(The Great Courses #302)Keats compared discovering Homer to "finding a new planet." What is it in Homer's great works—and especially the Odyssey—that so enthralled him? Why have readers before and since reacted the same way?By joining award-winning classics professor Elizabeth Vandiver for these lectures on the Odyssey, you can get answers to these and hundreds of other questions.

    Meanwhile, Queen Ehlana is taken, captive, to the Hidden City, shielded by the invincible Klael. The ultimate battle looms.

    The Official Strategy Guide includes everything players need to conceive an effective plan and lead an assault: information on all special operatives to build the best possible team; essential strategy for planning and executing an assault; expert information on every mission; all weapons and locations detailed; and multiplayer tips and tactics.

    Men of wealth and presumed integrity in the financial world have committed treachery on a scale of uncounted billions of dollars, affecting millions of “ordinary people” around the globe.

    While her warrior sire Cutter battles in a distant land, Ember leads her splinter tribe of Wolfriders - the Howling Rock pack - deeper into unknown territory. Each day brings new challenges to her skills, as a fighter, as a planner, and as the leader she knows she must be - for she has her father's legend to live up to.How then to deal with the mysterious elfin stranger who can make himself invisible to even the keen senses of the Wolfriders. Can he aid Ember in her struggle against the evil of Winnowill? Or will he lead doom right into the elves' midst?

    In this story, Esfandiyar, the designated heir to the throne of Iran, has just returned in triumph from his campaign against the shah of Turan. He has slain Arjasp, Irans greatest enemy, captured his family and treasury, and liberated his own sisters from their captivity. He expects that his father, Goshtasp, will now abdicate the throne of Iran in his favor, as he had swornto. Goshtasp, however, is not yet ready to honor his promise. Instead he sets his son yet another task as a condition of his abdication. He must bring Irans greatest hero, Rostam, back to the court in chains. For Rostam has neither come to court to honor Goshtasp nor sent him a letter declaring loyalty. Esfandiyar recognizes this task as simply a way to put his own life at risk, and says as much. Yet he cannot refuse his fathers command. The story of Rostam and Esfandiyar displays a surprisingly modern skepticism about the values typically associated with Ferdowsis epic.It expresses a profound ambivalence about the demands of heroism, and is sharply critical of a monarch who exploits the courage and loyalty of his heroes to further his own selfish ends.