News flash: The Indians didn’t save the Pilgrims fromstarvation by teaching them to grow corn. The “Wild West” was morepeaceful and a lot safer than most modern cities. And the biggestscandal of the Clinton years didn’t involve an intern in a bluedress. Surprised? Don’t be. In America, where history is riddled withmisrepresentations, misunderstandings, and flat-out lies about thepeople and events that have shaped the nation, there’s the historyyou know and then there’s the truth. In 33 Questions About AmericanHistory You’re Not Supposed to Ask, New York Times bestsellingauthor Thomas E. Woods Jr. reveals the tough questions about ournation’s history that have long been buried because they’re toopolitically incorrect to discuss, including: Are liberals really so antiwar? Was the Civil War all about slavery? Did the Framers really look to the American Indians as the modelfor the U.S. political system? Did Bill Clinton actually stop a genocide in Kosovo, a

The author of the New York Times bestseller This Is Your Brain on Music reveals music's role in the evolution of human culture-and "will leave you awestruck" (The New York Times) Daniel J. Levitin's astounding debut bestseller, This Is Your Brain on Music, enthralled and delighted readers as it transformed our understanding of how music gets in our heads and stays there. Now in his second New York Times bestseller, his genius for combining science and art reveals how music shaped humanity across cultures and throughout history. Dr. Levitin identifies six fundamental song functions or types-friendship, joy, comfort, religion, knowledge, and love-then shows how each in its own way has enabled the social bonding necessary for human culture and society to evolve. He shows, in effect, how these "six songs" work in our brains to preserve the emotional history of our lives and species. Dr. Levitin combines cutting-edge scientific research from his music cognition lab at McGill University and work i

For this rousing,revisionist history, the former head of exhibitions at England'sNational Maritime Museum has combed original documents and recordsto produce a most authoritative and definitive account of piracy's"Golden Age." As he explodes many accepted myths (i.e. "walking theplank" is pure fiction), Cordingly replaces them with a truth thatis more complex and often bl... (展开全部) For this rousing, revisionist history, the formerhead of exhibitions at England's National Maritime Museum hascombed original documents and records to produce a mostauthoritative and definitive account of piracy's "Golden Age." Ashe explodes many accepted myths (i.e. "walking the plank" is purefiction), Cordingly replaces them with a truth that is more complexand often bloodier. 16 pp. of photos. Maps. From the Hardcover edition.

“No heroes, everyone did their part, and everyonewas scared to death.” They are the words of soldier Mark W. Harms in1968, summing up his combat experience during the Vietnam War. Hisstunning letter home is just one of hundreds featured in thisunforgettable collection, Letters from Vietnam . In theseaffecting pages are the unadorned voices of men and women whofought–and, in some cases, fell–in America’s most controversialwar. They bring new insights and imagery to a conflict that stillhaunts our hearts, consciences, and the conduct of our foreignpolicy. Here are the early days of the fight, when adopting a kitten,finding gold in a stream, or helping a local woman give birth weremoments of beauty amid the brutality . . . shattering first-personaccounts of firefights, ambushes, and bombings (“I know I willnever be the same Joe.”–Marine Joe Pais) . . . and thoughtful,pained reflections on the purpose and progress of the entireSoutheastern Asian cause (“All these lies about how we’re w

John Keegan, whose many books, including classic histories ofthe two world wars, have confirmed him as the premier miltaryhistorian of our time, here presents a masterly look at the valueand limitations of intelligence in the conduct of war. Intelligence gathering is an immensely complicated and vulnerableendeavor. And it often fails. Until the invention of the telegraphand radio, information often traveled no faster than a horse couldride, yet intelligence helped defeat Napoleon. In the twentiethcentury, photo analysts didn’t recognize Germany’s V-2 rockets forwhat they were; on the other hand, intelligence helped lead tovictory over the Japanese at Midway. In Intelligence inWar , John Keegan illustrates that only when paired withforce has military intelligence been an effective tool, as it mayone day be in besting al-Qaeda.

From award-winning historian Leonard L. Richards, anauthoritative and revealing portrait of an overlooked harbinger ofthe terrible battle yet to come. When gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill in 1848, Americans of allstripes saw the potential for both wealth and power. Among the morecalculating were Southern slave owners. By making California aslave state, they could increase the value of their slaves—by 50percent at least, and maybe much more. They could also gainadditional influence in Congress and expand Southern economicclout, abetted by a new transcontinental railroad that would runthrough the South. Yet, despite their machinations, Californiaentered the union as a free state. Disillusioned Southerners wouldagitate for even more slave territory, leading to theKansas-Nebraska Act and, ultimately, to the Civil War itself.

In AD 476 the Roman Empire fell–or rather, its western halfdid. Its eastern half, which would come to be known as theByzantine Empire, would endure and often flourish for anothereleven centuries. Though its capital would move to Constantinople,its citizens referred to themselves as Roman for the entireduration of the empire’s existence. Indeed, so did its neighbors,allies, and enemies: When the Turkish Sultan Mehmet II conqueredConstantinople in 1453, he took the title Caesar of Rome, placinghimself in a direct line that led back to Augustus. For far too many otherwise historically savvy people today, thestory of the Byzantine civilization is something of a void. Yet formore than a millennium, Byzantium reigned as the glittering seat ofChristian civilization. When Europe fell into the Dark Ages,Byzantium held fast against Muslim expansion, keeping Christianityalive. When literacy all but vanished in the West, Byzantium madeprimary education available to both sexes. Students debated themerits

A gripping intellectual adventure story, Sailing fromByzantium sweeps you from the deserts of Arabia to the dark forestsof northern Russia, from the colorful towns of Renaissance Italy tothe final moments of a millennial city under siege…. Byzantium: the successor of Greece and Rome, this magnificentempire bridged the ancient and modern worlds for more than athousand years. Without Byzantium, the works of Homer andHerodotus, Plato and Aristotle, Sophocles and Aeschylus, wouldnever have survived. Yet very few of us have any idea of theenormous debt we owe them. The story of Byzantium is a real-life adventure of electrifyingideas, high drama, colorful characters, and inspiring feats ofdaring. In Sailing from Byzantium, Colin Wells tells of themissionaries, mystics, philosophers, and artists who against greatodds and often at peril of their own lives spread Greek ideas tothe Italians, the Arabs, and the Slavs. Their heroic efforts inspired the Renaissance, the golden age ofIslamic lear

In the 1930s Orwell was sent by a socialist book club toinvestigate the appalling mass unemployment in the industrial northof England. He went beyond his assignment to investigate theemployed as well-”to see the most typical section of the Englishworking class.” Foreword by Victor Gollancz.

This handsomely illustrated volume commemorates AbrahamLincoln’s 200th birthday and gives rare insight into the Presidentwho shook the world—and whose words and example endure today innations from Siberia to Mexico to Pakistan. This is the officialbook of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (ALPLM)in Springfield, Illinois that has welcomed more than one millionvisitors since its 2005 opening. Using the exhibition halls as a launching point, this book offersstories, anecdotes, and never-before-seen images and artifacts fromthe museum’s vault. It positions Lincoln as a man of his century, atime ripe with Industrial Revolution, travel and culture,abolition, and war. Worldwide events figure into the story:Britain’s emergence as a democracy, Russia’s freeing of the serfs,Japan’s opening to foreign trade, Germany’s unity underBismarck. Every page reflects the humor, integrity, and unique style ofleadership that made Abe Lincoln a legend. Quote boxes reveal hissayings

On June 14, 1940, German tanks rolled into a silent anddeserted Paris. Eight days later, a humbled France accepted defeatalong with foreign occupation. The only consolation was that, whilethe swastika now flew over Paris, the City of Light was undamaged.Soon, a peculiar kind of normality returned as theaters, operahouses, movie theaters and nightclubs reopened for business. Thissuited both conquerors and vanquished: the Germans wanted Parisiansto be distracted, while the French could show that, culturally atleast, they had not been defeated. Over the next four years, theartistic life of Paris flourished with as much verve as inpeacetime. Only a handful of writers and intellectuals asked ifthis was an appropriate response to the horrors of a worldwar. Alan Riding introduces us to a panoply of writers, painters,composers, actors and dancers who kept working throughout theoccupation. Maurice Chevalier and ?dith Piaf sang before French andGerman audiences. Pablo Picasso, whose art was officially banned,continue

In a remarkably vibrant narrative, Michael Stürmer blends highpolitics, social history, portraiture, and an unparalleled commandof military and economic developments to tell the story ofGermany’s breakneck rise from new nation to Continental superpower.It begins with the German military’s greatest triumph, theFranco-Prussian War, and then tracks the forces of unification,industrialization, colonization, and militarization as theycombined to propel Germany to become the force that fatallydestabilized Europe’s balance of power. Without The GermanEmpire ’s masterly rendering of this story, a full understandingof the roots of World War I and World War II is impossible.

“Reads like a novel. A fast-paced page-turner, it haseverything: sex, wit, humor, and adventures. But it is animpressively researched and important story.” —David Fromkin, author of Europe’s Last Summer Vienna, 1814 is an evocative and brilliantly researched accountof the most audacious and extravagant peace conference in modernEuropean history. With the feared Napoleon Bonaparte presumablydefeated and exiled to the small island of Elba, heads of some 216states gathered in Vienna to begin piecing together the ruins ofhis toppled empire. Major questions loomed: What would be done withFrance? How were the newly liberated territories to be divided?What type of restitution would be offered to families of thedeceased? But this unprecedented gathering of kings, dignitaries,and diplomatic leaders unfurled a seemingly endless stream ofpersonal vendettas, long-simmering feuds, and romanticentanglements that threatened to undermine the crucial work athand, even as their hard-fought policy dec

Instead of the dying Old Regime, Schama presents an ebullientcountry, vital and inventive, infatuated with novelty andtechnology--a strikingly fresh view of Louis XVI's France. A NewYork Times bestseller in hardcover. 200 illustrations.

This brief and illuminating account of the ideas of worldorder prevalent in the Elizabethan age and later is anindispensable companion for readers of the great writers of thesixteenth and seventeenth centuries—Shakespeare and the Elizabethandramatists, Donne and Milton, among many others. The basic medievalidea of an ordered Chain of Being is studied by Professor Tillyardin the process of its various transformations by the dynamic spiritof the Renaissance. Among his topics are: Angels; the Stars andFortunes; the Analogy between Macrocosm and Microcosm; the FourElements; the Four Humours; Sympathies; Correspondences; and theCosmic Dance—ideas and symbols which inspirited the minds andimaginations not only of the Elizabethans but of all men of theRenaissance.

Each year, the Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps selects onebook that he believes is both relevant and timeless for reading byall Marines. The Commandant's choice for 1993 was We WereSoldiers Once . . . and Young . In November 1965, some 450 men of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry,under the command of Lt. Col. Hal Moore, were dropped by helicopterinto a small clearing in the Ia Drang Valley. They were immediatelysurrounded by 2,000 North Vietnamese soldiers. Three days later,only two and a half miles away, a sister battalion was chopped topieces. Together, these actions at the landing zones X-Ray andAlbany constituted one of the most savage and significant battlesof the Vietnam War. How these men persevered--sacrificed themselves for their comradesand never gave up--makes a vivid portrait of war at its mostinspiring and devastating. General Moore and Joseph Galloway, theonly journalist on the ground throughout the fighting, haveinterviewed hundreds of men who fought there, including the NorthVietnamese co

Upon its original publication, Plagues and Peoples wasan immediate critical and popular success, offering a radically newinterpretation of world history as seen through the extraordinaryimpact--political, demographic, ecological, and psychological--ofdisease on cultures. From the conquest of Mexico by smallpox asmuch as by the Spanish, to the bubonic plague in China, to thetyphoid epidemic in Europe, the history of disease is the historyof humankind. With the identification of AIDS in the early 1980s,another chapter has been added to this chronicle of events, whichWilliam McNeill explores in his new introduction to this updatedediton. Thought-provoking, well-researched, and compulsively readable, Plagues and Peoples is that rare book that is as fascinatingas it is scholarly, as intriguing as it is enlightening. "Abrilliantly conceptualized and challenging achievement" (KirkusReviews), it is essential reading, offering a new perspective onhuman history.

A magisterial history of the titanic struggle between theRoman and Jewish worlds that led to the destruction ofJerusalem. Martin Goodman—equally renowned in Jewish and in Romanstudies—examines this conflict, its causes, and its consequenceswith unprecedented authority and thoroughness. He delineates theincompatibility between the cultural, political, and religiousbeliefs and practices of the two peoples and explains how Rome'sinterests were served by a policy of brutality against the Jews. Atthe same time, Christians began to distance themselves from theirorigins, becoming increasingly hostile toward Jews as Christianinfluence spread within the empire. This is the authoritative workof how these two great civilizations collided and how thereverberations are felt to this day.

Includes the complete texts of Common Sense; Rights ofMan, Part the Second; The Age of Reason (part one); FourLetters on Interesting Subjects , published anonymously and justdiscovered to be Paine’s work; and Letter to the AbbéRaynal, Paine’s first examination of world events; as well asselections from The American Crises In 1776, America was a hotbed of enlightenment and revolution.Thomas Paine not only spurred his fellow Americans to action butsoon came to symbolize the spirit of the Revolution. His elegantlypersuasive pieces spoke to the hearts and minds of those fightingfor freedom. He was later outlawed in Britain, jailed in France,and finally labeled an atheist upon his return to America.

Sun Tzu's Art of War , compiled more than two thousand yearsago, is a study of the anatomy of organizations in conflict. It isperhaps the most prestigious and influential book of strategy inthe world today. Now, this unique volume brings together theessential versions of Sun Tzu's text, along with illuminatingcommentaries and auxiliary texts written by distinguishedstrategists. The translations, by the renowned translator ThomasCleary, have all been published previously in book form, except forThe Silver Sparrow Art of War, which is available here for thefirst time. This comprehensive collection contains: The Art of War: This edition of Sun Tzu's text includes theclassic collection of commentaries by eleven interpreters. Mastering the Art of War: Consisting of essays by two prominentstatesmen-generals of Han dynasty China, Zhuge Liang and Liu Ji,this book develops the strategies of Sun Tzu's classic into acomplete handbook of organization and leadership. It draws onepisodes from Chinese his

The First Battle is a graphic account of the first major clashof the Vietnam War. On August 18, 1965, regiment fought regiment onthe Van Tuong Peninsula near the new Marine base at Chu Lai. On theAmerican side were three battalions of Marines under the command ofColonel Oscar Peatross, a hero of two previous wars. His opponentwas the 1st Viet Cong Regiment commanded by Nguyen Dinh Trong, aveteran of many fights against the French and the South Vietnamese.Codenamed Operation Starlite, this action was a resounding successfor the Marines and its result was cause for great optimism aboutAmerica's future in Vietnam. Those expecting a book about Americansin battle will not be disappointed by the detailed de*ions ofhow the fight unfolded. Marine participants from private to colonelwere interviewed during the book's research phase. The battle isseen from the mud level, by those who were at the point of thespear. But this is not just another war story told exclusively fromthe American side. In researching the book, t

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

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.

The Hellenistic Age chronicles the years 336 to 30 BCE, aperiod that witnessed the overlap of two of antiquity’s greatcivilizations, the Greek and the Roman. Peter Green’s remarkablyfar-ranging study covers the prevalent themes and events of thosecenturies: the Hellenization, by Alexander’s conquests, of animmense swath of the known world; the lengthy and chaotic partitionof this empire by rival Macedonian bands; the decline of thecity-state as the predominant political institution; and, finally,Rome’s moment of transition from republican to imperial rule. It isa story of war and power-politics, and of the developing fortunesof art, science, and statecraft, spun by an accomplished classicistwith an uncanny knack for infusing life into the distant past, andapplying fresh insights that make ancient history seem alarminglyrelevant to our own times. “Spectacular . . . [filled with] Mr. Green’s criticalacumen.” –The Wall Street Journal “Green draws upon a li

Renowned in her time for being the most beautiful woman inEurope, the wife of two kings and mother of three, Eleanor ofAquitaine was one of the great heroines of the Middle Ages. At atime when women were regarded as little more than chattel, Eleanormanaged to defy convention as she exercised power in the politicalsphere and crucial influence over her husbands and sons. In thisbeautifully written biography, Alison Weir paints a vibrantportrait of this truly exceptional woman, and provides new insightsinto her intimate world. Eleanor of Aquitaine lived a long life ofmany contrasts, of splendor and desolation, power and peril, and inthis stunning narrative, Weir captures the woman— and the queen—inall her glory. With astonishing historic detail, mesmerizingpageantry, and irresistible accounts of royal scandal and intrigue,she recreates not only a remarkable personality but a magnificentpast era.