Rome Was Not Built in A Day

The most unusual war of the 20th century took place in 1969. El Salvador and Honduras faced one another in a qualifying set for the 1970 World Cup. Tensions were already boiling over in the two countries over the issue of Salvadoran workers in Honduras. But soccer sometimes brings out the worst in people, and the games turned from friendly competition into a full-scale military invasion by El Salvador on its neighbor. Although the fighting lasted only four days, the combat damaged two nations already teetering on the brink of economic collapse. And it all started over a soccer game.

And you will find few war stories this potentially interesting in The Century of Warfare, an interminable series from the History Channel. A low-budget 1993 British production that relies on public domain footage, library music, and a monotonous British narrator with a soporific voice, this 26-episode series somehow manages to make one of the most inherently interesting subjects stunningly pedestrian and dull.

ANCIENT MYSTERIES: LEGENDS AND EMPIRES is an objective and illuminating look at some of mankind's most enduring mysteries. Narrated by Leonard Nimoy, this award-winning series from HISTORY travels the world to explore and recreate the enigmas that continue to defy science and spark our imagination. This collection focuses on the myths, legends and the amazing lost civilisations of our collective history that are constant sources of inspiration for fantasy literature and movies - exposing what is known, what is imagined and what is pure speculation and myth.

Hyperion’s record of the month for July celebrates the (probable) 500th anniversary of the birth of England’s first superstar composer, Thomas Tallis, and welcomes the signing to the label of The Cardinall’s Musick and Andrew Carwood. In a fifteen-year history The Cardinall’s Musick has progressively built an enviable reputation for excellence. Some twenty recordings on the ASV Gaudeamus label have seen accolades from around the world, including a Gramophone Award and a Diapason d’Or, while in the concert hall and workshop the group has consistently displayed innovation and a freshness of approach, whether tackling contemporary works (many of them commissions) or sharing the fruits of years of research into the music of the English Renaissance.

In this course, Professor J. Rufus Fears presents his choices of some of the most essential writings in history. These are books that have shaped the minds of great individuals, who in turn have shaped events of historic magnitude.