Colin Wells - Nickel Tour of Byzantium

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Titles available at amazon:
NEW! A Brief History of History

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Saudi Arabia

Stick Like Glue

The Mystery of Socrates'
Last Words
The death of Socrates is a cultural icon that lies at the heart of Western civilization. But his mysterious last words have kept us from fully understanding its meaning. My explanation of them is simple, even obvious, and has been hiding in plain sight for 2,400 years. It was published recently in Arion, Boston University's journal of classics and the humanities.

The Longest War: The Epic Clash of Faith and Reason, from Abraham to Zygotes
If you've read my other books, you know that the historical relationship between faith and reason is a central interest of mine. Here's a link to my current project, a book that tells that story from the beginning.

Joseph Needham's Big Question The New York Review of Books (December 18, 2008)
Here's a link to a letter I wrote recently that was published in The New York Review of Books on the question "Why Didn't Science Rise in China?

Reviews by Colin Wells:
Yehuda Nevo and Judith Koren's Crossroads to Islam: The Origins of the Arab Religion and the Arab State (Prometheus, 2003)
This might interest you if you have been following the current debate over Islam.

Kathryn Ringrose's The Perfect Servant: Eunuchs and the Social Construction of Gender in Byzantium (U of Chicago, 2003)
This might interest you if you follow gender studies, or if you are into Byzantine history and culture.

Opinions:
Impeachment Is Not About Iraq
Here's an opinion piece I wrote for my local paper, The Plattsburgh Press-Republican, calling for the impeachment of President Bush. All elected officials swear an oath to support the Constitution, and the president has systematically attacked the Constitution. I argue here that any public official who does not support impeachment has failed to honor his or her oath of office.

Click on the titles below to download the Nickel Tour in PDF format.

I'll be posting the next three chapters (Dark Age, Recovery, and Defeat) on this page soon.