In 17th century Japan, a battle between the shoguns and the Lees raged for a lengthy period of time. The shoguns wanted the Lees to come join their elite army, but the Lees remained neutral and peaceful people. After much harassing, the husband and wife became supreme warriors. The Lees began killing whatever shoguns threatened them. After a particularly violent, gruesome battle with the shoguns, the Lees disappeared into the Oakla Mountains for about twenty years . The mastermind, an ancient wizard siding with the shoguns, commanded what was left of the shoguns to patrol the mountains of Oakla trying to find the Lees. Decades would pass. In those twenty long years, the Lees raised a son who would become known as “the Master.” Phenomenal genetics would breed an individual who became a far better warrior and stronger fighter then both of his parents put together. In the Master’s infantile years, the mother and father went up on the mountains of Oakla, similar to Moses’ summoning of God, where they asked their God for a sacrifice. He answered, and in return of this sacrifice, he would give their extraordinary son, the Master, the power of immortality in the form of Five Scrolls of Terror. Their God asked for the skin from their baby’s head, a threatening request, but would ultimately create a child who would grow into that of the Master: the Skulled Warrior. As the Lees returned from Oakla on that twentieth or so year, they got ambushed and killed—an attack decades in the making. When the Master found the bodies of his parents, he naturally flew into a blind rage and killed many shoguns, slaughtering anyone who stood in his way. As he battled on Oakla Mountain, his scrolls disappeared off the mountain and were never seen again. As the Master went to the end of Oakla searching for the ancient wizard for retribution, he came across an ancient hut, and inevitably the wizard and the Master did battle. The Master would ultimately kill the wizard, but he would put a curse on the Master that would remain with the Master for nearly four hundred years. As the Master’s statue, which in reality was the curse turning him to stone, was moved by cult followers and believers, it eventually found its way to New Amsterdam, which as we know, would evolve into present-day New York City. An adventure unfolds as the Master awakens after a four-hundred-year slumber, masked as a mysterious piece of art, to deal with our current world as we know it. And so begins The Dark Legend of The Foreigner.

Following what was supposed to be the final battle of New York City, the Master finds himself making a long Journey with Nemesis to the dark Carpathian Mountains of Transylvania, Romania. They must find the coveted secret formula known as cold fusion. The Master grows weary of Nemesis’s behavior and overall intentions. In his travels, he also encounters an old man named Glenn, who hails all the way from the depths of Eastern Europe. Glenn possesses the most intriguing secret in all the universe. Nothing and nobody is hidden from the Master’s keen ability to see right through the seal of all man. He and Nemesis will stop at nothing to own this great power, as this exhausting competition will lead to another worldly showdown with yet another adversary. The broken Core that awakened has brought to rise the power of Aramids and his Dark Lords, and as they come to power, their intention is to stop anyone in their way. The Master is the only one who can step up to the challenge and eliminate the immediate threat that will have a devastating impact on New York.

Maratha Swarajya, 1663: The dream of a kingdom of the people envisioned by Raje Shivaji, is crumbling. There are enemies to the North, and to the South. The constant attacks have ravaged the Swarajya’s armies and depleted its treasury. The Mughal Subhedar Shaistekhan, sits encamped with his occupying army in the Maratha’s ancestral city – Pune. All hope seems lost. Merely driving Shaistekhan out of Pune is not going to be enough. To survive, Raje must replenish the Swarajya’s treasuries and rebuild its armies. A hundred kos to the North lies the city of Surat, a hell-hole of corruption and guile, but rich with gold. An attack on Surat would solve all Raje’s problems. But Surat lies deep in Mughal territory, defended by Mughal Subhedar Inayat Khan, with a garrison of five thousand trained troops. The Swarajya’s hope of survival now depends on a seemingly impossible mission. The brunt will be borne by the Guptachar corps, led by Bahirji-Naik, and their new apprentice, Shashidhwaj, a mere boy of sixteen, using everything they know, to achieve fatteh. Can the Guptachars lead Raje’s army to Surat, negotiating such a vast stretche of hostile Mughal territory? Can they devise a way to beat the defenders of the city? Above all, can the Maratha Swarajya prevail? Or will it be destroyed like the hundreds of others who dared stand against the mighty Mughal Empire?

This volume explores the very best the country offers, including the San Blas Islands, offshore Barro Colorado, and urban Panam City. Parks and nature preserves are covered in detail.

Patrice Gueniffey is the leading French historian of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic age. This book, hailed as a masterwork on its publication in France, takes up the epic narrative at the heart of this turbulent period: the life of Napoleon himself, the man who—in Madame de Staël’s words—made the rest of “the human race anonymous.” Gueniffey follows Bonaparte from his obscure boyhood in Corsica, to his meteoric rise during the Italian and Egyptian campaigns of the Revolutionary wars, to his proclamation as Consul for Life in 1802. Bonaparte is the story of how Napoleon became Napoleon. A future volume will trace his career as emperor. Most books approach Napoleon from an angle—the Machiavellian politician, the military genius, the life without the times, the times without the life. Gueniffey paints a full, nuanced portrait. We meet both the romantic cadet and the young general burning with ambition—one minute helplessly intoxicated with Josephine, the next minute dominating men twice his age, and always at war with his own family. Gueniffey recreates the violent upheavals and global rivalries that set the stage for Napoleon’s battles and for his crucial role as state builder. His successes ushered in a new age whose legacy is felt around the world today. Averse as we are now to martial glory, Napoleon might seem to be a hero from a bygone time. But as Gueniffey says, his life still speaks to us, the ultimate incarnation of the distinctively modern dream to will our own destiny.

Feride and Nilüfer lead a elegant and comfortable life in Turkish aristocratic society until their lives are turned upside down by Atatürk's fight for independence after WWI. Finding strength and courage they didn't know they had, the women become pioneers for the freedom of their countrywomen. When their husbands leave to join general Atatürk in the fight for a new Turkey, Feride and Nilüfer dress in disguises and follow them. Through rain and mud and past glittering snowy peaks, the inexperienced women are plunged into hardships they had never dreamed of - living with the roar of Greek guns, fearing the horrors of military disaster. The magnetic Atatürk, having led his forces victoriously against the Greeks, proceeded to cajole and bully his people into trading the fez for hats and adopting a new alphabet. Almost overnight, Atatürk- with the help of courageous women like Feride – turned Turkey into a 20th-century nation. "Absorbing reading...There's color in the rich tapestry of Turkish custom and thought; there are vivid scenes and live characters." - Kirkus

An analysis of the turmoil in the Middle East journeys behind the familiar facade of Iraq to argue that troubles in the Arab world can be linked to America's limited understanding of the region, thirst for oil, and need to deal with terrorism.

Ravenstone: The Complete Saga Both novels in one volume! Legend of the Ravenstone and Curse of the Ravenstone **Bonus Short Story Included** The Hawk's Shadow: A Tale from Secramore They were destined for failure. When a mysterious and manipulative wizard, learns the deadly relic know as the Ravenstone has been uncovered by a self-proclaimed regent known as the Priagent, he hastily assembles a group of mismatched travelers to steal and deliver it to safety. The unlikely company sent to retrieve it consists of Arcturus, an exiled politician with a fondness for wine, Kariayla, a winged slave girl on a quest for redemption, Jinx, an unlucky thief and his imp counterpart, and Hawkwing, the wizard’s personal spy, at the helm. Distrust, secrets, and inexperience threaten to compromise the mission as the group is forced to travel in the company of the enemy. Doubt turns to the wizard who employed them on this precarious quest, and as the Priagent marches toward his goal, a second Cataclysm is imminent. Yet even he is driven by another—a darker force that has yet to reveal itself. The Ravenstone's ominous Shadow obscures the fate of Secramore, and unless the threat is vanquished, none will be spared the curse of its darkness.

Most of the weekly articles Chesterton wrote for The Illustrated London News have never been printed in book form until Ignatius Press undertook to do the collected works. These volumes contain all of Chesterton's columns in The Illustrated London News, beginning in 1905. The great majority have never appeared in book form. Chesterton lovers will be delighted to find this treasure filled with jewels quite the match of his best writing.