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  Byzantine-Seljuk Wars The: The...

  Editors Charles River

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  By the end of the Byzantine Empire’s existence, the old age had weakened both the state and church, making it an easy target for invading forces.  
  	The most notable invaders were the the Turkish-speaking Seljuks, led through a series of battles by Kutalmishouglu Suleiman, who supported different usurpers against the Byzantine emperor. The expansion of the Seljuks was so successful that when Suleiman died, he had put all of Bithynia under his control as well as several important harbor towns along the shores on the Asian side of Bosphorus. With that accomplishment, he had managed to separate the Byzantines living in Anatolia from their emperor in Constantinople. This immediately weakened the unity of the Byzantine Empire.  
  	When another invading Muslim army took control of what is now Syria, Israel, and Northern Africa, the dismembered Byzantine Empire lost significant portions of land, but that allowed it to grow into a smaller and stronger unity. It took a lot of power struggles and battles on many fronts for the empire to recapture some of the lands, but gradually the Byzantine Empire lost all influence in Anatolia. By the end of the 11th century, the Hellenic culture and Greek language were replaced by Islam and Turkish.  
  	Of all the conflicts that brought this state of affairs into being, few were as instrumental as the Battle of Kapetron, the culmination of one of the first major Seljuk raids into Byzantine territory. It represented not just a clash of ethnicities, cultures, and religions, but also a harbinger of a changing of the guard, and one that would shape geopolitics in the region for the next several centuries. 

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  The Spiritual Price of Political...

  Christy Chavers Stutzman

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  In the midst of political chaos and corruption, The Spiritual Price of Political Silence is a clarion call to action while providing hope and practical advice for people of faith in America. 
   
   
   
  Recognizing that Americans of deep faith have been misled about the role of faith in America's founding, as well as their rights and responsibilities as citizens, Christy Chavers Stutzman presents stories and documentation in a must-listen refresher course for those who might not know where to start. 
   
   
   
  With twenty years of political experience and a deep understanding of history, Stutzman provides a timely, comprehensive political handbook for every concerned American. She not only lays out the true facts about the role of faith in America, but also provides a deeper understanding of the humanistic philosophies that have been targeting faith in America for the past century. 
   
   
   
  Reminding us of how and why people of faith were a vital part of creating America's unique form of government, The Spiritual Price of Political Silence makes a clear case that they are still the key to the preservation of the republic, while providing practical steps that every American can take to be politically active right now.

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  Beyond the Mountains - An...

  Deja Vu Prem

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  The powerful story of how an immigrant from the Philippines overcame childhood trauma and an emotionally abusive marriage to find her voice and thrive 
   
   
   
  As a child in a small barrio in the Philippines, Deja Vu Prem faced neglect and physical abuse. At age seventeen, desperate to escape her situation and claim a better life for herself beyond the mountains of her town, she became a mail-order bride and moved to San Francisco. But the challenges of her childhood didn't go away—they merely evolved into the form of her emotionally abusive husband. 
   
   
   
  Cut off from her family and any kind of emotional or financial support, Prem was a prisoner in her own home, unable even to use the phone or check the mail. But she wasn't helpless. Relying on her deep faith and the fire within that had always pushed her to achieve, Prem made the brave decision to escape her situation to provide a better life for herself and her two young children. 
   
   
   
  Recounting Prem's harrowing yet hopeful journey, Beyond the Mountains is a stirring and moving portrait of one immigrant's refusal to be defined as a victim and a testament on finding the strength to forgive in order to reclaim the power that lives within us all.

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  Wars that Forged Imperial Japan...

  Editors Charles River

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  Completing the Meiji Restoration that heralded the dawn of a new era for both Japan and Asia, the island nation found itself thrust into the modern world, a world of industry and conquest. Flexing its new muscles, the burgeoning power soon came to blows with the regional power that for centuries dominated the area politically and culturally: China. In its first modern war, the modernized Japanese empire went to war against the dominant power in the region, and though interested Western powers favored China, Japan won the day, claiming Korea as their conquest and permanently upsetting the balance of power in the region. The conflict paved the way for the future Empire of Japan and the collapse of the Qing Dynasty. 
  Though both nations modernized, and China far outweighed Japan in terms of men and materiel potential, the island nation handily won its first modern war. The conflict resulted in Japan’s short-term gains in the wake of victory, and the long term disaster for both sides’ new roles in Asia, for with the end of Chinese dominance in East Asia came a new era for the region as a whole, an era whose consequences and horrors would not be fully realized for several more decades. 
  In 1937, the Empire of Japan once more went to war with China, a nation broken into petty warlord fiefdoms and wracked by civil war. The most modern Asian nation enacted a brutal campaign over the fragmented realms that made up China, committing atrocities just as horrendous as their Axis ally in Europe. Despite this, the sheer size of China, coupled with Japan’s overextension, allowed the larger, less developed nation to endure.

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  The Decoration of Houses

  Jr. Ogden Codman

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  The Decoration of Houses, a manual of interior design written by Edith Wharton with architect Ogden Codman, was first published in 1897. In the book, the authors denounced Victorian-style interior decoration and interior design, especially those rooms that were decorated with heavy window curtains, Victorian bric-a-brac and overstuffed furniture. They argued that such rooms emphasized upholstery at the expense of proper space planning and architectural design and were, therefore, uncomfortable and rarely used. Wharton and Codman advocated the creation of houses with rooms decorated with strong architectural wall and ceiling treatments, accentuated by well-suited furniture, rooms based on simple, classical design principles such as symmetry and proportion and a sense of architectural balance. The Decoration of Houses is considered a seminal work and its success led to the emergence of professional decorators working in the manner advocated by its authors. (Summary by Wikipedia)

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  Constantine the Great - The...

  Kelly Mass

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  Constantine I, often called Constantine the Great, was one of the most significant emperors of ancient Rome, reigning from 306 to 337 AD. Born in Naissus, in the province of Dacia Mediterranea (modern-day Niš, Serbia), he was the son of Flavius Constantius, a Roman army officer and a prominent figure in the Tetrarchy, and Helena, a woman of humble Greek origins. His father's position as one of the four emperors in the Tetrarchy was instrumental in shaping Constantine's early life and military career. Under emperors Diocletian and Galerius, Constantine demonstrated his military prowess, initially fighting against barbarian tribes and the Persians in the eastern provinces. In 305 AD, he was summoned to the West to aid his father in campaigns in Britain, where he earned further distinction. 
  Following the death of his father in 306 AD, Constantine’s soldiers declared him emperor at Eboracum (modern York, England). Over the next two decades, he would overcome rival emperors, such as Maxentius and Licinius, in a series of civil wars, eventually becoming the sole ruler of the Roman Empire by 324 AD. His reign marked a period of significant transformation, both militarily and administratively. 
  To strengthen the empire, Constantine initiated a series of reforms. He reorganized the imperial administration, separating civil and military powers to create a more efficient system of governance. Acknowledging the need for economic stability, he introduced the solidus, a new gold coin that helped curb inflation. This currency would become the standard for Byzantine and European economies for nearly a millennium. He also restructured the Roman army, creating specialized units that could respond swiftly to internal threats and barbarian invasions.

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