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Over 100 cuneiform texts on legal and economic tablets of the Neo-Babylonian and Achaemenid kings presently housed in the World Heritage Museum of the University of Illinois, described, transliterated and translated in this volume.

Images of Nebuchadnezzar attempts to probe the diversity of cultural attitudes reflected in the characterizations of this famous king through an examination of both the original cuneiform sources as well as the accounts of chronographers written in Greek, Roman, and medieval times. Included in this revised and expanded second edition are two new chapters that examine both Nebuchadnezzar's administrative policies and the impact that his death had on both contemporary and later cultures. Both the positive and negative images of the king are explored, with conclusions being developed as to what the authors of the various surviving accounts actually thought the king really was. In the process, the whole nature of historiography in the ancient world is analyzed, and a number of broad conclusions are developed. Anyone who has ever read Second Kings or the books of Daniel and Jeremiah of the Old Testament is familiar with the name of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon who conquered the kingdom of Judah and destroyed Solomon's temple. As the second member of the Chaldean dynasty of Mesopotamia (626-539 B.C.), he ruled for forty-three years (605-562 B.C.), during which time he also led military campaigns into Syria and Lebanon. He also organized a number of building projects that were to transform Babylon into one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Among his noteworthy achievements were the construction of massive fortification walls around Babylon, the refurbishing of Marduk's temple in the city, and the building of huge palaces that served as the king's residences. Tales of these legendary achievements, as well as those of his father, Nabopolassar (626-605 B.C.), also found their way into the narratives of a number of Greek, Roman, and medieval historians and chronographers many centuries later. Unfortunately, much of the record of Nebuchadnezzar's achievements that was written in his own time has not survived. Instead, only secondary accounts of his military campaigns or his construction projects in Babylon written in Greek, Latin, Hebrew, or Arabic are available for analysis. These stories vary greatly in content and emphasis and, in many cases, distort much of what we know from Nebuchadnezzar's own sources. The Hebrews, for example, described Nebuchadnezzar's siege of Jerusalem in such a way as to consider it something that should never again be repeated. The Greeks, on the other hand, saw the building projects in Babylon as evidence of almost superhuman achievements, as monuments that were the result of efforts by a king who was almost godlike. Why, then, is there such diversity in the characterizations of Nebuchadnezzar? This book proposes answers to these questions.

The English Civil War remains the most prolonged and traumatic example of internal violence in the history of the state. The Royalist War Effort, 1642-1646 shows the build up to the outbreak of the war, detailing how the war was fought, and how, ultimately, it was won and lost. In his new introduction to this second edition, Ronald Hutton places his vivid account of the Royalist war effort into modern historical context, bringing the reader up-to-date with recent developments in the study of the English civil war. He analyses the influences which affected his own interpretation of events, ensuring that The Royalist War Effort, 1642-1646 remains the most informative and compelling account of the Royalist experience in the English civil war.

In this reissue of the second edition of The Royalist War Effort, 1642-1646 Ronald Hutton places his vivid account of the Royalist War effort in modern historical context, bringing the reader up to date with recent developments in the study of the English Civil War. He analyzes the influences which affected his own interpretation of events, ensuring that The Royalist War Effort, 1642-1646 remains the most informative and compelling account of the Royalist experience in the English Civil War.

As a young girl, Laura Locke ignored the warnings of local superstition and played among the burnt-out ruins of Magnolia; a Tennessee plantation that had been forcibly occupied by the Union Army and then laid to waste during the bloody Battle of Franklin in 1864. She had always thought the ghost stories and tall tales to be untrue… until the night when she witnessed it for herself. High among the blackened columns of the old mansion, upon a balcony with no floor, stood the forlorn specter of Jessica Heller. Rather than fright or horror, Laura had felt empathy for the lost soul, along with a strange kinship. She told herself, then and there, that she would someday own the old house and discover the truth concerning the violent scourge of Magnolia and what had truly become of its lonesome mistress, who had mysteriously vanished without a trace. Years later, as a bestselling author of steamy romance novels, Laura’s dream of owning the deserted plantation became a reality. After much construction and remodeling, the old mansion was every bit as majestic as it had been during the prosperous years of the Old South before the devastation of the Civil War. She thought life for her and her husband, Rick, would be peaceful and idyllic. But then strange and disturbing occurrences began to take place. A weeping woman in the garden. A haggard man digging feverishly by the light of a coal oil lantern. The horrifying shadow of a man hanging from the limb of an ancient oak tree. And, worst of all, a malevolent and destructive poltergeist that seemed particularly resentful of her husband’s presence. When a world-renowned ghost hunter, a man in search of his ancestral heritage, and two local historians arrive at Magnolia, Laura hopes that the terror that stalks Magnolia will finally be put to rest. Instead, things begin to spiral out of control, leading toward a violent and bloody confrontation that somehow mirrors the deadly events that took place there over a century before.

Neddy Poindexter’s sister, Prudence, has turned sixteen and is the prettiest girl in Klynham. Neddy can’t protect her from the men in town, but can he protect her from the killer on the loose?

Mania takes you into the world of the young rebels who transformed American culture in the 1950s-a world of sex, drugs, jazz, crime, insanity, and a defiant new literature. It tells the story of Lucien Carr's killing of David Kammerer, the car chase that led to Allen Ginsberg's committal to a mental asylum, William S. Burroughs' heroin addiction and deadly "William Tell act," Jack Kerouac's seven-year struggle to publish On The Road, and the creation of Ginsberg's ecstatic masterpiece "Howl," which the authorities declared obscene and fought fervently to suppress. It is a story too unbelievable to make up. Book jacket.