A fictional recovered manuscript from 400 AD details several years in the lives of two aristocratic Roman pagans in their late twenties, the siblings Aeneas and Honoria, as they defend their traditional values against a hostile, militant Christianity bent on obliterating every trace of paganism. The brother and sister both find lovers, but face overwhelming difficulties as the empire is drawn into a maelstrom of intrigues, religious and political rivalries, warfare, mayhem, and murder. Aeneas, an amateur boxer who loves the philosophy of Aristotle, is a soldier, adventurer, scholar, and high-ranking government official. Honoria is a vestal priestess dismissed from office by a recently Christianized emperor. They are ideally positioned to convey the brilliant and sophisticated achievements of pagan civilization and defend it against the Christian charge of worldliness and theological error. Their concise, vivid portrayals reveal intimate details of life in pre-Christian Rome, the most advanced civilization in the Western world prior to the modern era. Fast paced, suspenseful, sweeping in scope and rich in historical details and allusions to real events, Buried: The Discernment of Pagans in Ancient Rome will leave you with new insight into the pagan world and the human capacity for love.

Herman Melville was a genius endowed with a remarkable capacity to detect fraud and humbug. From the composition of Moby-Dick in 1851 until his death in 1891, his writings are slyly disguised and damning exposes of the flawed assumptions and ideologies that prevailed in his day. Similarly flawed assumptions and ideologies are just as prominent today. With the powerful perception and reasoning of innate genius, Melville's writings clarify the causes behind, for example, the ideological polarization and gridlock in today's politics, the growing hostilities between religions, and the flawed ethics driving Wall Street. But he also implies a very powerful solution to these problems. His writings provide a template for thinking effectively about religion, economics, politics, philosophy, the role of corporations, and far more. This book makes clear for the first time that beneath the familiar persona of a colorful adventurer and great story-teller, Melville was also a first-rate philosopher offering valuable and practicable solutions to real-world issues.