In three years, the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés, leading a few hundred Spanish soldiers, overcame a centuries-old empire that could put tens of thousands of warriors on the field. Even after his god-like reputation had been shattered, and his horses and cannons were no longer regarded as supernatural, his ruthless daring took him on to victory. Yet in the end, his prize was not the gold that he had sought, but the destruction of the entire Aztec civilization.

Originally published in 1954, this is a collection of 32 stories from a variety of historic eras filled with missions against all odds."The stories in this collection are generally firsthand accounts by irregulars. The principles of selection were simple: Were they good stories—interesting, exciting and honest? And did they show fresh and different phases of guerrilla warfare? The weightier writings on irregular strategy and the politics of modern partisan warfare were omitted excep...

More than 1,500 years have passed since the last blood - human or animal - was spilled in the Colosseum, but the massive building erected by the Flavian emperors has continued to play a role in history. This book tells the dramatic story of the Colosseum - from its bloody gladiatorial games and the sacrifice of early Christians to the dismantling of the arena and its final restoration. The book also recounts the story of Rome as viewed from the vantage point of the empire's most impressive...

Alexander the Great has fascinated people for centuries - and still does. Here, from award-winning historian and journalist Charles Mercer, is the story of the military genius who became a king at twenty told with all the color and drama characteristic of Alexander's time.

New York Times bestselling historian Emma Moreau exposes and analyzes the events that turned ordinary French citizens into revolutionaries - from the attack on the Bastille to the executions of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette to the bloodthirsty Reign of Terror that claimed the lives of more than 40,000 people.

"Remarkably well balanced and sound . . . " - The New Republic. Here, from award-winning historian Henry Bamford Parkes and the editors of American Heritage, is the dramatic story of Mexico - from the Aztecs, Maya, and other ancient peoples who gave birth to a vast civilization to the Spanish Conquest, the Mexican-American War, the Mexican Revolution, and Mexico's role in World War II. Historian Parkes brings vividly to life the legendary figures Montezuma, Cortés, Santa Anna, Juárez, Maxi...

There is only one New York. It didn't make America, but it made possible the America we've come to know. Here - from American Heritage magazine and such historians as Nathaniel Benchley, David McCullough, and William V. Shannon - is its remarkable story: from Henry Hudson's historic voyage and the sale of Manhattan Island to New York's occupation by British forces during the Revolution and the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, Central Park, and the Whitney Museum.

Here, acclaimed American historians - among them, Max Boot, Douglas Brinkley, and Stanley Karnow - tell the dramatic story of America's war in Vietnam. It's all here - from the first American deaths in Vietnam and the controversial Gulf of Tonkin attack to the Tet offensive, the My Lai massacre, and, finally, the building of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

In the colonization of North America, Great Britain, France, Spain, the Netherlands, and Sweden each sought a share. By the eighteenth century, only Great Britain and France remained as rivals for the heart of the continent. Three times, beginning in 1690, warfare arose between New France and New England. Settlements were destroyed, and armies clashed, yet nothing was settled. Each country regarded the Ohio Valley as its own. A small skirmish in 1754 touched off a war that spread to Europe...

The relationship between Galileo Galilei and Isaac Newton is like that of two complementary stages of a rocket. Galileo, the argumentative "wrangler" who demanded that the universe be examined through a telescope rather than by means of a philosophy book, provided the first liftoff, and Newton, the secretive mathematician who searched among his notes to find a mislaid proof for universal gravitation, put the world into orbit. Here, from award-winning journalist William Bixby, are their sto...

Marco Polo's thirteenth-century journey from Italy to Asia marked a turning point for Western civilization. He returned with stories of exotic people, tremendous riches, and the most powerful ruler in the world Kublai Khan. The explorer told of inventions ranging from gunpowder to paper money. The intellectual ferment and cultural diversity he described helped move Europe out of the Dark Ages and into the Renaissance. In his lifetime, people scoffed at his stories. But as this book explain...

Here, from American Heritage, is the dramatic story of the violent conflicts between Native Americans and white settlers that lasted more than 300 years, the effects of which still resonate today. Acclaimed historians Robert M. Utley and Wilcomb E. Washburn examine both small battles and major wars - from the Native rebellion of 1492 to Crazy Horse and the Sioux War to the massacre at Wounded Knee.