The leader who helped keep the Dark Ages at bay: “An excellent picture of the Crisis of the Third Century and the life and work of Aurelian” (StrategyPage). The ancient Sibylline prophecies had foretold that the Roman Empire would last for one thousand years. As the time for the expected dissolution approached in the middle of the third century AD, the empire was lapsing into chaos, with seemingly interminable civil wars over the imperial succession. The western empire had seceded under a rebel emperor, and the eastern empire was controlled by another usurper. Barbarians took advantage of the anarchy to kill and plunder all over the provinces. Yet within the space of just five years, the general, and later emperor, Aurelian had expelled all the barbarians from within the Roman frontiers, reunited the entire empire, and inaugurated major reforms of the currency, pagan religion, and civil administration. His accomplishments have been hailed by classical scholars as those of a superman, yet Aurelian himself remains little known to a wider audience. His achievements enabled the Roman Empire to survive for another two centuries, ensuring a lasting legacy of Roman civilization for the successor European states. Without Aurelian, the Dark Ages would probably have lasted centuries longer.

The ancient Sibylline Books had predicted that Rome would last one thousand years. The millennial celebrations had already been held (AD 248) and the anxious population of the empire, shaken by civil wars and battered by the Gothic incursions, fearfully awaited the worst. Then the barbarians poured across the frontiers.

Aurelian and the Third Century provides a re-evaluation, in the light of recent scholarship, of the difficulties facing the Roman empire in the AD 260s and 270s, concentrating upon the reign of the Emperor Aurelian and his part in summoning them. With introduction examining the situation in the mid third century, the book is divided into two parts: * Part 1: deals chronologically with the military and political events of the period from 268 to 276 * Part 2: analyzes the other achievements and events of Aurelian's reign and assesses their importance. A key supplement to the study of the Roman Empire.

“A clear, brisk writer, Pearson is also quite thorough, taking a holistic attitude to the many facets of a confused, turbulent period.” —NYMAS Review This book is a narrative history of a dozen years of turmoil that begins with Rome’s millennium celebrations of 248 CE and ends with the capture of the emperor Valerian by the Persians in 260. It was a period of almost unremitting disaster for Rome, involving a series of civil wars, several major invasions by Goths and Persians, economic crisis, and an empire-wide pandemic, the “plague of Cyprian.” There was also sustained persecution of the Christians. A central theme of the book is that this was a period of moral and spiritual crisis in which the traditional state religion suffered greatly in prestige, paving the way for the eventual triumph of Christianity. The sensational recent discovery of extensive fragments of the lost Scythica of Dexippus sheds much new light on the Gothic Wars of the period. The author has used this new evidence in combination with in-depth investigations in the field to develop a revised account of events surrounding the great Battle of Abritus, in which the army of the emperor Decius was annihilated by Cniva’s Goths. The Roman Empire in Crisis, 248-260 sheds new light on a period that is pivotal for understanding the transition between Classical civilization and the period known as Late Antiquity.

We live in a world constantly in need of repair. Our cars break down. Marriages weaken, friendships sour, ties between nations are rent. Yet we fix things and relationships all the time, without giving these activities much thought. Repair is the first book to offer an in-depth exploration of this core aspect of human life.

Revealed to the world in 1948, the Land-Rover not only revived the Rover Company's fortunes in an austerity-riddled post-war period, but galvanized its future, thanks to the model's almost immediate success. With the manufacture of an initial 48 'pre-production' examples coming to a close, the first official production models were assembled - starting with chassis 860001. As original factory records prove, this pivotal vehicle was destined for His Royal Highness King George VI, but the decision was made to postpone the presentation and instead, 'number one' was retained by the factory until 1950, when it was registered JUE 477 before leaving Rover Company ownership. After decades left out in the cold and exposed to the elements, 860001 had certainly seen better days, but thanks to the determination of Sir Jim Ratcliffe, founder and Chairman of INEOS, the future of JUE 477 was secured in 2017. Over the next two years, a dedicated team of experts, led by chief restorer, Julian Shoolheifer set about restoring the vehicle while retaining as much of its original DNA as was physically, and safely, possible and making sure that this remarkable vehicle's history and past life was still worn with pride.

A cemetery restorer with a haunting secret must break her own rules when she meets a detective on the hunt for a killer in this romantic urban fantasy. Never acknowledge the dead. Never stray far from hallowed ground. Never get close to the haunted. Never, ever tempt fate. My name is Amelia Gray. I’m a cemetery restorer who sees ghosts. In order to protect myself from the parasitic nature of the dead, I’ve always held fast to these rules passed down from my father . . . until now. Detective John Devlin needs my help to find a killer, but he is haunted by ghosts who shadow his every move. To warn him would be to invite them into my life. I’ve vowed to keep my distance, but the pull of his magnetism grows ever stronger even as the headstone symbols lead me closer to truth and to the gossamer veil that separates this world from the next.