Knowledge = Power

'His passion was for glory only, and in that he was insatiable' Although written over four hundred years after Alexander’s death, Arrian’s Campaigns of Alexander is the most reliable account of the man and his achievements we have.  Arrian’s own experience as a military commander gave him unique insights  into the life of the world’s greatest conqueror. He tells of  Alexander’s violent suppression of the Theban rebellion, his total  defeat of Persia, and his campaigns through Egypt, India and Babylon –  establishing new cities and destroying others in his path. While  Alexander emerges from this record as an unparalleled and charismatic  leader, Arrian succeeds brilliantly in creating an objective and fully  rounded portrait of a man of boundless ambition, who was exposed to the  temptations of power and worshipped as a god in his own lifetime. Aubrey  de Sélincourt’s vivid translation is accompanied by J. R. Hamilton’s  introduction, which discusses Arrian’s life and times, his synthesis of  other classical sources and the composition of Alexander’s army. The  edition also includes maps, a list for further reading and a detailed  index. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading  publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more  than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of  the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines.  Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by  introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary  authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning  translators.

In this dazzling portrait of Rome’s first imperial dynasty, Tom Holland  traces the astonishing century-long story of the rise and fall of the  Julio-Claudians—Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero.  Capturing both the brilliant allure of their rule and the blood-steeped  shadows cast by their crimes, Dynasty travels from the great  capital rebuilt in marble to the dank and barbarian forests of Germany.   Populated by a spectacular cast: murderers and metrosexuals, adulterers  and Druids, scheming grandmothers and reluctant gladiators, it vividly  recreates the world of Rome after Julius Caesar. A tale of rule and  ruination, Dynasty is the story of a family that transformed and  stupefied the western world and that continues to cast a mesmerizing  spell across the millennia.

The ninth edition of this widely  acclaimed text has been extensively revised to reflect the latest  scholarship and the most recent events in the Middle East. As an  introduction to the history of this turbulent region from the beginnings  of Islam to the present day, the book is distinguished by its clear  style, broad scope, and balanced treatment. It focuses on the evolution  of Islamic institutions and culture, the influence of the West, the  modernization efforts of Middle Eastern governments, the struggle for  political independence, the course of the Arab-Israeli conflict, the  roles of Iraq and Iran in the post-9/11 Middle East, and more. Arthur Goldschmidt, Jr., is professor emeritus of Middle Eastern history at Pennsylvania State University. He is the author of Modern Egypt: Foundation of a Nation-State and the recipient of the Amoco Foundation Award for Outstanding  Teaching and the 2000 Middle East Studies Association Mentoring Award. Lawrence Davidson is a professor of history at West Chester University. He is the author of several books, including America’s Palestine and Islamic Fundamentalism.

The New York Times bestselling, authoritative account of the life  of Charles Manson, filled with surprising new information and  previously unpublished photographs: “A riveting, almost Dickensian  narrative…four stars” (People). More than forty years ago  Charles Manson and his mostly female commune killed nine people, among  them the pregnant actress Sharon Tate. It was the culmination of a  criminal career that author Jeff Guinn traces back to Manson’s  childhood. Guinn interviewed Manson’s sister and cousin, neither of whom  had ever previously cooperated with an author. Childhood friends,  cellmates, and even some members of the Manson family have provided new  information about Manson’s life. Guinn has made discoveries about the  night of the Tate murders, answering unresolved questions, such as why  one person near the scene of the crime was spared. Manson puts the killer in the context of the turbulent late sixties, an era of  race riots and street protests when authority in all its forms was  under siege. Guinn shows us how Manson created and refined his message  to fit the times, persuading confused young women (and a few men) that  he had the solutions to their problems. At the same time he used them to  pursue his long-standing musical ambitions. His frustrated ambitions,  combined with his bizarre race-war obsession, would have lethal  consequences. Guinn’s book is a “tour de force of a biography…Manson stands as a definitive work: important for students of criminology,  human behavior, popular culture, music, psychopathology, and  sociopathology…and compulsively readable” (Ann Rule, The New York Times Book Review).

"This book tells what should have  been known and isn't—that Israel's hidden force is as formidable as its  recognized physical strength." — Israeli President Shimon Peres For  decades, Israel's renowned security arm, the Mossad, has been widely  recognized as the best intelligence service in the world. In Mossad,  authors Michael Bar-Zohar and Nissim Mishal take us behind the closed  curtain with riveting, eye-opening, boots-on-the-ground accounts of the  most dangerous, most crucial missions in the agency's 60-year history.  These are real Mission: Impossible true stories brimming with  high-octane action—from the breathtaking capture of Nazi executioner  Adolph Eichmann to the recent elimination of key Iranian nuclear  scientists. Anyone who is fascinated by the world of international  espionage, intelligence, and covert "Black-Ops" warfare will find Mossad electrifying reading. Mossad unveils  the defining and most dangerous operations, unknown heroes, and  mysterious agents of the world's most respected—and most  enigmatic—intelligence service. Here are the thrilling stories of daring  top secret missions, including the capture of Adolf Eichmann, the  eradication of Black September, the destruction of the Syrian nuclear  facility, and the elimination of key Iranian nuclear scientists. Drawn  from intensive research and exclusive interviews with Israeli leaders  and Mossad operatives, this riveting history brings to life the brave  agents, deadly villains, and major battlegrounds that have shaped Israel  and the world at large for more than sixty years.

Austerlitz, Wagram, Borodino, Trafalgar, Leipzig, Waterloo: these are  the places most closely associated with the era of the Napoleonic Wars.  But how did this period of nearly continuous conflict affect the world  beyond Europe? The immensity of the fighting waged by France against  England, Prussia, Austria, and Russia, and the immediate consequences of  the tremors that spread throughout the world. In this ambitious  and far-ranging work, Alexander Mikaberidze argues that the Napoleonic  Wars can only be fully understood in an international perspective.  France struggled for dominance not only on the plains of Europe but also  in the Americas, West and South Africa, Ottoman Empire, Iran, India,  Indonesia, the Philippines, Mediterranean Sea, and the Atlantic and  Indian Oceans. Taking specific regions in turn, Mikaberidze discusses  major political-military events around the world and situates  geopolitical decision-making within its long- and short-term contexts.  From the British expeditions to Argentina and South Africa to the  Franco-Russian maneuvering in the Ottoman Empire, the effects of the  French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars would shape international affairs  well into the next century. In Egypt, the wars led to the rise of Mehmed  Ali and the emergence of a powerful state; in North America, the period  transformed and enlarged the newly established United States; and in  South America, the Spanish colonial empire witnessed the start of  national-liberation movements that ultimately ended imperial control. Skillfully  narrated and deeply researched, here at last is the global history of  the period, one that expands our view of the Napoleonic Wars and their  role in laying the foundations of the modern world.

A definitive and sweeping account of the life and times of the  world's greatest conqueror -- Genghis Khan -- and the rise of the Mongol  empire in the 13th century Combining fast-paced accounts of  battles with rich cultural background and the latest scholarship, Frank  McLynn brings vividly to life the strange world of the Mongols and  Genghis Khan's rise from boyhood outcast to world conqueror. McLynn  provides the most accurate and absorbing account yet of one of the most  powerful men ever to have ever lived.

From renowned journalist Ryszard  Kapuscinski comes this intimate account of his years in the field,  traveling for the first time beyond the Iron Curtain to India, China,  Ethiopia, and other exotic locales. In the 1950s, Kapuscinski  finished university in Poland and became a foreign correspondent, hoping  to go abroad - perhaps to Czechoslovakia. Instead he was sent to India -  the first stop on a decades-long tour of the world that took him from  Iran to El Salvador and from Angola to Armenia. Revisiting his memories  of traveling the globe with a copy of Herodotus's The Histories  in tow, Kapuscinski describes his awakening to the intricacies and  idiosyncrasies of new environments and how the words of the Greek  historiographer helped shape his own view of an increasingly globalized  world. Written with supreme eloquence and a constant eye to the global  undercurrents that shaped the latter half of the 20th century, Travels with Herodotus is an exceptional chronicle of one man's journey across continents.

Dorothy H. Crawford - Viruses 2021

A compelling biography of the legendary king, rebel, and poisoner who defied the Roman Empire Machiavelli  praised his military genius. European royalty sought out his secret  elixir against poison. His life inspired Mozart's first opera, while for  centuries poets and playwrights recited bloody, romantic tales of his  victories, defeats, intrigues, concubines, and mysterious death. But  until now no modern historian has recounted the full story of  Mithradates, the ruthless king and visionary rebel who challenged the  power of Rome in the first century BC. In this richly illustrated  book―the first biography of Mithradates in fifty years―Adrienne Mayor  combines a storyteller's gifts with the most recent archaeological and  scientific discoveries to tell the tale of Mithradates as it has never  been told before. The Poison King describes a life  brimming with spectacle and excitement. Claiming Alexander the Great and  Darius of Persia as ancestors, Mithradates inherited a wealthy Black  Sea kingdom at age fourteen after his mother poisoned his father. He  fled into exile and returned in triumph to become a ruler of superb  intelligence and fierce ambition. Hailed as a savior by his followers  and feared as a second Hannibal by his enemies, he envisioned a grand  Eastern empire to rival Rome. After massacring eighty thousand Roman  citizens in 88 BC, he seized Greece and modern-day Turkey. Fighting some  of the most spectacular battles in ancient history, he dragged Rome  into a long round of wars and threatened to invade Italy itself. His  uncanny ability to elude capture and surge back after devastating losses  unnerved the Romans, while his mastery of poisons allowed him to foil  assassination attempts and eliminate rivals. The Poison King is a gripping account of one of Rome's most relentless but least understood foes.