In 1453 the last emperor of Byzantium, Constantine XII, died fighting on the ramparts, bringing to a romantic end the glorious history of this legendary empire.
Byzantium survived for 800 years, yet its dominions and power fluctuated dramatically during that time.
The Devil's Alternative
is a novel by Frederick Forsyth first published in 1979. It was his fourth full-length fictional novel and marked a new direction in his work, setting the story several years in the future rather than in the recent past.
Everyone knows that the universe is extremely old and extremely large. But how did scientists determine just how old and how large? How do astronomers know that there are upwards of 100 billion galaxies in the universe if the nearest one is over 40,000 light-years away? How do we know what the stars are made of? The answer is that our current knowledge of the universe has arisen from the work and ideas of scientists and philosophers over hundreds of years. While it's only been during the last several decades that scientists have had the technology and theories to really understand how the universe works, humans have thought about such issues for millennia. And the scientists who today are attempting to understand the most complex issues of the universe build upon the work and thought of the thinkers of the last hundreds of years.
• COVER:The Clean Energy Scam - Ethanol increases global warming, destroys forests and inflates food prices. So why are we subsidizing it?
• HEALTH & MEDICINE: Eat Your Germs - Want to stay healthy? One way may be to get plenty of bacteria in your diet--provided they're the kind found in probiotic foods
• ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT: R.E.M.: Finding Their Religion - After a decade of aimlessness, the once-great band is back with its best album in years
• PEOPLE: 10 Questions for Joe Torre - He won four World Series managing the New York Yankees. Now he's looking for a title in Tinseltown as the new manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Joe Torre will now take your questions
10 Ideas That are Changing the World - More than money, more than politics, ideas are the secret power that this planet runs on. • TO OUR READERS: The Power of Ideas - Changing the world requires innovative thinking. How 10 novel concepts are transforming the way we live • WORLD: Israel's Secret War - In the West Bank an invisible battle is being waged, as Israel uses a mailed fist and a network of Palestinian informers to stop suicide bombers before they can reach their targets
