How Star Wars Conquered the Universe: The Past, Present, and Future of a Multibillion Dollar Franchise
Added by: avrodavies | Karma: 1114.22 | Other | 7 November 2014
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Star Wars is about more than the type of special effects, the continuity of the story, or even the merchandising. It’s about the experience of participating in a common mythology. Everybody has his or her own personal Star Wars experience...
A comedy science fiction novel, featuring slow-witted detective Frank Burly. By John Swartzwelder, the author of "The Time Machine Did It", "Double Wonderful", and 59 episodes of The Simpsons.
The Siege Of Constantinople
When Sultan Mehmet the Second rode into the city of Constantinople on a white horse in 1453, it marked the end of a thousand years of the Byzantine Empire. After holding out for 53 days, the city had fallen. And as one contemporary witness described it: “The blood flowed in the city like rainwater in the gutters after a sudden storm”. It was the end of the classical world and the crowning of an Ottoman Empire that would last until 1922.
Constantinople was a city worth fighting for – its position as a bridge between Europe and Asia and its triangular shape with a deep water port made it ideal both for trade and defence. It was also rumoured to harbour great wealth. Whoever conquered it would reap rewards both material and political.
Earlier attempts to capture the city had largely failed – so why did the Ottomans succeed this time? What difference did the advances in weaponry such as cannons make in the outcome of the battle? And what effect did the fall of Constantinople have on the rest of the Christian world?
This superbly illustrated book is divided into three main sections. The first, Greece, runs from the eighth to the fourth centuries BC, a period unparalleled in history for its brilliance in literature, philosophy, and the visual arts. The second, Greece and Rome, deals with the Hellenization of the Middle East by the monarchies established in the area conquered by Alexander the Great, the growth of Rome, and the impact of the two cultures on one another. The third, Rome, covers the foundation of the Roman Empire by Augustus and its consolidation in the first two centuries AD.
