Back Part 1: Across the Fence follows a covert 1968 Special Forces (SOG) mission to the Ho Chi Minh Trail in the jungles of Laos, led by Spike Miller. In alternating chapters it also follows the modern-day story as Spike, now dying of cancer, gives his grandson, Mark, a combat journal and asks him to go back to find something he left in the jungle before he was extracted at the end of that mission. Mark, his friend Brad (an ex-US Marine) and a group of students from NYU prepare to go back ...

Back Part 2: Into The Jungle follows the modern-day trekkers into the Laotian jungle as they travel to the Ho Chi Minh Trail in the tri-border area of Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia, looking for what Mark’s grandfather, Spike, left behind on his 1968 Special Forces mission. They have to deal with psychological, natural, historical and Vietnam War-related problems which unexpectedly arise as they penetrate deeper into the jungle, including wild animals, booby traps and unexploded ordnance, as w...

Ten years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the political and economic structures of the former German Democratic Republic are largely understood, yet many questions remain. What actually motivated the East Germans themselves? What common goals and values kept GDR society going and, until its unexpected collapse in 1989, seemed to make it into a relative success story? Building the East German Myth examines the East German communist party's propagandistic treatment of German high culture,...

Combining fictional characterisation and factual research Alan Lloyd asks who were these people who lived in Pompeii and what were their lives like in those last days before the disaster? Alan Lloyd, an acclaimed historian and novelist, breathes life into the ghosts that haunt the empty streets, quiet courtyards and silent rooms of Pompeii while stirring the imagination of everyone who has seen the well-preserved ruins of the ancient city. Through the eyes of Taras, Lloyd's imaginatively r...

At Marathon an army of Greek city states, including Sparta and Athens, met the Persian army of Darius. This was the key battle of Western civilisation, for Athens were defending not only their independence but their radical new political form, democracy. Alan Lloyd details the course of Athenian democracy, its religion and culture and the uneasy alliances with other city-states, such as Sparta. Out of this historical background Lloyd brings the battle alive with a story-teller's vitality, ...

"Splendidly recreate[s] the bustling life of this Roman town, as well as the eruption . . . a first-rate and compelling history of an ancient city." — Publishers WeeklyThe ash of Mt. Vesuvius preserves a living record of the complex and exhilarating society it instantly obliterated two thousand years ago. In this highly readable, lavishly illustrated book, Alex Butterworth and Ray Laurence marshal cutting-edge archaeological reconstruction...

Pompeii was one of most advanced cities of its time; it had a complex water system, gymnasium, and an amphitheater. Despite it's advancements, there was one thing it wasn't ready for: Mount Vesuvius—the volcano that led to its ultimate doom.The 79 AD eruption of Mount Vesuvius was one of the worst disasters in all of European history. In a near instant, over 15,000 people were dead and a city was completely destroyed.This book looks at the rise, fall, and rediscovery of the g...

In 'The Last Days of Pompeii,' Edward Bulwer Lytton crafts a vivid and immersive narrative set against the catastrophic backdrop of the volcanic eruption that buried the ancient city. This historical romance employs a rich and ornate literary style, characteristic of the early Victorian era, intertwining elements of adventure, love, and moral philosophy. Lytton's meticulous attention to detail not only brings Pompeii's vibrant culture to life but also serves as a cautionary tale reflecting...

“James Acton: A little bit of Jack Bauer and Indiana Jones!" FROM USA TODAY & MILLION-COPY BESTSELLING AUTHOR J. ROBERT KENNEDY POMPEII IS ABOUT TO CLAIM ITS FINAL VICTIMS—TWO THOUSAND YEARS LATER!Two thousand years ago, Roman Emperor Vespasian tries to preserve an empire by hiding a massive treasure in the quiet town of Pompeii should someone challenge his throne. Unbeknownst to him, nature is about to...

A BOSTON GLOBE BEST CRIME BOOKA gripping art-world thriller about a struggling painter who agrees to forge a stolen Degas masterpiece, only to uncover a dangerous secret buried in the painting’s history.“Gripping.” —O, The Oprah MagazineAlmost twenty-five years after the infamous art heist at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum—still the largest unsolved art theft in history—one of the stolen Degas paintings is deli...

For fans of the Netflix series The Crown, a meticulously researched historical tour de force about the secret ties among Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, the Duke of Windsor, and Adolf Hitler before, during, and after World War II.Andrew Morton tells the story of the feckless Edward VIII, later Duke of Windsor, his American wife, Wallis Simpson, the bizarre wartime Nazi plot to make him a puppet king after the invasion of Britain, and the attempte...

There are stories no one knows. Hidden stories. I love those stories. And since I work in the National Archives, I find those stories for a living.Beecher White, a young archivist, spends his days working with the most important documents of the U.S. government. He has always been the keeper of other people's stories, never a part of the story himself...Until now.When Clementine Kaye, Beecher's first childhood crush, shows up at the National Archives asking for his ...