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Blackwell Companions to World History: A Companion to World History
A Companion to World History presents essays from an international group of historians that both identify continuing areas of contention, disagreement, and divergence in world and global history, and point to directions for further debate. Features a diverse cast of contributors that include established world historians and emerging scholars. Explores a wide range of topics and themes, including and the practice of world history, key ideas of world historians, the teaching of world history and how it has drawn upon and challenged "traditional" teaching approaches, and global approaches to writing world history. Places an emphasis on non-Anglophone approaches to the topic. Considers issues of both scholarship and pedagogy on a transnational, interregional, and world/global scale.
A Brief History of India
As recently as the turn of the century, Western images of India pictured it as a land of religion, luxury, and desperate poverty--holy men sitting cross-legged by the roadside, fat maharajas on bejeweled elephants, or poverty-stricken beggars picking garbage for scraps to eat. Now that image has started to change. Today Americans are more likely to imagine Indian workers in call centers taking jobs needed in the United States or kids winning fortunes on quiz shows as in Slumdog Millionaire. Admired for its spiritual traditions (two of the world's major religions--Hinduism and Buddhism--originated here), for its peaceful struggle for independence led by Mohandas K. Gandhi, and for its vibrant culture (from Bollywood and spicy cuisine to classical music and world-renowned authors), India has had a long and fascinating history. However, while most people are familiar with certain parts of Indian history and culture, the roots of the country's contemporary society and politics are not always well understood in the West. Covering approximately 5,000 years of history, this revised resource offers an accessible, reliable introduction to the rich and diverse history of India.
Cambridge World History of Food
Ranging from the eating habits of our prehistoric ancestors to food-related policy issues we face today, this work covers the full spectrum of foods that have been hunted, gathered, cultivated, and domesticated; their nutritional makeup and uses; and their impact on cultures and demography. It offers a geographical perspective on the history and culture of food and drink and takes up subjects from food fads, prejudices, and taboos to questions of food toxins, additives, labeling, and entitlements. It culminates in a dictionary that identifies and sketches out brief histories of plant foods mentioned in the text and additionally supplies thousands of common names and synonyms for those foods.
Central Asia in World History
A vast region stretching roughly from the Volga River to Manchuria and the northern Chinese borderlands, Central Asia has been called the "pivot of history," a land where nomadic invaders and Silk Road traders changed the destinies of states that ringed its borders, including pre-modernEurope, the Middle East, and China. In Central Asia in World History, Peter B. Golden provides an engaging account of this important region, ranging from prehistory to the present, and focusing largely on the unique melting pot of cultures that this region has produced.Golden describes the traders who braved the heat and cold along caravan routes to link East Asia and Europe; the Mongol Empire of Genghis Khan and his successors, the largest contiguous land empire in history; the invention of gunpowder, which allowed the great sedentary empires to overcome thehorse-based nomads; the power struggles of Russia and China, and later Russia and Britain, for control of the area. Finally, he discusses the region today, a key area that neighbors such geopolitical hot spots as Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and China.
Chambers Dictionary of World History
Contains entries providing clear and authoritative coverage of the most significant people, ideas and events of world history.
The Companion to British History
A comprehensive A-Z guide to the history of Britain and its peoples packed full of detail on everything from Hadrian's Wall to the Plague to Tony Blair.
A Concise History of the Middle East
A Concise History of the Middle East provides a comprehensive introduction to the history of this turbulent region. Spanning from pre-Islam to the present day, it explores the evolution of Islamic institutions and culture, the influence of the West, modernization efforts in the Middle East, the struggle of various peoples for political independence, the Arab-Israel conflict, the reassertion of Islamic values and power, the issues surrounding the Palestinian Question, and the Middle East post-9/11 and post-Arab uprisings.
Dictionary of British History
Covers the history of Britain from Roman times to the present day, and also its overseas territories during British Rule.
Dictionary of Women Worldwide: 25,000 Women Through the Ages
This three-volume dictionary contains 25,000 brief biographical entries, providing complete biographical information for most entries.
Encyclopedia of African History
Covering the entire continent from Morocco, Libya, and Egypt in the north to the Cape of Good Hope in the south, and the surrounding islands from Cape Verde in the west to Madagascar, Mauritius, and Seychelles in the east, the eEncyclopedia is an A-Z reference resource on the history of the entire African continent.
Encyclopedia of European Social History
This reference includes more than 230 articles, ranging from 5,000 to 10,000 words, on everything from serfdom and the economy, to witchcraft and public health.
Encyclopedia of Mexico: History, Society & Culture
Presents a processual view of Mexican history, society and culture from ancient civilizations to the present day.
The Encyclopedia of World History
A comprehensive chronology of entries that span the millennia from prehistoric times to the year 2000.
Encyclopedia of World Trade: From Ancient Times to the Present
This exhaustive four-volume set is the definitive reference on the history of trade in all time periods. It traces the historical and contemporary interaction of trade, commerce, and culture in fascinating detail.
Great Lives from History: Inventors & Inventions
Provides in-depth critical essays on important men and women inventors of all time, worldwide. See table of contents for individual inventors.
Great Lives in History: Autocrats and Dictators
"Great Lives from History: Autocrats and Dictators features nearly 220 biographies covering a curated selection of autocrats and dictators from throughout history. Each essay has been written or revised specifically for this set, including nearly 50 new entries; biographies represent a cross-section of some of the most notorious- yet-influential individuals ever to have lived, and many biographies offer sidebars focusing on significant, related topics and attributes." -- publishers website.
Historical Dictionary of Mexico
For almost three thousand years Mexico was the site of some of the most advanced Indian civilizations, most notably the Aztec and Mayan. In many ways, these civilizations were more advanced than their European contemporaries, especially in such spheres as astronomy, mathematics, and city organization. Upon seeing the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlán, for the first time, Spanish explorer Bernal Díaz del Castillo was awed by its beauty and confessed he had never seen a city in Spain that could match it. However, Díaz del Castillo's arrival coincided with that of Hernán Cortés, the Spanish conqueror of Mexico who captured the Aztec capital in 1521. Since then, it has been known as Mexico City. Mexico's struggle--and eventual success--through the subsequent years to become an independent country is chronicled in the second edition of Historical Dictionary of Mexico. It covers the history of Mexico from its great Indian civilizations to the controversial election of Felipe Calderón in 2006. This is done through a detailed chronology, an introduction, a map, a bibliography, and hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries on some of the more significant persons, places, and events; institutions and organizations; and political, economic, social, cultural, and religious facets.
History Behind the Headlines
Today's newspapers are filled with reports of conflicts between nations. Some conflicts have recently erupted; many have been going on for years. But most of them have deep-rooted, historical causes that are not explained in the media. That's what makes History Behind the Headlines big news for librarians, students, teachers and other researchers, who will consult it over and over again. For important background information on long-term ethnic, religious, political, territorial and economic conflicts between nations today, there isn't a more targeted ongoing print series.Volume 5 of History Behind the Headlines is a special volume devoted entirely to topics of terrorism. Each biannual volume includes approximately 30 entries arranged alphabetically by either the major country involved or the subject of the conflict. The entries are complete with overview essays, photographs, maps, charts, primary document excerpts, short biographies, current status and much more. These combined features offer a unique and in-depth analysis, tracing significant international conflicts back to their earliest stages.While Gale strives to replicate print content, some content may not be available due to rights restrictions.Call your Sales Rep for details.
Islamic History
Islam predominates in over thirty countries around the world. The rich and diverse history of the Islamic world requires a broad perspective. This in-depth look at the history of the religion and culture of Islam and the Muslim people covers the extreme breadth of the topic while still maintaining a detailed focus on key people and fascinating events.
Japan in World History
Japan in World History ranges from Japan's prehistoric interactions with Korea and China, to the Western challenge of the late 1500s, the partial isolation under the Tokugawa family (1600-1868), and the tumultuous interactions of more recent times, when Japan modernized ferociously, turned imperialist, lost a world war, then became the world's second largest economy--and its greatest foreign aid donor. Writing in a lively fashion, Huffman makes rich use of primary sources, illustrating events with comments by the people who lived through them: tellers of ancient myths, court women who dominated the early literary world, cynical priests who damned medieval materialism, travelers who marveled at "indecent" Western ballroom dancers in the mid-1800s, and the emperor who justified Pearl Harbor. Without ignoring standard political and military events, the book illuminates economic, social, and cultural factors; it also examines issues of gender as well as the roles of commoners, samurai, business leaders, novelists, and priests.
National Geographic Almanac of World History
From the first civilizations to the 21st century this wide-ranging, compulsively readable book encompasses all of world history: great ages and monumental events; the rise and fall of cultures; names, dates, and statistics, and stories galore.
Places of Encounter: Time, Place, and Connectivity in World History, Volume Two: Since 1500
Places of Encounter provides a place-based approach to world history, focusing on specific locations at critical moments when human history was transformed as a result of encounters physical, political, cultural, intellectual, and religious.
Places of Encounter: Time, Place, and Connectivity in World History: To 1600
Places of Encounter provides a place-based approach to world history, focusing on specific locations at critical moments when human history was transformed as a result of encounters physical, political, cultural, intellectual, and religious.
Power and Succession in Arab Monarchies
This exhaustive reference traces the rise of each ruling family, outlines key constitutional developments, provides details on current rulers and their approaches to succession, and discusses potential contenders to power.
The Reader's Companion to Military History
Filled with surprising anecdotes, little-known facts, and rare illustrations, this resource covers major events and battles, commanders and theorists, weaponry and technological advances, and strategy and tactics.
A Short History of China and Southeast Asia
China, the world's most populous nation, has always exerted great influence on the traditional kingdoms and modern states of Southeast Asia. Today, history and culture continue to shape the modern relationship. In this concise volume, Martin Stuart-Fox charts the history of relations between China and Southeast Asia across two millennia, examining patterns of diplomacy, commercial networks, and migration, and explaining how these have varied over time. He shows how China's traditional world view was disrupted by the modern order of sovereign nation states, how the country struggled to adapt through its' century of humiliation from the opium wars to the proclamation of the People's Republic in 1949 and how, since then, China has sought to restore its standing in the world. A Short History of China and Southeast Asia is a fascinating account of imperial ambition, internal collapse and revival, cultural and commercial striving, war and revolution. Here, the 'Middle Kingdom' plays its role on the world stage, from the beginnings of its history to its growing contest with the USA for dominance of the Asian region. An important insight into the complicated history of the fastest-growing region in the world, to its growing contest with the USA for dominance of the Asian arena. A title in the series edited by Milton Osborne.
South Africa in World History
This volume begins in the early centuries of the Common Era with the various groups of people who had settled in southern Africa. Stone Age foragers, farmers with iron technology, and pastoralists all interacted to create a complex society before Europeans arrived. In the seventeenth century, Dutch settlers developed a colonial society based on the menial labor of indigenous inhabitants of the Cape and slaves imported from the East Indies and other parts of Africa. British conquest in the early nineteenth century brought an end to slavery, as well as new forms of colonial domination, tension between the British and the original Dutch settlers, armed struggle between expanding European communities and Africans (including the highly militarized Zulu kingdom), and intensive missionary activity that transformed many African societies. The discovery of diamonds and gold in the late nineteenth century brought industrialization based on migrant labor, new clashes between British and Africaaners, the final conquest of African societies, and new European migrants. During the twentieth-century, despite further economic development, African communities were increasingly impoverished. New forms of racial domination lead to the implementation of apartheid in 1948 and heightened political organizing among both African and Africaaner nationalists. The intensification of resistance in the 1970s and '80s coupled with drastic changes in the international balance of power brought an end to the apartheid state in 1994 and an intensified struggle to overcome apartheid's economic and political legacy by building a new nonracial society. The book emphasizes social and cultural history, focusing on people's interactions and identities according to race, class, gender, religion and ethnicity. It also addresses changes in literature (both oral and written), music, and the arts and draws on the extensive biographical and autobiographical literature to provide a personal focus for the discussion of major themes. While this emphasis reflects dominant trends in historical scholarship for the past two decades, it also includes recent material on environmental history and relationships between African Americans and South Africans. Where relevant, it highlights comparisons between South African and U.S. history.
Technology: A World History
Today technology has created a world of dazzling progress, growing disparities of wealth and poverty, and looming threats to the environment. Technology: A World History offers an illuminating backdrop to our present moment--a brilliant history of invention around the globe. Historian Daniel R. Headrick ranges from the Stone Age and the beginnings of agriculture to the Industrial Revolution and the electronic revolution of the recent past. In tracing the growing power of humans over nature through increasingly powerful innovations, he compares the evolution of technology in different parts of the world, providing a much broader account than is found in other histories of technology. We also discover how small changes sometimes have dramatic results--how, for instance, the stirrup revolutionized war and gave the Mongols a deadly advantage over the Chinese. And how the nailed horseshoe was a pivotal breakthrough for western farmers. Enlivened with many illustrations, Technology offers a fascinating look at the spread of inventions around the world, both as boons for humanity and as weapons of destruction.
The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales
A comprehensive resource for topics related to Wales ranging from Snowdonia to the pampas of Patagonia, the ancient bards to the super-modern Super Furry Animals, folk heroes to Welsh Olympians, and the men and women of Wales who have excelled in art, culture, commerce and politics.
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Australia: A Very Short Introduction
In this Very Short Introduction Kenneth Morgan provides a wide-ranging and thematic introduction to modern Australia. He examines the main features of its history, geography, and culture since the beginning of the white settlement in New South Wales in 1788. Drawing attention to thedistinctive features of Australian life he places contemporary developments in a historical perspective, highlighting the importance of Australia's indigenous culture and making connections between Australia and the wider word.Balancing the successful growth of Australian institutions and democratic traditions, he considers the struggles that occurred in the making of modern Australia.
Blood and Soil : A World History of Genocide and Extermination from Sparta to Darfur
For thirty years Ben Kiernan has been deeply involved in the study of genocide and crimes against humanity. He has played a key role in unearthing confidential documentation of the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge. His writings have transformed our understanding not only of twentieth-century Cambodia but also of the historical phenomenon of genocide.
Empires in World History
Empires--vast states of territories and peoples united by force and ambition--have dominated the political landscape for more than two millennia. Empires in World History departs from conventional European and nation-centered perspectives to take a remarkable look at how empires relied on diversity to shape the global order.
European Intellectual History from Rousseau to Nietzsche
One of the most distinguished cultural and intellectual historians of our time, Frank Turner taught a landmark Yale University lecture course on European intellectual history that drew scores of students over many years. His lectures--lucid, accessible, beautifully written, and delivered with a notable lack of jargon--distilled modern European history from the Enlightenment to the dawn of the twentieth century and conveyed the turbulence of a rapidly changing era in European history through its ideas and leading figures.
The Family Tree Historical Atlas of Germany
Delve into your German heritage! This carefully curated collection of beautiful historical maps of Germany will help you sort out the mess that is German history. With these 100-plus full-color maps, you can view German border changes throughout the centuries, allowing you to find your German hometown and records of your ancestors. Inside, you'll find: · Beautiful maps of German states from medieval times to present, each selected specifically for the genealogist · Extensive histories of Germanic regions that will walk you through the country's long and complex past, from the Holy Roman Empire to the Berlin Wall · Beautiful, full-color maps bound in a hardcover format that makes a great gift for historians and genealogists · Detailed captions that put each map in context · Timelines of the events in each era of German history that affected boundary changes · A special village index that will help you pinpoint your ancestor's hometown
Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs
In November 1519, Hernando Cort�s walked along a causeway leading to the capital of the Aztec kingdom and came face to face with Moctezuma. That story--and the story of what happened afterwards--has been told many times, but always following the narrative offered by the Spaniards. After all, we have been taught, it was the Europeans who held the pens. But the Native Americans were intrigued by the Roman alphabet and, unbeknownst to the newcomers, they used it to write detailed histories in their own language of Nahuatl. Until recently, these sources remained obscure, only partially translated, and rarely consulted by scholars. For the first time, in Fifth Sun, the history of the Aztecs is offered in all its complexity based solely on the texts written by the indigenous people themselves. Camilla Townsend presents an accessible and humanized depiction of these native Mexicans, rather than seeing them as the exotic, bloody figures of European stereotypes. The conquest, in this work, is neither an apocalyptic moment, nor an origin story launching Mexicans into existence. The Mexica people had a history of their own long before the Europeans arrived and did not simply capitulate to Spanish culture and colonization. Instead, they realigned their political allegiances, accommodated new obligations, adopted new technologies, and endured. This engaging revisionist history of the Aztecs, told through their own words, explores the experience of a once-powerful people facing the trauma of conquest and finding ways to survive, offering an empathetic interpretation for experts and non-specialists alike.
Great Kingdoms of Africa
A groundbreaking, sweeping overview of the great kingdoms in African history and their legacies, written by world-leading experts. This is the first book for nonspecialists to explore the great precolonial kingdoms of Africa that have been marginalized throughout history. Great Kingdoms of Africa aims to decenter European colonialism and slavery as the major themes of African history and instead explore the kingdoms, dynasties, and city-states that have shaped cultures across the African continent. This groundbreaking book offers an innovative and thought-provoking overview that takes us from ancient Egypt and Nubia to the Zulu Kingdom almost two thousand years later. Each chapter is written by a leading historian, interweaving political and social history and drawing on a rich array of sources, including oral histories and recent archaeological findings. Great Kingdoms of Africa is a timely and vital book for anyone who wants to expand their knowledge of Africa's rich history.
History's Great Untold Stories: Larger Than Life Characters & Dramatic Events that Changed the World
This eye-catching volume combines vivid first-hand accounts of pivotal events in history with authoritative commentary. Revealing startling links among events and people separated by centuries and continents, the epic struggles and bombastic personalities have been carefully chosen for their power to challenge some of the fiercest debates of our present day.
The History of the World
J.M. Roberts's renowned History of the World is widely considered the finest available one-volume survey of the major events, developments, and personalities of the known past, offering generations of readers a tour of the vast landscape of human history.
The Human Journey: A Concise Introduction to World History
The Human Journey offers a truly concise yet satisfyingly full history of the world from ancient times to the present. Its themes include not only the great questions of the humanities nature versus nurture, the history and meaning of human variation, the sources of wealth, and causes of revolution but also the major transformations in human history: agriculture, cities, iron, writing, universal religions, global trade, industrialization, popular government, justice, and equality.
Medieval Bodies: Life and Death in the Middle Ages
Just like us, medieval men and women worried about growing old, got blisters and indigestion, fell in love, and had children. And yet their lives were full of miraculous and richly metaphorical experiences radically different from our own, unfolding in a world where deadly wounds might be healed overnight by divine intervention, or where the heart of a king, plucked from his corpse, could be held aloft as a powerful symbol of political rule.In this richly illustrated and unusual history, Jack Hartnell uncovers the fascinating ways in which people thought about, explored, and experienced their physical selves in the Middle Ages, from Constantinople to Cairo and Canterbury. Unfolding like a medieval pageant, and filled with saints, soldiers, caliphs, queens, monks and monstrous beasts, this book throws light on the medieval body from head to toe--revealing the surprisingly sophisticated medical knowledge of the time.Bringing together medicine, art, music, politics, philosophy, religion, and social history, Hartnell's work is an excellent guide to what life was really like for the men and women who lived and died in the Middle Ages. Perfumed and decorated with gold, fetishized or tortured, powerful even beyond death, these medieval bodies are not passive and buried away; they can still teach us what it means to be human.
Mexico: from the Olmecs to the Aztecs
Mexico arrives in its eighth edition with a new look and the most recent discoveries. This is the story of the pre-Spanish people of Mexico, who, with their neighbors the Maya, formed some of the most complex societies north of the Andes. Revised and expanded, the book is updated with the latest developments and findings in the field and current terminology.The new edition includes expanded coverage of Oaxaca, particularly Monte Alba´n, one of the earliest cities in Mesoamerica and the center of the Zapotec civilization. Recent research on the Olmecs and the legacy of the Maya offer a wider and more cohesive narrative of Mexico's history. And a fully revised epilogue discusses the survival of indigenous populations in Mexico from the arrival of the Spanish through to the present day.Mexico has long been recognized as the most readable and authoritative introduction to the region's ancient civilizations. Featuring up-to-date research and, for the first time, full-color illustrations throughout, this book brings to life the vibrant ancient art and architecture of Mesoamerica.
Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster
A New York Times Best Book of the Year A Time Best Book of the Year A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of the Year 2020 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence Finalist Journalist Adam Higginbotham's definitive, years-in-the-making account of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster--and a powerful investigation into how propaganda, secrecy, and myth have obscured the true story of one of the twentieth century's greatest disasters. Early in the morning of April 26, 1986, Reactor Number Four of the Chernobyl Atomic Energy Station exploded, triggering history's worst nuclear disaster. In the thirty years since then, Chernobyl has become lodged in the collective nightmares of the world: shorthand for the spectral horrors of radiation poisoning, for a dangerous technology slipping its leash, for ecological fragility, and for what can happen when a dishonest and careless state endangers its citizens and the entire world. But the real story of the accident, clouded from the beginning by secrecy, propaganda, and misinformation, has long remained in dispute. Drawing on hundreds of hours of interviews conducted over the course of more than ten years, as well as letters, unpublished memoirs, and documents from recently-declassified archives, Adam Higginbotham has written a harrowing and compelling narrative which brings the disaster to life through the eyes of the men and women who witnessed it firsthand. The result is a masterful nonfiction thriller, and the definitive account of an event that changed history: a story that is more complex, more human, and more terrifying than the Soviet myth. Midnight in Chernobyl is an indelible portrait of one of the great disasters of the twentieth century, of human resilience and ingenuity, and the lessons learned when mankind seeks to bend the natural world to his will--lessons which, in the face of climate change and other threats, remain not just vital but necessary.
National Geographic: Essential Visual History of the World
From the dawn of civilization to the first decade of the 21st century, this straightforwardly written, superbly accessible reference distills the concentrated essence of world history into a single compact, 544-page volume that fits in the palm of your hand. Featuring more than 1,000 illustrations, it's a book as vivid as it is definitive, with an innovative design that invites readers to envision the human epic from a wide variety of revealing perspectives.
The Oxford Map Companion: One Hundred Sources in World History
Bringing together a rich and diverse collection of 100 historical maps from the Paleolithic to the present, The Oxford Map Companion of World History illustrates how peoples and cultures throughout the human past have imagined their worlds. The collection - which includes many never-beforepublished maps - spans a broad spectrum of human time and cultural diversity.
Russia in World History
Over the course of twelve centuries, Russia's peoples overcame the constant challenges posed by geography, climate, availability of natural resources, and devastating foreign invasions to become the world's second largest land empire and the largest in modern history.
War Crimes, Genocide, and Justice: A Global History
In this sweeping, definitive work, historian David Crowe offers an unflinching account of the long and troubled history of genocide and war crimes. From ancient atrocities to more recent horrors, he traces their disturbing consistency but also the heroic efforts made to break seemingly intractable patterns of violence and retribution.
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The Aztecs: A Very Short Introduction
by
This Very Short Introduction employs the disciplines of history, religious studies, and anthropology as it illuminates the complexities of Aztec life. Readers meet a people highly skilled in sculpture, astronomy, city planning, poetry, and philosophy, who were also profoundly committed tocosmic regeneration through the thrust of the ceremonial knife and through warfare. David Carrasco looks beyond Spanish accounts that have colored much of the Western narrative to let Aztec voices speak about their origin stories, the cosmic significance of their capital city, their methods of childrearing, and the contributions women made to daily life and the empire.Carrasco discusses the arrival of the Spaniards, contrasts Aztec mythical traditions about the origins of their city with actual urban life in Mesoamerica, and outlines the rise of the Aztec empire. He also explores Aztec religion, which provided both justification for and alternatives to warfare,sacrifice, and imperialism, and he sheds light on Aztec poetry, philosophy, painting, and especially monumental sculpture and architecture. He concludes by looking at how the Aztecs have been portrayed in Western thought, art, film, and literature as well as in Latino culture and arts.
The Roman Empire: A Very Short Introduction
by
The Roman Empire was a remarkable achievement. It had a population of sixty million people spread across lands encircling the Mediterranean and stretching from northern England to the sun-baked banks of the Euphrates, and from the Rhine to the North African coast. It was, above all else, an empire of force--employing a mixture of violence, suppression, order, and tactical use of power to develop an astonishingly uniform culture. Here, historian Christopher Kelly covers the history of the Empire from Augustus to Marcus Aurelius, describing the empire's formation, and its political, religious, cultural, and social structures. It looks at the daily lives of the Empire's people: both those in Rome as well as those living in its furthest colonies. Romans used astonishing logistical feats, political savvy, and military oppression to rule their vast empire. This Very Short Introduction examines how they "romanised" the cultures they conquered, imposing their own culture in order to subsume them completely. The book also looks at how the Roman Empire has been considered and depicted in more recent times, from the writings of Edward Gibbon to the Hollywood blockbuster Gladiator. It will prove a valuable introduction for readers interested in classical history.
African History: A Very Short Introduction
Essential reading for anyone interested in the African continent and the diversity of human history, this Very Short Introduction looks at Africa's past and reflects on the changing ways it has been imagined and represented. Key themes in current thinking about Africa's history are illustratedwith a range of fascinating historical examples, drawn from over 5 millennia across this vast continent.
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