Handfuls of History

This site presents only a preview of the full books. Purchase the books to see all the guns, swords and coins, and read the research on their historical contexts.

Also included in volume 1 are several short works of historical fiction, inspired by specific guns in the collection.

Volume 1

Firearms

Volume 2

Cutting Edges

Volume 3

Gods in the Palm of Your hand

Volumes 1 and 2

The books will be supplied on a USB 3.0 flash drive. The price is $30 for both books (plus tax and international shipping if applicable)*.

It is recommended you transfer the books to your computer. You can also or read the books directly from the USB drive but Volumes 1 and 2 will load much faster if you put them on your computer.

*Florida residents please add 6.5% sales tax.

Volume 3

This book is primarily a narrative of Greco-Roman history illustrated with coins. Coins are associated with commerce, both domestic and international, but they are also ethnography, reporting the icons and images of the peoples using them. Looking at these ancient coins you see the images of gods that you can place in the palm of your hand. The book has Greco-Roman coins from their earliest days up through the last Roman Emperor of the East to worship pagan deities. The book covers the historical background of the cultures that produced these objects and the historical transitions from the time that the Greek city-states fought the Persians in 490-480 BCE through the rise and fall of the subsequent empires of Athens, Alexander the Great, the successor Hellenist empires, Rome, and various people who lived on the edge of these great empires. Some of the coin images tell intimate histories of individuals and their personal ambitions. The epilogue is a discussion of how the Roman allegorical goddess of Liberty became an icon for the world's transition into the modern age, present still on the coins of France, the United States, and almost every Latin American country.

Purchase from the publisher

Cambridge Scholars

About the author

Roger L. Papke is a retired Professor of Pharmacology and Neuroscience. He has a Ph.D. in Neurobiology and Behavior from Cornell University, USA, and a B.A. in Classical Civilization from NYU (New York University), USA. His professional research was in molecular neurobiology, primarily focused on the brain receptors for nicotine and the natural neurotransmitter that nicotine mimics, acetylcholine. He has also taught undergraduate honors classes in the humanities. He has written two earlier volumes of Handfuls of History, which are in HTML format and available for on-line purchase: one is on the history of firearms, and the other is a survey on the edged weapons of different cultures.