The three-volume The Crusades covers everything from the First Crusade (1095-99) through the Ninth Crusade (1271-72). The Crusades: Almanac discusses various topics, including the conquering of Jerusalem by the caliph Umar, pilgrimages to the Holy Land, the traditions of chivalry, Shiites and Sunnis, territorial expansion and colonization as motivations for the crusades, Knights Hospitalers and Knights Templars and more. The Crusades: Biographies explores many key figures, such as Pope Urban II, Saladin, Pope Innocent III, Peter the Hermit, Richard I of England, Frederick I of Germany, Francis of Assisi, Stephen of Cloyes and others.

Two top CIA operatives wage an epic battle against one another after they discover they are dating the same woman.

Two top CIA operatives wage an epic battle against one another after they discover they are dating the same woman.

“Sex at Dawn challenges conventional wisdom about sex in a big way. By examining the prehistoric origins of human sexual behavior the authors are able to expose the fallacies and weaknesses of standard theories proposed by most experts. This is a provocative, entertaining, and pioneering book. I learned a lot from it and recommend it highly.” — Andrew Weil, M.D.

Robert A. Caro's life of Lyndon Johnson, which began with the greatly acclaimed The Path to Power, also winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, continues -- one of the richest, most intensive and most revealing examinations ever undertaken of an American President. In Means of Ascent the Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer/historian, chronicler also of Robert Moses in The Power Broker, carries Johnson through his service in World War II and the foundation of his long-concealed fortune and the facts behind the myths he created about it. But the explosive heart of the book is Caro's revelation of the true story of the fiercely contested 1948 senatorial election, for forty years shrouded in rumor, which Johnson had to win or face certain political death, and which he did win -- by "the 87 votes that changed history." Caro makes us witness to a momentous turning point in American politics: the tragic last stand of the old politics versus the new -- the politics of issue versus the politics of image, mass manipulation, money and electronic dazzle.

Joseph Nye coined the term "soft power" in the late 1980s. It is now used frequently—and often incorrectly—by political leaders, editorial writers, and academics around the world. So what is soft power? Soft power lies in the ability to attract and persuade. Whereas hard power—the ability to coerce—grows out of a country's military or economic might, soft power arises from the attractiveness of a country's culture, political ideals, and policies.

Two top CIA operatives wage an epic battle against one another after they discover they are dating the same woman.

Two top CIA operatives wage an epic battle against one another after they discover they are dating the same woman.

Commodities permeate virtually every aspect of modern daily living, but for all their importance—their breadth, their depth, their intricacies, and their central role in daily life—few people who are not economists or traders know how commodity markets work. Almost every day, newspaper headlines and media commentators scream warnings of impending doom--shortages of arable land, clashes over water, and political conflict as global demand for fossil fuels outstrips supply. The picture is bleak, but our grasp of the details and the macro shifts in commodities markets remain blurry.

Two top CIA operatives wage an epic battle against one another after they discover they are dating the same woman.

Two top CIA operatives wage an epic battle against one another after they discover they are dating the same woman.