A stunning story of Holy Week through the eyes of a Roman centurion Watch the triumphal entry of the donkey-riding king through the eyes of Marcus Longinus, the centurion charged with keeping the streets from erupting into open rebellion. Look behind the scenes at the political plotting of King Herod, known as the scheming Fox for his ruthless shrewdness. Get a front-row seat to the confrontation between the Jewish high priest Caiaphas and the Roman governor Pontius Pilate. Understand as never before the horror of the decision to save a brutal terrorist in order to condemn the peaceful Jew to death. If you've heard the story of Passion Week so often it's become stale, now is the time to rediscover the terrible events leading from Jesus's humble ride into the city to his crucifixion. The Soldier Who Killed a King will stun you afresh with how completely Christ's resurrection changed history, one life at a time.

Journeying home to his family after a ten-year war, mighty king Ulysses must first face Circe, an evil sorceress with the power to transform men into wild animals. Original.

The British troops who fought so successfully under the Duke of Wellington during his Peninsular Campaign against Napoleon have long been branded by the duke’s own words—“scum of the earth”—and assumed to have been society’s ne’er-do-wells or criminals who enlisted to escape justice. Now Edward J. Coss shows to the contrary that most of these redcoats were respectable laborers and tradesmen and that it was mainly their working-class status that prompted the duke’s derision. Driven into the army by unemployment in the wake of Britain’s industrial revolution, they confronted wartime hardship with ethical values and became formidable soldiers in the bargain These men depended on the king’s shilling for survival, yet pay was erratic and provisions were scant. Fed worse even than sixteenth-century Spanish galley slaves, they often marched for days without adequate food; and if during the campaign they did steal from Portuguese and Spanish civilians, the theft was attributable not to any criminal leanings but to hunger and the paltry rations provided by the army. Coss draws on a comprehensive database on British soldiers as well as first-person accounts of Peninsular War participants to offer a better understanding of their backgrounds and daily lives. He describes how these neglected and abused soldiers came to rely increasingly on the emotional and physical support of comrades and developed their own moral and behavioral code. Their cohesiveness, Coss argues, was a major factor in their legendary triumphs over Napoleon’s battle-hardened troops. The first work to closely examine the social composition of Wellington’s rank and file through the lens of military psychology, All for the King’s Shilling transcends the Napoleonic battlefield to help explain the motivation and behavior of all soldiers under the stress of combat.

Specially commissioned artwork and thrilling combat accounts transport the reader to the far-flung and inhospitable East African theatre of World War I, where the Schutztruppe faced off against the King's African Rifles. In an attempt to divert Allied forces from the Western Front, a small German colonial force under the command of Oberst Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck raided British and Portuguese territory. Despite being heavily outnumbered, his expert use of guerrilla tactics forced the British to mount a series of offensives, culminating in a major battle at Nyangao-Mahiwa that saw both sides suffer heavy casualties. Meticulously researched analysis highlights the tactical and technological innovation shown by both armies as they were forced to fight in a treacherous climate where local diseases could prove just as deadly as the opposition.

The Soldier Kings of France explores the reigns of eight monarchs, from King Charles II to Napoleon Bonaparte, tracing their roles in expanding French power and shaping European history. In early October 1795, Napoleon Bonaparte led the governing Directory’s army against the rioting royalists in Paris (who were rebelling to restore the monarchy), crushing their campaign and beginning his rise to supremacy and greatness. Napoleon is one of the eight sovereigns discussed in The Soldier Kings of France, who brought glory, power and territorial expansion to France, while altering the course of European history. The work begins in the ninth century with King Charles II’s seizure of the French crown and concludes in the nineteenth century with Napoleon’s rise and fall. In the book, the reign of Philip II and his participation in the Third Crusade to the Holy Land is the second monarch reviewed, followed by Louis XI, who ended the Hundred Year War with the English and Louis XII’s rule is next, which fought to expand French territorial holdings into the Lombardy region of Italy. The fifth king surveyed is Francis I and his enlargement of French lands into Italy, while the sixth king is Henry IV, whose conversion to the Catholic faith ended thirty years of French religious wars and established a stable and popular regime. The kingship of Louis XIV is the book’s seventh overlord, whose rule was occupied with wars to expand his territories and the building of France into the center of European culture, arts, architecture and music during the Baroque era, while presiding over a magnificent court at the Versailles Palace. The final sovereign lord discussed is Napoleon Bonaparte, who led his armies to victory, establishing French dominance across Europe until his defeats at Leipzig and Waterloo and his forced exile to the remote and desolate island of Elba in the south Atlantic Ocean.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “A hauntingly beautiful account of a family fractured by war . . . filled with vivid and heartbreaking details.”—The New York Times Book Review NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE • “Full of wonderful treasures offered by a unique and spirited father . . . written with serene grace: part memoir, part love story, all heart.”—James McBride, author of The Color of Water In 2005, Dana Canedy’s fiancé, First Sergeant Charles Monroe King, began to write what would become a two-hundred-page journal for his son in case he did not make it home from the war in Iraq. He was killed by a roadside bomb on October 14, 2006. His son, Jordan, was seven months old. Inspired by his example, Dana was determined to preserve his memory for their son. A Journal for Jordan is a mother’s fiercely honest letter to her child about the parent he lost before he could even speak. It is also a father’s advice and prayers for the son he will never know. A father figure to the soldiers under his command, Charles moved naturally into writing to his son. In neat block letters, he counseled him on everything from how to withstand disappointment and deal with adversaries to how to behfrave on a date. And he also wrote of recovering a young soldier’s body, piece by piece, from a tank—and the importance of honoring that young man’s life. He finished the journal two months before his death while home on a two-week leave, so intoxicated with love for his infant son that he barely slept. This is also the story of Dana and Charles together—two seemingly mismatched souls who loved each other deeply and lost each other too soon. A Journal for Jordan is a tender introduction, a loving good-bye, a reporter’s inquiry into her soldier’s life, and a heartrending reminder of the human cost of war.

"A masterpiece of contemporary Bible translation and commentary."—Los Angeles Times Book Review, Best Books of 1999 Acclaimed for its masterful new translation and insightful commentary, The David Story is a fresh, vivid rendition of one of the great works in Western literature. Robert Alter's brilliant translation gives us David, the beautiful, musical hero who slays Goliath and, through his struggles with Saul, advances to the kingship of Israel. But this David is also fully human: an ambitious, calculating man who navigates his life's course with a flawed moral vision. The consequences for him, his family, and his nation are tragic and bloody. Historical personage and full-blooded imagining, David is the creation of a literary artist comparable to the Shakespeare of the history plays.