A rich and surprising look at the robust European culture that thrived after the collapse of Rome. The barbarians who destroyed the glory that was Rome demolished civilization along with it, and for the next four centuries the peasants and artisans of Europe barely held on. Random violence, mass migration, disease, and starvation were the only ways of life. This is the picture of the Dark Ages that most historians promote. But archaeology tells a different story. Peter Wells, one of the world’s leading archaeologists, surveys the archaeological record to demonstrate that the Dark Ages were not dark at all. The kingdoms of Christendom that emerged starting in the ninth century sprang from a robust, previously little-known European culture, albeit one that left behind few written texts.

A modern classic by Nobel Laureate J.M. Coetzee. His latest novel, The Schooldays of Jesus, is now available from Viking. Late Essays: 2006-2016 will be available January 2018. For decades the Magistrate has been a loyal servant of the Empire, running the affairs of a tiny frontier settlement and ignoring the impending war with the barbarians. When interrogation experts arrive, however, he witnesses the Empire's cruel and unjust treatment of prisoners of war. Jolted into sympathy for their victims, he commits a quixotic act of rebellion that brands him an enemy of the state. J. M. Coetzee's prize-winning novel is a startling allegory of the war between opressor and opressed. The Magistrate is not simply a man living through a crisis of conscience in an obscure place in remote times; his situation is that of all men living in unbearable complicity with regimes that ignore justice and decency. Mark Rylance (Wolf Hall, Bridge of Spies), Ciro Guerra and producer Michael Fitzgerald are teaming up to to bring J.M. Coetzee's Waiting for the Barbarians to the big screen.

Born into a village whose foundations were forged from strength and destruction, Shadow is trained in the art of chakra manipulation from an early age to become a ruthless warrior. As Shadow matures, he unlocks a devastating power that has been hidden in the blood of his lineage for the past fi ve-hundred years. A power that has not been seen since Shadow’s great-grandfather, Lord Th eron, unleashed it upon the world in a black storm of fury and annihilation, earning him the title of the most ruthless warlord in all of history. Th e leader of the Village of Chaos sends Shadow on a deadly mission to the Forbidden Lands to train and master his newly acquired abilities. An unfortunate death forces Shadow to end his training early and return home to mourn for the lost life. An enormous war between rival clans is on the brink of erupting when the leader of the Village of Chaos approaches Shadow and informs him of his true role. Shadow is to lead a massive army into battle just like his great-grandfather did fi ve-hundred years ago. With this daunting task placed before him Shadow must decide whether to heed his great-grandfathers warning and stay away from a life of power and bloodlust or to do what is best for his home and unleash his inner strength, his inner demon.