Charis L. Combs Lay

The winds of war grow dark around General George Meade, appointed to command the Army of the Potomac just three days before a brewing battle against Robert E. Lee, charismatic leader of the Confederate forces. No one - not even the outgoing commander - seems to know where Lee’s army is, except that they are somewhere on Northern soil, possibly pushing toward a decisive battle deep in the heart of the Union. Thwarted by insufficient intelligence and betrayed by an unscrupulous general, Meade knows it will take all his skill and the heroism of his troops to best the undefeated Lee.

The Roman Republic was one of the most remarkable achievements in the history of civilization. After its founding in 509 BCE, the Romans refused to allow a single leader to seize control of the state and grab absolute power. The Roman commitment to cooperative government and peaceful transfers of power was unmatched in the history of the ancient world. But by the year 133 BCE, the republican system was unable to cope with the vast empire Rome now ruled.

With commanding skill, Thomas R. Martin tells the remarkable and dramatic story of how a tiny, poor, and threatened settlement grew to become, during its height, the dominant power in the Mediterranean world for 500 years. Encompassing the period from Rome's founding in the eighth century BC through Justinian's rule in the sixth century AD, he offers a distinctive perspective on the Romans and their civilization by employing fundamental Roman values as a lens through which to view both their rise and spectacular fall.