It is difficult to find a modern author writing in Italian more revered than Italo Calvino. Most critics choose to view his fantasies not as escapes from reality but as alternate ways to perceive it. Works studied in this text include Invisible Cities, The Cloven Viscount, The Baron in the Trees, and The Nonexistent Knight.
Slavery helped finance the Industrial Revolution in England. Plantation owners, shipbuilders, and merchants connected with the slave trade accumulated vast fortunes that established banks and heavy industry in Europe and expanded the reach of capitalism worldwide.
Hellenistic and Roman Sparta, a tale of two cities
This original and compelling account of later Spartan history challenges the conventional misperception of Spartan "decline" after the loss of her status as a great power on the battlefield in 371 BC. In this thorougly revised and updated edition, Paul Cartledge and Antony Spawforth have used recent scholarship to enhance their authoritative overview of later Spartan history and society. The book focuses on a frequently overlooked period and will be a must-have for anyone interested in Sparta and for all those concerned with Hellenistic Greece.
Hannibal's Dynasty, power and politics in the western Mediterranean, 247-183 BC
Hannibal has always been the most famous member of the Barcid dynasty, which dominated Cathage and its empire in Africa and Spain in the latter half of the third century BC. However, Dexter Hoyos' revealing study makes it clear that Carthaginian success was founded on the military and political skills of more than one member of this remarkable family. It was Hannibal's father, Hamilcar Barca, who relaunched Carthage as an imperial power after disastrous wars; Hamilcar's son-in-law Hasdrubal further developed the new imperium in the face of Roman suspicion and opportunism.
War was a key part of the life and culture of ancient Greece and Rome. It influenced every level of existence, from the men fighting hand to hand to defend their communities, to the significance economic impact of organising a large fighting force. The ancient writers who tell us about technical aspects of military practice and the management of armies can shed much light on the murky area of the conduct of war, and convey the interest that the subject inspired in the ancient world.
