The Samurai are the legendary warrior class of Japan. They played a crucial role in the country's history, politics and religion and their legacy continues to hold immense sway over popular culture.In this fascinating history, author Rod Johnson takes us through the rise and fall of the Samurai in Japanese society from the emergence of the new class in the eighth century through the turbulent periods of the Mongol invasions and the civil wars of the Sengoku period to the attempts o...

Get up to speed quickly with this comprehensive guide to SpringBeginning Spring is the complete beginner's guide to Java's most popular framework. Written with an eye toward real-world enterprises, the book covers all aspects of application development within the Spring Framework. Extensive samples within each chapter allow developers to get up to speed quickly by providing concrete references for experimentation, building a skillset that drives successful...

The Samurai are the legendary warrior class of Japan. They played a crucial role in the country's history, politics and religion and their legacy continues to hold immense sway over popular culture.In this fascinating history, author Rod Johnson takes us through the rise and fall of the Samurai in Japanese society from the emergence of the new class in the eighth century through the turbulent periods of the Mongol invasions and the civil wars of the Sengoku period to the attempts o...

A History of the Americas is an extraordinary narrative weaving together common threads of history of the two continents from the end of the ice ages until the present day.Covering the breadth of one of the world's largest and most important landmasses, A History of the Americas takes you from the emergence of the first civilizations of Norte Chico in Peru and the Olmecs in Mesoamerica to the rise of the Maya, Aztecs and Inca during the Middle Ages, as wel...

Declassified explores some of the most remarkable revelations to have emerged from top secret documents brought to light in recent years. It ranges from revelations of spies and sleeper agents, such as Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, to the frankly bizarre Acoustic Kitty project, in which the US government trained cats to spy on the Kremlin, to the murky tale of the 'disappeared' citizens during Argentina's military dictatorship.In this book, the author explores these remarkable projec...

Declassified explores some of the most remarkable revelations to have emerged from top secret documents brought to light in recent years. It ranges from revelations of spies and sleeper agents, such as Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, to the frankly bizarre Acoustic Kitty project, in which the US government trained cats to spy on the Kremlin, to the murky tale of the 'disappeared' citizens during Argentina's military dictatorship.In this book, the author explores these remarkab...

In his new book The Strange Case of the Rickety Cossack, human paleoanthropologist Ian Tattersall argues that a long tradition of "human exceptionalism" in paleoanthropology has distorted the picture of human evolution. Drawing partly on his own career—from young scientist in awe of his elders to crotchety elder statesman—Tattersall offers an idiosyncratic look at the competitive world of paleoanthropology, beginning with Charles Darwin 150 years ago, and continuing through the Le...

Did Henry VIII really plan to have Anne Boleyn's beloved dog thrown out the window? Was Elizabeth I secretly a man? Who were the Grey sisters, and why is theirs one of the saddest Tudor stories of all? From Henry VII to Elizabeth I, Bloody, Brilliant Tudors answers all these questions and more. Come with us as we delve into the people and places behind the world-famous Tudor myths and legends. Through various tales exploring the whole of the glittering dynasty, we'll learn about the lesser...

Our insatiable demand for animals—for jewelry, pets, medicine, meat, trophies, and fur—is driving a worldwide poaching epidemic, threatening the continued existence of countless species. Illegal wildlife trade now ranks among the largest contraband industries in the world, yet compared to drug, arms, or human trafficking, the wildlife crisis has received scant attention and support, leaving it up to passionate individuals fighting on the ground to try to ensure that elephants, tigers, rhin...

Forget what you were taught in seventh grade-this riveting book takes readers down American history's back alleys and side streets.From the arrival of the Mayflower through the 2016 election, On This Date explores five hundred years of American history, revealing a compelling tale for each day in the calendar year.Drawing from Carl M. Cannon's popular RealClearPolitics' "Morning Note," On This Date is focused on fascinating -- and sometimes unknown...

Ella Fitzgerald (1917–1996) possessed one of the twentieth century's most astonishing voices. Historian Judith Tick offers a sublime portrait of this ambitious risk-taker whose exceptional musical spontaneity made her a transformational artist.Becoming Ella Fitzgerald clears up long-enduring mysteries. Archival research and in-depth family interviews shed new light on the singer's difficult childhood, the tragic death of her mother, and the year she spent in a girls' refor...

Flying the notorious "hump route" between India and China in 1943, a twin-engine plane suffered mechanical failure and crashed in a dense mountain jungle. Among the passengers and crew were celebrated CBS journalist Eric Sevareid, a Soviet double-agent posing as an OSS operative, and General Joseph "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell's personal political adviser. Against the odds, all but one of the twenty-one people aboard the aircraft survived—but they fell from the frying pan into the fire. They lan...