The acclaimed author of Rubicon and other superb works of popular history now produces a thrillingly panoramic (and incredibly timely) account of the rise of Islam.No less significant than the collapse of the Roman Republic or the Persian invasion of Greece, the evolution of the Arab empire is one of the supreme narratives of ancient history, a story dazzlingly rich in drama, character, and achievement. Just like the Romans, the Arabs came from nowhere to carve out a stupefyingly vast dominion—except that they achieved their conquests not over the course of centuries as the Romans did but in a matter of decades. Just like the Greeks during the Persian wars, they overcame seemingly insuperable odds to emerge triumphant against the greatest empire of the day—not by standing on the defensive, however, but by hurling themselves against all who lay in their path.ReviewPraise for *In the Shadow of the Sword:"[Tom Holland's] conclusions may be tentative, but they are convincing. His book is elegantly written and refreshingly free from specialist jargon. Marshaling its resources with dexterity, it is a veritable tour de force."—Malise Ruthven, Wall Street Journal*"Those unwilling to struggle through academic texts have long needed a guide to the story of Islam as it's understood by those with the fullest access to the latest linguistic and archaeological evidence. Now at last in Tom Holland's In the Shadow of the Sword, they finally have it.... Holland—author previously of Rubicon and Persian Fire—is about as exciting a stylist as we have writing history today.... [This book is] accessible but delightful...as fun to read as any thriller, and with far richer intellectual nutritional content."—David Frum, Daily Beast"*The life of Muhammad and the rise of Islam are boldly re-examined in this brilliantly provocative history.... [An] ambitious and...important book.... Holland is a skilful and energetic narrator, and while he guides us along the more intricate twists and turns of the period, he also keeps our eyes on the bigger story."—Anthony Sattin, Guardian Observer* (London)"*[An] elegant study of the roiling era of internecine religious rivalry and epic strife that saw the nation of Islam rise and conquer.... Holland confronts questions in the Quranic text head-on, providing a substantive, fluid exegesis on the original documents. Smoothly composed history and fine scholarship."—Kirkus Reviews*"This is a book of extraordinary richness. I found myself amused, diverted and enchanted by turn. For Tom Holland has an enviable gift for summoning up the colour, the individuals and animation of the past, without sacrificing factual integrity. He writes with a contagious conviction that history is not only a fascinating tale in itself but is a well-honed instrument with which we can understand our neighbours and our own times, maybe even ourselves. He is also a divertingly inventive writer with a wicked wit – there's something of both Gibbon and Tom Wolfe in his writing... [and] he possesses a falcon eye for detail.... [A] spell-bindingly brilliant multiple portrait of the triumph of monotheism in the ancient world."—Barnaby Rogerson, the Independent (London)"This dramatic investigation of the origins of Islam is both a thrilling narrative history and a compelling piece of detective work.... A compelling detective story of the highest order, In the Shadow of the Sword is also a dazzlingly colourful journey into the world of late antiquity. We encounter brain-eating demons; a caliph with such oral-hygiene problems that he could kill a fly with one breath; and that old favourite, StSimeon Stylites, rotting away on his pillar but still managing to miraculously cure a man with unfeasibly large testicles, “like a pair of clay jars”. Every bit as thrilling a narrative history as Holland's previous works, In the Shadow of the Sword is also a profoundly important book. It makes public and popular what scholarship has beendiscovering for several decades now: and those discoveries suggest a wholesale revision of where Islam came from and what it is."—Christopher Hart, Sunday Times (London)"[M]agnificent...and brave....The historian and author of Rubicon and Persian Fire has now, after five years’ work, come up with In the Shadow of the Sword. His story is so compellingly told that it could almost be Dan Brown, except that Holland writes brilliantly, with a simultaneously dashing, meticulous and at times ravishingly camp style, and his tale is true."—Michael Bywater, The Week (London)"Tom Holland is a writer of clarity and expertise, who talks us through this unfamiliar and crowded territory with energy and some dry wit.... [T]he emergence of Islam is a notoriously risky subject, so a confident historian who is able to explain where this great religion came from without illusion or dissimulation has us greatly in his debt."—Philip Hensher, The Spectator (London)Praise for The Forge of Christendom“An entertaining account of the fraught last years of the Dark Ages.”— The Wall Street Journal“An enjoyable and exuberantly argued book . . . Holland combines sound scholarly credentials with a gift for storytelling on a magisterial scale . . . In a tightly woven and sometimes witty narrative, [Holland demonstrates] the subtle interplay of genuine religious sentiment and cynical power politics.”—The Economist“[This] is narrative history in the grand manner, written with the panache and confidence we associate with the great historians of the 18th and 19th centuries.”—Allan Massie, The Daily Telegraph“A superb, fascinating and erudite medieval banquet.”—Simon Sebag-Montefiore, Evening Standard Praise for Persian Fire“Excellent . . . Holland is a cool-headed historian who writes here no less authoritatively and engagingly on classical Greece than he did on ancient Rome in his last book, Rubicon.”—Mary Beard, The Times Literary Supplement“It is . . . a testament to Holland’s superlative powers as a narrative historian that he brings this tumultuous, epoch-making period dazzlingly to life, and makes the common reader familiar again with one of the most thrilling periods in world history.” —William Napier, The *IndependentPraise for Rubicon*“Not since Ronald Syme's The Roman Revolution has there been such an original and enlivening piece of Roman history. Tom Holland has the rare gift of making deep scholarship accessible and exciting. A brilliant and completely absorbing study.”—A.N. Wilson“A book that really held me, in fact, obsessed me . . . Narrative history at its best.” –Ian McEwan, The Guardian, Books of the Year “Richly resonant. . . . Ancient history lives in this vivid chronicle.”—Booklist (starred review) About the AuthorHistorian Tom Holland is the author of the works of history Rubicon, Persian Fire, and The Forge of Christendom. He reviews regularly for the TLS, and has adapted Homer, Herodotus, Thucydides, and Virgil for BBC Radio. Rubicon was short-listed for the Samuel Johnson Prize and won the 2004 Hessell-Tiltman Prize for History, and Persian Fire won the Anglo-Hellenic League’s 2006 Runciman Award.@holland_tomwww.tom-holland.orgwww.doubleday.com Views: 32
... The megalodon came at her from below, jaws gaping. Though it could swallow her whole, Umira doubted the beast would do her that favor...."Monster Shark" is a thrilling undersea sword & sorcery adventure packed with magic, monsters, grisly deaths, and — of course — ravening sharks. It features Umira the Accursed from The Tournament of Death, Stephen D. Sullivan's free online novel. Views: 32
Lizzie's lies from the past have finally caught up to her, and are wreaking havoc in Abby's life. When Abby and Jonah Beiler get branded by the youth in the community as "kissing cousins", will the truth be able to set them free, or will it be too late? Find out in this story of forbidden love... Views: 32
In Fifty Acres and a Poodle, Jeanne Marie Laskas described how she survived her first hilariously tumultuous year at Sweetwater Farm. Now she returns with a funny, touching, and personal new memoir of what happens after your dream comes true...With a picture-postcard farm, a wonderful marriage, two mules, and a new refrigerator that spits crushed ice, what more can a girl ask for? That's precisely the question Jeanne Marie asks herself as she and Alex settle into their new life at Sweetwater Farm. Two years ago they left the city behind for a life filled with the practical, often comical, lessons of living close to the land--and they never looked back. Yet when her strong-willed mom is hospitalized with a sudden and mysterious paralysis, Jeanne Marie rushes home to Philadelphia and her extended, sometimes chaotic, but always loving family. It's there that she realizes what is still missing from her life: a family of her own. Now it's a matter of bringing up the... Views: 32
This is the true story of Jimmy Cryans. A story of growing up in Glasgow's east end during the fifties and sixties and how he became involved in a life of crime. Jimmy speaks about the various characters he met and his dealings with some of Britain's major criminals. He reveals how petty theft and shoplifting quickly snowballed into armed robbery with raids on banks, jewelers and security vehicles. But Jimmy's story also explains his lifelong quest to find himself and how it eventually led to triumph over adversity. At times funny and uplifting and at others sad, above all this is a real life story that will inspire. Views: 32
Synopsis
#1 New York Times Bestselling Author,
Barbara Freethy, takes us back to the beach in an emotional love story
between two best friends who have been separated for a very long time. Alexa
Parker and Braden Elliott fell in love when they were twelve years old.
On a summer day, while searching for sea glass on the beaches of
Washington State, they discovered an unusually shaped blue bottle. The
ever-imaginative Alexa declared it a genie's bottle. Popping the cork,
they were surprised by a rogue wave that sprayed them with a fine, cool
mist. Closing their eyes, they each made a wish ... Before their
love had a chance to grow, life, family and tragedy separated the two
best friends. Now fifteen years later, Alexa returns to Sand Harbor
after her aunt is injured in a mysterious break-in at her antique store.
Braden is also back, but he's not the innocent boy Alexa remembers. His
military service has left him with physical and emotional scars. Can
the sweet love of youth be recaptured by two now cynical souls? Can
solving the mystery of the past bring them to a new future? Or will it
take a wish, maybe two ... Views: 32
Beyond True GritFrom the great grandson of the real Rooster Cogburn, iconic hero of the Old West, comes a novel that adds an exciting new chapter to the legend of the Texas frontier.The Texas Panhandle of the late 1880s is the last great open range of American legend. Into that wild unknown country ride two young cowboys. Nate Reynolds is the scion of a well-to-do family who lit out for the Panhandle in search of adventure—and gold. Billy Champion is a devil-may-care ne'er-do-well with a stubborn streak and an eye for the ladies. Together they aim to rid this violent territory full of rustlers, horse thieves, and the rest of the devils who slaughter innocents with no remorse.But when these friends fall for the same green-eyed beauty, their brotherhood will be put to the test. For in a land where your fortunes can change at the cock of a hammer, a man has to stay on his guard if he's going to protect what's rightly his—and live to enjoy it. . .In... Views: 32
Weekend reporter Holly Kendall isn't looking for a mile-high romance when she boards a first-class flight home to Houston. Busy with work commitments, the one thing she can't do is let anything sidetrack her. But Anderson Gunn, the sensual legal consultant sitting next to her on the plane, is one irresistible distraction. And once they land on solid ground, their attraction soars.Holly's passionate heart overrules her practical mind--until she discovers that Anderson's exactly the kind of player she vowed to stay away from. An ex-fiancée is just one of the skeletons in Anderson's closet, but he's given up his heartbreaking ways. Yet convincing Holly that he's a changed man is next to impossible. Will his past mistakes cost him a future with the woman of his dreams? Views: 32
There's a hurricane smashing, trashing, bashing through our house. CRASH! BANG! WALLOP!" The hurricane is Wills, Chris's thirteen-year-old brother. He has ADHD. Having a brother who causes so much chaos around the house is hard on eleven-year-old Chris. Sometimes Wills acts like he's six years younger, sometimes like he's only a toddler. He throws food on the floor, has tantrums, and teases Chris relentlessly. And when Chris and Wills's dad moves out, everyone feels abandoned. Chris believes he has to be even more supportive towards his mom when sometimes all he wants to do is shout and scream just like Wills. In the wake of his parents' divorce, Wills starts hanging out with a bad crowd, shoplifting, and not coming home directly after school. When Chris finds a stash of money under Wills's mattress, he knows he is up to something bad. It is only when things get truly out of control that the two brothers manage to help each other, and even find some solutions for the... Views: 32
