World Civilizations

In 1900, the U.S. sent three doctors to Cuba to discover how yellow fever was spread. There, they launched one of history's most controversial human studies. Compelling and terrifying, The American Plague depicts the story of yellow fever and its reign in this country - and in Africa, where even today it strikes thousands every year. With "arresting tales of heroism," it is a story as much about the nature of human beings as it is about the nature of disease.

Imagine you are a hunter-gatherer some 12,000 years ago. You've got a choice - carry on foraging or plant a few seeds and move to one of those new-fangled settlements down the valley. What you won't know is that urban life is short and riddled with dozens of new diseases; your children will be shorter and sicklier than you are; they'll be plagued with gum disease and stand a decent chance of violent death at the point of a spear. Why would anyone choose this? But choose they did.

Centered in the Dordogne region of Southwestern France, one of Europe's most concentrated regions for Neandertal and early modern human occupations, writer Beebe Bahrami follows and participates in the work of archaeologists who are doing some of the most comprehensive and global work to date on the research, exploration, and recovery of our ancient ancestors. From this prehistoric perch, Bahrami gets to know firsthand the Neandertals and the people who love them.

At a time of astonishing confusion about what it means to be a man, Brad Miner has recovered the oldest and best ideal of manhood: the gentleman. Reviving a thousand-year tradition of chivalry, honor, and heroism, The Compleat Gentleman provides the essential model for 21st-century masculinity.

Anschaulich und lebensnah erzählt Ronald D. Gerste von den umwälzenden Ereignissen zwischen 1840 und 1914, in der die Medizin ungeahnte Fortschritte machte. Mit der Entdeckung der Antisepsis und der Entwicklung der Anästhesie und der Röntgenstrahlung wurden Heilungserfolge möglich, an die bisher nicht zu denken war. Forscher, Ärzte und Mediziner von Robert Koch bis Wilhelm C. Röntgen begründeten die moderne Medizin.

Historian Philip Jenkins draws out the complex relationship between religion and climate change. He asserts that the religious movements and ideas that emerge from climate shocks often last for many decades, and even become a familiar part of the religious landscape. By stirring conflicts and provoking persecutions that defined themselves in religious terms, changes in climate have redrawn the world's religious maps, and created the global concentrations of believers as we know them today.

Roman history, from the very foundation of the city, is replete with people and stories that shock our modern sensibilities. Evil Roman Emperors puts the worst of Rome's rulers in one place and offers a review of their lives and a historical context for what made them into what they became.

A visit to the Palace of Knossos in Crete in 2005 leads to the story of the fabled Ring of Minos, lost for 2,000 years but rediscovered in the 1930s, now in the local museum of Herakleon. The author joins the tour of the ancient Minoan palace and adds historical reference to this detailed study of a great and vanished culture.

The origin of Western Civilization is traced to its beginning 4,000 years ago. The culture and economic and political hegemony of Western Civilization today was planned by a mind that resides outside of time. In the process of that story, you will find answers to some interesting questions; you may also find your Christian faith strengthened or - if you're a non-believer - you may have new reasons for taking another look at that way of life.

When Rock and Caroline are forced to leave The Waste and seek safety across the mysterious Wall-without-Walls they could never have expected their discovery...or the consequences which would follow. The old world with its knowledge is not as lost as many have believed. But is technological advancement alone enough to bring peace?

The history of the Great Warming of a half millennium ago suggests that we may yet be underestimating the power of climate change to disrupt our lives todayand our vulnerability to drought, writes Fagan, is the silent elephant in the room.

Cambridge professor and renowned historian Anthony Pagden covers a vast subject in a compact package with Peoples and Empires. This wide-ranging and intellectually stimulating work examines the origins and history of the West with terse, efficient prose. With a captivating narration by Robert O'Keefe, listeners will find this work enjoyable and utterly absorbing.

There are many civilizations which existed in prehistory, and most of them are now lost to our knowledge and ken. Many of them were lost when the oceans rose during the melting from the last Ice Age. Some were just buried and have recently come to light. In this audiobook, we examine many of these lesser-known civilizations and cities and look at incredible extensions of how far back in history civilization actually goes.

In this comprehensive survey, updated for this new edition, Henderson explores the entire Maya cultural tradition, from the earliest traces of settlement through the period of the Spanish conquest in the 16th century. His wide-ranging account treats diverse aspects of the Maya world, from religion and philosophy to the environments of the various Maya peoples, using deciphered Maya texts to reconstruct the ancient societies.

In Centers of Progress: 40 Cities that Changed the World, Chelsea Follett examines a diverse group of cities, ranging from ancient Athens to Song-era Hangzhou. But some common themes stand out: most cities reach their creative peak during periods of peace; most centers of progress also thrive during times of social, intellectual, and economic freedom, as well as openness to intercultural exchange and trade; and centers of progress tend to be highly populated. Because, in every city, it is ultimately the people who live there who drive progress forward—if given the freedom to do so.

Out of Time is the untold story of calendars, clocks, and the human obsession with taming chaos. From ancient moon cycles to atomic vibrations, James Johnson traces how we invented time, tried to perfect it, and accidentally built a system that now runs our lives — whether we like it or not.

This addition to Oxford's Very Short Introductions series traces how Americans have addressed the issues and events of their time and place, whether it is the Civil War, the Great Depression, or the culture wars of today.

Have you ever wondered about the legendary Roman Gods that have been documented and portrayed across different media? Do you know what mythology says about them and who they were, really? The mysterious Roman Gods and Ancient Roman Heroes have been explained clearly and completely in this audiobook. For the lovers of ancient mythology, this audiobook brings valuable insights into Roman mythology, ancient history, and much more. The audiobook provides valuable insight into the polytheistic religion of Ancient Rome and gives an in-depth knowledge about Roman culture.

Es poco lo que se sabe de Babilonia a parte de unas cuantas anécdotas. Este audiolibro es fundamental para comprender poemas épicos como Gilgamesh, figuras bíblicas y de la música clásica, como Nabucodonosor, o auténticos enigmas arquitectónicos, como la Torre de Babel, sobre la que se conocen no pocas leyendas. Montero Fenollós nos intentará desvelar estos y otros misterios de la historia en un audiolibro que supone el primer ensayo en castellano sobre la capital de Mesopotamia.

Migration ist kein Phänomen der Neuzeit: Seit der Mensch den aufrechten Gang beherrschte, trieb es ihn aus seiner Heimat Afrika in die ganze Welt, auch nach Europa. Dank der neuen Methoden der Genetik kann diese lange unbekannte Geschichte unserer Wurzeln aufgedeckt werden. Johannes Krause und Thomas Trappe spannen den Bogen zurück bis in die Urgeschichte und erzählen, wie wir zu den Europäern wurden, die wir sind: Gibt es "Urvölker"? Wann verloren die frühen Europäer ihre dunkle Haut? Welche Rolle spielte die Balkanroute in den vergangenen 40 000 Jahren?