A millennium and a half after the end of the period of its unquestioned dominance, Rome remains a significant presence in western culture. This book explores what the empire meant to its subjects. The idea of Rome has long outlived the physical empire that gave it form, and now holds …

Charles Dickens famously called the era of the French Revolution the best and worst of times. For 10 years, from 1789 to 1799, France struggled to inaugurate a new European order based on the principles of liberty, equality, and fraternity. In the process, men wrote constitutions, women marched for bread, …

Frequently cited as a land that birthed civilization and culture as we know it, the impact of ancient Greece on the world cannot be overstated. Its flourishing city-states laid the creative foundations for much of the literature, drama, art, and architecture we enjoy today, while advances in governance and law …

The great historian of classical liberalism strips away the veneer of exalted leaders and beloved wars. Professor Ralph Raico shows them to be wolves in sheep’s clothing and their wars as attacks on human liberty and human rights. In the backdrop of this blistering and deeply insightful and scholarly history …

Gr 3-5–Another beautifully illustrated biography by the talented artist. Demi depicts the life of the great conqueror from his birth in 356 BCE to his death in 323 BCE. Her familiar and detailed style shows a segment from Alexander’s life on every page. Using mixed media, she includes an abundance …

A History of the European Economy, 1000-2000 gives a very clear and well-documented overview of Europe’s economic                  development from the moment it emerged as an integrating economic system in the late Middle Ages up to the present. François Crouzet’s excellent blending of the results of …

Starred Review. Bergen (The Osama bin Laden I Know), CNN’s national security analyst, revisits the personality and career of the al-Qaeda leader and his immediate circle, while delving into the conflict between al-Qaeda and associates and the U.S. and its coalition. Much of the narrative conforms in outline to other …

“This is a fascinating and stimulating book, written with enthusiasm, skill, and an appealing sense of human sympathy.” –Noel Malcolm, Sunday Telegraph “By giving us a more complicated picture of England’s encounters with the Islamic Mediterranean, MacLean challenges and questions a monolithic picture of the Eurocentricism of Renaissance culture. This …

Contemporary observers of politics in America often reduce democracy to demography. Whatever portion of the vote not explained by the class, gender, race, and religious differences of voters is attributed to the candidates’ positions on the issues of the day. But are these the only–or even the main–factors that determine …

If asked to name 50 events that changed American history, what would you choose? Certainly the Louisiana Purchase and Reconstruction and the New Deal. But what about the evolution of television? What about the growth of suburbs after World War II? All of these events shaped and reshaped America—and their …