Whether foot soldier, samurai or trained assassin, these men were driven by strict codes of honor and bound by deep allegiances of rank, family or religion.This book examines the military lives of four formidable warrior types, covering the samurai and the ninja as well as the experiences of warrior monks and ashigaru foot soldiers, less familiar to western readers. The recruitment, training and equipment of each warrior type are described, and their beliefs, motivation and experience of warfare are explored. Rare material from Japanese sources makes this a highly authoritative treatment of the military elites of medieval Japan, brought to life by lavish illustrations and photography.

    (the most fearful defeat suffered by a Roman army since Cannae in 216 B.C.) and Marignano (1515 A.D.), the last of the triumphs of the medieval horseman. It was extensively revised and edited by John H. Beeler in 1953 to incorporate many new facts uncovered since the late nineteenth century.

    Selected as one of the six best nonfiction books of 1990 by the editors f the New York Times Book Review, this is a compelling and entertaining account of the author's two-and-a-half year adventure in Equatorial Guinea, and his efforts to get this small bankrupt African nation on the path of structural development.

    Lynch was a British slave owner in the West Indies. He was invited to the colony of Virginia in 1712 to teach his methods to slave owners. He argues that he can ensure that slaves remain slaves for a 1000 years by way of dividing rule, using, age, gender, skin shade and geography, as strategy that appears to have worked with great success.

    With original contributions by the world’sleading thinkers and scientists, including Jared Diamond, Daniel C. Dennett,Brian Eno, Jaron Lanier,Nicholas Christakis, and others, Culture offers a mind-expanding primeron a fundamental topic. Unparalleled in scope, depth, insight and quality, Edge.org’s Culture is not to be missed.

    The book contains the crazy, funny and sometimes horrifying anecdotes musicians have told about a lifestyle both invigorating and at times self-destructive. The metal genre has always been populated by colorful individuals who have thwarted convention and lived by their own rules. For many, vice has been virtue, and the opportunity to record albums and tour has been an invitation to push boundaries and open a Pandora ’s Box of wild experiences. Even before they joined bands, the urge for metalheads to rebel and a seemingly contradictory need to belong was ingrained in their DNA. Whether they were oddballs who didn’t fit in or angry kids from troubled backgrounds, metal gave them a sense of identity and became more than a form of music. From the author of the classic collection of Metal music-making tales Louder Than Hell comes a collection that goes behind the music with the lead singers, guitarists, bassists, drummers, stage hands, roadies, groupies, fans, and more. These are the stories of the parties, the tours, the rage, the joy, . . . the Heavy Metal life!

    Siam Mapped challenges much that has been written on Thai history because it demonstrates convincingly that the physical and political definition of Thailand on which other works are based is anachronistic.

    This distance was approximately 40 km, however, was changed in 1908 to please a lazy 67-year-old king.In nearly every geography classroom around the world hangs a map called the Mercator Projection. This is the mostly widely distributed, yet inaccurate map in history and could be distorting societal views on the world.Americans celebrate Christopher Columbus Day, despite the fact he was not the first to discover America, nor did he set foot on the North American continent. The famous Italian explorer died alone and poor, with his heirs suing the Spanish Crown for their share of the New World fortune.Pallor, algor, rigor, and livor mortis are the different stages of a decomposing body, which help coroners determine the time and cause of death, and if the body has been moved. When humans eventually expire, the last thing they see is a tunnel of white light, as they slowly fade away... Is it the gates of heaven?In the late 19th century, the world suffered from a pollution epidemic that threatened the entire existence of global cities. This environmental threat did not originate from rats, or factories, but instead horse manure. This was not the first time in history that poop threatened to destroy our civilization.The Most Interesting Person in the Room is a rich, fast-paced exploratory journey into the world. This debut book from author Thomas Vernon is a glorified fact book, exploring the broad topics into Health, History, Sport, Finance, and Death. The informal, easy-to-read style enables the reader to jump down the rabbit hole of curiosity and learn about topics and issues to broaden the reader's horizon.

    Whether taking us to Orléans to evoke the miraculous visions of Joan of Arc, to Versailles to experience the flamboyant achievements of Louis XIV, or to the Place de la Concorde to witness the beheading of Marie Antoinette, Caro animates history with her lush descriptions of architectural splendors and tales of court intrigue. Organizing her destinations chronologically from twelfth-century Saint-Denis to the nineteenth-century Restoration at Chantilly, Caro appeals not only to the casual tourist aboard the Metro or the TGV but also to the armchair reader of Peter Mayle's A Year in Provence. Caro's passion for and knowledge of France—its soaring cathedrals, enthralling history, and sumptuous cuisine—are so impressive that Paris to the Past promises to become one of the classic guidebooks of our time.

    Colin McEvedy tracks the development of modern man, the differentiation and spread of languages, the first crossings of the Sahara, the exploration of the Niger, and the search for the 'fountains of the Nile'. Gold and ivory lure traders from far away; Christendom and Islam compete for African attention. Names from the distant past become nation-states with aspirations appropriate to the modern world. With sixty maps and a clear, concise text, this synthesis is especially useful to African studies and history teachers, but is also a fascinating guide for the general reader.

    Long overshadowed by the stunning American victory at Saratoga, the complex British campaign that defeated George Washington's colonial army and led to the capture of the capital city of Philadelphia was one of the most important military events of the war. Michael C. Harris's impressive Brandywine: A Military History of the Battle that Lost Philadelphia but Saved America, September 11, 1777, is the first full-length study of this pivotal engagement in many years.General Sir William Howe launched his campaign in late July 1777, when he loaded his army of 16,500 British and Hessian soldiers aboard a 265-ship armada in New York and set sail. Six difficult weeks later Howe's expedition landed near Elkton, Maryland, and moved north into Pennsylvania. Washington's rebel army harassed Howe's men at several locations including a minor but violent skirmish at Cooch's Bridge in Delaware on September 3. Another week of hit-and-run tactics followed until Howe was within three miles of Chads's Ford on Brandywine Creek, behind which Washington had posted his army in strategic blocking positions along a six-mile front. The young colonial capital of Philadelphia was just 25 miles farther east.Obscured by darkness and a heavy morning fog, General Howe initiated his plan of attack at 5:00 a.m. on September 11, pushing against the American center at Chads's Ford with part of his army while the bulk of his command swung around Washington's exposed right flank to deliver his coup de main, destroy the colonials, and march on Philadelphia. Warned of Howe's flanking attack just in time, American generals turned their divisions to face the threat. The bitter fighting on Birmingham Hill drove the Americans from the field, but their heroic defensive stand saved Washington's army from destruction and proved that the nascent Continental foot soldiers could stand toe-to-toe with their foe. Although fighting would follow, Philadelphia fell to Howe's legions on September 26.Harris's Brandywine is the first complete study to merge the strategic, political, and tactical history of this complex operation and important set-piece battle into a single compelling account. More than a decade in the making, his sweeping prose relies almost exclusively upon original archival research and his personal knowledge of the terrain. Enhanced with original maps, illustrations, and modern photos, and told largely through the words of those who fought there, Brandywine will take its place as one of the most important military studies of the American Revolution ever written."

    Crafting an engrossing journey from the gushing Pennsylvania oil fields of the 1860s to today's fraught and fractious Middle East, Crude Volatility explains how past periods of stability and volatility in oil prices help us understand the new boom-bust era. Oil's notorious volatility has always been considered a scourge afflicting not only the oil industry but also the broader economy and geopolitical landscape; Robert McNally makes sense of how oil became so central to our world and why it is subject to such extreme price fluctuations.Tracing a history marked by conflict, intrigue, and extreme uncertainty, McNally shows how--even from the oil industry's first years--wild and harmful price volatility prompted industry leaders and officials to undertake extraordinary efforts to stabilize oil prices by controlling production. Herculean market interventions--first, by Rockefeller's Standard Oil, then, by U.S. state regulators in partnership with major international oil companies, and, finally, by OPEC--succeeded to varying degrees in taming the beast. McNally, a veteran oil market and policy expert, explains the consequences of the ebbing of OPEC's power, debunking myths and offering recommendations--including mistakes to avoid--as we confront the unwelcome return of boom and bust oil prices.

    Over thirty years ago, the man who did such important, pioneering work in Kon-Tiki wrote another best-selling book, Aku-Aku, about Easter Island. More recently, Heyerdahl was invited to return to Easter Island and there confronted the conundrum of the famous, haunting statues that stud the lovely island, massive and mysterious.How were they made? How were they moved? What did the natives mean when they had said, those many years earlier, that "the statues walked"? Who made them--and where did the Easter Islanders themselves come from? What did earlier visitors discover--or believe?It is characteristic of Dr. Heyerdahl's many explorations that his research, his theories, his conclusions all are entwined with objectives greater than mere adventure. Just as his expeditions have been partly in pursuit and proof of his theories that early man traveled further (and faster) than others had previously suspected, and that the peoples of many cultures can work together peacefully, his probes into the past are coupled with an enduring, endearing conviction--never before displayed better than in this volume--that just as we must avoid prejudice in the present, we should not look down on the people of the past--for they and we have more in common than it might seem.

    From the days of the American Revolution, to the Jacobin French Revolution, to the coalition wars against Napoleon, to Andrew Jackson’s war on the Central Bank, to Karl Marx’s war on sanity, to the U.S. Civil War, to the Reds’ shocking wave of 19th century assassinations, to the conspiratorial founding of the Federal Reserve, to the horrific First World War to enslave Germany, to the Rothschild-Communist subversion of Russia's Czar, to the horrible World War against Hitler and Japan, to the Cold War, to the JFK assassination, to the "women's movement" to the Global Warming Hoax, to the "fall of communism", to the 9/11 attacks & the "War On Terror", and finally, to the looming confrontation with Russia and China - the common thread of the New World Order crime gang links all of these events together. At the heart of this self-perpetuating network sits the legendary House of Rothschild – the true owners of ‘Planet Rothschild’. Though an alliance with other billionaire families, universities, corporations, think tanks and media moguls worldwide; the cabal has, for 250 years, manipulated world events and political players like so many pawns on a global chessboard. Now, you can earn your 'Phd' in NWO studies by reading the epic two-volume timeline thriller - PLANET ROTHSCHILD. It is a unique "blurb by blurb" chronological and photographical review that will enrich your depth of historical knowledge like no other work of its kind. **************************** "Absolutely mind bending research... I was hooked immediately! I had studied the NWO for years but had no idea of so many of the critical events revealed in PLANET ROTHSCHILD." - Carl Norris, Davenport, Iowa

    AS A MAN THINKETH2. FROM POVERTY TO POWER; OR, THE REALIZATION OF PROSPERITY AND PEACE. THE PATH OF PROSPERITY3. THE WAY OF PEACE4. ALL THESE THINGS ADDED.5. BYWAYS OF BLESSEDNESS.6. THE MASTERY OF DESTINY.7. THE LIFE TRIUMPHANT:MASTERING THE HEART AND MIND.8. EIGHT PILLARS OF PROSPERITY.9. FOUNDATION STONES TO HAPPINESS AND SUCCESS.10. ABOVE LIFE'S TURMOIL.11. FROM PASSION TO PEACE.12. MAN: KING OF MIND, BODY, AND CIRCUMSTANCE.13. LIGHT ON LIFE'S DIFFICULTIES14. MEN AND SYSTEMS.15. THE SHINING GATEWAY16. OUT FROM THE HEART.17. THROUGH THE GATES OF GOOD, OR CHRIST AND CONDUCT.18. THE DIVINE COMPANION.19. MORNING AND EVENING THOUGHTS.20. JAMES ALLEN'S BOOK OF MEDITATIONS FOR EVERY DAY IN THE YEAR.21. POEMS OF PEACE