Pepin the Short: Did you mean...?

The ancient city of Babylon was a city in Mesopotamia which is now modern-day Iraq. The city of Babylon is so well known to many due to the many references to it in the Bible, although none of them are particularly glowing comments. The history...

Weavers, Scribes, and Kings: A New History of the Ancient Near East by Amanda H. Podany is a unique history of the ancient Near East that compellingly presents the life stories of kings, priestesses, merchants, bricklayers, and others. Rather...

The Druids. The mysterious Celtic religious specialists of ancient Ireland, Britain, and Northern Europe. But who were they really? What historical evidence corroborates their existence? Bibliography: Andrew Fitzpatrick, “Druids: Towards...

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) was an American author and poet, often credited as the father of the short story, a pioneer of science fiction, the inventor of the detective story, and the master of the horror genre. He is best known for his...

Julian of Norwich (l. 1342-1416 CE, also known as Dame Julian, Lady Juliana of Norwich) was a Christian mystic and anchoress best known for her work Revelations of Divine Love (Julian's original title: Showings). Almost nothing is known of...

Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) was an American author of novels and short stories, who produced some of the most memorable works of American literature: the novels The Scarlet Letter and The House of the Seven Gables as well as the short...

The Romans and Their World: A Short Introduction captures the scope and importance of Roman history accurately and briefly. While 250 pages may not be brief to most readers, the scope of the book is to summarize over 1,000 years of history...

Ancient Assyria: A Very Short Introduction provides an incredibly succinct and valuable introduction to ancient Assyria. At 112 pages of readable content, it is easily accessible to the general public, with not too many technical terms or...

Syed Ameer Ali's account of the rise of Muslim Arabs is a tantalizing read, to say the least, every page made we want to read it further, and although some phrases got a bit repetitive by the end and sometimes the narrative was convoluted...

Washington Irving (1783-1859) was an American author, essayist, and diplomat best known for his short stories The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle. He was the first professional American author and also the first to achieve an international...