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  Battle of the Persian Gate The:...

  Charles River Editors

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  Over the last 2,000 years, ambitious men have dreamed of forging vast empires and attaining eternal glory in battle, but of all the conquerors who took steps toward such dreams, none were ever as successful as antiquity’s first great conqueror. Leaders of the 20th century hoped to rival Napoleon’s accomplishments, while Napoleon aimed to emulate the accomplishments of Julius Caesar. But Caesar himself found inspiration in Alexander the Great (356-323 BCE), the Macedonian king who managed to stretch an empire from Greece to the Himalayas in Asia by the age of 30. It took less than 15 years for Alexander to conquer much of the known world. 
  	Ever since the famous Persian invasions that had been repelled by the Athenians at Marathon and then by the Spartans at Thermopylae and Plataea, Greece and Persia had been at odds. For the past few years they had enjoyed an uneasy peace, but that peace was shattered when, in 334 BCE, Alexander crossed the Hellespont into Persia. He brought with him an army of 50,000 infantry, 6,000 cavalry and a navy of over 100 ships, a mixed force of Macedonians, Greeks, Thracians and Illyrians, all chosen for their specific strengths (the Thessalians, for example, were famous cavalrymen). He was still just 22. 
  	Darius III, king of Persia at the time of Alexander’s invasion, was no tactical genius, but he was an intelligent and persistent enemy who had been handed the throne just before the arrival of the indomitable Alexander. His misfortune was to face an enemy at the forefront of military innovation and flexibility, a fighting force that he was not equipped to handle, and the unconquerable will of the Macedonian army, fueled by devotion to their daring and charismatic king. 

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  Prefaces and Prologues to Famous...

  Charles William Eliot

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  Charles W. Eliot, 21st President of Harvard University, edited this volume of prefaces ... authored by a Who's Who of World Literature: Bacon, Calvin, Caxton, Condell, Copernicus, Dryden, Fielding, Goethe, Heminge, Hugo, Johnson, Knox, Newton, Raleigh, Spenser, Taine, Whitman and Wordsworth. Eliot wrote in his preface to these prefaces, "No part of a book is so intimate as the Preface. Here, after the long labor of the work is over, the author descends from his platform, and speaks with his reader as man to man, disclosing his hopes and fears, seeking sympathy for his difficulties, offering defence or defiance, according to his temper, against the criticisms which he anticipates." (Summary by DSayers)

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  Introduction to the Celts

  Centre of Excellence

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  The term “Celts” comes from the Greek “Keltoi”, which means, “barbarian” but listen to the Introduction to the Celts Audiobook and you’ll embark on an exploration of the Celts that shows them as artisans of more than warfare. You’ll discover their tribal way of life, the different cultures that represent who they were as a people, and what it meant to be a Celt. You’ll take a tour through their home lives, spirituality, sexuality and examine their lives as warriors and the wars that resulted in their eventual decline – the Gallic Wars and the Roman invasion of Britain.

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  The Poisoned City - Flint's...

  Anna Clark

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  Winner of The Hillman Prize for Book Journalism - 2019When the people of Flint, Michigan, turned on their faucets in April 2014, the water pouring out was poisoned with lead and other toxins. Through a series of disastrous decisions, the state government had switched the city’s water supply to a source that corroded Flint’s aging lead pipes. Complaints about the foul-smelling water were dismissed: the residents of Flint, mostly poor and African American, were not seen as credible, even in matters of their own lives.It took eighteen months of activism by city residents and a band of dogged outsiders to force the state to admit that the water was poisonous. By that time, twelve people had died and Flint’s children had suffered irreparable harm. The long battle for accountability and a humane response to this man-made disaster has only just begun.In Anna Clark's full account of this American tragedy, Anna Clark's The Poisoned City recounts the gripping story of Flint’s poisoned water through the people who caused it, suffered from it, and exposed it. It is a chronicle of one town, but could also be about any American city, all made precarious by the neglect of infrastructure and the erosion of democratic decision making. Places like Flint are set up to fail—and for the people who live and work in them, the consequences can be fatal.

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  Tales from the National Press Club

  Gil Klein

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  A behind-the-scenes history of the organization behind the White House Correspondents’ Dinner—and the news-breakers and newsmakers who’ve been part of it.   Since the beginning of the twentieth century, the National Press Club has been the hub of Washington journalism. Started by reporters as a watering hole for late-night card games, the Club soon attracted not only icons from Edward R. Murrow to Bob Woodward to Helen Thomas, but every US president from Theodore Roosevelt onward, and various newsmakers who shaped American and world history.   While adapting to changes in the news media, it continues to stand for the values of journalism and press freedom in the twenty-first century. Now journalist and longtime member Gil Klein tells just a few of the tales that stand out in the history of the Club, which CBS commentator Eric Sevareid once called “the only hallowed place I know of that’s absolutely bursting with irreverence.”

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  How to Survive in Ancient Rome

  L J Trafford

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  What you’d need to know if you time-traveled to Ancient Rome—from local customs to clothing to religion to housing to food. 
   
  Imagine you were transported back in time to Ancient Rome and you had to start a new life there. How would you fit in? Where would you live? What would you eat? Where would you go to have your hair done? Who would you go to if you got ill, or if you were mugged in the street?  
   
  All these questions, and many more, are answered in this new how-to guide for time travelers. This lively and engaging twist on ancient history reveals how to deal with the many problems and new experiences you would face—and thrive in this strange new environment.

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