Almost every nation has its national epic, usually an account from early in its history of the martial exploits of a warrior-hero. For example, in England, there’s “Beowulf”; in France, “The Song of ...

For most of us, bands of violent robbers in the desert are thankfully the stuff of old Westerns. But they are an occupational hazard for Ruth Shady, an archaeologist who in 1994 discovered a ...

Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, whom History knows as El Cid Campeador, is an essential figure to understand the Middle Ages. His legend has endured throughout the centuries to become a myth. In this ...