Heir To The Empire The Path Not Taken

Martha has learned a great deal in her first semester at a prestigious military university, yet her most intriguing lesson didn’t come from her professors. As she returns home for spring break, she takes it upon herself to lift the curse inflicted upon her family, despite the dangers that goal can bring upon her. The curse-lifting ritual Martha performs brings her to a different world, a world similar to her own, but with changes she struggles to work around. Once she finds her bearings in this new world, as well as some unlikely allies, Martha goes on the quest she was meant to undertake, a quest which will test her to the full extent of her wisdom, might, and abilities, along which she must battle strange and powerful enemies in order to overcome her family’s blood curse.

Martha always admired her veteran father and sought to emulate his example. Her wish was granted when she, along with her prodigious and reclusive best friend Elisabeth, was accepted in the premier military academy in the world. Once there, the two are assigned in a unit with Giuliana, a free-spirited and passionate fellow cadet, as well as Viktor, a young man who maintains his cool in almost all situations and is seemingly full of surprises. As the semester rolls through, they face the hardships the university pushes on them as well as befriend some of their fellow cadets, however a looming terrorist threat and the secrets they keep from each other threaten to tear their careers, and friendships, apart.

Here is a special 20th anniversary edition of the #1 New York Times bestselling novel that reignited the entire Star Wars publishing phenomenon—featuring an Introduction and annotations from award-winning author Timothy Zahn, exclusive commentary from Lucasfilm and Del Rey Books, and a brand-new novella starring the ever-popular Grand Admiral Thrawn. The biggest event in the history of Star Wars books, Heir to the Empire follows the adventures of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Princess Leia after they led the Rebel Alliance to victory in Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi. Five years after the Death Star was destroyed and Darth Vader and the Emperor were defeated, the galaxy is struggling to heal the wounds of war, Princess Leia and Han Solo are married and expecting twins, and Luke Skywalker has become the first in a long-awaited line of new Jedi Knights. But thousands of light-years away, the last of the Emperor’s warlords—the brilliant and deadly Grand Admiral Thrawn—has taken command of the shattered Imperial fleet, readied it for war, and pointed it at the fragile heart of the New Republic. For this dark warrior has made two vital discoveries that could destroy everything the courageous men and women of the Rebel Alliance fought so hard to create. The explosive confrontation that results is a towering epic of action, invention, mystery, and spectacle on a galactic scale—in short, a story worthy of the name Star Wars. Features a bonus section following the novel that includes a primer on the Star Wars expanded universe, and over half a dozen excerpts from some of the most popular Star Wars books of the last thirty years!

A century after his death, Theodore Roosevelt remains one of the most recognizable figures in U.S. history, with depictions of the president ranging from the brave commander of the Rough Riders to a trailblazing progressive politician and early environmentalist to little more than a caricature of grinning teeth hiding behind a mustache and pince-nez. Theodore Roosevelt’s Ghost follows the continuing shifts and changes in this president’s reputation since his unexpected passing in 1919. In the most comprehensive examination of Roosevelt’s legacy, Michael Patrick Cullinane explores the frequent refashioning of this American icon in popular memory. The immediate aftermath of Roosevelt’s death created a groundswell of mourning and goodwill that ensured his place among the great Americans of his generation, a stature bolstered by the charitable and political work of his surviving family. When Franklin Roosevelt ascended to the presidency, he worked to situate himself as the natural heir of Theodore Roosevelt, reshaping his distant cousin’s legacy to reflect New Deal values of progressivism, intervention, and patriotism. Others retroactively adapted Roosevelt’s actions and political record to fit the discourse of social movements from anticommunism to civil rights, with varying degrees of success. Richard Nixon’s frequent invocation led to a decline in Roosevelt’s popularity and a corresponding revival effort by scholars endeavoring to give an accurate, nuanced picture of the 26th president. This wide-ranging study reveals how successive generations shaped the public memory of Roosevelt through their depictions of him in memorials, political invocations, art, architecture, historical scholarship, literature, and popular culture. Cullinane emphasizes the historical contexts of public memory, exploring the means by which different communities worked to construct specific representations of Roosevelt, often adapting his legacy to suit the changing needs of the present. Theodore Roosevelt’s Ghost provides a compelling perspective on the last century of U.S. history as seen through the myriad interpretations of one of its most famous and indefatigable icons.

Gandhi, with his loincloth and walking stick, seems an unlikely advocate of postmodernism. But in Postmodern Gandhi, Lloyd and Susanne Rudolph portray him as just that in eight thought-provoking essays that aim to correct the common association of Gandhi with traditionalism. Combining core sections of their influential book Gandhi: The Traditional Roots of Charisma with substantial new material, the Rudolphs reveal here that Gandhi was able to revitalize tradition while simultaneously breaking with some of its entrenched values and practices. Exploring his influence both in India and abroad, they tell the story of how in London the young activist was shaped by the antimodern “other West” of Ruskin, Tolstoy, and Thoreau and how, a generation later, a mature Gandhi’s thought and action challenged modernity’s hegemony. Moreover, the Rudolphs argue that Gandhi’s critique of modern civilization in his 1909 book Hind Swaraj was an opening salvo of the postmodern era and that his theory and practice of nonviolent collective action (satyagraha) articulate and exemplify a postmodern understanding of situational truth. This radical interpretation of Gandhi's life will appeal to anyone who wants to understand Gandhi’s relevance in this century, as well as students and scholars of politics, history, charismatic leadership, and postcolonialism.

The epic story that began with Heir to the Empire reaches its dramatic conclusion in this essential Star Wars Legends novel. The embattled Republic reels from the attacks of Grand Admiral Thrawn, who has marshaled the remnants of the Imperial forces and driven the Rebels back with an abominable technology recovered from the Emperor's secret fortress: clone soldiers. As Thrawn mounts his final siege, Han Solo and Chewbacca struggle to form a coalition of smugglers for a last-ditch attack, while Princess Leia holds the Alliance together and prepares for the birth of her Jedi twins. The Republic has one last hope-sending a small force into the very stronghold that houses Thrawn's terrible cloning machines. There a final danger awaits, as the Dark Jedi C'baoth directs the battle against the Rebels and builds his strength to finish what he already started: the destruction of Luke Skywalker.

This book examines Gore Vidal’s lifelong engagement with the ancient world. Incorporating material from his novels, essays, screenplays and plays, it argues that his interaction with antiquity was central to the way in which he viewed himself, his writing, and his world. Divided between the three primary subjects of his writing – sex, politics, and religion – this book traces the lengthy dialogue between Vidal and antiquity over the course of his sixty-year career. Broughall analyses Vidal’s portrayals of the ancient past in novels such as Julian (1964), Creation (1981) and Live from Golgotha (1992). He also shows how classical literature inspired Vidal’s other fiction, such as The City and the Pillar (1948), Myra Breckinridge (1968), and his Narratives of Empire (1967–2000) novels. Beyond his fiction, Broughall examines the ways in which antiquity influenced Vidal’s careers as a playwright, an essayist and a satirist, and evaluates the influence of classical authors and their works upon him. Of interest to students and scholars in classical studies, reception studies, American politics and literature, and the work of Gore Vidal, this volume presents an original perspective on one of the most provocative writers and intellectuals in post-war American letters. It offers new insights into Vidal’s attitudes, influences, and beliefs, and throws fresh light upon his patrician self-fashioning and his mercurial output.

John McGuckin, a world-renowned expert on ancient Christianity, has synthesized a lifetime of work to produce the most comprehensive and accessible history of the first millennium of the Christian church. This readable account explores the history in chronological order and then examines the same period thematically, looking at issues like women, war, and the Bible.