omitting items which are of momentary interest. Hisorganization of facts could hardly bebetter."-- Atlantic

Internationally renowned as the greatest authority on the French Revolution, Georges Lefebvre combined impeccable scholarship with a lively writing style. His masterly overview of the history of the French Revolution has taken its rightful place as the definitive account. A vivid narrative of events in France and across Europe is combined with acute insights into the underlying forces that created the dynamics of the revolution, as well as the personalities responsible for day-to-day decisions during this momentous period. In tracing the web of intrigues and influences that transpired as the French Revolution, Lefebvre illuminates the fundamentals of historical interpretation and, at the same time, tells a story that will compel every reader.

From a master chronicler of Spanish history comes amagnificent work about the pivotal years from 1522 to 1566, whenSpain was the greatest European power. Hugh Thomas has written arich and riveting narrative of exploration, progress, and plunder.At its center is the unforgettable ruler who fought the French andexpanded the Spanish empire, and the bold conquistadors who werehis agents. Thomas brings to life King Charles V—first as a ganglyand easygoing youth, then as a liberal statesman who exceeded allhis predecessors in his ambitions for conquest (while making sureto maintain the humanity of his new subjects in the Americas), andfinally as a besieged Catholic leader obsessed with Protestantheresy and interested only in profiting from those he presidedover. The Golden Empire also presents the legendary men whom KingCharles V sent on perilous and unprecedented expeditions: HernánCortés, who ruled the “New Spain” of Mexico as an absolutemonarch—and whose rebuilding of its capital, Tenochti

In this epic, beautifully written masterwork, PulitzerPrize–winning author Isabel Wilkerson chronicles one of the greatuntold stories of American history: the decades-long migration ofblack citizens who fled the South for northern and western cities,in search of a better life. From 1915 to 1970, this exodus ofalmost six million people changed the face of America. Wilkersoncompares this epic migration to the migrations of other peoples inhistory. She interviewed more than a thousand people, and gainedaccess to new data and official records, to write this definitiveand vividly dramatic account of how these American journeysunfolded, altering our cities, our country, and ourselves. With stunning historical detail, Wilkerson tells this storythrough the lives of three unique individuals: Ida Mae Gladney, whoin 1937 left sharecropping and prejudice in Mississippi forChicago, where she achieved quiet blue-collar success and, in oldage, voted for Barack Obama when he ran for an Illinois Senateseat; sh

Encyclopedic and panoramic in its scope, this fascinating workchronicles the rich spiritual, political, and cultural institutionsof Arab history through 13 centuries.

Peter Ackroyd at his most magical and magisterial—aglittering, evocative, fascinating, story-filled portrait ofVenice, the ultimate city. The Venetians’ language and way of thinking setthem aside from the rest of Italy. They are an island people,linked to the sea and to the tides rather than the land. Thislat?est work from the incomparable Peter Ackroyd, like a magicgondola, transports its readers to that sensual and surprisingcity. His account embraces facts and romance, conjuring up the atmosphereof the canals, bridges, and sunlit squares, the churches and themarkets, the festivals and the flowers. He leads us through thehistory of the city, from the first refugees arriving in the mistsof the lagoon in the fourth century to the rise of a greatmercantile state and its trading empire, the wars against Napoleon,and the tourist invasions of today. Everything is here: themerchants on the Rialto and the Jews in the ghetto; theglassblowers of Murano; the carnival masks and the sad colonies oflepers; the

姚广孝是元末明初杰出的佛教人物，与姚广孝相关的历史遗迹，如姚广孝墓塔、天宁寺、汇通祠、永乐大钟、《永乐大典》等，多成为北京乃至全国的重要文物。姚广孝在政治、军事、文学、科技诸方面也有巨大成就，尤以参与策划“靖难之役”、辅佐燕王朱棣夺取帝位而名垂史册，后又拜为明两代帝王之师，成为中国历史上著名的“缁衣宰相”。由郑永华编著的《姚广孝史事研究》通过发掘与利用姚广孝的诗文、著述，以及碑刻、实录、文集等各种原始史料，对姚广孝的生平与交往进行了全面研究，就相关史事进行了详细考辨，更正了长期以来的讹误，为研究姚广孝这一重要的宗教与政治历史人物奠定了基础，具有较大的学术价值。又北京还长期流传许多与姚广孝相关的历史与人文传说，深入研究与北京历史有关的人物、弘扬北京历史文化，对建设“人文北京”

rom one of the great political journalists of our time comes aboldly argued reinterpretation of the central event in ourcollective past--a book that portrays the American Revolution notas a clash of ideologies but as a Machiavellian struggle forpower.

"Narrative history in the great tradition . . ." ChicagoTribune Two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize and bestselling authorBarbara W. Tuchman analyzes the American Revolution in abrilliantly original way, placing the war in the historical contextof the centuries-long conflicts between England and both France andHolland. This compellingly written history paints a magnificentportrait of General George Washington and recounts in rivetingdetail the events responsible for the birth of our nation.

In the tradition of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, the authorof the highly acclaimed The Winter People tells the moving, searingstory of the betrayal and brutal dispossession of the CherokeeNation. "(A) beautifully written and emotionally mature book . . .a must."--New York Newsday.