In this well-written and well-researched social history F.R.Cowell succeeds in making Life in Ancient Rome alive and dynamic.The combination of acute historical detail and supplementaryillustrations makes this book perfectly suited for the studentpreparing to explore the classics, as well as the tourist preparingto explore twentieth-century Rome. Lucid and engaging, Life InAncient Rome is for anyone seeking familiarity with the greatnessthat was Rome.

They Came Before Columbus reveals a compelling,dramatic, and superbly detailed documentation of the presence andlegacy of Africans in ancient America. Examining navigation andshipbuilding; cultural analogies between Native Americans andAfricans; the transportation of plants, animals, and textilesbetween the continents; and the diaries, journals, and oralaccounts of the explorers themselves, Ivan Van Sertima builds apyramid of evidence to support his claim of an African presence inthe New World centuries before Columbus. Combining impressivescholarship with a novelist’s gift for storytelling, Van Sertimare-creates some of the most powerful scenes of human history: thelaunching of the great ships of Mali in 1310 (two hundred masterboats and two hundred supply boats), the sea expedition of theMandingo king in 1311, and many others. In They Came BeforeColumbus, we see clearly the unmistakable face and handprint ofblack Africans in pre-Columbian America, and their overwhelmingimpact on the civilizatio

A wise and witty compendium of the greatest thoughts, greatestminds, and greatest books of all time -- listed in accessible andsuccinct form -- by one of the world's greatest scholars. From the "Hundred Best Books" to the "Ten Greatest Thinkers" tothe "Ten Greatest Poets," here is a concise collection of theworld's most significant knowledge. For the better part of acentury, Will Durant dwelled upon -- and wrote about -- the mostsignificant eras, individuals, and achievements of human history.His selections have finally been brought together in a single,compact volume. Durant eloquently defends his choices of thegreatest minds and ideas, but he also stimulates readers intoforming their own opinions, encouraging them to shed theirsurroundings and biases and enter "The Country of the Mind," atimeless realm where the heroes of our species dwell. From a thinker who always chose to exalt the positive in thehuman species, The Greatest Minds and Ideas of All Time stays true to Durant's optimism. This is a book c

When Hitler ’s Pope , the shocking story of Pope PiusXII that “redefined the history of the twentieth century” ( TheWashington Post ) was originally published, it sparked afirestorm of controversy both inside and outside the CatholicChurch. Now, award-winning journalist John Cornwell has revisitedthis seminal work of history with a new introduction that bothanswers his critics and reaffirms his overall thesis that Pius XII,now scheduled to be canonized by the Vatican, weakened the CatholicChurch with his endorsement of Hitler—and sealed the fate of theJews in Europe.

A visual journey through 3,000 years of naval warfare-now inpaperback! From the clash of galleys in Ancient Greece to deadlyencounters between nuclear-powered submarines in the 20th century,explore every aspect of the story of naval warfare on, under, andabove the sea.

This classic remains one of Karl Popper's most wide-ranging and popular works, notable not only for its acute insight into the way scientific knowledge grows, but also for applying those insights to politics and to history.

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.

This celebration of the English countryside does not only focus on the rolling green landscapes and magnificent monuments that set England apart from the rest of the world. Many of the contributors bring their own special touch, presenting a refreshingly eclectic variety of personal icons, from pub signs to seaside piers, from cattle grids to canal boats, and from village cricket to nimbies. First published as a lavish colour coffeetable book, this new expanded paperback edition has double the original number of contributions from many celebrities including Bill Bryson, Michael Palin, Eric Clapton, Bryan Ferry, Sebastian Faulks, Kate Adie, Kevin Spacey, Gavin Pretor-Pinney, Richard Mabey , Simon Jenkins, John Sergeant, Benjamin Zephaniah, Joan Bakewell, Antony Beevor, Libby Purves, Jonathan Dimbleby, and many more: and a new preface by HRH Prince Charles.

In this widely praised history of an infamous institution,award-winning scholar Marcus Rediker shines a light into thedarkest corners of the British and American slave ships of theeighteenth century. Drawing on thirty years of research in maritimearchives, court records, diaries, and firsthand accounts, TheSlave Ship is riveting and sobering in its revelations,reconstructing in chilling detail a world nearly lost to history:the “floating dungeons” at the forefront of the birth of AfricanAmerican culture.

Since its first publication in 1945? Lord Russell's A History of Western Philosophy has been universally acclaimed as the outstanding one-volume work on the subject -- unparalleled in its comprehensiveness, its clarity, its erudition, its grace and wit. In seventy-six chapters he traces philosophy from the rise of Greek civilization to the emergence of logical analysis in the twentieth century. Among the philosophers considered are: Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Parmenides, Empedocles, Anaxagoras, the Atomists, Protagoras, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, the Cynics, the Sceptics, the Epicureans, the Stoics, Plotinus, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, Benedict, Gregory the Great, John the Scot, Aquinas, Duns Scotus, William of Occam, Machiavelli, Erasmus, More, Bacon, Hobbes, Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, the Utilitarians, Marx, Bergson, James, Dewey, and lastly the philosophers with whom Lord Russell himself is most closely associated -- Cantor, Frege, and

On 22 June 1941, the German army invaded the Soviet Union, onehundred fifty divisions advancing on three axes in a surpriseattack that overwhelmed and destroyed whatever opposition theRussians were able to muster. The German High Command was under theimpression that the Red Army could be destroyed west of the DneprRiver and that there would be no need for conducting operations incold, snow, and mud. They were wrong. In reality, the extreme conditions of the German war in Russiawere so brutal that past experiences simply paled before them.Everything in Russia--the land, the weather, the distances, andabove all the people--was harder, harsher, more unforgiving, andmore deadly than anything the German soldier had ever facedbefore. Based on the recollections of four veteran German commanders ofthose battles, FIGHTING IN HELL describes in detail what happenedwhen the world's best-publicized "supermen" met the world's mostbrutal fighting. It is not a tale for the squeamish.

In this groundbreaking work, leading historian FelipeFernández-Armesto tells the story of our hemisphere as a whole,showing why it is impossible to understand North, Central, andSouth America in isolation without turning to the intertwiningforces that shape the region. With imagination, thematic breadth,and his trademark wit, Fernández-Armesto covers a range ofcultural, political, and social subjects, taking us from the dawnof human migration to North America to the Colonial andIndependence periods to the “American Century” and beyond.Fernández-Armesto does nothing less than revise the conventionalwisdom about cross-cultural exchange, conflict, and interaction,making and supporting some brilliantly provocative conclusionsabout the Americas’ past and where we are headed.

Did Eisenhower avoid a showdown with Stalin by not takingBerlin before the Soviets? What might have happened if JFK hadn'tbeen assassinated? This new volume in the widely praised seriespresents fascinating "what if..." scenarios by such prominenthistorians as: Robert Dallek, Caleb Carr, Antony Beevor, JohnLukacs, Jay Winick, Thomas Fleming, Tom Wicker, Theodore Rabb,Victor David Hansen, Cecelia Holland, Andrew Roberts, Ted Morgan,George Feifer, Robert L. O'Connell, Lawrence Malkin, and John F.Stacks. Included are two essential bonus essays reprinted from theoriginal New York Times bestseller What If? (tm)-DavidMcCullough imagines Washington's disastrous defeat at the Battle ofLong Island, and James McPherson envisions Lee's successfulinvasion of the North in 1862.

An examination of privacy and the evolution of communication,from broken sealing wax to high-tech wiretapping A sweeping story of the right to privacy as it sped alongcolonial postal routes, telegraph wires, and even today’sfiber-optic cables, American Privacy traces the lineage of culturalnorms and legal mandates that have swirled around the FourthAmendment since its adoption. Legally, technologically, andhistorically grounded, Frederick Lane’s book presents a vivid andpenetrating exploration that, in the words of people’s historianHoward Zinn, “challenges us to defendour most basic rights.”

With his characteristic enthusiasm and erudition, PeterAckroyd follows his acclaimed London: A Biography with aninspired look into the heart and the history of the Englishimagination. To tell the story of its evolution, Ackroyd rangesacross literature and painting, philosophy and science,architecture and music, from Anglo-Saxon times to thetwentieth-century. Considering what is most English about artistsas diverse as Chaucer, William Hogarth, Benjamin Britten andViriginia Woolf, Ackroyd identifies a host of sometimescontradictory elements: pragmatism and whimsy, blood and gore, apassion for the past, a delight in eccentricity, and much more. Abrilliant, engaging and often surprising narrative, Albion reveals the manifold nature of English genius.

One of the most gifted and influential American journalists ofthe 20th century, A. J. Liebling spent five years reporting thedramatic events and myriad individual stories of World War II. As acorrespondent for The New Yorker , Liebling wrote with apassionate commitment to Allied victory, an unfailing attention totelling details, and an appreciation for the literary challengespresented by the “discursive, centrifugal, both repetitive anddisparate” nature of war. This volume brings together three booksalong with 26 uncollected New Yorker pieces and two excerptsfrom The Republic of Silence (1947), Liebling’s collectionof writing from the French Resistance. The Road Back to Paris (1944) narrates Liebling’sexperiences from September 1939 to March 1943, including his shockat the fall of France and dismay at isolationist indifference inthe United States; it contains classic accounts of a winter voyageon a Norwegian tanker during the Battle of the Atlantic, visits tofront-line airfields in

Just what you've always wanted: history at a glance-clearly and understandably presented. A diagram of knowledge It happens to all of us: we come across a term, a name, an epoch. We have already heard it before, but do not know exactly how or where to place it. This is where a flipguide comes in handy: by providing a detailed overview, it enables us to see connections clearly and to grasp the movement of entire epochs. Back to the basics-without losing sight of the whole:The concept is simple: a flip guide organizes important events, epochs, works of art and architecture chronologically and thus illustrates important historical relationships. It creates a whole new world of insight and enables the readers to understand causes and effects,transitions and parallel developments in art and history as never before.

In mid-1943 James Megellas, known as “Maggie” to his fellowparatroopers, joined the 82d Airborne Division, his new “home” forthe duration. His first taste of combat was in the rugged mountainsoutside Naples. In October 1943, when most of the 82d departed Italy to preparefor the D-Day invasion of France, Lt. Gen. Mark Clark, the FifthArmy commander, requested that the division’s 504th ParachuteInfantry Regiment, Maggie’s outfit, stay behind for a daring newoperation that would outflank the Nazis’ stubborn defensive linesand open the road to Rome. On 22 January 1944, Megellas and therest of the 504th landed across the beach at Anzio. Followinginitial success, Fifth Army’s amphibious assault, OperationShingle, bogged down in the face of heavy German counterattacksthat threatened to drive the Allies into the Tyrrhenian Sea. Anzioturned into a fiasco, one of the bloodiest Allied operations of thewar. Not until April were the remnants of the regiment withdrawnand shipped to England to r

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

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.

On April 29, 1968, the North Vietnamese Army is spotted lessthan four miles from the U.S. Marines’ Dong Ha Combat Base. Intensefighting develops in nearby Dai Do as the 2d Battalion, 4thMarines, known as “the Magnificent Bastards,” struggles to ejectNVA forces from this strategic position. Yet the BLT 2/4 Marines defy the brutal onslaught. Pressingforward, America’s finest warriors rout the NVA from theirfortress-hamlets–often in deadly hand-to-hand combat. At the end oftwo weeks of desperate, grinding battles, the Marines and theinfantry battalion supporting them are torn to shreds. But againstall odds, they beat back their savage adversary. The MagnificentBastards captures that gripping conflict in all its horror, hell,and heroism. “Superb . . . among the best writing on the Vietnam War . . .Nolan has skillfully woven operational records and oral historyinto a fascinating narrative that puts the reader in the thick ofthe action.” –Jon T. Hoffman, author of Chesty “