Quicksilver War is a panoramic political history of the wars that coursed through Syria and Iraq in the wake of the 'Arab Spring' and eventually merged to become a regional catastrophe: a kaleidoscopic and constantly shifting conflict involving many different parties and phases. William Harris distils the highly complex dynamics behind the conflict, starting with the brutalizing Baathist regimes in Damascus and Baghdad. He charts the malignant consequences of incompetent US occupation of Iraq and Bashar al-Assad's self-righteous mismanagement of Syria, through the implosion of Syria, and the emergence of eastern and western theatres of war focused respectively on future control of Syria and the challenge of ISIS. Beyond the immediate arena of conflict, geopolitical riptides have also been set in motion, including Turkey's embroilment in the war and the shifting circumstances of the Kurds. This sweeping history addresses urgent questions for our time. Will the world rubber-stamp and bankroll the Russian-led 'solution' in Syria, backed by Turkey and Iran? Is the 'Quicksilver War' about to reach an explosive finale? Or will ongoing political maneuvering mutate into years of further violence?

Quicksilver is the story of Daniel Waterhouse, fearless thinker and conflicted Puritan, pursuing knowledge in the company of the greatest minds of Baroque-era Europe, in a chaotic world where reason wars with the bloody ambitions of the mighty, and where catastrophe, natural or otherwise, can alter the political landscape overnight. It is a chronicle of the breathtaking exploits of "Half-Cocked Jack" Shaftoe -- London street urchin turned swashbuckling adventurer and legendary King of the Vagabonds -- risking life and limb for fortune and love while slowly maddening from the pox. And it is the tale of Eliza, rescued by Jack from a Turkish harem to become spy, confidante, and pawn of royals in order to reinvent Europe through the newborn power of finance. A gloriously rich, entertaining, and endlessly inventive novel that brings a remarkable age and its momentous events to vivid life, Quicksilver is an extraordinary achievement from one of the most original and important literary talents of our time. And it's just the beginning ...

Hermes—also known as Mercury, Wayfinder, and Prince of Thieves—has many talents. Wearing his famed winged sandals, he does the bidding of his father Zeus, leads the dead down to Hades, and practices his favorite arts of trickery and theft. He also sees the future, travels invisibly, loves jokes, and abhors violence. And he’s an entertaining and ideal narrator on a fast-paced journey through ancient Greek mythology—from Medusa’s cave to Trojan War battlefields to the mysterious Underworld. Stephanie Spinner brings the famous messenger—and the best-known gods and mortals of mythology—to life with high action and spare, powerful prose.

Pharmacologically enhanced militaries -- Alcohol -- From pre-modern times to the end of the Second World War -- Pre-modern times: opium, hashish, mushrooms and coca -- Napoleon in Egypt and the adventures of Europeans with hashish -- The Opium Wars -- The American Civil War, opium, morphine and the "soldiers' disease"--The colonial wars and the terrifying "barbarians"--coca to cocaine: the First World War -- The Second World War -- The Cold War -- From the Korean War to the war over mind control -- In search of wonderful new techniques and weapons -- Vietnam: the first true pharmacological war -- The Red Army in Afghanistan and the problem of drug addiction -- Towards the present -- Contemporary irregular armies empowered by drugs -- Intoxicated child soldiers -- Drugs in the contemporary American Armed Forces -- Conclusion -- Epilogue: war as a drug

SWORD AND SORCERY! SOME GUYS HAVE IT ALL... Geoffrey Gallowglass, the Lord High Warlock’s second son, has only two passions in life: war and women. As a knight-errant, he roams the Kingdom of Gramarye looking for wrongs to right and women to woo... but no one has held his interest for very long. Until he meets Quicksilver, a fiery warrior woman as beautiful as she is deadly, with a tongue as sharp as her sword. Has Geoffrey finally found his perfect woman? There’s only one problem: Quicksilver is the bandit chieftain who has conquered her lord’s land and castle, and Geoffrey is the Royal Knight sent to defeat and capture her. Is love hopeless? Or can Geoffrey find some way face her before an altar, not an army?