A revisionist history of the ancient world that shifts our focus from Athens and Rome to the long-ignored societies on the borders.When Ovid was exiled from Rome to a border town on the Black Sea, he despaired at his bleak and barbarous new surroundings. Like many Greeks and Romans, Ovid thought the outer reaches of his world was where civilization ceased to exist. Our own fascination with the Greek and Roman world has for centuries followed this perspective, shrou...

Naval warfare is the unsung hero of ancient Greek military history, often overshadowed by the more glorified land battles. Owen Rees looks to redress the balance, giving naval battles their due attention. This book presents a selection of thirteen naval battles that span a defining century in ancient Greek history, from the Ionian Revolt and Persian Invasion to the rise of external naval powers in the Mediterranean Sea, such as the Carthaginians.Each battle is set in context. The backgroun...

This book presents a selection of eighteen land battles and sieges that span the Classical Greek period, from the Persian invasions to the eclipse of the traditional hoplite heavy infantry at the hands of the Macedonians. This of course is the golden age of the hoplite phalanx but Owen Rees is keen to cover all aspects of battle, including mercenary armies and the rise of light infantry, emphasising the variety and tactical developments across the period. Each battle is set in context with...

An inside look at a middle-class funeral in Northern Thailand, Cultural observations from behind-the-scenes

A true and verified story of a ruthless Welsh Godfather, J.O.Williams, and his criminal activities. And how the mafia family he founded finally became legitimate under his grandson, my schoolboy friend, Johnny Illsley.

This volume sheds new light on the experience of ancient Greek warfare by identifying and examining three fundamental transitions undergone by the classical Athenian hoplite as a result of his military service: his departure to war, his homecoming from war having survived, and his homecoming from war having died.As a conscript, a man regularly called upon by his city-state to serve in the battle lines and perform his citizen duty, the most common military experience of the hoplite ...

This book examines the lasting impact of war on individuals and their communities in pre-modern Europe. Research on combat stress in the modern era regularly draws upon the past for inspiration and validation, but to date no single volume has effectively scrutinised the universal nature of combat stress and its associated modern diagnoses. Highlighting the methodological obstacles of using modern medical and psychological models to understand pre-modern experiences, this book challenges ex...

Beverley McLachlin was the first woman to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. Joining the Court while it was establishing its approach to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, McLachlin aided the court in weathering the public backlash against controversial decisions during her tenure.Controversies in the Common Law explores Chief Justice McLachlin’s approach to legal reasoning, examines her remarkable contributions in controversial ar...

Derek explains in some detail what led up to his bitter divorce in England and the doubts he had about moving to Thailand to be with the woman he had met on a Thai dating site.He describes what eventually made up his mind. But even then, there were times when he was unsure if he was making the right choice in getting involved with a Thai lady and living in a very different culture.There are many twists and turns in this true story of his first years in Thailand when he was ...

This book is a collection of all 11 episodes of The True Story of a Welsh Godfather.

Matt has written this true account of the activities of a Welsh Godfather in collaboration with his childhood friend, Johnny Illsley. Neither knew anything of those activities until after Johnny's parents had died and personal letters of the Godfather, J.O.Williams, were available.Because the UK and Newfoundland governments were involved in J.O.'s activities in Port Hope Simpson, a new settlement in Newfoundland, and because there were other vested interests, not all the archive ma...

"End of a Life" is taken from one of the chapters of Thailand Take Two and describes the customs and traditions of a Buddhist funeral in the northern Thai province of Chiangmai. It was the most popular chapter of that book.In Thai social culture, death is seen as the final part of the life cycle. It is not a sad event. Everyone in the neighbourhood will attend the daily rites and the cremation. The deceased's family will provide food for all the mourners, who will respectfully take...