In a gripping narrative bursting with big names--from St Augustine and Attila the Hun to the Prophet Muhammad and Eleanor of Aquitaine--Dan Jones charges through the history of the Middle Ages. Powers and Thrones takes readers on a journey through an emerging Europe, the great capitals of late Antiquity, as well as the influential cities of the Islamic West, and culminates in the first contact between the old and new worlds in the sixteenth century.The medieval world was forged by the big forces that still occupy us today: climate change, pandemic disease, mass migration, and technological revolutions. This was the time when the great European nationalities were formed; when our basic Western systems of law and governance were codified; when the Christian Churches matured as both powerful institutions and the regulators of Western public morality; and when art, architecture, philosophical inquiry and scientific invention went through periods of massive, revolutionary change. At each stage in this story, successive western powers thrived by attracting--or stealing--the most valuable resources, ideas, and people from the rest of the world.The West was rebuilt on the ruins of an empire and emerged from a state of crisis and collapse to dominate the region and the world. Every sphere of human life and activity was transformed in the thousand years of Powers and Thrones. As we face a critical turning point in our own millennium, the legacy and lessons of how we got here matter more than ever.

    Her journey takes readers from the great cities of Europe and America to Egypt, Turkey, Greece, and Italy, as these countries face down the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum, the British Museum, and the J. Paul Getty Museum. She also introduces a cast of determined and implacable characters whose battles may strip these museums of some of their most cherished treasures.For readers who are fascinated by antiquity, who love to frequent museums, and who believe in the value of cultural exchange, Loot opens a new window on an enduring conflict.

     Emerging as a market town from a cluster of hill villages in the eighth and seventh centuries B.C., Rome grew to become the ancient world’s preeminent power. Everitt fashions the story of Rome’s rise to glory into an erudite page-turner filled with lasting lessons for our time. He chronicles the clash between patricians and plebeians that defined the politics of the Republic. He shows how Rome’s shrewd strategy of offering citizenship to her defeated subjects was instrumental in expanding the reach of her burgeoning empire. And he outlines the corrosion of constitutional norms that accompanied Rome’s imperial expansion, as old habits of political compromise gave way, leading to violence and civil war. In the end, unimaginable wealth and power corrupted the traditional virtues of the Republic, and Rome was left triumphant everywhere except within its own borders. Everitt paints indelible portraits of the great Romans—and non-Romans—who left their mark on the world out of which the mighty empire grew: Cincinnatus, Rome’s George Washington, the very model of the patrician warrior/aristocrat; the brilliant general Scipio Africanus, who turned back a challenge from the Carthaginian legend Hannibal; and Alexander the Great, the invincible Macedonian conqueror who became a role model for generations of would-be Roman rulers. Here also are the intellectual and philosophical leaders whose observations on the art of government and “the good life” have inspired every Western power from antiquity to the present: Cato the Elder, the famously incorruptible statesman who spoke out against the decadence of his times, and Cicero, the consummate orator whose championing of republican institutions put him on a collision course with Julius Caesar and whose writings on justice and liberty continue to inform our political discourse today. Rome’s decline and fall have long fascinated historians, but the story of how the empire was won is every bit as compelling. With The Rise of Rome, one of our most revered chroniclers of the ancient world tells that tale in a way that will galvanize, inform, and enlighten modern readers.

    Includes "The Ghost of Captain Brand," "Tom Chist and the Treasure Box," "Jack Ballister's Fortunes," "The Ruby of Kishmoor," and other tales. Enhanced with 63 of the author's own illustrations, including 11 full-color plates.

    Along the way, Wells considers such diverse subjects as the Neolithic era, the rise of Judaism, the Golden Age of Athens, the life of Christ, the rise of Islam, the discovery of America and the Industrial Revolution. Breathtaking in its scope and passionate in its intensity, this history remains one of the most readable of its kind.

    Sometimes it's murder, sometimes it's by accident, and sometimes it's because they were so ludicrous they didnt deserve to exist in the first place. Occasionally they explode violently. A few slip away almost unnoticed. Often the cause of death is either 'got too greedy' or 'Napoleon turned up'. Now and then they just hold a referendum and vote themselves out of existence.This is an atlas of 48 nations that fell off the map. The polite way of writing an obituary is: dwell on the good bits, gloss over the embarrassing stuff. This book refuses to do so, because these dead nations are so full of schemers, racists, and con men that it's impossible to skip the embarrassing stuff.Because of this - and because treating nation-states with too much reverence is the entire problem with pretty much everything - these accounts are not concerned with adding to the earnest flag saluting in the world, however nice some of the flags might be.

    The perfect balance between a historical reference and a gripping novel, this book offers an accurate and up-to-date account of every aspect of the Titanic saga, from its inception and construction to its more recent discovery and its impact on society and culture. The author also examines what has changed since Titanic was built and speaks to the question of whether a similar disaster could ever happen again. Complete with photos and web links, this book is written in an informal style that is appropriate for anyone interested in the subject - even young readers.

    Here, too, are the stories of the extraordinary emperors and generals who brought the empire into being and ultimately presided over its demise. We witness the glittering city of Constantinople from its rise to greatness through its deadly conclusion. Though Byzantium has faded away, its everlasting contributions to our world today are revealed in this fascinating history.

    He was eager to begin his first practice, but it turned out to be more than he bargained for. In just two years, in September, 1918, the entire village was sickened in rapid succession in the flu pandemic that killed quickly and indiscriminately throughout the world. It was wartime, and Nixon was unable to find help., This story is an up close and personal account of what it was like to be sick with the HINI type virus in 1918. It is a tale of a dedicated doctor whose selflessness, compassion and courage helped the villagers survive in the pandemic that killed more people in a year than the Black Death killed in a century...

    As one of the three men in control of the Roman Empire, Antony was perhaps the most powerful man of his day; while Cleopatra, who had already been Julius Caesar's lover, was the beautiful queen of Egypt, Rome's most important province. The clash of cultures, the power politics, and the personal passion have proven irresistable to storytellers.But in the course of this storytelling dozens of myths have grown up. The popular image of Cleopatra in ancient Egyptian costume is a fallacy; she was actually Greek, and far better versed in Roman culture than most storytellers give her credit for. Despite her local dominance in Egypt, her real power came from her ability to forge strong personal allegiances with the most important men in Rome. Likewise, Mark Antony was not the bluff soldier of legend, brought low by his love for an exotic woman - actually he was first and foremost a politician, and never allowed Cleopatra to dictate policy to him.In this history, based exclusively on ancient sources and archaeological evidence, Adrian Goldsworthy gives us the facts behind this famous couple. It may not be the story we expect or even wish for, but it is every bit as fascinating as the myth.

    It portrays the pirates, their weapons, ships, hideouts...and their victims.

    At the school of the menoi, or tutors, he did not excel at physical activities with the other royal princes. Keeping to himself, he observed and admired the work of his father's craftsmen, who built glorious temples to Egypt's many gods. Someday he too would find a gift for those gods. Then Amenhotep III died and the unpopular reign of Tutankhamen's brother ended in mystery. Who now would be pharaoh? Could it be a boy of only ten? As he did with the life of Saint Valentine (Atheneum, 1992), Robert Sabuda combines simple text with artwork true to the historical period in which Tutankhamen lived.

    Here the trials and triumphs of the early Muslims as individuals are well-portrayed. Their various paths to Islam - sometimes direct, sometimes long and tortuous, their devotion to the noble Prophet, their endeavours in peace time and their exploits in war - all serve to cast them in a heroic mould. This is the first of two (formerly published as a series of three) books based on original Arabic sources and written in a style that is lively and often gripping. The lives of the Sahabah or Companions of the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, is a rich storehouse of knowledge, guidance and inspiration. The men and women whose stories are told here helped to lay the foundations of a new world order, and it is only fitting that they should be more widely known.

    One such change was the Agricultural Revolution, with the domestication of plants and animals and a shift in survival strategies from hunting and gathering to farming and animal husbandry. Simultaneous with that was the Urban Revolution, the founding of cities. We discuss the current thinking on these revolutions in human existence and their relationship. Much of that discussion takes place in the context of the earliest city, ?atalh?y?k, and a second Neolithic foundation, Jericho. Both of these also provide material to explore the role of religion in the very earliest communities, to ask its role in city formation, and to explore the place of religious structures in city identity. Burial practices at the two cities also illuminate early ideas of property ownership and the definition of the family home.In the Bronze Age, cities grew most rapidly in civilizations founded in the great river valleys, from the Nile in Egypt, to the Euphrates in Mesopotamia, to the Indus in modern Pakistan and India. In these cities made of mud, we can trace elements of domestic life and civic spaces. Three of the cities, Mohenjo-daro in the Indus Valley and Kahun and Deir el-Medina in Egypt, have no recognizable public buildings. Yet the reasons for that negative evidence for civic life differ wildly, as do the structures of these societies. At Deir el-Medina, we encounter some of the oldest conclusive evidence for private enterprise in an ancient city. We also begin to see how social organization is reflected in city formation. The Sumerian city of Uruk, the first megacity in world history, provides the model for the monumentalization of religious structures and their integration in the civic space and government of the city. Finally, in the last of the Bronze Age mud-brick cities we will discuss, Amarna in Egypt, we are able to analyze city design as a deliberate means of changing the social structure of Egyptian society. This revolutionary city takes the lessons of Uruk on religion in the service of the state and develops them to reinforce the rule of the pharaoh, Akhenaten. Here, we also introduce the concept of the house as both an economic unit and a domestic space, an important indicator of the role of the house in the ancient city that we examine in Akrotiri, Athens, and Olynthus.In the four Mediterranean Bronze Age cities of Knossos, Akrotiri, Mycenae, and Tiryns, regular stone architecture makes an appearance. These cities, although they arise from different cultures, share some characteristics in common; we will discuss the idea and mechanisms of the spread of culture across the eastern Mediterranean. The theme of the role of religion continues to be an important one, and the size and placement of religious structures and their consequent meanings are debated with material from Knossos, Akrotiri, and Mycenae and comparisons back to ?atalh?y?k. Mycenae and Tiryns are contrasted with Uruk in their dedication of the high ground in the community, not to the gods, but to the king in the placement of his palace complex. This represents a heretofore unprecedented shift in the focus of urban design.Throughout the Neolithic and Bronze ages, it is possible to point out changes in urban forms, but the notion of “progress” in urban design?that is, reactions to what had come immediately before?is only truly visible with the multiple Greek foundations. We will examine a series of Greek cities?beginning with Athens in the 5th century B.C.; followed by Miletus, Olynthus, and Alexandria; and culminating at Pergamon?to illustrate what can be seen as progress in urban design. Athens in the 5th century has interesting correspondences to Uruk and Amarna. But at Miletus, a dramatic change in Greek urban design, Hippodamian planning, was invented and came to dominate the layout of many Greek and Roman cities with its variation of orthogonal planning. Inevitably, a new model of city design emerged that was anti-Hippodamian; the reasons for that are explored in one of the best examples of it, Pergamon.The examination of a number of Roman cities introduces in detail the issues of the benefits and challenges of urban life, particularly in the city of Rome itself. We also see remarkable variations in urban life in the Roman Empire, from Ostia in Italy to Karanis in Egypt. Rather than the standardized experience one might expect, we see regional variation and cultural identities that differ dramatically even across Roman North Africa.Finally, the last great city foundation of antiquity, Constantinople, encourages us to look backwards and chart its influences from the past and to look forward to its role as the model for the Middle Ages.

    A stunning overview of all human history, side by side with 140 custom maps.Learn how something like the printing press can define a time, or how the Allies in Europe could defeat the Nazis. There is so much to read about in this remarkable history book, and just as much to look at.Maps are more than the topography of the Earth or the borders of countries. Maps can represent the movement of people and ideas, and they provide a unique way to explain historical themes and explore sweeping periods of time.This stunning visual reference book starts with the evolution and migration of our oldest ancestors out of Africa. You can then look up maps about the Greece and Persian War, the Mongol Conquests, Medieval Europe's trade routes, and the rise of the Ottomans. There are maps about the colonization of North America, the scientific revolution, Napoleon's advances, and Britain's control of India. There's more in later centuries, like the Age of Imperialism, the American Civil War, industrialized Europe, and the transformation of Japan.This history book reaching across millennia gives you a broad view of the pivotal events in our past. With 140 maps, complimented with pictures, info boxes, and timelines, there's so much to enjoy and learn about. You will gain a strong understanding of some of the forces and movements across continents that have shaped our world.A Map Guided Tour of World HistoryInside this beautiful cover are concise and fascinating historical information, 140 custom maps, and many ways to engage in history that will interest many readers, from students wanting additional resources for school to history buffs that love a good book and cartography.Go on a guided tour through time:- Prehistory 7 MYA-3000 BCE - The Ancient World 3000 BCE-500 CE - Middle Ages 500-1450 CE - The Early Modern World 1450-1700 - Revolution and Industry 1700-1850 - Progress and Empire 1850-1914 - The Modern World 1914-Present