David Gray Rodgers

Many fascinating women made history, but not many people know their stories. Heroic Women Your History Teachers Never Told You About helps fix that. In this well-researched, reliable, and readable book you will find the biographies of women who overcame extraordinary obstacles, changed their world, and defined their era. This volume tells of Hatshepsut, the woman god-king who ruled Egypt; of Artemisia and her dog-fighter ships of the Mediterranean; of Galla Placidia, the P.O.W. who first became a Barbarian Queen and then an Empress of Rome; of Wu Zetian, a servant girl who re-imagined China; of Aethelflaed, who helped turn a patchwork of warring tribes into the nation of England; of Freydis, the Viking who explored America 482 years before Columbus; and many more. All these stories are told in context so that they present not just what happened but also some of the reasons why. Heroic Women Your History Teachers Never Told You About helps bridge the gender gap in the world's story and offers a broader view of the human experience. If you have never heard of these real people and true events - or if you just want to understand them better - this book is the perfect place to start.

The Viking Age (793-1066) was an explosive time in history. Scandinavian adventurers carried on sleek dragon-prow ships set out in all directions to explore, trade, war, and make their fortunes. But these men and women were not just opportunists and mercenaries. They would prove to be a transformative force everywhere they went. They founded kingdoms, and new domains formed to resist them. They re-established trade from the Silk Roads to the misty lands beyond the known boundaries of the known world. They changed the very trajectory of history. Sons of Vikings is a different kind of Viking book. This book tells the stories of the Viking Age through the men and women who lived it. You will learn about Ragnar Lothbrok and the dawn of the Viking phenomenon, how Rollo changed France, Alfred's battles for England, the adventures of Ivar the Boneless in Ireland, Floki's discovery of Iceland, the mystery of Lagertha the Shield Maiden, Olga the Viking mother of Russia, Bjorn Ironside's voyage to the Mediterranean, and much more. Instead of merely presenting facts, chronologies, or geographical data, these stories convey an understanding that will stick with you long after the back cover is closed. Sons of Vikings is meticulously researched from over 100 different works including nearly 40 primary sources. But is also not afraid to challenge conventional beliefs and offer new perspectives. It is the perfect introduction for the casual fan of Vikings in television and popular culture. But it also provides a fresh take for the well-read history enthusiast. From myths, legends, sagas, and stories, to the most recent archeology and DNA research, this book brings the Viking Age to life.

It is the turn of the fifth century. Rome is bigger than ever, but only a shadow of what it once was. Two indolent youths hold the Throne of the Caesars. Sensing weakness and opportunity, a swarm of barbarians pour across the frozen Rhine. At the edge of the empire, Roman Britain grows desperate from a crumbling economy and Saxon raids; and begins to contemplate taking fate into her own hands. In the chaos, a general arises who has the ambition to restore peace and stability to the empire, a man whose name is laden with destiny: Constantine III. Severus is a proud young soldier of Rome's Sixth Legion; but when he defies orders so that others might be saved, he finds himself disgraced and facing military justice. Constantine sees something else in Severus and offers him a place in the elite Schola - the general's personal body guard. But Severus does not know that this new role will bring him from the icy moors of Britannia to the blue Mediterranean of Hispania and Gaul; from the foothills of the Alps to the passes of the Pyrenees. For the man he has sworn to protect will become a usurper. He will become both the hope and the doom of the mighty Roman Empire. Meticulously researched, but not afraid to challenge convention, Usurper re-imagines one of the major causes of the fall of the Western Roman Empire. It tells the widely unknown story of ancient Britain's attempt to save Rome, and the heroic struggles of forgotten men who risked all to prevent the cataclysm that changed the world forever.