Tom Holland

A "marvelous" (Economist) account of how the Christian Revolution forged the Western imagination.Crucifixion, the Romans believed, was the worst fate imaginable, a punishment reserved for slaves. How astonishing it was, then, that people should have come to believe that one particular victim of crucifixion-an obscure provincial by the name of Jesus-was to be worshipped as a god. Dominion explores the implications of this shocking conviction as they have reverberated throughout history. Today, the West remains utterly saturated by Christian assumptions. As Tom Holland demonstrates, our morals and ethics are not universal but are instead the fruits of a very distinctive civilization. Concepts such as secularism, liberalism, science, and homosexuality are deeply rooted in a Christian seedbed. From Babylon to the Beatles, Saint Michael to #MeToo, Dominion tells the story of how Christianity transformed the modern world.

A masterful, witty, brilliantly researched popular history of perhaps the greatest civilization ever and the events and people that led to its transformation from a republic to an empire.On a dark January morning, Julius Caesar, the governor of Gaul, rode with his closest aides towards a river named the Rubicon, which marked the line of the frontier with Italy. A governor was forbidden to lead troops out of his allotted province – to break this severest of laws was tantamount to a declaration of civil war. Caesar was a gambler, however. Like the consummate actor on the public stage he had always been, he quoted a line from one of Menander's plays: "It's time to roll the die." Then he ordered the legion behind him to advance, over the river and on towards Rome. Crossing the Rubicon was a step so consequential that it has come to stand for every fateful step in history since. When Caesar rolled his die, the result was indeed a civil war, one that would end up destroying Rome's traditional freedoms and establishing a permanent dictatorship on the wreckage of her constitution.In Rubicon , Cambridge- and Oxford-educated historian and novelist Tom Holland gives us a harrowing and exciting account of the fall of the Republic, one that begins in 100 BC, the approximate birthdate of the generation that was to bring about the Republic's ruin. He then traces the development of these men into the ruling minds of the Republic, and the occurrence at the Rubicon that marked the end of the expansionism for which they had fought. Rubicon captures the suspense and drama of Rome's most famous political rivalries and shows its vibrant and charged atmosphere, all the while featuring some of the most celebrated personalities in history–Julius Caesar, Cicero, Spartacus, Cleopatra, Brutus, Pompey, Virgil, and Augustus. As America embarks on its own imperial adventures, Rubicon is the chronicle of Rome for which we have all been waiting–carefully researched and wildly compelling.

In this dazzling portrait of Rome’s first imperial dynasty, Tom Holland traces the astonishing century-long story of the rise and fall of the Julio-Claudians—Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero. Capturing both the brilliant allure of their rule and the blood-steeped shadows cast by their crimes, Dynasty travels from the great capital rebuilt in marble to the dank and barbarian forests of Germany. Populated by a spectacular cast: murderers and metrosexuals, adulterers and Druids, scheming grandmothers and reluctant gladiators, it vividly recreates the world of Rome after Julius Caesar. A tale of rule and ruination, Dynasty is the story of a family that transformed and stupefied the western world and that continues to cast a mesmerizing spell across the millennia.

In the fifth century BC, a global superpower was determined to bring truth and order to what it regarded as two terrorist states. The superpower was Persia, incomparably rich in ambition, gold and men. The terrorist states were Athens and Sparta, eccentric cities in a poor and mountainous backwater: Greece. The story of how their citizens took on the most powerful man on the planet is as heart stopping as any episode in history.

The acclaimed author of Rubicon and other superb works of popular history now produces a thrillingly panoramic (and incredibly timely) account of the rise of Islam. No less significant than the collapse of the Roman Republic or the Persian invasion of Greece, the evolution of the Arab empire is one of the supreme narratives of ancient history, a story dazzlingly rich in drama, character, and achievement. Just like the Romans, the Arabs came from nowhere to carve out a stupefyingly vast dominion€”except that they achieved their conquests not over the course of centuries as the Romans did but in a matter of decades. Just like the Greeks during the Persian wars, they overcame seemingly insuperable odds to emerge triumphant against the greatest empire of the day€”not by standing on the defensive, however, but by hurling themselves against all who lay in their path.

* Tom Holland, author of RUBICON and PERSIAN FIRE, gives a thrilling panoramic account of the birth of the new Western Europe in the year 1000

Pax is the third in a trilogy of books narrating the history of the Roman Empire. The series that began with Rubicon, and continued with Dynasty, now arrives at the period which marks the apogée of the pax Romana. It provides a portrait of the ancient world's ultimate superpower at war and at peace; from the gilded capital to the barbarous realms beyond the frontier; from emperors to slaves. The narrative features many of the most celebrated episodes in Roman history: the destruction of Jerusalem and Pompeii; the building of the Colosseum and Hadrian's Wall; the conquests of Trajan and the spread of Christianity. Pax gives a portrait of Rome, the great white shark of the ancient world, the Siberian tiger, at the very pinnacle of her greatness.

Make room Herodotus, stand down Bede, pipe down Pepys... there's a new history book in town.From the chart-topping podcast The Rest is History, a whistle-stop tour through the past - from Alexander the Great to Tolkein, the Wars of the Roses to Watergate. The nation's favourite historians Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook take on the most curious moments in history, answering the questions we didn't even think to ask:- Did the Trojan War actually happen?- What was the most disastrous party in history?- Was Richard Nixon more like Caligula or Claudius?- How did a hair appointment almost blow Churchill's cover?- Why did the Nazis believe they were descended from Atlantis?Whether it is sending historical figures to Casa Amor in a series of Love Island, ranking history's most famous eunuchs and pigeons (including Winky, the unsung hero of the Second World War), or debating the meaning of greatness, there is nothing too big or too small for Tom and Dominic to unpick. So run your Egyptian milk bath, strap up your best Spartan sandals, and prepare for a journey down the highways and byways of the human past...

Famed nineteenth-century poet and rake Lord Byron travels to Greece and becomes the world’s most formidable vampire—entering a dark, intoxicating world of ancient arts and scorching excesses of evil—in this offbeat book by the author of Slave of My Thirst .Traveling in the mountains of Greece, Byron falls under the spell of a mysterious fugitive slave, whose pale, slim body arouses his lust. Utterly entranced, his fate is sealed. The supreme sensualist embarks on a life of adventure—that of the world's most formidable vampire.Chosen to enjoy powers beyond those any vampire has ever known, Byron enters a dark, intoxicating world of long-lost secrets, ancient arts, and scorching excesses of evil. He drinks deeply of terror and sex. But his diversions, delicious and cruel, are also his an all-consuming thirst damning all those he loves...

The formation of England occurred against the odds: an island divided into rival kingdoms, under savage assault from Viking hordes. But, after King Alfred ensured the survival of Wessex and his son Edward expanded it, his grandson Athelstan inherited the rule of both Mercia and Wessex, conquered Northumbria and was hailed as Rex totius Britanniae: ‘King of the whole of Britain’.Tom Holland recounts this extraordinary story with relish and drama, transporting us back to a time of omens, raven harbingers and blood-red battlefields. As well as giving form to the figure of Æthelstan - devout, shrewd, all too aware of the precarious nature of his power, especially in the north - he introduces the great figures of the age, including Alfred and his daughter Æthelflæd, ‘Lady of the Mercians’, who brought Æthelstan up at the Mercian court. Making sense of the family rivalries and fractious conflicts of the Anglo-Saxon rulers, Holland shows us how a royal dynasty rescued their kingdom from near-oblivion and fashioned a nation that endures to this day.

From Simon & Schuster, Slave of My Thirst is Tom Holland's novel following the aftermath of an investigation of a vampire attack.Dr. John Eliot's search for a missing friend leads him to the seductive Lilah--who will not rest until she has coaxed Eliot's most monstrous impulses out into the open--in this mesmerizing tale set in the back streets of 19th-century London.

In Egypt in 1922, archaeologist Howard Carter exposes a flight of stone steps leading to a mysterious tomb sealed and marked with a terrible curse. What is the nature of the tomb's deadly secret? And what is the web of connections reaching back to the very heart of Egypt's past?

Myth meets history in a blockbuster retelling of the Persian Wars from multi-award-winning author of Rubicon and Persian Fire Tom Holland, lavishly illustrated by Jason Cockcroft.“The Persians are coming…” Hearing these words, Gorgo of Sparta is plunged into a dangerous world of vengeful gods and invincible heroes. For a mighty empire threatens Athens, Sparta and all who stand in its path... Calling on the ancient power to transform into a wolf and the blood of Zeus that runs through her veins, Gorgo must lead her nation in one of history's greatest wars. Multi-award-winning author Tom Holland and acclaimed illustrator Jason Cockcroft boldly weave myth and history in this dramatic tale of Greeks and Gods.Gripping and powerful, this extraordinary illustrated novel will be treasured by readers young and old. Ideal for fans of Percy Jackson, Neil Gaiman and Kevin Crossley-Holland, and the mythical retellings of Madeline Miller, Pat Barker and Stephen Fry, this is a book to be read again and again."BREATHTAKING adventure on every page, and just the kind of detail, colour and vitality that young readers adore." STEPHEN FRY"A spectacularly illustrated account of the Persian Wars ... A MUST-HAVE for any child who loves Greek myths." THE SUNDAY TIMES“A RIP-ROARING, ADRENALINE-FILLED recounting of the infamous Persian wars [...] a gripping and educational volume. […] Gorgeously illustrated.” DAILY MAIL "SPECTACULAR... A tour de force for mythology and military history fans.” GUARDIAN"A GLORIOUS WHITE-KNUCKLE RIDE through classical history ... a book that any child is likely to remember well into their later years." DAILY TELEGRAPH"A GLORIOUS mixture – of history, fiction and thrilling legend, with pictures to swim the Hellespont for." SEBASTIAN FAULKS"A clear contender for one of those totemic books whose memory you carry into adulthood. A TRIUMPH.” THE TIMES, CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE WEEK "AS BEAUTIFUL TO LOOK AT AS IT IS ENTRANCING TO READ. Jason Cockcroft's illustrations are jaw-dropping, and Tom Holland's prose took me back to my own childhood introductions to these extraordinary mythological worlds in Roger Lancelyn Green's Tales of the Greek Heroes and Leon Garfield's and Charles Keeping's The God Beneath the Sea." FRANK COTTRELL-BOYCE"A BEAUTIFUL, immersive work of narrative history to treasure forever." WATERSTONES“This TRULY EPIC adventure includes elements of ancient Greek myth and legend, and it is full of magic, mystery, danger, excitement and wonder. Strirking illustrations by Jason Cockcroft bring its ancient landscapes and heroic characters to life.” THE WEEK JUNIOR, BOOK OF THE WEEK"TERRIFIC ... has the feel of a contemporary classic." TONY BRADMAN, BOOKS FOR KEEPS"Tom Holland's masterly interweaving of myth, imagination and deep classical learning makes this an EXTRAOARDINARY

Book by Holland, Tom

Part of the LADYBIRD EXPERT SERIES.- Who was Æthelflæd?- What role did she play in the founding of England?- How has her legacy lasted to this day?DISCOVER the epic history of England's forgotten queen. Planting cities, sponsoring learning and defeating her people's enemies, Æthelflæd laid the foundations of a kingdom that lasts to this day.THE MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMAN THAT ENGLISH HISTORY FORGOTTom Holland's Æthelflæd puts a spotlight on this formidable leader, pulling her out of the shadowy history of the dark ages.

The book tells the story of the poisoned arrow that shot Paris (as in Helen of Troy). In the beginning, Earth created monsters. One of these was the Hydra. Heracles killed it, then dipped his arrows in the venom of its blood. Years later, when his wife was abducted by a centaur, he killed the rapist with one of these arrows. The dying centaur told Heracles' wife to dip a robe in his blood, and give it to Heracles as a token of her love. Heracles put on the robe, and was burned alive by the poison. He built himself a funeral pyre, but no one would light it. Finally, a small boy named Philoctetes did as Heracles asked, and Heracles left him his arrows as a reward. It was with one of these arrows that Paris was shot. Dying, he was taken into the woods where there lived a goddess who had once loved Paris, and had the power of healing. But she refused to cure him, and sent him away. Repenting, she then hurried after him, but it was too late.

It is 1878 and Captain John Paley Dawkins, an English amateur palaeontologist, has staked his meager inheritance upon an expedition to find a pterodactyl, set up by geologist Sheldon Prescott. Wary of Prescott's willful daughter Lilian, they are soon forced together in a life-threatening quest.

From the podcast legends who brought you The Rest is History comes The Rest is History Returns!This time Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook bring you an alphabetical miscellany, taking on some of history's best and most bizarre moments. Charge forth against the traitors of the American Revolution, journey through Baghdad to discover the origins of the Arabian Nights and head to Sicily to witness the first face-off between Carthage and Rome.Along the way you'll find the answers to questions like:- Who was Jesus's wife?- What would it have been like to live-tweet through the eruption of Vesuvius?- Why did the Romans inspire so much American science fiction?- Which Mitford sister tried to seduce her girlish crush, Adolf Hitler?- Who are history's top 10 monkeys?- Was Henry V's great-grandfather, Edward III, the biggest 'lad' in British history?But that's not all - this book also includes puzzles and a pub quiz. So dust off your tricorne hat, grab your lasso and get ready for a rollicking rollercoaster through the past . . .

A beautiful aristocrat's lakeside ball; a faceless corpse found floating in the Tiber; a ghost from Rome's legendary past haunting her streets...For the poet Catullus, newly arrived in Rome, these strange and seemingly random events are the foretaste of a danger more mysterious still.As he is drawn into the world of Rome's hidden pleasures, as past and future coalesce, so he finds himself trapped by the intrigues of a corrupt and collapsing State. The more Catullus tries to escape the taint of the plots enveloping him, the more they come to touch all he holds dear: poetry, friendship - even love. And yet it is through his passion for Lesbia, the enigmatic Lady Clodia, that Catullus is led at last to a resolution of the mysteries that have pursued him since his arrival - and to an understanding of the darkness at the heart of Rome's history. This witty and gripping novel, at once love story, thriller and political parable, confirms Tom Holland as one of the most innovative and brilliant of our new young writers, one whose voice will become synonymous with the literature of our time.

'If great books encourage you to look at the world in an entirely new way, then Dominion is a very great book indeed . . . Written with terrific learning, enthusiasm and good humour, Holland's book is not just supremely provocative, but often very funny' Sunday Times History Book of the YearChristianity is the most enduring and influential legacy of the ancient world, and its emergence the single most transformative development in Western history. Even the increasing number in the West today who have abandoned the faith of their forebears, and dismiss all religion as pointless superstition, remain recognisably its heirs. Seen close-up, the division between a sceptic and a believer may seem unbridgeable. Widen the focus, though, and Christianity's enduring impact upon the West can be seen in the emergence of much that has traditionally been cast as its in science, in secularism, and yes, even in atheism.That is why Dominion will place the story of how we came to be what we are, and how we think the way that we do, in the broadest historical context. Ranging in time from the Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BC to the on-going migration crisis in Europe today, and from Nebuchadnezzar to the Beatles, it will explore just what it was that made Christianity so revolutionary and disruptive; how completely it came to saturate the mind-set of Latin Christendom; and why, in a West that has become increasingly doubtful of religion's claims, so many of its instincts remain irredeemably Christian. The aim is to make the listener appreciate just how novel and uncanny were Christian teachings when they first appeared in the world; and to make ourselves, and all that we take for granted, appear similarly strange in consequence. We stand at the end-point of an extraordinary transformation in the understanding of what it is to be one that can only be fully appreciated by tracing the arc of its parabola over millennia.

Horror legend Tom Holland ( Child’s Play , Fright Night ) dares you to join him for a collection of nerve-shredding Twisted Tales. Serving up a mind-bending assortment of the macabre, it’s a collection of four nightmarish short stories, fine-tuned to keep you on the edge of your seat.The technology of companionship goes too far in "Suzi-69".Revenge is a dish best served...small in "Shrunk".A normal day of shopping turns into a life-threatening moral dilemma in "Glitter".And a mysterious child emerges from the desert to perform miracles in "The Boy".

Infamous poet Lord Byron comes to life with incendiary brilliance in this spellbinding blend of gothic imagination and documented fact. Wandering in the mountains of Greece, the supreme sensualist is drawn to the beauty of a mysterious fugitive slave; soon he is utterly entranced, and his fate is sealed. He embarks on a life of adventure even his genius could not have foreseen; chosen to enjoy powers beyond those any vampire has ever known, Byron traverses the centuries and enters a dark, intoxicating world of long-lost secrets, ancient arts and scorching excesses of evil. But Byron's gift is also his an all-consuming thirst that withers life at the root, damning all those he loves.With its impeccable scholarship and breathtaking storytelling, THE VAMPYRE is a wonderful combination of fact and fantasy.

Dall’incendio di Roma al codice Da tutta la verità sugli eventi più importanti e curiosi di sempreLa guerra di Troia si è davvero combattuta? Perché i nazisti credevano di essere i discendenti di Atlantide? È vero che un appuntamento dal barbiere rischiò di far saltare la copertura di Winston Churchill? A queste e ad altre domande rispondono Tom Holland e Dominic Sandbrook, i presentatori del podcast a tema storico più seguito d’Inghilterra. Forti della loro straordinaria preparazione, gli autori conducono il lettore alla scoperta dei fatti più incredibili, curiosi e interessanti della storia antica e moderna. Non solo domande a cui rispondere, ma anche approfondimenti su personaggi, eventi e leggende, famosi e non. Dalle similitudini tra gli imperatori romani e i politici del Novecento agli “eroi dimenticati” (come Winkie, un piccione viaggiatore della seconda guerra mondiale), dalla top ten dei cani più importanti di sempre all’autopsia di una vera miniera di informazioni per ogni appassionato di storia!Un divertente tuffo nelle pagine più assurde della storia dell’umanità.Un libro ricco di aneddoti e curiosità per imparare ogni giorno qualcosa di nuovo.Tra gli argomenti • Spartani fuori di testa• La festa con delitto di Eliogabalo • Regine con la barba• La sbronza colossale di Alessandro Magno• La vera storia dei piccioni viaggiatori • I cani più famosi, dal pastore tedesco di Hitler a Rin Tin Tin• L’invenzione degli spaghetti• Babilonia come Las Vegas • Quando cadde veramente l’impero romano? • Le dieci migliori teorie su Atlantide• Giulio Cesare si era montato la testa?• Consigli per partorienti nell’Inghilterra del Seicento • Oxford, orchi e J. R. R. Tolkien• Potere e poesie di una cortigiana coreana • L’autopsia di Rasputin• Il vero codice da Vinci • La coppa del mondo degli dei• I grandi “e se” della storiaTom Hollandè autore di diversi libri sul Medioevo, oltre che traduttore di Erodoto e Svetonio. Ha condotto vari documentari televisivi a tema storico, che spaziano dai dinosauri allo Stato Islamico.Dominic Sandbrookha studiato a Oxford, St. Andrews e Cambridge, e ha insegnato all’Università di Sheffield prima di dedicarsi alla scrittura e alla divulgazione, concentrandosi soprattutto sul Novecento inglese. Ha condotto documentari per la bbc ed è stato editorialista per il «Times». La Newton Compton ha pubblicato Fatti incredibili della storia che non ti hanno mai raccontato scritto con Tom Holland.

Attorney Billy Halleck seriously enjoys living his life of upper-class excess.He’s got it all; an expensive home in Connecticut, a loving family... and fifty extra pounds that his doctor repeatedly warns will be the death of him. Then, in a moment of carelessness, Halleck commits vehicular manslaughter when he strikes a jaywalking old woman crossing the street. But Halleck has some powerful local connections, and gets off with a slap on the wrist...much to the fury of the woman's mysterious and ancient father, who exacts revenge with a single uttered word... Thinner.Now a terrified Halleck finds the weight once so difficult to shed dropping effortlessly—and rapidly—day by day. Soon there will be nothing left of Billy Halleck...unless he can somehow locate the source of his living nightmare and reverse what’s happened to him before he wastes away...Two terrifying versions of the original screenplay adapted by horror legend Tom Holland (Fright Night/Child’s Play) and horror author legend Michael McDowell, based on the novel by Stephen King (as Richard Bachman).