For the first time, a scholar reveals the meaning of the marginal images on the Bayeux Tapestry, unlocking a completely new meaning of the work.The story of the Norman Conquest and the Battle of Hastings as shown in the Bayeux Tapestry is arguably the most widely-known in the panoply of English history, and over the last 200 years there have been hundreds of books on the Tapestry seeking to analyze its meanings. Yet, there is one aspect of the embroidery that has b...

A historical analysis of the warfare during the Norman Conquest of England, and a look at the truth behind the legendary victor, King William I.The reality of war, in any period, is its totality. Warfare affects everyone in a society. Here, for the first time, is a comprehensive analysis of eleventh century warfare as exposed in the record of the Norman Conquest of England. King William I experienced a lifetime of conflict on and off so many battlefields. In Eng...

A brisk, concise, and readable overview of Irish history from the Protestant Reformation to the dawn of the twenty-first centuryFive centuries of Irish history are explored in this informative and accessible volume. John Gibney proceeds from the beginning of Ireland’s modern period and continues through to virtually the present day, offering an integrated overview of the island nation’s cultural, political, and socioeconomic history. This succinct, scholarly study ...

The Nobel Prize winner offers "an ideal introduction to the theories of special and general relativity" in clear, comprehensible language ( Nature ).A renowned mathematician and philosopher , and as well as recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature, Bertrand Russell was acclaimed for his ability to address complex subjects in accessible ways. In this classic reference book, Russell delve...

"Skilfully unravels the myths surrounding Anne Boleyn's downfall, and presents the most compelling account of her final months to date. A triumph." —Dr Owen Emmerson, Historian and Assistant Curator, Hever CastleThere are few women in English history more controversial than Queen Anne Boleyn. She was the second wife of Henry VIII, mother of Elizabeth I and the first English queen to be publicly executed. Reinvented by each new generation, Anne is bu...

The white-knuckled bombing mission American airmen carried out on Hitler’s hometown is now told for the first time through the eyes of the men on the airplanes – as well as the innocent Austrians under the bombs – in this groundbreaking true story of the aerial bombing and its aftermath from retired CIA officer Mike Croissant.Foreword by Richard Overy, author of The Bombers and the BombedIn April 1945, Linz was one...

The Grand Master details his development as a writer and shares thirteen favorite sci-fi stories from his youth and what they taught him about writing.Every writer must start somewhere. Robert Silverberg was once simply a young man learning the art and craft of writing before he found success. But how did he get from there to winning four Hugo Awards, three Locus Awards, and six Nebula Awards, as well as being named a Grand Master of science fiction?In ...

In a quest to advocate for her daughter, Pepper Stetler uncovers the dark history of the IQ test, leading her to question what exactly we are measuring when we measure intelligence.When Pepper Stetler learned that her daughter, Louisa, who has Down Syndrome, would be required to take periodic IQ tests to secure support in school, she asked a simple question: Why? The hunt for an answer set Stetler on a winding, often dark investigation into how the IQ came...

"As wide-ranging, imaginative, and revealing as the maps they discuss, these essays . . . track how maps—interpreted broadly—convey time as well as space." —Richard White, Stanford UniversityMaps organize us in space, but they also organize us in time. Looking around the world for the last five hundred years, Time in Maps shows that today's digital maps are only the latest effort to insert a sense of time into the spatial medium of maps. Historians Kären Wi...

Are you nostalgic for simpler times? Do you miss your favorite history teacher, the one that gave you perspective and kept you laughing? Come back to class. Buy Props and let Norm Coady take you on a trip from Caesar to Kennedy, from Wittenberg to St. Petersburg.Learn how seashells led to the first global conflict. Discover how a piece of chalk laid the groundwork for totalitarianism. Follow an umbrella's strange journey from sunny Munich to rainy Dallas.No...

A look at the constant confrontation with mortality the English experienced in a time of plague, smallpox, civil war, and other calamities.In the lives of the rich and poor alike in seventeenth-century England, death was a hovering presence, much more visible in everyday existence than it is today. It is a highly important and surprisingly captivating part of the epic story of England during the turbulent years of the 1600s.This book guides readers through th...

A panoramic narrative that places ancient Africa on the stage of world historyThis book brings together archaeological and linguistic evidence to provide a sweeping global history of ancient Africa, tracing how the continent played an important role in the technological, agricultural, and economic transitions of world civilization. Christopher Ehret takes readers from the close of the last Ice Age some ten thousand years ago, when a changing climate allowed for the...