Provides model essays on a current controversial issue guiding students in writing a five-paragraph essay, including persuasive, descriptive, expository and cause-and-effect essays. Includes guided reading and discussion questions to help students understand the essays themselves and target persuasive techniques authors use to compose convincing arguments. This volume covers the issue of gays in the military.

The Taskforce is used to being the hunter, but this time they're the hunted. Intent on embroiling the US in a quagmire that will sap its economy and drain its legitimacy, Russia passes a potential weapon of mass destruction to an extreme Islamic sect in Nigeria. A relic of the Cold War, the Russian FSB believes the weapon has deteriorated and is no longer effective, but they are wrong. Trying to solve the riddle of who might be stalking them, Pike...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

“A moving, reverent history—a tribute, really—to ‘The Old Guard’ … An ode to excellence and caring in service to the nation. It is an inspiring read for every American.”— ROBERT M. GATES

An extraordinary journey behind the scenes of Arlington National Cemetery, Senator Tom Cotton’s Sacred Duty offers an

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Survey the armament, tactics, and organization of the Mongol military machine. Far from being a mob of fanatical mounted warriors, the Mongols were superbly trained and disciplined. Consider the close connection between their traditional hunting practices on the steppe and the skills needed to outsmart and defeat another army. Few fighting forces in history have been as consistently effective.

Chart the disintegration of the Mongol Empire, observing its rapid collapse in the Persian Ilkhanate in 1335 and Yuan China in 1368. Also analyze the much more gradual break-up of the Chagatayid khanate and the Golden Horde, as the Mongols splintered into smaller, more autonomous units. Finally, focus on some of the long-lived successor states to the Mongols, such as the Ming dynasty in China.

Ever restless, Chinggis Khan withdrew from his western conquests to start a new campaign thousands of miles away in northwestern China. Learn about the hunting accident that reportedly led to his death in 1227, the mystery surrounding his burial place, and his chosen successor among his sons. Then weigh the legacy of Chinggis Khan. Was he a civilizing force or an agent of unparalleled disaster?

Assess the heritage of the Mongols from a variety of perspectives: as conquerors, unifiers, social and political revolutionaries, as promoters of religious tolerance, protectors of commerce, and even as facilitators of the spread of plague across Eurasia, but also as disseminators of crucial technologies that undoubtedly played a role in the making of the modern world.

Using the contemporary chronicle of Rashid al-Din as a guide, turn to the history of Mongol rule in Persia and the Middle East. An important element of the story is the clash of religions in a region that was becoming increasingly Muslim. A good example is the Mongol ruler of Persia, Oljeitu, who was raised as a Christian, converted to Buddhism, later to Sunni Islam, and then to Shi'a Islam.

Track the fortunes of several of Timur's descendants, who attempted to govern the remnants of his vast empire. Among them was his grandson, Ulugh Beg, a matchless astronomer, scholar, and patron of civilization, but unfortunately an indifferent ruler. Also consider the history of Inner Eurasia over a period of more than six centuries, from the early 15th century to the end of the 20th century.