Dreams of Power: The Story of Cynethryth, the First Lady of the English


Jayne Stone - 2015
    Over twelve hundred years ago, Cynethryth ruled with Offa to become one of the most powerful couples in English history. And although she's the only Anglo-Saxon queen to have coinage issued in her name, she is remembered today only for her purported murder of a fellow king. Was she an infamous monster, or is this only how she appeared to the (male) chroniclers of her day? Read her story and you decide, but remember: his-story is not always the same as her-story. (Warning: this book deals with adult topics and situations.)

Covert Duress (A Danny Jabo Novel Book 4)


Todd Tucker - 2017
    It's a journey across the globe, and back in time, as Danny must familiarize himself with diesel-powered submarines and the heroic World War II captains who commanded them.

The Mammoth Slayers


Kenneth Edward Barnes - 2018
    It is about a small clan of Neanderthals that survive the harsh and brutal environment where the men must hunt giant beasts to feed themselves and their family. Things are not always bad, however, as there are times of excitement, love and even humor. The place where these cave people live will someday be called Northern Europe. Roaming the countryside are not only the giant imperial mammoth, but also wooly rhinos, saber-toothed tigers, dire wolves, huge cave bears and other dangerous animals. Their greatest challenge, however, may not be the terrifying beasts they must face, but something even more sinister. Four men are usually in the hunting party and they are the ones which lay their life on the line every day. The women of the story are just as important as the men when it comes to making life worth living. From little eight-year-old Mulda to the sexy Oona who was stolen from another clan, the women are all special. Yes, this is an unforgettable story with characters the reader will fall in love with.

The Rise of the Seleukid Empire (323 - 223 BC): Seleukos I to Seleukos III


John D. Grainger - 2014
    It was ruled for all that time by a succession of able kings, but broke down twice, before eventually succumbing to dynastic rivalries, and simultaneous external invasions and internal grasps for independence. The first king, Seleukos I, established a pattern of rule which was unusually friendly towards his subjects, and his policies promoted the steady growth of wealth and population in many areas which had been depopulated when he took them over. In particular the dynasty was active in founding cities from Asia Minor to Central Asia. Its work set the social and economic scene of the Middle East for many centuries to come. Yet these kings had to be warriors too as they defended their realm from jealous neighbors. John D Grainger's trilogy charts the rise and fall of this superpower of the ancient world.In the first volume, John D Grainger relates the remarkable twists of fortune and daring that saw Seleukos, an officer in an elite guard unit, emerge from the wars of the diadochi (Alexander's successors) in control of the largest and richest part of the empire of the late Alexander the Great. After his conquests and eventual murder, we then see how his successors continued his policies, including the repeated wars with the Ptolemaic rules of Egypt over control of Syria. The volume ends with the deep internal crisis and the wars of the brothers, which left only a single member of the dynasty alive in 223 BC.

The Adventures of Akbar


Flora Annie Steel - 2006
    You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

Heart of the Bison


Glen R. Stott - 2002
    Kec’s dream tells her that her clan is in jeopardy, and Mother Earth expects her to do something to save her people. A magic child will be sent to help her.Far away, Strong Branch, a powerful Shaman of his people, has his own dream. The Great Spirit sends him a warning about a future of conflict and killing.Kec’s people are very simple, but they are strong and powerful enough to have survived the ice ages of Pleistocene Europe, by force, for over one-hundred-thousand years. Strong Branch’s people are late comers from an alien world far to the South. They bring an advanced technology that allows them to utilize the environment to ways Kec’s people never could.As the population of the aliens has grown over a period of more than twenty-thousand years, the stress on the environment has become critical. Kec and Strong Branch must play their parts in a microcosm of the greater struggle for survival. The conclusion of their struggle will establish a new story and a new history for each of their peoples.

Conquest and Empire: The Reign of Alexander the Great


Albert Brian Bosworth - 1988
    In this book, Professor Bosworth attempts an up-to-date survey of the period in all its respects.This title reflects two main focuses: the process by which empire was acquired and the means by which the conquered territory was controlled, exploited and administered. The campaigns of Alexander in Europe and Asia are chronicled in detail in Part One. Although much of the emphasis of the book, thanks to Alexander-rented writers of antiquity, is on episodes where the king is protagonist, the discussion attempts to widen the perspective and examine the impact of the reign at all levels. There is a detailed account of the Greek mainland, explaining what Macedonian suzerainty implied and how the various city-states adapted to it, and a survey of the individual components of empire and the largely haphazard system of administration that evolved after conquest. The Macedonian army is examined in its role as the instrument of conquest, and its evolution during the reign is analyzed. Finally, there is an essay on the origins of the ruler cult. These more detailed thematic studies complement and enlarge upon the running narrative of campaigns and events, to present full coverage in breadth and depth.This is an unromanticised account of the reign of Alexander the Great, based firmly on the ancient sources. As such it will be particularly welcome yo students and teachers of ancient history. The careful account of the battles and campaigns will be of interest to military historians, and the whole book is written to be accessible to the general reader as well.

Grand Canyon Thunder


Gary McCarthy - 2011
    THE 1869 POWELL EXPEDITION...deep in a chasm of roaring water and soaring stone and at a deadly stretch of river now named Separation Rapids, three desperate men abandoned the expedition after months of unspeakable hardships and near starvation. But only one of the three could survive high up on the wild, uncharted North Rim. WILLIAM DUNN...a mountain man forever haunted by guilt and driven by the love of extraordinary women will cast his fate across the vast and magnificent Grand Canyon of the Colorado in an epic tale of undying courage. This is a story of fearless river adventurers, brave and beautiful women and the early Mormon pioneers all of whose lives are interwoven with the Navaho, Hopi and the Havasupai...“The People of the Blue Green Water.” GRAND CANYON THUNDER is a never to be forgotten American saga written by multiple award-winning author Gary McCarthy.

Savage Eden


K.M. Ashman - 2011
    In the meantime, miles away, his clan's peaceful existence is devastated by an attack from an unknown cannibalistic species, the Baal. Some of the clan are killed but many more are taken as prey by the Baal to their lands beyond the ice wall. When Golau leads a rescue mission north, Inter species alliances are forged with the Neanderthal and barriers are broken down as the struggle for survival intensifies. Meanwhile back in the clan, hunger and tragedy force the remaining clan members to embrace strange new ideas from a lowly teenage girl and a mentally challenged boy.A final bloody confrontation ensues, but not before Golau unveils the strange ancestry of the Neanderthal, a horrifying, truth about the Baal, and the uncertain future of humanity.

The Byzantine Wars


John F. Haldon - 2001
    By the middle of the 6th century the Byzantine emperor ruled a mighty empire that straddled Europe, Asia, and North Africa. Within 100 years, this powerful empire had been cut in half. Two centuries later the Byzantine empire was once again a power to be reckoned with that soon recovered its position as the paramount East Mediterranean and Balkan power, an empire whose fabulous wealth attracted Viking mercenaries and central Asian nomad warriors to its armies, whose very appearance on the field of battle was sometimes enough to bring enemies to terms. This book provides essential support for those interested in Byzantine history in general as well as a useful corrective to the more usual highly romanticized views of Byzantine civilization.

Somanatha: The Many Voices of a History


Romila Thapar - 2004
    The story of the raid has reverberated in Indian history, but largely during the raj. It was first depicted as a trauma for the Hindu population not in India, but in the House of Commons. The triumphalist accounts of the event in Turko-Persian chronicles became the main source for most eighteenth-century historians. It suited everyone and helped the British to divide and rule a multi-millioned subcontinent.In her new book, Romila Thapar, the doyenne of Indian historians, reconstructs what took place by studying other sources, including local Sanskrit inscriptions, biographies of kings and merchants of the period, court epics and popular narratives that have survived. The result is astounding and undermines the traditional version of what took place. These findings also contest the current Hindu religious nationalism that constantly utilises the conventional version of this history.

Daughter of the Goddess Lands


Sandra Saidak - 2011
    As the sole survivor of the assault, Kalie makes her way home, and warns her people to prepare for the invasion that she knows is coming. But the goddess-worshiping farmers of her home have no concept of battle, and dismiss Kalie's warning.When the marauders strike again, they cut a swath of destruction and death that prove too late the truth of Kalie’s words. Then Haraak, the leader of the invaders, demands a tribute of gold, grain and women in exchange for sparing her village. Yet it is in Harak's cruel show of power that Kalie sees a chance to save her people--and gain revenge for herself.Kalie leads a group of volunteers to infiltrate the horseman's society, and then destroy them from within. Once she is among them, Kalie uses her skill as a storyteller, and her knowledge of healing to penetrate the horsemen’s inner circle and to discover the secrets that could lead to their destruction.But Kalie discovers that price of revenge is high, and that a quest for vengeance can become a journey of healing and redemption.

The History of the Mongol Conquests


J.J. Saunders - 2001
    These nomadic peoples from central Asia briefly held sway over an empire that stretched across Asia to the frontiers of Germany and the shores of the Adriatic. Surprisingly little has been written on this vast and immensely influential empire, known chiefly through the charismatic leaders, Chingis Khan and Kublai Khan.J. J. Saunders's landmark book, first published in 1972, is a carefully documented introductory history of the rise and fall of the great Mongol empire. Saunders sets the historical stage with a discussion of nomad groups and cultures at the dawn of the second millennium, and then traces the rise of the Mongol conquests through the earlier Turkish expansion into Asia between the eighth and twelfth centuries. Beginning in the early 1200s, the Mongols led by Chingis Khan began their insatiable assault on all the kingdoms and peoples around them, erasing whole cities, killing entire populations, forcing mass migrations, and permanently changing the distribution of the world's major religions. The Mongols were finally checked along the edges of Europe and forced out of the Middle East by rejuvenated Muslim factions.As Saunders concludes, one of the major legacies of the Mongol conquests was the transfer of intellectual and scientific primacy of the Old World from Islamic societies to Western Europe, paving the way for the Renaissance.

The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World


David W. Anthony - 2007
    But who were the early speakers of this ancient mother tongue, and how did they manage to spread it around the globe? Until now their identity has remained a tantalizing mystery to linguists, archaeologists, and even Nazis seeking the roots of the Aryan race. The Horse, the Wheel, and Language lifts the veil that has long shrouded these original Indo-European speakers, and reveals how their domestication of horses and use of the wheel spread language and transformed civilization.Linking prehistoric archaeological remains with the development of language, David Anthony identifies the prehistoric peoples of central Eurasia's steppe grasslands as the original speakers of Proto-Indo-European, and shows how their innovative use of the ox wagon, horseback riding, and the warrior's chariot turned the Eurasian steppes into a thriving transcontinental corridor of communication, commerce, and cultural exchange. He explains how they spread their traditions and gave rise to important advances in copper mining, warfare, and patron-client political institutions, thereby ushering in an era of vibrant social change. Anthony also describes his fascinating discovery of how the wear from bits on ancient horse teeth reveals the origins of horseback riding.The Horse, the Wheel, and Language solves a puzzle that has vexed scholars for two centuries--the source of the Indo-European languages and English--and recovers a magnificent and influential civilization from the past.

Aftershock: The Ancient Cataclysm That Erased Human History


Brien Foerster - 2016
    Global sea levels, as the result of rapidly melting polar ice rose by more than 300 feet in a very short period of time, causing the planet to become unstable.In Egypt, Peru, Bolivia, Lebanon and other locations we see the existence of ancient damaged but very sophisticated megalithic stone structures which we would be hard pressed to re-create today. They hint that once upon a time one or "Atlantean" civilizations indeed did exist