Fighting off brigands and thieves while exploring the wild. Searching for better quality weapons and armor. Exploring twisting tunnels and dark caverns while fighting increasingly difficult monsters. Fans of role-playing video games enjoy all these things and more. But what is the true story behind today's popular role-playing games? What were the most effective medieval weapons and armor? What were medieval villages and cities really like? What inspired...

"Weisman is perhaps wired more tightly into the reclusive special operations community than any other writer, and his knowledge of weaponry and field techniques is staggering." -Washington Times "A pro who knows his stuff." -Oliver North John Weisman, whose expertise in the field of covert military operations is unsurpassed, delivers a stunning fictional account of the most extraordinary mission of the century: the hunting down and assassination...

In the no-holds-barred tradition that has won him so many fans across the nation and around the world, best-selling author and strategist Ralph Peters confronts the crucial security issues of our time, and the troubled times to come. With his trademark clarity and force, Peters argues that we have left behind the Age of Ideologies to enter a violent period in which ethnicity and religion-blood and faith-will continue to be the source of ferocious...

Throughout Europe, medieval forces were either engaged in conflict or preparing for it through training. Arising from the need to keep the skills of warriors sharp and battle-ready, medieval jousting for knights on horseback became a widespread pastime. This book details how the culture of medieval tournaments arose around jousting and other games of combat, including both for the mounted cavalry (knights) and foot soldiers (in events such as melees)...

A spirited and sweeping account of how the crusades really worked-and a revolutionary attempt to rethink how we understand the Middle Ages. The story of the wars and conquests initiated by the First Crusade and its successors is itself so compelling that most accounts move quickly from describing the Pope's calls to arms to the battlefield. In this highly original and enjoyable new book, Christopher Tyerman focuses on something obvious but overlooked:...

In the grand tradition of Edward Creasy's classic Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World, James Lacey and Williamson Murray spotlight only those engagements that changed the course of civilization. In gripping narrative accounts they bring these conflicts and eras to vivid life, detailing the cultural imperatives that led inexorably to the battlefield, the experiences of the common soldiers who fought and died, and the legendary commanders and statesmen...

Sir Alistair Horne has been a close observer of war and history for more than fifty years. In this wise and masterly work, he revisits six battles that changed the course of the twentieth century to reveal the one trait that links them all: hubris. In Greek tragedy, hubris is excessive human pride that challenges the gods and ultimately leads to the total destruction of the offender. From the Battle of Tsushima in the Russo-Japanese War of 1905, to...