"Contrary to what so many Americans learn in school, the pre-Columbian Indians were not sparsely settled in a pristine wilderness; rather, there were huge numbers of Indians who actively molded and influenced the land around them. The astonishing Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan had running water and immaculately clean streets, and was larger than any contemporary European city. Mexican cultures created corn in a specialized breeding process that it...

"The execution of a Vatican archivist within the shadow of the Kremlin exposes a conspiracy going back three centuries--to the bloody era of the Russian Tsars. Before his murder, he manages to dispatch a coded message, a warning of a terrifying threat, one tied to a secret buried within the Golden Library of Tsars, a vast and treasured archive that had vanished into history. As combative forces race for the truth behind this death and alarming discovery,...

An illustrated introduction to ancient Egypt that describes how pyramids were built, mummies were made, and other related topics; and includes information on related Web sites.

"American archaeology was forever scarred by an 1893 business proposition between cowboy-turned-excavator Richard Wetherill and socialites-turned-antiquarians Fred and Talbot Hyde. Wetherill had stumbled upon Mesa Verde’s spectacular cliff dwellings and started selling artifacts, but with the Hydes’ money behind him, well—there’s no telling what they might discover. Thus begins the Hyde Exploring Expedition, a nine-year venture into Utah’s...

"The next in New York Times top 5 bestseller Steve Berrys Cotton Malone series involves the Knights of Malta, papal conclave, and lost documents that could change history. A deadly race for the Vaticans oldest secret fuels New York Times bestseller Steve Berrys latest international Cotton Malone thriller. The pope is dead. A conclave to select his replacement is about to begin. Cardinals are beginning to arrive at the Vatican, but one has fled Rome...

"In the 1960s, the world’s attention was focused on a nail-biting race against time: Fifty countries contributed nearly a billion dollars to save a dozen ancient Egyptian temples, built during the height of the pharaohs’ rule, from drowning in the floodwaters of the massive new Aswan High Dam. But the extensive press coverage at the time overlooked the gutsy French archaeologist who made it all happen. Without the intervention of Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt,...

Explorer Albert Lin ventures into the Guatemalan jungle to explore how a new high-tech treasure map is revealing tens of thousands of ancient ruins. Dozens of archaeologists head out on a voyage of discovery, exploring lost ruins for the first time in 1,500 years. What they're finding is rewriting the history of one of the world's most mysterious ancient civilizations.

Text and black and white illustrations show how the Romans planned and constructed their cities for the people who lived within them.

Presents a look at the technology of the Mayan civilization, describing their advances in agriculture, architecture, medicine, mathematics, the building of cities, and calendars.