February 2017

". . . gracefully written" - The New York Times
Award-winning historian Lionel Casson paints a vivid portrait of the people of ancient Egypt - from peasants and pharao

". . . gracefully written" - The New York Times
Award-winning historian Lionel Casson paints a vivid portrait of the people of ancient Egypt - from peasants and pharaohs to soldiers and
scribes and artists and priests - and what life was like beyond the splendors and treasures that remain with us today.

On May 14, 1804, a party of explorers dispatched by President Thomas Jefferson set off up the Missouri River into America's newly acquired Louisiana Territory. Under the leadership of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, the men of the Corps of Discovery would cross the continent and into history. Here, from award-winning historian Ralph K. Andrist, is the dramatic story of their epic journey.

In his youth, Leonardo da Vinci wrote confidently, "I wish to work miracles." By the time of his death in 1519, when he was sixty-seven and
famed throughout Europe, it seemed that he had accomplished wonders aplenty as an artist, engineer, inventor, and scientist. Here, from
author Jay Williams, is the moving story of the man behind the Renaissance myth.

In his youth, Leonardo da Vinci wrote confidently, "I wish to work miracles." By the time of his death in 1519, when he was sixty-seven and
famed throughout Europe, it seemed that he had accomplished wonders aplenty as an artist, engineer, inventor, and scientist. Here, from
author Jay Williams, is the moving story of the man behind the Renaissance myth.

The tales of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table are among the best-known stories in the world, but they are often relegated
to the realm of legend. However, Arthur was a man, not a myth.
In this book, acclaimed historian Christopher Hibbert vividly brings to life the sixth-century British monarch and his extraordinary court.

Andrew Jackson - war hero and spokesman for the frontier, the first president from west of the Alleghenies, the first born in a log cabin -
fought his way to the White House. Once there, he stood for the rights of common citizens, founded the Democratic Party, expanded the
powers of the presidency, paid off the national debt, and postponed civil war by prevailing against the advocates of states’ rights.

For centuries, the inlet called the Golden Horn and the city on the hills overlooking it were situated in the middle of the known world. To
the south, through the Dardanelles and the Aegean Sea, lay the Mediterranean, around which the Greek, Roman, Persian, and Arab worlds
revolved. To the north, through the Bosporus, lay the Black Sea, with its Russian and eastern European coastline. And across the narrow
Bosporus was Asia Minor, bridge to the Orient. Because of its strategic location, the city on the Golden Horn was coveted by a succession
of different peoples. But even though it frequently was under siege, even though control of it often changed hands, and even though,
indeed, it was conquered and leveled more than once, the city proved to be virtually immortal.
Founded nearly twenty-seven centuries ago as the Greek colony of Byzantium, the city was harassed by the barbaric Thracians, attacked
by the Persians, vied for by the Athenians and Spartans. Weakened and dispirited, its citizens finally were forced to seek the protection of

The battle between the Confederate ship Merrimac and the Union's Monitor at Hampton Roads, Virginia, on March 9, 1862, introduced
the age of the ironclads and ended the dominance of wooden warships forever.
This fascinating book shares the behind-the-scenes drama of both the battle and the development of the ships that transformed naval
warfare and changed the course of the Civil War.

When the explorer René Caillié returned to France from Africa in 1828, he published a sketch of the legendary city he had discovered -
Timbuctoo. But neither that simple drawing nor his matter-of-fact description gave Caillié's countrymen a sufficiently colorful picture to
match their preconceptions of how Africa should look. They turned their backs on the young explorer, ignored his accomplishments, and
let him die neglected.
Here are the epic adventures of the European explorers who opened Africa – from Mongo Park and Vasco da Gama to Francis Burton and
David Livingstone and Henry Stanley.