This history of the Greeks in Houston is really the story of individuals who worked diligently to forge new lives for themselves even as they maintained their Greek identity and their Orthodox faith. The efforts of many of the founders are immortalized in the buildings that constitute the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral complex. Their names remind us of their hard work and commitment to establishing their koinonia (communion) in Houston. There are many other names that have gone unremarked over the decades but to whom we owe just as much for their tenacity and dedication. And there are the new generations who inherited this legacy and keep it vibrant through the stewardship of their faith and culture.
The subject of Greek mythology conjures up mythical stories of glorious and wonderful Greek gods, goddesses and heroes with tales of war, love and betrayal. Since ancient Greece was the birth place of philosophy, theater and politics it is understandable that such a great civilization would be capable of creating an elaborate belief system in which to help understand the world around them. Natural phenomena such as the sun, lightening and earthquakes were explained in intriguing, engaging tales that formed the structure of ancient Greek understanding. It was this belief system that has been the fascination of many the world over. Through the stories of the most prominent gods and goddesses, this book provides an insight into how Greek mythology was formed, why the Greek gods and goddesses were conceived and explores the fantastically woven stories that link these gods and goddesses together. Learn about Titans and the Olympians, the stories of their existence and why they represented elements of the natural world Discover the most prominent Greek gods, why they were either titans or Olympians and who the demigods and heroes really were. Read enthralling stories of prominent gods are such as: Cronus Atlas Prometheus Zeus Aphrodite Hermes and more... How are all these Greek mythology stories connected? The study of these gods are both interesting and complex. In order to understand them its necessary to understand how each story relates and the events that gave birth to further gods and their tales. This book delves a little deeper, highlighting the reason for the battles of the gods, the stories of their existence and their relationship to natural phenomena. Learn the answers to some of the most interesting questions Why did Uranus banish his children? How did a group of gods earn the name 'Titans'? What plan was in place to overthrow the Titans? Why did Cronus eat his own offspring? Why was Atlas punished for the war between the Titans and the Olympians? How does ancient Greece influence us today and what relevance does this civilization have to our society? Understand how ancient Greek mythology gave birth to everyday terms used in modern day language. It is surprising just how many terms are attributed to the ancient Greeks. Immerse yourself with in this wonderful ancient world with this informative Greek mythology book and educate yourself with stories that will transport you into the mindset of this fascinating civilization.
Revealing the secret history of punctuation, this tour of two thousand years of the written word, from ancient Greece to the Internet, explores the parallel histories of language and typography throughout the world and across time.
The two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, bestselling historian, and author of Our First Civil War emythologizes Texas’s journey to statehood and restores the genuinely heroic spirit to a pivotal chapter in American history. • “A balanced, unromanticized account [of] America’s great epic.” —The New York Times Book Review From Stephen Austin, Texas’s reluctant founder, to the alcoholic Sam Houston, who came to lead the Texas army in its hour of crisis and glory, to President Andrew Jackson, whose expansionist aspirations loomed large in the background, here is the story of Texas and the outsize figures who shaped its turbulent history. Beginning with its early colonization in the 1820s and taking in the shocking massacres of Texas loyalists at the Alamo and Goliad, its rough-and-tumble years as a land overrun by the Comanches, and its day of liberation as an upstart republic, Brands’ lively history draws on contemporary accounts, diaries, and letters to animate a diverse cast of characters whose adventures, exploits, and ambitions live on in the very fabric of our nation.
When J.J. Clark graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy at the end of World War I he was ready to be a pioneer in one of the great transformations of the U.S. Navy in the twentieth century —the change from a surface-only force to one in which aviation played a key if not determinant role. Under the leadership of the key aviation admirals, William Moffett and John Towers, "Jocko" Clark with other aviation-minded officers battled low budgets and unsympathetic policy makers to champion the development of naval aviation during the 1920s and 30s. Pearl Harbor proved them right. As captain of the new Yorktown (the original was sunk at Midway), Clark provided aggressive leadership in the capture of the Gilbert and Marshall Islands. As a carrier task group commander, Clark was instrumental in the brilliant victory at the Battle of the Philippine Sea, which included the Marianas Turkey Shoot. He withstood numerous kamikaze attacks at Iwo Jima and Okinawa while seeing that Japan's airpower was destroyed. After the war he was instrumental in salvaging naval aviation from the attacks of other services and policy makers. During the Korean War he served as Commander Seventh Fleet in the all-important naval air support of that conflict. Naval historian Clark Reynolds is particularly well placed to write this book because he had access to family papers and was co-author of the Admiral Clark's autobiography.
The appearance of Martin Bernal's Black Athena: The Afro-Asian Roots of Classical Civilization in 1987 sparked intense debate and controversy in Africa, Europe, and North America. His detailed genealogy of the 'fabrication of Greece' and his claims for the influence of ancient African and Near Eastern cultures on the making of classical Greece, questioned many intellectuals' assumptions about the nature of ancient history. The transportation of enslaved African persons into Europe, the Americas, and the Caribbean, brought African and diasporic African people into contact in significant numbers with the Greek and Latin classics for the first time in modern history. In African Athena, the contributors explore the impact of the modern African disapora from the sixteenth century onwards on Western notions of history and culture, examining the role Bernal's claim has played in European and American understandings of history, and in classical, European, American and Caribbean literary production. African Athena examines the history of intellectuals and literary writers who contested the white, dominant Euro-American constructions of the classical past and its influence on the present. Martin Bernal has written an Afterword to this collection.
Upon George Mitchell’s death in 2013, The Economist proclaimed, “Few businesspeople have done as much to change the world as George Mitchell,” a billionaire Texas oilman who defied the stereotypical swagger so identified with that industry. In George P. Mitchell: Fracking, Sustainability, and an Unorthodox Quest to Save the Planet, award-winning author Loren C. Steffy offers the first definitive biography of Mitchell, placing his life and legacy in a global context, from the significance of his discoveries to the lingering controversies they inspired. Mitchell will forever be known as “the father of fracking,” but he didn’t invent the drilling process; he perfected it and made it profitable, one of many varied ventures he pursued for years. Long before his company ever fracked a well, he pioneered sustainable development by creating The Woodlands, near Houston, one of the first and most successful master-planned communities. Its focus on environmental protection and livability redefined the American suburb. This apparent contradiction between his energy interests and environmental pursuits, which his son Todd dubbed “the Mitchell Paradox,” was just one of many that defined Mitchell’s life. Anyone who puts fuel in a tank or turns on a light switch has benefited from Mitchell’s efforts. This compelling biography reveals Mitchell as a modern renaissance man who sought to make the world a better, more livable place, a man whose unbounded intellectual curiosity led him to support a wide range of interests in business, science, and philanthropy.
