Recommendations based on "Emperor's Sword An unputdownable novel of Roman adventure"

The third in the epic trilogy narrating the history of the Roman Empire from renowned historian Tom Holland[Bokinfo].

It is 1806 and Napoleon is master of an empire covering half of Europe. He subdues kings, conquers woman, and defies the Pope himself over the Continental Blockade. In this dazzling mix of history and creativity, Max Gallo brilliantly recreates the most pivotal and turbulent years of the Little Corporal's reign, ending with his 500,000 strong army's march into Russia in 1812.

The concluding part of the Cicero Trilogy that began with Imperium, from the No. 1 bestselling author of Fatherland, An officer and a Spy, Enigma, Archangel, Pompeii and The Ghost. Aged 48, Marcus Cicero, the greatest orator of his time, is to all appearances a broken man. Out of power, exiled to the eastern Mediterranean with his faithful secretary, Tiro, separated from his wife and children, his possessions confiscated, he spends his days tormented by his failure. But, to quote one of his own famous aphorisms: 'while there's life there's hope'. By promising to support his political enemy, Caesar, he manages to win his return to Italy. Once home, he gradually fights his way back: first in the law courts, then in the senate, and finally by the power of his pen, until at last, for one brief and glorious period, he is once again the dominant figure in Rome. The long-awaited final volume of Robert Harris's Cicero Trilogy, Dictator encompasses some of the most epic events in human history: the collapse of the Roman republic, the subsequent civil war, the murder of Pompey and the assassination of Julius Caesar. Its theme, however, is timeless: how is political freedom to be safeguarded against the triple threats of unscrupulous personal ambition, of an electoral system dominated by vested financial interests, and of the corrupting impact of waging ceaseless foreign wars? But above all, it is the very human figure of Cicero, beset by family problems, which makes the story so compelling: brilliant, flawed, frequently fearful and yet ultimately brave -- a hero for his time, and for ours.

From award-winning historian Robin Lane Fox, Alexander the Great searches through the mass of conflicting evidence and legend to focus on Alexander as a man of his own time. Tough, resolute, fearless, Alexander was a born warrior and ruler of passionate ambition who understood the intense adventure of conquest and of the unknown. When he died in 323 BC aged thirty-two, his vast empire comprised more than two million square miles, spanning from Greece to India. His achievements were unparalleled - he had excelled as leader to his men, founded eighteen new cities and stamped the face of Greek culture on the ancient East. The myth he created is as potent today as it was in the ancient world. Combining historical scholarship and acute psychological insight, Alexander the Great brings this colossal figure vividly to life. 'So enjoyable and well-written ... Fox's book became my main guide through Alexander's amazing story' Oliver Stone, director of Alexander 'I do not know which to admire most, his vast erudition or his imaginative grasp of so remote and complicated a period and such a complex personality' Cyril Connolly, Sunday Times 'An achievement of Alexandrian proportions' New Statesman Robin Lane Fox was the main historical advisor to Oliver Stone on his film Alexander, and took part in many of its most dramatic re-enactments. His books include The Classical World: An Epic History of Greece and Rome, The Unauthorised Version: Truth and Fiction in the Bible, Travelling Heroes: Greeks and their Myths in the Epic Age of Homer and Pagans and Christians in the Mediterranean World from the Second Century AD to the Conversion of Constantine.

A.D. 72: To many, Rome is the center of the Empire. To Marcus Didius Falco, Imperial spy and casual informer, it is the home of his mother, the domineering matriarch who has kept the Didius clan together since her husband absconded with a redhead some twenty years before. Trouble is the last thing Falco wants on his return from a six-month mission to the German legions. But trouble is in store: his apartment has been wrecked by squatters and an ex-legionnaire friend of his colorfully heroic brother, Festus, has parked himself in the only other possible refuge, his mother's kitchen. What's worse, the man is demanding money allegedly owed him and his legion from one of Festus's wild schemes. Worse still, the only client Falco can get is his mother, who wants him to clear the family name. But little does he realize that trouble is only just beginning: the legionnaire is found viciously stabbed to death, with Falco the prime suspect. His friend Petronius is investigating the case, and while the intrepid Falco treads the dingy streets of Rome, his girlfriend, Helena Justina, is arrested as an accomplice, leaving her aristocratic family even more certain that this plebeian will not make a suitable husband. Even if her family were to agree to the marriage, Falco still needs an impossible 400,000 sesterces to buy himself into the middle rank. And to clear the family name, he has to find Geminus, the father who left all those years before, for he is the only one who knows what Festus was really up to. Compelled to face the past he deplores and a future he despairs of, Falco has just three days to prove he is not a murderer, to trace the real suspect, amass evidence, and win a fortune...

Liam O'Connor should have died at sea in 1912. Maddy Carter should have died on a plane in 2010. Sal Vikram should have died in a fire in 2026. But all three have been given a second chance - to work for an agency that no one knows exists. Its purpose: to prevent time travel destroying history . . . Project Exodus - a mission to transport 300 Americans from 2070 to 54AD to overthrow the Roman Empire - has gone catastrophically wrong. Half have arrived seventeen years earlier, during the reign of Caligula. Liam goes to investigate, but when Maddy and Sal attempt to flee a kill-squad sent to hunt down their field office, all of the TimeRiders become trapped in the Roman past. Armed with knowledge of the future, Caligula is now more powerful than ever. But with the office unmanned - and under threat - how will the TimeRiders make it back to 2001 and put history right? ** Book five in the bestselling TimeRiders series by Alex Scarrow. ** Ancient Rome gets a time-travel makeover! ** TimeRiders (Book 1) won the Red House Book Award older readers category, and was Penguin UK's first ever number one on the iBookstore. ** www.time-riders.co.uk

No.1 bestselling author Conn Iggulden takes on the story of the mighty Kublai Khan. An epic tale of a great and heroic mind; his action-packed rule; and how in conquering one-fifth of the world's inhabited land, he changed the course of history forever. A scholar who conquered an empire larger than those of Alexander or Caesar. A warrior who would rule a fifth of the world with strength and wisdom. A man who betrayed a brother to protect a nation. From a young scholar to one of history's most powerful warriors, Conqueror tells the story of Kublai Khan - an extraordinary man who should be remembered alongside Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great and Napoleon Bonaparte as one of the greatest conquerors the world has ever known. It should have been a golden age, with an empire to dwarf the lands won by the mighty Genghis Khan. Instead, the vast Mongol nation is slowly losing ground, swallowed whole by their most ancient enemy. A new generation has arisen, yet the long shadow of the Great Khan still hangs over them all ... Kublai dreams of an empire stretching from sea to sea. But to see it built, this scholar must first learn the art of war. He must take his nation's warriors to the ends of the known world. And when he is weary, when he is wounded, he must face his own brothers in bloody civil war.

In 480 BC, Xerxes, the King of Persia, led an invasion of mainland Greece. Its success should have been a formality. For seventy years, victory - rapid, spectacular victory - had seemed the birthright of the Persian Empire. In the space of a single generation, they had swept across the Near East, shattering ancient kingdoms, storming famous cities, putting together an empire which stretched from India to the shores of the Aegean. As a result of those conquests, Xerxes ruled as the most powerful man on the planet. Yet somehow, astonishingly, against the largest expeditionary force ever assembled, the Greeks of the mainland managed to hold out. The Persians were turned back. Greece remained free. Had the Greeks been defeated at Salamis, not only would the West have lost its first struggle for independence and survival, but it is unlikely that there would ever have been such and entity as the West at all. Tom Holland's brilliant new book describes the very first 'clash of Empires' between East and West. Once again he has found extraordinary parallels between the ancient world and our own. There is no competing popular book describing these events.

Warrior of Rome: The Amber Road is the sixth book in Harry Sidebottom's Warrior of Rome series. AD 264 - The Roman Empire is torn in two. The western provinces - Gaul, Spain and Britain - have been seized by the pretender Postumus. To the east, on the plains of northern Italy, the armies of the emperor Gallienus muster. War is coming. Everyone must choose a side. On a mission shrouded in secrecy and suspicion, Ballista must journey The Amber Road to the far north to Hyperborea, back to his original home and the people of his birth. A fearsome, masked warlord attacks, bringing fire and sword against the Angles. Yet not all welcome Ballista`s return.Does treachery pose the greatest danger? Dr Harry Sidebottom is a leading authority on ancient warfare - he applies his knowledge with a spectacular flair for sheer explosive action and knuckle-whitening drama. Fans of Bernard Cornwell will love Sidebottom's recreation of the ancient world. Praise for Harry Sidebottom: 'Sidebottom's prose blazes with searing scholarship' The Times 'The best sort of red-blooded historical fiction' Andrew Taylor, author of The American Boy Dr. Harry Sidebottom is Fellow of St Benets Hall, and Lecturer at Lincoln College, Oxford - where he specializes in ancient warfare and classical art.

Edward Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire compresses thirteen turbulent centuries into an epic narrative shot through with insight, irony and incisive character analysis. Sceptical about Christianity, sympathetic to the barbarian invaders and the Byzantine Empire, constantly aware of how political leaders often achieve the exact opposite of what they intend, Gibbon was both alert to the broad pattern of events and significant revealing details.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.