The Meditators Handbook - A Complete Guide to Eastern and Western Techniques

A clear and authoritative introduction to the different traditions of meditation by an authority in the field. Meditation is an extraordinarily powerful tool for physical and mental relaxation as well as for personal and spiritual growth. It has been practiced for thousands of years and today it continues to have serious relevance for an ever-increasing number of people. This handbook is for novice and advanced practitioners alike. It describes the theory and practice of all the major Eastern and Western approaches to meditation.

Western Warfare in the Age of the Crusades 1000 - 1300

This authoritative and concise work surveys the range of warfare in the high Middle Ages while reflecting on the society that produced these military struggles. The book brings together for the first time a wealth of information on such topics as knighthood, military organization, weaponry and fortifications, and warfare in the East.

Generalissimos of the Western Roman Empire

John Micheal O'Flynn traces the development of the position of the generalissimo, or emperor's commander of the military forces, in the western part of the Roman Empire during the first century AD. From the arrogant barbarian Arbogast, who treated the youthful emperor Valentinian as his puppet, to Odovacar, who dismissed the last western emperor and was pronounced king of Italy in 476, the generalissimos' seizure of power led to dissolution and chaos from which would emerge the political patterns of medieval and modern Europe.

Isolde - Queen of the Western Isle

This first book in Miles's new Tristan and Isolde trilogy is a fantastical riff on the classic account of passionate star-crossed lovers. The young Isolde is the beautiful Princess of Ireland, the Western Isle. Blessed with the gift of healing, she is also cursed with a wildly passionate mother, the Queen, ruled by her desire for men rather than concern for her people. While the Queen is more caricature than character, the feminist Miles presents a fully realized woman in Isolde: sexual, spiritual, tormented and impassioned.

Borderlands of Western Civilization - A History of East Central Europe

Halecki’s intention was to introduce the history of East Central Europe to Western readers. Most English language history books treat European history almost entirely as an English, Latin and Teutonic domain. He attempted to show how far Western civilization expanded in the Eastern direction. His work introduced the history of the nations that occupy the lands between the Russians and the Germans, peoples whose aggregate number—as he pointed out—exceeds the either the German and the Russian populations.