After four and a half years in the making, The Winds of Time is finally available. The 740 page book tells the sweeping story of Western civilization, yet in a very unique and engaging fashion, as an excerpt from the book's Foreward (below) attests. Unlike most books on Western civilization that only reiterate history, The Winds of Time analyzes key people, cultures, and eras to connect the dots that have been missed, revised or omitted. Moreover, it reveals the lessons and warnings that only history can teach.

Proceeding chronologically, The Winds of Time carries the reader up through the ages in a coherent fashion, while making periodic forays along the way to reveal crucial correlations to other eras or modern events. The book covers great political and religious leaders and famous thinkers; such as Plato, Aristotle, Julius Caesar, Augustus, Jesus Christ, St. Paul, Irenaeus, Constantine, Dante, Da Vinci, Brunelleschi, Machiavelli, Columbus, King Ferdinand, the Medici family, Pope Julius II, Pope Alexander VI, Queen Elizabeth, Shakespeare, Gutenberg, Martin Luther, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, and the other founders, Darwin, Marx, Freud, Edison, Einstein, von Braun, Marconi, Hitler, Stalin, and a healthy assortment of American presidents leading up to George W. Bush.

Moreover, this robust work was written "From and For a New American Perspective," as many insights about America's birth, growth, and current quagmires are addressed. Although the author shares being a fellow American with millions he notes how many today have lost sight of how crucial it is to be true patriotic Americans, and worse yet, how illegal aliens refuse to become true-blooded Americans. More importantly, he points out how imperative it is to preserve the golden aspects of America's superior culture that have been sold out or defiled by the leftists and politically correct who place multiculturalism and passivity above solidarity and strength.

Not blind to America's flaws, Rich DiSilvio scrutinizes and criticizes the mistakes made, but ultimately lauds America's greatness and energizes the reader with the courage and bravado that is emblematic of the true American spirit. A must read for any American that appreciates a pragmatic, unsugarcoated approach to viewing life and assessing the many valiant and even provocative people that risked life and limb to truly shape our world.

Foreword

The historical stage of Western civilization is filled with a dazzling cast of megastars. They have all lived their lives full throttle, for good or evil, and have not only changed the ideologies and societies of their own time, but have also laid the framework for shaping future ones. Their stories, therefore, are crucial for all generations to study.

As such, this book was written in hope of appealing to a broader audience, beyond those who already have an appreciation of history and propensity to read about it. It appears that books nowadays face a much harder task of attracting readers, being pitted against countless cable TV channels, the Internet, and numerous other rich forms of media. Therefore, this book was designed to shed light, in a variety of new and engaging ways, upon the characters and occurrences that made earth-shattering contributions to history; namely by infusing three methodologies together: commentaries, biographies, and narrative vignettes.

This book primarily consists of informal commentaries that examine and assess various individuals, cultures, and eras. With the common vernacular being the language of blogs, chat rooms, and media gurus’ books, it seems this approach is more attractive to today’s readers. These commentaries shall include rebuttals to contemporary viewpoints, as well as positing provocative philosophies. The intent of the latter is to challenge fixed ideologies that have profoundly conditioned the modern mind and civilization in general. There will be frequent moments of reflection that draw upon previous or future events to illustrate new correlations worthy of consideration, quite often to compare and contrast past events or individuals with those of modern America. Infused within these commentaries will be condensed and more formal biographies of select figures.

Finally, perhaps the most unique feature of this book will be the inclusion of special semihistorical scenes—which I call narrative vignettes. These literary creations are not nonfiction or novellas that tell a complete story with a beginning, middle, and end, but rather are like tiny windows in time through which the reader can experience a brief moment or scene in the life of a famous character. Although the majority of dialogue has been created—actual quotes were used if and where appropriate—the objective was not to fabricate dense storylines or a plethora of characters that may distract or distort the account.

These scenes feature evocative settings for atmosphere creating a time, place, mood, and our main characters engaged in either historical or ordinary moments in their lives. The intention is to immerse the reader briefly into the past so that they can sense the character’s personality, interests, assets, quirks, tactics, or ultimate goals. The focus is on analyzing each character within their specific environment, not on the author’s creative storyline.

When drawing up the blueprint for this work, certain figures were selected above others for their significant actions that have directly influenced or intrinsically mirrored modern events. Naturally, there have been far too many people and influences to include between the covers of this book, necessitating major extractions from this sweeping tale and focusing on events that were deemed most crucial to our civilization’s progress. Likewise, these highlights feature lessons that are the most relevant to modern minds, particularly those of Americans, who are the prime target of this work.

It is critical that Americans learn from history in order to avoid the pitfalls of the past, as well as emulate our forebears’ most effective solutions. In essence, many of the difficulties that we face today, to some degree, mirror those of the past, for sadly enough, history does repeat itself.

This book’s intent, however, is also to make us pause and reflect upon how real and influential so many characters of history were—brilliance, foibles, and all—for their influence still has the power to motivate us.

It is my belief that the winds of time, which carry both influences and warnings, bear the most crucial aspect of the human story, for without being influenced by someone or something from the past, one cannot be motivated to move forward to build a better tomorrow. Therefore, may the winds begin.

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