In 1839, rumors of extraordinary yet baffling stone ruins buried within the unmapped jungles of Central America reached two of the world’s most intrepid travelers. Seized by the reports, American diplomat John Lloyd Stephens and British artist Frederick Catherwood—both already celebrated for their adventures in Egypt, the Holy Land, Greece, and Rome—sailed together out of New York Harbor on an expedition into the forbidding rainforests of present-day Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico. What they found would upend the West’s understanding of human history. In the tradition of Lost City of Z and In the Kingdom of Ice, former San Francisco Chronicle journalist and Pulitzer Prize finalist William Carlsen reveals the remarkable story of the discovery of the ancient Maya. Enduring disease, war, and the torments of nature and terrain, Stephens and Catherwood meticulously uncovered and documented the remains of an astonishing civilization that had flourished in the Americas at the same time as classic Greece and Rome—and had been its rival in art, architecture, and power. Their masterful book about the experience, written by Stephens and illustrated by Catherwood, became a sensation, hailed by Edgar Allan Poe as “perhaps the most interesting book of travel ever published” and recognized today as the birth of American archaeology. Most important, Stephens and Catherwood were the first to grasp the significance of the Maya remains, understanding that their antiquity and sophistication overturned the West’s assumptions about the development of civilization. By the time of the flowering of classical Greece (400 b.c.), the Maya were already constructing pyramids and temples around central plazas. Within a few hundred years the structures took on a monumental scale that required millions of man-hours of labor, and technical and organizational expertise. Over the next millennium, dozens of city-states evolved, each governed by powerful lords, some with populations larger than any city in Europe at the time, and connected by road-like causeways of crushed stone. The Maya developed a cohesive, unified cosmology, an array of common gods, a creation story, and a shared artistic and architectural vision. They created stucco and stone monuments and bas reliefs, sculpting figures and hieroglyphs with refined artistic skill. At their peak, an estimated ten million people occupied the Maya’s heartland on the Yucatan Peninsula, a region where only half a million now live. And yet by the time the Spanish reached the “New World,” the Maya had all but disappeared; they would remain a mystery for the next three hundred years. Today, the tables are turned: the Maya are justly famous, if sometimes misunderstood, while Stephens and Catherwood have been nearly forgotten. Based on Carlsen’s rigorous research and his own 2,500-mile journey throughout the Yucatan and Central America, Jungle of Stone is equally a thrilling adventure narrative and a revelatory work of history that corrects our understanding of Stephens, Catherwood, and the Maya themselves.

Oil is a curse, it is often said, that condemns the countries producing it to an existence defined by war, corruption and enormous inequality. Carbon Democracy tells a more complex story, arguing that no nation escapes the political consequences of our collective dependence on oil. It shapes the body politic both in regions such as the Middle East, which rely upon revenues from oil production, and in the places that have the greatest demand for energy. Timothy Mitchell begins with the history of coal power to tell a radical new story about the rise of democracy. Coal was a source of energy so open to disruption that oligarchies in the West became vulnerable for the first time to mass demands for democracy. In the mid-twentieth century, however, the development of cheap and abundant energy from oil, most notably from the Middle East, offered a means to reduce this vulnerability to democratic pressures. The abundance of oil made it possible for the first time in history to reorganize political life around the management of something now called "the economy" and the promise of its infinite growth. The politics of the West became dependent on an undemocratic Middle East. In the twenty-first century, the oil-based forms of modern democratic politics have become unsustainable. Foreign intervention and military rule are faltering in the Middle East, while governments everywhere appear incapable of addressing the crises that threaten to end the age of carbon democracy—the disappearance of cheap energy and the carbon-fuelled collapse of the ecological order. In making the production of energy the central force shaping the democratic age, Carbon Democracy rethinks the history of energy, the politics of nature, the theory of democracy, and the place of the Middle East in our common world.

"Enthralling . . . As fascinating as any novel and more so than most." The New York Times Book Review The Pulitzer Prize-Winning Bestseller by the author of DREADNOUGHT. Against the monumental canvas of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Europe and Russia unfolds the magnificent story of Peter the Great, one of the most extraordinary rulers in history. Impetuous and stubborn, generous and cruel, tender and unforgiving, a man of enormous energy and complexity, Peter the Great is brought fully to life in this exceptional biography.

Beginning in the year 711 and continuing for nearly a thousand years, the Islamic presence survived in Spain, at times flourishing, and at other times dwindling into warring fiefdoms. But the culture and science thereby brought to Spain, including long-buried knowledge from Greece, largely forgotten during Europe's Dark Ages, was to have an enduring impact on the country as it emerged into the modern era. In this gracefully written history, Richard Fletcher reveals the Moorish culture in all its fascinating disparity and gives us history at its best: here is vivid storytelling by a renowned scholar.

本书通过亲身游历和直接体验西班牙所遗留的古代阿拉伯文化遗产，以及对于古代摩尔人在西班牙的王朝兴替等历史史迹和阿拉伯相关优秀文学遗产的翻译和解读，作者把对西班牙南部历史名城"赭城"的游历变成了一次旅途中的旅途，从现实中的地理的旅行进入了历史与文化的深层文本旅行。并配以相关精美的艺术与历史遗迹的图片，使得本书成了一场活色生香的文字的盛宴。作者少年即负诗名，文字精致老到，译笔(包括散文和诗歌)天衣无缝。实为文字之美的生动展示。

In 1521, Suleiman the Magnificent, Muslim ruler of the Ottoman Empire at the height of its power, dispatched an invasion fleet to the Christian island of Rhodes. This would prove to be the opening shot in an epic struggle between rival empires and faiths for control of the Mediterranean and the center of the world. In Empires of the Sea , acclaimed historian Roger Crowley has written his most mesmerizing work to date–a thrilling account of this brutal decades-long battle between Christendom and Islam for the soul of Europe, a fast-paced tale of spiraling intensity that ranges from Istanbul to the Gates of Gibraltar and features a cast of extraordinary characters: Barbarossa, “The King of Evil,” the pirate who terrified Europe; the risk-taking Emperor Charles V; the Knights of St. John, the last crusading order after the passing of the Templars; the messianic Pope Pius V; and the brilliant Christian admiral Don Juan of Austria. This struggle’s brutal climax came between 1565 and 1571, seven years that witnessed a fight to the finish decided in a series of bloody set pieces: the epic siege of Malta, in which a tiny band of Christian defenders defied the might of the Ottoman army; the savage battle for Cyprus; and the apocalyptic last-ditch defense of southern Europe at Lepanto–one of the single most shocking days in world history. At the close of this cataclysmic naval encounter, the carnage was so great that the victors could barely sail away “because of the countless corpses floating in the sea.” Lepanto fixed the frontiers of the Mediterranean world that we know today. Roger Crowley conjures up a wild cast of pirates, crusaders, and religious warriors struggling for supremacy and survival in a tale of slavery and galley warfare, desperate bravery and utter brutality, technology and Inca gold. Empires of the Sea is page-turning narrative history at its best–a story of extraordinary color and incident, rich in detail, full of surprises, and backed by a wealth of eyewitness accounts. It provides a crucial context for our own clash of civilizations.

In 1177 B.C., marauding groups known only as the “Sea Peoples” invaded Egypt. The pharaoh’s army and navy managed to defeat them, but the victory so weakened Egypt that it soon slid into decline, as did most of the surrounding civilizations. After centuries of brilliance, the civilized world of the Bronze Age came to an abrupt and cataclysmic end. Kingdoms fell like dominoes over the course of just a few decades. No more Minoans or Mycenaeans. No more Trojans, Hittites, or Babylonians. The thriving economy and cultures of the late second millennium B.C., which had stretched from Greece to Egypt and Mesopotamia, suddenly ceased to exist, along with writing systems, technology, and monumental architecture. But the Sea Peoples alone could not have caused such widespread breakdown. How did it happen? In this major new account of the causes of this “First Dark Ages,” Eric Cline tells the gripping story of how the end was brought about by multiple interconnected failures, ranging from invasion and revolt to earthquakes, drought, and the cutting of international trade routes. Bringing to life the vibrant multicultural world of these great civilizations, he draws a sweeping panorama of the empires and globalized peoples of the Late Bronze Age and shows that it was their very interdependence that hastened their dramatic collapse and ushered in a dark age that lasted centuries. A compelling combination of narrative and the latest scholarship, 1177 B.C. sheds new light on the complex ties that gave rise to, and ultimately destroyed, the flourishing civilizations of the Late Bronze Age—and that set the stage for the emergence of classical Greece.

Byzantium. The name evokes grandeur and exoticism--gold, cunning, and complexity. In this unique book, Judith Herrin unveils the riches of a quite different civilization. Avoiding a standard chronological account of the Byzantine Empire's millennium--long history, she identifies the fundamental questions about Byzantium--what it was, and what special significance it holds for us today. Bringing the latest scholarship to a general audience in accessible prose, Herrin focuses each short chapter around a representative theme, event, monument, or historical figure, and examines it within the full sweep of Byzantine history--from the foundation of Constantinople, the magnificent capital city built by Constantine the Great, to its capture by the Ottoman Turks. She argues that Byzantium's crucial role as the eastern defender of Christendom against Muslim expansion during the early Middle Ages made Europe--and the modern Western world--possible. Herrin captivates us with her discussions of all facets of Byzantine culture and society. She walks us through the complex ceremonies of the imperial court. She describes the transcendent beauty and power of the church of Hagia Sophia, as well as chariot races, monastic spirituality, diplomacy, and literature. She reveals the fascinating worlds of military usurpers and ascetics, eunuchs and courtesans, and artisans who fashioned the silks, icons, ivories, and mosaics so readily associated with Byzantine art. An innovative history written by one of our foremost scholars, Byzantium reveals this great civilization's rise to military and cultural supremacy, its spectacular destruction by the Fourth Crusade, and its revival and final conquest in 1453.

The definitive account of the life and thought of the medieval Arab genius who wrote the Muqaddima Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406) is generally regarded as the greatest intellectual ever to have appeared in the Arab world--a genius who ranks as one of the world's great minds. Yet the author of the Muqaddima, the most important study of history ever produced in the Islamic world, is not as well known as he should be, and his ideas are widely misunderstood. In this groundbreaking intellectual biography, Robert Irwin provides an engaging and authoritative account of Ibn Khaldun's extraordinary life, times, writings, and ideas. Irwin tells how Ibn Khaldun, who lived in a world decimated by the Black Death, held a long series of posts in the tumultuous Islamic courts of North Africa and Muslim Spain, becoming a major political player as well as a teacher and writer. Closely examining the Muqaddima, a startlingly original analysis of the laws of history, and drawing on many other contemporary sources, Irwin shows how Ibn Khaldun's life and thought fit into historical and intellectual context, including medieval Islamic theology, philosophy, politics, literature, economics, law, and tribal life. Because Ibn Khaldun's ideas often seem to anticipate by centuries developments in many fields, he has often been depicted as more of a modern man than a medieval one, and Irwin's account of such misreadings provides new insights about the history of Orientalism. In contrast, Irwin presents an Ibn Khaldun who was a creature of his time—a devout Sufi mystic who was obsessed with the occult and futurology and who lived in an often-strange world quite different from our own.

《香识》为京城才女扬之水的品香之作，兼论香诗与香事，分“莲花香炉和宝子”、“香合”、“两宋香炉源流”、“印香与印香炉”、“宋人的沉香”、“龙涎真品与龙涎香品”、“琉璃瓶与蔷薇水”七篇，主题集中，考论精练，彩图丰富，香味四溢，令文人小资倾羡。

日本女作家原百代花了十一年的时间写成了《武则天》，书成时已七十高龄。为了写此书，她自学汉语，读懂弄通了《新唐书》、《旧唐书》、《资治通鉴》、《大唐西域记》以及全唐诗和演义小说。她因此书获得了日本"女性文化大奖"。本书极为翔实的记录了武则天从入宫到统治结束，乃至韦后之乱，太平公主自尽直至唐玄宗继位这一中国封建历史上女性政治活动的最高潮。本书的主要事件都按照史料记叙写作，戏说成分极少，不但有小说的意趣，作者原百代也在一些事件上面提出了自己的见解，因此也有很高的史学价值。 译者序：在中国的帝王史上，武则天是一位杰出的帝王；在中国的女权运动史上，武则天更是一位不让须眉，光辉千古的女性。于是，有人褒她、贬她；有人羡慕她、嫉妒她。关于她的政治生命及宫廷生活，更有种种不同的传说。然而，多数的记载及流传，都只从某一个角度去看她，而未能从整个历史背景，及她周围的环境，以及人性个不可抹煞的矛盾与挣扎，勾绘出她诡谲多变，昂然傲然的一生，使这位千古的奇女子活生生地重现在我们的眼前。 本书的作者原百代，集一生的学养与精力，综合了古今的论据，以时代为经，事件为纬，谨慎细密，又不失趣味地写成了这部《武则天》，一时轰动了日本文坛。此书兼有正史的正确与批判，野史的妙意与趣味，可当传记看，可当史料看，更是一部令人不忍释手的文学佳构。不同的读者，都可从不同的角度，在本书中得到他自己的需要、满足与快乐。译者在翻译此书时，也本着作者初衷，尽量保持书中的旨趣，除了求其正确之外，更重视笔调的流畅，趣味的保持，若仍存疏失之处，还请读者诸君不吝指正!

罗马人，智力不如希腊人，体力不如高卢人，技术不如埃特鲁利亚人，经济不如迦太基人，但为何却能一一打败对手，建立并维持庞大的罗马帝国？ 《罗马不是一天建成的》作为系列作品中的第一部，讲述的是罗马从建国到第一次、第二次布匿战争之前的五百年间的历史。这是一个饱经苦难的漫长岁月里的故事，即使在它的鼎盛时期，它都时常处于进一步退半步的状态。罗马后来之所以能成就大业的重要原因，基本上就是在这五百年间萌芽的。就好像一个人在青少年时期积蓄起来的力量到了三十而立之年才开始了解其真正的价值一样。

《罗马人的故事2:汉尼拔战记》以战争为题材，描述130年间罗马称霸地中海的历史，公元前218年—公元前202年，汉尼拔从西班牙率军，翻越阿尔卑斯山，进攻意大利本土，历时16年的战争，双方八回合的交战，难分难解。最终西阿庇击败盖世名将汉尼拔。令人击掌称快的战争场面，胜利逆转的精彩情节，引人思索。战争人反映类的思维和行为方式。为什么知识优越的希腊人、军事力量强大的迦太基人最后会败给罗马人？ 海报：

无论多么强大的国家，都不可能持续保持长久的国泰民安。即使没有来自外敌的威胁，也会出现产生于内部的敌人。这就如同人体一样，强健的体魄可以抵御外来疾病的入侵，但是内脏器官的疾患，却会制约身体的健康成长，并使人饱受折磨。 公元前二世纪中叶，受到罗马霸权扩张到地中海全境的刺激，罗马经济结构发生剧变。一方面，骑士阶级兴起，失业人口增加，贫富差距日益扩大；另一方面，由元老院所主导的寡头政体，在面临汉尼拔战争的危机时，高度发挥机能，权力不断集中，而开启“平民派”与“元老院派”抗争的世纪。作者以人物和事件交错的叙述方式，突显公元前133年～前63年这个革命动荡的世纪。成功是必须付出代价的，成为霸者之后罗马人的种种困境与混乱，值得经营现代生活的你我深切反思。

▼内容简介 本书是讲述宋朝“风雅”生活的一本趣味图书。作者从宋画这一新颖角度入手，结合文献记载和前人研究成果，揭示了宋朝“风雅”生活的若干侧面，将宋人起居饮食、焚香点茶、赶集贸易、赏春游园、上朝议事的生活图景活灵活现地展现在读者面前，展现了宋朝特有的社会风貌和时代精神。 书稿分为六辑，第一辑讲述宋人的日常生活；第二辑讲述宋朝文人的雅玩与雅趣；第三辑描述宋朝的社会百态；第四辑介绍宋朝的城市公共设施；第五辑侧重于呈现宋朝的商业繁华；第六辑则考证了宋朝政治生活中的礼仪问题。在史料运用方便，作者通过检索数百幅宋画，还原了宋朝人物的生活景象，同时还以少量宋朝壁画、砖刻、出土文物、文书实物作为补充，以及少数唐画、明画、清画作为参照，以做到相互映证、比对。 ▼编辑推荐 ☆ 本书从宋画的角度呈现出别开生面、活色生香的“风雅”宋朝 ☆ 本书精选360多张宋代写实画作，展示宋人起居饮食、焚香点茶、赶集贸易、赏春游园、上朝议事等“风雅”生活图景，带您领略独特、前卫的大宋风采…… ☆ 本书是一部图文并茂、通俗有趣的宋代社会生活史作品。作者切入的角度非常独特，他认为宋画呈现了一个比文字记载更为生动的历史世界，让我们得以近距离观赏到一个别开生面、活色生香的“风雅”宋。书中精选了具有写实功能的宋代画作，展示了宋人起居饮食、焚香点茶、赶集贸易、赏春游园、上朝议事等“风雅”生活图景，其间不乏对宋代风俗礼仪的细致考证，以及横向或纵向的比较，从而展现了宋代文明的独特性、颇为前卫的一面和对后世绵延不绝的影响力。

本书为讲谈社《中国的历史》中的“宋朝”一卷。全书渐次展开的十章，大体上可以分为三个板块：开端的四章，依照历史的时序，概述了公元9世纪末到13世纪政治史的基本历程。继而进入本书最为核心的内容，以三章的篇幅，讨论这一时段中“思想与宗教的奔流”：作者分别从思想和宗教的变迁、士大夫群体和社会精神、科学和技术革新等角度阐释了“奔流”的意涵。接下来的两章，介绍两宋的文化潮流、普通民众的日常生活，通过延伸性的观察，让人们体味到“思想与宗教”养育蕴蓄的氛围环境与承载体。第十章则是宋代历史的结束，也是全书概观式的收束。 本书内容涉及到政治史、经济史、社会史、学术史、艺术史等纷纭丰富的议题，体现着日本学界具有代表性的中坚力量对于宋代历史的“再认识”。

宫崎市定毕生致力于中国史的研究与教学，在众多领域都有创见，被认为代表着日本中国史研究的最高水平。本书是他积四十年研究与教学经验、面向普通读者的结晶之作，以世界史眼光和社会经济史视角为特色，拥有平易的文风和明快的思维，能把精致的实证研究与大气恢弘的通史叙述紧密结合，集中体现了他的研究成果和特色。 精湛深厚的京都东洋史学风、与国内学界形成鲜明对照的思路与视角；对于书中涉及的方方面面，几乎都曾做过专门的研究；将中国置于世界史的进程之中，以“景气史观”阐述盛衰兴亡；几乎从不引经据典，论述全凭记忆力与洞察力；三百余个小标题和平均八百字的篇幅，形成独立又贯通的易读结构；愉快而酣畅的叙述，只为唤起普通读者的兴趣。这一切使这部中国通史具有了深厚的学派底蕴、强烈的个人风格、全新的启发性和的可读性。

★史学泰斗、“汉学诺贝尔奖”儒莲奖得主 知人论世力作 ★皇帝 名臣 财阀 儒家 文人 画家 盗贼…… ★以司马迁之磅礴笔力，重现历史叙述的摄人心魄 ★读懂中国史，从读懂这些人开始 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 以深厚的史学功底为基础，以独特的视角、生动的文风，对中国古代史上“最有料”的人物之魅力、功罪和时代进行描绘，抽丝剥茧般的分析与想象力飞扬的叙事融合无间，重现了司马迁以降摄人心魄的历史叙述。 宫崎市定毕生致力于中国史的研究与教学，治学方法与中国“知人论世”的史学传统如符若契，又对司马迁顶礼膜拜，晚年曾计划将“人物论”的代表作品《史记·列传》全译为日文。 本书正是宫崎本人的“人物论”，也是他的著作中最为通俗好读的一部，收录了他在漫长的研究生涯中重点关注过的人物，包括“大帝与名君”（秦始皇、汉武帝、隋炀帝、康熙、雍正），“乱世宰相”（李斯、冯道、贾似道），“资本家与地方官”（晋阳李氏、宋江、蓝鼎元），“儒家与文人”（孔子、朱子、张溥、石涛），涵盖各个时代和阶层，极具代表性。 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 宫崎市定先生是东洋史学界的巨擘。他对中国史书有广阔博通的视野，研究对象涉及中国史的全部时代，以及政治、经济、文化、东西交流史等所有领域。通过个别的实证研究，先生对中国史重新系统地加以认识，并将之置于世界史的发展中……能将精密的个案实证研究与阔达雄浑的通史叙述紧密结合，堪称稀有。 ——岩波书店 宫崎市定以及京都学派的中国史观确实应当重新认识，作为杰出的亚洲史学者，宫崎市定的视野常常超越中国，而涵盖了整个“东洋”即亚洲。 ——复旦大学 葛兆光 宫崎市定先生是国外学界中为数不多的对于中国历史文化具有通识的学者，而且其通识是以实证为根基，以亚洲和西洋为参照的。 ——北京大学 刘俊文

Greece in the age of Heroes. Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been exiled to the kingdom of Phthia. Here he is nobody, just another unwanted boy living in the shadow of King Peleus and his golden son, Achilles. Achilles, 'best of all the Greeks', is everything Patroclus is not - strong, beautiful, the child of a goddess - and by all rights their paths should never cross. Yet one day, Achilles takes the shamed prince under his wing and soon their tentative companionship gives way to a steadfast friendship. As they grow into young men skilled in the arts of war and medicine, their bond blossoms into something far deeper - despite the displeasure of Achilles's mother Thetis, a cruel and deathly pale sea goddess with a hatred of mortals. Fate is never far from the heels of Achilles. When word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, the men of Greece are called upon to lay siege to Troy in her name. Seduced by the promise of a glorious destiny, Achilles joins their cause, Torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus follows Achilles into war, little knowing that the years that follow will test everything they have learned, everything they hold dear. And that, before he is ready, he will be forced to surrender his friend to the hands of Fate. Profoundly moving and breathtakingly original, this rendering of the epic Trojan War is a dazzling feat of the imagination, a devastating love story, and an almighty battle between gods and kings, peace and glory, immortal fame and the human heart.