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  Cultural Achievements - The Arts...

  Rogan Fish

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  This book bundle is a captivating exploration of the cultural and intellectual legacy of one of history’s most influential civilizations. The first section delves into the art of ancient Rome, from vivid frescoes that adorned villa walls to intricate mosaics that decorated public spaces. It also covers sculpture and portraiture, showcasing how Roman artists blended Greek traditions with their own flair to immortalize emperors, gods, and everyday citizens in marble and bronze. 
  The second part of the book is a deep dive into Roman architecture, one of the most enduring hallmarks of the empire. You’ll explore the design and engineering behind iconic structures like the Colosseum, the Pantheon, and massive bathhouses. This section breaks down the architectural innovations—such as arches, domes, and the groundbreaking use of concrete—that enabled Rome to construct buildings that still awe the world today. It also covers city planning and how Rome influenced future Western architecture. 
  The final section turns to Roman innovation, highlighting practical inventions that supported the empire's growth and efficiency. Learn how aqueducts transported water across miles, how paved roads unified the empire, and how engineering marvels enabled a high standard of urban life. From glass blowing to heating systems and even early newspapers, Roman ingenuity touched every corner of society. Cultural Achievements is a richly illustrated and accessible guide to the brilliance of Roman creativity—and how it shaped the world we live in today.

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  Dispossessing the Wilderness -...

  Mark David Spence

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  National parks like Yellowstone, Yosemite, and Glacier preserve some of this country's most cherished wilderness landscapes. While visions of pristine, uninhabited nature led to the creation of these parks, they also inspired policies of Indian removal. By contrasting the native histories of these places with the links between Indian policy developments and preservationist efforts, this work examines the complex origins of the national parks and the troubling consequences of the American wilderness ideal. The first study to place national park history within the context of the early reservation era, it details the ways that national parks developed into one of the most important arenas of contention between native peoples and non-Indians in the twentieth century.

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  A Relational vision for Europe:...

  Matthew N. Williams

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  The political landscape of Europe is more fractured today than at any time since the Second World War. There are such strong polarising forces that the rhetoric of unity sounds increasingly empty. At the same time, European Christian Democracy has lost its distinctive identity and it threatens to be incorporated into one or other of the competing sides. Is there a promising way forward? This book sets out a relational vision that can act as a revitalising and unifying force. By reaching beyond the cultural and traditional roots of Christian division, we find in the biblical text a unique source for political common ground. So often the Bible has been used in a divisive way; but at its heart is a message that establishes and sustains relationships at every level of society. With this publication we can begin to see how this relational vision becomes reality.

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  Spring and Autumn & Warring...

  Hui Wang

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  “The Spring and Autumn & Warring States Periods” takes you on a journey through one of the most transformative eras in Chinese history, marked by endless battles, brilliant strategies, and the rise and fall of powerful leaders. 
  The story begins with the collapse of the Western Zhou dynasty, paving the way for a fragmented political landscape. The book brings to life the Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn period, such as Duke Huan of Qi and Duke Zhuang of Zheng, and the Seven Warring States, which competed for supremacy. Key events include Duke Zhuang's rise to power, the cunning reforms of Guan Zhong in Qi, and the power struggles like the Wu-Yue rivalry and the pivotal partitioning of Jin into Zhao, Wei, and Han. 
  Iconic characters leap from the pages: Duke Zhuang of Zheng, who asserted dominance through strategic alliances and decisive victories; Guan Zhong, whose reforms transformed Qi into a powerhouse; and military geniuses like Sun Bin and his rivalry with Pang Juan. Philosophers like Confucius, Laozi, and Mozi also emerge, their ideas responding to the chaos and laying the intellectual groundwork for Chinese civilization. 
  Major reforms, like Shang Yang’s legal transformations in Qin, herald the transition from feudalism to centralized states, culminating in the Qin dynasty's unification of China. The book captures the drama of this era with vivid storytelling, exploring the lives of farmers, soldiers, and scholars amid upheaval. 
  This period shaped China’s political and cultural future, making this book essential for understanding one of the world's oldest civilizations. Whether you’re a history enthusiast or curious about China’s roots, this accessible account brings an extraordinary epoch to life.

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  Fort Ticonderoga The Last...

  Mark Edward Lender

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  During the War for Independence, Fort Ticonderoga's guns, sited critically between Lakes Champlain and George, dominated north-south communications in upstate New York that were vital to both the British and American war efforts. The loss of Ticonderoga stunned patriot morale and ignited one of the greatest political firestorms of the war. But the fortunes of war turned. Two months later, the rebels mounted a sensational—if little known—counter-attack on Ticonderoga that had major implications for Burgoyne's eventual defeat at Saratoga in October. Yet Saratoga brought no peace, and Ticonderoga would be central to additional military and political maneuverings—many of them known only to specialist historians—that would keep the region on edge until the end of the war in 1783. 
   
   
   
  Based on new archival research, Fort Ticonderoga, The Last Campaigns: The War in the North, 1777-1783 by distinguished historian Mark Edward Lender highlights the strategic importance of the fort as British, American, and regional forces fought for control of the northern front at a critical point in the war. The book tells the Ticonderoga story in all of its complexity and drama, correcting misconceptions embedded in many previous accounts, and sheds vital new light on this key chapter in America's struggle for independence.

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  Unguessed Kinships - Naturalism...

  Steven Frye

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  It took six novels and nearly thirty years for Cormac McCarthy to find commercial success with All the Pretty Horses, followed by major prizes, more bestsellers, and Hollywood adaptations of his work. Those successes, though, have obscured McCarthy's commitment to an older form of literary expression: naturalism. McCarthy's work tends to darker themes: violence, brutality, the cruel indifference of nature, themes which would not be out of place in the writing of Jack London or Stephen Crane. But literary naturalism is more than the oversimplified Darwinism that many think of. Nature may be red in tooth and claw, and humans are part of nature, but the humanity depicted in naturalist literature is capable of love, selflessness, and spirituality, as well. 
   
   
   
  In Unguessed Kinships, Steven Frye illuminates all these dimensions of McCarthy's work. In his novels and plays, McCarthy engages both explicitly and obliquely with the project of manifest destiny, in the western drama Blood Meridian, the Tennessee Valley Authority-era Tennessee novels, and the atomic frontier of Alamogordo in Cities of the Plain. McCarthy's concerns are deeply religious and philosophical, drawing on ancient Greek philosophy, Gnosticism, and Nietzsche, among other sources. Frye argues for McCarthy not merely as a naturalist writer but as a naturalist in the most expansive sense.

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