Libros de Historia Universal, página 25 de 1390

Roma, convertida en incontestable potencia hegemónica del Mediterráneo tras reducir al enemigo cartaginés, adquiere plena conciencia del horizonte de posibilidades que se abre en la Península Ibérica y emprende, cada vez con mayor ahinco, la expansion de su dominio en Hispania. Su avance a lo largo de los siglos II y I antes de la Era se encontraba, sin embargo, plagado de obstaculos, de giros estrategicos y de duras derrotas, a traves de un espacio enormemente diverso, en cuanto al terreno que pisaba y a las gentes que lo poblaban. El estudio de toda esta realidad, que al principio no es otra cosa que su implantacion militar, requiere un esfuerzo importante de analisis arqueologico que permita rastrear la huella dejada por los ejercitos sobre el territorio. En esta tarea, el cuadrante suroccidental peninsular constituye uno de los espacios de mayor relevancia, pues aglutina una buena cantidad de informaciones historicas y geograficas derivadas de los textos de los clasicos ?Apiano, Plutarco, Salustio, Plinio o Estrabon?, pero, sobre todo, un elenco excepcional de evidencias materiales. Importantes campamentos como Caceres el Viejo, Lomba do Canho o Valdetorres son solamente una parte de todo ese extenso bagaje, puesto que el rastro del paso de los soldados excede de sus murallas. Llega a los filones argenteos de Sierra Morena y se manifiesta en los horizontes de destruccion de los poblados prerromanos y en sus clausulas de rendicion, como las recogidas en el llamado ?Bronce de Alcantara?. Los puertos naturales de la region ?Sevilla, Cordoba o Lisboa? se convierten en piezas-clave para el aprovisionamiento del ejercito, que evoluciona y se adapta a los tiempos y formas de combate, experimenta soluciones logisticas para su propio suministro durante largos periodos de actividad belica y se concentra ?en multitud de ocasiones? en la defensa de unos intereses estrategicos muy concretos. En este volumen, trataremos de recorrer la etapa republicana de este ?far west romano?, aproximandonos a su realidad arqueologica, con el deseo de encontrarle cabida en la propia Historia de Roma, en sus objetivos expansionistas, en el papel desempeñado por el ejercito, en su actitud hacia los pueblos con que tropezaba a su paso e, incluso, en el curso de sus mas delicados conflictos internos.

Dividida en cinco volúmenes, esta Historia de la vida privada -ampliada y actualizada- aborda más de dos mil años de historia y se extiende desde la Europa del Norte hasta el Mediterráneo. Parte del contraste que desde siempre y en todas partes ha opuesto lo privado y lo publico. La ambicion de esta obra consiste en hacer perceptibles los cambios, lentos o precipitados, que, al filo de las epocas, han afectado a la nocion y los aspectos de lo privado. Encuadernacion: Rustica.

On August 20, 1968, tens of thousands of Soviet and East European ground and air forces moved into Czechoslovakia and occupied the country in an attempt to end the 'Prague Spring' reforms and restore an orthodox Communist regime. The leader of the Soviet Communist Party, Leonid Brezhnev, was initially reluctant to use military force and tried to pressure his counterpart in Czechoslovakia, Alexander Dubcek, to crack down. But during the summer of 1968, after several months of careful deliberations, the Soviet Politburo finally decide that military force was the only option left. A large invading force of Soviet, Polish, Hungarian, and Bulgarian troops received final orders to move into Czechoslovakia; within 24 hours they had established complete military control of Czechoslovakia, bringing an end to hopes for 'socialism with a human face.' Dubcek and most of the other Czechoslovak reformers were temporarily restored to power, but their role from late August 1968 through April 1969 was to reverse many of the reforms that had been adopted. In April 1969, Dubchek was forced to step down for good, bringing a final end to the Prague Spring. Soviet leaders justified the invasion of Czechoslovakia by claiming that 'the fate of any socialist country is the common affair of all socialist countries' and that the Soviet Union had both a 'right' and a 'sacred duty' to 'defend socialism' in Czechoslovakia. The invasion caused some divisions within the Communist world, but overall the use of large-scale force proved remarkably successful in achieving Soviet goals. The United States and its NATO allies protested but refrained from direct military action and covert operations to counter the Soviet-led incursion into Czechoslovakia. The essays of a dozen leading European and American Cold War historians analyze this turning point in the Cold War in light of new documentary evidence from the archives of two dozen countries and explain what happened behind the scenes. They also reassess the weak response of the United States and consider whether Washington might have given a 'green light,' if only inadvertently, to the Soviet Union prior to the invasion.

Editado por Georges Duby y Michelle Perrot.Esta Historia de las mujeres en cinco volúmenes responde a la necesidad de ceder la palabra a las mujeres. Alejadas, desde la Antigüedad, del escenario dond

Dying and Rising Godsa detailed critique of the scholarly consensus! Tammuz, Osiris, Baal, and Adonis are well-known from J.G. Frazers Golden Bough. These gods have been a hotly debated issue for a whole century. During the 1990s, a consensus developed to the effect that the dying and rising gods died but did not return or rise to new life. In the first monograph on the whole issue subsequent to the studies by Frazer and Baudissin, professor Tryggve N.D. Mettinger offers a detailed critique of this position. The work is based on a fresh perusal of the source material from the ancient Near East, the Greco-Roman world, and Egypt. It profits from new finds of great importance. Modern theory in comparative religion and anthropology on the nature of rite and myth informs the discussion. The author concludes that Dumuzi, Baal, and Melqart were dying and rising gods already in pre-Christian times and that Adonis and Eshmun may well have been so too. After his magisterial presentation of the ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean material, the author provides some succinct notes on the resurrection of Jesus in the light of his findings.The author, Tryggve N.D. Mettinger, is professor of Hebrew Bible at Lund University, Sweden, and a member of the Royal Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities, Stockholm.

In 11 comprehensive essays and over 500 encyclopedic entries an international cast of experts provides the latest scholarship and fresh perspectives on the history and culture of late antiquity an era marked by the rise of two world religions unprecedented political upheavals and the creation of art of enduring glory