National Network for Equitable Library Service

An entertaining yet factual insider's guide: how to become a gladiator, hone your fighting skills, and thrill the crowds in the Colosseum. So you think you'd like to be a gladiator? Find out how to get thousands to idolize you as the strongest, meanest fighter in the Roman empire. Win fame and fortune in one of Rome's most glamorous locations, in the presence of the emperor himself. Who wouldn't kill for a job like that?

Joanna Palani made headlines across the world when her role fighting ISIS in the Syrian conflict was revealed. Inspired by the Arab Spring, Joanna left behind her student life in Copenhagen and traveled to the Middle East to join the YPJ, the all-female brigade of the Kurdish militia in Syria. After undergoing extensive military training, including as a saboteur and sniper, Joanna served as a YPJ fighter for several years and took part in the brutal siege of Kobani.

This thrillingly vivid history recounts a pivotal battle of the Peloponnesian War, bringing the drama and personalities of the Sicilian Expedition to life. The Athenian expedition to conquer Sicily was one of the most significant military events of the classical period. At the time, Athens was locked in a decades-long struggle with Sparta for mastery of the Greek world. The expedition to Sicily was intended to win Athens the extra money and resources needed to crush the Spartans.

Partly as a result of poor commanders and partly because the Romans had an innate and misguided belief in the invincibility of their legions, the first battles against the Cimbri were a series of disasters. These culminated in the Battle of Arausio in 105 BC when two Roman armies were utterly destroyed. Rome finally realized that their republic faced an existential threat, and made the necessary painful political and military changes that were needed to face that threat. Rome also found a commander who could take on the Cimbri.

This is the story of the King's Own Calgary Regiment. Beginning in the last years of collective innocence before the Great War, it follows the regiment to Vimy Ridge, through the short years of peace to Dieppe and the Italian Campaign, through the establishment and maintenance of militia and reserve forces, and into the Cold War. "Onward" is a soldier's story: mundane, heroic and tragic.

Le destin incroyable de Louis Zamperini, coureur olympique et vétéran de la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Bientôt au cinéma ! Louis Zamperini est né en 1917 à New York. Quand il arrive en Californie, trois ans plus tard, il ne parle que l'italien. Dans un contexte de dépression économique, peu de perspectives d'avenir s'offrent à lui. C'est son inscription dans l'équipe scolaire de course de fond qui changera sa vie à tout jamais. Il devient alors une gloire locale et participe aux jeux Olympiques de 1936.

The stories of Canada's top pilots of World War II continue to amaze and inspire us. From Dick Audet, the only Spitfire pilot to ever claim five kills in a single sortie to Russell Russ Bannock who shot down 19 V-1 rocket bombs in his Mosquito fighter-bomber.

The Battle of the Atlantic was the longest sustained conflict of the Second World War, a critical fight for the Allies to stop Nazi U-boats and other warships from sinking supply ships to Europe. Canadians played a vital role in that war. Author and Canadian Forces veteran Larry Gray revisits the battle from the Canadian perspective.

By the late 1960s, what had been widely heralded as the best qualified, best-trained army in United States history was descending into crisis as the Vietnam War raged without end. Morale was tanking. AWOL rates were rising. And in August 1968, a group of Black soldiers seized control of the infamous Long Binh Jail, burned buildings, and beat a white inmate to death with a shovel. The days of "same mud, same blood" were over, and a new generation of Black GIs had decisively rejected the slights and institutional racism their forefathers had endured.

An accessible, balanced chronicle of how the Israel-Palestine conflict originated and developed over the past century. The Shortest History books deliver thousands of years of history in one riveting, fast-paced listen. The ongoing struggle between Israel and Palestine is one of the most bitter conflicts in history, with profound global consequences. In this book, Middle East expert Michael Scott-Baumann succinctly describes its origins and charts its evolution from civil war to the present day.