Alexander the Great  •  Paul Cartledge HISTORY •  2005 •  PAPER  • 368 PAGES Well-written, engrossing biography of the iconic leader, his times, military campaigns and strategies. (GRE294, $14.95)
Attila, A Barbarian King Who Challenged Rome  •  John Man BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  2006 •  HARD COVER  • 336 PAGES A brisk, popular account of the life, political derring-do and military exploits of the fifth-century conqueror. Man interweaves his own research and travels with what little is known of the fearsome Huns and westward push from the Russian steppes. For a brief moment the Hun Empire stretched from the Caspian Sea to the Rhine, and south to the Baltic. (HGR46, $25.95)
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World  •  Jack Weatherford BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  2005 •  PAPER  • 352 PAGES In this revisionist biography, Weatherford refurbishes the popular image of the great Mongol leader Genghis Khan, portraying him not just as a tyrant but also a religiously tolerant family man and entrepreneur on a world scale (not to mention military genius and crack administrator). The book is a lively portrait of Genghis Khan and the world of the Medieval Mongols, who once ruled the largest land empire on Earth. Weatherford, who has lived and studied in Mongolia, interweaves his own travels and field work on the Central Asian steppes, much of it on horseback. Professor Weatherford is a cultural anthropologist who teaches at Macalester College in St. Paul. (CAS106, $14.95)
Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire  •  Jean-Paul Roux CULTURAL PORTRAIT •  2003 •  PAPER  • 143 PAGES A sumptuously illustrated pocket encyclopedia covering the origins, successors, empire and legacy of Genghis Khan, whose empire once extended from Korea, China and Russia across Asia to Eastern Europe. With hundreds of maps, archival photographs and color reproductions. (CAS99, $12.95)
Genghis Khan, Life, Death and Resurrection  •  John Man BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  2007 •  PAPER  • 388 PAGES In this evocative account of Genghis Khan, his empire, myths and legacy, John Man interweaves his own travels with history and biography. His focus is on the mysteries still surrounding the man, who once ruled an empire that stretched across Asia to the doorstep of Europe. A historian and travel writer, John Man is also the author of Gobi, Tracking the Desert. (MGL47, $19.95)
Napoleon  •  Paul Johnson BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  2006 •  PAPER  • 208 PAGES Short, enlightening and opinionated, this "Penguin Life" is Paul Johnson's take on Napoleon Bonaparte -- to whose power grab he traces the roots of 20th-century totalitarianism. It chronicles the major events of the emperor's life from his birth on Corsica to his death on St. Helena. (FRN348, $13.00)
The Rise and Rule of Tamerlane  •  Beatrice Forbes Manz BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  1999 •  PAPER  • 231 PAGES A portrait of the great nomadic conqueror who rose to power in 1370 on the ruins of the Mongol Empire and led campaigns from Moscow to Delhi, well written, captivating -- and with the usual scholarly paraphernalia; eighty pages are devoted to notes, bibliography, index and chronology. This book covers in vivid detail the tribal politics that brought Tamerlane to power, his administration, the army that he kept on the move, the horror that he inspired in Europe from the tales that filtered back, and the struggle for succession after him. First published in 1989. (CAS11, $27.99)
Tamerlane: Sword of Islam, Conqueror of the World  •  Justin Marozzi HISTORY •  2007 •  PAPER  • 480 PAGES Marozzi deftly interweaves history, politics and travel in this vivid account of Amir Temur (AKA Tamerlane), the fearsome 14th-century Mogul conqueror. An outsized statue of Tamerlane on horseback still dominates the main square in Tashkent. He is said to have built a pyramid of 90,000 heads of his enemies after seizing Baghad in the 15th century. (CAS122, $18.00)