World Civilizations

Discover the remarkable history of the Inca Empire...In the space of less than one hundred years, the Inca people expanded from being a small kingdom in the highlands of Peru to becoming one of the largest and most powerful empires in the Americas. At the height of its power, the Inca Empire stretched for more than one thousand miles down the Andes Mountains and the west coast of South America. It incorporated more than two hundred distinct ethnic groups and somewhere around fourteen million people were ruled by a much smaller number of Incas.

Otherwise known as the “Roma” or by their popular misnomer “the gypsies”, the members of this highly undervalued and grossly misrepresented community have long been considered outcasts. More often than not, the Romani are branded by even those who fancy themselves liberals as “pikeys”, “gyppos”, and “gips”. There's also a regrettably common term “gypped” meaning “to cheat, or swindle” which perpetuates the damaging stereotype that the Roma are dishonest nuisances and societal pests.

The ancient masters of war and conquest became the most powerful force in the Near East, thousands of years ago. One of the first empires in world history, the Assyrians rose to power through the strength of their sophisticated military. The creation of professional soldiers, advanced iron weapons technology, and siege warfare tactics made the Assyrians the strongest fighting force in the ancient world.

There is no record of Marco Polo ever visiting the Andaman Islands, so his brief description of the islanders must have been drawn from a secondary source. They were, he wrote, “a most brutish and savage race, having heads, eyes, and teeth like those of dogs. They are very cruel, and kill and eat every foreigner whom they can lay their hands upon.”

The Hittites lived among gods and kings and captivated the mysterious Sir Lawrence of Arabia, among many eager minds. Who were they? Simply warlike conquerors on a mission to impose Hittite power on the world? How did they become part of the elite highly-exclusive club of kings as great as Egyptian, Assyrian, and Babylonian empires of the second millennium BCE? They created a complex system of collective governance and changed the metallurgy of the ancient world. This mysterious empire remained the unknown fourth empire and thanks to their tradition of preservation we continue solving mysteries buried in their ancient past.

Un viajero que recorriera el mundo en 1411 hubiera quedado deslumbrado por las imponentes civilizaciones orientales. La Ciudad Prohibida estaba en plena construcción en la China de los Ming; en Oriente Próximo, los otomanos acechaban Constantinopla. Por el contrario, los belicosos países de Europa occidental, Inglaterra, Escocia, Castilla, Aragón, Francia y Portugal, eran pobres y atrasados, debilitados por las epidemias, las pésimas condiciones sanitarias y las guerras incesantes.

The Persian Empire was the world's first hyperpower, with territory stretching from Central Asia to Northeastern Africa and from Southeastern Europe to the Indus Valley. It was the dominant geopolitical force from the later sixth century to its conquest by Alexander in the 330s BCE. Much of the empire's territory was conquered by its founder, Cyrus the Great, who reigned from 559-530 BCE.

In this book, we embark on a journey to explore the profound power of imagination. We will delve into the stories of visionaries from all walks of life—Biblical figures, historical icons, and modern-day trailblazers—whose imaginative thinking has led to extraordinary achievements. Through their experiences, we will uncover the principles and techniques that can help each of us harness the power of imagination to transform our own lives.

Offering a bold new understanding of who we are, where we came from, and where we are going, noted ecologist Mark Bertness argues that human beings and their civilization are the products of the same self-organization, evolutionary adaptation, and natural selection processes that have created all other life on Earth. Bertness follows the evolutionary process from the primordial soup of two billion years ago through today, exploring the ways opposing forces of competition and cooperation have led to current assemblages of people, animals, and plants.

From prehistoric Mexico to modern Istanbul, Mary Beard looks beyond the familiar canon of Western imagery to explore the history of art, religion, and humanity. Conceived as an accompaniment to How Do We Look and The Eye of Faith, the famed Civilizations shows on PBS, renowned classicist Mary Beard has created this elegant volume on how we have looked at art.

This new book by Spencer Wells, the internationally known geneticist, anthropologist, author, and director of the Genographic Project, focuses on the seminal event in human history: mankind's decision to become farmers rather than hunter-gatherers.

The Zulu are one of the most famous ethnic groups in Africa and possibly one of the most misunderstood. Of course that was due almost entirely to the fact that European colonial powers encountered the powerful group in the 19th century and found that they were more than willing to resist and fight them. At the height of its power in the southern part of Africa, the Zulu could rely on an army of 40,000 warriors, presenting a formidable obstacle to the designs of the British.

Empires rose and fell along the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates, while a civilization as yet unsurpassed emerged. Discover myths, history and more from not only the earliest but also the greatest civilization in human history.

Bernard Bailyn gives us a compelling account of the first great transit of people from Britain, Europe, and Africa to British North America, their involvements with each other, and their struggles with the indigenous peoples of the eastern seaboard.

Looking for a way to dive deep into the fascinating history of ancient civilizations? Look no further! Featuring Egypt, Rome, and Constantinople (Byzantine), three great civilizations that shaped the world as we know it. In this bundle, you'll discover the unique stories and struggles of each civilization, from the heights of their power to their eventual decline.

Bill Bryson’s The Body meets Mary Roach’s Gulp (with a dash of What’s Your Poo Telling You?) in this delightfully weird, richly informative, and unexpectedly lyrical tour of our bodily emissions—revealing that the very parts of us that we seek to hide in embarrassment are actually an essential part of human health, with fascinating social history.

This book details the movement of people and cultures around the world—from the early migrations of Homo erectus out of Africa 50,000 years ago to modern refugee movements and migrations.

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.

Africa may have given rise to the first human beings, and Egypt probably gave rise to the first great civilizations, which continue to fascinate modern societies across the globe nearly 5,000 years later. From the Library and Lighthouse of Alexandria to the Great Pyramid at Giza, the Ancient Egyptians produced several wonders of the world, revolutionized architecture and construction, created some of the world's first systems of mathematics and medicine, and established language and art.

Dominated to this day by the sprawling white marble complex of the Acropolis, Athens is a city which is immensely and rightly proud of its past. For a period of roughly three centuries, the polis of Athens stood, if not in a position of unchallenged supremacy among the cities of Hellas, then at the very least among its three most important polities.