Science Middle Ages

Between the 12th and 15th centuries in Europe, not all women fit the stereotype of passive housewife and mother. Many led bold and dynamic lives. In this collection of historical portraits, Maria Teresa Brolis tells the fascinating tales of fashion icons, art clients, businesswomen, saints, healers, lovers, and pilgrims - both famous and little known - who challenge conventional understandings of the medieval female experience. Drawing on evidence from literary works and archival documents, Brolis pieces together an intricate overview of 16 women's lives.

More than eight centuries after his death, Saladin's life and reign represent the pinnacle of the Arab world's glory. Saladin is widely considered one of the greatest generals in history and one of the most famous leaders of the Middle Ages, but he remains a paradox, both in personal and in historical terms. A military genius, he first served other generals and was overshadowed later in life by his greatest rival, Richard I of England. He was far more admired by his Christian enemies, who extolled his chivalry, than some of his Muslim rivals.

The idea of a powerful woman in the Middle Ages seems like an oxymoron. Females in this time are imagined to be damsels in distress, trapped in a high tower, and waiting for knights to rescue them, all while wearing traffic-cones for a hat. After rescue, their lives improved little. Their career choices were to be either docile queens, housewives, or be burned at the stake for witchcraft. But what if this image of medieval women is a complete fiction? It turns out that it is. Powerful female rulers fill the Middle Ages.

In this urgent and timely book, Patrick Cockburn writes the first draft of the history of the current crisis in the Middle East. Here he charts the period from the recapture of Mosul in 2017 to Turkey's attack on Kurdish territory in November 2019, and recounts the new phase in the wars of disintegration that have plagued the region. The ground battle with the caliphate is perhaps over, but was this the end of the conflict that has scarred these nations for decades?

Around the time a woman reaches 45, there is one enemy with the power to threaten her confidence, steal her beauty, make her feel invisible, and turn even the pleasures of life against her: time. Most women feel that an essential part of them dies when their youth is gone, but women can grow more beautiful, experience new pleasures, and accomplish their best work later in life.

Ivy Mae Bloom is almost 13 years old, her name is almost a complete sentence, and her family’s RV is almost a home. That’s one too many “almosts” for Ivy. She desperately wants a place to put down roots, but it’s her mama’s job as a fallen star to tend the magic underpinning the world - a job that’s kept Ivy’s family living on the road since before Ivy was born. After Ivy steals Mama's entire supply of wish jars in the hopes of finding a place to call home, disaster strands her family in Whistling Ridge, North Carolina, with Mama's star sisters.

For over a quarter century, Iran has been one of America's chief nemeses. Ever since Ayatollah Khomeini overthrew the Shah in 1979, the relationship between the two nations has been antagonistic: revolutionary guards chanting against the Great Satan, Bush fulminating against the Axis of Evil, Iranian support for Hezbollah, and President Ahmadinejad blaming the U.S. for the world's ills.

Secrets always find their way out. Thirteen-year-old Maia thinks she has seen it all. She has survived a soul-extraction attempt, been threatened with death, and faced off with saboteurs trying to bring down her nation. She lets nothing get to her anymore—not even the memories of her dead mother's terrifying communique. All Maia wants is for the Alliance Initiative to resume. She longs to visit the under-ocean civilization of the Jjord, ride the underwater transport lines, and to learn about the Jjordic energy farms that could save her ruined planet. Most of all, she wants to goof off ...

In a desperate race to find the remaining relics, Calvin knows he must stop Galigore - the evil sorcerer - from obtaining infinite power. Can Calvin and his friends, Perry and Anna, help in this epic battle of good versus evil entwined with wizards, warlocks, and mythical beasts? One thing is for sure - Calvin is determined to fight against evil...and he knows that he just might die trying.

If ever a catharsis in Western European Civilization occurred, it had to have been the period we refer to as the Renaissance. After a thousand years of theocracy, manorialism, feudalism and narrow economic development, Europe was ripe for change. She got it with a vengeance.

What if everything you believe is a lie? Maia has spent most of her life trying to run away from her past. When a chance encounter lands Maia in a dubious peace initiative, she has to walk down a road she had hoped never to tread. Little does she know that the real truth about her long-deceased mother is somewhere down this path. But before she gets to that, Maia will discover true friendship, face an unimaginable evil, and fight her deepest fears to save the world she loves. A planet on the brink of extinction. An enemy from the dark side of the universe. Only one girl and her secret stand...

Something dark lurks in the swamp behind Emily’s new home. When twelve-year-old Emily moves into her late grandfather’s house in Whispering Pines, she expects the usual new-kid struggles. Instead, she finds herself caught in a decades-old mystery surrounding her grandmother’s disappearance. Her mother’s desperate warnings to stay away from the swamp only fuel Emily’s curiosity about what really happened all those years ago. But as strange events begin to unfold, Emily discovers an ancient presence watching from the shadows—one that has been patiently waiting for her family’s ...

Last Emergence is a Alternate History Science Fiction Novel set 3000 years after a large asteroid was sent to impact the earth. In orbit, survivor descendants, of three combined space stations, watch, as two groups of humans claw their way back toward civilization. When they rediscover radio, the aliens will detect their transmissions and send another asteroid, as they have done several times. The Earth Station inhabitants lost their ability to withstand Earth’s gravity many generations ago. In a desperate attempt to forestall the inevitable, two survivors of the unsuccessful space ...

For my birthday, my best friends Gilly and Pippa signed us up for a weekend at the Central Midwest Spa Convention. Yay. Massages, fine dining, maid service, and best of all, as long as we attend a few workshops, the weekend is a tax write-off. It should be all sunshine and roses, right? Wrong. My former intern at Belliza Beauty aka the Job Stealer, Carmen Carraway, is a featured presenter. Yuck. Throw in an ex-boyfriend, a number one fan, a brewing scandal, and a dead body, and my relaxing birthday weekend is DOA.

Two of the country's leading anti-terrorism experts probe to the heart of 9/11, examining the plots and conspiracies that led up to that day, and showing us the need for continued vigilance against future threats. For those of us who believe that the current danger comes only from Osama Bin Laden and Al-Quaeda, Benjamin and Simon show that they are only part of a larger and more durable phenomenon.

The countdown to extinction has begun! After Maia narrowly escapes from yet another execution attempt, she finds her life upended once again. As specters from her past reappear and friendships she had always counted on swiftly collapse around her, Maia is left struggling with her inner demons. All the while, the R’armimon Empire’s mighty Execution Fleet draws closer to Tansi, and everyone braces for annihilation. Maia races to find a way to stop the R’armimon and rediscover the true meaning of friendship, forgiveness, and courage. Will she be on time or is it already too late? Maia ...

Be careful what you wish for… When their home planet Eden is destroyed, a group of kids have to grow up very quickly. Led by the charismatic Samantha, a thirteen-year-old with a thirst for adventure, they leave everything they have ever known behind to escape on the newly built spaceship, the Lifeboat, not knowing if they will ever see their families again. Lost in space, they wonder what they will find on their journey. Are there any inhabitable planets? If so, will they be hospitable? Is it possible that there are other colonies? If they do meet people, will they be friendly? Will they ...

What if you had the power to destroy the universe? An unimaginable power has awakened within Maia. As much as she wants to resume a regular life at ThulaSu, she realizes normalcy is an impossible quest. She has changed . . . forever. So has the world around her. As fifteen-year-old Maia battles a swiftly-strengthening storm of evil and struggles to regain her friends' trust, she understands the meaning of true strength. That real power is not about blasting everything that stands in her way just because she can, unless it serves the greater good. And sometimes, the greater good can demand ...

The "Lackawanna Six" were young men, born of Yemeni families long settled in upstate New York, who took a trip to Pakistan and Afghanistan and spent time in an al-Qaeda training camp long before the specter of 9/11, before most people had even heard of Osama Bin Laden, and before the existence of the Homeland Security Act.

Some wishes should never come true. Back home from the Alliance Initiative, Maia is restless. She wants the Initiative to resume, she wishes to visit the energy summit poised to transform Tansi, she is desperate to break free of her stifling existence and join in the making of Tansi's future. When fate rips Maia's life apart in one cruel swoop and forces her to run for cover, Maia realizes her secret is out and her life is on the line. Thrust into her enemy's cross-hairs, there's no place left to hide. How long will Maia survive, if at all? Maia and the Regency Protocol is the third book of...