European History

Award-winning historian Lacey Baldwin Smith vividly brings to life the story of Queen Elizabeth - perhaps the most influential sovereign in
England's history - and the age she created. She writes with a professional familiarity of the facts and events of the period.

As Allied commander during World War II and later as president of the United States, Dwight Eisenhower gave America the strength of a great reputation, a fine character, and an abiding sense of mission. He also provided Americans the chance to live up to their best. Few presidents have ever given more. Here, from the eminent historian Kenneth S. Davis, is Eisenhower's remarkable story.

The book includes recollections of Eisenhower written for American Heritage by some of the men who knew him best: Richard Nixon, British Prime Minister Clement Attlee, Gen. Omar Bradley, Gen. Mark Clark, Edgar and Milton Eisenhower, Sergei Khrushchev, Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, and others who worked with Eisenhower.

This comprehensive book also contains an assessment of Ike by political historian Steve Neal ("Why We Were Right to Like Ike"), Michael Korda on Ike's D-Day Decision, and Douglas Brinkley on Ike's Farewell Address.

In three years, the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés, leading a few hundred Spanish soldiers, overcame a centuries-old empire that
could put tens of thousands of warriors on the field. Even after his god-like reputation had been shattered, and his horses and cannons
were no longer regarded as supernatural, his ruthless daring took him on to victory. Yet in the end, his prize was not the gold that he had
sought, but the destruction of the entire Aztec civilization.

In three years, the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés, leading a few hundred Spanish soldiers, overcame a centuries-old empire that
could put tens of thousands of warriors on the field. Even after his god-like reputation had been shattered, and his horses and cannons
were no longer regarded as supernatural, his ruthless daring took him on to victory. Yet in the end, his prize was not the gold that he had
sought, but the destruction of the entire Aztec civilization.

From his father, Charlemagne inherited only a part of the Frankish kingdom - little more than half of modern France and the Low
Countries. Before his astonishing career ended, he had conquered half of Europe and his armies had marched through Italy, Germany, and
Spain. In a glittering Christmas Day ceremony in Rome, in the year 800, he was crowned the new Holy Roman Emperor.
More than the heroic conqueror of Western Europe, Charlemagne was an intense and thoughtful human being. His succession of five
wives brought him a palace full of children. So warm was his love for his daughters that he could never bear to see them married away
from the court, even though enticing alliances with other rulers were offered them.
A deeply religious man, Charlemagne became the protector of orthodox Christianity against medieval heresies. A patron of learning, he
established schools and brought artists and scholars to his court to work and study. As a result, most classical literature comes down to us
in copies of books made in Charlemagne's time.
Here, from National Book Award winner Richard Winston, is his remarkable story.

The roving Celts struggled and traded with the Greeks and Romans for centuries. With no written language or any sense of nationality, the
Celts nevertheless were bearers of a distinctive, rich, and influential culture.
Here, in this short-form book from the renowned archeologist Geoffrey Bibby, is their story.

In 1815, the British controlled the seas. Before the end of the nineteenth century, they ruled Australia, India, New Zealand, half of Africa,
half of North America, and islands all around the globe. Theirs was the most powerful empire the world has ever known.
Here is the story of how the English acquired their vast domain; how they ruled, maintained, and exploited it; and how, within decades,
they presided over its dissolution.
Here are Britain's triumphs and also her stinging defeats, her heroes and her scoundrels. It is a full and fascinating chronicle of the growth
of the British Empire and its people and of the impact that empire had on the rest of the world.

"My system has changed - no more war, no more conquests," Napoleon announced after his escape from Elba in 1815. In the space of
what is now known as the Hundred Days, the deposed French emperor was to demonstrate that nothing had changed. Only forty-six, he
still possessed the ambition that made Europe quake at the news of his return to France, the magnetism that made men offering undying
devotion swarm to his side, and the military genius that could plan, execute, and very nearly win a brilliant campaign against vastly
superior odds.
The battle that ended the career of the greatest conqueror of modern times was Waterloo. National Book Award winner J. Christopher
Herold, a lifelong Napoleon scholar, tells the story of Waterloo with special emphasis on the emperor's role. But it is also the story of the
Duke of Wellington, who led a mixed force of British, Belgian, Dutch, and Hanoverian troops in a masterly defensive operation.
Like all military contests, Waterloo was a series of blunders and misunderstandings mixed with acts of heroism, timidity, and endurance.
But because it permanently shattered Napoleon's dreams of conquest, Waterloo has a special place as one of the decisive battles in world
history.

Alexander the Great has fascinated people for centuries - and still does. Here, from award-winning historian and journalist Charles Mercer, is the story of the military genius who became a king at twenty told with all the color and drama characteristic of Alexander's time.

In the history of Western civilization, few men have had as profound and lasting an influence on the course of human events than Charlemagne, who, as king of the Franks, united a huge area of Europe under his rule. Here is his story and the story of the age to which he gave his name.

This short-form book was written by the famed French historian Régine Pernoud, the curator of Museum of the History of France and the French National Archives. A noted Medievalist, she was given a lifetime achievement award by the Académie Française and the Grand Prize of the City of Paris for her scholarship.