History comes alive in this engaging and lavishly illustratedchronicle, which spans world events and people from ancient timesto the 21st century. The voices of the great and humble speak to usthrough songs, documents, edicts, poetry, letters, menus, and evengraffiti, revealing each era's conflicts, daily life, arts,science, religion, and enduring influence. Interactive designfocuses on the tangible artifacts of history, and magnificentillustrations—including period art, archival photographs, andexpertly rendered scenes of long-ago events—bring vivid immediacyand eye appeal to every colorful spread. With its unique emphasison voices from the past, its competitive price point, and itsinviting, innovative design, Eyewitness to History is poised to beTHE pick for value-minded customers looking for an absorbing takeon world history.

The rivalry that presaged the world’s most tenaciousconflict As the Arab -Israeli conflict continues to plaguethe Middle East, historian Ronald Florence offers extraordinary newinsights on its origins. This is the story of T. E. Lawrence, theyoung British officer who became famous around the world asLawrence of Arabia, Aaron Aaronsohn, an agronomist from Palestine,and the antagonism that divided them over the fate of the dyingOttoman Empire during World War I—a clash of visions that set Arabnationalism and Zionism on a direct collision course thatreverberates to this day.

The popular primer to Latino life and culture—updatedfor 2008 Latinos represent the fastest-growing ethnic population in theUnited States. In an accessible and entertainingquestion-and-answer format, this completely revised 2008 editionprovides the most current perspective on Latino history in themaking, including: ? New Mexico governor Bill Richardson’s announced candidacy for the2008 presidential election ? Ugly Betty —the hit ABC TV show based on the Latinotelenovela phenomenon ? The number of Latino players in Major League baseball surpassingthe 25 percent mark ? Immigration legislation and the battle over the Mexicanborder ? The state of Castro’s health and what it means for Cuba More than ever, this concise yet comprehensive reference guide isthe ideal introduction to the vast and varied history and cultureof this multifaceted ethnic group.

In The Wall Street Journal, Victor Davis Hanson named With theOld Breed one of the top five books on epic twentieth-centurybattles. Studs Terkel interviewed the author for his definitiveoral history, The Good War. Now E. B. Sledge’s acclaimedfirst-person account of fighting at Peleliu and Okinawa returns tothrill, edify, and inspire a new generation. An Alabama boy steeped in American history and enamored of suchheroes as George Washington and Daniel Boone, Eugene B. Sledgebecame part of the war’s famous 1st Marine Division–3d Battalion,5th Marines. Even after intense training, he was shocked to bethrown into the battle of Peleliu, where “the world was a nightmareof flashes, explosions, and snapping bullets.” By the time Sledgehit the hell of Okinawa, he was a combat vet, still filled withfear but no longer with panic. Based on notes Sledge secretly kept in a copy of the NewTestament, With the Old Breed captures with utter simplicity andsearing honesty the experience of a soldier

Gibbon’s masterpiece, which narrates the history of the RomanEmpire from the second century a.d. to its collapse in the west inthe fifth century and in the east in the fifteenth century, iswidely considered the greatest work of history ever written. Thisabridgment retains the full scope of the original, but in a compassequivalent to a long novel. Casual readers now have access to thefull sweep of Gibbon’s narrative, while instructors and studentshave a volume that can be read in a single term. This uniqueedition emphasizes elements ignored in all other abridgments—inparticular the role of religion in the empire and the rise ofIslam.

Here are two thousand years of London’s history and folklore,its chroniclers and criminals and plain citizens, its food anddrink and countless pleasures. Blackfriar’s and Charing Cross,Paddington and Bedlam. Westminster Abbey and St. Martin in theFields. Cockneys and vagrants. Immigrants, peasants, and punks. ThePlague, the Great Fire, the Blitz. London at all times of day andnight, and in all kinds of weather. In well-chosen anecdotes, keenobservations, and the words of hundreds of its citizens andvisitors, Ackroyd reveals the ingenuity and grit and vitality ofLondon. Through a unique thematic tour of the physical city and itsinimitable soul, the city comes alive.

Two of the most influential figures in American history. Twoopposing political philosophies. Two radically different visionsfor America. Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton were without question twoof the most important Founding Fathers. They were also the fiercestof rivals. Of these two political titans, it is Jefferson—–therevered author of the Declaration of Independence and our thirdpresident—–who is better remembered today. But in fact it isHamilton’s political legacy that has triumphed—–a legacy that hassubverted the Constitution and transformed the federal governmentinto the very leviathan state that our forefathers fought againstin the American Revolution. How did we go from the Jeffersonian ideal of limited governmentto the bloated imperialist system of Hamilton’s design? Acclaimedeconomic historian Thomas J. DiLorenzo provides the troublinganswer in Hamilton’s Curse. DiLorenzo reveals how Hamilton, first as a delegate to theConstitutional Convention and

General George S. Patton and General Erwin Rommel. They servedtheir countries through two World Wars. Their temperaments, both onand off the battlefield, couldn't be further apart from eachother-but their approaches to modern warfare were verysimilar. Written by a prominent military historian, Patton andRommel takes a provocative look at both figures, intertwiningthe stories of the paths they took and the decisions they madeduring the course of the Second World War-and compares the livesand careers of two men whose military tactics changed the course ofhistory.

Since its publication twenty years ago, J. M. Roberts'smonumental History of the World has remained the "unrivaled WorldHistory of our day" (A. J. P. Taylor), selling more than a quarterof a million copies worldwide. Now in an equally masterfulperformance, Roberts displays his consummate skills of expositionin telling the tale of the European continent, from its Neolithicorigins and early civilizations of the Aegean to the advent of thetwenty-first century. A sweeping and entertaining history, ThePenguin History of Europe comprehensively traces the development ofEuropean identity over the course of thousands of years, rangingacross empires and religions, economics, science, and the arts.Roberts's astute and lucid analyses of the disparate spheres oflearning that have shaped European civilization and ourunderstanding of it make The Penguin History of Europe a remarkablejourney through the last two centuries.

The epic story of the collision between one of nature’ssmallest organisms and history’s mightiest empire During the golden age of the Roman Empire, Emperor Justinianreigned over a territory that stretched from Italy to North Africa.It was the zenith of his achievements and the last of them. In 542AD, the bubonic plague struck. In weeks, the glorious classicalworld of Justinian had been plunged into the medieval and modernEurope was born. At its height, five thousand people died every day inConstantinople. Cities were completely depopulated. It was thefirst pandemic the world had ever known and it left its indeliblemark: when the plague finally ended, more than 25 million peoplewere dead. Weaving together history, microbiology, ecology,jurisprudence, theology, and epidemiology, Justinian’s Flea is aunique and sweeping account of the little known event that changedthe course of a continent.

The 2007–08 subprime financial crisis is the jumping-off point for Smick's (Johnson Smick International) examination of current threats to global prosperity. He explains that although the subprime losses are small in the context of world financial markets, a lack of transparency has diminished investor confidence, dried up financial liquidity, and threatened the very foundations of our world financial system. He says that the growth of global financial markets has made it more difficult for central banks like the U.S. Federal Reserve to intercede effectively in times of crisis. Smick compares the subprime crisis to past events like the UK's forced devaluation of the pound in 1992 and Japan's economic stagnation in the 1990s. He warns of pending dangers like an overheating of the Chinese development juggernaut and the present calls for protectionism by U.S. politicians. He favors a global financial system built on transparency and trust. Smick's role for some 30 years as an economic adviser to central banker

The most complete portrait ever drawn of the complex emotionalconnection between two of history’s towering leaders Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill were the greatest leadersof “the Greatest Generation.” In Franklin and Winston, Jon Meachamexplores the fascinating relationship between the two men whopiloted the free world to victory in World War II. It was a crucialfriendship, and a unique one—a president and a prime ministerspending enormous amounts of time together (113 days during thewar) and exchanging nearly two thousand messages. Amid cocktails,cigarettes, and cigars, they met, often secretly, in places asfar-flung as Washington, Hyde Park, Casablanca, and Teheran,talking to each other of war, politics, the burden of command,their health, their wives, and their children. Born in the nineteenth century and molders of the twentieth andtwenty-first, Roosevelt and Churchill had much in common. Sons ofthe elite, students of history, politicians of the first rank, theysavored power. In their

It was the most influential marriage of the nineteenthcentury–and one of history’s most enduring love stories.Traditional biographies tell us that Queen Victoria inherited thethrone as a na?ve teenager, when the British Empire was at theheight of its power, and seemed doomed to find failure as a monarchand misery as a woman until she married her German cousin Albertand accepted him as her lord and master. Now renowned chroniclerGillian Gill turns this familiar story on its head, revealing astrong, feisty queen and a brilliant, fragile prince workingtogether to build a family based on support, trust, and fidelity,qualities neither had seen much of as children. The love affairthat emerges is far more captivating, complex, and relevant thanthat depicted in any previous account. The epic relationship began poorly. The cousins first met asteenagers for a few brief, awkward, chaperoned weeks in 1836. Atseventeen, charming rather than beautiful, Victoria already “showedsigns of wanting her own way

Provides a comprehensive look at both sides of the Vietnam Warthrough a collection of personal tales and delves into thepolitical and military events in the United States and elsewherethat originally caused the war and the brought it to an end.Reprint. TV tie-in."

For the first time in decades, here, in a single volume, is afresh look at the fabled Tudor dynasty, comprising some of the mostenigmatic figures ever to rule a country. Acclaimed historian G. J.Meyer reveals the flesh-and-bone reality in all its wildexcess. In 1485, young Henry Tudor, whose claim to the throne was so weakas to be almost laughable, crossed the English Channel from Franceat the head of a ragtag little army and took the crown from thefamily that had ruled England for almost four hundred years. Half acentury later his son, Henry VIII, desperate to rid himself of hisfirst wife in order to marry a second, launched a reign of terroraimed at taking powers no previous monarch had even dreamed ofpossessing. In the process he plunged his kingdom into generationsof division and disorder, creating a legacy of blood and betrayalthat would blight the lives of his children and the destiny of hiscountry. The boy king Edward VI, a fervent believer in reforming theEnglish church, died before

Alexander the Great (356-323 BC), who led the Macedonian armyto victory in Egypt, Syria, Persia and India, was perhaps the mostsuccessful conqueror the world has ever seen. Yet although no otherindividual has attracted so much speculation across the centuries,Alexander himself remains an enigma. Curtius' History offers agreat deal of information unobtainable from other sources of thetime. A compelling narrative of a turbulent era, the work recountsevents on a heroic scale, detailing court intrigue, stirringspeeches and brutal battles - among them, those of Macedonia'sgreat war with Persia, which was to culminate in Alexander's finaltriumph over King Darius and the defeat of an ancient and mightyempire. It also provides by far the most plausible and hauntingportrait of Alexander we possess: a brilliantly realized image of aman ruined by constant good fortune in his youth.

More than one million Americans have served in Iraq andAfghanistan, but fewer than 500 from this group have earned aSilver Star, Navy Cross, Air Force Cross, Distinguished ServiceCross, or the Medal of Honor. These Americans have demonstratedextraordinary courage under fire—in the worst of circumstances.They come from all branches of the military. They also come fromall over the country and all walks of life, representing the entirespectrum of races and creeds. But what unites them are their deeds of consummate bravery,beyond the call of duty. Heroes Among Us tells theseextraordinary true stories of valor, honor and sacrifice.

Part of the briefing included familiarizing the men with theenemy uniforms. Private Robert “Lightnin” Hayes had thisrecollection to add: “I remember the day we were assembled in atent for the first time and an officer told us where we were goingto jump. He then paused to watch our reactions. There was a sandtable near by with a facsimile of the terrain on which we weregoing to drop. There were tw...

Writing with passion and intelligence, Said retraces thePalestinian Hejira, its disastrous flirtation with Saddam Hussein,and its ambitious peace accord with Israel. Said demolishes Westernstereotypes about the Muslim world and Islam's illusions aboutitself, leaving a masterly synthesis of scholarship and polemicwith the power to redefine the debate over the Middle East.

Mann is well aware that much of the history he relates isnecessarily speculative, the product of pot-shard interpretationand precise scientific measurements that often end up beingradically revised in later decades. But the most compelling of hiseye-opening revisionist stories are among the best-founded: thestories of early American-European contact. To many of those whowere there, the earliest encounters felt more like a meeting ofequals than one of natural domination. And those who came later andfound an emptied landscape that seemed ripe for the taking, Mannargues convincingly, encountered not the natural and unchangingstate of the native American, but the evidence of a suddencalamity: the ravages of what was likely the greatest epidemic inhuman history, the smallpox and other diseases introducedinadvertently by Europeans to a population without immunity, whichswept through the Americas faster than the explorers who broughtit, and left behind for their discovery a land that held only ashadow of the

In Patton, Montgomery, Rommel , one of Britain's mostaccomplished military scholars presents an unprecedented study ofthe land war in the North African and European theaters, as well astheir chief commanders—three men who also happened to be the mostcompelling dramatis personae of World War II. Beyond spellbinding depictions of pivotal confrontations at ElAlamein, Monte Cassino, and the Ardennes forest, author-scholarTerry Brighton illuminates the personal motivations and historicalevents that propelled the three men's careers: how Patton's,Montgomery's, and Rommel's Great War experiences helped to moldtheir style of command—and how, exactly, they managed to applytheir arguably megalomaniacal personalities (and hithertounrecognized political acumen and tact) to advance their careersand strategic vision. Opening new avenues of inquiry into the lives and careers of threemen widely profiled by scholars and popular historians alike,Brighton definitively answers numerous lingering and controversialquestion

The distinguished historian of the Jewish people, Howard M.Sachar, gives us a comprehensive and enthralling chronicle of theachievements and traumas of the Jews over the last four hundredyears. Tracking their fate from Western Europe’s age of mercantilism inthe seventeenth century to the post-Soviet and post-imperialistIslamic upheavals of the twenty-first century, Sachar applies hisrenowned narrative skill to the central role of the Jews in many ofthe most impressive achievements of modern civilization: whether inthe rise of economic capitalism or of political socialism; in thediscoveries of theoretical physics or applied medicine; in “higher”literary criticism or mass communication and popularentertainment. As his account unfolds and moves from epoch to epoch, fromcontinent to continent, from Europe to the Americas and the MiddleEast, Sachar evaluates communities that, until lately, have beenunderestimated in the perspective of Jewish and world history—amongthem, Jews of Sephardic