Books with title The Rise and Fall of the Aztec Empire

Stephen Greenblatt - Pulitzer Prize- and National Book Award- winning author of The Swerve and Will in the World - investigates the life of one of humankind's greatest stories. Bolder even than the ambitious books for which Stephen Greenblatt is already renowned, The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve explores the enduring story of humanity's first parents. Comprising only a few ancient verses, the story of Adam and Eve has served as a mirror in which we seem to glimpse the whole long history of our fears and desires, as both a hymn to human responsibility and a dark fable about human wretchedness. Tracking the tale into the deep past, Greenblatt uncovers the tremendous theological, artistic, and cultural investment over centuries that made these fictional figures so profoundly resonant in the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim worlds and, finally, so very "real" to millions of people even in the present. With the uncanny brilliance he previously brought to his depictions of William Shakespeare and Poggio Bracciolini (the humanist monk who is the protagonist of The Swerve), Greenblatt explores the intensely personal engagement of Augustine, Dürer, and Milton in this mammoth project of collective creation while he also limns the diversity of the story's offspring: rich allegory, vicious misogyny, deep moral insight, and some of the greatest triumphs of art and literature. The biblical origin story, Greenblatt argues, is a model for what the humanities still have to offer: not the scientific nature of things but rather a deep encounter with problems that have gripped our species for as long as we can recall and that continue to fascinate and trouble us today.

Nubia: The Rise and Fall of African Empires introduces readers to the wealthy empires and powerful trading kingdoms that once dominated the African continent. As an international nexus for trade, Africa once attracted merchants and explorers from Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. The personal journals and publications of these intrepid adventurers captured their first hand impressions of Africa's Emperors, Queens and wealthy trading elite. Modern discoveries allow us to combine their perspectives with the written histories of Africa's literate kingdoms to develop an accurate picture of the role that African Empires played in world history. Prior to the slave trade, Africa was filled with the sumptuous cities of empires that were intimately engaged with world affairs. They clashed with familiar legends in the ancient world like Rome and Persia and proved themselves to be formidable against the world's most powerful armies. In Nubia, we trace the rise and fall of grand African Kingdoms to explain the condition of Africa in the modern world. The narratives collected in Nubia: The Rise and Fall of African Empires will bring African history to life, by shining a light on the epic battles and enigmatic personalities that shaped the history of a land erroneously dubbed "The Dark Continent".

“Endlessly illuminating and a sheer pleasure to read.” —Jack Miles, author of God: A BiographyDaring to take the great biblical account of human origins seriously, but without credulityThe most influential story in Western cultural history, the biblical account of Adam and Eve is now treated either as the sacred possession of the faithful or as the butt of secular jokes. Here, acclaimed scholar Stephen Greenblatt explores it with profound appreciation for its cultural and psychological power as literature. From the birth of the Hebrew Bible to the awe-inspiring contributions of Augustine, Dürer, and Milton in bringing Adam and Eve to vivid life, Greenblatt unpacks the story’s many interpretations and consequences over time. Rich allegory, vicious misogyny, deep moral insight, narrow literalism, and some of the greatest triumphs of art and literature: all can be counted as children of our “first” parents.

An excellent history of the rise and fall of the Assyrian Empire, one of the most powerful and devastating Empire's of the ancient world.Contents include:CHAPTER I. THE RISE OF ASSHURCHAPTER II. THE FIRST OR OLD EMPIRE - TIGLATH-PILESER ICHAPTER III.THE SONS OF CANAAN: THEIR MIGRATIONS - THE PHOENICIANSCHAPTER IV.THE SONS OF CANAAN: THEIR RELIGION - SACRIFICE AS AN INSTITUTION - HUMAN SACRIFICESCHAPTER V.THE NEIGHBORS OF ASSHUR - REVIVAL OF THE EMPIRECHAPTER VI.SHALMANESER II - ASSHUR AND ISRAELAPPENDIX TO CHAPTER VI.THE STELE OF MESHA, THE MOABITECHAPTER VII.THE SECOND EMPIRE - SIEGE OF SAMARIACHAPTER VIII.THE PRIDE OF ASSHUR - SARGONCHAPTER IX.THE SARGONIDES - SENNACHERIB (SIN-AKI-IRIB)CHAPTER X.THE SARGONIDES: ESARHADDON (ASSHUR-AKIH-IDDIN)CHAPTER XI.THE GATHERING OF THE STORM - THE LAST COMER AMONG THE GREAT RACESCHAPTER XII.THE DECLINE OF ASSHUR - ASSHURBANIPAL (ASSHUR-BANI-HABAL)CHAPTER XIII.THE FALL OF ASSHUR

Students are taught that the Aztecs were destroyed by Hernn Cortz, the conqueror of Mexico. However, there is much to learn about who the Aztec people were before they were conquered. The native Mexicans were part of a rich and vibrant culture that spanned hundreds of years. To understand this complicated society, readers are provided with an engaging main text and colorful photographs and historical images. Informative sidebars throughout detail the long history, and sudden defeat, of the Aztec Empire.

Download for FREE on Kindle Unlimited + Free Bonus Inside!Read on your Computer, Mac, Smart phone, Kindle Reader, iPad, or Tablet.Ancient Rome is Roman civilization from the founding of the city of Rome to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, encompassing the Roman Kingdom, Roman Republic and Roman Empire until the fall of the western empire.Inside you’ll read aboutA myth evolves into an EmpireThe reign of terrorEmperors, able or ineptThe Roman Empire is bornThe two faces of CaligulaDivision, decline and deathAnd much more!In its many centuries of existence, the Roman state evolved from a monarchy to a Classical Republic and then to an increasingly autocratic empire. Rome professionalized and expanded its military and created a system of government called res publica, the inspiration for modern republics. It achieved impressive technological and architectural feats, such as the construction of an extensive system of aqueducts and roads, as well as the construction of large monuments, palaces, and public facilities.

Two...Four...Six...Eight...How come no one's friends with Kate! Lizzie always tries to stay out of Kate Sanders's way. Ever since Kate made cheerleader, she's become the most popular girl in school. And she's turned into a major she-beast -- the kind that likes to hunt defenseless Lizzies. Yikes! But when Kate injures her ankle during cheerleading practice, the other girls kick her off the squad. Suddenly, Kate isn't quite so popular anymore. Can Lizzie get Kate to admit that-for once-she actually needs Lizzie's help?

There is, on carefully drawn maps of Mesopotamia, a pale undulating line (considerably to the north of the city of Accad or Agade), which cuts across the valley of the two rivers, from Is or Hit on the Euphrates,—the place famous for its inexhaustible bitumen pits,—to Samarah on the Tigris. This line marks the beginning of the alluvium, i.e. of the rich, moist alluvial land formed by the rivers, and at the same time the natural boundary of Northern Babylonia. Beyond it the land, though still a plain, is not only higher, rising till it meets the transversal limestone ridge of the Sin jar Hills, but of an entirely different character and formation. It is distressingly dry and bare, scarcely differing in this respect from the contiguous Syrian Desert, and nothing but the most laborious irrigation could ever have made it productive, except in the immediate vicinity of the rivers. What the country has become through centuries of neglect and misrule, we have seen. It must have been much in the same condition before a highly developed civilization reclaimed it from its natural barrenness and covered it with towns and farms. It is probable that for many centuries a vast tract of land south of the alluvium line, as well as all that lay north of it, was virtually unoccupied; the resort of nameless and unclassed nomadic tribes, for Agade is the most northern of important Accadian cities we hear of...

Ancient Rome is Roman civilization from the founding of the city of Rome to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, encompassing the Roman Kingdom, Roman Republic, and Roman Empire until the fall of the western empire.Inside you will read about...A myth evolves into an EmpireThe reign of terrorEmperors, able or ineptThe Roman Empire is bornThe two faces of CaligulaDivision, decline and deathAnd much more!In its many centuries of existence, the Roman state evolved from a monarchy to the Classical Republic and then to an increasingly autocratic empire. Rome professionalized and expanded its military and created a system of government called res publica, the inspiration for modern republics. It achieved impressive technological and architectural feats, such as the construction of an extensive system of aqueducts and roads, as well as the construction of large monuments, palaces, and public facilities.

There is, on carefully drawn maps of Mesopotamia, a pale undulating line (considerably to the north of the city of Accad or Agade), which cuts across the valley of the two rivers, from Is or Hit on the Euphrates,- the place famous for its inexhaustible bitumen pits,- to Samarah on the Tigris. This line marks the beginning of the alluvium, i.e. of the rich, moist alluvial land formed by the rivers, and at the same time the natural boundary of Northern Babylonia. Beyond it the land, though still a plain, is not only higher, rising till it meets the transversal limestone ridge of the Sin jar Hills, but of an entirely different character and formation. It is distressingly dry and bare, scarcely differing in this respect from the contiguous Syrian Desert, and nothing but the most laborious irrigation could ever have made it productive, except in the immediate vicinity of the rivers. What the country has become through centuries of neglect and misrule, we have seen. It must have been much in the same condition before a highly developed civilization reclaimed it from its natural barrenness and covered it with towns and farms. It is probable that for many centuries a vast tract of land south of the alluvium line, as well as all that lay north of it, was virtually unoccupied; the resort of nameless and unclassed nomadic tribes, for Agade is the most northern of important Accadian cities we hear of.