"Step into the world of ancient Rome and meet its emperors, gods, soldiers, and gladiators. Who were Rome's most famous emperors? What was everyday life like for a soldier in the Roman army? How did the citizens of ancient Rome live? Did gladiators really fight to the death in the mighty Colosseum? Find out the answers to all these questions, and many more, in Eyewitness Ancient Rome. Photographs of real artefacts and detailed illustrations will help...

"A trailblazing account of human history, challenging our most fundamental assumptions about social evolution-from the development of agriculture and cities to the emergence of "the state," political violence, and social inequality-and revealing new possibilities for human emancipation. For generations, our remote ancestors have been cast as primitive and childlike--either free and equal innocents, or thuggish and warlike. Civilization, we are told,...

Professor Brier delivers twelve lectures on the leaders of ancient Egypt. In recounting the lives and accomplishments of the pharoahs of Egypt, his lectures present a history of Egypt spreading over thirty centuries.

From whte men's first tentative forays into the West to the highways that crisscross today's West, this anthology spans almost five centuries, celebrating many myths of a legendary landscape and exploding many more. Every facet of the Western experience is crystallized here -- Indians, cowboys, Latinos, frontier justice, homesteaders, the Pony Express, the mines, the railroad, the military, and far, far, more. Included are such well-known documents...

"Life is no picnic: Examine the interwoven histories of freeze dried coffee and soldier ration packs in WWII; the Star Spangled Banner and a Greek poem; and Europe's Romantic movement and Darwin's theory of evolution."--Container. "Elementary stuff: Explore histories [sic] intricate web of commonalities: spiritualism and the device that makes radio reception possible; Scottish oppression and the creation of turpentine; and the debate over modern...

This course examines the ideas, events, and characters that molded Western political, social, religious, intellectual, cultural, scientific and economic history during the period from the 16th to the 20th centuries.

"A special place: Connections between historical events are revealed and explored. Featured are a 400-year trip through 20 locations; Swedish electricity, Dutch wind tunnels, and a new type of photography; and WWI fighter-aces and their eccentric uncles."--Container. "Fire from the sky: What does the majestic beauty of Iceland's geysers have to do with the destruction of the Allied fire-bombing of Hamburg in WWII? Stop by Stonehenge, chat with the...

"Hit the water: From the cockpit of a Tornado Fighter Bomber, dip into the history of margarine, dance at the ballet Copella, and blow up a dam in Norway with a British commando team to find out why and how Hitler never harnessed heavy water and the A-Bomb."--Container. "In touch: An American scientist ponders the problem of nuclear fusion in 1951 and from the connections between the Eiffel Tower to modern oceanography, the Global Net is developed."--Container....

"HIgh times: Unwrap a sandwich and you're on a path to World War II radar and Neo Impressionist painters."--Container. "Deja vu: History repeats itself, when you know how to look. Pizzaro beats the Incas, the first stock market opens. The Queen of England salutes a Mexican beetle and Hitler's plans misfire."--Container. "New harmony: Microscopic bugs inspired the novel'Frankenstein" which aided the birth of Socialism."--Container. "Hot pickle:...

"Drop the apple: The benefactor of the Smithsonian discovered the mineral calamine that gives off electricity used to play records leading to Albert Einstein's theory of relativity and the creation of the atomic bomb."--Container. "An invisible object: Connect black holes with fast food by travelling along the Pony Express, looking into a Sultan's finances, and discovering why beer is chilled. Along the way, go to a queen's party, see Buffalo Bill's...