American Spartan

Lawrence of Arabia meets Sebastian Junger's War in this unique, incendiary, and dramatic true story of heroism and heartbreak in Afghanistan written by a Pulitzer Prize-nominated war correspondent.

The historian's view of the brevity of the settlement period and subsequent development of Iowa is nowhere so tangibly demonstrated as in the buildings and structures which were created in the process. In virtually every county the first settlers, regardless of the style of homes they left to come to Iowa, followed a common pattern. They availed themselves of whatever building materials the environment and circumstance dictated; dugouts, sod, or logs. Their primary concern appears to have been shelter; functional, expedient, and spartan. Once established and able, however, their permanence and affluence were demonstrated by the construction of buildings following patterns well established in the communities from whence they came. Those people arriving after the brief settlement period brought new concepts and styles with them, adding variety to the community and neighborhood in which they settled. The impact of this continuous flow of ideas is easily observable in Iowa, if one has a key to understanding what occurred.

In the Battle of Thermopylae of 480 BC an alliance of Greek city-states fought the invading Persian army in the mountain pass of Thermopylae. Vastly outnumbered, the Greeks held back the enemy in one of the most famous last stands of history. Persian King Xerxes lead a Army of well over 100,000 (Persian king Xerxes before war has about 170,000 army) men to Greece and was confronted by 300 Spartans.

In the Battle of Thermopylae of 480 BC an alliance of Greek city-states fought the invading Persian army in the mountain pass of Thermopylae. Vastly outnumbered, the Greeks held back the enemy in one of the most famous last stands of history. Persian King Xerxes lead a Army of well over 100,000…