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The Duel: Diefenbaker, Pearson and the Making of Modern Canada
Par John Ibbitson. 2023
INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLEROne of Canada’s foremost authors and journalists, offers a gripping account of the contest between John Diefenbaker and…
Lester Pearson, two prime ministers who fought each other relentlessly, but who between them created today’s Canada. John Diefenbaker has been unfairly treated by history. Although he wrestled with personal demons, his governments launched major reforms in public health care, law reform and immigration. On his watch, First Nations on reserve obtained the right to vote and the federal government began to open up the North. He established Canada as a leader in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, and took the first steps in making Canada a leader in the fight against nuclear proliferation. And Diefenbaker’s Bill of Rights laid the groundwork for the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. He set in motion many of the achievements credited to his successor, Lester B. Pearson.Pearson, in turn, gave coherence to Diefenbaker’s piecemeal reforms. He also pushed Parliament to adopt a new, and now much-loved, Canadian flag against Diefenbaker’s fierce opposition. Pearson understood that if Canada were to be taken seriously as a nation, it must develop a stronger sense of self. Pearson was superbly prepared for the role of prime minister: decades of experience at External Affairs, respected by leaders from Washington to Delhi to Beijing, the only Canadian to win the Nobel Prize for Peace. Diefenbaker was the better politician, though. If Pearson walked with ease in the halls of power, Diefenbaker connected with the farmers and small-town merchants and others left outside the inner circles. Diefenbaker was one of the great orators of Canadian political life; Pearson spoke with a slight lisp. Diefenbaker was the first to get his name in the papers, as a crusading attorney: Diefenbaker for the Defence, champion of the little man. But he struggled as a politician, losing five elections before making it into the House of Commons, and becoming as estranged from the party elites as he was from the Liberals, until his ascension to the Progressive Conservative leadership in 1956 through a freakish political accident. As a young university professor, Pearson caught the attention of the powerful men who were shaping Canada’s first true department of foreign affairs, rising to prominence as the helpful fixer, the man both sides trusted, the embodiment of a new country that had earned its place through war in the counsels of the great powers: ambassador, undersecretary, minister, peacemaker. Everyone knew he was destined to be prime minister. But in 1957, destiny took a detour.Then they faced each other, Diefenbaker v Pearson, across the House of Commons, leaders of their parties, each determined to wrest and hold power, in a decade-long contest that would shake and shape the country. Here is a tale of two men, children of Victoria, who led Canada into the atomic age: each the product of his past, each more like the other than either would ever admit, fighting each other relentlessly while together forging the Canada we live in today. To understand our times, we must first understand theirs.See It, Dream It, Do It: How 25 people just like you found their dream jobs
Par Colleen Nelson, Kathie MacIsaac. 2023
From award-winning author Colleen Nelson, and literacy advocate Kathie MacIsaac, twenty-five profiles present a plethora of jobs, and people, making…
it easier than ever for young people to see their dreams and to live their dreams!There Is No Blue
Par Martha Baillie. 2023
THE GLOBE AND MAIL: BOOKS TO READ IN FALL 2023Martha Baillie’s richly layered response to her mother’s passing, her father's…
life, and her sister’s suicide is an exploration of how the body, the rooms we inhabit, and our languages offer the psyche a home, if only for a time. Three essays, three deaths. The first is the death of the author’s mother, a protracted disappearance, leaving space for thoughtfulness and ritual: the washing of her body, the making of a death mask. The second considers the author’s father, his remoteness, his charm, a lacuna at the centre of the family even before his death, earlier than her mother’s. And then, the shocking death of the author’s sister, a visual artist and writer living with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, who writes three reasons to die on her bedroom wall and then takes her life."Martha Baillie’s novels are thrillingly, joyously singular, that rare combination of sui generis and just plain generous. That There Is No Blue, her memoir, is all of those things too, is no surprise; still, she has gone somewhere extraordinary. This triptych of essays, which exquisitely unfolds the “disobedient tale” of the lives and deaths of her mother, her father, and her sister, is a meditation on the mystery and wonder of grief and art making and home and memory itself. It made me think of kintsugi, the Japanese art of repair, in which the mending is not hidden but featured and beautifully illuminated. Baillie’s variety of attention, carved out of language, is tenderness, is love." – Maud Casey, author of City of Incurable Women"This is a stunning memoir, intense and meticulous in its observations of family life. Baillie subtly interrogates and conveys the devastating mistranslations that take place in childhood, the antagonism and porousness of siblings, and the tragedy of schizophrenia as it unfolds. I couldn’t put it down." – Dr. Lisa Appignanesi, author of Mad, Bad and Sad and Everyday Madness"Exquisite." – Souvankham Thammavongsa, author of How to Pronounce Knife"I am grateful for this profound meditation on family and loss.” – Charlie Kaufman, filmmaker"This strange, unsettling memoir of outer life and inner life and their bizarre twining captures the author’s identity by way of her mother’s death, her sister’s failing battle with mental illness, and the mysterious figure of her father. It combines anguished guilt, deep tenderness, and bemused affection in highly evocative, often disturbing prose. Its brave honesty is amplified by a persistent lyricism; its undercurrent of fear is uplifted by a surprising, resilient hopefulness. It is both a plea for exoneration and an act of exoneration, an authentic meditation on the terrible difficulty of being human." – Andrew Solomon, author of The Noonday DemonWillie Brown: A Biography
Par James Richardson. 1996
This is the first comprehensive biography of Willie Brown, one of California's most enduring and controversial politicians. Audacious, driven, talented—Brown…
has dominated California politics longer and more completely than any other public figure. James Richardson, a senior writer for The Sacramento Bee, takes us from Brown's childhood, through his years as Speaker of the State Assembly, to his election as San Francisco's mayor. Along the way we get a riveting, behind-the-scenes account of three decades of California politics.Honoré Jaxon: Prairie Visionary
Par Donald Smith. 2023
Born in 1861 to a Methodist family, William Henry Jackson grew up in Ontario before moving to Prince Albert, Saskatchewan,…
where he sympathized with the Métis and became personal secretary to Louis Riel. After the Métis defeat a Regina court committed the young English Canadian idealist to the lunatic asylum at Lower Fort Garry. He eventually escaped to the United States, joined the labour union movement, and renounced his race. Self-identifying as Métis, he changed his name to the French-sounding “Honoré Jaxon” and devoted the remainder of his life to fighting for the working class and the Indigenous peoples of North America. In Honoré Jaxon, Donald B. Smith draws on extensive archival research and interviews with family members to present a definitive biography of this complex political man. The book follows Jaxon into the 1940s, where his life mission became the establishment of a library for the First Nations in Saskatchewan, collecting as many books, newspapers, and pamphlets relating to the Métis people as possible. In 1951, at age ninety, he was evicted from his apartment and his library discarded to the New York City dump. In poor health and broken in spirit, he died one month later. Heavily illustrated, Honoré Jaxon recounts the complicated story of a young English Canadian who imagined a society in which English and French, Indigenous and Métis would be equals.Big Witch Energy: Power Spells for Modern Witches
Par Semra Haksever. 2023
If you've ever felt oppressed, angry at the patriarchy, been ghosted or experienced a bad case of imposter syndrome, this…
book is just the magical elixir you've been waiting for.Join expert witch Semra Haksever as she invites you to summon your Big Witch Energy and awaken the abundance of power within.Filled with spells and rituals that are perfect for novice witches and seasoned spellcasters alike, Semra encourages you to practise radical self-acceptance, be comfortable and confident in your skin and to question society's expectations. There's a spell to help stop people-pleasing, a 'protective shield' body lotion and a foot scrub that will encourage you to walk your own path. As well as this, there are practical spells to call in money and good luck, banish negativity and much more.This collection of spells will enable you connect with the best version of yourself and truly feel your power. So, step into the magic and embrace your Big Witch Energy.Maia Toll&’s Wild Wisdom series—The Illustrated Herbiary, The Illustrated Bestiary, and The Illustrated Crystallary—introduced readers to the mystical energy of…
the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms. In this capstone to the Wild Wisdom series, Maia Toll's Wild Wisdom Companion guides readers in developing a personalized earth-based spiritual practice using rituals, writing prompts, recipes, symbols, and reflections tied to each season. Organized into 12 chapters—Winter Solstice, Spring Equinox, Summer Solstice, Autumnal Equinox, plus early and late stages of each of the four seasons — the book features seasonal practices; exercises for the body and for writing and reflection; plant, animal, and mineral medicine; and symbolic explorations of the gifts and challenges that arise with seasonal change. Original illustrations by Kate O&’Hara illuminate the symbolic richness of the text, and 28 pop-out oracle cards plus four bound-in pocket pages enhance the invitation for readers to use this interactive guide as an ongoing tool for cultivating the sacred in their own lives.Self-Alteration: How People Change Themselves across Cultures
Par Michael Jackson, Kathryn Rountree, Nigel Rapport, Banu Senay, Max Harwood, Gil Hizi, Muhammad Kavesh, Gisella Orsini, Jaap Timmer. 2024
Many of us feel a pressing desire to be different—to be other than who we are. Self-conscious, we anxiously perceive…
our shortcomings or insufficiencies, wondering why we are how we are and whether we might be different. Often, we wish to alter ourselves, to change our relationships, and to transform the person we are in those relationships. Not only a philosophical question about how other people change, self-alteration is also a practical care—can I change, and how? Self-Alteration: How People Change Themselves across Cultures explores and analyzes these apparently universal hopes and their related existential dilemmas. The essays here come at the subject of the self and its becoming through case studies of modes of transformation of the self. They do this with social processes and projects that reveal how the self acquires a non-trivial new meaning in and through its very process of alteration. By focusing on ways we are allowed to change ourselves, including through religious and spiritual traditions and innovations, embodied participation in therapeutic programs like psychoanalysis and gendered care services, and political activism or relationships with animals, the authors in this volume create a model for cross-cultural or global analysis of social-self change that leads to fresh ways of addressing the 'self' itself.Journal of Radical Permission: A Daily Guide for Following Your Soul's Calling
Par Adrienne Maree Brown, Sonya Renee Taylor. 2022
Bestselling authors adrienne maree brown and Sonya Renee Taylor create an unforgettable and transformational experience of journaling your way into…
your most authentic self.This journal (born from the Institute for Radical Permission) will help you claim permission to live your purpose. As you enjoy your journal, go to radicalpermission.org and hear straight from Sonya & adrienne about how they came to each of the journal's revelations. Be part of the journey they took to deepen their practice and watch videos from the many people who inspired them.Based on the bestselling philosophies of radical self-love, emergent strategy, and pleasure activism, this journal gives you permission to love yourself deeply as you are. Journaling to these prompts will help you surrender to your body's needs instead of forcing yourself into cramped disciplines. It will encourage you to become awed by the natural beauty of your divine self instead of being rampantly self-critical. It will aid you in embracing your shadows and accepting responsibility for your impact all while liberating you to just be.This structured journal provides six key practices, with prompts for each practice that center on curiosity, surrender, grace, and satisfaction. The daily prompts for self-inquiry can be used as part of your journey toward healing, or in tandem with the self-paced online learning course at radicalpermission.org.Las 999 mujeres de Auschwitz: La extraordinaria historia de las jóvenes judías que llegaron en el primer tren
Par Heather Dune Macadam. 2020
Una increíble historia de amistad, sororidad y supervivencia. La historia de las primeras 999 mujeres judías que fueron enviadas al…
campo de exterminio. «Todo comenzó con las chicas», dice Giora Amir, de 91 años. El 25 de marzo de 1942, cientos de jóvenes mujeres judías y solteras abandonaron sus hogares para subir a un tren. Estaban impecablemente vestidas y peinadas, y arrastraban sus maletas llenas de ropa tejida a mano y comida casera. La mayoría de estas mujeres y niñas nunca habían pasado ni una noche fuera de casa, pero se habían ofrecido voluntariamente para trabajar durante tres meses en época de guerra. ¿Tres meses de trabajo? No podía ser algo tan malo. Ninguno de sus padres habría adivinado que el gobierno acababa de vender a sus hijas a los nazis para trabajar como esclavas. Ninguno sabía que estaban destinadas a Auschwitz. Los libros de historia han podido pasar por alto este hecho, pero lo cierto es que el primer grupo de judíos deportados a Auschwitz para trabajar como esclavos no incluía a combatientes de la resistencia, ni a prisioneros de guerra, no. No había ni un solo hombre prisionero en esos vagones de ganado. Era un tren de 999 chicas solteras, vendido a la Alemania nazi por una dote de 500 Reich Marks, el equivalente a 200 euros. Sabemos que la historia está escrita por el vencedor. Casi todas las figuras poderosas en ambos lados de este conflicto eran hombres. Estas 999 mujeres jóvenes fueron consideradas indignas e insignificantes, no sólo porque eran judías, sino también porque eran mujeres. Estas chicas eran peones en un gran plan de destrucción humana, pero frustraron ese plan al sobrevivir y dejar su testimonio a sus familiares. Este libro da voz a esas mujeres y niñas que la historia olvidó. La crítica ha dicho...«La historia olvidada de las jóvenes judías que llegaron al campo en el primer tren, allá por marzo de 1942.»El País «Un relato conmovedor que ofrece las claves precisas para entender todo el horror –y toda la solidaridad entre sus víctimas– que encierra la barbarie.»La Vanguardia «Heather Dune Macadam cuenta las historias que ha logrado reunir, 75 años después, de aquellas chicas judías que llegaron en el primer tren a Auschwitz.»El Mundo «Una historia que, según la autora, ha sido "escondida o pasada por alto" cuando, en realidad, "estuvieron allí más tiempo que cualquier hombre judío".»20 minutos «Macadam nos cuenta lo que los libros de historia nunca nos han contado.»The Objective«Un texto difícil pero necesario para que esas historias no se pierdan y esas mujeres sean recordadas como se merecen.»Ataques de pánico «Es un libro extremadamente duro, pero necesario.»Lectora lila «Una lectura dolorosa pero muy interesante que recomiendo a todos aquellos que les interese esta temática o suceso en particular.»Leer es viajar «Es un libro tan impresionante como necesario, porque todo lo que se escriba sobre aquel horror siempre será insuficiente, tanto como memoria histórica como de advertencia para el futuro, pero que en este caso además cuenta con una excepcional habilidad y calidad narrativa.»Anika entre librosThe Good Habit Workbook: A Practical Toolkit to Help You Change Your Life One Good Habit at a Time
Par Freya Stephens. 2023
Break away from bad habits and build healthy ones with this step-by-step workbook, which will help you make positive changes…
in your life. Including practical advice, effective tips and guided exercises, it will help you free yourself from negative cycles and replace them with positive, productive habits for long-term health and happiness.Memories: An Oasis in Time
Par Kamel Abu Jaber. 2023
The story of Kamel Abu Jaber (1932-2020) is in some ways the story of the modern day Kingdom of Jordan.…
In this short and sweet collection of memories, Kamel recounts his tribal past, being a Christian Bedouin family, his childhood, seeking better opportunities in the United States, returning to his homeland to become head of many educational establishments and later a major political figure. Full of humour wit and wise andecdotes, Kamel takes you on his life' s unexpected journey with all its twists and turns. These stories were barely finished before his passing in 2020, and were published posthumously with a collection of photographs compiled by his wife Loretta Pacifico Abu Jaber.Tú, contigo y por ti: Espabila y cáete bien
Par Ángela Sánchez Del Río. 2023
Este libro solo es un libro, pero quizá es también el impulso que necesitas. Quiero que veas que otro tú…
es posible. Quiero que consigas el cambio. Quiero ayudarte.Este libro es una llamada a la acción. Un empujoncito -sin presión, pero con mimo y humor- para detectar y cambiar los hábitos, conductas y pensamientos que te alejan de la realidad en la que te gustaría vivir y de la versión de ti que te gustaría ser. Eres tú, contigo y por ti para toda la vida. Por eso mereces caerte bien y ver de una vez tus posibilidades.Buenos hábitos: Una guía minimalista para una vida mejor
Par Fumio Sasaki. 2018
Del autor del bestseller internacional Goodbye, Things, llega un nuevo fenómeno: una guía que nos ayudará a adoptar nuevos hábitos…
y a convertirnos en la mejor versión de nosotros mismos. Fumio Sasaki cambió su vida cuando se convirtió en minimalista, pero antes que nada tuvo que convertirlo en un hábito. Todos nosotros vivimos nuestras vidas basándonos en los hábitos que hemos ido formando, desde el momentoen que nos levantamos por la mañana hasta lo que comemos y bebemos o la probabilidad de que lleguemos a ir o no al gimnasio. En Buenos hábitos, Sasaki nos explica cómo podemos adquirir los nuevos hábitos que queremos y, lo más importante, cómo deshacernos de aquellos que no nos hacen ningún bien. Basándose en las principales teorías sobre la ciencia de la formación de hábitos de la psicología cognitiva, la neurociencia y la sociología,junto con ejemplos de la cultura popular y las técnicas experimentadas por el propio autor, Fumio Sasaki desentraña las percepciones erróneas y comunes sobre conceptos como «fuerza de voluntad» y «talento», ofreciendo una guía paso a paso hacia el equilibrio y el éxito, una serie de principios para crear unos buenos hábitos para mejorar y cambiar nuestra vida. La crítica ha dicho...«Una guía práctica que ofrece una metodología para desarrollar hábitos útiles y saludables. A aquellos a los que se les haga difícil establecer una rutina les encantará el método Sasaki.»Publishers Weekly«Solo diré que hoy mismo comienzo con un par de hábitos que, después de reflexionar, creo que van a ser beneficiosos para mi vida. ¡Muy recomendado!»Aytaragc, BabelioSecretos de confesión: 50 años de la Operación Lobo
Par Fernando Rueda, Mikel Lejarza. 2022
La explosiva continuación de Yo confieso, las memorias de Mikel Lejarza, El Lobo. Secretos de confesión son las narraciones de…
la vida de Mikel Lejarza desde un punto de vista diferente, dando voz a personas que habían permanecido en la sombra, personas con las que ha compartido partes trascendentales de su vida. Jefes, colaboradores o familia que nunca habían hablado sobre su relación con él, personas que han hablado desde una perspectiva íntima y personal de unos hechos y sentimientos distintos a los expresados por Mikel.En 2023 se cumplen cincuenta años del inicio de la operación Lobo, cincuenta años del mayor éxito en la lucha contra ETA, cincuenta años del ingreso de Mikel Lejarza en el servicio de inteligencia. Esta segunda entrega de las trascendentales memorias de El Lobo también incluye historias novedosas y sorprendentes que no había querido desvelar y un capítulo extenso llamado «Charlas de café: vamos a contar verdades», en el que Mikel compartirá sus sentimientos, sus anécdotas, sus errores y aciertos, los temas que menos le gustan... en una conversación con Fernando desde lo más profundo de su corazón. El sonido de las palabras de Mikel, el agente negro más antiguo y de mayor prestigio en la historia de España, arrojará luz sobre esas cuestiones que nadie se había atrevido a preguntarle. El libro está marcado por la leyenda creada por ETA de que cualquiera de sus miembros siempre llevaba una bala reservada para matarlo. Una venganza que 50 años después no han podido ejecutar. La crítica ha dicho...«Si les gustan las historias de espías, traiciones, misterios, etc., este es su libro. La lectura de este libro no dejará indiferente a nadie.»Julia Navarro, escritora y periodista «Cuando Fernando Rueda habla con Mikel Lejarza, en esas conversaciones cruzadas, se acreditan muchas de las cosas que han ocurrido en el país, entre alcantarillas, por las azoteas, pero siempre al margen del primer plano dela actualidad, y que nos son develadas gracias a los varios libros ya que Fernando ha publicado.»Carlos Herrera, Herrera en COPE «Secretos de confesión y Yo confieso son dos obras imprescindibles para conocer los entresijos de uno de los episodios más trascendentales y terribles de la reciente historia de España.»R. Pérez Barredo, Diario de Burgos«Un libro imprescindible. Escrito desde el rigor periodístico, escrito desde el periodismo de investigación, y, sobre todo, con la participación de un testigo excepcional de la lucha antiterrorista, Mikel Lejarza.»David Felipe Arranz, Cautivos del mal, Periodista Digital «Incluye historias novedosas y sorprendentes que no había querido desvelar, dando voz a personas que habían permanecido en la sombra, personas con las que ha compartido partes trascendentales de su vida.»El Confidencial Digital«Unas nuevas narraciones de la vida de Lejarza desde un punto de vista más personal.» «El libro da voz a personas que habían permanecido en la sombra, personas con las que el espía compartió partes trascendentales.»Iñigo Aduriz, eldiarioesMalala Yousafzai (First Names)
Par Lisa Williamson. 2020
Meet the young activist who stood up for her rights—and changed millions of lives Before Malala Yousafzai (b. 1997) became…
the youngest Nobel Prize laureate, she was a girl fighting for her education in Pakistan. Growing up, Malala’s father encouraged her to be politically active and speak out about her educational rights. When she did, she was shot by a member of the Taliban and the story received worldwide media coverage. Protests and petitions from around the world helped to pass an educational-rights bill in Pakistan, and Malala used this platform to continue her activism and fight for women’s rights. Inspiring and moving, Malala Yousafzai tells the story of one girl’s bravery in her fight for equal rights. It includes a timeline, bibliography, glossary, and index.Beyoncé (First Names)
Par Nansubuga Nagadya Isdahl. 2021
Meet the woman who changed music forever and showed that girls can run the world! Before she was an international…
superstar and feminist icon, Beyoncé was a girl from Texas who loved to sing and dance. As a member of Destiny’s Child, she climbed the charts and became a member of one of the most famous girl groups in history. This launched Beyoncé into her solo career, and since then, she’s become an unstoppable force in music and pop culture. Beyond music, she is a successful businesswoman and activist who helps bring issues of race and gender into the global conversation. Empowering and inspirational, Beyoncé tells the story of the woman who showed that girls can run the world. It includes a timeline, glossary, and index. First Names is a highly illustrated nonfiction series that puts readers on a first-name basis with some of the most incredible people in history and of today!Shirley Hazzard: A Writing Life
Par Brigitta Olubas. 2007
The first biography of Shirley Hazzard, the author of The Transit of Venus and a writer of “shocking wisdom” and…
“intellectual thrill” (The New Yorker).Shirley Hazzard: A Writing Life tells the extraordinary story of a great modern novelist. Brigitta Olubas, Hazzard’s authorized biographer, has drawn, with great subtlety and understanding, on her fiction; on an extensive archive of letters, diaries, and notebooks; and on the memories of surviving friends and colleagues to create this resonant portrait of an exceptional woman. This biography explores the distinctive times of Hazzard’s life, from her youth and middle age to her widowhood and years of decline, and traces the complex and intricate processes of self-fashioning that lay beneath Hazzard’s formidable, beguiling presence. Olubas shows us the places of Hazzard’s life, of which she wrote with characteristic lyricism, accompanied by rare photographs from Hazzard’s collection and elsewhere.Hazzard was the last of a generation of self-taught writers, devotees of a great literary tradition, and her depth of perception and expressive gifts have earned her iconic status. Olubas has brought her brilliantly alive, enhancing and deepening our understanding of the singular woman who created some of the most enduring fiction of the past sixty years. As Dwight Garner wrote in The New York Times, “Hazzard’s stories feel timeless because she understands, as she writes in one of them: ‘We are human beings, not rational ones.’” Here, in Shirley Hazzard, is the story of a remarkable human being.The book describes how Lisa Meitner, of Jewish heritage, found herself working as a physicist at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute…
in Berlin when the Nazis came to power in 1933; how she was hounded out of the country and forced to relocate to Sweden; how German chemists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassman continued with the project – on the effect of bombarding uranium (the heaviest known element at the time) with neutrons, a project which Lise herself had initiated, being the intellectual leader of the group. It describes how Hahn and Strassmann, with whom she kept in touch, came up with some extraordinary results which they were at a loss to explain; how Lise, and her nephew Otto Frisch, who was also a physicist, confirmed what they had achieved - the ‘splitting of the atom’, no less, and provided them with a theoretical explanation for it. This laid the foundation for nuclear power, medical-scanning technology, radiotherapy, electronics, and of course, the atomic bomb - the creation of which filled Lise with horror. It describes the crucial part that Lise played in our understanding of the world of atoms, and how deliberate and strenuous attempts were made to deny her contribution; to belittle her achievements, and to write her out of the history books, even though Albert Einstein said she was even ‘more talented than Marie Curie herself’. The author is fortunate and honoured to have been granted several interviews with Lise’s nephew Philip Meitner – himself a refugee from the Nazis - who with his wife Anne, provided much valuable information and many photographs.Roman Emperor Zeno: The Perils of Power Politics in Fifth-Century Constantinople
Par Peter Crawford. 2019
&“A very useful read for anyone interested in the Later Roman Empire, the fall of the Western Empire, and the emergence of…
the Byzantine State.&” —The NYMAS Review Peter Crawford examines the life and career of the fifth-century Roman emperor Zeno and the various problems he faced before and during his seventeen-year rule. Despite its length, his reign has hitherto been somewhat overlooked as being just a part of that gap between the Theodosian and Justinianic dynasties of the Eastern Roman Empire which is comparatively poorly furnished with historical sources. Reputedly brought in as a counterbalance to the generals who had dominated Constantinopolitan politics at the end of the Theodosian dynasty, the Isaurian Zeno quickly had to prove himself adept at dealing with the harsh realities of imperial power. Zeno&’s life and reign is littered with conflict and politicking with various groups—the enmity of both sides of his family; dealing with the fallout of the collapse of the Empire of Attila in Europe, especially the increasingly independent tribal groups established on the frontiers of, and even within, imperial territory; the end of the Western Empire; and the continuing religious strife within the Roman world. As a result, his reign was an eventful and significant one that deserves this long-overdue spotlight. &“Crawford&’s work on the life and reign of Zeno is a good introduction for a general audience to the complexities of the late fifth-century Roman Empire, telling a series of long and complex stories compellingly in a traditional fashion.&” —Bryn Mawr Classical Review