We recognize the names: Achilles, Odysseus, Zeus, and Apollo. We're taught that The Iliad is a foundational text of civilization. But who has really read the text? Until now, The Iliad was hijacked by academics and used to bludgeon schoolchildren as a boring-yet- mandatory reading.Poet, novelist, essayist, and former teacher John Dolan revisits this ancient tale and restores it to its ancient glory. The Greeks and Trojans are still fighting. The gods are still int...

They Should Have Been Hanged is a collection of essays presenting a stimulating revisionist view of the U.S. Civil War. Gary Brecher aka John Dolan rejects both the Lost Cause myth and insipid mainstream histories. Instead, he relies on the testimony of contemporary figures like Mary Chesnut, Mark Twain, John A. Logan, and Adam Gurowski to show the American Civil War had its share of treachery, criminality, and error.Referring to primary sources (letters, diaries, speeches...

John Dolan aka The War Nerd presents a unique anti-travel book, an unheroic Odyssey, in which and his wife bounce reluctantly between historical war zones as they relocate every few months for reasons varying from tourist-visa expiry to veiled death threats. Every destination offers a different war or (more often) several, which inspire essays meditating on everything from Tuol Sleng to Rwanda to the Troubles. The personal occasionally intrudes on the political in the form of anxiety, near...

The "uplifting, humble, and moving" true story of a troubled, East London artist and a twice-abandoned Staffordshire bull terrier who rescue each other ( ForeWord Magazine).John Dolan grew up rough on the estates of east London. His early life was marked by neglect and abuse, and his childhood gift for drawing was stamped out by the tough realities outside his front door. A life of substance abuse and petty crime eventually landed him in prison. And when h...

Neighbors From Hell finds itself nestled in the "children's book for adults" niche in the vein of Go the Fuck to Sleep. The book tells the story of the real life monsters in America who could be living next door, people like a repo man, a reality TV star, or a slumlord.The playful rhymes provide the reader (whether a child or an adult), an informed perspective on the biggest social and economic problems facing our country.Taras Kharecko il...

The Iron Chef returns to his grilling roots in this sequel to his bestselling book Boy Meets Grill.Boy Gets Grill is set in Queens, on a rooftop in Queens overlooking the Manhattan skyline and celebrates the explosive flavors of his hometown's diverse neighborhoods. Thissquarely ins Bobby Flay's New York, and everywhere he goes, there is great grilling: from Chinatown to Astoria, Queens (Greek food); Arthur Avenue in the Bronx (for old-style Itali...

An epic interstellar tale of war from a master of science fiction.One more tour on the red. Maybe my last.They made their presence on Earth known thirteen years ago.Providing technology and scientific insights far beyond what mankind was capable of. They became indispensable advisors and promised even more gifts that we just couldn't pass up. We called them Gurus.It took them a while to drop the other shoe. You can see why, looking back.I...

A post-apocalyptic thriller of the after effects in the United States after a terrifying terrorist attack using electromagnetic pulse weapons.New York Times best selling author William R. Forstchen now brings us a story which can be all too terrifyingly real...a story in which one man struggles to save his family and his small North Carolina town after America loses a war, in one second, a war that will send America back to the Dark Ages...A war based upon...

Love history? Know your stuff with History in an Hour.The American Civil War started when eleven southern ‘slave’ states declared their independence from the United States of America. Abraham Lincoln’s Republican government were strongly against slavery and fought to abolish it and keep the country united.The American Civil War: History in an Hour gives a concise and authoritative overview of these four years of bloody and devastating warfare to help you understand how the ...

"Ty Seidule scorches us with the truth and rivets us with his fierce sense of moral urgency." --Ron ChernowIn a forceful but humane narrative, former soldier and head of the West Point history department Ty Seidule's Robert E. Lee and Me challenges the myths and lies of the Confederate legacy—and explores why some of this country’s oldest wounds have never healed.Ty Seidule grew up revering Robert E. Lee. From his southern childhoo...

Sh!t happens. Every day.Mae West was sent to jail for “corrupting the morals of youth” with her first Broadway play. When participation in the Hitler Youth became mandatory in Germany, groups of teen “pirates” rebelled. Muhammad Ali refused to “drop bombs and bullets on brown people” in Vietnam. A dog sled relay carried life-saving medicine 674 miles through –50 temperatures to rescue children dying from diphtheria. The Dionne Quintuplets were stolen by the Canadia...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the author of A. Lincoln, a major new biography of one of America’s greatest generals—and most misunderstood presidentsWinner of the William Henry Seward Award for Excellence in Civil War Biography • Finalist for the Gilder-Lehrman Military History Book PrizeIn his time, Ulysses S. Grant was routinely grouped with George Washington and Abraham Lincoln in the “Trinity of Great American Leade...