Knowledge = Power

Know thy enemy. That's what the wisdom of history teaches us. And Adolf Hitler was surely the greatest enemy ever faced by modern civilization. Over half a century later, the horror and fascination still linger. No one is better able to explain the unexplainable about this man and his movement than Professor Thomas Childers. In these lectures, you will see what great teaching is all about.

The first riveting examination of the shocking infiltration of the US government by Stalin’s Soviet intelligence networks during WWII. Until now, many sinister events that transpired in the clash of the world's superpowers at the close of World War II and the ensuing Cold War era have been ignored, distorted, and kept hidden from the public. Through a careful survey of primary sources and disclosure of formerly secret records, Evans and Romerstein have written a riveting historical account that traces the vast deceptions that kept Stalin's henchmen on the federal payroll and sabotaged U.S. policy overseas. The facts presented here expose shocking cover-ups, from the top FDR aides who threatened internal security and free-world interests by exerting pro-Red influence on U.S.policy, to the grand juries that were rigged, to the countless officials of the Roosevelt and Truman administrations who turned a blind eye to the penetration problem. Stalin's Secret Agents convincingly indicts in historical retrospect the people responsible for these corruptions of justice.

The New York Times best-selling author of The Six Wives of Henry VIII and The War of the Roses,  historian Alison Weir crafts fascinating portraits of England’s  infamous House of Tudor line. Here Weir focuses on Elizabeth I, also  known as the Virgin Queen, who ascended to the throne at age 25 and  never married, yet ruled for 44 years and steered England into its  Golden Age.

THE ROMAN EMPIRE STANDS as the greatest political achievement in the  history of Western civilization. From its humble beginnings as a tiny  kingdom in central Italy, Rome grew to envelope the entire Mediterranean  until it ruled an empire that stretched from the Atlantic to Syria and  from the Sahara to Scotland. Its enduring legacy continues to define the  modern world. Mike Duncan chronicled the rise, triumph, and fall of the  Roman Empire in his popular podcast series "The History of Rome".  Transcripts of the show have been edited and collected here for the  first time. Covering episodes 1-46, The History of Rome Volume I opens  with the founding of the Roman Kingdom and ends with the breakdown of  the Roman Republic. Along the way Rome will steadily grow from local  power to regional power to global power. The Romans will triumph over  their greatest foreign rivals and then nearly destroy themselves in a  series of destructive civil wars. This is the story of the rise of Rome. NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The  creator of the award-winning podcast series The History of Rome and  Revolutions brings to life the bloody battles, political machinations,  and human drama that set the stage for the fall of the Roman Republic.

Best-selling author Adrian  Goldsworthy turns his attention to the Pax Romana, the famous peace and  prosperity brought by the Roman Empire at its height in the first and  second centuries AD. Yet the Romans were conquerors, imperialists who  took by force a vast empire stretching from the Euphrates to the  Atlantic coast. Ruthless, Romans won peace not through coexistence but  through dominance; millions died and were enslaved during the creation  of their empire. Pax Romana examines how the Romans came to control so much of  the world and asks whether traditionally favorable images of the Roman  peace are true. Goldsworthy vividly recounts the rebellions of the  conquered and examines why they broke out, why most failed, and how they  became exceedingly rare. He reveals that hostility was just one  reaction to the arrival of Rome and that from the outset, conquered  peoples collaborated, formed alliances, and joined invaders, causing  resistance movements to fade away.

Prophet Muhammad

A riveting account of ancient  Rome's imperial bodyguard, the select band of soldiers who wielded the  power to make - or destroy - the emperors they served. Founded by Augustus around 27 BC, the elite Praetorian Guard was  tasked with the protection of the emperor and his family. As the  centuries unfolded, however, Praetorian soldiers served not only as  protectors and enforcers but also as powerful political players.  Fiercely loyal to some emperors, they vied with others and ruthlessly  toppled those who displeased them, including Caligula, Nero, Pertinax,  and many more. Guy de la Bédoyère provides a compelling first full  narrative history of the Praetorians, whose dangerous ambitions ceased  only when Constantine permanently disbanded them. De la Bédoyère introduces Praetorians of all echelons, from prefects  and messengers to artillery experts and executioners. He explores the  delicate position of emperors for whom prestige and guile were the only  defenses against bodyguards hungry for power. Folding fascinating  details into a broad assessment of the Praetorian era, the author sheds  new light on the wielding of power in the greatest of the ancient  world's empires.

A classic of Japanese history, this audiobook is the preeminent work on the history of Japan. Newly revised and updated, A History of Japan is a single-volume complete history of the nation of Japan. Starting in ancient Japan during its early pre-history period, A History of Japan covers every important aspect of history and culture through feudal  Japan to the post-Cold War period and collapse of the bubble economy in  the early 1990s. Recent findings shed additional light on the origins of  Japanese civilization and the birth of Japanese culture. Also included is an in-depth analysis of the Japanese religion,  Japanese arts, Japanese culture, and the Japanese people from the sixth  century BC to the present. This contemporary classic, now updated and  revised, continues to be an essential work in Japanese studies. A History of Japan, Revised Edition includes: Archaic Japan - including Yamato, the creation of a unified state, the Nana Period, and the Heian period. Medieval Japan - including rule by the military houses, the failure  of Ashikaga rule, Buddhism, and the Kamakura and Muroachi periods. Early modern Japan - including Japanese feudalism, administration  under the Tokugawa, and society and culture in early modern Japan. Modern Japan - including the Meiji era and policies for  modernization, from consensus to crisis (1912-1937), and solutions  through force. This contemporary classic continues to be a central work in Japanese  studies and is a vital addition to the collection of any student or  enthusiast of Japanese history, Japanese culture, or the Japanese  language.

No religion in the modern world is as feared and misunderstood as Islam.  It haunts the popular imagination as an extreme faith that promotes  terrorism, authoritarian government, female oppression, and civil war.  In a vital revision of this narrow view of Islam and a distillation of  years of thinking and writing about the subject, Karen Armstrong’s short  history demonstrates that the world’s fastest-growing faith is a much  more complex phenomenon than its modern fundamentalist strain might suggest.

John Brockman (editor) - The Universe