Washoe County Library System

"A groundbreaking work that retells modern history through the rise and spread of written constitutions-some enlightened, many oppressive-to every corner of the globe. Filling a crucial void in our understanding of world history, Linda Colley reconfigures the rise of the modern world over three centuries through the advent of written constitutions. Her absorbing work challenges accepted narratives, focusing on rulers like Catherine the Great, who...

Examines the causes, course, and social implications of World War I, as well as technological and strategic advances of the time.

Describes developments in science, technology, and warfare during the ancient Mesopotamian era.

"'The Violent American Century' addresses the U.S.-led transformation in war military strategy and war making that followed 1945. World War II marked the apogee of industrialized 'total war.' Great powers savaged one another. Hostilities engulfed the globe. Mobilization extended to virtually every sector of every nation. Air war, including the terror bombing of civilians, emerged as a central strategy of the victorious Anglo-American powers. The devastation...

Jessica, a drone Air Force pilot, has no choice but to launch a missile in spite of women and children being caught in the crosshairs.

"There is growing alarm over how drugs increasingly empower terrorists, insurgents, traffickers, and gangs. But by looking back not just years and decades but centuries, Peter Andreas reveals that the drugs-conflict nexus is actually an old story, and that powerful states have been its biggest beneficiaries. In his path-breaking Killer High, Andreas shows how six psychoactive drugs--ranging from old to relatively new, mild to potent, licit to illicit,...

A rare 15th-century manuscript in Denmark's Royal Library describes in detail the fighting techniques taught by master of arms Hans Talhoffer, including not only weapons techniques, but hand-fighting, defence and strategy. Also included are numerous illustrations of medieval inventions resembling armored tanks, explosives, and underwater breathing apparatus.