The Crusades were the bridge between medieval and modernhistory, between feudalism and colonialism. In many ways, thelittle explored later Crusades were the most significant of themall, for they made the crisis truly global. The LastCrusaders is about the period?s last great conflict betweenEast and West, and the titanic contest between Habsburg-ledChristendom and the Ottoman Empire in the fifteenth and sixteenthcenturies. From the great naval campaigns and the ferociousstruggle to dominate the North African shore, the conflict spreadout along trade routes, consuming nations and cultures, destroyingdynasties, and spawning the first colonial empires in South Americaand the Indian Ocean. Acclaimed scholar of Islamic history and author Barnaby Rogersonilluminates the Last Crusades in an accessible and skillful manner.He shows how, to this day, the disputed borders of the Crusades erastand as defining frontiers and dividing lines between languages,nations, and religions. From Constantinople to Fez, from Rhode

Pliny's "Natural History" is an astonishingly ambitious workthat ranges from astronomy to art and from geography to zoology.Mingling acute observation with often wild speculation, it offers afascinating view of the world as it was understood in the firstcentury AD, whether describing the danger of diving for sponges,the first water-clock, or the use of asses' milk to removewrinkles. Pliny himself died while investigating the volcaniceruption that destroyed Pompeii in AD 79, and the natural curiositythat brought about his death is also very much evident in the"Natural History" - a book that proved highly influential right upuntil the Renaissance and that his nephew, Pliny the younger,described 'as full of variety as nature itself'.

Mark Kurlansky, the bestselling author of Cod and The Basque History of the World , here turns his attention toa common household item with a long and intriguing history: salt.The only rock we eat, salt has shaped civilization from the verybeginning, and its story is a glittering, often surprising part ofthe history of humankind. A substance so valuable it served ascurrency, salt has influenced the establishment of trade routes andcities, provoked and financed wars, secured empires, and inspiredrevolutions. Populated by colorful characters and filled with anunending series of fascinating details, Kurlansky's kaleidoscopichistory is a supremely entertaining, multi-layered masterpiece.

Nine Greek biographies illustrate the rise and fall of Athens,from the legendary days of Theseus, the city's founder, throughSolon, Themistocles, Aristides, Cimon, Pericles, Nicias, andAlcibiades, to the razing of its walls by Lysander.

Completed in 1136, "The History of the Kings of Britain"traces the story of the realm from its supposed foundation byBrutus to the coming of the Saxons some two thousand years later.Vividly portraying legendary and semi-legendary figures such asLear, Cymbeline, Merlin the magician and the most famous of allBritish heroes, King Arthur, it is as much myth as it is historyand its veracity was questioned by other medieval writers. ButGeoffrey of Monmouth's powerful evocation of illustrious men anddeeds captured the imagination of subsequent generations, and hisinfluence can be traced through the works of Malory, Shakespeare,Dryden and Tennyson.

Tacitus' "Annals of Imperial Rome" recount the majorhistorical events from the years shortly before the death ofAugustus up to the death of Nero in AD 68. With clarity and vividintensity he describes the reign of terror under the corruptTiberius, the great fire of Rome during the time of Nero, and thewars, poisonings, scandals, conspiracies and murders that were partof imperial life. Despite his claim that the Annals were writtenobjectively, Tacitus' account is sharply critical of the emperors'excesses and fearful for the future of Imperial Rome, while alsofilled with a longing for its past glories.

Xenophon's "History" recounts nearly fifty turbulent years ofwarfare in Greece between 411 and 362 BC. Continuing the story ofthe Peloponnesian War at the point where Thucydides finished hismagisterial history, this is a fascinating chronicle of theconflicts that ultimately led to the decline of Greece, and thewars with both Thebes and the might of Persia. An Athenian bybirth, Xenophon became a firm supporter of the Spartan cause, andfought against the Athenians in the battle of Coronea. Combininghistory and memoir, this is a brilliant account of the triumphs andfailures of city-states, and a portrait of Greece at a time ofcrisis.

A renowned historian contends "that the Americanwarrior, not technology, wins wars." (Patrick K. O'Donnell, authorof Give Me Tomorrow ) John C. McManus coverssix decades of warfare in which the courage of American troopsproved the crucial difference between victory and defeat. Based onyears of archival research and personal interviews with veterans,Grunts demonstrates the vital, and too often forgotten, importanceof the human element in protecting the American nation, andadvances a passionate plea for fundamental change in ourunderstanding of war.

The Red Army's invasion of Berlin in January 1945 was one of themost terrifying examples of fire and sword in history. Frenzied byterrible memories of Wehrmacht and SS brutality, the Russianswreaked havoc, leaving hundreds of thousands of civilians dead andmillions more fleeing westward. Drawing upon newly availablematerial from former Soviet files, as well as from German,American, British, French, and Swedish archives, bestselling authorAntony Beevor vividly recounts the experiences of the millions ofcivilians and soldiers caught up in the nightmare of the ThirdReich's final collapse. The Fall of Berlin 1945 is aheartrending story of pride, stupidity, fanaticism, revenge, andsavagery, yet it is also one of astonishing human endurance,self-sacrifice, and survival against all odds.

A masterly and beautifully written account of theimpact of Alexander von Humboldt on nineteenth-century Americanhistory and culture The naturalist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859)achieved unparalleled fame in his own time. Today, however, he andhis enormous legacy to American thought are virtually unknown. In The Humboldt Current , Aaron Sachs traces Humboldt’spervasive influence on American history through examining the workof four explorers—J. N. Reynolds, Clarence King, George Wallace,and John Muir—who embraced Humboldt’s idea of a "chain ofconnection" uniting all peoples and all environments. A skillfulblend of narrative and interpretation that also discussesHumboldt’s influence on Emerson, Whitman, Thoreau, Melville, andPoe, The Humboldt Current offers a colorful, passionate, andsuperbly written reinterpretation of nineteenth-century Americanhistory.

From the author of the New York Times bestseller The Wealth and Poverty of Nations , a fascinatinglook at the crossroads of kin and coin David S. Landes has earned a reputation as a brilliant writer andiconoclast among economic historians. In his latest acclaimed work,he takes a revealing look at the quality that distinguishes a thirdof today's Fortune 500 companies: family ownership. From thebanking fortunes of Rothschild and Morgan to the automobile empiresof Ford and Toyota, Landes explores thirteen different dynasties,revealing what lay behind their successes-and how extravagance, badbehavior, and poor enterprise brought some of them to their knees.A colorful history that is full of surprising conclusions, Dynasties is an engrossing mix of ambition, eccentricity,and wealth.

There has been a great deal written on the secret longings andsexual hypocrisy of the Victorian era's upper crust, but almostnothing has chronicled the erotic desires and sexuality of London'sworking class. Now, in this painstakingly researched book, theirtouching and emotional stories can be told.

Hailed on publication in 1957 as "probably the only book published this year that will outlive the century," this is a brilliant of the idea that there are fixed laws in history and that human beings are able to predict them.

Marine Sniper is not only one of the most astonishingtrue stories to emerge from the Vietnam War, it has become aclassic of military nonfiction, inspiring a sequel, SilentWarrior: The Marine Sniper's Vietnam Story Continues . There have been many Marines. There have been many marksmen. Butthere has only been one Sergeant Carlos Hathcock. A legend in theMarine ranks, Hathcock stalked the Viet Cong behind enemy lines-ontheir own ground. And each time he emerged from the jungle havingdone his duty. His record is one of the finest in military history,with 93 confirmed kills. This is the story of a simple man who endured incredible dangersand hardships for his country and his Corps. These are the missionsthat have made Carlos Hathcock a legend in the brotherhood ofMarines.

Writing at the time of Napoleon's greatest campaigns, Prussiansoldier and writer Carl von Clausewitz created this landmarktreatise on the art of warfare, which presented war as part of acoherent system of political thought. In line with Napoleon's ownmilitary actions, he illustrated the need to annihilate the enemyand make a strong display of one's power in an 'absolute war'without compromise. But he was also careful to distinguish betweenwar and politics, arguing that war could only be justified whendebate was no longer adequate, and that if undertaken, its aimshould ultimately be to improve the wellbeing of the nation.

The Complete Idiots Guide(r) to World War II, SecondEdition , will feature updated and expanded coverage of thefateful D-Day invasion, a critical timeline of major WW II events,and a WW II timeline highlighting the crucial and most importantevents of the war. It will include details about major battles onland, in the air, and on the sea-starting with Hitler's rise topower and his goal of European conquest; to Japan's bombing ofPearl Harbor; to the decisive battles such as D-Day and the Battleof the Midway, which turned they tides of the war toward theAllies.

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.

For nineteenth-century Swiss historian Jacob Burckhardt, theItalian Renaissance was nothing less than the beginning of themodern world - a world in which flourishing individualism and thecompetition for fame radically transformed science, the arts, andpolitics. In this landmark work he depicts the Italian city-statesof Florence, Venice and Rome as providing the seeds of a new formof society, and traces the rise of the creative individual, fromDante to Michelangelo. A fascinating de*ion of an era ofcultural transition, this nineteenth-century masterpiece was tobecome the most influential interpretation of the ItalianRenaissance, and anticipated ideas such as Nietzsche's concept ofthe 'Ubermensch' in its portrayal of an age of genius.

Taken from Appian's Roman History, the five books collectedhere form the sole surviving continuous historical narrative of theera between 133-35 BC - a time of anarchy and instability for theRoman Empire. A masterly account of a turbulent epoch, theydescribe the Catiline conspiracy; the rise and fall of the FirstTriumvirate; the murder of Julius Caesar; the formation of theSecond Triumvirate by Antonius, Octavian, and Lepidus; and brutalcivil war. A compelling depiction of the decline of the Roman stateinto brutality and violence, The Civil Wars portrays politicaldiscontent, selfishness and the struggle for power - a strugglethat was to culminate in a titanic battle for mastery over theRoman Empire, and the defeat of Antony and Cleopatra by Octavian in31 BC

In this brilliant synthesis of social, political, and culturalhistory, Antony Beevor and Artemis Cooper present a vivid andcompelling portrayal of the City of Lights after its liberation.Paris became the diplomatic battleground in the opening stages ofthe Cold War. Against this volatile political backdrop, everyaspect of life is portrayed: scores were settled in a rough and uneven justice, black marketers grewrich on the misery of the population, and a growing number ofintellectual luminaries and artists— including Hemingway, Beckett,Camus, Sartre, de Beauvoir, Cocteau, andPicasso—contributed new ideas and a renewed vitality to this extraordinary moment intime.

The fifty most important speeches of all time: their context,history, and meaning for our world The speeches remembered by history are rarely remembered incontext; but it was almost always the context, not the speechitself, that made each address so significant. Terry Golway hasselected fifty speeches that changed the world through the sheerpower of their oratory. From Moses to Mandela and others fromacross time and around the world, Golway's selections are eachilluminated with an insightful essay setting the speech squarely inits historical contexts and detailing its impact and consequences.In doing so, Golway allows us to fully understand their importanceand effect. Including speeches from Jesus, Mohammed, Cicero, Pericles,Cromwell, Washington, Pope Urban II, John Winthrop, Kennedy,Emperor Hirohito, Barbara Jordan, Ho Chi Minh, Khrushchev,Robespierre, Patrick Henry, Queen Elizabeth I, Reagan, Mandela,FDR, Hitler, Churchill, Barack Obama and many more, this book is anhistoric achievement.

Award-winning author Alexander Stille has been called "one ofthe best English-language writers on Italy" by the New YorkTimes Book Review , and in The Sack of Rome he sets outto answer the question: What happens when vast wealth, a virtualmedia monopoly, and acute shamelessness combine in one man? Manyare the crimes of Silvio Berlusconi, Stille argues, and, with deftanalysis, he weaves them into a single mesmerizing chronicle—anepic saga of rank criminality, cronyism, and self-dealing at thehighest levels of power.

The only surviving works from one of the world's earliesthistorians, in important new translations Sallust's first published work, Catiline's War, contains thememorable history of the year 63, including his thoughts onCatiline, a Roman politician who made an ill-fated attempt tooverthrow the Roman Republic. In The Jugurthine War, Sallust dwellsupon the feebleness of the Senate and aristocracy, having collectedmaterials and compiled notes for this work during his governorshipof Numidia.

The roar of frenzied spectators inside the Coliseum during abattle between gladiators. A crowd of onlookers gathered around aslave driver. The wondrous plenty of banquets where flamingos areroasted whole and wine flows like rivers. The silence of the bathsand the boisterous taverns . . . Many books have dealt with thehistory of ancient Rome, but none has been able to bring itsreaders so near to daily life in the Imperial capital. This extraordinary voyage of exploration, guided by Alberto Angelawith the charm of a born story- teller, lasts twenty- four hours,beginning at dawn on an ordinary day in the year 115 A.D., withImperial Rome at the height of its power. The reader wakes in arich patrician home and discovers frescoes, opulent furnishings andrichly appointed boudoirs. Strolling though the splendors of theRoman Forum, one overhears both erudite opinions from learnedorators and local ribaldry floating out from the public latrines.One meets the intense gazes of Roman matriarchs strolling thestreets, look