Boukje Verheij Ordre des livres (chronologique)

This surging narrative offers a brilliant synthesis of ancient sources, making it a must-read for anyone interested in history, politics, or human nature. Rome transitioned from kings to a republic, ultimately collapsing into civil wars so brutal that the populace welcomed an autocrat promising peace. Augustus, the "Divinely Favoured One," established a dynasty that continues to captivate with its unsettling characters. Tiberius, once a celebrated general, became a bitter recluse known for his vices; Caligula, infamous for cruelty, famously rode his chariot across the sea; Agrippina, mother of Nero, schemed to elevate her son who would later have her murdered; and Nero himself, a figure of excess, indulged in the Olympics and constructed a pleasure palace over the ruins of a devastated city. In this sequel to Rubicon, the author presents a dazzling portrait of Rome's first imperial dynasty, capturing both its allure and the dark shadows of its crimes. The narrative spans from the marble grandeur of Augustus's capital to the barbarian-haunted forests of Germany, featuring a spectacular cast of characters: murderers, metrosexuals, adulterers, druids, scheming grandmothers, and reluctant gladiators. It is a vivid portrayal of a family that transformed and stupefied Rome.

De Amerikaanse Julia en Pete zijn in 1940 Parijs ontvlucht. Ze zijn daar niet langer veilig omdat Julia joodse is. Terwijl zij in Lissabon wachten op een schip naar de VS, ontmoeten ze het schrijversechtpaar Iris en Edward. De vier hoofdpersonen zijn druk met elkaar en met hun intriges. Julia en Iris lijden allebei aan een moederschapstrauma. Beginnen de mannen daarom een homoseksuele relatie? De week die de twee stellen met elkaar doorbrengen blijkt enorme sporen na te laten in hun levens maar pas aan het einde van de roman wordt daar een tipje van de sluier over opgelicht. Pete is de verteller maar tegelijkertijd ook een pion in het spel tussen de echtelieden

'Fast, hard and knowing: this is an amazing debut full of intrigue, tradecraft and suspense. Read it immediately!' Lee Child (author of the Jack Reacher novels) I make things disappear. It’s what I do. This time I’m tidying up the loose ends after a casino heist gone bad. The loose ends being a million cash. But I only have 48 hours, and there’s a guy out there who wants my head in a bag. He’ll have to find me first. They don’t call me the Ghostman for nothing...

A guy walks into a bar . . . From here the story could take many turns. A guy walks into a bar and meets the love of his life. A guy walks into a bar and finds no one else is there. When this guy is David Sedaris, the possibilities are endless. In Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls, Sedaris delights with twists of humour and intelligence, remembering his father's dinnertime attire (shirtsleeves and underpants) his first colonoscopy (remarkably pleasant) and the time he considered buying the skeleton of a murdered pygmy. By turns hilarious and moving, David Sedaris masterfully looks at life's absurdities as he takes us on adventures that are not to be forgotten.

No less than the collapse of the Roman Republic or the Persian invasion of Greece, the evolution of an Arab empire is one of the supreme narratives of ancient history; a story dazzlingly rich in drama, character and achievement. Just like the Romans, the Arabs came from nowhere to carve out a stupefyingly vast dominion - except that they achieved their conquests, not over the course of centuries, as the Romans did, but in a matter of decades. Just like the Greeks during the Persian wars, they overcame seemingly insuperable odds to emerge triumphant against the greatest empire of the day - not by standing on the defensive, however, but by hurling themselves against all who lay in their path. IN THE SHADOW OF THE SWORD effectively completes Tom Holland's trilogy describing the Ancient World. It represents an extraordinary achievement by the most exciting and readable young British historian working today

Keuze uit de verhalen van de Amerikaanse schrijver (1962- ).

Pompeii explodes a number of myths - from the very date of the eruption, probably a few months later than usually thought; the hygiene of the baths which must have been hotbeds of germs; and the legendary number of brothels, most likely only one, to the massive death count which was probably less than ten per cent of the population.Street Life, Earning a Living: Baker, Banker and Garum Maker (who ran the city), The Pleasure of the Body: Food, Wine, Sex and Baths, these chapter headings give a surprising insight into the workings of a Roman town. At the Suburban Baths we go from communal bathing to hygiene to erotica. A fast-food joint on the Via dell' Abbondanza introduces food and drink and diets and street life. These are just a few of the strands that make up an extraordinary and involving portrait of an ancient town, its life and its continuing re-discovery, by Britain's leading classicist.

Drawings and writings by Archimedes, previously thought to have been destroyed, have been uncovered beneath the pages of a 13th-century monk's prayer book. These hidden texts, slowly being retrieved and deciphered by scientists, show that Archimedes' thinking (2,200 years ago) was even ahead of Isaac Newton in the 17th century. Archimedes discovered the value of Pi, he developed the theory of specific gravity and made steps towards the development of calculus. Everything we know about him comes from three manuscripts, two of which have disappeared. The third, currently in the Walters Art Museum, is a palimpsest - the text has been scraped off, the book taken apart and its parchment re-used, in this case as a prayer book. William Noel, the project director, and Reviel Netz, a historian of ancient mathematics, tell the enthralling story of the survival of that prayer book from 1229 to the present, and examine the process of recovering the invaluable text underneath as well as investigating into why that text is so important