At last, a history of the Roman state as it has always been crying out to be told, and never has been!' RODERICK BEATON

The greatest empire in Western history - told as never been told before.

Rome is often remembered for its spectacular collapse. But for over two thousand years - through civil wars, plagues, invasions, and religious upheaval - the Roman state survived, adapted, and reinvented itself. From a muddy settlement on the banks of the Tiber to the glittering court of Constantinople, this is the untold story of a civilisation that endured.

In The Romans, acclaimed historian Edward J. Watts tells the first truly complete history of Rome in all its epic sweep: the Punic Wars, the fall of the republic, the coming of Christianity, Alaric's sack of Rome, the rise of Islam and the onslaught of the Crusaders who would bring about the empire's end. This is the Rome of Augustus, Marcus Aurelius, and Constantine. But it is also the Rome of Charlemagne, Justinian, and Manuel Comnenus, and countless diverse men and women who shaped the empire: African emperors, Byzantine intellectuals and ordinary citizens whose loyalty together made it the most resilient state the world has ever seen.

An expansive, eye-opening portrait, this the definitive history of Rome and its citizens.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Despite a different era... The same problems present themselves. The year is 1963 and after the incident in Cuba, Seb lives a life in hiding. Fortunately America is big enough to facilitate such an existence, but it isn't long before the mysterious Mr. Beasley is contacted by one of the most powerful men in the country. J. Edgar Hoover has spoken and his proposition appears too good to be true. As a complex web of lies, deceit and political propaganda are weaved, turbulent times lay ahead for the former British Intelligence agent. Forget flower power, cunning and firepower are his only allies. *** Fast forward twenty years and say hello to recently promoted FBI Agent Jessica Kerry. Inexperienced but talented, Jess is assigned the task of uncovering the truth about that fateful afternoon in Dallas. Did Lee Harvey Oswald really shoot the President? Who are the mysterious terrorist cell called Compass? And just how did Jess's fiance get caught in the crossfire? When past and present collide, only those involved can affect the future.

An old man walks into a bar... A young man's life changes forever. Samuel Beasley has been placed in a unique position. His employer has been assassinated whilst on a business trip. The only trouble is, the 'product' for sale is extremely sensitive and not particularly legal. This inexperienced agent must now rely on a combination of natural guile, HUMINT training and the strange, but beneficial side effects of a recent surgical procedure, to ensure the safe return of the stolen technology. As if things weren't complicated enough, war is brewing in Europe and Beasley must stay one step ahead of a high-ranking Nazi officer, whilst investigating the disappearance of a long-term love interest. Could the two incidents be somehow related? Will the hunter become the hunted? Only one thing is certain. Life during war is never black and white... It is concrete grey as far as the eye can see.

Language Myths and the History of English aims to deconstruct the myths that are traditionally reproduced as factual accounts of the historical development of English. Using concepts and interpretive sensibilities developed in the field of sociolinguistics over the past 40 years, Richard J. Watts unearths these myths and exposes their ideological roots. His goal is not to construct an alternative discourse, but to offer alternative readings of the historical data. Watts raises the question of what we mean by a linguistic ideology, and whether any discourse--a hegemonic discourse, an alternative discourse, or even a deconstructive discourse--can ever be free of it. The book argues that a naturalized discourse is always built on a foundation of myths, which are all too easily taken as true accounts.

The very word "barrages" is evocative. In the context of tidal waters it conjures up pictures of massive structures and environmental change. Barrages represent the engineer?s success where King Canute failed ? to stop the tide coming in. They are hardly a new concept as man has for centuries tried to harness tidal power to drive his machinery, but a new breed of barrage is emerging, aimed at regenerating depressed urban areas. One of the primary aims of such schemes has been to drown "unsightly" mud flats. If you happen to be a wading bird used to enjoying the worms that live in intertidal mud flats you may not share that perspective. Indeed, many people today tend to side with the birds, fish and other ecological wonders and often find themselves in conflict with the promoters of a barrage scheme. How far are their fears justified? Are the negative impacts as bad as some people have predicted or even worse? How accurately can the impacts be predicted by scientific methods? Can the barrage be designed and its operation controlled to mitigate any negative effects as well as to optimise its primary objective? These issues are addressed in this book by authors drawing on their experience of research and practical experience.

This thoroughly readable and stimulating social history of Western Europe, first published in 1984, explores the family, religion and the supernatural, and the social structure and social controls of rural society. This title will be of interest not only to students, but to anyone who is anxious to understand the lives - both internal and external - of rural people in his fascinating period that is so central to everyone's past.

Using a wide range of data from real-life speech situations, this introduction to politeness theory breaks away from the limitations of current models. It argues that the proper object of study in politeness theory must be "common sense" definitions of politeness and impoliteness. Richard Watts concludes that a more appropriate model, based on Bourdieu's concept of social practice, can thus be developed.

This thoroughly readable and stimulating social history of Western Europe, first published in 1984, explores the family, religion and the supernatural, and the social structure and social controls of rural society. This title will be of interest not only to students, but to anyone who is anxious to understand the lives - both internal and external - of rural people in his fascinating period that is so central to everyone's past.

This collection of 13 original papers focuses on the phenomemon of politeness in language. It presents the most important problems in developing a theory of linguistic politeness, which must deal with the crucial differences between lay notions of politeness in different cultures and the term "politeness" as a concept within a theory of lingustic politeness. The universal validity of the term itself is called into question, as are models by Brown and Levison, Lakoff and Leech. New approaches are suggested. In addition to this theoretical discussion, an empirical section presents a number of case studies and research projects in linguistic politeness. These show what has been achieved within current models and what still remains to be done, in particular with reference with cross-cultural studies in politeness and differences between a Western and a non-Western approach to the subject.

As this book intriguingly explores, for those who would make Rome great again and their victims, ideas of Roman decline and renewal have had a long and violent history. The decline of Rome has been a constant source of discussion for more than 2200 years. Everyone from American journalists in the twenty-first century AD to Roman politicians at the turn of the third century BC have used it as a tool to illustrate the negative consequences of changes in their world. Because Roman history is so long, it provides a buffet of ready-made stories of decline that can help develop the context around any snapshot. And Rome did, in fact, decline and, eventually, fall. An empire that once controlled all or part of more than 40 modern European, Asian, and African countries no longer exists. Roman prophets of decline were, ultimately, proven correct-a fact that makes their modern invocations all the more powerful. If it happened then, it could happen now. The Eternal Decline and Fall of Rome tells the stories of the people who built their political and literary careers around promises of Roman renewal as well as those of the victims they blamed for causing Rome's decline. Each chapter offers the historical context necessary to understand a moment or a series of moments in which Romans, aspiring Romans, and non-Romans used ideas of Roman decline and restoration to seize power and remake the world around them. The story begins during the Roman Republic just after 200 BC. It proceeds through the empire of Augustus and his successors, traces the Roman loss of much of western Europe in the fifth century AD, and then follows Roman history as it runs through the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) until its fall in 1453. The final two chapters look at ideas of Roman decline and renewal from the fifteenth century until today. If Rome illustrates the profound danger of the rhetoric of decline, it also demonstrates the rehabilitative potential of a rhetoric that focuses on collaborative restoration, a lesson of great relevance to our world today.

Sociologist Duncan Watts explains in this provocative book that the explanations that we give for the outcomes that we observe in life - explanations that seem obvious once we know the answer - are less useful than they seem. Watts shows how commonsense reasoning and history conspire to mislead us into thinking that we understand more about the world of human behavior than we do; and in turn, why attempts to predict, manage, or manipulate social and economic systems so often go awry. Only by understanding how and when common sense fails can we improve how we plan for the future, as well as understand the present-an argument that has important implications in politics, business, marketing, and even everyday life.

In Mortal Republic, prize-winning historian Edward J. Watts offers a new history of the fall of the Roman Republic that explains why Rome exchanged freedom for autocracy. For centuries, even as Rome grew into the Mediterranean's premier military and political power, its governing institutions, parliamentary rules, and political customs successfully fostered negotiation and compromise. By the 130s BC, however, Rome's leaders increasingly used these same tools to cynically pursue individual gain and obstruct their opponents. As the center decayed and dysfunction grew, arguments between politicians gave way to political violence in the streets. The stage was set for destructive civil wars--and ultimately the imperial reign of Augustus. The death of Rome's Republic was not inevitable. In Mortal Republic, Watts shows it died because it was allowed to, from thousands of small wounds inflicted by Romans who assumed that it would last forever.