The Middle Ages in Western Europe extended from roughly 500 to 1500 A.D. During this era, hundreds of monastic communities were founded and played important roles in religious, economic, social, literary and even military realms. Each had different emphases and goals, ranging from aristocratic monasteries and nunneries that offered comfort and security, to rural institutions that specialized only in the most ascetic lifestyles. This book has two ambitious goals. The first is to detail the most significant monastic and secular events of the Middle Ages in Western Europe, such as the fall of the Roman Catholic Church, the rise of Protestantism and the various types and purposes of monasteries and nunneries. The second is to introduce some notable and unusual individuals who made their mark upon the Middle Ages-- such as Eustache, the French monk who became a pirate and made a pact with the Devil.

In the early sixteenth century, as voyages across the Atlantic became more feasible and consequently more frequent, international competition for possession of the New World intensified. Occupied by numerous Indian tribes, western North America was home to vast natural resources, alleged riches and a fabled waterway that would connect the Mississippi with the Pacific Ocean. Over the next two centuries, Spanish, French, British, Russian and American explorers flocked to the Trans-Mississippi West, competing with each other, as well as the native Indian groups for possession of the western half of the continent. Beginning with the 1528 shipwreck of Spanish conquistador Cabeza de Voca and ending with the negotiation of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, this volume presents a broadly based general survey of the events which took place in the Trans-Mississippi West during the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The book focuses on the international rivalries west of the Mississippi and the resulting intense military and commercial competition. Using a prismatic rather than chronological approach, the work examines six distinct groups - Native American Indians, Spanish, French, British, Russians and Americans - and the objectives of each with regard to the Trans-Mississippi West. Sources include contemporary journals of explorers, such as Lewis and Clark. An epilogue evaluates the success of the respective quests, while a brief chronology at the end of the text serves to orient the reader. Appendices address eight related topics, including the Lewis and Clark expedition, firearms on the early frontier, and the coming of the horse.

In 1528, the Spanish explorer Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca and his three companions were shipwrecked and, looking for help, began an eight-year trek through the deserts of the American West. Over three centuries later, the four "Great Surveys" in the United States were consolidated into the U.S. Geological Survey. The frontiers were the lands near or beyond the recognized international, national, regional, or tribal borders. Over the centuries, they hosted a complicated series of international explorations of lands inhabited by American Indians, Spanish, French-Canadians, British, and Americans. These explorations were undertaken for wide-ranging reasons including geographical, scientific, artistic-literary, and for the growth of the railroad. This history covers over 350 years of exploration of the West.

Yellowstone National Park is the focal point of the 22-million-acre, multifaceted Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, located in northwestern Wyoming and in parts of eastern Idaho and Montana. Yellowstone has a uniquely American identity as a place where nature-largely untouched and unmanaged-is allowed to flourish. This is a detailed survey that blends Yellowstone's past into its present and explores its likely future. It covers the first inhabitants of the area; the explorers and visionary conservationists who first brought Yellowstone to public attention; the unsung early heroes of the park's ranger service; and the flora, fauna, and spectacular geology of the region. The book also covers the possible future paths for the park in light of global climate change.

This is a survey of the major historic trails of New Mexico and other parts of the American Southwest. These trails were used by Indians, prospectors, soldiers, buffalo hunters, immigrants, and cattle and sheep drovers, and, unlike other, more famous Western trails, were used as a network of two-way trade routes instead of one-way avenues for westward migration. Introductory chapters highlight prehistoric Indian trails, Spanish exploration, and Pecos as a microcosm of the old Southwest. Each subsequent chapter covers an individual trail, describing its history and some of the people who used it. A chronology of New Mexico's history and trail system is included, as are maps of the most important trails.

In medieval and Renaissance Europe, mercenaries - professional soldiers who fought for money or other rewards - played violent, colourful, international roles in warfare, but they have received relatively little scholarly attention. In this book a large number of brief impressionistic vignettes portray their activities in Western Europe over a period of nearly 900 years, from the Merovingian mercenaries of 752 through the Thirty Years' War, which ended in 1648. Intended as an introduction to the subject and drawing heavily on contemporary first-person accounts, this book creates a vivid but balanced mosaic of the many thousands of mercenaries who were hired to fight for various employers.

The university is indigenous to Western Europe and is probably the greatest and most enduring achievement of the Middle Ages. Serving as much more than stodgy institutions of learning, medieval universities served as exciting arenas of people and ideas, greatly contributing to the economic vitality of Oxford, Cambridge, and other university cities, and serving as the birthplace for some of the era's most effective minds, laws and discoveries.This survey aims to provide an overview of medieval universities for general readers without extensive or detailed knowledge of the medieval period. The introduction sets the stage for the rest of the book by highlighting, in terms of specific historical figures, some key points about medieval life. The rest of the book traces, at greater length, the growth of selected universities, including the universities of Bologna, Paris, and Oxford, along with ten lesser known universities such as the universities of Padua, Naples, Angers, Prague, and Glasgow. The work covers a time span beginning in 1179, when Pope Alexander III ordered that every cathedral should have a master who could teach Latin grammar to able but impoverished students. It ends in 1499, when the French king rescinded the right of the University of Paris to go on strike, thus depriving it of its most effective weapon. Photographs are included, along with a map showing the locations of major medieval universities.

Jerusalem has long been one of the most sought-after destinations for the followers of three world faiths and for secularists alike. For Jews, it has the Western (Wailing) Wall; for Christians, it is where Christ suffered and triumphed; for Muslims, it offers the Dome of the Rock; and for secularists, it is an archeological challenge and a place of tragedy and beauty. This work concentrates on Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and secular pilgrimages to Jerusalem over the last three millennia, drawing from over 165 accounts of travels to the ancient city. Chapters are devoted to ghostly and other pilgrims, the significance of Jerusalem, the beginnings of the pilgrimage in the time of kings David and Solomon, pilgrimages under Roman and Byzantine rule, Christian and Muslim pilgrimages in the early Islamic period, pilgrimages in the First Crusade and its aftermath, more crusades and pilgrims during the Ayyubid and Mamluk dynasties, pilgrimages under Ottoman rule, pilgrimages under the British and Israelis, and the unity among pilgrims and the symbolism of the journey.

The U.S.-Mexican War of 1846-1848 remains controversial even today. The California campaigns of this conflict introduce the reader to the Californios (the colorful inhabitants of Alta, or Upper, California); to the American and other adventurers who arrived after them; and to the local Indians, who were always there. The real prize of the war was California. For the Mexican government to go to war against its more powerful northern neighbor was an act of folly. The Californios themselves had only ambiguous loyalties to the central government and only the most minimal military capabilities. The net result of the war was that Mexico was forced to surrender to the United States more than half a million square miles of its territory. This surrender contributed to a legacy of Mexican humiliation, distrust, and bitterness towards the United States that has never dissipated entirely.

The sharia is a set of traditional laws that define a Muslim's obligations to God and his fellow human beings. Westerners often misunderstand the nature of the sharia, born as it is of a complicated legal and academic tradition that may not always seem relevant to today's world. Written for those unfamiliar with Islam, this volume provides an accurate and objective assessment of the sharia's achievements, shortcomings and future prospects. It explores the fundamentals of Islam and traditional sharia laws. In addition, the sharia is discussed with respect to Ottoman law, puritanism and jihad. The sharia's relevance to today's world events is also explored. Appendices provide Al-Shafi'i's views on legal knowledge; Ibn Hanbal's discourse on marriage and divorce; a Western translation of the concept of jihad; and an analysis of the sharia in twenty-nine selected countries.

The Great Basin is a hydrographic region that includes most of Nevada and parts of five other Western states. The histories of four of the Western rivers of the Great Basin-the Walker, the Truckee, the Carson and the Humboldt-are explored in this book, along with three of the western lakes of the Great Basin: Lake Tahoe, Pyramid Lake, and Walker Lake. Drawing on a range of sources, the author addresses both the natural and the human aspects of the history and likely futures of Great Basin waterways.

A primer on medieval justice, this book focuses on France, Germany and England and covers the thousand years between the transformation of the Roman world in Western Europe, which took place around the 4th and 5th centuries, and the European Renaissance of the 14th and 15th centuries. The work highlights some of the key elements in the intricate, overlapping legal systems of the Middle Ages and covers a wide range of contemporary laws and cases. A discussion of the modern legacies of medieval law is also included. Appendices include a brief overview of the Inquisition, an explanation of a pennya s worth in the Middle Ages, the Medieval and later laws concerning swans, the 27 articles of Joan of Arc (which witnesses were asked to deny or confirm at her nullification trial), an examination of the High Court of Chivalry, Justices of Peace in the UK today, and a listing of selected cases and laws cited in the text. Illustrations range from the earliest known depictions of English courts and illuminations of torture to pictures of important sites, events, and instruments of punishment in medieval law.

Before the Gold Rush of 1848-1858, Alta (Upper) California was an isolated cattle frontier-and home to a colorful group of Spanish speaking, non-indigenous people known as Californios. Profiting from the forced labor of large numbers of local Indians, they carved out an almost feudal way of life raising cattle along the California coast and valleys. Visitors described them as a good-looking, vibrant, improvident people. Many traces of their culture remain in California today. Yet their prosperity rested entirely on undisputed ownership of large ranches. As they lost control of these in the wake of the Mexican War, they lost their high status and many were reduced to subsistence-level jobs or fell into abject poverty. Drawing on firsthand contemporary accounts, the author chronicles the rise and fall of Californio men and women.

From 1823 to 1860 a fleet of small, fast brigs and schooners carried chests of opium from India to China, often facing the challenges of pirates and typhoons along the way. This shadowy trade, conducted by American, British, and Indian firms, thrived despite its moral and legal consequences. Drawing largely on primary sources, the story of the opium trade comes through in the voices of those who saw it firsthand. Appendices describe a favourite shipboard recipe, two of the ships involved in the trade and their crews, excerpts from accounts of the Opium War, and language equivalents for proper and place names. A bibliography is included, and maps and photographs help illumine this important and unusual period of history.

Islam scares the West. Militant conservatism and the horrific acts of violent fundamentalists evoke outrage, but the reprehensible few reinforce a longstanding Western stereotype of all Muslims as ""incorrigibly fanatical, violent and morally and culturally different."" Overlooked is the long history of Muslim intellectual and cultural achievement, and its potential to flower once again. With about 1.5 billion adherents, Islam is the world's fastest growing religion. An understanding of its past glories, present state and future potential has never been more critical. This survey of Muslim intellectual and cultural achievements spans 1,400 years. Chapters fall into three sections: fundamentals of Islamic learning; its growth until the present; and its future direction in the face of anti-intellectual fundamentalism. Arranged chronologically within the sections, chapters begin with an historical overview of the time period they encompass, providing context for the subsequent discussion of key intellectual and cultural achievements within that period. Appendices describe decorative and other arts, the requirements for expertise in Islamic thought, Islamic ethical traditions, and list noteworthy personalities and achievements chronologically. Maps and photographs illustrate the text, which also includes a glossary, notes, a bibliography and an index.

The fundamental point of this book is that, in the past, the world's political, economic, military, and social development took place during a time of relatively stable sea level. That time, however, is now over: The world must begin to cope with inevitable increases in sea level. These increases are certain to have important domestic and international consequences--almost all of them negative. This book is a wide-ranging introductory survey of sea level rise. It addresses global warming, the hydrologic cycle, why we should care about the rise of the oceans, storm surges and other extreme events, the changing seas and their shorelines, cities and countries of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian ocean basins, the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and the Greenland Ice Sheet, case studies on how the Netherlands and the U.S. plan to cope with sea level rise, the likely impacts of this rise, getting to know the experts on sea level rise, and very long term prospects for the world's shorelines.