Empire City

New York has long been both America’s leading cultural center and its sports capital, with far more championship teams, intracity World Series, and major prizefights than any other city. New York Sports collects the work of 14 leading sport historians, providing new insight into the social and cultural history of America’s major metropolis and of the United States.

Two-time New York City police commissioner Ray Kelly opens up about his remarkable life, taking us inside 50 years of law enforcement leadership, offering chilling stories of terrorist plots after 9/11 and sharing his candid insights into the challenges and controversies cops face today.

Was there an empire older and more important than mighty Egypt? There were a few, but the Akkadian Empire, born out of the cradle of civilization, is thought to be the first. And it was a game-changer. Its creation inspired conquerors and other empire-builders throughout history and spawned two world powers. Its epics, legends, and beliefs influence religions and cultures even today—and make for some darn good listening.

Compared to the Puritans, Mormons have rarely gotten their due, often treated as fringe cultists or marginalized polygamists unworthy of serious examination. In Kingdom of Nauvoo, Benjamin E. Park excavates the brief, tragic life of a lost Mormon city, demonstrating that the Mormons are essential to understanding American history writ large. Using newly accessible sources, Park re-creates the Mormons' 1839 flight from Missouri to Illinois.

Seldom has the netherworld of the Mafia been revealed with such fascinating detail and sheer suspense. Featuring eccentric, larger-than-life New York characters and an undercover cop on the brink of being discovered - and murdered - at every step, Takedown is a riveting real-life procedural and one of the most important investigative books of its time.

Perhaps you've heard about the ancient cities of Cuzco and Machu Picchu. They were once cradles of life and civilization. Although they are no longer existing today, they still leave a powerful impression and knowledge on culture, architecture, and life in general. There are lots more to learn from The Two Major Cities of the Inca Empire. Start listening (and learning) today!

New York City has countless landmarks and tourist spots, but few are as old or as associated with the city as the Brooklyn Bridge, the giant suspension bridge that spans nearly 1,600 feet as it connects lower Manhattan to Brooklyn. Indeed the bridge is so old that Manhattan and Brooklyn represented the largest and third-largest cities in America at the time of its construction. The East River posed a formidable enough challenge that taking a ferry across could be dangerous.

Oliver Archer is a wealthy, handsome young man enjoying the high life on the Upper West Side of Manhattan for one last summer before heading off to college - until a molecular black hole rips him away from his glittering life and thrusts him into the underworld of New York City...not the criminal underworld, but a secret society hidden beneath the sidewalks, in the sewers, and in the spaces behind old walls. There, Oliver is drawn into a deadly conflict as he faces mice with human genes, robotic vermin, and mysterious elfin creatures using 21st century technology.

Empire of Water explores the history of New York City’s water system - from the late 19th century to the early 21st century - focusing on the geographical, environmental, and political repercussions of the city’s search for more water. By tracing the evolution of the city’s water conservation efforts and watershed management regime, Soll reveals the tremendous shifts in environmental practices and consciousness that occurred during the 20th century.

After the death of their father, it’s up to Grace O’Connell and her twin brother Patrick to support their family as the Great Depression takes its toll on New York City. When Grace is laid off from her dancing gig and Patrick is injured at work on the construction of the Empire State Building, desperation leaves them only one solution: Grace must disguise herself as Patrick and take his place on the half-built skyscraper. She soon proves herself as capable as any man on the steel, and her affection for the loyal men around her—especially Italian immigrant Joe—grows by the day.

Macau, New Orleans, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, and San Francisco. All of these metropolitan centers were once frontier cities, urban areas irrevocably shaped by cross-cultural borderland beginnings. Spanning a wide range of periods and locations, and including stories of 18th-century Detroit, 19th-century Seattle, and 20th-century Los Angeles, Frontier Cities recovers the history of these urban places and shows how, from the start, natives and newcomers alike shared streets, buildings, and interwoven lives.

April 28, 2015, West Baltimore, Maryland: ground zero in America's Opiate Wars. In this crime-plagued section of the city, the death of Freddie Gray has triggered the worst domestic rioting since the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and created a terrifying new breed of criminal entrepreneur.

In northern Iraq, on the banks of the Tigris River, lie the ruins of the ancient city of Aššur. This was the first capital and the most important religious center of the Assyrian Empire. Underneath the cover of sand and soil are almost six meters of dense stratigraphic layers that reveal the passage of millennia. Known today as Qal'at Sherqat, and also as Kilah Shregat, the city dates back to the third millennium BCE.

The Empire State Building was constructed using the art deco style, which was trendy during the era. It had been used for other skyscrapers like the Chrysler Building, but that's where the comparisons end. At the time, the Empire State Building was unprecedented in almost every aspect of its creation. With a race for dizzying heights underway, ground was broken on the Empire State Building on St. Patrick's Day 1930. The ceremony marking its completion would come just a little more than a year later.

The Greco-Persian Wars are often portrayed as a battle between good and evil. This is simultaneously an exaggeration and an oversimplification, but there is no doubt that this war, or series of wars, fought between some of the most powerful civilizations of the ancient era helped to plot the course of human history that we have been following up until this very day.

Learn about the rise of the Aztec civilization and the powerful cities they created, including the capital city of Tenochtitlan. Explore the daily lives of the Aztec people, their art and culture, and their architecture. Uncover the rituals and beliefs of the Aztec people, including human sacrifice and religious ceremonies. Discover the majestic kings of the Aztec Empire and the legacy they left behind.

The Rise of Constantinople looks at the events that brought about the transformation of Byzantium, and how Constantinople became one of the most important cities in the world.

On his deathbed, some historians claim that when he was pressed to name a successor, Alexander the Great muttered that his empire should go "to the strongest". Other sources claim that he passed his signet ring to his general Perdiccas, thereby naming him successor, but whatever his choices were or may have been, they were ignored.

Within a generation of Christopher Columbus’ historic voyage to the Americas in 1492, a regional rivalry had developed between Spain and its closest neighbor as the Portuguese began to establish a colony in Brazil and push its boundaries southwards. However, while the Portuguese and Spanish grappled over South America, the Spanish began colonizing the Yucatan in the 16th century after defeating various Mesoamerican groups, most notably Hernan Cortés’ conquest of the Aztec Empire.

Seit 3000 Jahren reisen die Menschen zu den Sternen. Die Erde und die zahlreichen Welten der Liga Freier Terraner haben sich zu einer blühenden Gemeinschaft entwickelt. Die Menschen leben weitgehend im Einklang mit den anderen Völkern der Milchstraße. Die letzte kosmische Krise liegt lange zurück. Doch dann mehren sich die Anzeichen, dass eine neue Gefahr für die Menschheit heraufzieht. Sie kommt diesmal nicht aus den Tiefen des Universums, sondern aus dem Herzen der terranischen Zivilisation.