NTX Books

Secrets of Samurai - Oscar Ratti & Adele Westbrook

The Samurai were skilled warriors, and this well researched volume details all their aptitudes: archery, swordsmanship, even swimming with armor. A third of the book covers the inner strength, discipline, and intensity necessary to master these arts. Finally, the history of the feudal society of which the samurai were an integral part is described. Richly illustrated with diagrams of the samurai's weapons, battle armor, and other aspects of martial arts in ancient Japan.

The Influence of Sea Power Upon History - A.T. Mahan

The introductory chapters describe the process whereby the small island nation Britain came to totally dominate the seven seas. There are compelling analogies for businesses striving to exert their influence on the World Wide Web. Electronic commerce is in its infancy and anyone hoping to achieve dominance needs a well-conceived plan. Read this book to get you started.

The Templars - Edward Burman

The Knights Templar were the most decorated of all the Orders of Knights to participate in the Crusades. They had higher standards of conduct both on and off the field of battle, than any other Orders. Nor did they shy away from bucking the power of the Pope himself, when ordered to do something against their staunch individualism. The Church banned them as a result, and drove them and their impeccable moral fortitude underground.

Hannibal - Leonard Cottrell

The Celts were the most feared of all soldiers in antiquity. Their moment of glory was when Hannibal led a ragged army of Celts against the huge Roman Empire. Greatly outnumbered and fighting far, far away from home, they consistently defeated the Roman armies for almost thirty years, all through the heart of the Italian peninsula. Unfortunately, this is a case where you can win all the battles and still lose the war. Yet, it's hard not to entertain the notion that Hannibal campaigned more with the future in mind than the present.

Rise and Fall of the Third Reich - William Shirer

The Nazis kept hundreds of tons of documents secured in a mountain repository in Germany; they were all brought to America after the war. Every order ever given, at any level. Shirer is the only person of note who took the time to study these documents before they were returned to Germany, and destroyed. Clearly, the Allies didn't want these documents to survive the war. Why not? The Germans had nothing to hide, carefully documenting everything they did - what did they document that was so threatening to the U.S.? The only evidence of this possible conspiracy is probably in the hands of the Vatican....

The Secret War Against the Jews - John Loftus and Mark Aarons

A fascinating New York Times Bestseller; one of the best researched books I've ever read. There is a lengthy section on President George Bush's grandfather, who was Vice President of one of the largest investment firms on Wall Street in the 1930's. This firm was responsible for sending BILLIONS of dollars to Nazi Germany (worth far, far more than that in modern currency). President Bush's grandfather was, in fact, himself in charge of these investments in Nazi Germany. Arguably, this money was what put the Nazis in power. Before this major infusion of money from America, the Nazis were on the verge of collapse from lack of funding. Sadly, Wall Street still has no morals ~ witness the endless scandals, scams, and ripoffs the government is prosecuting there.

The Conquest of Gaul - Julius Caesar

This small paperback is the first book written by a military leader on the field of battle. It's well written, and shows Caesar to be a soldier's general - he never fails to give credit when subordinates did well; and does not fail to take blame himself for blunders. Every Roman general of that day paid his armies out of his own pocket, and from loot and tribute from conquered peoples. Caesar was the first to give his soldiers a generous plot of land when they retired, plus a pension. He was also the first to openly recruit natives (i.e. non Roman citizens) into the Army and to give them full rank and privileges.

The Mind of The South - W. J. Cash

A courageous investigation into the moral, ethical, and economic aspects of slavery in the Old South. As a native of Louisiana myself, I felt obliged to study this lucid account at length. I was surprised to learn the whole slavery paradigm is based upon the extravagant excesses of a small minority of aristocrats in Virginia before the Civil War. Most plantations barely broke even; the owners often working as hard as their slaves to keep the operation going. All this changed after the war when the cotton gin was invented, making the plantations vastly more profitable. By that time the North had "freed" the slaves. The stigma continued for over 100 more years, however; and in many ways exists to this day. The author spends about half the book on post war attitudes, both in the North and South.

Who Financed Hitler - James Pool

This book, published three years after "The Secret War Against the Jews," claims to be a summary of all the American financing resources for the Third Reich from U.S. corporations. The author makes much ado about how IBM made all the computers that were used by the Nazis to classify Germans according to their percentage of Jewish blood. It doesn't look so good for IBM. However, the author glosses over the fact that ALL the records used by the Germans - birth, marriage, and death certificates - were maintained by the Protestant and Catholic Churches. None of these institutions made the slightest objection to how their records were being used to discriminate against the Jews.

Mein Kampf - Adolf Hitler

Hitler was deeply affected, as was all of Europe, by a document called the Protocols of Zion which was supposedly drawn up by the first Zionist Convention and was a master plan for world domination. Naturally Europeans were upset; and Hitler gave voice to their fears. He did more than that, but supplied a wealth of supporting historical, philosophical, and practical evidence. Taken out of context, Hitler's work seems extreme, reactionary, and irrational. However, at the time everybody in Europe was talking about it. The Jews did nothing to contest the issue, but remained coldly aloof. The rest of the world believed the Protocols were true as well, as no nation on Earth would accept Jewish refugees as the Nazi pogroms became more prominent. All together, Hitler may have been extreme, but the Jews were no less extreme in their own way by being universally silent upon the whole issue. Hopefully, they will never again be silent.

The Secret Archives of the Vatican - Maria Luisa Ambrosini

A fascinating glimpse of some of the Church's more notorious scandals. When Galileo was put under house arrest by the Church for his heliocentric model of the solar system; the Church wasn't punishing him - it was protecting him, from the malice and vehemence of Galileo's scientific colleagues. The Church gave Joan of Arc a clean bill of mental health for her visions. It was Joan of Arc's military leadership that kept France free; had she not won as strongly on the field of battle France would have fallen to the British, and the French wouldn't have been able to help America in its revolution against the British 100 years later. Thus, Joan of Arc - and indirectly the Church - are directly responsible for America's existence. In the modern day, as then, without the intervention of the Church a young maiden with visions like that would end up on a psych ward - or burned at the stake (which was her fate when the British got hold of her). Sadly, there is no mention of the Nazis in this survey of the Vatican's Archives. Fortunately, details are provided in The Unholy Trinity: The Vatican, the Nazis, and the Swiss Banks

Chronicle of a Pharoah - Joanne Fletcher

Subtitled, "The Intimate Life of Amenhotep III," this beautifully illustrated books gives a ground level glimpse of ancient Egypt - the society, culture, religion, and family life. It's humbling to think that a lower middle class person in America today lives far, far better than even a Pharaoh 3000 years ago. The Pharaoh at least had the dignity and grace to show his appreciation to the gods, and his gratitude to his subjects. Today people take it all for granted, and constantly strive for more, more, and more. You wonder if humanity has de-evolved in the last three millennia.

The Pyramids of Egypt - I.E.S. Edwards

A Penguin Classic paperback first published in 1947, this soberly written little book gives due respect to those who designed and built the pyramids. They had no idea how the pyramids were built back in 1947; and to this day no plausible theories have been posed how the Egyptians were able to quarry and care the huge stones to such exacting dimensions. Modern technology couldn't even duplicate the feat. Far from trying to solve this compelling mystery, modern archaeology (and science) avoids it religiously, wary of any implications that man's skill level has declined dramatically in the last five thousand years.

© 2005 ntx books
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